Tag Archives: Writing Career Tip

Show Up – Your Write2Thrive Story

Writer Motivation, , ,

Show Up – Your Write2Thrive Story. Jean Rikhoff was my mentor. She taught me to Show Up. “Ninety percent of success is showing up,” she would say. She had a lot to say. Like in this picture with the 1980s hair. But Jean did much more than talk the talk.

Walk the Walk. Jean showed up. She was a young mother when the parking lot episode occurred. Home was so hectic she drove to a supermarket parking lot early every morning and wrote her novel there. Figure out how to do what needs to be done in your life. Jean did that. You can too.

Write Regularly. No matter what is going on in your life. Let the rich experience of creativity do its kick-butt thing to your writer psyche until you feel out of balance without a daily dose. One page or one hour a day minimum. Enough to make you crave another dose tomorrow.

Mark Your Territory. Carve out a place for yourself and your work. Virginia Woolf talked about “a room of your own.” Crowded circumstances may preclude that. A private corner can suffice. Put your stuff there. Notebooks. Laptop. Files. Pens. A lamp covered in story ideas.

Get Good Gear. Buy yourself quality equipment. If necessary – do so by cutting back spending on other things. If you have qualms about doing that – make yourself believe the following. You deserve what you need to succeed. This is your new mantra. Repeat it often and adamantly. Show Up – Your Write2Thrive Story.

Value Your Time. Control your commitments. Ask yourself, “Can someone else do this? Does it have to be me?” Examine carefully new requests for your time and energy. Ask yourself, “Is this the best use of my precious self.”

Train Your Tribe. Post your work hours. The refrigerator door is a good place. Insist on no interruptions at those times. Tell family and friends how important your writing is to you. Make them hear you. Do not back down. They will come around. If they do not – keep on with your work. Do it anyway.

Train You Too. Identify your personal time-burners. Activities that contribute minimally to what you really want to accomplish. Do not indulge during your best brain time. Limit online play to your dim bulb hours. Use your online activity to build your public platform visibility.

Show Up for Your Story. These disciplines will carry you deep into your writing and keep you there. John Gardner called it “the dream of the book.” Write to inhabit that dream. Write from deep in your imagination where your very best stories are waiting.

Show Up for Yourself. Life stress can stop you in your tracks. Give yourself a break and a story boost instead. Powerful stories are intense like stress. Incorporate your personal intensity into a dramatic scene. Incorporate that scene into your current work. Feel it all. Adapt it all. You are a creator. Create.

Show Up for Your Tribe. Embrace your writer family by helping each other. Look around. Feel where you are needed. When someone is down lift them up. Let your generosity shine. Be grateful for the opportunity to give. Together we thrive. Show Up – Your Write2Thrive Story.

You possess storytelling magic. Keep on writing whatever may occur.  Alice Orr.  https://www.aliceorrbooks.com

Alice Orr. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. Alice blogs for writers and readers at https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Alice’s novel A Time of Fear & Loving . Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5. Available HERE.

A Time of Fear & Loving

Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “Budding romance sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.” “The best one yet!”

Alice’s Suspense Novel Series. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. Five intense stories of love and death and intrigue. Available HERE.

Praise for Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. “Romance and suspense at its best.” “I highly recommend this page-turner series.” “Twists and turns, strong characters, suspense and passionate love.” “The writing is exquisite.”

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know? About your writer experience. About telling your stories. Ask your question as a comment following this post.

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Writer’s Life Resolution Time

Writer Inspiration, ,

Writer’s Life Resolution Time. One Christmas my grandkids gave me a very special gift. A mug with these words on it. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” I had coveted that mug from the moment I saw it on a bookstore shelf.

I Used to Haunt Bookstores. Especially bookstores with a café. I clocked many contented hours at their small tables. I wrote No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells at a bookstore café and worked on many other titles in similar surroundings.

I No Longer Haunt Bookstores. Many are now out of business. The survivor nearest me has no café. They cannot afford to devote floor space to anything other than sales items. Besides, the pandemic got me into the habit of buying my books online and doing my work at home.

Things Change. We begin this new year in different circumstances than those we may have enjoyed in the past. Some of us lament these changes. None of us can benefit from focusing on their loss. That way of thinking is a drag-down against what we need most – to forge forward with the confidence and enthusiasm my precious mug is meant to inspire.

New Inspiration Needed. I love holiday movies. A writer friend suggested Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey on Netflix. There I discovered another inspiring quotation that rings true to me right now. “The magic isn’t just in what you’ve lost. It’s in what you still have.”

We Still Have Our Selves. My mom said “You always take on more than you can chew.” So true of many of us. We mercilessly burden our already overtaxed shoulders. We must resolve to be gentle with our selves. We deserve a break today and every day.

We Still Have Our Good Sense. When I am sensible about my life – and especially about my work – I make a plan and write it down. We need that now. A plan. In writing. With lots of specifics. A plan for going confidently into this good year at Writer’s Life Resolution Time.

We Still Have Our Dreams. What do you want to accomplish? Gentle expectations for the next 3 months only. Brainstorm. Do not brain-strain. Write down everything that comes to mind. Be as specific as you can. Concrete goals you can realistically achieve.

We Still Have Our Good Judgement. Continue in rapid-response mode. To each item on the above list add 3 specific actions you might take to make that accomplishment happen. Do not edit or judge. Simply whale away with the brainstorming. No harpoons allowed.

We Still Have Our Priorities. Star the 3 goal categories that excite you most. Follow your gut. Still fast-tracking. Rate the stars in order of which ones brighten your imagination most. Now you have it. A plan for your next 3 months. Probably longer. A map to the direction of your dreams.

We Still Have Our Future. What Comes Next? Whether you realize it or not you have made a bold move toward living the life you’ve imagined. Let us all resolve to do exactly that from now on in our Writer’s Life Resolution Time.

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 a 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/

Indie Publishing and You

PublishingTip, ,

Indie Publishing and You. This is the 8th anniversary year of my own 1st indie book. That memoir and the 5 following indie novels taught me many lessons. I pass the most important of those lessons on to you FYI. I hope they will be helpful if/when indie pub is your choice too.

Put Together a First Class Team. The memoir I mentioned – Lifted to the Light: A Story of Struggle and Kindness – was a solo effort all the way from cover choice to upload. I learned a lot about the process from that experience. I also learned never to do it again. IMO it takes a Team.

Produce a First Class Story. You create that showstopper on your own and make it the very best storytelling you have in you. Then you must 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.

Publish a First Class Book. Start with a topnotch cover. Unless you are a gifted artist, I advise a designer pro for this job. Also find an experienced formatter and (if you are like me) an upload expert to mount you on the digital platforms you need and make certain your hardcopy book is a beauty to behold as well. All of these functions can come from a single company if you prefer that route the way I did.

Construct a First Class Post-Pub Plan. Start gathering your mailing list the day you are born. Adopt an online presence at puberty. Only slight exaggerations. The internet is the highway via which you reach and grow your readership. School yourself in everything social media. Suss out a success story and follow her example. My personal online marketing guru is Kayelle Allen.

Create a First Class Offline Act. Readers abound in real life as well as screen life. Begin with your very own peeps right here in the writers’ community. Earn our interest. Enlist us as allies by being an ally. Serve the community however you can and it will serve you generously in return. Just rememer there is an Us in Indie Publishing and You.

Concoct a First Class Long-Range Plan. Continue to market your title by any means necessary. Keep that effort going long after launch week. Use your creativity. Brainstorm new angles and clever hooks. Loose your imagination. Be bold. But be subtle. Do not badger. Never forget to benefit others while building your own career.

Capture Us with First Class Visibility. Incorporate your title into your signature and affix it to everything. Do whatever you can inspire yourself to do. Picture becoming a star-studded author and head there. Always and forever – promotion is your new middle name.

Meanwhile Manage Your Expectations. Million-dollar babies are only intermittently born in this or any other creative profession. Put your psyche on your side. It sounds cliché – but you must write for the love of it. Make your work first class for the love it. Promote your books to the heavens for the love of it.

And – Celebrate. Celebrate. Celebrate. Every move forward. Every slip back. All are part of the joy of what we do. Using our noggins and our notions. If you are new to this particular path or one of the many amazing authors marking anniversaries as I am – Enjoy!! This is the Wonderful World of Indie Publishing and You.

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 novel – A Wrong Way Home – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – is a free gift for you HERE.

A Wrong Way Home

Praise for A Wrong Way Home: “The story twists and turns masterfully into danger and romance.” “I highly recommend this page-turner which is romance and suspense at its best.” “The writing is exquisite.”

All of Alice’s Books are HERE.

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