Keeping that
Conference
Magic Alive…
RWAust Conference August 2004
We save all year. We plan. We talk about it. We wait anxiously for August to slip around again. Then it's here and we excitedly pack up and head off to The Conference.
For the following three or four days we exist in a whirl of book talk, books, like- minds and motivational speakers. Not a precious moment is wasted as we rush from one event to another, soaking up more information and allowing ourselves to live the dream. We're addicts allowed to sup and take our fill. It's heady and seductive all at once. No one says, "Where's dinner. No one says, "It's time to go to work." No one says - "Can you play with me now?" There's no guilt. Just belief.
Then suddenly it's Sunday evening. All the banners are taken down. It's silent. The halls empty… Everyone's going home. And so are we… Elated, motivated and even a bit sad. The party's over for another year.
The next day we wake up and we're back in our own little isolated worlds. That's okay - we miss the camaraderie but we know we can 'do it' because we're charged and full of enthusiasm and motivation. And we do. We write madly for a couple of weeks. We know our direction, we're heading in it and no one can stop us.
Well, at least for a week or two. Then the confusion sets in. Then the guilt. Then the lack of confidence… And the writing isn't so frenetic or so frequent. We wind down and easily convince ourselves that cleaning the fridge is more important than finishing that proposal. After all, we have responsibilities. Real responsibilities. And writing's well - it's self indulgent…
And some of the shine fades from our eyes and the spring fades from our step…
And we plod on till next year when we know we'll find that motivation again. And gee, for another couple of weeks after that we'll write frenetically and just maybe we'll finish that proposal we started last year. This time we might even get it in the mail…
Familiar?
How can we hang onto that conference magic?
-
Type/write up all the
notes you made at the conference,
expanding on the shorthand. This reinforces the information we received
and makes it stick in our minds better/longer.
-
Note the high point. Usually there's one thing that stood out more
than anything else. Maybe it was some small throwaway comment. Maybe it
was a whole theme. Encapsulate that and make a poster to put in the front
of your WIP folder or above your desk.
-
Now stop and think
carefully about where you want to be.
Who do you want to be when you grow up? And when will that be? Put the
dream in words on paper. It will include who you want to write for and
what you want to write. It will be underwritten by a true understanding of
your strengths and weaknesses. Scattergun approaches - where you throw
everything at the wall to see what sticks - can be a disorganised and
often dangerous way to run your writing business. Remember you have to do
this for a long time - so make all your decisions with both your heart and
your head. Caveat: For this dream to become a reality you must read over
it every day.
-
Create some
affirmations that will keep you on track.
"I am a successful author." Or "I am attracting contracts from my
preferred publishing house." "Every day I am moving forward on my
(writing) career path." Keep them simple and recite them every day.
Do this each day as you sit down to write and if you can't write everyday,
you must recite these each night before going to sleep. This helps prepare
you for success and gives you permission to be successful.
-
Write down your goal
plan. It
must be more specific than 'finish the book'. It has to state when and how
that goal is going to be achieved. Will you write for one hour per day?
Will you write for 8 hours per day? Will you complete one book per year or
do you plan to complete five books per year. That said - do your goals
match your action plan? Can you write five books per year if you can only
find one hour to write per day? Be realistic. One hour a day is fine if
that's all you can truly find to write - but the output won't be five
books. Unless of course you're a super speed typist and you never have to
revise. In which case why are you reading this??? Get back to schmoozing
with Norah!
-
Make time.
Which brings me to 'The Timer'. Who could forget Stephanie Bond's kitchen
timer challenge? The woman wrote five books while working 60 hours every
week at her 'other job'. How? In 30 minute increments. If time is hard to
find - buy a timer and write for 30 minutes at a time. Not got 30 minutes?
Write for 15!!! Before work, after work, at lunch - in the bathroom! An
action repeated diligently takes a mere 21 days to become a habit. Books
CAN be written 30 minutes at a time.
-
Don't isolate yourself.
At least any more than necessary. If you don't have a crit/support group
nearby, join the Romaus E-List. Not only will it help keep your inner
flame burning bright and strong, when you need to vent, cry, and leap for
joy, there will always be at least a hundred people to vent, cry and leap
with you. You don't understand something? There will be at least one
hundred like-minded souls ready to answer your questions. The e-list
people looove questions; they love to help and give back. Everyone one of
us started at the same place and every single one us is still learning. (E-lists
can only become a burden if you let them. YOU allocate the time you can
afford to spend on-line.)
-
Stay active.
By this I mean keep
things happening in your writing world which in turn will keep your energy
and motivation high. Regularly discuss aspects of the industry with your
crit or on-line buddies, people with something to contribute back. Enter
contests. Do a 'Book In A Week/Month/Year. There will always be someone in
the association happy to do it alongside you. Most times there will be a
crowd and everyone bolsters everyone else along. (The eHarlequin board
has a great Book In Year format for you to follow.
Entering contests keeps hope alive and challenges in front of you. Instead of looking down the barrel of a long six or eight months before you’re ready to submit to a publisher, get small sections of it out there in contests. Not only will you be getting feedback and the possibility of a prize or getting your work in front of an editor sooner, it also keeps you 'active' in your work. Thing are happening. Nothing like the excitement of sending something off be it a contest entry or a ms to an editor. Of course - an acceptance or win probably beats it - but only just… <g>
- Keep a writing log. Get a Day (or two half-days) To A Page Diary and again make a habit of writing your progress down every single day. This will help keep you focussed. If you worked on your ms that day, put down how many pages you achieved and keep a running tally for the project. If you edited - put it down. If you met with other writers and were inspired by something (or not) - write it down. If an on-line buddy said something that made you 'think' - put it down. Did you have a great plot idea but no time to get to the ms? Or an idea of yet another story? Write it in your daily journal. What did you read/are you reading? Write it down. What are your reader responses to that book? Write them down. Did you study any 'how-to' or research books or anything at all related to your craft? Write it down! If you're pubbed - also write down any self promotion you did that day. This is a great way of keeping that conference-induced excitement alive. You'll probably be surprised how many times you think of your WIP or your craft in one day - and writing it all down reminds you that even when you can't actually write, that you're still keeping the dream alive. And you'll feel good about that.
(See a theme here? How many times has the word 'WRITE' appeared in this article???)
- Inspire, visualise and start saving. Still flat? Decorate your working space with conference nik-naks. Discover which foods and scents inspire you most and keep a supply of each at your desk. Peppermint is supposed to be fabulous for sharpening concentration. Burn a candle in a favourite or revitalising scent. Then close your eyes, hear the sound of the waves crashing on beautiful Coogee Beach. With eyes still closed, think about which author/speaker inspired you the most? Visualise that person speaking to you the way he/she did at the conference. Take yourself back to the wonder/awe/hope you felt that day. Let it revitalise you all over again… Then see yourself being that successful person you know you can be. And when you finish the fabulous writing session that should follow - feed that nice, big, fat, pink piggy. That way if none of this works - you KNOW there'll always be next year…
See you all in Melbourne.
♥ Kaz Delaney (aka Kerri Lane) has 30 books in print and is currently writing for Dorchester NY. Her June 2004 release was Princesses Don't Sweat, a chick lit YA.
ã Kaz Delaney 2004
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