Get Your Butt Kicked

A little over three years ago, I started getting my butt kicked. Sometimes it happened weekly. Sometimes once a month. Sometimes there were months in between my butt kickings, but I could always count on it happening on a regular basis.

Like most people, life is kicking my butt these days, especially this last year. Juggling work and family and the stress of wearing-masks-social-distancing-missing-out-on-things-and-isolation is a horrendous weight to bear. However, the butt-kicking I'm talking about is something I ask for.

Yeah, you heard that right. I get my wide, flat, cellulite-riddled rumpus bruised regularly... and I appreciate it.

Almost four years ago, J. L. Glenn commented on a post. She suggested I join a writing accountability group. I'd never heard of the concept, but Glenn explained it a bit, and I did some research. Angela Mackintosh at WOW made some suggestions how it could logistically work and offered WOW's support. The word went out, and somehow, the perfect group of writers came together.

We created a framework and protocols. Using Dropbox (it's so easy to use, even me with terrible tech skills can use it, and it's free), each of us created a page for ourselves. We began the first year with goals--a small number of goals that we wanted to accomplish in the next twelve months. (Every year we make new goals.) The plan was to post our progress each week, either on Sunday or Monday. The rest of the group would encourage, suggest a publication or agent, offer to read a draft, and so on.

I'm 99% sure that if I had not joined this group and had them pushing and prodding and me these past three years, I would not be on the brink of debuting my book. You see, we call ourselves the Butt-Kickers. When a group member gets despondent and is about to give up, we give them a gentle kick in the behind... so they have the courage to continue forward. When I've said, "I can't," these fierce writers insist, "You can."

                                                                      image by Pixabay

There's something powerful about announcing your goals to people... and there's something embarrassing about not doing what you need in order to achieve those goals, week after week. At some point, you get off your sorry rear end and do something.

My suggestions if you're considering a writing accountability group:

• Invite writers you admire... and take a risk on writers you're completely unfamiliar with. Chances are, if they're not serious about their craft, they'll bail out (this happened with one or two writers our first year). I can almost promise that the writers you know have talents and experience you're unaware of, and they'll blow you away. The writers who are "new" to you and stick with the group will become wonderful writing colleagues.

• Be kind to the members in your group. Be kind to yourself. Everybody has stuff they have to deal with. When I got my lazy butt kicked, it was done out of love. And even when I needed a jolt from a taser, the kicks were gentle.

• Keep your goals attainable, and prioritize them to just a few. You can always set more mid-year, if you accomplish them all.

How about you? If you were going to set a few year-long goals, what would they be? Semi-accountable writers want to know...

Sioux Roslawski is a middle school teacher, a freelance writer and a teacher consultant for the Gateway Writing Project, a part of the National Writing Project. If you'd like to read more of her writing, check out her blog.

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9 comments J. L. Glenn, Joanne Lozar Glenn, Sioux Roslawski, writing accountability groups

Festivus For the Rest of Us (Writers)

Christmas is over. Hannukah, too. But when exactly is Festivus celebrated?

Who knows. I do know there are three steps to this holiest of holidays: the raising of the Festivus pole, the airing of grievances, and the feats of strength.

You're not obsessed with Seinfeld? You're not familiar with Festivus? Here's a video explaining it:

I didn't put up a Festivus pole, nor did I put up a Christmas tree (it was a funky end-of-year) but I am more than ready to air my grievances... 'cause I got plenty.

Grievance # 1: Publishers That Take Their Sweet Time--There are three publishers that have my entire manuscript. They asked for it. Two of them requested it earlier in July. The other one made the request on November 6. Don't they know I already have an artist-friend I'm planning on asking to submit some cover art for my soon-to-be novel (whenever any of those publishers get around to getting a contract to me)? Don't they realize that every time I see an Oklahoma license plate (my story takes place in Tulsa), I consider it a sign, that I'm then sure that when I get home, I'll find an email saying, "Yes, we love your manuscript and we want to throw big money--James Patterson-level money--at you in order to publish your book"?

Publishers (and you know who you are)--please hurry.  But seriously, I understand. It's only me who's anxious and impatient.

Grievance # 2: Binge-Worthy Television Shows--There are some shows I adore, and when the new seasons came up recently, I slouched on the couch, slothlike, and binged away. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (the best season yet). The Crown (new queen, new king, new troublemaking queen's sister, but still good). Time that I spend lazily watching TV is time I'm not writing.

Grievance # 3: Not Much Butt-Kicking Being Done Lately--Two years ago a group of writers (I am among them) began a writing accountabilty group. The first year I was active. I wrote every week and reported every week. I commented on the rest of the group's progress and tried to encourage.

The next year, I fell off in the middle of the year and have been in a funk ever since. It's not family or friends or writing. You guess what part of my life has been giving me the blues...

Not only have I missed out on the opportunity to make some serious writing progress, along with getting invaluable help from the Butt-Kickers in those unproductive months, I also haven't held up my end of the bargain. My fellow BKers have had things to celebrate and they've had some life-and-death struggles. I haven't been around to yippee-yahoo and my shoulder has been AWOL, too. I'm disappointed in myself.

Grievance # 4: Incredible Books--I've read some fabulous books lately. The Tattooist of Auschwitz. The Nickel Boys. Full Throttle (one of the short stories in that collection is one of my favorites of all time). Dreamland Burning. The last one, by Jennifer Latham, particularly makes me miffed because it's well-crafted and has a compelling plot and it covers the same event my manuscript does. When I read lines that sing, from page to page, I feel inadequate. Will my words soar? Or will they pale next to the fantastic stories I've read?

We'll see.

I could share more grievances but I'm already over my word count. Why is Nutella so delicious, but so bad for you? Why is Viggo Mortensen still avoiding my stalking attempts calls? How can the beauty of places like the Grand Canyon, and Iceland, and southern France capitivate my heart but elude being (totally) captured on film?

Those grievances will have to wait until Festivus next year. Until then?

Happy Festivus!

Sioux continues teaching full-time and writing part-time. Lately, she's also been a part-time gift wrapper (along with Radar, her naked and handsome 87-pound blonde friend) at Half Price Books on behalf of Love a Golden Rescue. In February she will attempt a Festivus feat of strength: she's taking WOW's Build Your Writer/Author Platform class. (Wow! I hope Karen Cioffi is up to the challenge. ;) If you'd like to see how lax Sioux has been with
                                                      her writing, check out her blog.

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15 comments Dreamland Burning, Full Throttle, The Nickel Boys, Viggo Mortensen, writing accountability groups

A Wonderful Gift... of Writing Friends

Yes, it's Christmas Eve. The night before a day of last-minute cleaning to prepare for an evening of family fun. It's also close to the end of the year, which makes me reflect on the riches I have.

I'm rich because I have a wonderful family, I love my job, and I have scads of writing friends. Ask me, I'll share photos and stories about my kids and granddaughter. Come visit my classroom, and you'll see why I adore going to work every day. But my writing colleagues? What's that all about?

This is what it's all about.

• Long-distance writing peeps. I have writing friends in Michigan, Minnesota, Georgia, Florida--even India. They inspire me with their posts and their writing success. If a writer can take over the Korean publishing market with their books... if a writer can make even me finish reading one of their romance books... if a writer wows me every. single. time. with their poetry, it keeps me hopeful that maybe someday I too will enjoy a small nibble of success.

• My writing critique group. These ladies keep me writing every week. They give me feedback. They make me laugh. Two of them even offered to read my manuscript and give me their honest opinion. (One of them actually read it in less than 24 hours. I might have suspected that they dozed through it, but no--there were notes written and changes suggested and mistakes caught.)

• My Butt-Kickers group. This is my writing accountability group. We're actually called "Pencil-Pushing Butt-Kickers" and our first anniversary is coming around in late January. Eleven months ago, we all set big goals (to achieve by the end of the year) and now, week by week, we set new, smaller goals along with reporting on the goal from the previous week. My big goal: to get my manuscript published. Is it published? No, but I do have a finished draft (after scrapping it and starting from scratch) and I summoned up the courage to send it off to an editor (twice  now). I would not have finished this manuscript this quickly without the kicks-in-the-butt I got from these writers.

 How about you? How are you rich? Think about it as you shop and wrap and cook and clean today.

Sioux Roslawski is a teacher and freelance writer. All of her success is due to the fact that she receives a little--no, a lot of--help from her friends.

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9 comments writing accountability groups, writing critique groups

A Rough Draft: Five Ways to Blast through Draft #1

I’ll admit it. When I saw Renee’s post “Take An Annual Inventory of Your Writing Accomplishments and Goals,” I cringed.  

My WOW accountability group knows that I set one goal for myself in 2018. Finish a draft of my cozy mystery. Sure, I have 13,200 words but I’m nowhere near a completed draft. I haven’t even bumped off the victim yet.

But then I read Janice Hardy’s post, "A Faster Way to Write a First Draft."  She made me think about how I can do it faster, because I’ve been developing secondary characters, detailing my setting, and everything else all in this draft. How can I blast through it instead?

#1 Focus on the mystery plot. As I started to work on my cozy, I realized that there are several plot lines going on in this type of mystery. There’s the Murder Plot. There’s the Main Character’s Personal Life Plot. There’s the What’s Going on in the Neighborhood Plot. And, last but not least, there’s the What’s Going on Where My Character Works Plot, be it a bookstore, knitting shop or café. I’ve been developing all four plot lines simultaneously. To get from the beginning to the end fast, I need to focus on the mystery.

#2 Flesh out the setting in a later draft. Yes, I need to know where things are and how things look because I need to eventually build a life-like setting for my audience. But the key is eventually. It doesn’t all have to be magazine spread perfect in the first draft.

#3 Secondary characters can also come later. I’m used to writing for kids. My first fiction sale had three characters. Most fiction for adults takes a larger cast than I’m used to directing and I’ve realized that they don’t all need to be wonderfully unique in draft #1. Once I figure out how many people I absolutely have to have present, I can give each of these characters goals, backstory and personality.

#4 If I don’t know it already, research can wait. I’m a nonfiction writer. On a bad day, I can get mired down in research as I try to find just the right detail. On a good day? It is a delightful rabbit hole down which I willingly leap. Research can come later.

#5 Do not rewrite. As things come up in my story, I’m tempted to go back and set things up. “If this character is going to be a suspect, I need a conflict!” I’ve done it a time or two but I need to let that wait until later too.

If I follow these guidelines, I may still make it through draft #1. It won’t be pretty. In fact it’s going to be spare and more than a little barebones. But it will also be a first draft. The best part of a first draft is that once you get it down, you have something available to flesh out and improve, but first you need to get it done.

--SueBE

To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey.  Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins January 14th, 2019.

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4 comments first draft, goals, Renee Roberson, rough draft, Sue Bradford Edwards, writing accountability groups

The Want Ads

At the end of 2017 I tallied up my many fabricated writing successes for the year. I wined a little (not a typo) as I bragged a bit. In case you missed the post, here it is.

How could I get more done, writing-wise? The comments that meandered in were pure gold. Encouragement. Commiseration. And even some genuine suggestions.

J. Glenn gave me an idea that might even work for fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants Sioux. Here is what Glenn wrote:

 I've organized an accountability group. We set a yearly goal (we connect via email), then each week (on Monday) we check in with our progress (each week we set a mini-goal that will help us get to the yearly goal). Speaking for myself, the accountability group helps me accomplish more than I would have without it. (The other members have said this, too, about themselves.) The added bonus is the support we get while we are each pursuing our individual goals and dealing with the obstacles (including fatigue/procrastination) that life seems to serve up.

After I was wowed by that comment, I read Cathy C. Hall's. One question she asked was

      What does Sioux want to accomplish?

That's easy. I want my manuscript published. I want kids all over the country to know what happened in the U.S. in 1921. I want to see my book on bookstore shelves.

Since I know what I want to happen in 2018 (or soon after), I'm going to look for some help.

Normally, I'd beg my writing critique group members to do this, but this time, I wanted to give them a break open it up not just to them but to anyone who wants to work on a long-range goal in weekly increments... and to writers who like using tasers (because sometimes my procrastinating ways get out-of-control and I'm definitely motivated by surges of high voltage).  Before you trip over yourself applying, here are some things you need to consider:

• This accountability group will begin in February. Everyone who joins will--in a year--achieve more than they would if they had not joined. The power is in making goals and encouragement public, along with consistency. If you'd like to take part, send me an email to sroslawski@yahoo.com 

• I'm not a full-time writer, so my little goals will likely be baby step goals. Reading my piece over to make sure I didn't get the sisters mixed up. Making sure the timeline isn't completely whackadoodle. Inserting a thread into the story. Perhaps your goals will be so-small-they're-barely-discernible steps as well...

• Most likely, there will be times (maybe most weeks) when I'll have to admit, "I couldn't accomplish my goal for this week." I'm a plodder. A stumbler. Things happen, but not always as timely as I'd like. This will happen to all of us at some point or another (I imagine).

So, if you'd like to apply for this torture nonpaying and thankless job, send me an email.  Resumes and letters of recommendation can be sent later. Already, I have a roomful of hopeful applicants list of writers I'm going to hone in on (Angela... Linda... Lynn--You're on my list). After all, how many years can you put off accomplishing something you truly want to accomplish?

        What do you want to accomplish?
                              Take that first step. Join us.

Sioux Roslawski is a full-time middle school teacher, along with rescuing dogs for Love a Golden Rescue. She has a NaNoWriMo from 2016 that she's itching to do something with... and after that, her unfinished 2017 might be the next manuscript in the chute. If you're curious about Sioux's writing, check out her blog.

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8 comments Cathy C. Hall, J. Glenn, setting writing goals, Sioux Roslawski, writing accountability groups