Writing Tips at GarySpeer.com

Some years ago I worked at a job that required meeting two daily deadlines. It was a newspaper. Between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. I had to meet a first-edition deadline and a second-edition deadline. The pace was fun and exciting — for the first couple of years.

After a year or two, the feeling was more on how appropriate “dead” was in the word: Putting out two editions of a daily paper between early morning and mid-afternoon really ain’t all that easy.

Seven years of the newspaper gig wore me down. My next job was working as news editor for a weekly religious magazine. I had two weekly deadlines to meet. The pace was so radically different that I was almost hyper my first few months on the job. It felt like I had to find busy work to fill my time simply because “nothing” happened throughout most of the week. “Nothing,” was just my perception of what was happening, based on the seven year twice-daily deadline pace I was accustomed to facing.

Deadlines have a way of acting like Ebac dehumidifiers for the writing soul. Deadlines dry up the distractions you face as a writer and serve to focus your attention on 1) what you need to do, and, 2) getting it done when it needs to be done.

What do you do about deadlines? Are you doing work which sets deadlines for you, or are you freelancing and faced with setting your own deadlines? If you tell me you face no writing deadlines, I’ll guess that you really don’t get much writing done, do you?

Writers need deadlines, whether from editors or self-imposed, to do their best. If you have no regular deadlines, then set some for yourself.

Technorati Tags: writing deadlines, self-imposed deadlines, editorial deadlines, advice for new writers, writing tips at garyspeer.com

When I look out the windows on a snowy street scene in mid- to late-December, I find it easy to think and write about Christmas. I’m sure you do, too.

But what about trying to come up with copy for Halloween invitations or New Year’s Eve stories in mid-July? Does that pose more of a challenge for you to get in the mood?

I make these comments especially for the new writers out there: Seasonal deadlines usually demand that you ignore the calendar, the seasons outside your window, and focus on a time, a place, and a “mood” months to years removed.

This is generally true for freelancers, too. If you want to write and submit a family Christmas story to most publishers, you’ll probably need to get it to them six months or more in advance of their Christmas publication needs. Of course, go by the writing guidelines for the particular editor or publication you’re shooting at. If you’re writing something on salary or assignment, you’ll be told that information as part of the job. Otherwise, go to a website, email an editor, or write to the publications you wish to target to get such information.

But file this tip away and remember it for later: Forget the seasons you see out the window and journey to that time and place in your head where it’s always Christmas — or Memorial Day, or Valentine’s Day, or Halloween, or … whatever.

And have a happy holiday. Whatever holiday that may be.

Technorati Tags: seasonal writing, advanced deadlines, advice for new writers, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Okay, well, get the drum roll ready. (Or at least turn up the lights on your home theater lighting in that fancy big-screen TV setup. What? You don’t have a big-screen TV with home theater? Yeah, me neither.)

Big announcement time: I just got hired this morning for a full-time job. It’s one of those situations where you would use the expression, “It’s not much, but it’s honest work.” Or maybe, “The job’s not all that hard, but at least the pay’s poor.”

I’m going to be a full-time security guard at a local electric power plant. My hours — and I love this part, really — will be 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. I seriously do like the hours. I’m not much for sleeping in anyway, and I can have the job out of the way by early afternoon. This should give me adequate time, once the old body gets adjusted to the new schedule, to continue the Internet affiliate marketing and writing. It will also bring in a small but needed boost to the regular monthly income.

Over the last seven months in which I’ve been doing the freelance writing gig full-time, the regular sources of revenue have been slowly drying up, especially for the last couple of months. So it had to happen. No big deal, really, as I’ve had to rely on a “day job” for much of my freelance career.

Life goes on, and I continue optimistic and thankful about it — life, that is.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing career, getting a “day job, ” writing tips at garyspeer.com

I posted here a couple of days ago regarding a writing project I felt compelled to abandon because of possible copyright problems. I “killed” the “Tales of the Old West” site which I’d never done much with.

But out of that death came rebirth (does the term “Phoenix” sound familiar?), and this new project is more exciting to me than the other. Take a look at “Life in the Old West.” This is my “new baby,” and it just came alive last evening, so be gentle, please. So far, I only have one post up, and I haven’t even gotten a “Privacy” page there. There’s only one post up, but it seems pretty explanatory of what I want to do with the site.

In many ways, my heart has long been in the “Old West” of fact and fiction. There’s really not much of a market anymore for Western novels, virtually NONE for short stories, but perhaps I can put something together that will grow in the way of a blog. I encourage you to take a look at it, and I welcome suggestions or comments.

But remember, it’s a new baby, so be gentle.

Now if you’ll excuse me, today happens to be my 41st wedding anniversary. St. Shirl and I have better things to do today than sit around plunking on the old keyboard. See you all tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Life in the Old West, new writing project, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I love reading and writing about the “Old West,” that part of American history related to westward expansion, settlement, and “rip roarin’” cowboys and the whole works. You’ll remember from some earlier posts on this site that I’ve even been working (irregularly) on some “Western” novels.

Just a few minutes ago, I had to kill a major writing project related to the Old West — and I feel a little like I murdered an old friend.

Almost exactly a year ago I purchased the domain name talesoftheoldwest.com. I had high hopes and dreams of creating a blog that would share snippets of colorful Western history, as well as showcase Western fiction. In keeping with the domain name, the obvious title of that blog was “Tales of the Old West.” I even had the software set up, a nice Western related blog theme in place, and a few posts made.

Then, just out of curiosity, I Googled “Tales of the Old West” in Google’s new blog search tool. I discovered there was a blog with a different domain but the exact same site name, “Tales of the Old West,” which offers podcasts of folksy stories and colorful excerpts of Western history. The name and the fundamental approach was exactly like MINE — uh, except this guy started his and has been developing posts and podcasts on the site since 2006.

Alas, should my project go big-time, it would only be a matter of time before the creator of the earlier, very similar blog would find out. In which case, he would be justified in smacking me with a lawsuit or threat thereof, I suspect.

Being very cowardly about potential legal threats, and since I was still in the planning and development stages on the back-burner project, I knew the best thing was to kill the project. Even if I had renamed the site, given the domain name identical with this fellow’s website name — well, it wouldn’t be worth all the hassle and possibly losing legal battles.

So, I’m headed back to the drawing board, or at least back to Google to do some serious searches. I’d still love to keep the fundamental premise of the project, only this time I need to be sure the domain and site name are very far away from what someone else is already doing.

Who know there was still such a market for Western history??

Technorati Tags: writing projects, publishing laws and options, blogging, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Suppose you have a novel with a scene that takes place outdoors. Now suppose you were given the job of turning that novel scene into a play — how would you approach the lighting of that outdoor scene? Would you light it as near dawn, near twilight, bright sunlight, dark night?

I thought about this when I was reflecting on some of the novels I’ve read, which reminded me of the love/hate relationship I have with Russian novels and Russian novelists.

Do all Russian novels take place on dark, chilly nights?

It started when I was in high school, I think. I read “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoyevsky and “War and Peace” by Tolstoy. (All right, I don’t think I ever finished “War and Peace,” but I might have.) Looking back on these Russian novels sometime in college, I realized that in my mind’s eye, I had pictured every page of every Russian novel as taking place at night.

Now I’m pretty sure not every scene in all those pages of Russian novels took place at night, but the whole combination of subject matter, characterizations, descriptive narration, the whole package, made me “feel” that it was always nighttime. To this day I cannot pickup a piece of Russian fiction and start reading it without feeling like the sun has gone down.

How do you picture the world in which you’re writing a scene? Is the wind blowing? Is it sunny or cloudy? Are your characters splashing through puddles or ducking hail stones? Are they laughing and running down a brightly lit beach — or are they huddled together in front of a bay window watching the moon rise over ice and snow?

Be subtle, but be as clear as you can, regarding light, darkness, day, night, weather, etc., when you write your fiction. Don’t go overboard and get lost in the details. But don’t leave me feeling like the story’s all taking place on a dark, chilly winter night.

Technorati Tags: fiction writing, scene elements, light and darkness, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I just finished reading a memoir that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago: “Crazy for God,” by Frank Schaeffer, son of the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer, a religious evangelica/fundamentalist who was instrumental in forming much of today’s “Religious Right” Movement. Fascinating, honest book. Frank Schaeffer, author of the memoir, tells an honest, compelling story of what it was like growing up in a family headed by two people who were idolized (literally) by millions of fundamentalist/evangelical Christians in the 1960s-’80s. (Francis Schaeffer, theologian and father of Frank, died of cancer in 1984; Edith, mother and author in her own right, is still alive.)

Now I’m going to get started on that Anne Lamott book I mentioned yesterday and last week. It’s not exactly a memoir, but it contains elements of memoir.

But my question for you today is this: What is your favorite memoir? Perhaps you never read memoirs, but I’ll bet you do, or have. Think about the celebrity “autobiographies” you’ve read. Now think of them as memoirs — and tell me about them. It’s always helpful for writers to be avid readers. By reading new and different books, we expand our knowledge and improve our writing. So, tell us, please, what memoirs have you appreciated the most, and why?

Technorati Tags: “Crazy for God, ” memoirs, Frank Schaeffer, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, writing tips at garyspeer.com

If your efforts at online writing include affiliate marketing — you know from many previous posts here that mine do — you may be a member of the Ebay Partners Network, i.e., you do affiliate marketing for eBay.

If that’s you, I’ve discovered one of the absolutely most useful software tools you can own. It’s called phpBay Pro, and it was written by a guy named Wade Wells. Wade is a bona fide first-class guy, and he gives the sort of customer support for his product that Microsoft, Apple, HP, and all the others could only dream about.

The software itself comes in two forms, one works as a plugin for WordPress the other as a stand-alone option on non-blog web pages. What phpBay Pro does is allow you to create targeted displays of live, up-to-the-minute eBay auction links on your website, so you (assuming you are an eBay affiliate) can send buyers and sellers to eBay and make an incredible fortune online.

Okay, the “incredible fortune online” is my fervent wish for us all, but you get the idea with the software. If you’d like to see it in action, take a look at the Fun for Collectors website I’m linking to here (and that I’ve linked to in the sidebar of this site under “Useful Links.”

Technorati Tags: phpBay Pro, eBay affiliates, Ebay Partners Network, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I cannot tell you how useful and worthwhile this software will be for you if you are an eBay affiliate. Go look for yourself and decide.

I was watching out of one eye this morning as the “Today Show” played on the old television while I was getting up and around. Al Roker, their intrepid weather guy who’s one of my favorites, was in Orlando getting ready to help kick off a new rollercoaster type ride at the big movie theme park there. (I think we know which theme park that was, don’t we? No, it was the other one.)

If you’re in Florida, or you’d like to be in Florida, the Bardell Real Estate people have a nice vacation villa for sale they’d be happy to show you. They specialize in vacation property in and near Orlando, home of some of the neatest (Sea World?) and biggest (Disney World?) vacation destinations in the state. (Okay, I’ll give it away — Roker and gang were at the Universal Studios theme park.)

According to what I read, Bardell Real Estate can also provide you with “the most comprehensive information on Florida airport homes and Florida residential airparks, airports and aviation communities throughout Florida.” I’m not exactly sure what that means, but the terms “airport” and “airpark” linked to homes gets my attention. Sounds like great fun — and if you’re in Florida or would like to be in Florida, this is a fun site for you to look around. Go see for yourself.

Technorati Tags: Florida vacation homes, villa for sale, Orlando real estate, useful website, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I mentioned a day or two ago (who keeps track of the time??) that I was on the library’s waiting list for Anne Lamott’s newest book about spirituality and faith, “Grace (eventually),” and that I expected to get it in a week or so.

I was wrong. The good folks at the library came through today.

Unfortunately, I’ve got three or four other books I must read first, but I hope I’ll have it done and collect my thoughts enough to write a few paragraphs telling you about it. Stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: Anne Lamott, Grace (eventually), book about spirituality and faith

I know that many of you blog or host your own websites to which you add regular content. Many of you, I’m sure, have various scripts or software on your site that allows you to poll your customers about an issue.

Forum software, I’m sure, allows this pretty easily. But I don’t run a forum here, I run WordPress blogging software. I’ve searched around the Internet several times and not found anything really easy and practical to use to put up a poll that you, my visitors, can respond to.

Consider this my cry for help — any of you have a website script, WordPress plugin, or something very easy to use and very free that will do what I’m looking for?

Drop me a comment to this post or send me a message through the “Contact Us” page, will you please? I thank you in advance for your help.

Technorati Tags: polling software, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Have you ever needed a list broker? Perhaps you aren’t familiar with mailing lists and those who use them, but here’s a useful website, put up by the Direct Contact Marketing Group, explaining what list brokers do and how your business or freelance writing career might benefit from lists and the services of list brokers.

I’ve done a few direct mail campaigns for some marketing endeavors in the past, and on one occasion did some direct mail using a list broker. The results were not spectacular, but I only tried once.

Go to the site and look around. It’s very informative and there are links at the bottom of the page if you wish to pursue the matter and find some lists related to your needs.

Technorati Tags: list brokers, Direct Contact Marketing Group, mailing lists, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Here’s another of those simple, basic writing tips you may already know — or you may be overlooking. I hope it’s helpful. In a word: Speed writing.

Okay, I cheated. That’s two words, but it’s a simple and effective way to start a writing session anytime you simply can’t get the words flowing and get started any other way. It’s a technique that’s pretty much self-descriptive.

Speed writing means sitting down at your keyboard and letting the words flow without purpose, without forcing words or thoughts. You’re simply trying to put down everything that comes to mind as quickly as you possibly can. It’s sort of a combined typing race and free-association exercise.

One writing coach of mine suggested setting a timer of some sort to 10 minutes, flipping the timer, then pounding away until the timer dings (chirps, warbles, rings, clicks, bangs, whatever).

If you’ve never tried this, you’ll be amazed at some of the stuff that might come out of your head, travel through the old finger tips, and end up in your computer. Good, bad, and indifferent — you’ll find yourself spilling it all.

And if you’re writing fiction, a nice benefit is that you might trip a switch in the old brain that’ll give you a new perspective on your story, a new story idea, a new character, whatever. The possibilities are pretty much limitless. Give it a shot.

Technorati Tags: speed writing, breaking writer’s block, writing exercises, advice for new writers, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I’ve only had one “professional” copy writing job in my writing career, and that was many years ago. But I do copy writing almost daily for much of the content on my various affiliate marketing websites. I’m sure many of you reading this are professional copy writers and/or find yourself also writing website copy that involves advertising.

So my question here would be this: What sort of copy writing job(s) do you find hardest to do well? Or do you find anything hard to do well? I mean, seriously, I’ve known some copy writers who just have such a knack for the task that they can write good ad copy just about faster than I can sign my name.

Here’s an example of the toughest copy writing I ever face — finding a new or unique way to “spin” an old or well-known type of product. What would I write, for instance, if I were trying to make someone click a link on one of my affiliate marketing websites for an acne treatment product? Even if the product itself is something new, even if it’s genuinely “revolutionary,” what can I write to persuade people? I mean, I’m 60 years old and I know I’ve seen an endless stream of new and “revolutionary” acne treatment products since my pre-teen years.

Overcoming ad saturation would be the biggest challenge, I think, for professional copy writers. But what do you professional copy writers out there think about it? Tell us, please.

Technorati Tags: copy writing, acne treatment, writing challenges, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Writers can work magic. Or, sometimes, they just write down words and the magic doesn’t come. In most cases, technical writers and/or copy writers get stuck with the “non-magic” sorts of words.

For example, copy writers forced to come up with names for pharmaceuticals and diet supplements rarely create magic. Let’s face it, the word “Orovo” doesn’t trip charmingly off the tongue, doesn’t conjure images of beautiful and faraway places, and really doesn’t tell you anything. (It’s a brand name for a whole line of dietary/nutritional supplements.) Likewise, brand names like “Lunesta,” “Lipitor,” and “Zocor” by themselves mean nothing — unless you’ve seen the endless, expensive television commercials for that particular pharmaceuticals and happen to use them.

Technical writers have an even tougher, “non-magical” row of words to hoe. Most technical writers never create terms or brand names, they generally get stuck writing step-by-step manuals and “how-tos” implementing equipment and procedures other people have created.

And can you imagine the stress government writers must face, coming up with the jargon and bureaucratic mumbo jumbo that keeps state and federal agencies up and running? What a job that must be!

Enjoy your writing today. Write fiction that soars, poetry that makes us laugh and cry, or simple “how-tos” that help us all boot up our computers and use your software.

Technorati Tags: writing tasks, jargon, bureaucratic jargon, ad copy writing, writing tips at garyspeer.com