Writing Careers Are Possible

From Kate's Writing Crate…

 

        My writing career started when I was an unhappy accountant and I signed up for my first writing class after writing in notebooks and journals for years. I arrived an hour before the evening class started every week as it was close to my office, but far from home. The second person to arrive was always the new owner of a local community magazine—a fortuitous benefit for following my dreams.

When the class session ended, the magazine owner hired another classmate to be the editor of her new second magazine. I signed on as a freelance writer and the proofreading intern. I moved up to assistant editor then editor of one magazine leaving accounting behind forever! Eventually, I became the editor of both magazines.

I still write one to four articles and an essay each month which means the fun of interviewing authors, volunteers at the local senior center and animal shelter; the women's club behind the Clown Town fundraiser; the Rotary Club's annual ALS Race; the Turkey Trot organizers; the National Guard Air Show; Movies on the Beach events; locals bands and choruses; art festivals; an American Red Cross Hero, and people dealing heroically with all kinds of cancer and other health issues including a brave and cheerful five-year-old boy 18 months into chemo and radiation for a brain tumor. He wants to be a police officer when he grows up and mentioned he would like to meet a K-9 team. The local police station and an officer arranged to take him to school in a squad car as well as meet a K-9 officer and his dog.

These articles let residents know about upcoming events as well as about neighbors helping others and those neighbors in need of help. It feels good to be part of a vibrant, caring community. Writing articles makes a difference in people's lives and my own.

I am a writer. I have known that since I learned to read. I was side-tracked into another career as writing isn't revered in this country until you are a bestselling or well-known author.

While being a New York Times' bestselling author (NYTBSA) may be most writers' goal, there are many other writing careers available to us. Even as I was told there was no money in writing, there are millions of publications and web sites that have pages and space that need filling daily, weekly, and monthly.

        Okay, you probably need to write a lot before you get paid so start filling a notebook a month as soon as you can as per Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. The more you write the more you improve. Also, read Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott for inspiration and a reality check.

Writers write so write no matter what!

        Start a writing project—book, essay, article, poem, post, etc. Then finish it!

Blogs are a great way to get going. Start one. Now you have a weekly deadline. Meet it!

For inspiration, read blogs like MegWaiteClayton.com/1stbooks and Kristen Lamb's warriorwriters.wordpress.com.

Take a writing class and/or join or start a writing group. Support and discussions about improving writing are essential.

Read local publications. See if there is space for writers to submit letters, essays, etc. Then submit something or email/call to ask about writing opportunities. Working with editors who give you feedback will improve your writing and get you published.

When you feel ready, go on web sites like Thumbtack to find freelance opportunities across the country. Make sure you complete assignments and turn them in on time. Build a reputation as a writer who works quickly and competently, and editors will contact you with assignments as well as remember you when they move from one publication to another gaining you a larger audience and more money.

Usually the rights to your assigned articles revert to you after publication. Don't forget, you can tweak articles to work for other publications. For example, if you write about a person or event in the northeast for a local publication, Yankee Magazine might be interested in the same topic. Double pay is a good thing!

The Writers' Digest is a helpful resource to find publications interested in your submissions. Why not make the most of your hard work? This also gets you more bylines which then makes it easier to be accepted by other publications.

Agents, editors, and publishers read magazines and blogs. Writers have received representation and book and movie offers based on their work published in these venues.

You never know who is reading your work or where it may lead. The important thing is to write and to keep writing. Then send your work out into the world. If your goal is to be a writer, NYTBSA or otherwise, start writing now!

 

20 Writers Discuss Why They Write

By Kate Phillips

 

        Why do we write? Every writer has his or her own motivation, but it's helpful and inspiring to hear other writers' reasons.

        In Why We Write, edited by Meredith Maran, 20 acclaimed authors discuss how and why they do what they do. Each author gives an overview of his or her background and books as well as discussing his or her writing life. Here are some highlights:
 

 

"Writing is always giving some sort of order to the chaos of life. It organizes life and memory."

                                                Isabel Allende   (page 11)

 

"There's a moment in every book when the story and characters are finally there; they come to life, they're in control. They do things they are not supposed to do and become people they weren't meant to be. When I reach that place, it's magic. It's a kind of rapture."

                                                Sara Gruen   (page 62)

 

"I write to dream; to connect with other human beings; to record; to clarify; to visit the dead. I have a kind of primitive need to leave a mark on the world. Also, I have a need for money."

                                                Mary Karr   (page 107)

 

"I write to explain myself to myself. It's a way of processing my disasters, sorting out the messiness of life to lend symmetry and meaning to it."

                                                Armistead Maupin   (page 130)

 

"I write to investigate things I'm curious about."

                                                Jane Smiley   (page 206)

 

 

"Working it out is a kind of exercise you've given yourself that no one else will give you. It's a very personalized form of homework."

                                                Meg Wolitzer   (page 220)

 

        Why do you write?

Historical Fiction by Lisa Kleypas

By Kate Phillips

 

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books. 

Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 
Before summer comes to an end, I'm recommending several more beach books—historical fiction this time.

        Lisa Kleypas writes both historical and contemporary novels with detailed love scenes. Historicals are not usually my favorite, but Kleypas has a way with words, characters, settings, and plots. Her female leads are not wallflowers although this highlighted four-book series follows four women labeled as such by a society that has deemed them unworthy of suitors from the upper class.

        The first in the series is Secrets of a Summer Night. Annabelle Peyton's family has sunk into poverty since her father's death years ago. Her brother's education is given first priority when bills are paid, but there isn't enough money for both food and shelter. Several Lords are waiting for her desperation to force her to become a mistress, but self-made Simon Hunt offers her marriage. However, she wants to marry an aristocrat, not the son of a butcher turned businessman.

        At balls and social events, Annabelle is left sitting with the same wallflowers—Lillian and Daisy Bowman, American sisters whose father has made millions in manufacturing soap, and Evangeline Jenner, daughter of a wealthy father who runs a gaming establishment. Eventually they begin to talk and then become friends. Together they devise a husband-hunting plan.

        The three rich debutants are invited to a month-long house party at the Westcliff estate and inveigle an invitation for Annabelle who is the first one to benefit from the husband-hunting plan. There is a happy ending, but complications, misunderstandings, and a near-death experience must be overcome first. (Very romantic.)

        Lillian Bowman is feisty, outspoken, amusing, and infuriating  which catches the attention of Lord Marcus Westcliff, the most eligible bachelor in England, in It Happened One Autumn. She wins a bet with Westcliff so his mother must help Lillian and Daisy enter into high society. His mother wants him to marry a woman with the bluest blood, but an American upstart may upset her plans. Lord Westcliff is torn. Will family expectations triumph over love? Lillian's mother just wants her daughters to marry well. Will another aristocrat win Lillian's hand in marriage by any means necessary? (Very romantic and amusing.)

        Next up is Devil in Winter, Evangeline Jenner's story. She turns to the Viscount Sebastian St. Vincent, a man desperate for funds as his father has squandered the family fortune, to save her from a horrible marriage to her cruel cousin who only wants control of her money. Without great expectations, will this relationship become romantic?

The series concludes with Scandal in Spring. Daisy Bowman's father has sworn to marry her to a man she does not like. She dreams of marrying for love as her sister did. With the help of her husband-hunting friends, she does.

 

Especially for writers, I also recommend Suddenly You as the lead character is Amanda Briars, a novelist who, with the help of her publisher, becomes a celebrated editor of a quarterly review journal.

 

While I wish this novel had a less Chick Lit name, Lady Sophia's Lover is the story of tragedy, revenge, and true love. Sophia's brother died in jail and she blames the man who put him there. She works her way into Sir Ross Cannon's office and home. Becoming indispensable and intriguing are part of her plan to ruin his reputation and break his heart. Will it work? (Very romantic.)

 

The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda

By Kate Phillips

 

        Looking for inspiration? Flip open The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

        His questions don't have answers per se; they make you consider. Ponder. Laugh. Think. Feel.

        A few of my favorites from pages 3, 14, 20, 40, and 47, respectively:

 

 

                Tell me, is the rose naked

                or is that her only dress?

 

 

                Who shouted with glee

                when the color blue was born?

 

 

                And why did cheese decide

                to perform heroic deeds in France?

 

 

                What do they call the sadness

                of a solitary sheep?

 

 

                In the middle of autumn

                do you hear yellow explosions?

 

       

        Think of some questions of your own or write down your thoughts after reading some from the book. The author was playful with many of his questions including on page 32:

 

                Is there anything sillier in life

                Than to be called Pablo Neruda?

 

       

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

By Kate Phillips

 

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

        Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don't generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 

        Although published sixteen years ago, Digital Fortress by Dan Brown could not be more current. It's a thriller about codes, code breaking, the NSA, and espionage.

        Don't start reading the book unless you have time to finish it as the plot is a masterclass. You will be annoyed if interrupted and almost incapable of putting it down. It's fast-paced and fascinating.

        I don't want to ruin it for anyone so I dare say no more.

        Enjoy!

My Writing Life by Ellen Gilchrist

 

By Kate Phillips

 

        Ellen Gilchrist lives her life on her own terms. She married four times, gave birth to and raised three sons, and has twelve grandchildren. She studied writing with Eudora Welty. She lives alone happily writing, teaches college students to write better, and then immerses herself with family and friends for balance.

She started writing seriously at forty, winning a National Book Award. To date, she has written novels, essays, short stories, and novellas including a collection of over 50 essays entitled The Writing Life which captures both her joy of writing as well as teaching writing.

On page 68, Gilchrist states: "Why do I come back to the typewriter so headily each morning? Because it feels good. The brain is easily addicted to feeling good and nothing on earth, with the exception of great sex, feels as good as having written well and truly in the morning. Actually it is better than sex because you control the whole activity and the afterglow can last for years if the work is published and other people profit from it. The lasting pleasure is not in their praise but in your knowledge that you have contributed something of value to the culture from which you derive your being."

        Gilchrist lives with élan as we all should.

In her essay "How Books Still Change Our Lives," Gilchrist brings you into not only her cul-de-sac neighborhood, but up the hill into her home made mostly of glass. The description of her house, the music she loves, and her reverence for art and her artist friends/neighbors give readers a look into her delightful, creative life.

        In her essay "The Shakespeare Group," she shares that seven or eight friends—poets, writers, an actress—meet at her home every Sunday afternoon to read the plays of Shakespeare aloud. One play every Sunday from beginning to end. Just for fun. Three times through as of the writing of this essay.

        As she notes, "…need to read all thirty-eight to learn that even the greatest writer who ever lived was a novice to begin with, and then got better, and better, and better and better, until he became the best, past, present, and forevermore." (page13) "No one could tire of them. They are not only plays. They are great poetry and they contain novels, essays, stand-up comedy routines, satire, metaphor raised to the tenth power." (page 14)

        As a writing teacher, Gilchrist considers the writing profession from a new perspective. How to inspire students? She highly recommends reading On Writing by Ernest Hemingway. She notes, "If you want to learn how to make characters move around and do things, open up Huckleberry Finn to any page and start reading. No one does it better than the old master, Mark Twain." (page 122)

        Other creative advice from Gilchrist: "Create characters. Think up something for them to do. Start writing. Tell the story and be sure to make it ring true. Believe in the story your imagination gives you. Stick to it. Don't worry about what anyone is going to think when they read it." (page 125)

But she also reminds her students that "Love and marriage and children and broken hearts and disappointments and dreams that don't come true are the stuff of poetry and fiction." (page 139) "…you have to be living a life full of other interests besides writing at the same time that you are writing every day whether you are inspired or not." (page128)    

        The gift she gives writers, besides her books, is the knowledge that we can give ourselves a creative life like hers. We can write in the mornings to give our days an afterglow; we can read Shakespeare plays aloud and in order, along with reading other classics, to appreciate and learn from great writing; we can listen to music we love; gather together with other writers and artists; and be inspired by the happenings in our own lives.

       

My First Novel edited by Alan Watt

By Kate Phillips

 

        If you are looking for inspiration while writing your first novel—or any novel—read My First Novel: Tales of Woe and Glory edited by Alan Watt. In it, twenty-five writers share their behind-the-desk experiences.

         While the title is My First Novel, several of the writers question what is meant by first novel. Is it the first novel you write? The first novel accepted by an agent? Or the first novel published? Rarely are they the same novel.

        As Aimee Bender notes on page 13, "The drawer is perhaps an active part of the writer's life as the non-drawer, the pages that see the light and go to people. In my view, it's important not to work on everything, to put things aside that are not clicking…"

        Allison Burnett on page 29 shares, "A lesson I like to pass on to young writers: hard work is rarely wasted. Hold on to every scrap you write. You'll never know what you'll make of it down the road."

        And writing isn't the only important part of novel writing as explained by John Dufresne on page 56. "I learned that what you take out of a novel is as important as what you leave in. You can't free the angel until you carve away the stone. Overwriting is essential, and so is ruthless editing."

        On pages 139-140, Dave Newman states, "Time, for writers, is measured in two things: the amount of words we read and the amount of words we write…What I should have done was write my novel straight through then I should have written some poems then another novel then some more poems then more stories and so on."

        Mary Otis thinks on page 147: "Writing a story seems to be about intention and availability—not only to the story itself, but availability to daily life…The trick is that you never know where you will find what, so I try to dwell in a place of possibility, and often the world feels like it is leaning in, conspiring with me to write the story."

        Cheryl Strayed discusses her writing process on page 168. "I wanted to write the best novel that has ever been written in the world, but I finally had to let go of that and simply write the best novel I could write. A novel, I acknowledged, that might end up being mediocre at best, that might never be published or read or loved. Embracing these facts—that I could only write the story I wanted to write and only to the best of my abilities—was extremely liberating and important. It was what allowed me to finally get to work and write my novel."

        If you need inspiration as you write your first novel and you are online, visit http://megwaiteclayton.com/1stbooks/. Subtitled: Reading and Writing with Friends. Here many authors share their stories behind their first novels.

If all these authors can persevere and succeed, so can we!