Conflict: Shortcut to Great Writing

Join me on November 5th for a fun workshop on Write Short to Succeed.

(Details below)

Here’s a possible exercise we might be doing in my workshop at ICAN’s upcoming

Second AnnualTreasure Valley Writers' Fest at the Cloverdale Reception Center, Boise, Idaho, Saturday, November 5, 2016, from 1:00 pm to 7:30 pm.

This exercise is inspired by the newest title in my Hows and Whys series, Writing Conflict, to be released soon.

Conflict is the key to unlock great writing. Finding the conflict is also the easiest way to write anything. Every good piece of writing comes from the conflict in the story, article, whatever.

Examples: an article about fixing your toilet yourself, what’s the conflict? The conflict is in you need your toilet fixed! Can you fix it yourself? Even a recipe has inherent conflict. Will you be able to replicate the dish? In a romance story, girl lost boy, will she get him back?

In fiction, people often confuse conflict with other elements in the story. Conflict is not a fight between two people. Conflict is what led to the fight.

To find the conflict ask these questions:

What’s the problem? (Sewage all over the floor, need something new for dinner—not the sewage, broken heart that might never be fixed)

What’s the goal? (Fix the toilet, make dinner, get the guy back)

What’s the need/desire? (To have a working toilet, to eat, to be with the man you love)

What’s the emotion? (Frustration at the broken toilet, hunger, grief/anger at losing the boyfriend)

What gets in the way of obtaining this goal? (Can you fix the toilet yourself? Do you have the ingredients to make the dish? How does the woman get the guy back?)

An argument in a romance story between the girl and her boyfriend is the end result of conflicting emotions: she’s mad at him, but loves him, but hates him, but wants him to be/do/act like....you get the idea. During the argument, there needs to be conflict. Does she really want to get him back? Is it impossible to get him back? In fixing the toilet, do you have the proper tools? In a recipe, do you have the right ingredients, or can ingredients be substituted? Conflict raises more questions.

Here are some scenarios for you to find the conflict in:

A weight loss article

Two women in a bar, co-workers after work on a Friday night

An article about travel

A person visiting his/her grandmother in a nursing home

A memoir about a relative born during a time of war

Have fun with this and remember there are lots of ways to add conflict to your writing.

                                                                                      

Questions? Please comment and I’ll do my best to answer (and hope I can answer, hmmm...more conflict?).

 One successful result of writing short, Mild West Mysteries.

FREE Workshop Writing Conflict and a writing tip!

Yup, you heard right, FREE workshop on Writing Conflict: Hows and Whys. And a FREE workshop one time only. At the Victory Branch Library,10664 W Victory Road, Boise, ID 83709 on Wednesday July 20th from 6:30-7:30 pm.

Why a workshop on writing conflict? In teaching my Write Short to Succeed workshop, I noticed a major struggle among newer writers. What was the difference between an anecdote, vignette and a short story or article or memoir? How to create a work that readers want to read? The answer is simple: conflict. Conflict creates the scene, the characters, the story arc, why a reader should read an article, and more. Without conflict, the writing fails.

Why a free workshop? Because Writing Conflict will be the second in my Hows and Whys series, the first being Write Short to Succeed. So the authors who attend will "pay" for the workshop by giving me honest feedback.

Write Short to Succeed out now!

Here's a tip about conflict:

In any writing, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, short or long, ask yourself: What is the problem? Where is the problem? Is the problem obvious? Can you state, "The problem is...." or not? If you can't answer at least a couple of these questions you don't have conflict. And you have a problem.

How to have conflict in every word, sentence and paragraph of your writing will be covered in the workshop. Hope to see you there!

And authors out there in blog land: how do you see conflict? How do you use it? Abuse it?

Dirty Secrets Self Published Authors and Publishers Never Tell, a Taste of My New Class

Reading my award winning flash fiction.

This coming Tuesday, March 10th, from 7:30 to 8:30 I'll be teaching a one night class in Navigating the New Publishing World for the Boise Community Schools. It will be at Timberline High School in Boise, Idaho. The fee is $8.95, cheap! Details and sign up here: Navigating the New Publishing World.

So this is a bit of a teaser for the class, but also two of the main secrets new authors need know while path finding a way through this amazing new biz of publishing. 

First secret: The huge majority of well-selling self-published authors are those authors who already have name recognition, a distinct brand, a platform and a large fan base. Such an author may have been traditionally published, popular in another media, or excellent at marketing, or in a very few cases, just plain lucky. But for almost all new self-published authors the way to sales is a difficult path.

Second secret: If you have sold your manuscript to a publisher, you have lost much of your control of that manuscript. The publisher is the one who edits to their standards, provides a cover and publication date, and sets price, including when/what and where to have the title on sale. True, many small indie publishers now allow authors to have a lot of input on much of this, but it's not the same as having total control. 

 

Though these two "secrets"  may be discouraging, the truth is that authors have more opportunities than ever before for success. We'll talk about those in class.

Now, I suspect that some of my author friends may be of a differing opinion, or may want to add to what I've said here. Please comment away!

How to Make Bottle Cap Pin Jewelry. Easy, cheap, and fun!

(I hope to see you all at my FREE bottle cap workshop this Monday, July 14, at the Ada Victory Library at 4:30 pm to make bottle caps! Everyone takes a bottle cap pin home!)

 A selection of Christmas bottle cap pins, some with just the image, others with Christmas items. The trees, holly, gingerbread men, stars and snowflakes are in the scrapbook section of any craft store and inexpensive. The images are free downloads. Take a bottle cap with you to store for size. Next year, different images and inserts!

Bottle cap items can be wonderful as gifts for all sorts of occasions. A baby shower? Give a bottle cap pin with the photo of the new mom as a baby! Maybe pins for all the attendees! How about making a bunch of Christmas bottle cap ornaments? Give out a bottle cap magnet for a Halloween treat! A project for your child's class? The limit is your imagination.

It's possible to do bottle caps the old fashioned way, cut out the image with a pair of scissors, recycle used bottle caps if not bent, glue and then use clear varnish on the top, but most of these supplies are inexpensive and if you're like me you'll keep coming up with new uses.

Materials (check Beadaholique or Amazon, links are to Amazon, the punch and Glue Dots are available in office and craft stores too):

50Mixed Color Bottle Caps (or collect your own throughout the year and it's FREE)

CraftScrapbook Jewelry 1" Circle Epoxy Stickers For Bottle Cap Pendants 

EK Success Papers Shapers Nesting Punch 1" (or any brand, as long as 1")

Glue Dots Super Strength Multi-Use 1/2" dots (or use super glue, but you have to wait longer, however, sometimes the glue dots "let go" after a couple of years)

Images: use photos, images from magazines and greeting cards, draw your own, stencil, use stamps, stickers, glue small objects that fit within the 1" circle, there are inexpensive bottle cap images for sale, or use your imagination!

How to:

Take your 1" paper circle image and press it against a Glue Dot. Press the circle into the bottle cap. Place a 1" Circle Epoxy Sticker on top. DONE Then attach whatever to the back, whether it be a pin back, or hanger for pendants, or magnet. DONE.

Here's how to attach a pin back (so that the pin is on correctly): Take a piece of paper and line up your bottle caps on the paper with arrows pointing which way the image is up, like this:

Then flip over the bottle caps and glue the pins to the back--easy!

Do you have an idea for bottle caps to share?

BOTTLE CAP PINS! EASY! FUN! CHEAP!

One of my first bottle cap pins with the title of my mystery novel.

Bottle cap jewelry is a blast to make. I discovered quite by accident, while researching what to do at my craft sessions at the Bouchercon conference this year. What could up to 30 people make in less than an hour? Answer: see above. Then I realized that bottle cap pieces could be wonderful as gifts for all sorts of occasions. Each unique. A baby shower? Give a bottle cap pin with the photo of the new mom as a baby! Maybe pins for all the attendees! How about making a bunch of Christmas bottle cap ornaments? Give out a bottle cap magnet for a Halloween treat! A project for your child's class? The limit is your imagination.

This post is a quick and dirty primer to making these.

First, the materials: I would suggest going to either Beadaholique or Amazon for these supplies:
50 Mixed Color Bottle Caps Craft Scrapbook Jewelry
1" Circle Epoxy Stickers For Bottle Cap Pendants 
EK Success Papers Shapers Nesting Punch 1" (or any other brand, as long as 1")
Glue Dots Super Strength Multi-Use 1/2" dots

Images:
use photos, images from magazines and greeting cards, draw your own, stencil, use stamps, stickers, glue small objects that fit within the one inch circle, there are inexpensive bottle cap images for sale, or a combo of, well, whatever you want!

Yes, it is possible to do bottle caps the old fashioned way, cut out the image with a pair of scissors, recycle used bottle caps if not bent, glue and then use clear varnish on the top, but most of these supplies are inexpensive and if you're like me you'll keep coming up with new ideas for these things. And it makes it much faster and easier.

How to:
Take your 1" paper circle image and press it against a Glue Dot. Press the circle into the bottle cap. Holding by the edges, place a 1" Circle Epoxy Sticker on top. DONE Now you need to attach whatever to the back, whether it be a pin back, or hanger for pendants, or magnet. DONE.

Here's how I made a demi-parure of a pin and earrings using part of the cover image from The Mall Fairies: Exile (artist Kaytalin Platt, great cover art, so pretty!):

The arrows are for knowing how the images face because ...

...it's impossible to tell when they are face down!

Then I glued the pin back and earring pieces on and here I am wearing the finished product:

So simple and easy! Doing these at the craft sessions is going to be a blast!

And dear readers, do you have any craft projects like this? Would love to know!

Colors Like Memories, A Review and Being God

Colors Like Memories is by Meradeth Houston, a YA fantasy about a member of the Sari, which are angels made up of babies born who never breathed before death. Julie, the Sari, struggles with her own overwhelming grief as she tries to keep a teen from suicide.

I read Colors Like Memories as a great break while I was prepping my workshop "Being God" for the Fandemonium conference. And reading it helped tremendously with the prep. Meradeth creates an excellent fantasy world with the right balance between the elements of the "real" world and the fantastic. Julie has abilities (and wings, I love wings) but she also has to eat and sleep--and has other human failings that are more important, the primary of which is that she's stuck in grief. Another excellent balance in the novel: the world was created with just enough back story and details for it to come alive, and not so much it bogged down this wonderful tale.

Reading Colors Like Memories reminded me to teach that one of the most important guidelines for being a god and creating your own world was to only provide necessary information at the point where the reader needs to know that information.This is true with whatever style of fiction you're writing.

Plus, it was an excellent read.

So, dear writers, what other ways can we be good gods (and goddesses) of our worlds?

Author Pratfalls and Great Social Media Wars

This upcoming Tuesday, July 17th, I'll be giving the luncheon speech at the Idaho Writers Guild in Boise. My talk's all about the various mistakes all writers make. I know I've made every single one, a number of times. Most of the problem is that I'm an author and therefore neurotic and unbalanced--as in swinging from one extreme to the other.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the new world of social media. Every writer I know (including myself) swings from one extreme to the other. Part of the problem is that no one is certain what works the best with social media--is it SEO? Part of the problem is that social media seems to operate as virtual word of mouth, but which mouths and when? Us authors drive ourselves wild figuring that out.

The unbalance comes from not knowing how much is too much and wasted time and effort, or possibly even annoying), how much is enough (we want to sell ourselves and our titles), and how much is too little (my mom always said, "If you don't tell people that you have a book out to buy, they won't know.).

So what's a writer to do? Here's a tip from my talk:

ALWAYS REMEMBER THE WRITING COMES FIRST! Or as my wise mom said too, "You need something to sell, and the more product you have to sell the better." I'd add that having more than one piece of writing published is very useful too, for cross-marketing.

So everyone, keep writing!

Anybody got a secret to sell millions of books? Please share here! Anybody got a rant about the life of a writer nowadays? Share here!

Sell! Sell! Sell! Outside the box.

Eclectic Collage II, the just released anthology I have a story in.

Loy Ann Bell, the president of the Twin Falls Idaho Writers League and me at my talk. Wearing purple was not a requirement.

 Another anthology I'm in that will be released in October.

Since I've got three (!) new anthologies (including Untied Shoelaces of the Mind) that I have a story in coming out or have just come out, this post is about thinking outside the box when it comes to marketing. Sure, you need to do what everybody else does, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Author page, etc. etc. but it's also smart to do stuff that others might not do. You might discover other surprising connections. Here's a few ideas:

Most pages now have "like" (facebook) buttons on them, this includes Amazon Author Pages, blogs and websites. "Like" away everything you, well, like! Including your own work. )Even if you don't like your own work.) When you find a blog/website that you like to share, share it!

The publisher of Eclectic Collage, Jane Freund of Freundship Press says that the world has changed, bookstores are no longer the (only) place to sell books and may be the least effective to sell books.She's right. In a bookstore, you're title is one among many. Think of other places that might be interested in selling books. For example, my brother has a tea shop in Texas.The tea shop sells other little items. People who drink tea also read. What better place to place my titles? My mystery novel, "Starke Naked Dead" comes out next year by L&L Dreamspell. The main character is a jeweler. I love jewelry and jewelry stores. Am I going to be asking at some jewelry stores if they would like to have my titles? Have a signing?! You bet.

Book reviews--everyone says you need to get a lot of book reviews, but as my mom always said, "You have to give to get." All writers love to read. So review, often. It not only helps out other writers, but it's a great way to get your name/brand out there. (And of course be honest and straightforward with every review, no matter what. An excellent example of a good reviewer is Jim Murdoch at his blog The Truth About Lies. His reviews are interesting in and of themselves.

 And last, but not least, Kathy McIntosh of Well Placed Words suggested this great idea. In Boise, there's a Community Education. People volunteer to teach classes in....everything. This type of community service is common. Kathy's suggestion--teach a class in something! Great way to connect in a lot of different ways!

So, dear readers, any more "outside the box" suggestions?

Next my newest venture!

I know everyone

A couple of weeks ago, I was searching for writers I'd met at the Willamette Writers Conference on Facebook. One fellow's name didn't come up, but Facebook provides "alternative possible spellings" of names. There, first, was the name of a fellow blogger who often commented on a blog I follow.

I know everybody.

At that same conference, most of the agents discussed the now invaluable tool of writers establishing their own platforms. Gone are the days when publishers promoted a new author or even an established midlist one. For more info on this subject and how to self-promote, I'd suggest J.A. Konrath's excellent blog A Newbie's Guide to publishing which ranges far and wide on the world of publishing as it exists today.

Since I'm now in process of finding an agent, I've been working hard on platform. But I also want to work different as well. In that vein, I'm mentioning (and listing to the left) different blogs and webpages that have contests or markets or agent and publishing news. My first listing is for a contest. The deadline has passed for this contest, BUT the agent will do more.

What do you think, dear readers? Useful? Something else might be more useful? Or something additional? After all, I know everyone.

An added PS: after your first few comments, I've decided to have a Sunday post with useful blogs, contests, etc. Thanks and keep those great comments coming.

Pro or no?

All the diverse responses from my posting about pay for creative people sparked a fire in my mind regarding the question of professional versus amateur. Many of the professional groups I belong to have a two-tier system where you have to have sold X amount to belong to the "pro" level. Yet every group has differing criterion and calls the levels different things. From "Pre-published" to "Associate" (sold a bit but not enough) to "Affiliate" to "Full" (Pro) member, the list goes on and on. And of course they need some criterion for membership. But still...

So: What does it mean to be an amateur? Or a professional? Can you be both at the same time? (I believe you can.)

After long thought I've decided what comprises a pro for me is more what they do. What a pro does:
Realizes, accepts and embraces that anything creative is also hard work.
Is willing to continue to learn and question and challenge the work.
Understands that criticism can be the best tool.
Understands that all judgment is subjective.
Understands that rejection is part of the process.
And most important, the sign of a professional in the creative world: Keeps going.

The last means no matter what. No matter the setbacks, the rejections, the lack of recognition or pay, the difficulty of getting up and creating each day. Keeps going.

So, dear reader, what do you think of my list? Do you agree with my criterion? Does something need to be removed? Added?

Beyond and Above Platforming

This week, a good friend of mine, Lance Thompson, a script doctor will be presenting at the Idaho Writers' League's 2009 Writers Conference: Paint with Words. As well as teaching some excellent workshops, he'll be on a panel about "The State Of Publishing Today." He asked a couple of days ago for my thoughts on same, having gone to a major conference recently.

My recent experience at the conference and elsewhere is that the bottom line is (and will always be):

Like any major business, the publishing world is always in flux. At this time, two major factors are in play. One is the recession and the other is electronic publishing. So there's a lot of "It's harder than ever to sell" out there. But I've been writing and submitting and selling for a long time and that's always been the publishers' lament. In my experience, a recession helps the publishing business, which is usually slow and reluctant to change. And the electronic revolution provides a wealth of new opportunities for publication (I was published on Twitter, for heaven sakes!).

Every agent/editor who I spoke with or who was on a panel said the same thing: "We want to see the writing. It's only the writing that truly matters. Yes, we talk about platform and the publishing world and what's hot right now, but the quality of writing is everything. And as long as some people somewhere still read, we'll still be looking for good writing to publish."

It's the writing. We all need, in our desperate desire to publish, to remember it's the writing that sells.

Do you put the writing (often the most difficult part) first? Do you write first? Write every day? Or set aside times for concentrated writing and then work on other parts of your career by working on your platform or attending workshops or conferences or? Is your focus correct? Is there something you'd like to change?

Writing of workshops, Lance is also giving one of his excellent workshops, "Lance Thompson’s Screenplay Story Structure Workshop," in Eagle, Idaho on October 10 and 11--comment if you want more info.

Of Groups and Conferences, Pros and Cons

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the first meeting of the Idaho Writers Guild. Fascinating and fun, but also amazing how much dedicated and professional talent there is in Idaho, the state with the least population of all 50. After a couple of hours, I returned home energized and invigorated about my writing career. On August 6, tomorrow, I head out to the Willamette Writers Conference for four fun-filled days of pitching agents. Or at least fun for me.

There are writers out there who despise attending any event or joining any group. Often true introverts, these authors point out that conferences and groups take away a lot of valuable writing time and energy. This can be true. The last few weeks I have been taking time to prep my manuscript, my pitch, my wardrobe, etc. and probably doing much more than I need--I'm a writer and being neurotic is required.

However, that time, for me has done several useful things. It has re-initiated and reinvigorated my enthusiasm for my craft and w.i.p. I've had myriad epiphanies about my work, both current and future. I've made a large number of wonderful, supportive contacts, fellow authors and other creative people. People who feed my creative spark, sometimes into a roaring blaze. And will meet many more this weekend. I always return from a conference energized to work and work harder, faster and more effectively than before. So for me, some group participation and some conference attendance are useful tools.

One point, don't make the groups and conferences and workshops become the writing. It's easier than you might think to replace the difficult work of writing, just plain writing and writing, with the far easier and entertaining activity of a group or whatever. It feels like you're working, progressing. And to a certain extent, that's true. But nothing replaces write, write, write. I suspect this is true of other creative disciplines as well, hence the "disciplines".

So, dear readers, what do you think about attending conferences? Joining groups? Does it help you? Or the opposite?

And I'll be back on Monday with a report on my experiences.

Summertime, summertime and shift happens

This is what summer is supposed to be like: lazy and relaxed.

But not this summer. Unless of course, you're my cat, when it's always summer. While visiting Swu on Swubird's Nest in the comments, he asked where everybody went this month? Well, I don't know about everybody, but I know where I went. I went frantic.

Perhaps it's worldwide, this overwhelm of everything. I know that amongst my friends and family, including my blogger friends, everyone seems to be in the same busy, busy, busy state. For example, I've filled every weekend in August! All with what I want to do and will love doing, but still, enough already.

Yet, I suspect and hope that this is a symptom of a healthy shift. When major change happens, it can be frenetic, especially right at the beginning of the change when the most energy is needed to shift. Most of the ultra-busy I know are that way because they are re-evaluating and then re-inventing portions (if not all) of their lives. In good ways.

Perhaps the answer then, is not to resent the lack of the summertime lazies, but to embrace the energy of change. Of course, it'd help if I had time to get the dishes and laundry done...

What about you, dear reader? Do you see major change in your life? If so, is it good or bad? Or neither? How do you get the laundry done?

Next post: of groups and conferences, platforms and product

Submitting and Succeeding

Weird pic, I know, but I didn't have any eggs!

Beth of Beth's Adventures inspired me to this somewhat-old-but-still-works metaphor. A couple of weeks ago, I taught a workshop in writing and marketing the short story. Most of the audience were newbies to the marketing aspect. When we got to that portion of the program, I was surprised by the resistance several displayed in submitting their short stories. I got strange questions such as, "If I enter this contest and win, then they'll want to put the story online and then it's published and I can't sell it to a 'real' market." This was for a no-fee online contest that paid a first prize of $700!

What you do when something like that happens is take the money and say thank you! and write another story. I wondered about this until I realized that, as new writers, the people protesting probably hadn't written many stories. So every story was like a precious, single, golden egg. To be treasured and protected and never broken (i.e. submitted just anywhere where it might make sell or win).

To make everyone groan, "You have to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet," AND "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." First, you need to make a lot of eggs to break. Write and write and write. Then repeat. This is even true of novelists. It takes on average 3 to 5 novels before a writer has written a publishable one. Plus, it's difficult to not keep your eggs in one basket (i.e. a few specific markets) if you only have a few eggs. After writing, submit and submit and submit. If you're writing short stories, start writing to the markets. The anthologies and contests that are specific...write a story for them and send them off. If it comes back, ship it to another market. That way you're not keeping all your eggs in a single basket.

This may seem obvious to more experienced authors, but I'm not certain about that? Every story is after all a delicate beloved baby. And rejections are painful. However, in my experience, if you have myriad babies out there then if they don't do well--write another. I remember coddling every single egg/short story at the beginning and then every chapter of my first novel. I've found it's much easier now to "let go" and move on.

What's your experience? How much do you write and rewrite? When do you release a work and submit it? What about other formats? Poets? Novelists?

10 Weird Things

Beth of Beth's Adventures asked for a list of 10 things people might not know about me. So...
1. I can chew my own toenails, but don't.
2. I grew up in a ski resort but prefer to ice skate. I was so small when I started skiing I kept falling off the ski lift.
3. I met the love of my life on Match.com (Hi Bruce!).
4. I love basenjis (an African hunting hound, barkless but not silent, not obedient but loving) and I'm on my second one, 20 years of basenjis!
5. I started college when I was 15 (and made it through by attending a liberal arts school and taking English and History classes only).
6. I'm of mostly Scots descent. I've been to England and spent a summer in Ireland but I've never been to Scotland.
7. I have eyebrows, but my hair is so light as I am a natural redhead you can't see them. Means I have to pencil them in, BUT I never shave my legs either!
8. My oddest job: hmm, I've had lots, maybe cold sales calling for a guy with a cold storage truck business?

Okay, that's only eight, but I'd love to hear from my readers...what are a few weird things about you? Share!

Teach to learn

The purple lady is me, presenting a workshop on manga.

On June 13, 2009 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m in Twin Falls, Idaho I'll be presenting a two hour workshop on Writing the Short Story. This is not my first workshop, nor will it be my last. I also attend workshops, including Margie Lawson's on June 6 in Boise. For myself, I find teaching to be more valuable than attending. Not that I don't learn tons from being a student, but the old adage that if you really want to learn something then teach it is true for me. I've been remembering all sorts of things about writing the short story (my first love) plus learning new things as I prepare the class.

Do you, gentle reader, attend workshops? Teach workshops? Both? If so, what are your experiences? If not, why not?

My blog about Short Story Writing

Just a quick entry to let you know I have a blog entry on Murder in the Grove's My Space titled: Writing Short Stories: A Quick and Easy Primer.

Check it out!

Glorious Distractions

Some delightful birthday flowers from my great friend Kathy of Well Placed Words.

Ah, glorious distractions of the summer! Glorious because they are so much fun. Some of mine include: birthday parties (many friends and relatives and myself), a niece's graduation, a different niece's visit, a convention, Fandemonium, where I taught a workshop on storyboarding, a film conference, my first, an upcoming workshop on writing manga and new fitness classes for mid-lifers to teach (my other day job, check out Delightfit for more).

Whew! All fun events/activities that I wanted to do and enjoyed doing. However, all distractions from the w.i.p. Distractions that sometimes assisted my current work, more about that in the next post--but also created a struggle to "stay in the work."

No time. No energy. The one thing I found helped, a bit, was to make certain I worked for 10-15 minutes a day, every day on my w.i.p. Not necessarily turning out pages, notes (even on scraps of paper if I was away from my laptop) worked as well.

Still difficult. So, dear readers, what do you do when awash with glorious distractions? How do you avoid getting possibly remote from a current and now uncurrent work? And what have your glorious distractions been this summer?

Maass Intensive, Switching Formats, Marketing and Contests

These seems like a lot of subjects. It isn't. It's the same subject. And it goes like this:

Donald Maass' High Tension Workshop was for novel writing. That doesn't matter. Why? Because it translates to all kinds of writing.

It's useful to switch formats. Trying something new and different can increase your ability in your regular writing. It's a challenge. It's also a way to re-energize your regular writing.

Writing for good contests (real prizes/awards, no entry or low entry fee, with a reputable publisher/group) can be another way to challenge and stimulate your writing.

If you pick a good contest to submit to and win a prize, this can help the marketing of your other work. And sometimes your other endeavors.

Which all brings me to a touch of BSP: I entered Tokyopop's "The Dreaming Writing Competition" and won First Prize! This is useful for a couple of reasons. First, my new w.i.p. is for YA Fantasy and writing a Manga style short story is related. Second, I'm teaching a class at the True North Creative Learning Center in August about--you guessed it--writing manga. Again for the YA market. Plus, I get cool artwork!

So readers, what do you think? About switching formats? About contests, pro or con?

Be a Switcher: Switch Creative Endeavors

Switch creative endeavors? Why? Why, when you work so hard to improve your writing, painting, photography or whatever, would you switch?

For a couple of reasons:

It's a mini-vacation, one that doesn't take you out of creative focus. A break that is refreshing and renewing and still keeps the juice flowing. Creativity is the same, no matter what you're creating.

The major benefit is creativity begets more creativity. Doing something different ramps up what you were doing before. Weird, huh? But think about it. I know that for myself, when I take photographs or make jewelry or write a film script instead of working on my novel, I get tons more inspiration for my w.i.p.! I suspect that working on something else frees up the subconscious to work on the main project.

Have you tried this? Do you have more than one creative passion? If so, what's been your experience?