A Writer's Bucket List

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

The term "bucket list" has become so much a part of our lexicon that it's hard to believe it didn't exist before the 2007 movie The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. In just five years, most everyone has come to know that a bucket list is a personal wish list of things one wishes to do before one "kicks the bucket".

I think the reason the phrase has caught on so quickly and indelibly is because everyone has a deeply personal wish list, whether they've taken the time to write theirs out yet or not.

Examples from the film include "Witness something truly majestic" and "Laugh until I cry".  Goals such as these are not mere short-term achievements like clearing out your inbox.  They aspire to the kind of high-caliber life experience that fulfills on a soul level.

As a writer, it's a given that some of the goals capable of enriching us to that degree will involve writing.  In 2013, as we contemplate New Year's resolutions, why not include something "bucket list worthy" in your intentions? 

Where to start? A good place to begin might be through two of the main questions posed in the movie:

Did you find joy in your life? 
Has your life brought joy to others?

When we narrow these into a writing focus, they might well become:

What will bring me joy in my writing?
How can my writing bring joy to others?

A good bucket list item reflects the motivation behind it. Instead of "Write a novel", make it "Write a novel that honors my ancestors" or "Write a book that helps kids who are afraid of going to the doctor". One of the best things about a bucket list is that it's uniquely you, and exclusively yours to fulfill.  Good luck.

With Christmas just a week away, and 2013 a mere two weeks from today, I wish you glad tidings and the opportunity to slow down over the holidays to give some inspired thought to the writing you'd like to accomplish this coming year. May you write something capable of changing someone's life, and your own.

You might even come up with a new catch phrase, like "bucket list".

Because It's There

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director

Over 5,000 people have attempted to scale it, and only 1/8 of them have succeeded. Mountain climbers who like a good challenge consider Mt. Everest—the pinnacle of the earth—the ultimate goal.

Achieving our writing goals is like scaling a mountain. A strong determination, the proper tools, and a capability for the craft are essential to begin the climb.  There'll be obstacles on the way up, and moments when you think you just can't do it.  But those who make it to the top of Everest don't let difficulties keep them down.  They envision the pinnacle of the mountain and focus on how magnificent the view will be from 5 1/2 miles above sea level.

What is your writing goal?  If you're just starting out, maybe you simply want to write a book and get it published.  If you're already a published author, maybe your goal is to have a New York Times Bestseller.  If you've already had several bestsellers, maybe you just long for a week off without having to write anything.

I had an interesting conversation with an author this week, one who's been published regularly for years and has enjoyed success by any writer's standard. Even so, they harbor a certain reluctance to claim their success; to own it.  Whether it's humility, disbelief, or a fear of jinxing a good thing, it is hard to say "I've arrived" when you still have mountains to climb.

Indeed, this is a sentiment echoed by most of the authors we speak with.  Even though they became "professionals" when they sold their first article or book, the real goal in their hearts is an ambiguous, uncharted one that they won't even realize they've reached until they get there. And when they do, they'll still keep going.

A true writer writes because they love what they do. They make loyal friends along the way, supporting and mentoring other writers freely.  When they achieve "success," that's not a stopping point.  They thank their lucky stars—and their muse—and keep reaching higher, just from the sheer love of writing.  They do it for the art, not for the accolades. 

When George Mallory set out to be the first to climb Mt. Everest, he was asked why. His famous answer, "Because it's there," is the same reason many of us write. It's just something we must do. It requires no explanation, nor a measurable achievement to make it a valid pursuit.  It's a challenge; an adventure; a gauntlet we have no choice but to pick up.

May you always find joy in your journey.

The Starting Point

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. 

Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat."

This is a wonderful quote from the author of Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill. Hill knew that passion and more particularly desire would fuel the starting point of each and every achievement. From that desire forward movement begins in a direction that is expected to satisfy that desire.

Hill was aware that the desire must be strong. Strong desire is necessary to meet the strong challenges that will be met. Along our path toward achievement we will be met with obstacles which can be overcome but only if our desire is strong enough to do so.

Hill also said a weak desire brings weak results. Many times we meet these obstacles and find our desire is weak and we fail to overcome them. We are faced with weak results. We then must face the fact of weak desire. We were not willing to put forward what was necessary to reach the achievement desired. We have settled for less. If you continue to do so you will eventually lose your desire to find a starting point.

John Dewey

American philosopher John Dewey said, “Arriving at one point is the starting point to another.” Let’s say you had the desire to start towards your achievement and are strong enough to reach fulfillment. In other words you have arrived. What is next? John Dewey said you have arrived at the next starting point.

As an author writes they will complete a segment. At that point they must ask themselves, “and then what happened?” We too must do the same in life. We have had a strong desire and have achieved our goal. In doing so this has prepared us for the next step. That achievement may have been the foundation for greater things. Now is the time to realize we are at the next starting point. Have you come to the next starting point? If so here is hoping your desire is strong, your fire is hot

Moving Toward Your Goal

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

What is your goal? Are you moving toward it? Do you make progress each day? We all need to know what our goals are. Someone once said a goal without a plan is just a wish. We need to have a plan to move in the direction that will ensure success in reaching those goals. How do we get this done?

First determine your goals. In the business world we have a short formula we use to determine our goals and it has three steps. They are: “How Much? By When? The Details?”

Let’s say you are building your platform and you decide you want as part of your platform 1,000 Followers on Twitter and 1,000 Friends on Facebook. There is your “How Much?” question answered.

Now we move on to “By When?”. You want those numbers reached by the end of the year. This will coincide with the completion of your first draft and you can refer to these numbers in your query letters you send to literary agents.

Next “The Details?” step is more complicated. You determine the steps you must take in order to meet those numbers by that date. You know you can’t reach your goal in an hour, day or even one month. So you will need to determine what you will do and how you will do it consistently to complete your goal. You must break it down. An example: you have 200 days left in the year and need 2,000 new Friends and Followers. You need to add 10 a day for 200 days. How will you do it? You will need to say “I will reach my goal of 2,000 additional Friends and Followers by contacting 10 to 20 new contacts a day and request they become my Friend or Follower.” With that decided you must act.

I love the quiz; three frogs were sitting on a log and one decided to jump. How many frogs are sitting on the log? The answer is three. A decision without action has no results. In order to reach your goal you must act and do so in a continuous steady fashion. Jack Canfield, co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul, calls it “sustained effort”. AndyAndrews, author of The Traveler’s Gift, The Butterfly Effect and The Final Summit said, “I persisted without exception.”  If Canfield or Andrews had made the decision and not moved on it we would not have these great works available to us today.

The only way to get nearer to your goal is to move toward it. Determine how much, by when and work out the details. THEN JUMP!  

World Class: "Write" Marketing

by Doyne Phillips

Would you like to be a world class writer? Do you know what it takes? Author Malcolm Gladwell did a study to determine what made individuals world class performers in their various walks of life. In his book Outliers, Gladwell revealed one of their common traits was each had a minimum of 10,000 hours of practice, rehearsal or training in their individual fields. Examples he gave were Olympic Athletes, musicians such as the Beatles and computer gurus Gates and Job. All had put in the necessary hours to make them world class at what they do.

Gladwell’s research was confirmed months after Outliers was published with the Hudson River ditching of the U S Airways Flight 1549. After losing all engines Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger made the decision to ditch the aircraft based on his experience and evaluation of the situation. His experience included 40 years of flying with over 19,000 hours of flight time. His co-pilot Jeff Skiles after 32 years of flying had over 20,000 hours of flight time. Their feat was truly world class. Thankfully they had put in the necessary time to perform as such.

So how do we become world class writers? We write! What do we write? We write anything and everything. We write that novel, journal, blog, poem, song, email, query letter, promo, instruction manual. We write it with the enthusiasm and determination we would use to author the next classic. We write with excellence and we write often. A friend of mine this time a year ago had a business book on the bestseller list. His next project was a sales manual for a large national corporation. He will tell you, “Write!”

But how does this fit in with Marketing Monday? How is this going to help me market my work? Very simply, you must write to sell yourself. Your query letter sells your proposal. Your blog broadens your platform which is an asset needed to sell your book to a publisher. Your articles, emails, Twitter and Facebook post and yes, even your personal hand written signature with message inside your most recently published book cover is marketing you as a writer. So as we write toward our world class status of the necessary 10,000 hours, let us be sure to include those necessary hours of writing that market us as writers. Let us write!