Three Books For Serious Writers

The fifth of each month is set aside for book reviews. Please contact the blog moderator if you have a good book that you would like to see featured here. This month I offer not one - but three books worth reading if you are serious about writing. 

On Writing by Stephen King
Now I understand what all the fuss is about. This is one fantastic book. Even with the language warning, I highly recommend it to every writer. It's very practical, but reads like a novel. I literally didn't want to put it down. King starts off by chronicling the life experiences that had an impact on his writing and ends with sound advice on almost every aspect of the writing life. There is really too much good stuff here to sum it up in one paragraph. All I really need to say is, "Read it!" (Review by Tracy Krauss)

Write. Publish. Repeat. by Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt. 
At one point the authors state, "We want this to be thee guide to self-publishing." That's a pretty gusty statement, but in my opinion, they deliver.  Write. Publish. Repeat. is, perhaps, one of the most practical books on the topic I have read to date. There are no get rich quick schemes and no magic formulas. Beyond the necessity of having a really good product that looks and reads 'professional', it comes down to sweat equity, plain and simple. Writing lots and building your catalogue, using product 'funnels', and treating your writing like a business, are just a few of the nuggets that I got out of the book. I also enjoyed the friendly conversational style. It was fun to read, although I say that with a slight caveat. They warn you up front that there will be some swearing and potentially offensive topics used as examples. This adds to the conversational style, but if vulgar language makes you squeamish then this book is probably not for you. That aside, there is just too much practical information to dismiss the book because of a language warning. I highly recommend it for authors of all stripes, self published or not. (Review by Tracy Krauss)

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

The book is full of sound advice, although the parts that talk about ebooks, advances, self publishing etc. are somewhat dated in light of the changes in the publishing industry. Still, the chapters on actual writing - plot, characterization, setting etc. are excellent. Sometimes I found the detailed examples tedious, especially if I wasn't familiar with the particular book in question. Especially helpful are the 'Breakout Checklists' at the end of each chapter which basically summarize the chapter in bullet points. (Review by Tracy Krauss)

Re-branding Yourself by Steph Beth Nickel

Questions to Ask

What can you see yourself writing about five years from now? Ten years from now?

What is the overarching theme of your writing? What fires you up? What can’t you stop talking—and writing—about?

How do you want to be known? Close to home and out in cyberspace?

If you can narrow your focus in these areas, you just may have found your theme, your tagline, your brand.

Narrowing My Focus

The name of my blog was originally “Steph’s Eclectic Interests.” That should give you an indication of how not focused I am. A dear friend and fellow writer said, “Each blog you post is focused on a single topic.” Talk about gracious!

A few years back, another dear friend said my tagline should be “Riding Shotgun.” And although I gave her a funny look when she said it, when she explained her reasoning, I was humbled and honoured. Because I “come alongside” others and assist them, she thought “Riding Shotgun” would be descriptive of that.

Not being a country music fan (don’t hate me), I never did go with her suggestion, but I don’t suppose I’ll ever forget it.

Like so many other people, I’m what I call “stupid busy.” It isn’t that I don’t like what I do—to the contrary. But it is long past time that I had a singular focus. And just a few days ago, I found it. <bouncing up and down, clapping>

A lot of factors came together to make it happen.

On June 25, I attended the Saturday sessions at the Write Canada conference. There, Belinda Burston stopped me to take my picture. Brenda J. Wood joined me in the shot. And I’m ever so glad she did! That picture is now plastered across the Web. It’s one of those shots that makes me grin—me with my newly dyed burgundy hair and Brenda with her flowered hat. (Who says writers are a stuffy, serious lot?)

That picture was a significant contributing factor to what followed. And late Thursday night, a tagline popped into my head. It was perfect: “To Nurture & Inspire.” I headed off to Dreamland flying high.

I spent the best parts of Friday re-branding myself online. I had to find the right background (thank you, pixabay.com), the right font and the right graphic (thank you, picmonkey.com).

Quick Tips for Branding and Re-branding

So, to close, I’d like to recommend six quick tips for branding (or re-branding) yourself:

1. Pray. As Christians, it’s amazing to think that God cares about every detail of our life.

2. Keep an eye out. You never know when inspiration is going to strike. Re-branding myself wasn’t on my To Do list last week, but one thing led to another and then another, and finally, “Poof!”

3. Get creative. Explore sites like Pixabay and PicMonkey. Let your Inner Creative out to play. It’s amazing how much fun you can have. I admit that I’m more of a “pantser” when it comes to these kinds of endeavours. However, if you like to be more deliberate in your planning, you can find how-to YouTube videos on just about any subject.

4. Know when it’s time to hire a pro. You may not have the time or the know-how to create your own brand. However, you will want to work hands-on with whoever you hire. You want to be able to say, “If I could have done it on my own, this is exactly what I would have done.”

5. Your brand isn’t forever. At least it doesn’t have to be. If your focus narrows or changes, even if you just get tired of it, it’s alright to rework it. Don’t get me wrong; if you’re well-established, it may take some time for your readers to adjust, but I would venture a guess that most of them will.

And …

6. Enjoy yourself. Even if your message is a serious one, I believe there’s something satisfying about choosing a profile picture and tagline as well as colours and graphics that are an extension of your message—and further, an extension of yourself.

Do you have a brand? Are you pleased with it or is it time for some revamping?

Small Step, Big Leap

Our prompt this month asks writers: What “small step” in your writing life turned out to be a giant leap?

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I stared at my computer’s monitor for some time, my heart racing just a bit. I’d been following the blog Novel Journey.com for a couple of years, enjoying the posts about writing, interviews, industry news and the weekly Sunday devotional. It was a highly respected blog, on the list of Writers’ Digest’s best blogs for writers. From time to time I’d left comments and was impressed with  the founders, Gina Holmes and Ane Mulligan. They were always willing to engage and I felt as though I knew them. 

So when this post went up it made me sad but excited at the same time. Their regular devotional columnist had to step down. They asked everyone to pray for a replacement.

Though I’d been writing devotionals for a few years, and published a book that was selling well, I was hesitant to approach these professionals about writing for them. All kinds of reasons why I shouldn’t bother flitted through my head: they would likely have a flood of writers apply who were more qualified; I’d never written devotionals specifically for writers before – could I really do it every week? I almost closed the page but something kept my hand from hitting the close button. My last thought was: what could it hurt? If they say no, they say no.

I popped off a short note and attached a few samples of my work. Gina responded quite quickly. “You’re an answer to prayer! Can you start right away?”

I gulped and said yes. That small step has led to several years of writing for the blog, now called Novel Rocket. The discipline of writing to the deadline every week was invaluable and I’ve discovered mentioning that I write for the blog is regarded as a bit of a feather in my cap by industry pros. from the US. And the responses from readers has been greatly encouraging.

I was also greatly encouraged when Gina and Ane asked me to step back in after a brief time away when I was going through treatments for cancer. “Our readers miss you,” they said. I agreed to post every second Sunday and have loved getting to know other devotional writers who have shared the load with me over the past few years.

Yes, it was a small step, to approach Gina and Ane and offer my services, but it has led to open doors I did not expect as well as the gratification that writing always brings. It has also led to another book: Abundant Rain – a devotional journal for writers of faith.

It never ceases to amaze me how God can take our small steps and turn them into giant leaps. All to His glory.

"Who dares despise the day of small things..." (Zechariah 4:10)

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Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in The Word Awards. Marcia also has two devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, a devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. 

Her most recent release is a devotional book for travelers:     A Traveler's Advisory

Visit Marcia’s Website

Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur

Breakthrough: One Giant Leap by Sandi Somers

On July 20, 1969, astronauts stepped on the moon for the first time. Neil Armstrong celebrated this historic event with a now-famous quote: “This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Our prompt this month asks writers: What “small step” in your writing life turned out to be a giant leap? Perhaps it wasn’t a giant leap but a bigger step than first imagined. Perhaps you haven’t even had a bigger step. If so, what would you hope that experience might be like? Would you be prepared for what happens next?

On the Edge of a Miracle

Last November I participated in Nina Amir’s, WriteNonfiction in November.

As the month began, I sensed God saying, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again” (Ecclesiastes 11:1 NIV).  Which in today’s language meant, “Go for it! It will take time, but eventually everything will come together. God will bless your efforts.”

But how to proceed? What to write? I had a lot of first drafts in my computer, so I decided to revise a partially-finished series of articles. I kept a chart with my daily and cumulative word count as a visual incentive to keep ahead of my 1,000-word daily goal.

The goal of the month was to write every day, but I needed one day a week—Sundays—for rest and other activities, coming back Mondays refreshed and ready to tackle a new challenge.

Throughout the month, Nina posted frequent blogs encouraging us, providing strategies and tips, coaching us through the mid-month slump, and cheering us on as we neared the finish line.

* * *

When I began, I didn’t realize how valuable this month would become—and how it would improve my writing habits in the long term. I didn’t realize that just doing the next day’s work would become one big step after another, like moon-walking in an atmosphere of little gravity.

It motivated me to focus on one writing project over the month. Sometimes I’ve been an Alice in Wonderland writer, following rabbit trails down rabbit holes to off-task adventures. But now I saw how distracting those rabbit trails were.

It focused my attention on production. Some days I felt mentally ready to stop, but was below my word count. I pushed to write just a few more minutes, just a few more words—and often those counts grew beyond the 1,000 words.

The month built up endurance to finish my revision project for the day, complete with conclusions. Conclusions can be hard for me, and I sometimes stop writing before I think of a clinching ending, a poignant punch, a surprise O. Henry turnaround, or even a good summary. And so I kept working at this aspect, giving it extra thought and attention.

These principles carried forward into my regular writing.  It has been said that habits take thirty days to form, and I discovered that God had shown me better habits and a firmer action plan.

* * *

As we take “little steps” towards our goal, we may not know we’re on the edge of a miracle until much later, when we see the great strides we’ve made with the footprints we’ve left behind.

“Thou hast enlarged my steps under me…” (Psalm 18:36 KJV)

Now over to you.

Tell us the story of what God did with one of your small steps.