So much work to do

I have so much work to do today, and for the rest of this week, in fact. I am editing a couple of stories for an anthology, writing a short story, completing work on a newsletter -- deadline was last Friday -- and lining up interviews for a writing project I am doing. Plus, I have to look for work to do in the fall.

On top of all that, there are still query letters to write. It never seems to stop.

But I should have a little rest in a couple of weeks when we go on vacation for a week. Yes, I will still do some writing. That never stops. And while I am gone I plan one, and possibly two, meetings with potential clients. Even if nothing comes from that, the tax write-off will help pay for part of my vacation. And if something comes of it, all the better.

So, I must get back to work. Time's a-wastin'.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

It's been a busy couple of weeks

It's been a busy couple of weeks, and not necessarily in a good way.

We had a lot of work to do helping my daughter complete an online phy ed class in order for her to graduate from high school with the rest of her class on the Saturday before Memorial Day. After four years of high school, it was only done with 20 minutes to go.

Bit of a calm for a week -- during which time I sent out some query letters -- then preparation was in full swing for my daughter's graduation open house. (That's all the rage now, apparently.) Lots of yard work everyday -- the good thing is there are a lot fewer weeds in the back yard -- that we finished just prior to her party.

In the week leading up to the party, we learned that my dad's oldest sister, which was 87, had suffered a couple of strokes and wasn't expected to live. She died the day before my daughter's open house. My aunt was very close to my dad and was the first of his six siblings to die. It hit him very hard.

I was also working on some of the final details of the weeklong High School Multimedia Workshop that the Indianapolis Association of Black Journalists sponsors at Butler University.

The next week, which was last week, I worried about my dad and prepared for a two-day trip to my daughter's college for freshman orientation. That was last Wednesday and Thursday. I was back on Friday but, exhausted from the trip, I didn't work. (I also learned that day that the mother of one of my closest friends had just died -- yet another blow to my heart.)

I originally thought my aunt's funeral would be in Texas, where she had been living for the last six years. But her children, my cousins, decided it would be here in Indiana where she had spent the majority of her life. So there was lots of family obligations over last weekend. The funeral service, which was beautiful and classy -- like my aunt -- and blessedly short, was two days ago on Monday.

I spent much of yesterday trying to catch up on all the things that had slipped through the cracks over the last couple of weeks. I still haven't looked through all my e-mails. And I haven't finished a short story for the anthology my chapter of Sisters in Crime is publishing. The story deadline isn't for another month but I promised a first draft to my critique group by next Wednesday. So, I have a lot of work to do.

That pretty much covers things. The upshot is that I have had a lot on my plate. And hopefully in the next few days I can get back to some serious writing.

Thanks for reading. And don't give up.

Always bring a pen

As a reporter, when I am going into an interview, I always follow a Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared! And when I talk to students about the craft of reporting and writing, I make a point of that.

As a journalist going out on an interview, I generally carry at least two, sharpened No. 4 pencils -- I prefer taking notes in pencil and I like my pencils to stay sharp, thus the choice of the harder lead No. 4 over the softer lead No. 2. It's hard to find them in retail outlets so I have to order them online -- one or two pens, and a reporter's notebook.

I have never liked relying on recording interviews but I have used recording devices from time to time, though no longer. But I always made sure the recorder was working before heading out and before I started to use it. I also carried extra batteries and I always still took notes in longhand.

Until recently, I always carried a reporter's notebook and a pen in the glove compartment of my car. Since I don't do daily journalism anymore, I stopped that but I still have paper and pen in the car in case I need to take notes.

So you'd think I'd be better prepared as an author. Not always.

Before I headed out last week to a book store for a booksigning for BEDLAM AT THE BRICKYARD, I make sure I had extra copies of the book in the trunk of my car, I had a handful of bookmarks, a 24-inch X 36-inch poster of the book cover and a bottle of water.

I thought of it five minutes before I left but in the end, I forgot to take a pen.

Now I ask you -- what sense does to make to go to a booksigning and not take a pen to sign some freakin' books? Yes, the store had some. One of the other authors let me borrow one of theirs. But going without a pen is just plain dumb.

It's a small detail but it is all about being prepared. I have learned a valuable lesson so heres some advice for you.

Always bring a pen!

Well, that's it this week for this aspiring author. Have a good weekend.

Thanks for reading, don't give up and always remember to take a pen.

Finding the time

A lot of people ask me how I find the time to write. The answer is quite simple -- I make the time. You really don't have any other choice but to make the time.

I read somewhere that some 85 percent of the people in the United States at some point think they want to write a book, but only about 5 percent or 6 percent do. What about that other roughly 80 percent?

A lot of it boils down to two things -- discipline and hard work. Either you have the discipline to write a book or you don't. And either you are willing to put in the hard work or you are not. To me, it's really that simple.

I admit the discipline can be developed, as can the capacity or willingness to do the hard work. But those issues are not what I want to focus on now. It is time.

I hear people all the time say they don't have the time to write but I really think it is probably more a question of the discipline and willingness to do the hard work. They say if they only had the time to write they would. But, short of some emergency in their lives, they probably have the time somewhere but don't think feel that writing is worth the effort to have the time.

Once you are in college, you will probably rarely have a block of time to write -- and I'm saying days and weeks here -- unless you make the time somewhere. You are always busy with other time-consuming aspects of life.

I have found that most non-writing friends and family members are totally supportive of someone's desire a write. They are almost totally supportive and encouraging. That is until someone's efforts at writing inconveniences friends and family to even the slightlest degree. Then the writer is on their own.

The point is that as a writer, particularly a novice writer, you have to determine the time when you are going to work. Few people will see your writing as important as you will. And thus they will never grant you the time to write if you request it. You have to make that decision and have the discipline to stick to it.

It is the first step in getting the work done.

Now what you do after the book is done is another issue entirely. We can get to that later.

For now, thanks for reading and keep writing.

Being organized

One of the most important things to do in any endeavor is to be organized. It keeps you from going down blind alleys or repeating something you have already done.

One of the things I learned from one of the writers in my critique group was how to better organize elements of my stories in a binder. Mostly I kept things here and there, which make it particularly difficult when I had to come up with the name for a new character.

Often I would have a hard time remembering what names I had used and for whom. Keeping all that imformation together means I don't have to remember all the names since they will all be collected in one place, and I can see if I am using two names that are similar or two names that start with the same initial, something my writer-friend suggested I avoid.

When I moved my office from the first floor to the second floor a couple of months ago, one of the things I should have finished was reorganizing my space. I had to strip down everthing downstairs and bring it upstairs. I didn't do that, however.

So I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon cleaning up downstairs and throwing away things I should never have kept. But I also found useful bits of information for my current novel and a future.

Because I wasn't as organized as I should have been, I didn't realize until this afternoon that a freelance assignment I assumed was due at the end of the first week of August was actually due yesterday, July 30. So I have spent this afternoon catching up.

It's a very good thing I am a good writer.

So I plan to complete the reorganization of my space by next week, keep one binder with all the revelant information on my novels, and keep a better calendar for deadlines. That should help keep me in better shape for completing things on dead, which I generally do anyway.

Just a little tip.

Thanks for reading and Write on.