Being a reader is a good way to develop your writing skills

By Pamela Moeng

Wanna-be writers are often advised to read widely. From the time I could read "See Jane run" I soon became an inveterate reader. Everything was grist for my mill - toothpaste tubes, cereal boxes, labels on tins, my father's daily newspaper, my mother's magazines, the Reader's Digest Condensed Books that my parents subscribed to.


Nothing that contained text was safe from me, even the dog-earred paperback copy of Peyton Place that my mother tried to hide from me. In summer i visited the library almost daily, reading my way quickly through the children's section and starting, to my parents' and librarian's dismay, on the adult novels. My tastes were catholic and through books I escaped the confines of my small town upbringing, my parents' tempestuous marriage and a small house . Turning those thousands of pages, it never even once occurred to me then that I could conjure that magic for myself and others.

Finally as a young woman, I took the first tentative steps toward writing myself and fifty years after that little girl climbed an apple tree to read The Wizard of Oz, I'm a published author with stories bubbling up and out of somewhere deep inside me daily. What role did those hundreds of books play in forging a writer out of a little girl who used books as her escape, her magic carpet ride up and away from her every day world?

Thinking about it now, remembering the journey toward that first story and its publication, I realise that reading has been the perfect way to develop my writing skills. From crime thrillers I've learned how to build suspense and introduce interesting twists in the tale. From poetry I've learned that there is an exact word for every nuance of expression and it's worth it to wait for the right word to appear. From romances I learned to write about emotion and the physical response people have to each other. From chicklit I've learned how to write dialogue that sounds the way people really speak. From historical novels I've learned that the details count toward building the scene in the reader's mind. From dramas I've learned that building the plot is critical to keeping the reader interested.

Courses in creative writing are wonderful; nothing is better than a good lecturer assessing your work and critiquing it. But reading the masters and analysing how they kept your interest as the reader, delighted you with the exact word, made you laugh at the way one character taunted another, thrilled you with a description of a lover's hand stroking the landscape of his or her beloved,or took your breath away with suspense through a plot line is an exquisite way to learn the skill required of a consummate weaver of magic, teller of tales.

Almost half the year is gone

Time has flown very fast for me, and it's hard to believe that almost half of 2011 is gone. It's been a good period for me though...a lot less stress than I experienced last year and I've been much more productive. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year and feel very relaxed about it.

How has the first half of the year been for you? Did you achieve some of the goals you set for this year? Or do you now need to race through the rest of the year to try to meet your goals?

What I'm Reading

By Pamela Moeng


Thanks to Damaria I've been reading an author I never tried before, not that she hasn't been proclaiming her enjoyment of him for many years. My first thought was, "This is scary!" But I continued reading to the end and enjoyed the book: Cold Fire by Dean Koontz.



The closest I'd been to this kind of thriller was Stephen King's Thinner and John Gresham's law-oriented crime thrillers. My partner is a lawyer and he introduced me to the author and after reading one, I haunted bookshops looking for more.


Ken Follet's Eye of the Needle was something I had read in high school and reading his Jackdaws reminded me how much I enjoy his work. Now both my man and I are hooked on finding more.


A person's bookshelf speaks volumes, I think. Mine probably shouts, "Split personality!" Romances share space with language teaching books, business and marketing books, what my mother dubs New Age hooeyness, children's books, religious books from a range of religions, and self-help pop psych(o) books.


Variety is the spice of life, I'm told and certainly my reading pleasure has been enhanced by forays, reluctant or not, into genres I had hitherto scorned. In the USA, I think Oprah - wouldn't you just love to be so famous someone simply breathing your first name was enough of an introduction? - singlehandedly revitalised the book industry.


I like to find out what genres and which authors people read. Not pretend to read because they think everyone else is, but really read for pure pleasure. I'm not ashamed of my love of chick lit and romances.


What is on your bedside table? What is your favourite genre and why?

My Baby Has Grown!

Yesterday was a big day for Baby. It was her 13th birthday and as she says, she is now officially a teenager. She is so excited! I’m happy for her, but I'm  also aware that time is running out. Before long, Baby will be an adult and ready to take on the world, and my parenting (however remote) won’t be needed so much.

The day was also good in terms of work. I spent most of it researching and drafting the 4 short articles that are due today, so today I need only do minor editing and proof-reading before I submit them. I also landed another assignment to write two articles for a monthly newsletter on marketing and advertising. It's a monthly gig, and the agreement will last for the next four months. I’ve written one article for the client before, and she liked it so much she assigned me two more. It was a confidence booster to hear her rave about the article I previously submitted.The deadline of late June was also attractive - gives me time to research the pieces and to write.  I hope more work comes from that quarter.

I also won a $15 Amazon gift card, which I'm going to use to buy an ebook I've been keeping an eye on for a while. Lovely day, all in all:-)
So, how are you doing? What's new in your life?

Too Many Balls In The Air

By Pamela Moeng

Am I caught up in the tornado that recently ravaged Joplin, Missouri in the USA or is this just my life on fast-forward?  Every day seems to be slightly more whirlwind than the previous one and I imagine myself screaming, "Stop! Let me off!"
But jumping off the hamster's wheel is just not an option right now. "Balance in all things is the secret to health and happiness," my mother used to say, usually when I wanted to stuff myself with junk food or otherwise over-indulge in fun.
"Balance," I whimper when I am still answering the landline and the cell phone rings while at the same time six emails jump into Inbox 1 and three more into Inbox 2.  Meanwhile my open diary reproaches me with a list of must-do, want-to-do and absolutely-without-a-doubt-or-I-will-lose-my-day-job-have-to-do tasks.
How's a woman juggling at least five roles or more supposed to find balance when she is tap-dancing on the razor's edge of lunacy just to keep the balls in the air? Finding writing time is like searching for a tin of Lucky Star in the ocean, even with my trusty BBFF in my palm. D sent a gentle reminder that posts are due, so find some time and inspiration, I must.
Whether I find the time after midnight or before dawn while the rest of the family sleeps, I am determined to keep on writing. Truth is, the writing feeds the soul, while the day job feeds the belly. Come what may, I must seek that balance my mother advised as if it's the Holy Grail!

Some Biz, Career & Money Articles

Check out this month's issue of  HUN-E's online magazine, where I have a number of articles in the Business & Finance section. HUN-E is a Women's Design Business and Lifestyle magazine. They cover fashion, art, mentorship, travel and music, among other things. All things going well, I'm going to be writing up content for this section for a long time.

Meanwhile, the past three days have been very productive - I sent out proposals to potential clients, got my ongoing projects organised ( now at least I know the scope of what I need to do), finished a couple of articles and documents and sent them to clients. The one thing I've come to appreciate is that I feel better when, at the end of the day, I've sent a completed project, however small, to a client. To me it means that I contributed something tangible to my business that day- something that could be published, or even, something that will be paid for.

Question: How do you measure your productivity each day/week? Is it red marks on your "To Do" list, indicating that the task is completed? Is it word count, if you are a writer?

I Wish Project Management Had Been A Mandatory Course In High School and Varsity

My younger sister is a project manager for an international research company and has a very ordered and systematic brain. So yesterday I consulted with her regarding the organised chaos that I call my work system, to ask for help to break it all into manageable tasks.

You know when you live with a teenager, and every time you walk past their room you want to say something about the mess on the bed and the clothes on the floor and the smelly shoes... and you restrain yourself because you know saying something will result in a fight? So you close the door so you don't have SEE the mess even though you KNOW it's there? I got the feeling I'm the teenager that's been driving my baby sister nuts for months. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she just loves big sis and just wanted to help.

Never mind the reasons. The fact is that and a quick email from me asking for help resulted in a long consultation on the phone with her and a request from her to send her a detailed outline of the projects I'm working on until August, as well as the project breakdown ( as in, what do I have to do to get each task done, and how long does it take me?)

So I spent most of Monday afternoon working on that. By the end of the exercise, my business will have an official workflow system. Nice!

Question: Do you think project management should be mandatory subject for all high school and university students? Will it help create more efficient workers and a more efficient nation?

Now I’m getting greedy

By Damaria Senne

Last week a friend of mine gave me a box full of Afrikaans literature novels and poetry collections, so I could donate the books to a school or library of my choice.

I’m heavily involved with READ SA and moderate its Facebook page, so I never run out of schools and libraries to give away books to. So I posted an announcement on the FB page offering the books and within a day, I had someone who’s starting a school in Pietermaritzburg asking if he could have them. Of course I said yes, and we’re now making plans for him to send someone to pick them up.

So where does greed come into play?

The school founder mentioned that they are setting up the library from scratch and would love to stock with classic literature in local languages (all 11 of them). And well… I want to help them. Or rather, I want to ask you to help them.

So, I’d like to ask you to donate your very pricey novels and poetry collections to this school:-). Email me at damariasenne@gmail.com if you have a couple of books to donate, and I’ll give you my address so you can drop the books off  at an agreed upon location or post them. My request is not time sensitive, so if you miss the first delivery, which will happen as soon as we make arrangements, we can send the books on later.

I also want to thank you for supporting many of the causes I’ve spoken about here. You guys are great, and really, I wouldn't have been able to use this blog to support non-profit organisations as well as I have in the past if it were not for you and your donations of needed items. So, THANK YOU!

Story telling: a projective look at the unconscious mind

By Debbie Howes

I met Debbie Howes at the networking meeting I attended this past week, and as a storyteller, I found her work very fascinating. Debbie says the way we tell a story can give a therapist a lot of information about our unconscious minds.

She says given the same story, we would all tell the story differently to mirror our inner world. So I decided to invite her to guest post here, so she can tell you more about it. Enjoy! ....Damaria
..................................................


The unconscious mind has the logic of a child. This is why intellectual and rational information does not easily filter through from the conscious mind to the unconscious mind. Many of us know what we need to do and why , but are unable to put it into practice.

We are in a hugely addictive society on many levels. By identifying and accessing the unconscious belief systems and emotional patterns , we are able to make the link and bridge these two aspects of our psyche, so that we may act and do what we know. Most of our functioning comes from these patterns or our 'program' which determines how we cope or deal with everyday life.

Little Red Riding Hood is the childrens story which is incorporated as a medium to projectively access and identify these patterns. Each person will tell a different story from the unconscious mind. The story holds all the dynamics of the unconscious mind and reality. The characters are all universal principles and archetypes.

The inner program or way of viewing the world from the unconscious mind , will determine how a person will react and deal with the whole of life. By reprocessing and desensitizing the story for each individual the inner program or world view is readdressed, and this brings the corresponding changes in the individual's reality. Each person integrates the process at a different rate.
 
For further information about this, visit Debbie's web site at www.debbiehowes.com

I remember my favourite toy

By Damaria Senne

I remember my favourite toy. Her name was Valerie and she was a big, navy and white cloth doll, with a face made from the plastic material usually used for toys.

I don’t know where she came from – whether my parents bought her for me or whether I inherited her – but by the time I became conscious of her in my life, she was a dirty, messy baby that I dragged everywhere I went.




Valerie is not here.These dolls were knitted to be given to abused
 children at the police station while the crime is being reported,
in order to keep them busy.

 Valerie was there to keep me company when I didn’t have anyone to play with. My one brother was five years older than me, and at that age, the age gap seemed huge. And he wasn’t going to play dolls with a girl.

And while my younger brother seemed much closer in age (three years younger), he seemed like a wild animal bent on running, pushing and pulling whatever he could get his grubby hands on. I was certainly not going to allow him to play with my beautiful Valerie, and he  was not interested in  sitting still for hours while we dressed Valerie in the latest clothing I created.

Over the years Valerie became an accepted member of my family, and at ten, when my younger sister was born, it seemed natural to give over the care and feeding of my childhood companion to her. Valerie was still filthy and raggedy, but she was very well loved.

That is, until my older brother and cousin convinced us girls that Valerie was sick and needed an operation. Ja, I was 14 or so, and should have known better, but....

The operation was definitely not a success. Valerie was left in pieces and despite my efforts to repair her, she was never the same again. Still well-loved, but kept more for sentimental reasons than the fact that she looked like an actual doll. Eventually, someone must have taken the remains and thrown them out while we were not looking, she disappeared.

Anyhoo, Valerie remains a legend in my family. Everyone remembers her and how much I loved her.  Interestingly, no one wants to remember the botched operation, and while it’s alluded to sometimes ( in terms of what not to do with a well-loved toy), no one jokes about it or reminds me that at 14, I fell for oldest trick perpetrated by boys who wanted to see “how it works.”

This event inspired me to write my first children's book, The Doll That Grew, which was published in 1993 by Macmillan Boleswa. Unfortunately, the book is out of print.

The post itself is my contribution to the writing exercise at The Scribble Jar FB group started by my friend Gillian Stokes. The way it works is that people give post a phrase / sentence of four or more words with which to create a piece of writing hopefully as a weekly exercise.

Anyone is welcome to join the group in with the exercises as long as they post their creations to the group for people to read. Thanks to Christopher Snow for the idea for my favourite toy. It brought back some warm memories for me.

How do you capture thoughts before they can be turned into written works?

By Pamela Moeng

I have a dusty copy of The Artist's Way on my bookshelf but though I did work through a great part of the book, the morning pages were never easy for me to sustain. I also tried carrying a little notebook around to write down observations, bits of conversations, descriptions of people, places and emotion, but alas the notebook also found itself being maimed for grocery lists, telephone numbers, impromptu map drawing and doodling to entertain toddlers, etc.


I tried scraps of paper, which I held onto until they were dirty and worn, but for some inexplicable reason none of these methods for capturing thought like butterflies on a summer's day worked long for me.

Email on my BBFF works well, but it doesn't have the same frisson of pen on paper. I can only imagine the sensual pleasure of dipping quill pen into a bottle of luscious indigo ink and carefully putting thought to parchment back in the day. Somehow the click-click of BB keys is not half as satisfying.

I'd really like to know what tricks other writers use to capture thoughts, elusively slipping into and out of mind so softly, to prevent them from sliding away before they can be tamed into elegant prose or lyrical poetry.

Anyone care to share?

Seeing my village anew

 By Damaria Senne

The spa room where I got my pedi done.


 I tend to have tunnel vision when I go to Phokeng to visit my family. Mostly I spend time with my mother, siblings, their spouses, children and grandchildren. And when we go out, I usually choose the easy option: going to one of the restaurants at the Waterfall mall.


So when a friend suggested that we go to Kedar Spa for some pampering, my first reaction was “Where?” I hadn’t even known that there was a spa in the village!

Kedar Spa is part of the luxury Kedar Hotel, Conference Centre and Spa facilty, based about 21km from Sun City. The hotel is a member of the Recreation Africa group, which includes Misty Hills Country Hotel and Carnivore restaurant in Johannesburg. I won’t bore you with the hotel details, which you can find here

But back to my spa visit, my friend and I had wonderful paraffin pedicures and by the end of it, I was so relaxed I could have fallen asleep right there on the bed.



One of the receptions of the Royal Marang Hotel. There's a VIP
entrance too & yours trully is curious about what that portion
of the hotel looks like.

 Afterwards, we picked up my mother and took her to lunch at the Royal Marang Hotel. The 5-star hotel is part of the Royal Bafokeng Sport Complex, which hosted England as part of the 2010 World Cup Soccer games.

Lunch was great – the food was well-prepared, the portions were huge and the service was friendly and efficient. Best of all, the prices were very reasonable - we paid the equivalent of what we would have paid at a less rated venue at the mall. My mother thoroughly enjoyed herself, and  the Royal Marang Hotel is now one of the places I plan to take her to for special treats.

Anyhoo, the visit made me realise that tourists visiting the North West Province and Phokeng area in particular probably know more about the area than I do. I have been short-sighted about opportunities and resources that are available to me locally (either in Phokeng or here in Johannesburg) and I decided to actively seek them out.

Hence my querying previously neglected publications that are on my doorstep, attending local biz networking meetings etc.

So my question to you is, do you still explore your area for new resources to enhance your life, or have you, like me, been assuming that you know where everything you need locally is?

Networking Strategies I've Employed to Promote My Business

On Tuesday evening I attended a networking meeting hosted by Business to Business Networking Specialists. More than 20 people attended the meeting, and most of them were small business owners in my area. The format was:

• Introducing BTB to us newbies - General presentation of what the association is about. BTW, participation is free, and they make their money through their marketing initiatives.
• How their marketing/promotion plan works - R100 per month to be listed in the database and R50 per month to be showcased in their PowerPoint presentation shown at all their meetings. They also offer a service to distribute pamphlets in the surrounding suburbs for a very low amount. 
• Short presentation /pitch by all members – everyone got the chance to stand up and introduce themselves and their business. 
• Distribution of marketing material – Participants are also asked to bring brochures and business cards, which they can leave on the table for other business owners to pick up.

Check out BTB's web site.

Here are some of the strategies I used to market myself and my business at the networking meeting:

• Approach the meeting as a way to make friends instead of a way to push your business agenda – I know some people believe in meeting as many people as possible and handing out as many business cards as possible. That kind of approach doesn’t work for me. I’d rather spend time chatting with five people out a group of 25 and get to know them. That way, when I get home, I’ll still be able to link specific conversations to specific people. People like knowing that you remember them; that you listened while they spoke to you. 
• Grab opportunities when they are presented to you. I met someone who has a current and pressing need for a web site and social networking tools. We’re going to meet as soon as possible to discuss his needs, so I can get started on his project.  
• Make friends even if there is no obvious gain to be had – I spent a lot of time chatting to a very interesting woman who just launched a water purification plant and is now selling water, juices etc. She sounded so knowledgeable about water that it occurred to me that I might want to write about it. I’m definitely planning to keep in touch with her. 
• Give people a taste of what you offer – Offer expert advice if warranted, to give the people you interact with a hint of what you have to offer. In my case, I can offer marketing and communication insight and one of the people at the meeting has important an IT gadget which I thought a journo friend might want to review. So contacted the friend and hooked them up. Now it’s up to them to make sure the intro works for them. 
• Support a good cause – Some of the people attending the meeting were there to generate support for their causes, not to sell their products and services. If one of the causes resonates with you, volunteer your expertise. Supporting a good cause that is endorsed by such an association is a good way to get to know some of the people and for them to get to know you, to enable you to do business. I did make sure that the parameters of what I offer were clear though, so that I don’t end up over-committed. 
• Solidify contact with your new business associates as soon as possible. – I emailed all the people I exchanged cards with as soon as I got home, sending them my business profile, referencing to where and how we met and reminding them what services we spoke about. This ensures that the new opportunity does not slide away due to neglect.

So now my part of the networking process is done and the people I interacted with have the information they need to decide if they want to establish some kind of relationship with me.

Thank you Gaynor and Dr Ivan Jardine for the invitation. Much appreciated.

Zombie Writer Needs Article Ideas

I need to brainstorm article ideas for a Business and Economics section of a web site of a national magazine that’s launching soon. I’ve already submitted 4 articles, which the editor loved and accepted. The challenge is that those articles were done on a brief from the editor; now she thinks that her baby is grown enough to handle the section and come up with her own article ideas.

And yes, I’m very excited about the development (and will put up links to the articles here once they go online), but I’m also a bit worried. I want to keep the editor happy so that she trusts me with this level of responsibility and keeps sending me work. Which means I have to get my mushy brain in gear and start brainstorming topical story ideas.

Gah! Today my brain is not working well. I’m not sick or anything, and the brain cells keep rubbing together, but there doesn’t seem to be an original thought coming out of the process. So, if you’re an entrepreneur, email me to tell me what you want to read about. I might get the article idea approved and get to answer your most pressing questions.

I'm also interviewing the lovely Judy Croome about her soon to be released novel, Dancing in the Shadows of Love. I admit I'm biased because she is a blogger friend, but I've also read some of her shorts and posts and enjoyed them. I drafted the questions last night and sent them over. I'll post the Q and A once Judy and I agree on the appropriate time to publish the post.

In terms of client work, I'm writing the second draft of a client's business profile. It's going very slowly, but well. I also sent out two proposals. One of them was to a trade publisher based near my home. They bring out about 10 titles, and I have no idea why I hadn't thought of querying them before. Anyhoo, the moral of that story is, don't forget to look for local opportunities when you seek publishing markets.

The second proposal went to an international publisher. It's a long shot, but the topic I pitched is in line with their editorial requirements and I'd love to explore it in more detail. Wish me luck.

Also sent some article ideas to some writers among you( my readers), based on your areas of interest and submission calls I came across. I hope they work for you and we all make some dosh. Damn! No wonder my brain is mush! It's exhausted after all that work.....

We Need A Community Of Our Peers

By Pamela Moeng

Those of us with a day job constantly daydream about that nirvana in the just-out-of-reach future when we will chuck the day job misery for the bliss of writing full time from home. But today I realised one of the true blessings of the day job is a constant community of peers to cheer you on, commiserate with you and lift you with advice that assists your professional development. I attended a workshop of other communicators, reluctantly because it took valuable time from the office, but I left inspired, uplifted and feeling the warmth of kindred spirits.


I guess the hardest part of writing full time in a home office could be self-imposed isolation. I'm just beginning to create a network of other writers to advise and cheer me on and I can feel the difference in my spirit already. I think before one quits the day job for nirvana, one should build up that network of cyber support if not warm bodies that can sit over coffee and offer technical advice and stories of how-I-did-it-and-succeeded.

Following other writers' blogs, signing up for credible free ezines, tapping into sites designed especially for writers and editors can all help create a support structure without walls for those days when spirits flag and success seems unattainable, whatever you perceive success to be for you.

Reaching out may not be in character for you, but reaching out could mean the difference between success and failure. Certainly misery loves company, so if you are struggling with some aspect of writing or running your writing business, you may learn from others in the same situation. You might also decide that your situation is not as bleak as you think once you speak to other writers.

What do you think? Any suggestions for those thinking of making a leap of faith toward nirvana?

Your Words Have The Power To Inspire

I was filling in some forms and one of the questions asked was: "Explain in 200 words or less, why you think your art is important."

My response was that the words I share make a difference in people's lives. Our stories can teach, entertain and inspire people to take action. They can help a young person, trapped in a life of poverty or other types of dire circumstances, to imagine a world beyond their problems and maybe even work towards that future. They can bring laughter and a lightened heart to someone who had a bad day. Written well, words can persuade people to care about a cause and to take action. And sometimes, words are just a form of self-expression, a way of telling the world : "I was here, and I too matttered to someone."

Anyhoo, while writing this paragraph, I remembered an old post entitled "Your Words Have The Power To Inspire" that I published at Ezine Articles  in 2007. The article is about being at a TV studio for an interview on a Sunday morning and meeting a fan who was waiting for a popular DJ to show up. My first thought  when she told me what she was about was "STALKER ALERT!". But then my day got interesting.

Check out the post.

I hope the post will help you to appreciate how meaningful your writing ( if you are a writer) or  blog posts, are to people, some of whom you may never even hear from.

First Writer’s Meeting At My House

Today was my turn to host our monthly writers’ meeting and of course I was in a tizzy. Poor Thobile (my helper): I made her scrub and polish the floors, wash and iron scatter cushion covers, wipe and polish every flat surface we can find, sweep the yard and every flat surface outside the house, bought fresh flowers to make the livingroom more cheerful...

I know it’s a crazy way to behave and goes back to my childhood where I had a pushy Aunt for whom nothing was ever good enough or clean enough, but sometimes I can’t help being a maniac when I expect guests. Thank God Thobile is used to me... or is as crazy as I am, I’m not sure which. Yesterday she decided to trim one of the trees in the back garden with a saw. She says it was growing too big and getting in the way for people to pass. Tired after all that cleaning, we decided to buy baked eats rather doing them from scratch.

Then only one writer showed up.  She's someone who has freelanced for more than a decade, and our kids attended the same pre-school and have had lots of sleepovers over the years. So we had a lot to talk about - catching up on personal news, parenting, the writing life, finding work, sharing job leads, brainstorming article ideas and marketing and how we can co-market each other. It was fantastic. Pity the writers who didn't show missed this session. I'm definitely going to keep in closer contact with this writer.

Finding Writing Time & Guilt

By Pamela Moeng

What role does guilt play in the search for writing time? At varsity, housekeeping always assumed gigantic importance just when an assignment was due or studying for an exam was urgent. Believing that the time spent on studies was 'me' time rather than an investment in family future meant I was easily self persuaded to clean cupboards and do laundry ahead of assignments.

Writing as a freelancer is the same, especially for a writer with a day job. Moolah generated isn't much yet, so it seems the time spent is a luxury pandering to dreams of Nobel-prize-winning greatness a la Nadine Gordimer rather than an investment in future earning potential, not to mention soul-satisfying mental health benefits.

Truth is that despite what women's liberation proponents would have had us believe, you simply can't have it all. At least not all at the same time. I've hurt people tremendously and jettisoned parts of my life I would rather have kept to become a writer, given that studying and the day job were absolute prerequisites and balancing all was too daunting a task to face.

How do you find balance and when guilt pangs strike, what are good ways to ward them off without just jettisoning people and responsibilities?

Study Potential Literary Agents As Thoroughly As You Believe They're Studying You

So yesterday I Googled my name to see what would come up. Before you mutter "VAIN!" let me say that the reason I occassionally do so is to find out where my published material ends up. I've found that a lot of online publishers simply republish people's work without asking them them ( and I believe that's theft, but that's another post...) or even doing them the courtesy of asking ( It is my right to say Yes or No).

Anyhoo, I was pleasantly surprised to find one of my old articles turn up on a quick search. The article, entitled Study Potential Literary Agents As Thoroughly As You Believe They're Studying You, was published  by Writer's Weekly in September 2005. And yes, the advice in the article still applies.

Enjoy!

BTW, I've read Writer's Weekly for more than a decade and have found it to be very useful guide for writers and self-publishers. Check it out.

South African writers will also be interested to see that author Rayda Jacobs has an article  entitled Writing as a coping mechanism published in this week's issue of Writer's Weekly.  Rayda's books include the very popular Confessions of a gambler, The Mecca Diaries, My Father's Orchid and The Slave Book.

Further to my post on finding writing time

By Pamela Moeng

I've had a light bulb moment in the most unlikely place. More on that in a bit. Suffice it to say that the absolute beauty of a Blackberry is the time, otherwise lost, that it provides for writing and corresponding.


Think the bus, a taxi, spells of insomnia when you don't want to disturb your man by slipping out of bed and leaving a cold vacuum, the doctor-dentist-vet waiting rooms, and that last bastion of mom's peaceful solitude - the loo! Yes, my moment of brilliant clarity occurred on the throne.

What better way to multi-task with finesse than to use the time other generations used for aimless thought or idle gossip to go out and greet the world? Deadlines that bring thoughts of razor-blade slashing (not my wrists but the editor's throat!) cause not a worry now that my trusty BB, which is my new BBFF (berry best friend forever), is velcroed to my palm. No, not literally, but hmmmm...necessity is the mother of invention, not so?

Methinks D won't have to worry any longer about my not posting or deadlines being missed. Now those otherwise misspent moments clearing detritus from my mind - or purse - will be usefully focused on emails and writing. That prize-winning tome lurking in my creative or not genius and those quit chats via email or Facebook will take me out into the world even while I sit my not-so-queenly bearing on my personal throne. I'll conquer my correspondence and deadlines today -- tomorrow it's the world!

 
Note from D:
Pam is right; I no longer have to remind her to send me posts because she's been sending me lots of material through her BB since her lightbulb moment. So yeah... it works!

Link to Pam's previous post on finding writing time.
 
Question: What is the most important tool that has helped you to increase your productivity in your work?

Building Worth: What We Can Do

By Lori Widmer

One of the biggest issues freelance writers face today is the proliferation of awful job postings on the Internet. No matter at what level you are in your career, the $1-an-article jobs litter the job boards. And you’re thinking, “True, but what can I do about it?”


Perhaps we need to educate our peers. Moreover, we have to educate – nay, even shame – newcomers and wanna-be writers from taking these jobs. What they see as their golden opportunity is just more fodder for the content farm gristmill.

In the articles I write, I see a lot of talk about best practices. Mind you, best practices are a series of steps companies have taken that somehow or other worked, and other companies latch on thinking this is as good as it gets. For us, however, we're going to be a little smarter. We're going to take these as guidelines only and this list is going to evolve and change with us.

Let's get down to the bones.

When you see a lousy job posting, complain to the site owner. Please don't interpret this as attacking another writer or someone giving you these listings for free. These folks don't know your ceiling and some of them have carefully plucked through mountains of garbage to bring you what they think are viable offers. They're trying. I'm talking about the sites that tout themselves as bringing you quality postings - for a fee. Two things wrong with that: they don't bring you quality, and they make you pay. Send them a note telling them you're canceling your membership and why.

When you see other writers bidding or offering ridiculous rates, tell them about it. I'll leave it up to you how you'll do that, but I suggest a cordial, professional approach. Put your virtual arm around them and steer them toward better opportunities, better working habits, or the nearest minimum wage job. Educate these folks on why they're worth more and why these jobs on a resume make them look like hack wanna-bes. Seriously. No one ever got a gig at The Atlantic because they wrote for a content farm. Nor will they. Ever.

Do your best to ignore the offers. Engaging in verbal warfare with these fools is akin to wasting billable hours for nothing. Don't waste your time or your sanity, for they don't care. They want cheap work so they can gain whatever ad revenue they think is coming their way and make that whopping $5 profit. Leave them to spin their wheels alone.

If you must engage, be professional. Sometimes you find yourself in the unsavory position of having responded to what you thought was a legitimate job posting only to find it's no more than an offer to part you with more time wasted. When the "offer" comes back, if you feel like responding and wasting more time, do so only to tell the poster that your fee is 30 times higher because this is your full-time job, not your hobby, and that your rates are industry standard. Then disengage. If these posters share anything in common, it's their penchant for justifying their behavior and diminishing you as a result. I've been told I need an education in how PR, ad revenue, royalties, and various other key words work. Yet I manage to earn a respectable living despite this perceived ignorance. The bottom line is someone wants work and won't pay for it. Screw that. If you don't engage in verbal battle, you keep your professionalism, something these clowns will never have.

Help other writers say no. It's what I do every week. You can, too. Tell your blog readers, your forum buddies, your Twitter community why they need to say no to lousy offers, what they should be considering as a proper fighting wage, and why writing skills are indeed sought after and worthy of fair pay. We're only as strong as our weakest link, and let’s make sure those links are not paper chains of the "I need clips!" mentality. Let's show them all how to gain respectable clips without bringing down our profession.

What else we can do?

Lori Widmer is a veteran writer and editor who is worth every penny her clients pay. She blogs about all things writing-related at Words on the Page.

Is technology a bane or blessing?

By Pamela Moeng

My usually dependable Getz is laid up with a terminal case of need-a-new-fuel-pump. The man of the house broke the bad news after an emergency consultation with the service centre. As the car is long out of warranty and the service plan, we are also greatly out of pocket. Sigh.


But this domestic transport crisis gives me a chance to post while I travel home from the day job by bus. Always a silver lining in every storm cloud. Wish I could remember that when deadlines loom!

Technology, some say, has given us a lot of freedom, but isn't it a double-edged sword? With smart phones, netbooks, tablets and wireless connection we are under more pressure than ever to produce. At any time of the day or night, be it after traditional office hours during the work week, weekends, public holidays and even your annual leave!

Whether the gains outweigh the added stress is another issue. Would I give up my Blackberry and netbook in favour of yesteryear when emails were the stuff of science fiction and fax machines the height of technology? One thing I know for sure, my boss in those halycon days didn't expect me to be scanning the horizon for work 24/7, unlike today's boss who thinks work email and sms's should be attended to at all hours of the day and night!

What are your thoughts on the matter - is technology a bane or blessing?

Being Held Accountable

One of the difficulties of working as a writer is staying motivated enough to write. Having a client assignment helps, because you have an order to fulfill by a specific deadline. But, sometimes it seems that there are so  many life events happening, and it's easy enough to let yourself be overwhelmed and say:"I don't have time to write."  So over time, I've put in place a number of mechanisms that helps keep me on track. Here are some of them:

1. Develop a monthly plan - each month I update my records of projects I'm contracted for that month, projects that are coming through and self-initiated projects I want to do. That way I know what I need to do each month and what it takes to do it. 

2. Review each week and plan for the next - Every Friday I review the previous weeks' projects and update my schedule for the next week. Sometimes I do this alone, and sometimes I do this with a friend who is a small business owner. Her participation helps bring some objectivity to the process.

3. Share my schedule with a friend - I found that doing a "To Do" list was easy enough. The difficulty was sticking to it. So every day I email my to do list to a friend and she reviews it ( I do the same for her). That way, she can give me a talking to if a line item keeps cropping up and doesn't get finished/if I'm feeling down that day/not motivated to work on a specific task.

So what do you do to stay on track with your projects (whether writing related or not)?