I found this cool new website: http://PlottersandPantsers.Wordpress.com And I started following their feed on Facebook. They have some great articles that they have been putting out in the last few weeks.
They posted an article on the 15th, of a blog post by author Chuck Wendig on his Terribleminds blog http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/
25 things a writer should stop doing. The article was interesting, and butt kicking, if taken with a grain of salt. Some of the language in them made me cringe, and skip reading. But the information was good. And true.
As writers we worry about so many things, plot, characters, typos, get an agent, don’t get an agent, genre, theme, beta readers, tense, POV, platform building, rejection, contract and much much more. There are so many things you have to be and do as a writer that sometimes it can take away from the ultimate goal, writing.
The article 25 things writer’s shouldn’t do had some great points. Of them, here are my favorite highlights:
1. STOP RUNNING FROM YOUR WRITING
…Your writing will never chase you — you need to chase your writing. If it’s what you want, then pursue it. This isn’t just true of your overall writing career, either. It’s true of individual components…
This is so true! If you want to write, WRITE! If you need to learn to edit better, learn it. If you need to learn how to keep to one POV per scene, practice it! It will never tackle you and shove itself into your brain forcing you against your will to do it. You HAVE to want it for yourself.
2. STOP STOPPING!
Momentum is everything. Cut the brake lines. Careen wildly and unsteadily toward your goal. I hate to bludgeon you about the head and neck with a hammer forged in the volcanic fires of Mount Obvious, but the only way you can finish something is by not stopping…
It is so true! I am dealing with it right now. I have a series I am writing. I just finished the first one, and I have the momentum to keep going. Work on the next one, plot out the series, figure out how everything fits together and make it cohesive. But a couple of months ago, it was grueling just to start. I know, if I stop now, and start on a different series I have plotted, it will take a year to get back to this one. Now I may burn out and have to stop for a few weeks, but the momentum it here now, so I’m going with it!
4. STOP WORRYING!
Worry is some useless s#!&. It does nothing. It has no basis in reality…We worry about things that are well beyond our control. We worry about publishing trends or future advances… That’s not to say you can’t identify future trouble spots and try to work around them — but that’s not worrying. You recognize a roadblock and arrange a path around it — you don’t chew your fingernails bloody worrying about it…
I am a worrier! I admit it! My friend, author Katanie Duarte, can attest to it! I worry about everything. I inherited it from my mother. My poor husband, the ever optimist, prays that someday I will get over it. But it’s true. But over the past two years I have gotten better at realizing there are things I can control and things I can’t and I just have to let the can’t, go. Now I am not perfect yet, (shhhhh, don’t tell my hubby I said that) but I am trying.
5. STOP HURRYING
The rise of self-publishing has seen a comparative surge forward in quantity…Stories are like wine; they need time. So take the time. This isn’t a hot dog eating contest. You’re not being judged on how much you write but rather, how well you do it…
Yup! Have I mentioned that I tend to be a teensy weensy wee bit impatient? Okay, so part of it stems from the fact that I have ADD. But not all of it. I just like to get things done and get moving. But it is true. You have to realize that you think, your book is amazing from the beginning, it can always use a bit of a tune up. And more than that, you don’t just want anyone to publish, or rep it. You want people who are a right fit for you. That takes time. You are going to be with these people for a long time! It’s like a marriage, and how long has it taken you to find your partner? It took me 7 years to find my awesome hubby! Be patient and amazing things will happen.
6. STOP WAITING
I said “stop hurrying,” not “stand still and fall asleep.” Life rewards action, not inertia…To reap the rewards of the future, you must take action in the present. Do so now.
Yup! Putting it off will get you nowhere! You want to write? WRITE!
9. STOP TREATING YOUR BODY LIKE A DUMPSTER
The mind is the writer’s best weapon. It is equal parts bullwhip, sniper rifle, and stiletto…The body fuels the mind. It should be “crap out,” not “crap in.” Stop bloating your body with awfulness. Eat well. Exercise. Elsewise you’ll find your bullwhip’s tied in knots, your stiletto’s so dull it couldn’t cut through a glob of canned pumpkin, and someone left peanut-butter-and-jelly in the barrel of your sniper rifle.
I LOVE IT!!! I have recently started working out 3 times a week. I have been feeling better, had more energy and focus better. It’s true. As a writer I sit on my butt and grab what is closest to me to eat, when I’m in the zone. But when I treat my body right, my mind treats me right. That also goes for my wrists. I have carpal tunnel, so I have to make sure that I treat them right as well.
14. STOP PLAYING IT SAFE
Let 2012 be the year of the risk. Nobody knows what’s going on in the publishing industry, but we can be damn sure that what’s going on with authors is that we’re finding new ways to be empowered in this New Media Future… It’s time to forget the old rules… start questioning preconceived notions and established conventions… start taking some risks both in your career and in your storytelling. Throw open the doors. Kick down the walls of your uncomfortable box. Carpet bomb the Comfort Zone so that none other may dwell there.
It’s true! Everything in the industry is changing. Stop playing it safe and go out there, take your career by the horns and make it happen!
17. STOP WRITING FOR “THE MARKET”
…I don’t mean, “stop writing for specific markets.”…What I mean is, stop writing for The Market, capital T-M. The Market is an unknowable entity based on sales trends and educated guess-work and some kind of publishing conspiracy… Writing a novel takes long enough that writing for the market is a doomed mission, a leap into a dark chasm with the hopes that someone will build a bridge there before you fall through empty space. Which leads me to –
18. STOP CHASING TRENDS
Set the trends. Don’t chase them like a dog chasing a Buick. Trends offer artists a series of diminishing returns — every iteration of a trend after the first is weaker than the last, as if each repetition is another ice cube plunked into a once strong glass of Scotch. You’re just watering it down, man. Don’t be a knock-off purse, a serial killer copycat, or just another fantasy echo of Tolkien. Do your own thing.
AND ONE OF MY FAVORITES IS:
21. STOP LISTENING TO WHAT WON’T SELL
You’ll hear that. “I don’t think this can sell.” And s#!$, you know what? That might be right. Just the same — I’d bet that all the stories you remember, all the tales that came out of nowhere and kicked you in the junk drawer with their sheer possibility and potential, were stories that were once flagged with the “this won’t sell” moniker. You’ll always find someone to tell you what you can’t do. What you shouldn’t do. That’s your job as a writer to prove them wrong. By sticking your fountain pen in their neck and drinking their blood. …uhh. I mean, “by writing the best damn story you can write.” That’s what I mean. That other thing was, you know. It was just metaphor. Totally. *hides inkwell filled with human blood*
As you can see, there are many, many more. But these were some of my favorites. If you would like to read the whole article, please see the link above. BE WARNED! There is some bad and crude language. But it’s true what he says. You need to stop worrying and being lazy and work. There is no substitute for working. Without hard work, and a willingness to learn, as a writer we will never excel and achieve.