Meme answers and my favorite writing (related) quotes

Carolyn's posted a Meme (and funnily enough, I always read the 'meme' thing as 'me - me'. A friend of mine used to debate the whole concept of 'meme' because, even in the broadest sense of the word, viral quizzes and other things that pass on via blogs aren't - technically - memes. That's probably a rant for another time though ;)

So, without further ado, seven things...I'm more self indulgent that Carolyn, so don't mind talking about myself :D.
1) I'm writing a set of books based around a pattern of seven. Its a police/thriller style book, and my MC, Elliot Peters, is visually based on Chris Meloni (from Special Victims Unit, Oz, and a guest appearance in Scrubs).
2)I've just finished my first year of Uni with what I hope to be a 2:1. I've done really well on most courses, which I'm very proud of.
3)I am genuinely flummoxed by the need that most women I know (please note, not all) to have more than a minimum amount of shoes. I've got six pairs and that feels like about three too many.
4)I've written close to 40 novels. Now to sell them...
5) at one point I owned 500 websites. I'm cutting it down rather rapidly, but I still own a huge amount. I wish I could find someone to take them off my hands, cause all that most of them need is a little TLC.
6) I am 30 this year. I only just discovered I like spas (I went for the first time last night) and I play roleplaying games at least three nights a week in person and once or twice a week online on World of Warcraft.
7)I hate letting people read what I'm writing, as I'm writing it, which, in part is why I won't take part in LiveBlogging events. I LIKE time to think about how silly I'm looking.

And some favorite quotes:
"If you don't know there's a trampoline in the room, you're not going to dust the ceiling for prints." - Captain Craigen SVU
Now, before you wonder what this has to do with writing, that's the easy bit to explain. No writer should ever ignore the angle that everyone else has overlooked - its our JOB to show people that there was a trampoline in the room, and to go ahead and dust that ceiling. In other words, we're here to give a perspective that people understand and relate to.

'Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.'

T S Eliot

I love this quote, because it lines up with something that slid into place with one of my lectures. My lecturer had been ranting about how 'soul' means something different to each and every person we encounter. He also told us that poetry should leave 'gaps' for the reader to fill in. My brain somehow rearranged it to 'poetry leaves gaps for readers to fill in with bits of their soul'. And I think that's a great way to be with ANY piece. We're supposed to leave enough room for people to understand - to fill in with their experience, their imaginings, their loves and hates.

'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.'

E L Doctorow

Again, this is great. And its totally true, though in my case, I've got deja vu when I get to certain bits. Been there before. Oh gods, I know what happens now, do I really want to watch?
LOL.

And finally...

"Are you going to come quietly, or do I have to use earplugs?"
Spike Milligan

Sometimes its not about doing it right, or politely - or within reason. Sometimes its about shouting from the top of the roof, at the top of your lungs, with that huge loudspeaker - when everyone else is being quiet. Sometimes - just sometimes - its about doing it my way. And that one line from Spike Milligan, whom I share some similarities with, reminds me every single time that writing isn't about doing it any other way than loud, proud and in as many faces as possible.

My Niche = Reining Horses

I'm late, I'm late, I know, I'm sorry!!

And I swear, I'm the queen of niche writing, so I really should have a lot to say on the topic, right?

Here's my backstory. I was a horse crazy teenager living in the city. I had a single mom who definitely couldn't afford a horse. Or even riding lessons. So I found an instructor who would let me wash her truck and trailer, polish the silver and clean stalls for lessons.

My brother did the same and he was a total natural at riding. Me? Not so much, but I loved the horses.

After I graduated from high school and all my friends were deciding which college they would attend, I went to the school of hard knocks. I started training horses over in Europe and here in Alberta. By the time I was 22 I was riding for Canada's number one reining trainer.

(insert stupid mistakes here)

By the time I was 25 I was divorced and a single mom of a toddler. Horse weren't in my future again for a long time... assistant horse trainers were paid about $1000 a month. Day care cost $900. Yeah.

But I had one other talent. Writing. I'd always written, but I hadn't written with a purpose. Now I had a purpose, to write about the horses I loved. So that's what I did.

My first article was in a horse association magazine. I volunteered with them and this was my contribution. I also did some editing and proofreading and helped to sell ads in the magazine. My second article came a couple months later when the editor of a horse publication in Canada emailed me to ask me if I wanted to write for her. And she paid me.

And that's how it started.

I have had about 250 articles and original columns published. I'd guesstimate that 225 of those were about horses.

Even more specifically, my articles were about reining horses. If you Google "reining horse writer", I'm the first link that comes up. My niche is so specific that I'd probably guess that there are far less than 100 writers specializing in it in North America.

And it was the mastering of this niche market that got me my book contract. Don't think for a moment the publisher didn't say "OK, this writer wants to write a book about reining horses, let's see what else she's done" and Googled my name. There I was.

I wasn't a reining horse trainer any more, I wasn't even riding at the time, I had the experience of being THE WRITER for THAT NICHE.

So, how can this help you?

Think of your niche. Now drill-down three or four layers. Get specific. Here's how mine works:

Horses
*
Riding
*
Western Riding
*
Reining Horses

This can be done with any topic. Parenting, Olympic Sports, Cleaning, Religion, Writing... Drill down into the topic and find a niche inside of a niche inside of a niche and become THE EXPERT on that topic.

Then start your way UP that ladder, next I'd focus on Western Riding (other sports like Cutting, Working Cow Horse, Western Pleasure, Trail) then Riding.... soon I'll be Queen of the World considered an expert on a much broader topic. The Martha Steward of Horses. (Incidentally, Martha has some really nice horses and even she has written about the topic!)

Here's an example:

Parenting
*
Life Stages of Children
*
Babies & Toddlers
*
Challenges
*
Sleep Issues

I have a difficult time when writers say "I want to write about X" and it's a broad topic like religion or parenting or health. You can call yourself a writer of "X" and that's fine, but don't you want to conquer the whole topic? Don't you want to be well-known as an expert in your topic? If so, then you absolutely have to conquer it one corner at a time.

Pick your topic, let's brainstorm your niche!

Theme: Niche Writing

"Niche – what’s yours? How to develop one. How hard it is to develop one. Whether you think you should or shouldn’t, etc."

Another theme courtesy of the wonderful Carolyn!

I feel like the Queen of Niche some days so I am really looking forward to hearing the rest of the group's take as well as from some of our readers!

Theme: How do you start?

We're all busy, we are all pulled in different directions by our family, our work, our writing... I don't know about you, but I find it very hard to get started when I sit down to write.

What's your trick to starting?

This week, I wanted to introduce you to someone.

Suzanne Lieurance is The Working Writer's Coach and she sends out a Morning Nudge each week. She is a former classroom teacher, now a fulltime children’s author, freelance writer, and The Working Writer’s Coach. She teaches children’s writing for the Institute of Children’s Literature based in West Redding, Connecticut, and is the founder and director of the National Writing for Children Center. Lieurance is the author of 20 published books and has written articles for a variety of magazines, newsletters, and ezines like Family-Fun, Kansas City Weddings, Instructor Magazine, New Moon for Girls, Children’s Writer, and many others. She hosts a talk show about children’s books, called Book Bites for Kids, every weekday afternoon on blogtalkradio.com.

Her March 19th Nudge really struck home with me and she's given me permission to post that Nudge below:

Are You Afraid to Be Happy?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wanna know why so many people don't set goals for themselves or write down what it is they want out of life?

It's because they're AFRAID they might actually attain those goals and get what they want.And something so wonderful and new for many people is very, very scary - even though they SAY they want this success.

But don't let fear keep you from claiming what you want.

When you get it, if it turns out NOT to be what you hoped it would be, you aren't stuck with it forever.

You can decide you want something else, and then go after that.

Right now, become fearless. Claim what you THINK you want.

Then go get it.

Keep doing this until you finally get what you truly desire. You'll learn a lot along the way, so your time and efforts won't be wasted.

Try it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd suggest that you head over to Suzanne's web site and get nudged! It is a great way to get started!!

Madness...they call it madness

There are a lot of things that make me steaming mad. For example, my phone died on Friday. Its JUST come back up about 20 minutes ago. That makes me steaming mad - cause it interfered with working from home. This is my house phone, so my internet was also gone - other than a very basic 'web and walk' system we bought on Tuesday. I'm so happy to be back online - and this is my FIRST post. Haven't even gotten round to downloading emails yet ;)

And that actually leads me quite neatly into what makes me steaming mad as a writer.
I work from home. I've got my laptop, and two desktops, which means one is for writing (my beloved laptop), one is for artwork - and the final one is for uploading websites.
BUT - because ALL people see me doing is browsing websites, uploading stuff, or playing with pretty graphics, clearly, I don't DO anything.
Its not - really - a 'writing' issue though, is it? Or you'd think.
The majority of home workers that *I* know are not writers. And we all hit the same issue, but with writers, most of the time, we're not even producing something 'solid'. I mean, I know people that sew products - I know people that create diaper cakes - I even know people that make bespoke calligraphy posters - but most writers, short of thier clips, have nothing to show for it. A novel isn't created in a week - overnight - six in a day - ten in a month.
I can understand why people believe that, but it really - REALLY annoys me that some people just don't take the time to ask or understand.
I could get into a huge conversation about professionalism as a writer - I could talk about how we need to respect ourselves and respect our work before others will - but instead, I will say this.
If our families don't understand - don't support - criticise and destroy our confidence, then we need to either make them or ask them to butt out. I've had to do that with a couple of people that just 'don't get it' and it hurts not to be able to talk to people about the things I love, but its harder still to fight against the criticism.
That's what makes me burning mad. That though I'm creating something beautiful, that some people choose not to respect me. I totally get that I have to earn respect, but 'respect' should not equal 'best seller'.
So respect yourself as a writer - get mad, get even by writing your best - but never let them drag you down.

Theme - Things That Make You Go GRRRR!

Yes, we all have them. Those THINGS that drive us batty about writing and writers and publishing and editors and ... well, just about anything.

I had a major one this week: Writers who don't respect the copyright of other writers.

So - As a writer, what chaps yer butt? What pops yer bubble? What drives you absolutely bonkers?

The writing diet

Heather asked us this week about our favorite type of writing, after Carolyn asked what we'd write even if we weren't paid.
I'm going to approach thing slightly differently, because I would (and DO) write whatever takes me because its food for my soul. I can't NOT write. It hurts my head if I don't.
But my writing 'diet' has differences to other people.

I write full time for my university course. I am in Uni for 10 hours a week, and all ten hours plus the eight hours per class of private study that I do is my major commitment. On top of that I do a couple of hours, per book, every two days, and I have five books on the go. In that hour, I add between 500 and 15000 words - depending on how complicated the scene that I'm writing is and how involved I get.
I also blog - five blogs, five posts per week, per blog, plus I update my personal blog irregularly.

I like my writing diet - I might not always get three 'meals a day' but I love the writing - and reading I do in association with the work that I'm up to that specific day. And its a varied diet - as varied as the things I've been working on - one day I'm writing 20 articles on blogging - the next I'm world building - creating worlds and weaving personalities.
To answer the question though...
My favorite type of writing is the one that lets me put the right words on a page. Whether that's poetry, prose, copywriting or programming. And don't get me wrong - being paid for it is NICE. I like being able to hand money to my partner and contribute to the house, but affecting people, and sharing the things that I'm trying to help people understand is more important - giving back what I've had support in learning is priceless.
On the subject of that though, I now have a contract - my first novel in my (sort of) pen name (Kai Viola ) is coming out in 2009. I'll explain why its a 'sort of pen name' and more about it later next week, and can share the blurb and finalised descriptions 'etc' if anyone is interested.

My Favorite Crack-a-lakin Writin': I now command you...

I have a 'real life' job in sales. Yes, me, I'm a salesperson. I sell stuff to people and I kind of sort of like it... most of the time. I'm also a Team Leader. I help other salespeople learn to sell and I guide them through our company's various departments and resources...

And while I do this... it feeds that little inner beastie of mine. That little controlling beastie that loves to TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO. (and where to go and how to get there, but that's another post for another time.)

At work there isn't much writing to do. Or rather, there wasn't until I created some writing ...

Now technically, I get paid to do my job. But my job doesn't really include writing. I could spend all day, all week, all month selling and have to do very little writing outside of communicating with customers.

But not me. Because I like to write and I like to tell people what to do. On a higher level, I like to organize my world through writing.

So I wrote the 'bible' of our department.

I wrote a training schedule.

I wrote a training guide.

I write sales letters every week.

I wrote the job description for my employees.

I wrote my own job description when they were creating the job I was promoted in to.

I write update and directives and instructions. If someone needs to know how to do something, I write the ten step guide to that task... my department has gone from almost no documentation to having everything documented.

I volunteer to proofread our company purchasing guide.

I create marketing material and pitch it to my boss.

The great thing is... all of this writing will still fit on my writer resume. It's all writing that I could go and get paid to do, but I do it at work as a 'side job'.

The benefits are many. Like the email my boss cc'd me on today where he sort of bragged that I was a "professional writer". Or the confidence I feel when I start to proofread something because I'm used to doing it. Or the ease with which I can rattle off a sales letter that my employees love to send out.

So even though they don't pay me to do it... I love it.

Theme - Writing You Love To Write!

This week's theme comes from the indominable Carolyn!

"What kind of writing do you love the most, that you would do if no one paid you to do it?”

Feel free to respond in the comments or post a link to your own blog!

Theme Week: Barriers

Here at Mama Needs A Book Contract we are rolling out somethin' new... THEMES!

Just because we're moms, we're writers, we're bloggers... and we like a) themes and b) deadlines!

Our first theme is in honor of the lunar eclipse that happened last week. Barriers.

What? Barriers?Eclipse? Ok, I was going with the idea that there are barriers in our life that tend to eclipse our writing. They are big, they are bad, they block out everything but themselves. What are they?

Stay tuned and find out!

But consider this:

"How you deal with challenges will determine whether you achieve your goal or give up and settle for less than you deserve. If we really want to create different results in our lives, we must become aware of how we interpret the "facts" or "events" of our lives and understand that our explanations often do not represent the "truth" of what's possible for us. In a very real sense, facts are an objective account of the event that occurred. No interpretation or meaning is attached. For example: "I was rejected by a potential investor for my project," "My husband left me," "I lost my job," "I was diagnosed with an illness," "I can't get pregnant."

Truth represents what's possible in any situation. "Each rejection brings me one step closer to an investor for my project," "I will find a new, better relationship," "I can find a better and more fulfilling career," "My health will improve," "I can adopt," and so on. Many people believe that events control their lives and that their circumstances have shaped who they are today. It's not true. It's not the events of our lives that shape us, but how we respond to those events, what we think they mean, and whether challenges trigger the "giving up" reflex in us or motivate us to hang tough and keep fighting."

Cynthia Kersey, Unstoppable Insights.