What's the Big Idea?

Let’s say you are looking for the next big idea for a novel. And one day, you’re perusing the paper, or walking around in a museum, or channel surfing, and bam! You come across someone or something pretty darn unusual. Immediately, the wheels turn, the story idea forms… but wait. It’s so different that you think a little research is in order. It wouldn’t do at all for there to be two books on this same unusual topic so you look and look and look and find nothing. Your heart skips a merry little beat as you sit down to write, write, write.

The day comes when it is finished. You type “The End” on the umpteenth revision and you sing a happy ditty as the email wings its way to an editor. And you can hardly believe it when just a week later, you hear back. The editor loves the idea but alas! Another editor down the hall is working on a novel WITH THE SAME UNUSUAL TOPIC.

What will you do? Or as Karl Malden said in that commercial years ago, “WHAT. WILL. YOU. DO?”

If you are Cathy C. Hall, you rant and rave, using language that no refined Southern Lady (or anyone, for that matter) should ever use. Then you decide that the universe is clearly sending a message and so you toast the years you’ve invested in your writing career and as you toss the wine glass into the fireplace, you throw in a couple of not-so-fond farewells: “So long, waking up in the middle of the night to jot down an idea! Au revoir to querying and never hearing back! Adios to endless mind-numbing revisions!” And you stroll into the sunset, older but not necessarily wiser.

Because after a few weeks, I remembered Big Magic, the book by Elizabeth Gilbert wherein she writes about this. This being the creative ideas swirling around all the time in the great ether and that sometimes more than one of us will pull out the same idea and go with it. Which sort of explains how writers or inventors or anyone with a creative thought comes up with what he or she thinks is truly original to find that it’s already been done.

It happens more often than one would think. But when you are a writer and it happens, you, like old Karl, must ask yourself what you will do. And maybe, you’ll answer this question in a more rational manner than I did.

Still, what it comes down to is really rather simple: do you continue or have you had enough? There are options.

You can shelve the manuscript in question and start something new. While you’re waiting to see if your idea and the book that comes out are the same, you’re working. Always a good thing.

OR you can go ahead and send your manuscript out into the world and see what happens. Because if you believe in this idea, and it’s a really good idea, then maybe there’s room in the universe for more than one book on the same idea.

Of course, you can throw in the towel, too. Perhaps this is the straw that broke the camel’s back and enough really is enough. But don’t be surprised one fine midnight (or later) when you wake up and scramble around in the dark to find pen and paper. Because you’ve just had the best big idea ever for your next book.

~Cathy C. Hall

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6 comments Big Magic, book ideas, Cathy C. Hall, Elizabeteh Gilbert, novel writing process, perseverance in writing

Friday Speak Out!: Writing by Divine Order

by Nadia Brown

I’ve married and divorce poetry so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve even written poems about my love loss and misgivings. But each time after our break-up, I would recall our good times, and that would encourage me to continue on in our relationship. I’d like to think I don’t have a quitter’s mentality, but there were moments where I’d set my mind to moving in another direction, that maybe this writing thing is not for me after all. This is not because I want to give up but rather it is about not seeing another way forward after already exhausting all options. But here I am years later, still learning about life with poetry, about where I fit into its world – to the point where I’ve written several poems about it. Here is part of a poem I wrote weeks ago.

Probe

I've probed
and examined you
but still can't speak
your language.

How many mountains
must I cross,
how many countless oceans I must
propel my body through
to reach your core?

When I first began this journey, an acquaintance at the time recommended a publishing company where I could submit my work. This company isn’t perfect, but it had no monetary requirement for submitting your work. If she hadn’t done so, I probably would have not gotten published, as I was quite ignorant about the publishing industry at the time. So I count this as a divine encounter.

Once I was published, I promoted my book and still submitted poems to contests, online and print poetry magazines. As time went on, I started to feel what I was doing wasn’t working. But then I received a letter along with an award certificate and $75 dollars informing me I came in 2nd place in a poetry contest I forgot I entered. Again, this renewed my hopes in my poetry writing. That said, I still wasn’t sure if I could write and publish an article because until this time I had never done it before. I then thought I would write an article and submit it to see if I’m any good at writing beyond poetry. The first time I submitted my article, I only submitted to one place. It was just to test the waters, to see if I had what it took. I was then pleasantly surprised when Absolute Write accepted my article “Knowing What Editors Want.” These accomplishments reaffirmed to me that writing is my calling and that even though I’ve had other accomplishments since then, those were the ones that came when I was really unsure whether I would stay with this thing called writing.

* * *

Nadia Brown is a book publicist for indie authors at http://www.author-promotions.com and the author of two books of poetry: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003D1VEFI. Her poems have been published in several print and online publications, including Absolute Write, The Florida Writer, and Conceit Magazine.
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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
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1 comment doubt, Friday Speak Out, Nadia Brown, perseverance in writing, poetry, Publishing

10,000 Hours of Writing

Even if you don’t know much about skiing, I’ll bet you’ve heard the name Picabo Street, the Olympic Gold medalist. I heard a sound bite from her recently, referencing the 10,000 hours that any Olympic hopeful should expect to put in, and I thought, Holy Super G!

That’s ten years.

Maybe you’ve also heard about the 10,000 hour rule, that it requires that kind of effort to master a skill. And though I know writers who haven’t put in quite that many hours before finding success, I also know many writers who would say they’d put in at least ten years in their craft—and they still have more work to do!

I’m not sure that I’ll ever master writing, but I’m working on my 10,000 hours. Still, it’s a daunting task. And I thought maybe some of you might be working on 10,000 hours as well. So here are just two of the techniques I use to rack up writing hours:

Ditch the Electronic Distractions

Back on January 1st, I resolved to cut back on social media (again). I didn’t want to give it up completely because I enjoy hearing from friends, both personal and professional. So I set limits—7 minutes a day—and I’ve been successful. Here’s why: I quit clicking on links.

Oh, my word, how I love an interesting link! I mean, I’m a writer with a dangerously high level of curiosity. I could literally spend all day, following one fascinating link after another (and honestly, I think there may have been quite a few days in 2013 when I did).

I stayed my hand on the mouse and slew my distraction dragon. You can, too. Take a good look at your electronic habits and cut back. I’ll bet your writing hours will Super G explode.


Plan, Plan, Plan

Do you think Picabo Street became an Olympic skier because she only practiced when she was in the mood? She hit the slopes, no matter what. So, too, should you schedule words on to paper if you want to get in those practice hours of writing.

But Cathy, you say, I don’t always have something to write about. And I say to you that it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you schedule time to write—and write something during that time. And here’s what will happen: you will train your brain.

Schedule an hour or more, every day if you can manage it, and sit down and write something. Start a blog, try a prompt, revise that stinky under-the-bed manuscript. Work on your writing and watch your hours snowball.

The most important technique in getting 10,000 hours done is not over-complicating the process. You don’t have to win a gold medal, after all. You just have to write. And before you know it, those hours will pay off with much improved writing!

~Cathy C. Hall

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9 comments 000 hours, 10, Cathy C. Hall, daily writing schedule, electronic distractions, Olympics, perseverance in writing, Picabo Street, writing tips

A Writer’s Coat Moment

These frigid temperatures made me think of the last coat I wanted to buy and a writing moment.

See, there was this coat. Not just any coat; it was the perfect coat. The right price, the right color, the right style. It was maybe a bit on the smallish side, but I wasn’t worried. I slid the coat over my shoulders…and felt a pull.

Uh-oh, I thought. That is not a good pull. It was a (very) tight pull, a pull that clearly said, “Stop now and the coat doesn’t get hurt.”

I shucked the coat, completely deflated. I was so sure that coat would fit. Probably because in my mind, that number on the tag is still my size. When I held that coat up in front of me, I saw my once-younger-and-svelte self, twirling about in folds of woolen fabric. But good, old reality reminded me that I’m no longer svelte and there would be no coat-swirling for me.

As the writing fates would have it, later that same day, I was tackling a manuscript revision, when I had a “coat moment.”

See, the writing on the page just didn’t fit the writing in my head. In my mind’s eye, the writing is perfect; words flow with unsurpassed literary quality, expressing so clearly the intricate themes and plots in my head. I’m Flannery O'Connor, J.K. Rowling and Neil Gaiman rolled into one. But when I read what I’ve written…well, it’s like that ill-fitting coat, and I’m completely deflated.

But you know what? I suspect that most writers have their coat moments. In fact, if you’re like me, you have your coat moments on a fairly regular basis.

And I think that’s probably a good thing. It’s the coat moments that push us to pick ourselves up, to work a little harder. I hunkered down and went back to work on that manuscript that day, and I’ll bet you do the same thing. Coat moments give us the incentive to keep striving, to up our game in this competitive business of writing.

The start of a new year gives us a push, too. It’s an opportunity to think about how we can improve our writing, and what we need to do to bridge that gap between what’s on the page and what’s in our heads. Specific goals will get us the fit we’re looking for.

As for that coat…I gave it to my much younger and still svelte daughter. There’s another perfect coat out there for me, and someday, I’ll find it.


~Cathy C. Hall

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7 comments Cathy C. Hall, perseverance in writing, setting writing goals, writing advice