Tag Archives: am Writing

Write Whenever Wherever

July 17, 2023Writing Adviceam Writing, Helping Each Other, Writer MotivationAlice Orr

Write Whenever Wherever. A day in the life of a writer can be a frenzied time. There are these things called deadlines. Do you know why they are called deadlines? Because guess what an author will be if she misses one.

How Can We Possibly Get Everything Done? Marketing. Social media. Keeping up with email. And, oh yes, I almost forgot. Writing. As publishing writers we are concerned about productivity on the page. How many words must you write today to be on track toward your deadline? Whether that deadline is set by an agent or an editor or yourself.

This is Not a New Problem for Me. When I first became a book editor – back in a previous incarnation – I was still under contract with my own publisher and had a tight deadline to fulfill. The publisher I worked for and the publisher I wrote for were pulling me hard in two different directions. I was in the middle about to lose my mind.

Then Something Wonderful Happened. I was speaking on a conference panel with Nora Roberts. Always an amazing experience. She was the queen of productivity then just like she is the queen of productivity now. So I had a wild thought. Maybe she could help me with my own productivity dilemma.

I Found Nora in the Hotel Lobby and Explained My Predicament. She settled into a comfortable sofa and invited me to do the same. This was our first meeting. She did not know me but she listened patiently all the same. Then she gave me the simple yet profound advice that carried me through the deadline I was facing then and many more since.

“You have to Learn to Write Wherever You Are,” she said. I had always confined my writing to orderly places and set blocks of time. Nora freed me from that. I also always carried 5×8 inch index cards with me everywhere. From that moment in the hotel lobby on I used them for writing – any time any place I had minutes to spare I would Write Whenever Wherever.

Modes of Transportation became Favorite Writing Spaces. Subway cars. Taxis. Airplanes. I hunched over my index cards and wrote furiously. Between subway stops. On my way to meetings. In airport lounges. Nobody ever interrupted me. Probably because I looked a bit intense and maybe a bit insane too. I didn’t care. I needed to make my deadlines. And I did.

How to Put Your Writer Psyche on Your Side - www.aliceorrbooks.com

I Never Forgot Nora Roberts’ Wise Advice. I write a lot online now. Magazine articles and columns. These blog posts. They all have deadlines and my days are still packed with other obligations as well. Fortunately I have this author paragon’s voice to remind me. “You have to write wherever you are.” I pass my version of that voice on to you. At deadline time or any time. Write Whenever Wherever.

Alice Orr Says – You Possess Storytelling Magic. Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Ask your question in the Comments section at the end of this post.

Alice Orr has published 14 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. She wrote her nonfiction book No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community she loves. Her novel – A Year of Summer Shadows – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 2 – is available HERE.

Amazon.com/authors/aliceorr

Praise for A Year of Summer Shadows: “Alice keeps you wanting to read faster, then when you finish the last page, you want more.” “Orr’s characters come alive on the page.” “A Year of Summer Shadows has moved up to one of my favorite books.”

All of Alice’s Books are HERE.

http://facebook.com/aliceorrwriter/
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/

Writers’ Independence Day

July 5, 2023Writing Career Tipam Writing, Indie Publishing, Writing BusinessAlice Orr

Writers’ Independence Day. It happened at a conference. I was there to present a workshop called The Art of Agent Stalking. Nothing Independent Publishing about it. Traditional Pub all the way. I had been watching the Indie movement but as a curious onlooker. Nothing more.

Before I Reached the Conference Hotel my Attitude Began to Change. The airport shuttle van was packed with authors talking about Indie Publishing. Some wanted to know more. Some were thinking of making the leap. Some had leapt and shared their experiences.

Those Stories Captured my Attention. I was most impressed by the enthusiasm. I had been an editor/agent/published author/workshop presenter for many years. I had never heard published authors – beyond the first euphoric blush of their careers – so positively excited about publishing. By the time we reached the conference hotel I understood why.

These Authors had Retrieved their Writer Selfhood. They were no longer controlled and manipulated by others. They owned their work. They owned their decision-making. They owned their careers. And they not only felt empowered – they were overjoyed.

At that Conference I also Learned about the Downside of Indie Life. I learned that along with total control of your publishing life comes total responsibility for it. The buck stops with the Indie author and often the other kind of buck – the green one – doesn’t stop with her anywhere often enough. This was the truth of choosing a Writers’ Independence Day.

That Point about Money Must be Emphasized. 2011 to 2015 or so was the golden age of Indie Pub. Big careers and fortunes were made. The results of undertaking an Indie career since then have mostly been less than fabulous. An Indie Pubbed author must work very hard and be very savvy if she hopes to make a living at it. Here is some of what she/you must do.

Produce a First Class Story. Create a showstopper. Make it the very best storytelling you have in you. Then run it past fresh eyes – fresh and talented eyes. Which means you need a strong editor who will see the flaws you have inevitably missed. Which brings me to…

Put Together a First Class Team. Hire that first-class editor I mentioned. Do not try to mastermind your words alone. Then a good cover and book designer. Next an expert at publishing platform placement. These folks usually perform uploading etc. to the platform(s) as well. Do these operations yourself ONLY if you have topnotch skills. IMO it takes a Team.

Construct a First Class Post-Pub Plan. Start gathering your mailing list the day you are born. Adopt an online presence by puberty. These are only slight exaggerations. The internet is the highway via which you reach and grow your readership. School yourself in everything social media. Find an Indie marketing success story and follow her example. Mine is Kayelle Allen.

Back to Me and the Conference Hotel. By the time I took the van back to the airport I had made a decision. I longed to be fully in charge of my own work life. I had that experience as a literary agent. I wanted it as an author also. One Indie memoir (below) and five Indie novels later I occasionally question my publishing choice. Usually when the money issue arises.

I Don’t Make as Many Green Bucks as in my Traditional Pub Years. I probably never will. Still I am content with what I do and how free I am to go about doing it. I might change my mind. I am free to do so. But – for me for now – I celebrate my Writers’ Independence Day.

Alice Orr Says – You Possess Storytelling Magic. Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Ask your question in the Comments section at the end of this post.

Alice Orr has published 14 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. She wrote her nonfiction book No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community she loves. Her Indie Pubbed novel – A Year of Summer Shadows – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 2 – is available HERE.

Praise for A Year of Summer Shadows: “Alice keeps you wanting to read faster, then when you finish the last page, you want more.” “Orr’s characters come alive on the page.” “A Year of Summer Shadows has moved up to one of my favorite books.”

All of Alice’s Books are HERE.

http://facebook.com/aliceorrwriter/
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/

Giving Thankfuls for Our Writer Lives

November 9, 2022Writer Inspirationam Writing, Storytelling, Writer Motivation, Writers LifeAlice Orr

Giving Thankfuls for Our Writer Lives. In our yellow house on Vashon Island the dining table was battered from years of grandkid use. The chairs had been rocked so many times Grandpa Jonathan had to bolt the legs to the frames. This was the precious place where we held hands at mealtime and practiced gratitude for our lives together. We called it Giving Thankfuls.

Our Storytelling Lives are Equally Blessed. The guests at our tables exist only in our heads but they rollick and roar and rock the chairs all the same. They give us hissy fits. But would you want to live without them for a day? We Give Thankfuls for our imaginary friends.

We Sit in Battered Bolted Chairs and Stare at the Wall. Real life plays out in front of us but we are otherwise engaged. Images peek from under the tableware. What ifs clatter louder than the cutlery. We savor the symphony of inspiration and Give Thankfuls for the scenes we see.

An Array of Plot Possibilities Fills our Formerly Empty Plates. We pick and choose. Mix and match. Consider and rethink. We alter the menu at will. Always in service of the purposes of the plot. Always hungry for what works best. We Give Thankfuls for the feast of creativity.

The Banquet Continues for Days Months Years. Our appetites are sometimes satisfied but often they are not. We may leap up from the table in exasperation. Nonetheless we eventually return and struggle again to get the ingredients exactly right. We Give Thankfuls for resilience.

At Last we Add these Luscious Words – The End. We pound the well-used table or collapse upon it. Though probably exhausted we are also filled with joy and chair-rocking energy. We laugh. We sob. However we express it we are Giving Thankfuls for Our Writer Lives.

Being Storytellers has Put Us in the Amazing Company of Other Storytellers. We honor that company for its generosity, its wit, its endless ingenuity. We find role models and helpmates there. Friends too, professional and personal. We Give Thankfuls for our writers’ community.

Being Storytellers has Put Us in the Amazing Company of Readers. The upfront readers who help us grow our work. The priceless readers who review that work after it has come of age. The readers we pray will become our fans. Who could possibly not Give Thankfuls for readers?

Each Morning Begins a New Day to Rejoice in Storytelling. What gave us this glorious gift? In my case it was Grandma. She told her stories aloud. I write mine down. Her spirit abides in me and mine in her. I shall Give Thankfuls forever for her believing in me from my start.

Today My Own Grandkids are No Longer Kids. We are all back on the east coast now. Grandparents and parents. In-laws and outlaws. Jonathan and I are still a twosome fifty years and counting. We have never stopped holding hands and Giving Thankfuls and hope we never will.

Meanwhile my Storytelling Life Continues. So does yours. We are filled with memories. We are calm or stormy at turns. We have not gone gentle into any night – good are otherwise. We are the characters we have written and become. We are Giving Thankfuls for Our Writer Lives.

Alice Orr says – You Possess Storytelling Magic. Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Ask your question in the Comments section at the end of this post.

Alice Orr – Teacher. Storyteller. Former Literary Agent. Blogs for Writers. Author of 16 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. Wrote No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community she loves.

Alice’s holiday novel, for which she Gives Thankfuls, is A Vacancy at the Inn – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 3 – available HERE. Celebrate the Season!