Love of writing

Does Creativity Occur in Silence?

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Christine
in Love of writing and Productivity
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Do you need to have the television on or the radio playing to get your creative juices flowing – or do you need silence?  For some people it is a combination or it depends on their mood or their projects for the day.

I have often wondered whether or not I was at my creative best in silence or with the company of the radio or television.  The fact that great ideas for client projects seem to come to me in the shower or while I am eating or driving made me think that I was not giving myself enough quiet time to be my best.

Over the last couple of months I have been paying attention to my work patterns and decided to conduct an experiment for myself.  For those of you who are entrepreneurs and work from home you can probably relate to this scenario.

You wake up in the morning and your office is calling to you – no matter what time it is.  But getting up and going straight in to the computer can feel isolated so you turn on the television with the thought that you will “get tuned into what’s going on in the world” while you check emails.  The morning show gives you quick teasers about the upcoming stories and before you know it an hour has gone by and they are still telling you what will be “coming up next.”  (I swear they spend more time telling you about an upcoming story then actually delivering it to you.)

Although you think you are multi-tasking you are really distracted-tasking.  Your focus may be on the email or the blog but part of you is still listening to the television or the radio.  At least that is how I have been feeling lately.  So I decided to make a change.

Starting a couple of weeks ago I did not turn on any distractions first thing in the morning.  I committed to begin my work whenever I got up and keep going as the flow dictated.  What a difference it has made in just a short time.  I have always found that first thing in the morning is my best writing time and I was jeopardizing that by my need not to feel isolated.  In addition, when I turned on the television for company my real starting time was delayed by at least an hour or two.

I realize not every week (or day) will be as creative and productive for me as these last few have been.  I will have times when my brain does not want to create and I have to be willing to change my pattern.  This week I am getting up to speed with a new client, which means reading her latest book.  This allows me to substitute an hour or two of just reading if I cannot make the keyboard sing when I had planned to write.

If you are a morning person and you do your best work first thing before client issues come up, take full advantage of that time.  If you are accustomed to starting your day with the company of your favorite morning show – try to resist turning it on.  Record it and watch it during lunch or later in the day.  You will probably find that the “breaking story” of the day is really not that big of a deal and you could spend two minutes reading about it or watching the video online instead of waiting an hour to see the 5-minute segment live.

Consider it this way – if you start your day creative and productive, you won’t feel guilty about taking a break in the afternoon (after a full eight hours of work).  You can always jump back in and check emails and work on projects after you have given your brain time to percolate in a relaxed state.  Who knows what might come to your mind when you are taking a walk outside for a half hour or even doing the dishes?

What do you do to be your most creative?  Do you need silence?  Do you work better with the occasional distraction? I would love to learn new ways of being creative – and productive.  Please share your ideas in the comments section below.

Are We Losing Our Ability to Write Well?

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Christine
in Concise writing, Love of writing and Your Voice Inc.
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In the last couple of weeks the concept of good grammar has been showing up all around me.  The first incident came in the form of a colleague wanting to use more active verbs in one of his articles.  When I read the example he sent of a passive and active verb, it didn’t look right to me.  To verify my suspicions I went to my references and yes, indeed, his example of an active verb was incorrect.  It was as much a lesson for me as it was for him.

The second occasion was when I attended a tele-class entitled “Tightening Your Text Like a Pro” with Arielle Ford and Linda Sivertsen (it was fabulous).   What a great reminder of how many filler words we use (really, actually, that, etc.)  I took a look at some of my recent writing and realized I had fallen off the concise-writing wagon.  I went back to my exercise of cutting my word count in half whenever possible.

Then I read this article, “Many English Speakers Cannot Understand Basic Grammar”. Yikes.  Here was another reminder that we have not mastered the basic elements of English grammar.

All this was a wake-up call for me to revisit some of my trusted resources.  A thorough reference guide with easily skim-able content is Edit Yourself: A Manual for Everyone Who Works with Words by Bruce Ross-Larson.  If you don’t have a copy, check it out!

For instance, when was the last time you looked at your writing and thought, “Do I have any overweight prepositions?” Or have you wondered, “Do I use premature pronouns?”

Overweight Prepositions:

…with reference to                         Substitute: of, on, for, about

…in relation to                                   Substitute: on, about

Premature Pronouns:

If he scores a goal, Mario will be named MVP     Change to: If Mario scores a goal, he will be named MVP

Digest a few sections of this book at a time otherwise you will question your choice to be a writer at all!  My advice is to always look at your word count and find areas to delete.  Set a goal of cutting at least 30% on your first edit.  You will be surprised at how many extra words you have that take away from the potency of your text.

Never Underestimate Your Value to Clients

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Christine
in Blogging, Love of writing and Your Voice Inc.
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Have you ever assumed people already know how to do something that comes easily to you? For instance, just because someone is a published author, do you assume they love to write? Or that an accomplished speaker will automatically be a great interview on television without media training?

These assumptions have not always been correct. The same is true when I, like many people, believe that just because our clients are highly successful in the areas of their passion, that they know everything there is about the subject, or care to be an expert in all the details. Not true.

I couple of months ago I was given the opportunity to work with a highly-accomplished internet marketer. She did not choose my collaborative blogging program that includes my administration of publishing the blogs and the Twitter and Facebook posts because she wanted to stay engaged on those platforms for herself. That made complete sense.

After reviewing some of the blogs on her site and noticing the number of social networking posts she was using I saw an opportunity for optimizing her efforts. There were small changes she could be making to the blog site as well as her engagement to drive more traffic. I held off bringing this to her attention for a couple of reasons. First, she was a new client and I was not sure how she would receive my constructive feedback. Second, she was an accomplished internet marketer and who did I think I was telling her how to improve. Seriously!

I believe she has such great content and I know she could be increasing her visibility and helping more people with just a couple of tweaks. So I went for it. I not only explained what I thought she needed to do, but offered to do it for her on a temporary basis. This would be a win for her as it would save her time and effort, and teach her how to maximize the blogs. And it was a win for me. I was able to add more value and see the tangible results of my work.

I quickly received an enthusiastic email that could not have been more gracious. She felt clueless about these little details that came easily to me and was not afraid to admit it. I felt great that my message and offer was well received and I can’t wait to jump in and help her.

The lesson here is to remember that all of your knowledge is not common sense to everyone. What you know and how you use it has value. Take a few minutes and review what each of your clients is doing (or needs) and find small ways to solve a problem, increase visibility and create credibility. Your willingness to pay it forward can lead to great things.

Note: This blog post was reviewed and approved by my client prior to posting!

How to Keep Your Blogging Mojo

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Christine
in Blogging, Love of writing, Productivity, Uncategorized and Your Voice Inc.
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Has it been a while?  Are you plumb out of ideas?  Can’t find the time?  Don’t feel like making the time?

As I step into the confessional I bow my head and say, “Forgive me visitors, for I have sinned, it has been one month since my last blog post.”  Now I could use the logical explanation (excuse) that as a collaborative writer I create dozens of blog posts for my clients every month and yet I can not keep up with my own.  (i.e. The cobbler’s children have no shoes.)  But when it really comes down to it, I struggle just like you do in thinking, What new content can I share?  What questions can I answer?  What can I teach?  How can I best serve? Even with good ideas I still struggle sometimes in finding the time to create and publish the blog, and then drive traffic to it via social networking outlets.

So let’s look at ways to keep our mojo.

Need Topic Ideas?

  • In the past week, what questions have you answered for your clients?  Why not share your answers with the rest of the online world?
  • Have you seen an article in a trade magazine or online that you think needs some clarification or you want to show your clients how they can adapt it for their business?
  • If you were asked to write a How to… article as an expert for an industry publication, what would you write?  Now think in terms of breaking up that content and perhaps elaborating on each subject for a blog series.
  • Use your Facebook profile or Fan page to pose a question and ask for advice, comments or ideas.  Write your next blog on their contribution and your observations.
  • Think about the last speaker presentation you went to.  Are there any thought-provoking gems you want to highlight and relate to your visitors. (Remember to always give credit where credit is due and link back for proper etiquette.)
  • What interesting time saving or business-building concept did you just discover?  By all means, share your excitement and your findings.
  • What are people talking about on the social networking sites?  How might that apply to your audience and your brand?

Need Time Blocking?

  • Knowing that the high click through rates and prime retweeting times are Thursday and Friday afternoons (EST), you should plan to publish at least one post on Wednesday or Thursday morning and schedule your status updates and tweets accordingly to get the most impact.
  • With this deadline, commit to writing a blog draft at least two times a week at the same time each week.  Set that routine and block out that time.  Schedule it like a meeting or conference call and stop making up excuses. (That last part was more of an internal dialogue!)
  • When your creative juices are flowing, don’t step away from the keyboard until you have two blog drafts written.  You know the way you feel when you have written great content?  Keep that adrenaline going by pounding out another one.  (The Real Housewives of Fakeville and their constant bickering will just have to wait!) Can you feel the sense of accomplishment already?

Need Motivation?

  • Because we want to learn what comes so naturally to you.
  • Give us even just a glimpse of your talent so that we too can grow our businesses, our lives and our loves.
  • Share it all! Enough said.

If you still need a nudge, a push, a kick…..a collaborator, I would welcome the opportunity to help you grow your brand.  Creating content and writing comes naturally to me and I want to share it all!  For specifics about my programs, check out:

www.YourVoiceInc.com/BloggingYourBrand and

www.YourVoiceInc.com/StrategicBloggingPlan

How to Get the Most Out of the Editing Process

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Christine
in Love of writing, Productivity and Your Voice Inc.
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When you hand your masterpiece over to someone to fix, tweak, tighten, or double-check, make sure you are very clear about your expectations.  Not all editors have the same focus or technique and rather than assume he/she will bring you the results you are looking for it is up to you to communicate what you want.

For instance, let’s say you sent out  a resume or a blog to five people for their edits and feedback.  Chances are that besides common grammatical issues, each one of the edited versions would be different.  Why?  Because editing is a subjective process if little direction is provided.

Maintaining Your Voice

Just as we each have a unique style, diction, tone and delivery in our verbal communications, so are we different in our writing styles.  If you tend to write in long sentences and your editor is more concise and direct, guess what?  Most often, your piece will come back reading like him or her and not like you.  Sure, the content will be tightened, which has tremendous value but you may have lost your voice in the process.  This is particularly important if you are a speaker or consistently appear in the media, in which case your audience is expecting your book to sound like you do on stage, television or the radio.

Tip:  Tell your editor that you insist on the piece remaining authentic to your voice. For instance, combining all of your fragmented sentences or shortening the descriptive ones may “read” better from a grammar perspective, but it may also create a disconnect with your followers who expect it to sound like you.  Think celebrity Twitter updates – you can probably tell who writes their own and who has ghost-tweeters.

Honoring Your Audience

By the time you have reached any editing stage, you are very clear about who you are addressing in your book.  You know the demographics and you have kept them in mind while you crafted your content.  Make sure your editor is also very clear to whom you are speaking.  Just because you are writing a management book does not mean your audience are college-educated, experienced managers.  You may have decided to tap into the new manager market and if your editor is not aware of your primary focus, he/she may rewrite your content for a higher level of reader.

Tip:  Provide the demographics to your editor upfront. Be clear about your decision to use the phrases and examples you have included so your manuscript does not come back unrecognizable and you have not alienated your audience.

Communicating your template

You may have brought in an editor at an earlier stage of the writing process, perhaps to perform the role of collaborator.  This relationship can have a learning curve to it as he/she works through providing the meat of the content in the way that you prefer.  There is no reason for you to spend your time redlining a piece to death and crushing the spirit of your collaborator because you did not get what you wanted the way you wanted it.

Tip:  Provide samples and templates. If you have already produced similar pieces, provide them to your collaborate as well as a detailed description of the points you want addressed and the format you are expecting.

Matching Your Styles

In addition to having similar writing styles, it is important to also find someone who matches up with your style of content.  Your uncle who is an academic clinician should not be editing your non-fiction parenting book.

Tip:  Research your editor’s past and present clients. Is there a similarity in both topic and audience?  Make sure there is a solid fit rather than just going with your first referral.

Protecting Your Ego

Even though 82% of people surveyed said they had a book inside of them and intended to write one some day, very few have the one thing to follow through with their dream – and it’s not what most people talk about.  It is not a lack of time or talent.  It’s courage.  Many people lack the courage to put their thoughts, expertise and opinions on paper for the whole world to see.  It takes a thick skin to be criticized when there is no taking back what is now in written form.  You will have people say they don’t agree with you, that your sentences are too long, that you didn’t cover the topics they were interested in, and so on.  Writing is a very personal process and it can be easy to have your feelings hurt when your pride and joy comes back looking wounded.

Tip:  Remember the reason you started writing in the first place. If you were determined to tell your story, teach or motivate others, or be a valued resource, then do it.  Make sure your editor knows your motivation (he/she should have asked you that during your first meeting.)  You can’t please everyone so don’t try to be everything.  Ask your editor for constructive feedback and in some cases make them explain their thought process behind the changes.

Interview and hire your editor the same way you would a key employee in your company.  Your editor should stay consistent with your vision and mission, represent your brand well, and in the end, make you look damn good!

Do You Lose Your Voice When You Write?

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Christine
in Books-Speeches-Publishing, Concise writing, Love of writing, Promotional Collateral and Your Voice Inc.
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I am not suggesting that you suffer from a strange side effect of writer’s block.  I am referring to our tendency to lose our brand identity when we write books, speeches, promotional collateral, opt-in products, website copy, etc.  Have you ever read some of your own content months or years later and thought it does not even sound like you?  Have you watched one of your keynote presentations and wondered why it did not feel authentic? Have you reviewed your website copy lately and thought, “Is this really me?”

Just for fun, let’s call this phenomenon Writer’s Laryngitis (WL).  We will define it as a condition resulting from authors or speakers deviating from their brand, their rhythm, and their personality because they are trying too hard to accommodate their perceptions of their audience.

Are you addressing industry mavens and CEOs and instead of being your clever and engaging self, you end up delivering a stoic and lifeless presentation?  What if the demographics of your readers are predominantly male or female, do you get too in touch with your masculine or feminine side in an attempt to establish rapport when in fact your disingenuous tone turns people off?

These may seem like dramatic examples, but on a much smaller scale this happens more often than you realize.

Mild to Severe WL-like symptoms:

  • You find yourself stuck trying to write about content you coach everyday, or you try to mimic expressions and concepts that do not come easily to you.
  • You stumble for just the right words to explain your own services and products.
  • When you receive your own Opt-In product emails each day, are you unable to see your reflection in them?
  • Your personality resembles slacks and a nice sweater but your correspondence wears a three-piece suit
  • When listening to your own recorded tele-seminar script you sound more rehearsed than the conversational tone of your in-person consultations
  • A new client or colleague tells you that based on your previous correspondence and content, you “seem different” in person

In-Home Remedies:

  • The next time you talk with a potential new client on the phone, record yourself on a digital recorder.  Are you explaining your services the same way in print?  Chances are your audio explanation was more engaging and persuasive.
  • Put your promotional collateral and sales letters side-by-side with your web copy and see if they are consistent in tone and messaging
  • Read your manuscript chapters aloud to yourself. If the words do not flow easily for you, then simplify and replace it with your everyday diction

Professional Treatment:

You may have a more severe condition of WL (or lack the time to cure yourself) and I recommend you seek the advice of a second set of eyes.  Chances are you are too close to your own condition and self medicating may not be the answer.  Work with a collaborative writer or editor to help you with the consistency and tone of your messages.  After only a couple of consultations and reviewing your existing content, a writer specializing in voice duplication can create impressions of you on paper.

Here’s to getting better soon!

How to Create Fabulous Results: Checking in on the Confidence Challenge

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Christine
in Love of writing, Productivity and Your Voice Inc.
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WOW!!!  What a great few days it has been since the One Thing for One Week Challenge started.  Here are just some of the comments and successes that have been shared by those of us committing to focus on our confidence for 7 days.

“I can’t believe how much better I have slept.  I have spent all day feeling confident about my talents that I keep making progress on projects that I used to procrastinate and by the end of the day I feel so great that I sleep straight through the night.  I thank you and my wife thanks you.”

“I am feeling more comfortable asking for meetings with people I normally would not have the guts to approach.  I can’t believe I am going to have coffee with someone I consider a leader in her industry for a possible collaborative project. Yippee!”

“The last couple of days when I sat down to the computer to make my 1,000-word write goal like I do every morning I did not stress out about not knowing where to start or if it was going to be any good.  I just wrote and wrote and it is really good stuff, if I do say so myself.  What a difference, and what a week I am going to have, my agent won’t believe my progress!”

“I was able to make calls to former clients and ask for new business and referrals based solely on my own self-confidence about the type of work I had performed for them in the past.  Hey, if you don’t ask and don’t stay top-of-mind with people, they can’t say ‘yes’ as easily.  Four out of six had either a direct job for me or were able to give me potential referrals.”

“There were a couple of times when I fell back into my old routine of feeling overwhelmed and nervous.  When I reminded myself of this challenge, along with recognizing all of my past wins, I could shift my focus back to the value I continue to add to my clients.  I stayed much more productive than I have been in months.  Thank you.”

Celebrate:  Day 4

It is now Day 4 for some of us and as was suggested by a colleague, business strategist and all around expert in all things brain-brilliant, AmyK Hutchens at  www.amyk.com,  it is now time to celebrate our wins thus far.  AmyK wrote in…

“I would also suggest to your readers/followers that you break the week into two sets: “4 days” and “3 days.”  The brain is more successful with smaller chunks and turtle steps. After 4 days of focusing on your confidence and actively choosing to spend a few minutes developing your confidence, reward yourself! Celebrate your progress.”

So tonight is the end of the 4 days…what are you planning to do to celebrate?  For me, I see a nice meal and a glass of red wine and freshly baked cookies in my future (not necessarily in that order!)

Congratulations and keep up the great work!

Share the Challenge: One Thing for One Week

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Christine
in Love of writing, Productivity and Your Voice Inc.
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If you could change only one thing about yourself that would make the most significant difference in your life, what would it be?  Before you answer, remember that the question is something about yourself, not about your life. Would you answer…..smarter, thinner, funnier, richer….more attractive, disciplined, patient, creative, productive, more connected to a higher power…?

What if there was one thing that could make all of that possible?  What if you could change your level of confidence; wouldn’t all of the others change as well – either literally or figuratively?  What if you worked on your confidence and shushed your inner chatter?

If you had complete confidence in yourself and your abilities, would you…

  • Feel great when you woke up to start your day
  • Be excited to start that new chapter or edit yesterday’s writing
  • Spend more time following your passion
  • Not be able to stop coming up with great ideas for your next blog, article, book, etc.
  • Make the call or send the email to those people you want to work with, or work for
  • Know the success or failure of those around you does not define your own identity
  • Put your running shoes on and head out the door
  • Send the query letters to agents
  • Fit the yoga class into your schedule
  • Be able to get back to sleep in the middle of the night
  • Create the mind map or project plan for that big idea you have been putting off
  • Call the friend or family member with whom you had a disagreement
  • Write that brilliant cover letter or specialized resume for your dream job – and send it!
  • Ask an influencer or thought leader to be your mentor
  • Speak up for yourself and set boundaries to improve relationships
  • Eat healthier foods, one meal at a time, because you know you can consistently make good choices
  • Approach that woman or man you are attracted to and introduce yourself

This list could go on and on, but you get the general idea.  Anything and everything you first listed as something you would like to change becomes a reality when you have authentic confidence in yourself and your abilities.

The Challenge:  One Thing for One Week

Please join me in a challenge to be, to feel and to live with complete, authentic confidence for one week.  Shift your inner chatter and hear yourself saying “Yes, I can”, “I will”, and “I am.”  No matter what happens you know that you can do it, handle it, and make it better.  Regardless of the day of the week, just start today in this hour and for 7 days see what you have accomplished and what comes into your life.  When you believe anything to be true or right, you see and experience things that support that belief.  Please share your progress.  Your comments will serve as inspiration to others (and to me).  Ready?  Go!

Please send this to your friends, colleagues and family members so that you can support each other in the challenge.

How to Edit Your Own Writing. Getting Back to Basics.

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Christine
in Books-Speeches-Publishing, Concise writing, Love of writing and Your Voice Inc.
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These tips are for anyone interesting in creating quality content for books, blogs, ebooks, newsletters, ezines, and even daily email correspondence.  Getting back to the basics is a great way to tackle a process that appears overwhelming or mystifying.

So What: You might have a pretty good idea why you are writing a book, ebook, newsletter, etc., but are you sure you know why someone should read it?  What are your take-aways?  What do you hope the reader would learn?  How can it or will it make a difference in their lives?

Theme Party: You have already determined why someone should read your content therefore you are half way there.  You have a theme.  You have a driving force for continuity, but are you continuously making the connection, threading that theme throughout the product?  It may seem obvious to you that each step, tool, story or strategy is related to the overall premise, but make sure you take the time to reinforce it with clarity.  But let’s be clear:  Continuity does not mean redundancy.  Threading is not the same as repeating.  There is the old adage of “Tell them what you are going to tell them.  Tell them.  Then tell them what you’ve told them.”  Yes, this is true, just don’t hammer it into your reader or they will perceive this, and you, as not respecting their intelligence.

Too Much Good Stuff: I often have clients come to me when they have been told by a publisher that they need to cut their word count by 25-30%.  Their expressions range from “But I don’t want to cut any of the stories or tools” or “I keep rereading it and I don’t see how I can cut anything.”

For most of us, being told that our work needs tightening is a bit ambiguous.  It is easier for a publisher to say, and an author to hear, “you need to cut 2,000 words”. The end result, when done correctly, is the same. By looking for effective ways to cut word count, the writing becomes tighter and the manuscript reads better.  You will find redundancy in your message and extraneous words that may be part of your day-to-day diction but have no real place or purpose in your manuscript. The thesaurus feature is a great tool for eliminating the redundancy of your most popular word choices.  (See previous blog post, The Best Concise Writing Tip I Ever Learned for more details.)

My Two Tense Worth: Are you telling a story in the past or present tense?  Pick one and go back through your writing to make sure it all matches.  For instance, do you write, “we were expected to have our PowerPoint presentation available be at the event so I write the last few slides, I upload the graphics and I will send it off to my assistant to print and bind the hard copies.”  Can you see how the beginning was in the past tense of “we were expected” and then suddenly all of the verbs that follow are in the present tense “write, upload, send.”  It is very easy to slip back and forth when you verbally tell a story, but you have to be very careful when you put pen to paper.

Step away from the screen, there is nothing to see here, folks: Ever go back to an important email you sent or a blog you posted and find a mistake?  You have no idea how you could have missed it.  Simple, it is your work and your brain sees what it means, not necessarily what is on the screen.  You may have forgotten the “it”, “do”, or used the wrong “their/there”, etc. and each time you initially reread it before you hit Send or Publish you could have sworn it was there.  Save it and walk away for an hour or even a day.  Fresh eyes are a key to making the obvious, well, more obvious.

Double Vision: You may think it is a masterpiece, it is exactly what you intended to say or wonder how there could ever be anything left to improve upon.  Nice thought, but reach out to your network, your colleagues and a professional trained to make improvements.  This second set of eyes is priceless but you need to remember to check your ego at the door.  Nothing can zap your self-confidence more than the colored evidence of Track Changes splattered all over your precious work of art.  Remember that you asked for suggestions and improvements and the result is your reader’s professional and sometimes personal opinion of what will make it better.  Take what you want and leave the rest.

There is a lot to be gained by refining your writing abilities.  Just as you are considered articulate based on your strong vocabulary,  so will you hold expert status by others based on your clear, concise and well-written products.

Julie & Julia Movie Inspires Us to Keep Writing

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Christine
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Meryl Streep’s brilliant performance not withstanding, I thoroughly enjoyed Julie & Julia for more reasons than originally predicted.  In addition to my love of food and all things creative in the kitchen, I was inspired by the journey each woman took on her way to sharing her passion with the world.  The strongest emotions came from the shortest lines spoken and the simplest scenes acted.

For every need, there is an audience.
Julia Child’s focus was to spend her time doing what she loved.  Along the way she began her quest to bring to market something she was searching for without success; a book about French Cooking written for Americans.

  • What expertise or passion do you have?
  • How often do you find yourself talking about it simply because you want to share what you love and have learned?
  • What need exists that you can fill?

Imagine how much easier your marketing efforts will be if you follow your passion and produce a quality product that has universal appeal and is also unique in its delivery or approach.

It’s not all about me
Julia was inspired by her desire to help her readers, even down to the smallest of details.  (Who knew there was a correct temperature for a mixing bowl when making mayonnaise?)

Let’s face it, adding Author to your title has a nice ring to it.  However, keep your focus on always adding value.  Share your expertise, your mistakes and your guidance.  Even memoirs have lessons built in.

For those of you regularly engaged in social media, you know what it is like to have “followers” or “friends” who consistently post solely about themselves or their businesses. They seldom engage in adding value to others without it being tied to a subscription, special offer or free trial.  After a while, you find yourself passing right by their entries or you un-follow or de-friend them altogether.  Give, give, give…and ye shall receive.

Show me the money
It was quite a surprise to Julia Child when she first learned that authors were paying publishers to print their books.  No matter what shifts continue to occur in the traditional and independent publishing word, writing for love and not money is the best approach for realizing your dream.

Remember that you don’t make money on a book; a book is there to make you money.  Unless you are pulling down 6-figure advances, your book should be seen as your calling card; it is a catalyst for visibility and credibility.  It helps to draw attention to your skills, separates you from your competition, and establishes you as an expert in your field.  It will help you garner more clients, more speaking engagements and more opportunities to earn the interest of literary agents and publishers for future projects.

Rewards Realized
You don’t need to know how the story plays out in order to take the first step.  It will all unfold in front of you, so long as you start down the path focused on giving rather than taking.

It will all be worth it the first time you see your words in print or your name on the program.  The day I sat on the floor in the business section of my local Borders Bookstore is still such a vivid memory. When I opened the book and saw my own words, my stomach tightened, my mouth went dry and my eyes became wet.  That moment was relived as I watched the final scene of Julie & Julia.  I won’t spoil the ending for you….