One American Writer

You CAN work for yourself

    

Available now!

Click the book's image above, or click here to read more and order your copy.

Thank you, and stay encouraged!

Regards,
Donna D. Buskirk
One American Writer

 

 

 

Basket Case is Corporate Success

It is apparently possible to be a basket case and still be a corporate success.  Take away the corporate success, and you are left with the basket case.  Don't ask me how I know this.

I know writers, artists and other humans are subject to ups and downs, but in the corporate world, the need to function in polite society (admittedly, in many cases, dysfunctional polite society) paints a glossy sheen over the mood dips.

At home, where the only face I see is mine in the mirror, the gloss is gone.  One executive placement pro I talked with said that executives who start solo ventures face the same challenge.

Freelancing while job searching is so much fun.  Not.  Well, it is fun, but when it's not fun, it is REALLY not fun, and there's no one there to tell.

So I'm telling you.  How do you beat the blues when you're alone?

I could write. There's a novel idea!

Waiting for a call-back on a story for The Alamance News*, making corrections to my book, and talking with an artist about a new cover, I am working.  But am I writing?

My 14-year-old is sick so my 28-year-old wants me to watch my grand-baby at her apartment.  "But, what can I do there with no Internet?" I asked.  "Oh," I answered myself doubtfully, "I could write."

Keeping up with Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs is important to friendships, careers and book sales, but it is NOT writing.

How much time are you actually writing?  Keep track.  The zeros might scare you into productivity.  Go write something!

* Publisher of The Alamance News in the news!  The Alamance News, the paper I write for, is a weekly newspaper exclusively covering Alamance County, NC, USA.  They/we don't have a Web site yet (time for hard news only) so looking for a reference, I found this story (link above).  Cool.  The media at work.

Writer Regards,
Donna D. Buskirk
One American Writer

Bathrobe at noon confession

Here's how I ended up wearing my robe at -- well, read the sequence:

1. Pre-coffee, 7 am, trek to the barn (the robe part comes later).
2. Feed and water goats, chickens, cats and dogs.
3. Go in for coffee and hot bath.
4. Oops!   Give the dogs Frontline for fleas.
5. On the way back to the house, the dog passes me.  He's long gone for now.
6. Email technical writing client about proof.  Notice footer must be fixed.  Email graphic artist to fix it.
7. Return phone calls to kids' soccer coaches.  Practice starts next week.
8. Dog comes back.  Take Copper back to the pen and secure it more thoroughly.
9. Upstairs for bath, coffee is cold.  Put on robe and go downstairs to reheat it.
10. Email is in from graphic artist. Call about number-sequence typo.
11. Receive final proof and client's email approval.

This is how, when you work for yourself, you can end up in your robe at noon.  OK, it's only 10:30, but to someone who likes to get up at 4 or 5, 10:30 might as well be lunchtime, and I'm still in my robe!  Arghh.

So when a friend says, "I'd love to work for myself -- I can stay in my robe until noon," secretly smile and knowingly nod.  Let her find out the hard way.

The courage to write Ralph Keyes

I am reading the final pages of "The Courage to Write" by Ralph Keyes, and I want to teach a workshop using that book as the text.

Teaching is what I love best.  When my articles have been published on-line or in print, I never get to see the "AHA" or correct the "HUH?" in readers' faces.

So, now that I have the courage to write (I'm writing features and covering town meetings for The Alamance News here in North Carolina, doing some freelance tech writing...does that count?, and working on a book proposal), I need the courage to ask the author and/or his publisher if I can conduct workshops based on that book.

I need the courage to e-mail Ralph Keyes.  Here goes (popping over to do that now).  There.  Not so hard.  Now all I need, all WE need, is the courage to stick with it.  What is IT?  Whatever we are doing to stay encouraged and be brave in the face of our current challenges.

Up one road and down another,
Donna D. Buskirk
One American Writer

King Content says

Content is king, and King Content says:

"My loyal subjects.  I know you are not perfect.  But write.  Post to blogs!  Write your book.  Complete that story.  Design that Web site so there is a place in the world for your content.  And then MONETIZE!"

King Content, in an aside to his assistant:

"MUST I say, 'monetize?'  I don't WANT to say 'monetize.'  I HATE that word.  I want to say, 'Make money.'  You can say 'CONTENT IS KING' as often as you wish, but we all know that MONEY is king.  I, King Content, am only king as long as content brings profit.  But back to my speech:...

"My loyal subjects.  Stop learning and write!  There will always be another blog post, another resource, another free webinar.  WRITE.  Start to PRODUCE and then, as you continue to learn from resourceful blog posts and webinars, you can WRITE about those, and share your learning with others.  Learn as you go, but WRITE.  You must write! Remember, content is king!

If you cannot or will not write, because content is king, you must hire a writer.  Connect with professional writers at MediaBistro.com.  Find Freelance Connect from their menu and describe your project.  Writer's Market judged them on of the top writing sites.  

So, loyal subjects, write!  And now, we must get on over to Media Bistro and complete our own royal profile!  Later!

My Fellow Chickens

My Fellow Chickens,

Like water washing over my parched nervous system, I read these words moments ago.  "He rewrote pieces twenty times or more and sometimes pleaded with the postmaster of North Brooklin, Maine, to return a just-mailed manuscript so he could punch up its ending or rewrite the lead. 

"In addition to being a consummate rewriter, White was a gifted procrastinator."  E. B. White, of course.  Woo hoo!  I already know I'm not alone in my fear, but it feels SO GOOD to  know I am in such good company.

And you?  How chicken are you? This might help.

This recent post from copyblogger, 5 Reasons Why Trying to Be Successful Will Keep You Poor, is really about fear, too, and overcoming it.

I especially like this from #5 in his post: "If success is achieved by taking repeated, meaningful action, then what happens if you’re not confident enough to take the actions that scare the crap out of you?"

YEAH.  The message I took away from this is RELAX INTO IT.  You can't do it (write, publish, start a business) to be successful.  You have to do it because it is meaningful to you. 

And DON'T LET FEAR STOP YOU.

The E.B. White quote above is from a book I serendipitously found in a used bookstore today, "The Courage to Write; How Writers Transcend Fear" by Ralph Keyes.  I can't wait to read the rest of the book to find out!

Mr. White is further quoted as considering himself, "....the second most inactive writer living, and the third most discouraged."

Let's be BRAVE, shall we?  If he did it, we can do it.  Good. Now, I'm going to bed.  I'll be brave in the morning.

Ggggood Night,
Donna, One American Writer

Summer Publishing Project

It's the first day of summer vacation. The kids are in bed but the cat woke me up so I am up at six thirty in the morning, blogging.  I could have gone back to sleep but if I want to work for myself, I have to work for myself.  (The job search can wait until after breakfast.)

If you have kids on your hands for the summer, or your have yourself on your hands (like my remaining coworkers who were laid off last Friday -- happy first week of freedom!), why not try a publishing project?

Last summer when my friend Ruth Anne invited us to her beach house on Harker's Island, I told her about Lulu and Create Space and I suggested that her kids write and publish a guide to the island from a kid's perspective.  I'll best it would sell alongside the homemade fudge in the gift shop.

Here's how it works:

1. Pick a fun topic to write about.
2. Write the book (see other posts for tips in that).
3. Edit the book or ask a friend who is nuts about grammar to help you.
4. Go to Lulu.com or CreateSpace.com to get the template and format the manuscript in Microsoft Word or another word-processing program.
5. PDF the book and submit it per their instructions.
6. Order a proof copy for under $10.

Tada! You have your book in your hands.  

For more serious book projects,there are many, many services that will charge you hundreds of dollars for a similar process, but I recommend starting with a free service because it helps you learn what it feels like to have your published book in your hands.  It makes you ask, "Now what?" The answer is, "Now you have to market your book!"

For more on publicizing your book, see Linda's great information at lindarohrbough.com. She taught an excellent seminar at a North Carolina Writers' Network conference and I'm still trying to work up the nerve to do what she suggests.

Of course, you could pick a depressing topic, too.  Seriously.  People who are looking for work and considering downsizing need to hear from other people who are also going through those transitions.  I remember how much it helped when I read about women going through a mid-life crisis when I felt like I was on the wrong planet.  Those of us who are in career transition at the same time that our parents are failing can be especially vulnerable to a crisis, so share what you're going through.  It helps.

Or, a publishing project like, "How To Start a Lawn-Mowing Service" could help you and the kids.  You can relax while they are out of the house, or you can step it up a notch and start a landscape service yourself.  It can be a lot more fun than sitting in an office cubicle doing someone else's work.

Happy Writing!
One American Writer Up Early on the First Day of Summer

Pounce when you find the right publisher

When you happen upon a publisher that publishes titles similar to the one you are working on, do quick research to learn how to submit your book idea.

Listening to National Public Radio (NPR.org) in the car just now, I decided to add the following item to the book I'm working on, "One Hundred Reasons to Work for Yourself:"

#26. You can stay in the car and listen when NPR is in the middle of a great story like the Diane Rehm Show interview with William Alexander, author of “52 Loaves; One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust.”

I clicked the publisher's link instead of the Amazon.com link and saw titles that would look very natural next to "100 Reasons to Work for Yourself," so I poked around for submission guidelines.  They do accept unsolicited submissions!

I subscribe to Writer's Market on-line, so I will also look there to research them further, but you can do the same by reading the guidelines on-line. 

Your book proposal is supposed to contain a paragraph describing where on the bookstore shelf your book would be placed, so do this.  Go to the bookstore and find the spot where your book should sit when it is published.  Look up the publishers of the books on that shelf and research their submission guidelines.  Start seriously thinking about getting your own book published.

Don't be nervous!  Well, OK, you can't help it, but put that nervous energy to work!  Anyone have any spare courage lying around?