Nerve...

This quote was sent to me by my writer friend Susan Downs, thanks Susan!

The greatest talent in writing is nerve: you bet your ego that your unconscious has something in it besides dinner.

—Dwight Swain, Techniques of the Selling Writer

Marketing Help for Authors!

The members of the CAN (Christian Authors Network) Marketing blog entitled We Can! promote our books, formally welcome you to join our little corner of cyberspace.

Check us out at: http://canblog.typepad.com/canbookmarketing/

Twelve authors will be participating in this blog:

Monday: Tricia Goyer and Gail Gaymer Martin
Tuesday: Cyndy Salzmann and Allison Bottke
Wednesday: Suzie Eller and Sharon Hinck
Thursday: Susie Larson and Camy Tang
Friday: Mary E. DeMuth and Kathi Macias
Saturday: Jill Nelson and Susan Meissner

We want this blog to be the place authors go if they want to promote, publicize and market their books.

We'll approach this from many different angles, with many different voices. Some of us have many books out, while others are promoting their first. We've all had some level of success in our marketing endeavors, and some blunders too. We'll share interviews, insights, and creative ideas with you with humor, candor and a dose of humility.

It's our hope that you'll tell your friends about this new blog, that you'll dare to make a comment or two, and that you'll walk away from this blog with many practical and insightful ideas.

Enjoy!

Tricia Goyer
. . . and the other CAN Marketing Blog Gurus

Breathings of your heart...

This quote was sent to me by my friend, Anita Lee.

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”

—William Wadsworth

Health and the Writer by Camy Tang

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.

Limit your sodium intake.

Sodium can cause not just high blood pressure, but it can also contribute to nastier things like kidney disease, heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and some forms of cancer.

I don’t know about you girls (and guys), but when I eat a lot of salty foods, I tend to drink more water, and then I bloat. Not a pleasant sight. Jeans suddenly become too tight when they fit fine yesterday. This can be a very bad thing when I’m on the verge of going out and suddenly that little black dress is a little too little.

Also, it can be bad if you intake too much sodium and then don’t drink enough water—dehydration = baaaaaaaaaad.

Check with your doctor about your sodium intake. Try to reduce the amount of salt in your diet by avoiding fast food if you can, and checking the labels of things like canned soups or frozen entrees.

You can also spice up instead of salt up. Salt substitutes are good alternatives, or just experiment with your own spice rack.

Camy Tang is a novelist also fighting the battle of the bulge. Find out more about her and her books at http://www.camytang.com/, or enjoy the read on her blog at http://camys-loft.blogspot.com/.

Self-revelations...

"It is in their 'good' characters that novelists make, unawares, the most shocking self-revelations."

-- C.S. Lewis

Stories come from...

Stories come from people. Not from ideas, not from plots. Faulkner gave us the key to our material: “the human heart in conflict with itself”.

Meg Files, write form life, p. 13

Reading is to writing...

Reading is to writing what inhaling is to exhaling. They’re not the same but they are part of the same process; one must recede and co-exist with the other. Reading can do more than almost anything else to help your writing. Almost anything else. Finally, to learn to write, you will have to write and write some more, then do some more writing.

----Gene Olson, Sweet Agony: A Writing Manual of Sorts, p. 109

Across the threshold...

Contrary to what most students want and expect a teacher is not a bridegroom; he can open the door to truth, but he cannot carry you across the threshold and deposit you safely on the other side.

~Sydney J. Harris

This Is What It Is To Be A Writer...

"We have lived; our moments are important. This is what it is to be a writer: to be the carrier of details that make up history, to care about the orange booths in the coffee shop in Owatonna," writes Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones, p. 44

Health and the Writer by Camy Tang

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.

Desk stretches to reduce tension and increase circulation.

This is a tip from eDiets.com:

“Spend 5 minutes of every hour performing stretches at your desk. Reach your arms up over your head and alternate stretching towards the sky to get a long lateral stretch. Then clasp both hands out in front of you as you round your back into a "C" shape. Try clasping your hands behind your back and opening up the muscles across your shoulders and upper chest. Finally let the weight of your head drop to the back for 10 seconds. Guaranteed you will feel rejuvenated, de-stressed and your posture will be improved.”

I also recommend standing up to stretch your back and legs. Reach down to touch your toes, rounding your back gently.

I typically try to hold each stretch for at least 15 seconds, preferably 30-45 seconds.

Camy Tang is a novelist also fighting the battle of the bulge. Find out more about her and her books at http://www.camytang.com/, or enjoy the read on her blog at http://camys-loft.blogspot.com/.

Good dialogue...

Writing good dialogue isn’t easy. It isn’t just a matter of recording real talk on paper; most real talk is disjointed, repetitive, fragmented and sometimes barely comprehensible when recorded on tape. Good written dialogue is what real talk out to be, but seldom is.

--Gene Olson, Sweet Agony: A Writing Manual of Sorts, p. 99

Something True...

What’s a good day or night of writing for you? Perhaps it’s when you’ve used your little silver key and opened the book of secrets and lost yourself as you shaped them into a story, an essay, or a poem. Lost yourself and found yourself. Perhaps it’s later when, back in the tangible world around you, you are quietly full and satisfied because you know you have written something true.

Sobbing is allowed.
~Meg Files, Write from Life, p. 25

Real Writers...

Real writers talk about their own lives, their own deepest fears and terrors and passions, in the midst of telling their “fictional” tales. If that seems too difficult or awkward, leave that material alone for now.
Over the course of time, you will find yourself going more and more deeply into what you need to get said. You will make friends with your demons, learn how to lead them out of their dusty cages—teach them to sing at your bidding and for your pleasure. But for now, write about what’s comfortable to write about. Let the demons lie. They won’t go anywhere: they’ll be there when you are ready to start taming them. Ultimately, other writers, other brave spirits, will give you the courage you need.

--Steve Kowit, In the Palm of Your Hand, p. 48

Writers Live Twice...

"Writers live twice," says Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones. "They go along with their regular life, are as fast as anyone in the grocery store, crossing the street, getting dressed for work in the morning. But there's another part of them that they have been training. The one that lives everything a second time. That sits down and sees their life again and goes over it. Looks at the texture and detail." (p. 48)

Health and the Writer by Camy Tang

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.

Eat junk food in moderation.

Notice I didn’t say to stop eating it altogether. Let’s be realistic here, there’s no way I’m going to go through the rest of my life without touching another potato chip. The key word is moderation.

Set limits. Use the junk food as a reward for good behavior, just like in elementary school. If you’ve exercises three times this week, you can have a bar of your favorite chocolate-caramel-peanut-nougat confection on Saturday. If you’ve eaten small portions of food all day, treat yourself to a Hershey’s kiss for dessert (which is only 25 calories, by the way).

Get it out of your house. Don’t buy huge bags of chips and bulk boxes of candy bars and store them in the pantry. When you treat yourself, make it take some effort to get that reward. For example, when you’re ready to reward yourself for exercising that week, make yourself drive to the See’s Candy store to buy that Bordeaux bar, don’t keep one in the house.

Camy Tang is a novelist also fighting the battle of the bulge. Find out more about her and her books at http://www.camytang.com/, or enjoy the read on her blog at http://camys-loft.blogspot.com/.

Honor the story...

It is my belief that if we truly honor the story in us by being ruthless yet tender in its telling, we have reached into other hearts as well.

--Charlene Baumbich, ASJA member, journalist, and novelist

To Become a Good Writer...

"Basically, if you want to become a good writer, you need to do three things. Read a lot, listen well and deeply, and write along. And don't think too much. Just enter the best of words and sounds and colored sensations and keep your pen moving across the page."

--Natalie Goldberg,Writing Down the Bones, p. 54

Health and the Writer, By Camy Tang

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.

Water, revisited.

Compute your daily water needs by multiplying your weight in pounds by .08. For example, a 150-pound person would multiply their weight times .08, which equals 12. This person's water needs are 12 cups per day.

Water not only keeps your muscles in good shape, it flushes out toxins and keeps away urinary tract infection. It also helps you think clearer when you’re fully hydrated.

Drinking enough water can increase your resting metabolism, meaning you’ll be burning more calories just by sitting still or sleeping. It can also help keep your digestive tract healthy.

Buy a larger water bottle at the grocery store so you can refill it less often than a glass or a small water bottle. You can also add a little lemon or lime to add sparkle to your water.

Research...

The most important “research” I do is to read my Bible every day. I try to read through the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) one time in odd number years. In even number years, I try to read through the New Testament four times. I do Bible studies as well. I want to filter everything I read and hear and see through God's perspective, and I can't do that if I don't know His word. The Word of God does not change, so if I know what He is saying to believers today, I will also know what He was saying to believers a century ago.

--Robin Lee Hatcher, Faithful Reader, http://www.faithfulreader.com/authors/au-hatcher-robin-lee.asp

Tricia’s Thoughts:

One thing I’ve noticed about my favorite authors, such as Robin Lee Hatcher, is their commitment to the Word of God and their desire to seek Him. Their time spent with God not only enriches their lives, but it also enriches their words. I’ve dedicated my early mornings to prayer and Bible Study for many years, and while it does take time everything I do throughout the day—writing included—is experienced with new eyes and a renewed heart.

I Feel Rich...

"I feel very rich when I have time to write and very poor when I get a regular paycheck and no time to work at my real work."

--Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones, p. 48

Health and the Writer, By Camy Tang

Whether you’re a writer who also works a full-time job or are a busy stay-at-home-mom, it’s hard to stay healthy. I researched and figured out a bunch of tips and tricks to help me stay in shape without carving out of my precious writing time. I also found some tips to help me have just general better health. Pick and choose which of these will work for you.

Snacks:

Sometimes (this doesn't work for everyone) it helps to snack on something small (and healthy) every 3 hours whether you're hungry or not. That way, you're not ravenous an hour before dinner and tempted to gobble down your food.

Prepackage it. Make small containers or baggies of specific portions of snacks. Weigh them on a kitchen scale if possible. It'll take a little more time, but it'll help you portion your snacking. When it's snack time, you'll have a convenient package ready to go.

If you're on a low carb diet, eat a small snack of protein (cheese, nuts, yogurt, cottage cheese, salami) before you go munching on carbs. It might take the edge off.

Check out other low-calorie snacks like sugar-free JELLO pudding cups, or children’s size snacks. Some cereals make good high-fiber snacks, especially when you prepackage them in baggies or containers so you don’t just keep munching.

Writing advice from Mark Twain...

A tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere.
The episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help develop it.
The personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others.

Tricia’s Thoughts:
I have a confession to make. I have dozens of books on writing. (More than I ever have time to read). But when I read advice like Twain’s it helps me realize that sometimes it’s necessary to just go back to basics. These first three points of advice remind me of the same things I hear at writer’s conferences. “Stick to the story question.” “Cut out every scene or paragraph that doesn’t progress the story.” And “Make your characters come alive.” So as I delve into my next novel, it’s back to basics for me.