starting out

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roberta L Rand on July 30, 2009 at 8:04pm

I have also recently updated my beautiful new website for children ages 4-8.
www.GrandmaTellMeaStory.com
As well as being able to listen to six recorded story samples, you can now read synopsis of the more than twenty story and lesson plans available to those who join my site.
Here's the write up if your interested in learning more about me and my writing.
"Madeleine Sklar is a storyteller who has recently launched a children's website with magical, Waldorf-inspired stories that teach valuable lessons and empower children. Currently there are over 20 original teacher-tested stories. New stories are added monthly (usually 2 stories of 1500 to 2500 words each). Fun projects for parents and kids to do together, curriculum ideas, and discussion topics to for home-schooling, or to enrich school literacy programs, accompanying the downloadable story PDFs. The website also has an art gallery where children are invited to submit their illustrations to the stories and view theirs and other children's illustrations on line."
As well as writing children's stories and lesson plans for my website, I am also a poet.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Poisoned Spoon on October 10, 2009 at 8:06am

Ajay,
I am having some major deja vu right now. I could have sworn I answered you a long time ago but I don't see my response. Did you ask this somewhere else as well?

Regardless... I write non-fiction books about Mediterranean culture, spirituality practices and music/dance.

There are a lot of issues that come up for me. The first thing I run into is the detritus flush. There are a lot of ideas floating around in my head and the way that I present them is not the first way that comes to mind. I'm a natural comedian, my first response to anything is to play with it and be kind of funny about it. I do let my humor show through in my written work but I don't let it dominate. So the first thing I do is write out all the free floating crap in my head. Before I can say what I want to say I have to get out what I don't want to say and see it written down in front of me. Does that make sense?

Writers block is a real bitch but I seem to have stumbled upon the panacea of writers block (for me) so it doesn't affect me as much anymore. I'm a musician, writer, dancer and illustrator. (Apollo was kind.) So when I'm having writer's block I just go dance, make music or sketch/ink. I keep myself busy, working always. Otherwise I get lethargic and lazy during my work time. I push with one media as far as I can go, until I'm all tapped out and then I push with something else. When I am well and truly creatively tapped out I read in the bath tub with a cold malt beverage at my side. Usually my "reading baths" end with me leaping out of the tub with an idea and running barely toweled down the hallway to go write it down. *Chuckles*

A huge problem I face is computer annihilation. My computers have been stolen, destroyed externally, fried internally, etc. So I have to remember to back up my work every other day or at least at the end of each week. I just recently lost 2 weeks of work not even a week ago. I am now writing this to you on a brand new computer because my old one went for a swim. (I have imaginative toddlers.) If it happens to you just don't let it get to you. You have to get back up and keep writing.

When I first started out I didn't realize that writing was a 24/7 job. Your brain is always tossing out nuggets of gold if you just wait patiently for them and have the means to catch them when they fall. Inspiration is awesome but also kind of a bitch because sometimes I get inspired in the weirdest places and if I don't have something to write with and on when it happens I can just kiss the moment good bye. ALWAYS keep a pen and notebook handy! Always! I have one in the car, in my bag, in the bathroom, in the living room, in the kitchen. I have notebooks everywhere because I never know when its going to strike and I have to start writing quickly.

The rest is just persistence. Just keep going. You are not going to have instant gratification with this. You will not kick out a book in 2 months no matter what the Do It Yourself books say. I started my first book at the end of 2004 and it was finally printed in May 2008. The editing alone took a year and it took a while to find a publisher. My second book is scheduled to come out March 2010 and it will be just short of a 2 year project. My third book is also coming out in March (because I am a total sadist and I work on more than one at a time) and I started working on that one about 4 months ago.

If you're going to be an author its a big time commitment, you are going to spend many, many days writing your guts out. And if you're writing non-fiction then you'll be spending a lot of time in research as well. Even if its a subject you know well you will need quotes to support your argument, you will need to compile a decent bibliography and many other little details that you might not think about. Gods save you if you go to a small publisher and you have to do your own marketing as well. *Gah!*

Just don't get frustrated and always come home to your manuscript. Oh... and heads up on the sudden crushing fear of success. It hit me about two months before my release date. You start thinking, "Oh shit! This is actually happening! I wrote a book!" And one would think that would be a happy moment but it all came crashing down as I realized that my words would be frozen forever and my most intimate ideas would be subject to public evaluation. I don't imagine this would be a problem for an extrovert but holy cow... I have seen this happen to people pursuing other large goals and the tendency towards self destruction is strong. Do not ever give in. Don't stop. Don't let it crush you if you experience it. Just put your head down and keep working.

Hope that helps.
~*Spoon*~

▶ Reply to This