Cafe Writing

Yesterday morning, I met a book coaching client at the Pantera’s, and for the next hour +, we analyzed and restructured the outline for Section II of her book. After she left, I stuck around for awhile working up material for the “Green Journaling” chapter of MFJ2. As happened at Kaldi’s, I accomplished a great deal of writing (pen and legal pad) in just two, tightly focused hours. There were even a few quick hits of inspiration!

At the moment and for whatever reasons, my mind seems to rise far better to the writing occasion away from my office. Sure, that’s happened with other books. But not to this extent. When I’m seated at a booth or table, comforted by a bottomless mug of fresh Columbian Dark, amidst a small but pleasant chunk of humanity, different brain cells join the effort, and I’m off and writing. It’s from that kind of mental immersion that my favorite analogies and plays-on-words emerge, and both of those techniques add such richness to writing!

Today I’ll type up all these hand-written café notes and see what I’ve got so far. (And hope most ernestly that they still sound interesting back here in my office.)

As I’ve taught, the first step in writing a book (or chapter) is scribbling down unstructured ideas, and that’s where I am right now. I really love this part!

Linda

* Next: Chores of the Publisher-Author

Book Chapter Outlines

The working outlines for the 2 new MFJ2 (Many Faces of Journaling 2nd Edition) chapters are shaping up well. The "Green Journaling" chapter will include sections on journaling your personal green progress, environmentally healthy journaling, chronicling the forward (and backwards) steps in our communities (nations/world), and observations and commentaries on community and world progress in both large and small ways, including reflections on various news stories.

Fortunately, I’ve been saving such articles from the Post-Dispatch and from MSNBC.com and have both encouraging and depressing news bits, including the unexpected speed at which the effects of global warming are coming at us right now—far ahead of predictions!

I also outlined the "Scrapbook Journaling" chapter. That will have subsections on what kinds of information to include, tight writing for maximum effect, and the art of including such written pieces in the scrapbook.

Having these outlines – primitive though they are – makes me feel more in control of the whole 2nd edition process. They are the framework upon which I shall think and build.

As I’ve taught many times, the book business is all about planning!

Linda

* Next: Cafe Writing

New Chapter Topics

First of all, in my files, I refer to The Many Faces of Journaling 2nd Edition as MFJ2. And will use that in the blog for quick reference. (Likewise, Your Pocket Divorce Guide is PDG2.)

My original plan was to add a chapter on "journaling for scrapbookers" to MFJ2. That’s a hot topic—there are several books out that cover that specifically. And my daughter-in-law Cathy is literally a professional scrapbook artist (see her blog http://www.thecropcircle.blogspot.com/), as well as being an elementary school teacher. Cathy is my main woman on this.

Then last week, the NBC affiliates began their Green Week broadcasts, which lapped up like they were chocolate-coated, and that determined a second new chapter – "Green Journaling." Since the whole, earth-caregiver scenario is dear to my heart, it’ll be a treat to write. And, thank you NBC, I’m not only totally jazzed, but more up-to-date about current global conditions.

Once again, it occurs to me that, when the project and timing are right, I seem to get nudged in just the right directions. The nudger can show up in many different forms – friend, customer, media, or some silly add in a toy catalog. It never ceases to amaze me!

Interruptions ~ Not only do these continue to sabotage my 2nd Edition writing, but as we enter the holiday season, it's going to get worse. Therefore, I'm going to follow the advice I give all my book coaching clients: make writing appointments with yourself and take them seriously! Write them in and on all of your calendars. That's my plan. I'll get back to you on how well I follow my own advice.

Here's hoping ...

Linda


*Next: Basic Chapter Outlines

2nd Edition Interrupted

In this, only the second installment of my Saga of the Second Editions, I shall demonstrate the “life happens” principle. As the owner of the publishing company, I have a few ongoing tasks, one of which is filling book orders from my two web sites (see the upper right corner of this web page). Web orders must be filled ASAP. Normally this simply involves invoicing, packing and shipping, and after a quick trip to the Post Office, I can get back to whatever I was working on before the order came through.

No biggie, right? And 95% of the time, it isn’t. But I got an order Tuesday for a copy of my booklet 58 Dating Tips for the Newly Single. The three “Newly Single” booklets had been temporarily discontinued, because I haven’t had time to install the new software for setting up, paginating and printing the 5 ½ x 8 ½” booklets. Now I have a credit card order for one, which means it’s already been charged to the customer’s credit card. So one way or another, I’ve got to ship it.

I bought the updated software from Blue Squirrel over a year ago, so I had to either install and customize that or reformat the pages to 8 ½ x 11” size and produce it as a plastic comb-bound version of the booklet. (The profit margin is sweet when you print and bind the booklet yourself.) Since I’ve learned far more about layouts than software, it became a 24-page layout project.

Being more adept at layout revisions doesn’t mean I’m faster at it. It can be a slow process. I'll will be happy with the final product. However, that means no work gets done in the meantime on the 2nd editions.

(Although yesterday I snuck in a few hours to begin expanding the outline for one of the new chapters in dMany Faces of Journaling, and last night I did more copyediting of the original book. But the entire afternoon was spent on the booklet.)

That’s life for an author.

If you are one, you know the feeling, and the sooner we make friends with interruptions, the less frustrated we feel. And really, some non-writing times are important, like meeting an author friend with extraordinarily writing skills and an equally amazing mind. We are well nourished by such time-outs, and these rare friends help us grown.

Still, I’ll probably spend most of today, too, on the formatting project. All that work for a $3.95. Ah, but the next time an order comes in, it’ll be all ready to print and ship!

That is all to say, regardless of how exciting your current writing project, life still interrupts a lot.

Now back to playing with Word doc margins ~

Linda

*Next (really): Those New Chapter Topics

2nd Edition Book Projects

So far this blog has been a mini-teaching site, through which I’ve shared my experiences about the art and business of writing. That’s now going to shift somewhat and become a journal of the creation of 2nd editions of two of my books. I hope you enjoy following my progress. It may be more uneven that you imagined, but life does happen even when the keyboard beckons. Here we go ~

After a couple of clues crossed my path, I realized the time had come to either reprint or update two of my books, Your Pocket Divorce Guide © 1999 and The Many Faces of Journaling (01).

The first clue was a note on a book order for the divorce book stating the ISBN number “or the newest edition.” There was no newer edition, sir. The second was my insightful friend Cheryl’s comment that it was time to update and revise the book. Gee, I wonder … Then I discovered that the warehouse inventory for that book was down to 373 copies! Nuff said.

A few hours later, I rechecked the full inventory report and saw that Many Faces of Journaling, my best seller so far, was down to 420 copies. With so few copies of each in stock, it was a toss up as to which needed my attention first. But based on monthly sales, the journaling book won out.

The book industry states that there must be a minimum of 10% new material for a book to qualify as a 2nd edition. That won’t be a problem for either book.

Since I own the publishing company, Pen Central Press (www.PenCentralOnline.com), there were two to-do lists: one for revising and writing; the other for getting the new editions edited, printed, bound, and marketed. The first steps for the latter were to request printing and binding costs from Shelly at BookMasters. The other was to begin contacting cover artists to get ideas and quotes for 2 new book covers. [Yes, I could have simply plastered a “2nd Edition!” banner across the old cover art, but my marketing instincts tell me a new cover will be worth the cost.]

That done, I set up my project journal through which I will chart work done and yet to be done. Since these are my first experiences with 2nd editions, which by the way is incredibly exciting, I need to be able to review and evaluate the process later. After all, can the 3 editions be far away?

Stay tuned ~

Linda

*Next: New Chapter Topics

Journaling for Longevity?

Recently the news services ran a short story about Tomoji Tanabe, who at 111 is the world's oldest man. When asked, he said that his daily habits include writing in his diary, drinking milk and avoiding smoking and alcohol.

Now I'm not going to claim that you'll live that long if you keep a journal. Or that this Japanese gentleman has been keeping his diary since 1865. On the other hand, what could it hurt?

Here's wishing you a long life and happy journaling ~

~ Linda

What is a book?

When you think about writing a book, what do you see as your end product? Most of us visualize a standard-size (8 ½” x 5 ½” or 6” x 9 “) paperback of 150-200 pages or a hardback with colorful dustcover and 200 or more pages. Right?

But the exciting truth is that a book is any “bound document” of 49 or more pages. The size can range from the tiny, gift books at the bookstore check-out counters to over-size full-color coffee table books.

When you feel strongly about a topic and the book-writing urge grows, consider these alternative binding styles:

Saddle-Stitched Short Book: these are half-size – standard 8 ½” x 11” sheets folded and stapled in the middle. (Saddle-stitched means stapled, but sounds so much more impressive.) You can produce these in your home office if your printer produces sharp, clear copies and you have a deep slot stapler. The latter can be found in any office supply store or web site.

This ease of production allows you to create a huge variety of business, hobby, informational, and promotional books. I’ve even tossed together coloring books for my grandchildren, although I wasn’t particular about whether they contained 49 or more pages. This style and size slips easily into a 6” x 9” envelope for mailing.

Plastic Comb Bound or Wire Bound Books: Are you thinking about producing a workbook or manual? The text pages and front and back cover pages generally fall into the standard paper size and can be bound at your local print shop. Or you can invest in a small comb binding machine. The 11” plastic combs cost less than 10 cents each, and the finished book looks great.

Loose Leaf Binders: For teaching guides, thick class manuals, and workbooks that you plan to add to or to update periodically, loose leaf binders can’t be beat. Select the kind that has a clear plastic compartment on the front into which you can slip a well-designed cover sheet. These binders allow the user to add and replace pages, and even tuck in some blank worksheets for note taking.

If you plan to use this format, watch for the back-to-school sales for bargain prices, and stock up.

All three styles lend themselves to in-house production which is both handier and more profitable than a trip to the neighborhood copy shop. They also allow you to be far more flexible in your book planning. And we creative people do like to have options!

~ Linda

Put the "Personal" in Journaling

Sometimes when we read back over our journal entries, we’re disappointed at how 2-dimensional and detached they sound. OK, maybe those were the facts. But, cripes, there was more to it than that ... wasn’t there?

A great way to journal with more depth of feeling is to talk to your journal as though it was your dearest, most understanding friend. One with both compassion and a healthy sense of humor.

More than once, I’ve started an entry with “You won’t believe what I did today!” Or “Hot damn, I am one double smart little cookie! Get this ...” And on other days, "How on earth am I going to sort this out!" Once you begin writing in that style, you aren’t likely to go back to sketchy reporting.

As you write and again as you reread those pages later, you’ll re-experience the full impact of joy, embarrassment, challenge, or whatever the mood of the time. As you read back over difficult times, you’ll probably be amazed at how courageous you were – far more than you realized at the time. As for the high points of your life, you’ll relive that heady tingle of excitement in your journals. In addition, you’ll give vent to anger and frustration through the act of acknowledging it in writing. Yes. You had every right to be furious. But you still handled the situation with reasonable cool. Or not ...

If you plan for others to read your journal someday, using this very personal tone will also help them know what makes you tick. You aren’t a dry person, are you? Your life has flavor and intimacy. Write it just that way to your most understanding and welcoming friend – your journal!

Happy journaling

~ Linda

Q/t: Curiosity & the Writer

Quips & Tips

There is only one trait that marks the writer. He is always watching. It’s a kind of trick of mind and he is born with it. —Morley Callaghan


Both professional (paid) scribblers and those who write purely for the joy it are a curious lot. Most of us love to observe and analyze the ways of the world and all of its parts. Through doing that, we build a mental treasury of information, which we can then turn into the delightful and/or pithy analogies to illustrate our statements.

Recording your observations in either a writer's journal or a personal one, gives voice to your thoughts, and often helps in sorting the important and insightful stuff from the drivel. (Unless your brain turns whimsical while you're journaling; in which case you might just write about the drivel.)

So watch and listen for, then record those gems of human nature that abound in our everyday lives. Genuine curiosity is a joy!

~ Linda

Q/t: Have a Purpose for Your Writing

Quips & Tips

“You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald

Don’t write any book or article just because you yearn to write something. That’s what personal journaling is all about. Let your impetus be the urge to share information, entertain, or make life better for your reader.

On the other hand, your perosnal journal offers the ideal outlet for simply writing.

~ Linda

Taming Writers Block ~ Part 2

Here are four more versatile block busters:

1. Keep your book (or article) outline right next to the keyboard. The book outline underscores the entire process at hand—the book is not just about that single, obstinate sentence.

2. Write every day! Many people find that the writing flows more smoothly when it’s a daily habit. The one thing of which you’re certain before you roll out of bed in the morning is that you will be writing that day. Ideally, you’ll be adding to the book. But the next method can help prime the word pump.

3. Spend some time with your writer’s journal, either reading over previous entries or jotting down some thoughts about your current project’s joys and stumbling blocks. You can also brainstorm in your journal, exploring subtopics, additional resources, and, if it’s a book, names of possible peer reviewers.

4. Work on several books or articles simultaneously. Try working on two or three writing projects at once. When you feel stuck or stale with one project, switch to another for a while. If you don’t overdo it, each time you change projects, you’ll bring a fresh mind to the writing.
Between the above ideas and the four mentioned in the article below, you now have an effective array of block busters in our writer’s arsenal.

~ Linda

Taming Writers Block ~ Part 1

You can blast through that frustrating writer's block in several different ways. Try each of them, but not all at once, to see how well each one works for you.

1. Stream-of-consciousness writing. Take one aspect of your topic, and write about it for five minutes, or ten or fifteen, without lifting your pen from the paper. Try to stay on course. But if necessary, write about how silly this exercise is until more fertile ideas pour out of your pen.

2. Write a snippet of poetry to clear your writing palette. Prose writers often benefit from a literary change of pace. Write a short bad poem or a long lyrical one, and refresh the creative process.

3. Stop your writing in the middle of a paragraph, whether you’ll be away from the computer for an hour or a day. It’s often easier to pick up in the middle, than it is to start a new section when you begin writing for the day.

4. If you can’t come up with the exactly right word, type in a reasonable facsimile and put brackets around it to indicate it’s to be replace upon editing. But don’t lose valuable writing momentum by pouring over your Thesaurus.

Different methods will be effective for you at different times. As you experiment with each one, you will get a feel for which one(s) to use for which kinds of block.

~ Linda

Focus on the Writing Goal

Writing can be an intimidating task. Even seasoned professionals live with the insidious fear that they'll never come up with another adrenalin-pumping idea or create any more remarkable pieces of prose (or poetry). It's so easy to succumb to those doubts. They can leave you teetering on the edge of mental paralysis, which can snowball until you really are frozen in place. And that just sucks the joy of life out of us creative types!

The following quotation aptly states the most effective way to halt the slippery slide into inertia:

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal [!]." ~ Henry Ford

Focus all your attention on the brass ring and ignore the negatives!

~ Linda

Q/t: The Right Word

Quips & Tips

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” —Mark Twain

The right word injects dynamic energy into your writing. The almost right word waters it down. If you type “distressing” when the situation was “agonizing,” you’ve lost the power of your message.

Don’t edit as you write. But when you go through the first edit, circle all of the bland words – usually nouns or verbs, and search for a more specific, energetic word. You might spend half an hour finding just the right word. But you’ll know the time was well spent when you read the revised sentence.

If you're not in the mood to haul down your Roget's International Thesaurus (an essential for any writer's bookshelf), log onto http://thesaurus.reference.com/, and keep that window open as you write for ready reference.

~ Linda

Causes of Writers Block ~ Part 2

Continuing on the Writer’s Block symptoms and possible causes, do any of these sound familiar?

You don’t feel confident about finishing that particular section. If this might be the culprit, leave that section and work on one about which you feel real excitement! Go back later and see if more research would boost your confidence for writing the earlier section.

Later consideration may even show that the section doesn’t belong there or perhaps in that book at all! You’ll find various loosely connected subtopics that don’t belong in the main body of the book but that will make either a fascinating appendix at the end or a future, promotional article. So don’t toss out information – file it!

An overwhelming restlessness has invaded your feet and your seat! This is an occupational hazard and has been known to plague even long-experienced writers. It’s an infection of unknown origin, and can only be treated by sitting at the keyboard or legal pad and putting words down.

I’ve never heard a coherent explanation of what causes this. Could it be that we shy away from hard work? Or that the old “who are you to write a book?” message lurks in a bleak corner of our subconscious?Understanding the why isn’t nearly as important as just sitting in the chair and typing. Just plow right through the hesitation and do it regardless of how feeble the words may sounds to you at the moment.

Notice, between this piece and the previous one, most writer’s blocks involve avoidance of writing rather than actually yearning to do some other specific activity. Such is the writing life. It’s acutely personal and emotional on many levels at once. But, again, the only way to experience the heady euphoria of having written something well is actually writing. Really ...

Linda

Causes of Writer's Block ~ Part I

Call it stalling out, running out of steam, or old fashioned writer's block, that empty spell can become a vicious cycle. The less you're able to write, the more imcompetent you feel.

Identifying the causes of your malaise is a solid first step in moving forward. It also reassures you that such blocks are as much a part of the profession as computer posture. (Which gives us that classy, gnomelike appearance.)

Can you identify with any of these?

• Too tired to concentrate. Consider your own biorhythms and low energy times. If you’re exhausted when you get home from work (a.k.a. your day gig), take time to unwind. Is there an increase in mental energy after dinner? After the kids are in bed? On weekend mornings before anyone else is up? Schedule your writing for the good energy times. Turn off the phone, close the door, and dig in.
  
  If you live alone, you're just as likely to fritter and stall. (Now there's a book title for you!) Here it helps to make writing appointments with yourself, write them in your planner, and honor them as you would any other profession appointment!
  
  
• Your idea is under-developed. Check that theory by going online or to the local library and researching some aspect of your topic. The more you know, the greater the urge to put your ideas on paper. The key to effective research is to amass at least twice as much information as you can use, and select the choicest morsels from that.
  
  It also helps to think about how you would explain your book or article's topic to a friend and makes notes of what you would tell her.
  
  
• You would rather be doing something else during your writing time. Tough it out. Writing is hard work, and you can almost always find some activity that’s more appealing – like mucking out the septic tank or stepping on a rusty bear trap.
  
  A lot of us use the personal carrot method to deal with that. It feels so amazing to read back over a page well written. It gives us a genuine writer's high that only comes from actually writing.
  

Always keep you eye on the gratifying thrill-to-come. It can go a long way towards keeping our fingers moving on the keyboard.

~ Linda

Your Nagging Inner Editor

Speaking of the Editor Within, it can be annoyingly intrusive when you’re writing. It especially doesn’t understand the concept of a first draft. That’s the time you want to be putting ideas down, not fluffing and buffing the prose.

The problem with tinkering as you go is that you lose the creative flow. It’s hard enough to get into it to begin with, much less having to struggle back into that mind set after tweaking every sentence. So we need to stay with it while the ideas pour forth, saving our editing for the end of the article or chapter.

However, subduing the Nag isn’t easy. Most of us recoil from awkward sentences, particularly our own, and have a tough time ignoring them. The trick is to circle anything you see needs work, without thinking about how to fix it, then keep going with the creative flow. At first, you’ll have to fight the urge to make the correction on the spot. You want all of your writing to be pretty – immediately. But gradually you’ll become comfortable with the circle-that-means-later technique.

One caveat here: sometimes the pause to polish a newly written sentence is actually an exercise in procrastination. Stalling happens. But it’s just one more reason to save the editing for later.

For the first draft, dedicate yourself to pushing the words out until they start to tumble forth freely without interruption. Create now ~ tweak later.

~ Linda

Q/t: Passion-Driven Writing

Quips & Tips

“Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about.” —Kurt Vonnegut

If you don’t care passionately about your book’s (or article’s) topic, why on earth would someone want to read what you write about it?

Writer Uninterrupted

Sometimes we hit a point wherein the words we type taste stale – just the same ole, same ole. One way to call forth the muse is by taking our writing to different surroundings, as mentioned on Feb. 8th. Another method involves putting pen to paper for 10 or 15 uninterrupted minutes.

That’s called stream-of-consciousness writing (SOC), the purpose of which is to keep writing, nonstop, until your inner editor shuts up, at which point fresh material begins bubbling up.

Writing nonstop (and I mean moving your pen constantly) for 10 minutes feels awkward at best. You start with a “seed” phrase or sentence and just keep writing. Before long, you’ll feel you’ve said all you can. But you’ve got to keep that pen moving!

When that happens, you may have to resort to something like “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever made myself do. Why ...” and so forth. That’s OK. Your pen is still moving. But your literary angel will quickly become disgusted with the mindless blather and leave, which is the point.

Soon thereafter, you will return to writing on a topic – maybe the one you began with, maybe not, laying down new, uncensored thoughts. Untidy sentences and phrases replace the neatly structured prose at the start of the exercise. The words may flow until the timer goes off and beyond or not. Either way, keep laying down ink until your time is up.

You may get restless and think the stupid timer will never go off! But practice helps. Try a SOC writing period once a day for a week, and chances are you’ll look forward to that moment when the Wicked Editor Within wanders off and lets you get on with creating.

~ Linda

Q/t: Talk to Your Reader

Quips & Tips

“Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one real person you know, or an imagined person, and write to that one.” —John Steinbeck

To achieve the personal style that so many nonfiction books and articles need, try this: Picture one reader. Now imagine that you’re sitting together over coffee, and you’re sharing the information in your book with her (or him). This technique leads to the conversational writing style that connects you directly to your reader.

~ Linda

Writers & Publishers Organizations

There’s a silly rumor among those who have never worked in the writing and publishing industries that people in those fields jealously guard their information and business practices against any and all comers. Like I said, that’s just silly – and wrong.

At the St. Louis Publishers Association http://www.stlouispublishers.org/ and St. Louis Writers Guild http://www.stlwritersguild.com/ , I’ve had ample experience to the contrary, both in receiving and giving useful professional advice. But the clincher came when I attended the Publishers Marketing Association’s Publishing University a few years ago.

That organization, http://pma-online.org/, represents small, independent U. S. publishers in many ways, including a richly informational, monthly publication and the afore mentioned publishing university, which occurs each year in May immediately before the huge Book Expo America (BEA). This year (2007) in New York, they’ll offer 70 classes on various aspects of publishing and book marketing, all taught by successful, seasoned professionals.

When I attended a Publishers University in Chicago, I was stunned at how eager all of the attendees and presenters were to share their experiences to help others. You couldn’t get on an elevator without someone asking what you were working on, and upon hearing your reply, offering suggestions for target audiences, marketing, and sales “hooks.”

Should I go with independent contracts with book wholesalers or apply to an exclusive book distributor? Ask Joe. He’s tried both methods.

What kind of back cover copy (text) is most effective for selling self-help books? How do I maximize book sales on my web site? What can I do to make my book signings really outstanding? At that event, you’ll find a dozen or more people to share information on any question you might come up with. Even the workshops often become brainstorming sessions with attendees and leaders striving to find a solution to one person’s problem.

I’ve really never experienced the like. That kind of positive energy will send you back home on your own little cloud of encouragement.

So don’t let anybody ever tell you that writers and publishers are secretive and stand-offish. That’s one more dumb rumor you can safely put to rest.

~ Linda

A Writer's Truth

One of my book coaching clients has written about her past adversities, some of which have to do with family dysfunction. She’s understandably concerned that current family members will be angry, feeling she shouldn’t have aired dirty linens in public. Some may also be in long-term denial about the events described.

Whether to be honest and therefore vulnerable to backlash or to placate her family and soften her descriptions was a worrisome decision for her. Both she and her therapist felt that her painful honesty in writing had been cathartic – no more couching the truth in pretty words. Just the facts, mam. Or hiding behind the classic “but everything is fine now,” dancing the practiced dance of the co-enabler.

We resolved the problem in a way that feels right to her. Sparks may still fly when the book comes out, but she's forestalled specific arguments by stating on the back of the title page that what she wrote is her truth as she remembers it, and that others may remember things differently.

Writing, especially when we deal with personal experience, has to be what we see as truth. It seems to me like anything else would dishonor both the readers and the author.

If we can’t do that, we should avoid controversial material and write only what is comfortable for family, friends, and the rest of the known world.

~ Linda

Extreme Weather & Our Trees

Unarguably, certain events can synergistically escalate the rate of global warming. Besides the rises in air and sea temperatures, that can also increase extreme weather occurrences. The recent super cell tornado in Florida and the 2006 “freak summer storm” in St. Louis obviously fall into that category. In fact, it seems as though new weather records are being set at, well, a record pace.

All such disasters are massively destructive to trees. Gale-force winds, heavy ice and snow, and super twisters wreak havoc wherever they touch land. Palm trees, evergreens and all kinds of deciduous trees – large and small – are yanked up by the roots. At least 350 trees in St. Louis’s historic Tower Gove Park were destroyed in a 4 month period, with hundreds of others mutilated. Hurricanes and tsunamis are equally devastating. It’s nature-made deforestation.

It finally occurred to me that this tree loss exacerbates the whole process of global warming. One of the causes has been the wanton, human deforestation of places like the Amazon basin. Fewer trees mean less conversion of CO2 to oxygen and less shade to reflect and defuse the sun’s rays. Humans are to blame for that.

Now man and nature are both destroying our leafy protectors.

The resultant extreme storms are destroying still more trees, further escalating the loss—storms destroy trees which further exacerbates global warming. How many other “direct results” are already contributing to this vicious cycle?

And why is it that not one of the largest polluting countries – the U. S., India and China – is willing to step forward and bite the bullet on manmade pollution?

That would be true, bold leadership ~

This Writer's 2nd Office

That’s another thing about working at home, especially if that work is of the creative type. Looking at the same four walls 24/7 can get boring. You feel stale. The Inspiration Inn is festooned with dusty cobwebs.

My favorite solution is to head for a neighborhood coffee shop. For the first few books, it was Starbuck’s. The change in scenery and aroma of fresh ground coffee reset my brain cells and the words started flowing once again.

The problem with Starbuck’s is that their teensy tables allow very little space for papers and notebooks. Thank goodness, help arrived a couple of years ago in the form of Kaldi’s Coffee Shop just a few blocks south of here.

Like my previous hang out, Kaldi’s has great coffee. But it’s also offers delicious food, wi-fi connections which brings in a lot of laptop workers, and roomy tables, both booth and free-standing. I’ve found my second home office.

Scott Ginsberg, author of Hello, My Name is Scott, wrote an article while sitting in the produce section of a local health food store. Yesterday, I read that some woman wrote her first novel in the bathroom stall during breaks at work. Just think of all the potential “offices.” I can imagine how my writing style might vary according to location – Missouri Botanical Garden, Steak n Shake, the church library, or Chucky Cheese. Each place certainly puts me in a distinctly different mood!

The moral of this almost-story is that when a writer feels stale, she can make friends with a particular local hangout or experiment with the potential mental energy of a wide range of settings. Any of which are less boring than those same, dear 4 walls of home.

Journal Writing for Businesses

This morning, a former stranger emailed me asking if I knew of any books on journaling for business purposes. I didn’t. Although I did mention my own book, The Many Faces of Journaling: topics & Techniques for Personal Journal Writing, which is a great resource for writing more interesting entries.

But the idea of business journaling began playing through my brain (which adores brainstorming!). It’s easy to see how one might keep a “goals” journal, entering both effective and disastrous steps toward specific goals. Keeping a record of what worked and what bombed, both large and small efforts, could be invaluable in almost any business, including mine.

That former stranger and I are now batting emails back and forth, developing starter sentences to get the business user on the right track for recording the appropriate stories in depth. And perhaps depth is the key to the ultimate usefulness of such journals.

Recording the cold, sparse essentials will reveal nothing of how close the effort may have come to success or of how even the failures sparked ideas for future tactics. Business journal entries need to be 3-dimensional, including the who, where, why, what and how. It may be that changing just one aspect would dramatically alter the outcome. But if those points aren’t down on paper (or computer file), later analysis will suffer for lack of information.

So today I learned (am still learning) that journaling has a powerful place in business, both the profit and non-profit kind. Who knew ...

"Organic" Writing

As I’ve often told my nonfiction writing classes, a book outline is organic. It continues to grow and develop well after you’ve put plans to paper. Which is what happened to me yesterday.

Thanks to a TV interviewer on Sunday morning cable, my next book, now in the scribbled notes stage, has a new, tighter focus. It’s a direction about which I feel far more passionate than the original book concept, and I’m ever so grateful for the eye opener. Of course, I now have to go back to pre-outline brainstorming. Not back to square 1 – just close to it.

And that’s exhilarating! A lot of my old notes will go into the revised version – some with a slightly different slant. But the fresh passion I feel for the topic is tapping into a whole reservoir of mental notes from the past.

Organic is good. As my book grows and becomes more beneficial to the readers (and fun to write), I get more excited about writing it. And that energy is the absolute most effective incentive for sitting down to the keyboard and working!
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Book Writing Tip #1: Only write a book about a topic that stirs your passion. If you aren’t especially interested, your readers won’t be either.

Book Writing Tip #2: If your book-in-progress starts growing in a new and improved direction, go with the flow – even if it means starting on the basic outline all over again. It’s usually well worth that effort.

Why would a writer want to write more?

Why would a professional writer who's suposed to be writing articles for newspapers and two websites AND work on her next book open a blog? You'd think I'd have plenty of word play in my life already!

Well, yes. And I do. In fact I should be doing it right now. But the work of a scribe is solo work. There's nobody for me to meet at the water cooler (kitchen sink) or cafeteria (dining room table) with whom I can share my grumbles, joys and stunning insights on life. My friends are neat, cool, dear, kind, fun, creative, loving ... but except for the other wordies, there's a limit to how much they want to hear about my writing life.

So ... you're it! Welcome to my kitchen sink.

Beyond the obvious work of setting up a blog today, I've been creating handouts for a new, book coaching workshop (a 2 hour, small group deal) for people who want to write a nonfiction book but can't for the life of them figure out which of several tempting topics they should work on first.

It's a valid dilemma. And one I can help them sort out by taking them on a tour of their own minds and hearts. The 3 pages I've worked up so far are designed to cut through the Heavy Shoulds, and get to what each person will most enjoy writing and having written. (Which are two different things, actually.) Say the marketing specialist feels she really should boost her professional standing and share her knowledge & experience for the price of a book, but she's sick to death of marketing. And really wants to share her thoughts about simple meditations for beginners ... or dried pod collections ... or spark plug polishing.

As I tell my writing class students, it's a blessing to have more than one topic from which to choose. But making the choice can be a real bear.

I'll let you know how this project grows. Those who sign up for the sessions are just going to love the handouts and small group discussions. There's nothing like having your goals unveiled through someone else's insights!

Writer Lin