Getting Past the Middle

A few weeks ago, we talked about beginnings—the best place to start, and how to draw your reader into the story.  You may or may not find beginnings easy as a writer.  But most writers would agree that middles are more of a challenge. 

This is where the story starts to drag.  It may also be the place where your characters start to take you in a different direction than you intended.  So what do you do?

First, talk to your characters.  Interview them, asking them difficult questions.  Don't ask, "How was your day?"  Rather, ask them "What was the best (or worst) thing that happened to you today?" Their answers will help guide you. 

Next, write down the beginning and ending points of your story.  Your characters started at Point "A".  They need to get to Point "C".  What are all the possible Point "B"s that will get your characters to the end you want for them? 

For example, at Point "A", your protagonist finds himself on the edge of bankruptcy in the family business that's been around for over a century.  Point "C" is finding the funds to save the business.  Point "B" may be winning the lotto (highly unlikely and too contrived), winning the lotto, then losing the money in Vegas (back to Point A), or asking your arch-enemy's daughter to approve a risky loan. 

There are any number of possibilities.  It's up to you and your characters to choose the right path.

Preparing for a Workshop

Writer Wednesday

As a writer, you have many skills and talents.  You've learned the craft, and honed it to the point you are published, or very close to publishing.  You are considered an expert on writing because of the quality of your work. 

Not everyone excels in every area, however.  Some writers are great at creating sympathetic characters.  Some can bring an historical setting to life on the pages of a book.  Some can work humor into a serious relationship.  Whatever their strength, they can further their career by holding seminars or workshops. 

In order to hold a successful workshop, and be in demand at other groups, you should be prepared.

The first thing to do is decide on a topic and format.  What is your strength?  Is it promotion?  Is it research?  Select a topic—broad enough to appeal to a wider audience, but focused enough for attendees to learn something useful.  After choosing a topic, select a format.  Would your topic be best presented as a one or two hour presentation?  Or would it be better to hold it over the span of a few weeks?  If you are teaching a craft, sometimes homework and feedback are important, so holding it over several weeks is beneficial. 

After deciding on a format, find a place to hold your workshop.  Also decide whether or not you will charge the attendees a fee.  If you have to pay for your meeting space, consider a reasonable fee to help cover the cost of the room.  If you don't have to pay for the space, you may still consider charging a nominal fee to cover the cost of your handouts.  In some instances, your venue will pay you to give a workshop (libraries or women's groups).  In this case, you can't charge for admittance.

Next, create the curriculum.  Write your outline and presentation, keeping in mind your audience.  Will you be teaching beginners or advanced writers?  Will you be speaking to the general public or other writers?  Make your presentation basic or advanced, depending on the group.

Once your presentation is fine-tuned, prepare handouts for the attendees.  Give them useful tips and information without giving away your entire presentation.  You are the expert.  Have them come to you for advice, rather than giving it all away.

Start early publicizing your workshop.  Use the internet (newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), place fliers in appropriate places, contact your local newspaper, or place ads in writer's magazines.  The earlier you get the word out, the more people you will reach directly and indirectly.

Create a checklist for everything you need to bring with you the day of the workshop.  This will probably include handouts, contact information (for booking more talks), your laptop or flash drive with your files, a sign-up sheet for your newsletter (check with the venue for permission first), display items (books, posters), door prizes, evaluations and pens. 

Finally, after your workshop, thank your audience for attending.  Send them an email or note.  Remind them you are available to give workshops, and offer a list of topics. 

Time Management for the Overworked and Overstressed

As our days get busier, time seems to slip by more quickly. We stress more over the little things, and wonder why there aren’t enough hours in the day. Yet, have you ever looked at how you spend your days?

You may be surprised that you have the time after all, if you would organize your days better, and if you were more selective in how you spent your time. The key is to make the most of your efforts by concentrating on the tasks that give you the highest pay-off. Here are a few tips on how to analyze your schedule, and how to make the most of your waking hours.

THE STUDY

The first step is to see where your time goes. Select a typical week in your schedule. Then set up a chart to track the following:

· Time the activity started

· The activity

· The activity category

· Time spent on the activity

· Value or priority of the activity

THE ANALYSIS

Look at your log with a critical eye. How do you answer the following questions:

· Where did I spend the most time?

· Did I spend the most time on high-priority tasks or trivial items?

· Did I have a good balance of work and family in my time?

· Did I work late into the night on high-priority tasks after spending the day on trivial tasks?

· Did my tasks achieve my goals for the week, or did I still find unfinished business at the end?

· Did I spend any time on tasks I enjoyed?

· What are my strengths? What can I accomplish quickly?

THE FIX

Once you have analyzed your time and addressed problem areas, you can come up with solutions. Setting up an action plan and scheduling your time accordingly will help you on your way.

The Action Plan

· Set goals for the week

· Prioritize your goals (High, Medium, Low) or (A,B,C)

· Write down the steps needed to achieve those goals

· Work these tasks into your scheduling

Scheduling

· Enter your ‘fixed’ events into your calendar such as appointments, work schedule, etc.

· Look at the High or ‘A’ priority goals on your list

· Schedule time in your week to accomplish those tasks

· Look at the Medium or ‘B’ priority goals—can any of these fit into your schedule without losing family or work time?

· Do the same with the Low or ‘C’ priority goals—Don’t stress if you can’t fit everything in, especially these unimportant tasks.

Scheduling Tips

· Tackle the most challenging chores on your list first. 

· Don’t schedule more than you know you’ll have time for.

· Preserve contingency time to handle the unexpected.

· Allow for time between events and tasks.

· Verify appointments 1-2 days beforehand.

· Take phone numbers and directions with you.

Goal-setting is not just a week-to-week task as this example implies. You should always have your eye on the big picture.

Do regular reviews of your goals. What were your goals for the week or month? Did you accomplish what you wanted? Did you find your tasks took up more time than you thought? Less time?

Also look ahead. What are your goals for the next month? Will you accomplish them by finishing the tasks on your weekly lists based on past experience? What are your goals for the coming year? What are your goals in life? Do your daily and weekly tasks work toward your larger goals, or against them?

A well thought out plan will help you accomplish your goals and help you work toward what you want out of life. Remember, you are in ultimate control of your destiny.

Guest Blogger - Laura Moore, author of Trouble Me

Hi Michelle!

Thanks so much for having me as a guest blog on The Organized Writer.

First, everyone, I have a confession to make. I’m not the world’s most organized writer. I tend to prefer scraps of papers with scribbled ‘notes to self’ to spreadsheets or electronic files with labeled with helpful headings. On my writing desk are stacks of books. Some of these I consult obsessively. They look as if they’ve sprouted yellow sticky notes. Others are just there. It’s as if I’ve placed the tomes beside me in the hope I’ll absorb their information by proximity. Next to the books are the pictures, tear sheets, and articles, thick folders full of them that I’ve collected about any number of subjects, from architecture to circus acts to sugar daddies, as well as my dog-eared notebook that has ideas, snatches of dialogue, and snippets of scenes from my work in progress jotted down whenever the mood has struck me.

When I wrote my first four novels these tools stood me in good stead. More than good stead in fact. I have a decent memory and an active imagination so remembering my characters’ names and their particulars wasn’t that difficult over the course of four hundred pages. But when I received a contract to write my Rosewood Trilogy, the first I’d ever attempted, and began thinking about its structure, one where subplots were woven through the three stories and where the cast of characters expanded with each successive book, I realized something new was needed. Otherwise my head would explode.

For a period I was at a complete loss as how best to proceed. I began to fear that I’d bitten off more than I could chew. Luckily I had a friend who was a professional writing coach in Chicago (Nancy Beckett, founder of the Lakeside Writing Studio) and she gently guided me to a solution. I realized that I didn’t need to jettison my old yet beloved ways of collecting information and storing ideas, I simply needed to adopt new ones to manage this bigger and more complex world. The trick was finding ones I’d actually use.

For me, the answer wasn’t to be found in spreadsheets, admirable though they are. My personality is better suited to blank spaces without boxes. So I simply began to make lists. I made lists of all the characters in each book and included all relevant information: age, occupation, where they lived, and their importance to the story. I made lists of places—stores, homes, restaurants, schools, to name just a few--and included rough descriptions of their location in Warburg, the fictitious town I created where much of my trilogy unfolded. And since the trilogy was centered on Rosewood, a large horse breeding and training farm, one of the most extensive lists I compiled was of the horses bred, raised, and sold.

This sounds ridiculously simple, but without this basic organization I would have been lost in the story. Moreover, I found these lists increasingly crucial as I moved from the first book, Remember Me, to Believe in Me, and then to the last book in the trilogy, Trouble Me for they helped me to recall crucial details I’d mentioned in the first four hundred pages.

Another challenge I faced was to devise a quick and easy way to remember the key events that took place in the trilogy. As my trilogy story was about three sisters, there was a great deal of history--of family lore and unexplained events—that needed to be included. The tool I found most useful to chart all the sequence of events was a timeline. Or rather, four timelines. I made one timeline for each novel and then because I wanted to see how the events spanned the entire trilogy I created a kind of super-timeline that incorporated the significant moments in the ‘history’ of this family.

The most important thing I learned about trying to organize my approach to writing was how idiosyncratic a process it is. What I found to be useful, you may not. Whether fancy and high tech, or barebones-simple, the only thing that matters is if it works for you.

Happy writing,

~Laura

Coming April 18 - A visit with Laura Moore

Laura Moore, Contemporary Romance Author

Come visit us Wednesday, April 18 when romance author Laura Moore will be our guest. She will share with us how she organized her characters, settings and timelines for her Rosewood Trilogy.

Comment and have a chance to win a copy of her latest release, Trouble Me, third book in the Rosewood Trilogy.

See you then!
Michelle

Don't Interrupt Me Unless You're Bleeding, Or How to Balance Family and Writing

Writer Wednesday

One of the greatest benefits of being a writer, is the flexibility it gives you with your family’s schedule. You can work around school events, play dates, family parties, etc. You can put in a six-hour day while the kids are at school, but still be there when they get home. Or you can take a Friday off for a long weekend away with the spouse.

But the benefit is also the down side. Working from home can give family members the impression that you are available at a moment’s notice to take care of their needs. That you can drop anything and drive them around on their schedule.

This is where the problems begin. The more you say yes at the beginning, the more they will ask. The more you give over time, the more they will take, until you are doing more for others than you are yourself. Consequently, the writing suffers because you don’t have enough time to devote to it.

Here are some techniques to help you to work from home, and create a good balance of work and family.

Value Your Time—Your time is a precious commodity. Therefore, you should place a value on it. What would you charge per word if freelancing, and how many words can you write in an hour? Keep this figure in mind when someone asks you for a favor, or when there is work to be done around the house. Is it worth your hourly rate to do this chore or errand yourself? Or would you be better off hiring someone?

Prioritize—Plan ahead and see what absolutely has to get done that day, week, month. Prioritize your tasks accordingly. For example, you have a workshop presentation coming up on the 15th of the month. Start preparing weeks ahead—create an outline, write the workshop, practice, prepare handouts, etc. If you wait until the 14th to start preparing for a large project, it won’t be done to the best of your ability. Also, create a Command Center for the family. Have a calendar out in the open for all to see and use. For yourself, use a planner with both family and business so you don’t double-book. Look at your planner and calendar on a regular basis, so you can prioritize your tasks for each day.

Delegate—Get the cooperation of everyone in your family. Assign age-appropriate chores—even the youngest can help out. Hire out what can’t be done by family members. For example, is it worth it to have a weekly lawn maintenance service, or would you rather spend several hours a week mowing the lawn? Can you hire someone to pick up after your dog in the yard, or should you continue to do it?

Eliminate Interruptions—When you are home and have set aside time to work, don’t answer the phone (except in an emergency). Don’t reply to e-mails as they pop up. Save and reply to them all at once. Place a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door, and make sure your spouse and children respect your wishes. Have them understand that they can’t interrupt you unless they are bleeding.

Make the Most of Your Time—Make lists so you don’t forget anything. In meetings, have an agenda and follow it. Go to only one store instead of shopping three different ones for sales. The time and money you save in gas will be worth the extra you spend in groceries. Also, if you are having a repairman over to fix the plumbing, schedule the furniture delivery or furnace check the same day. Don’t take two days away from your work.

Work Wisely—Don’t over-schedule yourself. Don’t be a perfectionist all the time. Learn to delegate. Don’t procrastinate. And concentrate on the task at hand. Multi-task only if it doesn’t compromise the outcome. For example, phone calls from the car can be distracting if you are trying to write down phone numbers or check your calendar. But phone calls while cooking or watching soccer practice can be beneficial.

Play Wisely—Schedule in fun time with the family and date time with the spouse. Make it clear to family members that if everyone helps, everyone wins.

Product Recommendations for Managing Projects

Starting a project is exciting. It can also create anxiety. How will you keep track of all the tasks that are part of the project? How will you store all the paper generated by the project? How will you schedule your time to see that the project is completed on time?

In this post, we're going to look at storing the paper generated by a project. We'll look at products for small and large projects, and also the portability factor.

The first aspect to determine is the estimated size of the project. Will you be writing an article for a magazine? Then you probably won't have too many papers to collect. Will you be coordinating a contest for your writer's group? You will have a fair amount of paper. Are you starting a novel? If so, you will have a lot of papers by the end of the project.

Knowing the size of the project will help you determine the size of your storage. For a novel, you will want something large, like a portable file box.
This will hold all your hanging file folders , one for each aspect of your novel—research, contests, submissions, hard copies of chapters, marketing efforts, etc. They are large, sturdy and portable. And once the book is published, the box can be stored away securely, and remain dust-free.

Another way to store a large project is a desktop file. These also hold hanging file folders, but are open on the top. They provide easy access to the files, which remain visible at all times. They are portable, but not as easy to tote around. And while they hold a lot, they are not good for permanent storage. Therefore, these would be good for projects in process, then could be emptied and reused once you begin a new project.

If you have a filing cabinet for storage, a hanging accordion file would work well. This would also work well if you don't like your desk cluttered with files. You can place it in a drawer and it's out of sight. It can also be moved to another file cabinet for deep storage at a later date. This product would not work well for portability.

For medium-sized projects, a traditional accordion file works well. These come in a variety of sizes, with anywhere from five to thirty-one individual pockets. Some come pre-labeled. Others have blank tabs for creating your own subjects. You can find them with or without a cover flap. A cover will prevent the contents from spilling out, but an open file will provide east accessibility.

Finally, there are a number of different products for small projects. My favorite of these is the Smead Project Folder. I have one of these for every client. I custom label the tabs—web site, contests, blog tours, etc. I can write account information in the Notes section on each pocket (User Names and Passwords). I record contact information on the inside cover, and other information such as mileage.
This can easily be used for a small project like a blog tour for a book. You can use a pocket for each blog, or a pocket for different aspects of the tour, such as a master list, guidelines, contact information, contest winners, mailing receipts, etc.
Other options for small projects are pockets. These can be plastic or paper (cardboard). They come all one color in a set, or different colors. A variety of colors is best for identifying contents at a glance. Some are pre-punched with three holes for use in a binder. Others are simple pockets. The pockets can be clipped together or placed in a larger expanding pocket.

This is just a sampling of all the possibilities. There are many colors and varieties. But this gives you an idea of how to manage the paperwork associated with a project. You will know what best suits your needs. And you needs will change between projects, so you may find one of these good for one project, but another better for a second project.

What systems have you used to contain your paperwork for a project?