Help for Writing Your Stories

Good news for writers: there is power in the written word. Whether you want to teach others what you have learned through experience, help bring about awareness and change, record what will become history, or bring fictional characters to life, the goal is to share your ideas with readers.

I italicized “readers” because unless you find readers to read what you’ve written you won’t accomplish any of the reasons why you write. Besides, writing something that will have a permanent home among the dust clumps under the bed isn’t as much fun as writing with the anticipation that someone else will read it and love it.

This past week I’ve been busting out in a “writer’s spring”—the upheaval of turning in new directions and making new decisions. Now, having written the content for my new web site and revamping and redirecting this blog, I’m finally ready to begin sharing with you what I’ve been learning about writing, marketing, and publishing.

I'll still write stories from my life, past and present, which I hope will give you writing ideas. Also, on each blog post, I'll include "Writer's Block," a block of stuff about writing, a block of a small-town village street on a summer night where you sit on your front porch steps and think about things, a section designed to enthuse your muse, maybe even compel you to step away from the demands of your life and write. The Writer's Block might include one or more of the following:

• A brief review of a book relevant to writing
• A writer’s how-to segment, which could be an English lesson, suggestions for finding time to write, information about marketing or publishing, or ideas for making your writing life more fun
• Quotes from other writers
• Questions based on my life story segment to help you think about your story
• A suggested writing assignment

So here we go!

Writer’s Block

Ya Gotta Love That Voice!
A pox on truth-tellers if they can’t launch their stories into sunny skies! Really! Mark Twain and British poet-novelist Philip Larkin would be labeled “negative,” if not downright whiney in today’s society. To me, their voices are refreshing, a touch of authentic human angst, offering the gift of catharsis in this cultural wilderness of spin.

In 1898, Mark Twain wrote in his autobiography about his maid, “[She] has a high-keyed voice and a loud one. . . .talks all the time, talks in her sleep, will talk when she’s dead. . .and is consumingly interested in every devilish thing that is going on. Particularly if it is not her affair."

British poet-novelist Philip Larkin wrote, "I think writing about unhappiness is probably the source of my popularity, if I have any--after all most people are unhappy, don't you think? He also wrote, "Until I grew up I thought I hated everybody, but when I grew up, I realized it was just children I didn't like.

After graduating from Oxford, Larkin worked as a librarian for the rest of his life. About his career, Larkin wrote, "I have never felt anything but degraded as the librarian in this hole of toad's turds," and "I am entirely unassisted in my labors and spend most of my time handing out tripey novels to morons."

Why Not Write and Publish an E-book?

Writer’s Digest sponsors excellent Webinars. On Thursday, August 11, 1-2:30 p.m. you can learn about publishing an e-book. The cost is $79. Learn more about it and register at this site. You can also order a download or DVD of this webinar from the Writer’s Digest Shop:
Writer's Digest Shop

Suggested Writing Assignment
Making a plan to write is as important as writing. Start a list of writing ideas of events and experiences in your life that were unique to a period of history you lived through, or activities/events you participated in that few others would know about. A list makes writing irresistible!

Here's my short list:

• Graduate student in the 60’s counterculture revolution
• Getting high with Timothy Leary
• Getting high with Jim Varney (Ernest)
• Getting high with. . . .no. No more  : )
• Singer/musician with a Las Vegas-style showband on the road for eight years
• Life with my husband who became a “Buckskinner.”
• First runner-up to Miss Kentucky and how I found out the pageants were fixed.
• When the Catholic church annulled my marriage

Happy writing! Let me hear from you!