Green Means Go

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

What if you never left home until you felt certain all the traffic lights between your home and your destination were green? Don’t laugh! We do that every day in one way or another. Yes, we put things off while waiting on perfection to occur. There are two problems with this. One is perfection in one person’s eyes is not perfection in another’s. The second follows which is, and my apologies to my 9^th Grade English Teacher Mrs. Thurman, “ain’t no such thing as man-made perfection.”

One of the most common areas in which we look for green lights in writing is editing as we go. Instead of writing our blog, short story, or novel we edit it. We look for errors in grammar, sentence structure, plots, character building and the like as we write. Instead of completing our train of thought and then edit, we constantly interrupt it with the thoughts of perfection. I have seen some write as if their piece was to be used as an example of the perfectly written work for generations of writers to follow. Again pardon me Mrs. Thurman, but “chances are it ain’t gonna’ happen.”

The same is true for marketing. What appears to be the perfect marketing plan for one author may not work at all for another. That plan that appears to be perfect was most likely successful after many yellow lights and red lights got in the way. It seems to be perfection now that we are hitting more and more green lights as we go but we still have the occasional yellow and red.    

Preparing the perfect marketing plan is a great idea but you must put it into action to see if it works. If it doesn’t work we must be able to recognize the fact it doesn’t and adapt accordingly. Slow down at the yellows, stop at the reds and continue on with the greens. By the way the reds can be tricky. Abide by the laws and watch for the cameras. There is a reason you need to come to a stop so do so and think about your next move.

 

What keeps you from leaving home? What are the green lights, perfection, you are waiting on? Identify them for what they are (excuses, procrastination, nerves) and pull out of the driveway. Before you know it you will be cruising along and thinking everything is green.

Trick or Treat?

by Shannon Milholland, Social Media Director

With four children still living at home, our house is lively every October 31st. We load up on ghoulish fare such as Swamp Soup and Boneyard Breadsticks before the kids gather truckloads of sugary wonder from our neighbors. They may yell, "Trick or Treat" but are presented with treats not tricks.


Have you ever seen a Twitter account with a gravatar that could shock Lady Godiva?


Have you ever visited a blog with a sweet name but sour posts?


Have you ever graced a Facebook page with a "like" only to be appalled by lack of tolerance and snap judgments by the page owner?


Social media is filled with plenty of tricks who claim to be treats. 


This week as we add another brick to our platforms, let's make it a true treat. No tricks up our sleeves.

Procrastination

by Teri Johnson

"Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” - Napoleon Hill

“Procrastination is the thief of time.” - Edward Young

“Procrastination usually results in sorrowful regret. Today's duties put off until tomorrow give us a double burden to bear; the best way is to do them in their proper time.” - Ida Scott Taylor

 “Procrastination is opportunity's natural assassin.” - Victor Kiam

“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” - Wayne Gretzky

Really – there is nothing bright, energizing, positive, or exciting about this word.

…PROCRASTINATION

Yet we allow it to hang around. Well, I do – maybe I shouldn’t include you, unless you are with me, are you?

As writers, this character trait becomes a stumbling block if we allow it to manifest itself.  I came face to face with it while I was writing my book, Overcoming the Nevers. It was so glaring I needed to write about it in chapter seven, Transformation:

“One of my defects of character is procrastination. This is no secret; I’ve wrestled with it for a very long time.  …I put things off.  I find it ironic that “procrastinate” is a verb, which indicates it’s an action word, when the word itself means to defer action.

Unfortunately this trait can result in missed opportunities and emotional weariness. Williams James says, “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” When we procrastinate, we are not taking the appropriate action that we know we need to take. We carry thoughts about what we should be doing in our minds. Our thoughts turn into lies and mis-beliefs, and we start to feel that we aren’t good enough, or that we have failed, which is self-sabotaging. We carry the stress of the unfinished business on our shoulders, which drains us and holds us back.

How do I know this? Because I’m experiencing the effects of procrastination through the writing of this book.  …There have been many days I’ve wanted to stop and not move forward. I’ve pushed back deadlines, rationalized excuses and wasted many good writing days by allowing every distraction to creep into my life.

The tapes that continuously play in my mind are I am not a writer, I’m in over my head, this is too hard for me. What I would rather do are the things that I know how to do, like coach a client through a life obstacle.  …I would rather do things that are sociable and fun, like visit with a friend over coffee or go to a movie. The last thing I want to be doing is something in which I don’t feel confident – something that is extremely hard work – something that is refining me to the core and forcing me to dig deep into the depths of my soul.

Fear is the root of my procrastination. Fear of failure. Fear of what others might think. Fear of judgment. Fear of success; what happens if this really takes off, what does that look like? In all the significant areas of my life where I’ve allowed procrastination to set in, I can see that the core of not taking action is fear.”

What is it for you? What allows procrastination to creep into your life?

When we identify the root, mine was F.E.A.R {False Evidence Appearing Real} – we can take action appropriately to change.  We can invite accountability into our lives to help us move past, move forward, to overcome!
_____________________________________________

Teri is a writer, speaker, and sought-after personal growth expert. Her unique strategies have helped transform the lives of her clients, enlightening, guiding and motivating them to achieve even their most deeply desired goals.

She is the President and Founder of Keeping It Personal, a company that specializes in self-development training and discovering your life purpose. She facilitates her clients, who range from executives to hard working stay-at-home moms, through, “The Ultimate Journey”, a course focused on unpacking self deception, to freedom from old destructive behaviors, discover and develop their truth, goals, and most importantly, accomplish them. Through her mentoring and life coaching, Teri’s clients have found personal growth and joy allowing them to improve relationships, decrease stress and anxiety, and move forward in their business and personal life, and more.

Her book, Overcoming The Nevers, is now available! You can learn more about Teri and her book by visiting her personal website. Be inspired daily by signing up to receive The Daily KIP…a little nugget of truth she writes at Keeping it Personal.

Teri is social! Meet her on Facebook here and here or on  Twitter 

Is Your Glass Half Full?

by Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief

PRO’S                                                                                     CON’S

Glass Half Full                                                                        Glass Half Empty

Good things happen to me.                                                     Bad always happens.

I look for good things.                                                            I know bad is coming.

Our thinking process is truly a marvelous instrument. We have it finely tuned to be a magnet in all areas of our lives.

This instrument will produce lack or abundance for us. We make the choice every day, many times during the day. From the time we get up until we go to bed we make choices.

If we choose to think negative and lack, that is exactly what we will draw.

However, if we choose to think abundance and positive thoughts then we draw them.

Perhaps the question we should ask ourselves is “what do we really think we deserve in our lives”?

I hope our answer is we deserve good, positive and abundant living.

And You Can Misquote Me On That

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director

Okay, film buffs.  Which of these famous movie lines is misquoted?

“Me Tarzan, you Jane.”

“You dirty rat; you killed my brother.”

 “Play it again, Sam.”

“If you build it; they will come.”

“Luke, I am your father.”

As you may already be aware, they are all incorrect. Despite their familiarity, none of these phrases were ever spoken in those exact words. Close, perhaps, but no cigar. 

Ready for a couple more? These come from the pages of literature:

“Elementary, my dear Watson.” (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never penned this, though Sherlock did finally say it in a movie.)

“Money is the root of all evil.” (Without the key words, ‘The love of money’, its meaning is completely altered.)

Inaccuracy notwithstanding, time and repetition have made classics of these phrases. I would guess a fair share of the movie misquotes are the result of impressionists turning a phrase which becomes the new standard. We’ve all seen comics on Johnny Carson delivering a shifty-shouldered, “You dirty rat”. And the much wordier “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By’…You played it for her, you can play it for me!” just doesn’t play the same in front of a Tonight Show crowd.

Despite the occasionally tattered retelling, these are only a handful of the countless quotes which have stood the test of time to become part of our vocabulary. Does it ever make you wonder if the author had any idea it would become a legendary line as they were writing it? Can you imagine the thrill of having a moment when you’re crafting dialogue and thinking, “There’s a line that will go down in history”? I know that’s an offer I couldn’t refuse.

The phrase that pays is as different as each movie itself. The following have nothing in common other than they reveal a huge revelation in the plot:

“I see dead people.”

“Houston, we have a problem.”

 “It’s alive! It’s alive!”

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

“I’ll be back.”

“You can’t handle the truth!”

We can never predict what words are going to click with the public, but it is apparent that movie lines which do become classics are typically uttered by charismatic main characters; heroes and villains whom readers believe are capable of expressing the wisdom of the ages. (With the possible exception of the unidentified lady diner in When Harry Met Sally who said, “I’ll have what she’s having.”)  (You must admit, though, she was pretty charismatic in her own right.)

Only time will tell if the protagonist in our novel will deliver the next famous quote. But it does behoove us to give each line of dialogue more than a passing consideration. When putting what might become classic words together, it may help to remember short and sweet is the stuff dreams are made of.

For it doesn’t get much simpler than the jungle man’s actual quote, which was merely:

“Tarzan. Jane.”

Things That Go Bump

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us! –A Scottish Prayer

Yes, it is Halloween! The children are thinking of scary things that go bump in the night, just as we did at their age. But now when I hear the word bump, I think of one of my favorite books written by Ralph Parlette entitled The University of Hard Knocks, The School That Completes Our Education. Parlette wrote that life is the University of Hard Knocks and tuition is free. The books are the bumps we experience as we go along life’s journey. If we are wise we learn them and move forward. If we are “fools” we must experience them again and again until they are learned.

In his book Parlette wrote of buying some apples from a grocer. Looking into the barrel he saw some large beautiful apples but looking into the sack he was given by the grocery he saw only one large apple and the rest were smaller. He thought the grocer had placed the larger ones on top to help his sales. But in fact the grocer had nothing to do with the placement of the apples. The apples themselves had decided their placement on their own while being delivered by the farmer.         

Apples placed in a barrel then in the back of a wagon and carried over a rough country road to town would shake at each bump in the road. With each bump the larger ones shake toward the top and the smaller ones shake towards the bottom. This occurs with beans, nuts, balls fruit or anything you might try. Size determines placement. Parlette said, “Equality of position demands equality of size. Let the little one grow bigger and he will shake up. Let the big one grow smaller and he will shake down.”

That leads us to our bumps or adversity and what to do about them. Shakespeare said, “Sweet are the uses of adversity.” Revelation 21:7 tells us “He that overcometh shall inherit all things.” With each bump in the road and each shake of the barrel we all move. The same shake that sends the bigger ones up send the smaller ones down. When you feel the bump and experience the shake learn from the adversity and grow. Let the little one grow bigger and he will shake up.

We are all in that barrel of life. All around us everything is shaking; every community, work place, school and home. When things go bump I think “Shake That Barrel”, learn from it and look upward for my new placement in life. Things that go bump aren’t always a bad thing. “Shake That Barrel”.   

What Will You Get to Do Today?

by Shannon Milholland, Social Media Director

My kindergartner crept downstairs at precisely 5 am Wednesday morning. Wearing her pajamas and a Cheshire worthy grin, excitement danced on her face. "Mommy, today is the day. I get to do so many things I've never done before. I get to ride on a school bus for the first time. I get to go on my first field trip."

Like a grenade aimed at bullet proof glass, her energy infiltrated my groggy heart. My immediate reaction was to ponder how my efforts to build a platform would revolutionize if I eradicated "I have to" and adopted "I get to".

What if today's mantra was....

• I get to write a new blog post
• I get to schedule tweets
• I get to connect with someone new on LinkedIn

By flipping the switch in my brain from "I have to" to "I get to" tasks that once seemed like drudgery become delight. Okay maybe delight is a stretch but would you settle for doable? I know I would.

Make a list of three things you want to do today to build your platform as an author. Powered by the "get to" you'll get to build a more effective platform.

NaNo NaNo...or National Novel Writing Month

by Karen Ware

In the world of writers November is known as National Novel Writing Month. Also called NaNoWriMo, this event has become the world’s largest writing challenge and nonprofit literary crusade (not to mention fantastic practice for those of us beginning our writing careers or needing a break from writer’s block). 

With the hopes of writing a 50,000 word novel in thirty days, thousands of writers sign up at the National Novel Writing website located at http://www.nanowrimo.org. For the month of November writers attempt to meet their word count and ‘let their words flow’, sacrificing quality for quantity, as they squeeze out an approximately 175 page novel. The NaNoWriMo staff even advises you lower your expectations during the month and have fun with your story.

“Why?” you ask.

According to their website: “By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.”

Founded in 1999 by Chris Baty, this funky and fun writers’ community has cool widgets, word count scoreboards and friendly competition to make you eager to cross that finish line by 11:59 pm on November 30 with the full 50,000 words. Who knows, after completing this novel-of-sorts...why not go back, hone your work and you may find a truly great book…ready to submit! It has happened! In fact, nearly 60 novels begun during NaNoWriMo have been published, including Water for Elephants, a New York Times #1 Bestseller by Sara Gruen. It also became a film in 2011 starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon!

Since its humble beginning in 1999 with 21 participants to well over 200,000 participants in 2010, you are encouraged to write a novel in this one month’s time. Word counts are posted daily. Friendships are forged with others with similar interests. And if you complete your 50,000 words by the end of the month you can even get a cool winner’s certificate and web badge!

Sign up to begin your work before or on November 1. Browse the website and join forums, befriend other writers who will be there for support, join in friendly competition with other regions to see who will have the best word count at the end of the month.

Don’t be discouraged if you can’t reach the 50,000 word goal…not all writers do. Last year a little less than twenty percent of those participating completed their goals! But I’d be willing to bet most all had fun trying!

Take a few minutes to check out the website and see if it is something you would be interested in doing…I’ve tried it before (alas, I was not one of those with a completed book) and I enjoyed being able to just let the words flow without worrying about double-checking facts, making sure I was historically accurate or worrying about grammar. November is a month to just let loose and write; and I encourage you to try it!

_______________________

Karen Ware is a Mississippi Southern Belle, married with two college daughters. Proud of her daughters’ accomplishments but facing the empty nest syndrome, Ware is pursuing the writing career she always dreamed of having and loving it. She is a member of the Mississippi Writers Guild, RWA and HHRW Chapter. She is also an avid genealogy buff. You can find her online at www.karen-ware.com.

Snapshots for Chicken Soup for the Soul

Today, our Editor-in-Chief, Susan Reichert, is taking a much deserved break from blogging to bring you the sage advice of Tracy Crump of Write Life Workshops. Tracy is a multi-published Chicken Soup for the Soul author and offers us her tricks and tips to find our bylines in their books. Please give a warm Southern welcome to Tracy!


by Tracy Crump

We often think of our lives as one long autobiography when really they are made up of thousands of little stories woven together. Those “snapshot stories” are what Chicken Soup for the Soul looks for in submissions. But how can we present a picture from our lives that will appeal to this popular series?

Scope Out the Landscape

Years ago, Chicken Soup editors allowed writers to submit stories under a catchall title of “Other Stories.” No longer. Today Chicken Soup’s web site lists only their upcoming book topics, usually six to ten specific titles. Each listing includes a blurb about the proposed book. Right there in a nutshell, the editors are telling writers what they want. Write your story geared to their needs.

I always recommend reading Chicken Soup books or any other publication you wish to write for. You will find no better way to learn a publication’s tone, slant and preferences than reading what they’ve already published. I’m often surprised by the variety of stories I find in a Chicken Soup book, stories I never would have thought of submitting to that particular title. They spark memories of incidents I could write about and embolden me to take a chance on an unconventional idea.

Set Up Your Camera

Chicken Soup guidelines say they want stories about “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” That sounds daunting, but it doesn’t mean they expect heroic deeds. Look for stories in everyday events and show how that event had an impact on your life, changed your perspective or touched you in some meaningful way. Tell a story that will make a connection with the reader.

Be sure to focus on a narrow topic—a moment, event or relationship that you can cover in 1200 words or fewer. Hone in on the important details. Remember, this is not your memoir. It’s a short story.

Snap the Picture

Tell your story in an engaging manner. Use strong nouns and verbs and let the reader “see” the action as it unfolds. Be sure to include all the elements of good storytelling: action, dialogue, conflict and resolution.

Chicken Soup says they want stories that will make the reader “cry, laugh or get goose bumps.” They want them filled with “emotion and drama.” Above all, they must have takeaway value, something the reader takes away from the story that touches his or her life. A good Chicken Soup story has to have a point.

Just like that shoebox of old pictures stored in the top of the closet, your life is full of interesting snapshot stories that you can pull out and show to readers. And that is just what Chicken Soup is waiting for.

_______________________________

Tracy Crump has published in a variety of magazines such as Focus on the Family, ParentLife, Light & Life, Journey and CBN.com. Ten of her stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul. She is a frequent speaker at writers conferences and produces a free e-newsletter called The Write Life. Tracy’s latest venture is to join with Write Life Workshops partner Marylane Wade Koch to produce webinars. Their next webinar, “Stirring the Pot: Writing for Chicken Soup for the Soul,” is scheduled for November 11, 2011. 

Connect with Tracy online at her website, on Facebook, Twitter and at Write Life Workshops.

Proving a Point

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director

Q: When is a question not a question?

A: When it ends with an interrobang!

Say what?! 

My point exactly.  Or, more specifically, an exclamation point.  With a question mark added.

The first time I ever saw an interrobang was while thumbing through one of my dad’s trade publications (he was an artist and a fan of fonts).  The magazine article introduced what was then thought to be an up-and-coming addition to the typography landscape, a symbol combining a question mark with an exclamation point, because there are times when just one or the other won’t do, and it would help to have both in one convenient punctuation. It could be used for rhetorical questions, or to exclaim disbelief.

Even as a youngster I thought this was rather ingenious, and it stuck with me.  I never knew its name, but for decades, whenever I had occasion to end a sentence with ?! I wondered what ever became of that funny mark.

Last week a friend reintroduced me to it, revealing its real name of “interrobang”, a cross between “interrogation mark” (the fancy name for question mark) and “bang” (a printer’s nickname for exclamation point), and I have to say, it was nice to see my old acquaintance after all these years.  I also discovered that it has gone by other names, like “rhet” – which is kinda catchy – and the somewhat clumsier “exclamaquest”.  (That one rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it?!)

Despite actually making an appearance on some typewriters back in the day, alas, the interrobang never managed to enter the ranks of standard punctuation.  Yet, encouragingly, some font sets (certain versions of Calibri, Cambria, Lucinda and Palatino, among others) even today support it.  In fact, next time you’re playing around in Wingdings 2, hit the ] key (for right bracket) and you’ll see Mr Rhetoric.

No doubt we’ll see the introduction of many more wingdings and other typeable oddities in our lifetime.  But I’d love to see this particularly purposeful punctuation point prove popular before I die.  And when I go, let me go out with an interrobang.

Are You a Boat Potato?

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

We have all heard of the couch potato, one that sits on the couch and is unproductive by anyone’s standards. Have you heard of a boat potato? John Ortberg author of If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got to Get Out Of The Boat speaks of the gift we have been given. These gifts are our calling and in order to realize them, or in his words in order to walk on water, we must get out of the boat. Ortberg says there is something inside each of us that makes us want to do more than merely avoid failure. We have the desire to walk on water. But to do so we must get out of the boat.          

What is your boat? What is it that you find safety in? What affords you the comfort that entices you to remain in the boat and not seek your gift? Ortberg says there is a simple test to discover your boat. The test is FEAR.

Fear comes when we think of leaving the boat and stepping out on the water. Each time you think of taking the next step toward your gift, something in you will produce fear. That fear will tell you to stay where it is safe. Once our fears are identified, we must overcome them. Step over the side of the boat, get your feet wet. Discover getting out of the boat it is worth it. One step will lead to another and before you know it your life will change. You will no longer be a Boat Potato.

Take the FEAR test and get started…

Do I Know You?

by Shannon Milholland, Social Media Director

With the onslaught of social media, at times it feels like my relationships are reduced to clicks and bits. Conversation over coffee gives way to posts blurted out on the information highway. The need to connect cries from the deepest crevice of my soul.

This morning I couldn't sleep. I found myself huddled on the couch at 1:30 am watching Eat, Pray, Love. Minutes into the movie, the main character, Liz Gilbert is socializing at her closest friend's home. As her pal, Delia, hauls her newborn off for a diaper change, she entreats Liz to join her.

This scene profoundly depicts a truth I already know. It is the ordinary of life that forges deep relationship. A diaper change, an evening walk or a lazy afternoon of fishing is the planting which sprouts friendship. As writers, we are designed with perhaps an even greater need to connect at the deepest of levels. Is this possible in a world expressed in 150 characters or less?

Yes. If we are willing to step out from behind the curtain and allow our readers to see the fabric of our souls. Our authentic selves are weaved on a tapestry of everyday threads.

More Than Cornflakes


The conventional social media wisdom is to not share what one had for breakfast. I could not more enthusiastically agree. There is a vast difference in ordinary and boring. I recently read a list on a blog posted on the authors 33rd birthday or thirty-three things she'd never done. This list was littered with regular and was a fantastic peak into her heart. I saw a never-stamped passport gripped in the hand of a wife who's not slept away from her husband longer than four consecutive nights. She is no longer just a writer to me. She is a woman with whom I'd like to share coffee; a woman I'd be honored to call friend.

Writing From the Coffee House


I love to write in my second office whose in congruent corporate symbol is a green mermaid. Nothing inspires my fingers to prose more than a steaming hot, over-priced cup of java. I'm pretty sure I've seen you there next to me with hands flying over your keyboard as the next chapter of your novel tumbles onto the page.

We write from the coffee house but at times without the heart of the coffee house. Pretend your best mate is perched next to you. What would you tell him? Would you high five over the Rangers trip to the Series or moan about your son who recently changed majors...for the fifth time. These snippets of your life invite your readers to take a seat with you on the couch.

I'm in between diaper changes at the moment. My kids are too old and I'm too young. This doesn't mean I can't invite my online friends into the ordinary of my life. Will you join me at the coffee house and tell me what you'd reveal there? I'd love to run with you on your first 5-K, read a novel together or laugh about how you're stuck in traffic same as me.

Do I know you? Not yet...but I want to.