Being A Productive Writer

In 2010, a woman named Sage Cohen published a book titled “The Productive Writer.” I blogged about it a bit at the time, but what I couldn’t have foreseen was how I would continue to reference the book. It’s a really good practical guide for trying to squeeze as much writing as you can into your life. And for those of us who are working at making words our livelihood as well as our passion, the book helps to set goals, find clients and not make yourself crazy with it all. I highly recommend it.

But that’s not actually the reason I’m blogging about it. I was re-reading chapter 8 (Tapping Your Source) last night. In it Sage talks about finding your inspiration, and how important it is for writers to not lock themselves away in a room. You have to listen to other writers talk about their craft, you have to build a community.

The further I get in my writing career, the more that rings true for me. I have a writing group, but as awesome as they are (and they are amazing), I need more. I not only need inspiration and feedback on my fiction, I also need a network so that I can continue to find work as a professional. I need to meet more magazine editors, agents, potential clients. I also need writer friends who have similar schedules and can sneak off to a movie in the middle of the day.

I love working on my own, in my pajamas, with no one around to bug me with inane questions about how to make the copier work, but I am also a social person. I need to build my community of writers if for no other reason except that I get lonely sometimes.

To quote Sage Cohen: “Having friends to learn with and from, who are intimately engaged with the unique opportunities and challenges of the writing life, is something that I wish for every writer.”

So I’m starting today. I’m having coffee with an alum from Scripps College (where I got my BA). I’m really looking forward to it. I’m also going to send an email to a couple other writer friends. Wouldn’t it be great to have at least one date a week with a creative cohort? If you happen to be one of those lovely creative types I’ve met over the years – drop a line, we’ll get a cup of coffee one of these days.

Score One For Focus

In March I blogged about needing to focus my efforts as a writer. I was trying to do everything, and the result was that I was succeeding at nothing. I took a long, hard look at my goals for this year and decided to cut some projects loose. It was hard. I feel like I could live three hundred years and not have time to write all the stories I want to write.

Since then I’ve been working on the novel and my business. Both are going very well. My favorite client has been sending all kinds of work my way, and I’m nearing the end of a draft on the novel. Life is pretty simple. I sit down at my desk in the morning and check in on the work that clients need done. Some time shortly after lunch I switch to the novel and spend an hour or so on it. Then, from about 3 on, I do whatever needs attention most. If there’s no more paid work that needs to be done, I write query letters, pay bills or even read a little. It’s awesome.

It’s true, I could use one more client like my favorite client – I’m not quite where I want to be as far as yearly earnings go, but considering I only started this business last January, I’m feeling pretty good about it. And that’s not something I would have said in March.

So my little experiment in focus is going swimmingly.

At the end of this month I’m taking it to the extreme. I’ve booked a hotel room in Mojave for four days and I’m going to lock myself in it and finish this draft of my novel. I’m close, I know I am, and writing just an hour or so a day feels painfully slow. I’m hoping when I emerge at the end of this long weekend I will have a version of my story that I’m finally ready to let people (other than my writing group) read.

Exciting times.

Focus

It’s taken me about a week to process last Thursday.

The USC Women’s conference was pretty great. There was the usual amount of thanking sponsors and other junk that went on for far too long, but the swag bag was fat and the speakers were actually quite stunning  They really got me thinking. One in particular, a former USC Basketball player, who now coaches after playing all over the world, got my synapses firing. “I’m in it to win it,” she said over and over.

Later that night I met with my writing group. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – they’re amazing. Not only with the feedback, but with the moral support. I’ve been struggling with where to put my energies. If you’re in it to win it, you have to focus and work on being the best you can be at your chosen craft (be it basketball or fiction).

So I took all the things I heard last Thursday (bot the general advice on success from USC and the specific advice on writing from my superb writing group) and mulled them over in my brain.

The word that kept coming back was focus. Right now I’m a business writer, a fiction writer, a science writer, a travel writer, a food writer. I blog, narrate and edit. Everything I do is writing, but I’ve realized that to progress further in any one of those efforts, I will need to focus. But where to focus?

For the answer to that I went back to my new years resolution list. The things I prioritized in my goals were the business writing and the fiction. The first because it pays the bills, the second because I love, love, love it (and it might someday pay my bills). So I’ve begun the effort of focusing.

I passed on a new food writing gig, painful though it was, and spent the time on my business writing. I even signed up for a refresher course on my copy editing skills, since I have a client in the que who needs a lot of copy editing and I intend to be do the best damn copy editing she’s ever seen.

Focus. That’s what it comes down to. You can’t win everything. If you’re in it to win it, you have to focus.

At least, that’s the theory I’m running with this week.

USC Women’s Conference

I‘m going to this USC Women’s Conference tomorrow.

The emails I got sold it as a chance to discuss “professional development, women’s health, personal wellness and financial strategies.” Honestly, I’m not really sure what to expect.

The basic truth of it is, these types of networking events are key for anyone who works alone, from a home office.

As a freelancer, I have no water cooler, and online social outlets are just not the same as meeting people face to face.

So I’ve filled the wallet with business cards, and I’m off.

I’ll tell you all about it on Friday.

Good Communication

As a writer, my job is to communicate. Specifically, I’m paid to use words to express ideas precisely, so that a client’s target audience understands what it is that the client does/offers/sells. That’s it. Sounds easy enough right? But if it really were that easy, “writer” wouldn’t be a job description.

Some of the toughest communication I do is with my own clients, trying to figure out exactly what they want and or need. With some clients it’s very straight forward, while with others there is an extensive whittling process. The tricky thing about us writers is that we tend to be a sensitive, artistic lot. Sometimes it can be hard to take feedback. Even the simplest suggestion (“maybe more adjectives”) can feel like a dagger striking our very core. 

One thing I’ve learned in my years as a writer is that  I have to be thick skinned when it comes to feedback. This serves me well in both my fiction and my business writing, but honestly, it’s a lot easier to practice what I preach when I’m writing for someone else.

As a writer for hire, I’ve gotten damn good at taking feedback. If a client isn’t thrilled with what I’ve put together, I’ll start over from scratch and not even think twice. I rewrote an entire article this morning because the editor I was writing it for was on a tight deadline and wanted to focus on a different angle. Done. Then I had a conversation with a client who wants a project rewritten with a certain style. No problem.

Is my ego a little bruised that I didn’t get it all perfect the first time? Yes. But I think the reason I continue to build my client base is that I’m not a diva about it. I’m not always going to hit it out of the park on my first try, but I am always going to listen to a client who wants changes and do my best to make the copy perfect through the revision process. As writers we are communicators first and foremost. If we can’t communicate with our clients, we’re pretty much doomed from the start, and if we can’t put our egos aside for two minutes it’s hard to hear anything from anyone.

Step Away From The Computer

There was a great article in Poets & Writers recently. It was by Ellen Sussman, and she offered up four simple steps to get more out of your writing. Basically it came down to 1. Write every day, 2. take breaks regularly, 3. meditate for a few minutes before starting to clear your head and 4. turn off your internet. It’s criminal to chop up her prose so inelegantly, but that’s the gist.

Number one is taken care of.

I do occasionally sit for a few quiet minutes before I start working, but usually only when I’m making time for my fiction.

I’m 50/50 on turning off the internet. Since I’ve been working so much on the guide book lately and it’s so research intensive, I do leave my internet on, but I turn my email client off. That works pretty well for me.

The thing I most need to work on is taking breaks. Sussman sites studies that show people are more productive if they take a quarter of each hour to step away from their work, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Maybe because my writing time seems so precious, since the rest of my day belongs to the family, I just don’t want to stop. I feel like break time is wasted time.

Still, it would probably be good for me. Just to get up and walk around a bit. Maybe I could get back out in my garden for a few minutes a day. That might actually be nice. But I don’t think I can do 15 minutes every hour. That’s a quarter of my work day.

I’ll start with baby steps. Maybe two 15 minute breaks mid day. I’ll have to set an alarm or something, but I can do that. If it seems to have a positive impact I’ll consider upping it, but that’s all I can do right now.