Dan Brown puts me to shame

Dan Brown's latest book is now out, and he's making the media rounds and talking Dante. I bought the audio version, but what interests me more is this writer's phenomenal work habits. He puts me to shame, which, to be honest, isn't all that hard to do.

"At the keyboard every day by 4 a.m., writing until midday, seven days a week, even on Christmas; throwing away 10 pages for every one he keeps" (Daily Beast).

I've got to do better. Consistency, and unrelenting marketing, are the keys to success in this business. 

Writing stars, are you with me?

Donna Marie

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Easy book writing for people who talk

Speakers, if you haven’t written a book yet, you’re cutting yourself off at your financial knees. The tried and true business model for speakers includes writing a book that can be sliced and diced in multiple ways, including CDs and DVDs, eBooks, articles, blog posts, even Apps. But the book lays the foundation. 

Monetary benefits aside…

• Books extend your influence beyond the podium. You can’t be in multiple places at one time, but your books can.
  
• Books market your products and services. How often have you been so captivated by a book that you immediately searched for the author’s website to investigate her other offerings?
  
• Books build your credibility as a media expert. When you’ve published a book, people believe you know what you’re talking about. Books serve as your calling card to print journalists and talk show hosts who are always on the lookout for experts on various topics.

As an editor and writing coach who has worked exclusively with speakers over the past few years, I’ve learned that some speakers trap themselves into never ending cycles of frustration when they talk about writing a book rather than actually writing one.

Try forcing the issue by taking a speaker off the stage and putting a blank piece of paper in front of him. He may get what I call “page fright.” Taken out of his comfort zone, he starts remembering his mean English teacher with the red pencil.

Never fear. Writing a book doesn’t have to be as painful as writing a research paper. Yes, it does require a lot of work, but when you use your natural speaking gifts, writing a book can be just as enjoyable as delivering a speech. 

If you’re a good writer and a good speaker, you’re one of those rare beings who was blessed by the communications angels. Most of us have one dominant mode of communication: speaking or writing. If you’re unsure of your writing ability, seek out a writer, editor, or coach. To produce a quality product, this is all-important. Even veteran writers need to be edited and proofed, so a word to the wise: don’t cut corners.

Use your voice to write your book!

1. Record and transcribe. Invest in a good recorder and keep it handy so that you can speak your book while doing solitary activities (like driving). One of my clients works this way. At the end of a few months, he sends me several microcassette tapes. I transcribe them and edit the transcription.

Before you record one word, take the time to plan your book out first. Developing a simple Table of Contents will help focus and organize your thoughts. Jotting down a few notes per chapter will also help. The structure may change in time, but for now, it’s a good way to start. 

2. Take notes. Last year I worked with a pastor who likes to take notes while studying scripture. These notes form the basis of his sermons, and he realized they could also lay the foundation for his first book. He developed his Table of Contents, used that to organize his notes, and then began to write. I edited the manuscript, and he was delighted to finally self-publish his first book after 10 years of talking about it! 

By the way, when you’re writing your first draft, don’t worry about getting every sentence grammatically perfect. This will create page fright and shut down all creativity. Just let the words and ideas flow. You and your editor can fix it later.

3. Transcribe speeches. I include this method with caution. If you are an extemporaneous speaker, your transcribed speeches should serve only as the launching pad for your book, not the actual narrative. That would be too easy! I once tried to transcribe such a speech, but I soon realized that it was an exercise in futility. All those repetitions, colloquialisms, mmm’s, and ahhh’s that are so powerful at the podium fall flat on the page. 

Take the time to plan your speeches for the sole purpose of using them to develop your book. This may go against the grain of extemporaneous speakers, but trust me, planning your speeches, even preparing a script, will help in the book writing process.

Recording, transcribing, and note taking tap into speakers’ natural mode of planning and communicating, and they will definitely help speed up the process of writing a book. Just keep in mind that a transcription is not a book. You'll still have more writing to do. 

“Write like you talk!” my mother, the English teacher, used to tell her students. And I’ll add, it may be tough but stop talking about writing a book and get to writing!

Donna Marie

How to get a book out of your head

Writers feel frustrated when they are unable to move from daydreaming to writing. Although the desire to write is strong, the frustrated writer just can't seem to jumpstart the writing process. She's mentally stuck. This creates a sense of failure, low self-esteem, frustration, and even panic. We're missing that creative relief, release, and happiness we so desperately seek from the act of writing. 

We call this problem "procrastination," but I wonder if that's too simple a diagnosis.

Maybe we've got it all wrong. Thinking and dreaming are definitely part of the writing process. You can't write a book without mental activity first. But have you ever considered that the transition from thinking to writing is, in itself, worthy of our attention? Could it be that the transition is as much of the writing process as daydreaming and actual writing?

Thanks to Mairéad Hanrahan's review of The Preparation of the Novel, we get a glimpse of the rituals and self-created environments of some of the world's most prolific, successful writers. 

The Preparation of the Novel includes the notes of lectures delivered by the late Roland Barthes at the Collège de France in the 1970's. According to Columbia University Press, his American publisher, "Barthes's lectures move from the desire to write to the actual decision making, planning, and material act of producing a novel."

The only thing separating a writer who writes from a writer who talks about writing is the former's ability to flip the writing switch to "on." This is a mindset and a practice that can be learned. 

Although Barthes' book is about writing the novel, the ideas definitely apply to the rest of us who write nonfiction. Here are some questions to help you make the transition from thinking to doing.

1. Do you have an undeniable physical urge to write? Hanrahan says that Barthes looks at the “maniacal” urge in the author’s body to write. That's not as crazy as it sounds. When I have an idea for an article or a book, I do my usual daydreaming and, yes, procrastinating. It gets to a point where my physical body can't contain the ideas any more and I MUST write. In an explosion, the words burst forth from the walls of my body. It's crazy, really exciting, and a relief. That's often how I get started. Sustaining the discipline is another story.

2. Where do you feel most motivated to write? J.K. Rowlings wrote the Harry Potter books at cafés. In an interview she said, "You don't have to make your own coffee, you don't have to feel like you're in solitary confinement and if you have writers block, you can get up and walk to the next café while giving your batteries time to recharge and brain time to think."

I love to write when flying. My thinking is clear, and I feel a heightened creativity. I once wrote most of the first draft of a book on a flight home from Las Vegas.

3. When do you feel most motivated to write? Some writers like waking up at the crack of dawn, while others prefer the night time hours. There's something subversive about writing at night, like you're the only person awake in the world. Whenever you feel motivated and creative is what's important. Start honoring your most creative time of day by sitting at the computer and taking the plunge. 

Some other ideas not mentioned in the review but might be worth thinking about:

• Does weather get you in the mood to write? For some strange reason, cloudy, overcast days make me feel "literary."
  
• Do you like to write when you travel?
  
• Have you ever tried writing in a library, bookstore, restaurant, or café? For social butterflies who hate the idea of writing at home alone, this may be the answer. I've never known anyone who tried to write at a nightclub, but it could work!
  
• If you prefer recording your thoughts and then transcribing the tapes later, do you keep a recorder in your car? 

Bottom line: you can listen to motivational speakers all day long, but only intrinsic motivation will make you productive. Becoming a prolific writer is just as much about the art and science of making yourself do something as stringing words and sentences together. 

So what can you do to enhance your writing space? Schedule the best writing time? How about setting the alarm on your cell phone? 

What are some rituals that will create a mood and inner motivation to write?

Donna Marie

Jumpstart Monday // managing emotions, dealing with writer's depression

Probably the greatest obstacle to writers' success is lodged like a ticking time bomb in our souls. Triggered by setbacks, mistakes, failures, wrong turns, and disappointments, depression and frustration explode when things don't go our way.


You wonder, "I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Why isn't it paying off?" or "What the heck am I supposed to do with the rest of my life?"


Health.com's article, "10 Careers With High Rates of Depression," was a revelation -- not because writing is #6 on the list, but because it was actually acknowledged that writers suffer from depression. 


I'm not a psychologist, but I know that if you don't manage your emotions, if you succumb to depression, writer's block and writer's procrastination are sure to follow. Not a good thing when you're on a deadline. For many, Monday morning is a trigger for depression, and it often begins with feelings of dread Sunday night. 


I subscribe to the simple but brilliant notion that our emotions are indicators of whether or not we're in alignment with God within us. If we're unhappy or fearful (about money, for example), we're out of alignment with that high vibrational state that expresses as Love, Peace, Joy.


When we are feeling loving, peaceful, and joyful, we're in a more receptive frame of mind to see the opportunities that are scattered, like diamonds, all around us, all the time.


So how can you start feeling better right now?


It's unreasonable to expect that positive thinking alone is going to make you feel better. Here's what you can do right now...


1. Acknowledge the feeling. It's telling you something. Listen.


2. It may take a lot of effort, but look for one small thing in your life that makes you happy. Meditate on that. Now think of something else. This is just enough to take some of the edge off, but that's enough to get the happy productivity snowball rolling. 


It seems like a little thing to do, but I guarantee, you're going to feel better.


Remember, the Monday blues is a mindset. Just as easily we can make Monday the best day of the week!


Donna Marie

Jumpstart Monday // RETHINK writer's procrastination

How often have I berated myself over the years for lacking willpower? Too many times to count.

Well it looks like I was beating myself up for nothing. According to a Daily Beast article, researchers at Columbia University’s Neurological Institute say there may be no such thing as willpower. Instead, it's more effective to think "impulse control." I like "impulse management."

Our alleged willpower is constantly doing battle with our neurological system of reward, which wants to make us feel good. When we succumb to instant gratification we're just going with the neural flow of feeling good. If it felt good before, our neurons tell us, it will feel good again and again. How can willpower stand against that neural road well traveled? Most times it can't, which is why I gained all the damn weight back after losing 65 pounds! This inner conflict is what Paul was talking about when he said,

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a [neural] law-dominated existence? (Galatians 5:16-18, Message)

So when we procrastinate with our writing, we're simply allowing our neurons to be the master over our intentions. We're much more than instinctive animals, but if we don't manage our impulses, our neurons will go into a default mode, a.k.a. "habits."

When you're on a deadline and have mouths to feed, default mode is not going to work. Casey Schwartz writes that impulse control is the...

ability to mitigate any stimulus that sets off the brain’s reward circuitry. Unlike willpower, impulse control is not a judgment about the strength of one’s character. This is not just a politically correct revision. The concept of impulse control comes from a better understanding of the brain mechanisms that underlie self-restraint.

So today when you're pondering things you'd prefer to do over writing, realize that this is just a temporary impulse that's been wired into the circuitry of your brain. Just that raised awareness will help you make better decisions about your commitment to write today. 

Delay the impulse to do something else, and immediately gratify your desire to write!

How do you deal with writer's procrastination?

Donna Marie

Jumpstart Monday // TRICK writer's procrastination

As my writing stars know, I constantly battle against writer's procrastination (in which writer's block may be lurking). Sometimes I give in and go shopping, but this leads to so much pent up guilt and stress (and fear that I'll miss my deadline) that finally, in an explosion of frantic activity, I'll force myself to write. When I'm done it's such a relief, but surely, there must be a better way?

Well, yes there is. I've learned that procrastination is not always the issue. There are times when you really want to work, but you just don't feel like writing (yet). There's more to the writing process than just putting words to paper, and so I suggest you trick writer's procrastination by doing other writerly things. For example, 

1. Do research. At heart, writers are information junkies. We love to learn about new things, so research can be a lot of fun. If you're researching a topic for your current writing project – the project that's causing all the stress – then technically you're not procrastinating. You're doing necessary work that will uncover information you'll use to develop your content.

I do a lot of my research on the Internet, but novelist Greg Rucka puts me to shame. He dives deeply into the real drama of human beings. His io9 essay, "There's no substitute for getting your hands dirty when you research a story," was a revelation.

Some of the best moments I've ever written have come about because someone, somewhere, blew my preconceptions out of the water and dropped a detail in passing that took the work in an entirely new, entirely unexpected, direction.

As you research your topic and fascinating new information is revealed and synchronicities occur and creativity is sparked, it will feel as if you have no choice but to write.

2. What if you are experiencing a bit of writer's block? Write in longhand – don't type. Sometimes the act of writing in longhand jumpstarts creativity. There's something about the hand-page-pen-brain connection that has the power to trigger ideas and writing. When the ideas are coming faster than your hand can write, then start typing.

Tricking writer's procrastination is all about building an inner momentum so that you can't wait to start writing. It's a psyche job. 

If you have a hard time getting started on Monday, you might want to try these 2 tips, as well as those listed here and here.

If you have other ways to trick writer's procrastination, let me know so I can share with my other writing stars on a future Jumpstart Monday post!

Donna Marie

Jumpstart Monday // DEFEAT writer's procrastination

The stress of not writing is worse than not writing! Have you ever had a panic attack because you weren't writing?

An article in Psychology Today offers 10 things you should know about procrastination. Read the entire article to get the big picture, but here I'll highlight 3 of the issues as a self-assessment. (Be honest.) 

1. Is procrastination part of your lifestyle? Then you'll probably suffer writing procrastination until you get a handle on it. 

2. Do you make a lot of excuses for procrastinating? When you were a child, was "the dog" always "eating your homework?" 

3. Do you think you have more time in the day to write than you actually have? Do you constantly say, "I didn't get any writing done today? Where did the time go?" According to the Psychology Today article, "Procrastinators are not different in their ability to estimate time, although they are more optimistic than others." 

Wonder if she practiced today?

I disagree with point #4 in the article: "Procrastinators are made not born." The doctors had to induce labor when I was pregnant with my daughter because she procrastinated for 2 weeks. To this day, if she really doesn't want to do something, it's WWW III to get her to do it.

Maybe we should be asking ourselves, "Do I really want to write this book?" 

I believe fear is the cause of writer's procrastination – fear and the quest for perfection. We don't know if we have what it takes to write not just a good book but a perfect one. But we don't have to write a perfect book. It should be accurate, of course, but it doesn't have to be all that literary. It should just be grammatical, clear, organized, and interesting enough to keep the reader's attention. You can do that.

I've also learned that fantasy thinking is a big part of the problem. We talk about writing a book, even brag about it. We think about it all day long, but by the end of the day, nothing was actually written. 

By the way, what's up with the Monday morning blues? It's like we've agreed as a nation that Monday is the worst day of the week. Studies have found that people drop dead on Monday morning. Maybe we need to change our minds about Monday. It's not so bad.

The Psychology Today article didn't offer much hope for a cure. "Procrastinators can change their behavior—but doing so consumes a lot of psychic energy." It was also suggested that procrastinators may need therapy. 

No no no. Sometimes therapy can be another form of procrastination.

I have found some simple ways through the years to put a foot up my own rear end and get moving. Basically it involves working with the procrastination. If you can't beat it, join it. Here's what I do. 

1. While procrastinating, keep a notebook on hand and opened to a blank page. Sometimes writer's procrastination and writer's block go hand in hand. You may have started writing in earnest, but the words simply dried up, and then you started to procrastinate because you couldn't face the blank page. This happens to all writers, experienced and novice. 

No matter how I'm procrastinating – watching TV, shopping, or surfing the net – I'll see the opened notebook in my peripheral vision. When I open my purse, I'll see the small notebook opened to a blank page. On the car seat, the notebook is opened to a blank page. My subconscious seems to understand my desire to get to work, so it does, too. Amazingly inspiration will often strike. If I'm driving, I'll pull over (yes, even on the expressway), and write. Now I know you can't depend on inspiration to complete your project, but use it for the gift that it is.

2. A study cited by PsyBlog says we can avoid procrastination by focusing on the details. This works for me. When I get an idea, I start taking notes. Although this is not writing per se, it is part of the writing process. Taking notes often jumpstarts full scale writing.

3. Instead of seeking therapy for your procrastination issues, try writing all about it in a journal. Journaling forces you to dig deeply into what you think, how you feel. This is often exactly what you need to jumpstart your book project.

4. If I deliberately obsess about writing right before going to bed, I'll wake up in the morning with ideas I just have to get down.

Some writers have rituals to get them started. What works for me may not work for you, but hopefully these tips will help.

Donna Marie

Jumpstart Monday // writer's procrastination

Sometimes we writers say we can't write because of "writer's block." Uh huh.

Oh, I'm the only one? Okay then, I'll just speak for myself. When I'm working on a writing or editing project, I'm highly focused and on task. When my children were young, it used to really get on my nerves when they'd be like, "Mumz, I'm hungry" or "Mumz, can you help me do my homework?" or my favorite, "So what you doing, Mumz?" (Hip hop children. Their grandmother is G-Ma.) They didn't care what I was doing when they were playing with their friends, but now they need my attention?

Getting started on the project, well, that's a whole different story. I will allow a million things to distract me. I'll run to the thrift or the flea even though I don't need anything. I'll make up up urgent errands. I'll find sites and YouTube videos that are just soooo fascinating. I'll wash the dishes. Anything.

Is it just me or is procrastination more stress-inducing than the actual work?
 
I saw this quote today and it really struck me.

"When you choose a behavior, you choose the consequences." Dr. Phil McGraw 

Most of the time, procrastination is a behavior that leads to nowhere. Writer's procrastination leads to no writing getting done.

On the other hand... If you can be disciplined about it, procrastination can, at times, lead to new ideas about your project. If you really have been stuck (and not just making excuses for not writing), goofing off, doing something completely different, can lead to delightful revelations. This happens to me all the time.

You have to be disciplined about it, though, and honestly, I'm not always that disciplined. The other day I looked up and it was 4:00 in the afternoon – and I had not written not one word. 

What will always pull me back to a project, even if I have to stare at a blank screen or sheet of paper is the DEADLINE and the $$. If I don't do the work, I don't get paid. And mumz needs a new pair of kitten heeled boots. 

Time to get to work.

Donna Marie