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

 

 

 

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

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!

Ant Massacre at Divinity Vines

The scene of the mayhem is my kitchen, Divinity Vines being the name of our property, where we are using bottled coyote pee pee to keep the deer from nibbling our new vines.  Grapes next year, and perhaps wine the year after that!

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, where it was 92 degrees yesterday (the AC is working today, thank GOD), ant corpses litter the counter edges where my sponge swiped a path through water-melon juice and the tiny, feasting army.

It was good to wake at a normal hour, seven A.M. being a bit later than I like to get up.  The night before, however, I went to bed at midnight but couldn't sleep.  I got up at 1 A.M. to work a bit, and then the sun came up! 

Eight hours later, I had FINALLY updated my book (How to Make Money While You Look for a Job) with the really great content Chuck wrote for me, and with my interview with Peter Prestipino, Editor in Chief at Website Magazine.

When I was laid off in November I said, "The first thing I have to do is update my book."  But I did everything except that.

Here's what happened: My chicken-self went to bed and my writer-self got out of bed.  I snuck up on myself.

Here's what's happening now: I am completing the update and writing the press release, but first, I must more thoroughly cleanse the kitchen of my slain enemy's corpses, and never leave water-melon rind on my counter overnight again!

Ants, 37,289,983,883

Humans, 1.  

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?

You want this? Writer anxiety comes with the job.

Woke up before 3 AM and knew I couldn't go back to sleep.  Tried anyway but got up at about 3:30.  Searched online for "writer anxiety" and surprisingly found results from several ".edu" sources.

The description that enticed me to click said, "...turn anxiety into creativity."  Here's a quick quote:

"In other words, you’re a clone of the Charlie Kaufman character in ‘Adaptation’-- bleary-eyed, unshaven, sleep-deprived, staring pathetically at the empty computer screen, hoping for inspiration and yearning for another cup of coffee, and maybe a nice banana-nut muffin. A dozen nagging, self-mocking thoughts echo in your head: You’re untalented, a fraud. You’re getting old and fat. No woman (or man) will ever want to sleep with you again. Your life is over."

Aha, I am not alone!

And one more line:

"And, as I’ve said countless times to the writer clients in my practice, struggling with these doubts and fears doesn’t say anything about you as a writer. Other than that you ARE a writer."

In my practice?  The author is a pro?  There is therapy for writers?

The article is from The Writer's Store at WritersStore.com, by  Dennis Palumbo, a "psychotherapist specializing in  creative issues," according to an interview with him on his site, DennisPalumbo.com.

And he's right -- my sleeplessness and burning doubt are grist for the mill.  He says, "This is particularly true for writers, whose very feelings are the raw materials of their craft"

This will make it into the book.  I remember the same energy waking me up before dawn when I was writing articles for gantthead.com and techrepublic.com (project management and info-tech sites) .  It came in very handy, too, because I was working full-time then, in addition to writing freelance articles.  If anxiety hadn't woken me up, I wouldn't have had time to write.

So if you're thinking about writing, get ready for the jitters and doubts.  I've just started farming, too, and that hasn't caused anxiety.  That just gets me dirty -- I shower and start all over again.  But I can't not write, so for now, I'll read the rest of the article, then see if I can shower off some of this dirty anxiety.

One American writer begets more American writers...YOU.

Hello, I am Donna D. Buskirk and I will KICK YOU IN THE COMPUTER TO GET YOU MOTIVATED. 

I know you've got it in you.  Your book.  The trick is to get it out of you.  Let's write eBooks.  Let's save trees, time, and money and help readers hang onto your words online.

So two things --

1. Join my once-a-day writer-motivating and how-to list.
2. Buy my eBook (I'm on deadline now for this title: 730 e-Book; Seven Steps & 30 Days to Write and Publish Your e-Book.)

I'll see you via email if you sign up, and readers will see YOU online, too, if you QUIT READING AND START WRITING!

Hard Regards,*
Donna D. Buskirk
One American Writer

* "Hard regards" instead of "warm regards" because life is hard and I'm going to be hard on you (and me).  Merciless, in fact.  Can you take it? -ddb