5 Ways I am Working To Become a Better Writer

If you talk writers, nearly all of them are constantly learning about their craft.

At the 2016 ANWA Writer's Conference, I listened to Anika Arrington confess not using pages from her past books as examples for her class because her writing had changed too much over the last several years.

I remember thinking, "Your books are published. How are they not good enough?"

Since then, I've seen my writing change drastically. For the better, I hope.  Below are some ways I've worked at becoming a better writer

1. Read.  I often thought I could read or I could write, but I didn't have time to do both.  Um, No.  Find time.  Always find time.  Though I don't read as prolifically as most, I do my best. Even if it's a book in the car while waiting for my kids, or on the stairs as I wait for my youngest's bus to pull up.  Every bit counts.  Especially when I'm actively writing.  I'll nearly hyperventilate when I get to a scene that grabs me, then obsess over it for days, dissecting the scene until I know exactly how it was written to evoke such emotions.

2.  Listen. It took a while to realize I should "plug in" during my 30-minute work commutes with an audio book, a TED talk, a conference talk, Podcast, or anything that may cause my creative juices to flow. Now, I multitask. I'll try to listen while doing housework, driving, or any other time where I'm doing mindless activities.

3. Don't Listen. Some of my best inspiration is found during those aforementioned drives when the radio is off and I let my mind wander, replaying my current scene until I have the dialogue just right. I may consider 'what if' scenarios for future books, or add layers of interest to characters I'm working on.

4. Learn. I spend way too much time on Pinterest. Ask anyone who knows me. Or several who don't. I agree.  Anyone with more than 40,000 pins has a problem.  I'm sure I'll have an intervention soon.  But Pinterest has a crazy amount of resources and links to writing-related tutorials, material, information, tips, and ideas.  At last count, my Board,  "The Writer In Me" had 4,950 links to writing-related resources. Plus, I have 25 other writing-related boards. Several of the pins I've read, and others I haven't, hoping to come back when I have more time.  My goal is to read 3-4 how-to articles a week.

5. Apply.  After learning something new, I invariably end up back at my current WIP, sifting through the pages to see how I can apply my new-found knowledge. Sometimes I feel like I'm spinning my wheels, re-editing the same pages. Other times, it's as if angels are singing from Heaven.  Either way, it's forward progress.

No matter how I look at it, writing is a fluid process.  For someone who loves to learn, I couldn't have chosen a better hobby/obsession/wanna-be profession. The writer I was seven months ago at the ANWA Convention versus the writer I am are two different people. Hopefully for the better. But I know this progress is due to the efforts I make, bringing me one-step closer to being the writer I want to be.

Why and How To Write Nonfiction

I'm out of, well, country, this week, so here are some notes from a recent workshop I presented: 

Reasons To Write A Non Fiction Book

1. You’re already an expert on ... something. Do you have parenting skills, nursing insights, do your friends rave about your Thai cooking, can you re-seat a rattan chair or keep iguanas alive? 

2. They sell, and, if you find a niche, often earn more money than fiction

3. It’s easier than you think! Just lay out facts, add details, maybe a sketch or two, get a proofreader, and off you go. 

I know it’s effective, easy and profitable. I’ve self-published eleven nonfiction books, with much less angst than my novels, and they’re bringing in significantly more money each month!  My first, a book on cruise vacations, is still selling dozens a week after 2 1/2 years, and has over 310 reviews on Amazon. The much shorter kid-activity series is nothing more than my files from my seven years as a Girl Scout leader and four as a den mother in the pre-Pinterest era, arranged with line drawings. 

The How To:

See A Need, Meet That Need. The best-selling non-fiction books fill a gap, or add a twist to a topic that interests people. Ancient crocheting techniques may not be a best-seller, but How To (almost anything!) books sell like crazy.

Identify Your Audience. The narrower it is, the more successful the book can be, with the exception of a few highly niche markets. A highly-technical topic may require more detail than a book on party games. 

Keep It The Right Length. Fiction books have strict rules about length, depending on genre. Nonfiction can be anywhere from a pamphlet to epic-length. Around 20,000 words is a good starting point. This frees up time; I finished six of my shorter nonfiction books in under three months.

Know Your Competition. The trick is to present it in a way that is relatable, understandable, and utilize your unique voice. Use your voice to fill gaps not covered by other eBooks in your niche. Zero in: “Low carb” is ho-hum but “Low carb traveler” is a unique perspective. Do some research and see what else is already available, then figure out how you can make it your own.

Write What You Know. If you have years of experience gardening with carrots, traveling by kayak, or cooking for a veggie-adverse family, speak up! What talents have you developed through Church activity? Go ahead and research. You don’t have to know it all beforehand, but be familiar with your subject. Readers see right through flim-flam.

Use Real Life Examples to make your book relatable. Unless you’re writing a yawn-worthy college textbook, make it interesting, not dry. Add in personal stories and real-world experiences to enhance your point, yours or other people’s. Your readers want to learn from you, so share!

Read. Research up-to-date information, identify your competition, find gaps and find a way to fill the need. Read reviews on other books in your field. What are reviewers complaining about? Are they getting the same old thing with no unique perspective? Are they expecting more advanced strategies? Use their negative reviews of your competition to fill that gap with your own book.

Watch The Market. Be aware of seasons; Camping and gardening books sell better in the spring and summer, holiday craft books do better in the autumn, be aware of travel seasons if you write travel books. Try to release your book at the proper time.

Humor is Your Best Friend, regardless of topic. Humor relieves tension, spruces up boring areas, and helps your book be more relatable, as well as cementing facts in your readers’ minds. A two-line story can make even papercuts interesting.

Try a search online for “How To Write Non-Fiction” and while you’re there, look up “How To Self-Publish.” I find that works best for   nonfiction.. It’s a faster way to get books Out There, which is especially important for very current topics. 

Building My Writer's Platform

Unleashed! is written, and I'm submitting to Literary Agents.  However, as many of you know, this part of the process is slow going.

It can take upwards of a month or two or six before I'll get a response on my book, if I get one at all. So, in order to keep from going crazy, I'm building my writer's platform. Ugh.

This means, building and maintaining my website, working on my blog, building a mailing list, and increasing my reach on social media.  I don't have 11K followers on Twitter, like Brandon Mull.  I don't have thousands of people on my e-mail list. Technically, I don't even have one. Yet. But I do have almost five thousand followers on my Pinterest account. Does that account for something?
I hope so, because what I learned from building followers on Pinterest is this: The first thousand followers are the hardest. After that, the ball begins to pick up momentum on it's own. Any work a person puts in after that, only increases the momentum.

It took a month of hard work - hours upon hours pinning and following others until they started finding me on their own.  Now, I average a few hundred new followers per month, putting in minimal work. If only I can translate that effort into an e-mail list.

At the ANWA Northwest Writer's Retreat last Fall, Leah M. Berry presented her book, Story Marketing: How to Have Fun Marketing Your Fiction Book. I was fascinated, enthralled, and excited by all the ideas she presented. Marketing has always been the hardest part of running a business for me. But she presented it in a beautiful little package that sang to my introverted soul!

I bought the book then went home and drafted a list of ways I could use her ideas for my book. Now I have 110 blogs, and a year's worth of tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram ideas.

I know what you're thinking: "That's a lot of work!" But Seriously? If you're like me, you already spend hours in front of a computer editing, writing stories, and building entire new worlds. You've already done the work.  Why not use some of the material that didn't make it between the cover of your book to draw more potential buyers?

Right now, I'm in the throws of website creation and integrating the mailing list to the website.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.  Hopefully it will be good news!

Until Next time...

So Many E-Mails. So Little Time.

As I'm writing this, my computer has 8 tabs open in Chrome and 15 open Word documents.  Two of my tabs are different e-mail accounts.  One of my accounts has 5,087 e-mails and the other has 397 e-mails.  My Pinterest Account is much the same. 4,600 pins on writing, and 1,700 pins on writing prompts.  Don't even get me started on research for books, marketing, publishing, or other facets of writing. I have boards for those too.

There have been times I've looked at my in-box and felt disgusted.  Why not delete anything over a month old, or just wipe it clean and start all over again?  What sane person would have nearly 6,000 e-mails in their in-box??

Then I look closer at the subject lines. How Publishing Really Works. [ANWA Chapter Officers] Digest Number 882.  ANWA Founders and Friends. NW Writers Retreat. Daily Scrivener Tip.  Your Daily e-Book deals. And the list goes on.

Before the internet, I would hoard articles that I thought were significant, creating file after file of information I wanted to learn or remember.  Now, in the digital age, my piles are (theoretically) smaller. Instead, I have digital files and big fat e-mail accounts brimming with articles I hope to read.  The idea of missing opportunities to learn and better my craft, or to gleen motivation and friendship from other writers scares me.  There's so much to learn, and so many people to learn from. And I don't want to miss a bit of it!

That desire to learn causes me to whittle away at that long list of e-mails, or the sky-high tower of 'to-read' books beside my bed. It keeps me up long past my bedtime, and often well into the wee hours of the morning.

At times it's tedious, and exhausting.  Other times it's fascinating.  Still others I'm exhilarated.  Whatever the outcome, writing has been nothing, if not totally and utterly fulfilling.

So, I guess I'll keep those massive lists of e-mails, slowly sifting through and filing the articles away as I read them.  Occasionally even (gasp!) deleting those that don't apply. I may not have enough hours in the day to devote to writing the way I want to, but by golly, I will never run out of articles to read on the topic!