SquawkRadio Comments

Susan!

This is such a great blog coming at a perfectly wonderful time! Thank you for the motivation and insight on how to write more! I love it!

I love hearing how prolific writers make it happen. Thanks! I know everyone works on different rules, but your advice on writing what you love makes the most sense. I find, writing what you know can mean getting bogged down in details which add nothing to a story. However, writing what you love adds the freshness of your passion!

I’m one of those weird people who cannot write on the computer. I have to do everything long hand, even though I type over 100 WPM. Does it make sense to say, it doesn’t feel right? I like pen and paper. The blank screen syndrome takes over. I think there should be another Poltergeist movie with a blank word processing page instead of TV static!

Did my editor pay you to write this blog? 

Or was it J Perry Stone???

I’ll echo Laura T here.  I am always looking for motivators and pointers.  I am definately printing out this blog.

And I’m with you Cara.  I write and type my WIP but I cannot read it on-line.  I have to print it all out.  I have to do the same with what my critique partner sends me to review.

In writing about what I know, I am also writing about what I love.  I am getting better about not getting lost in the details but still need to be reigned at times.

The most difficult part of my writing is staying consistant.  Do you write the same time of day, every day?  How many hours a day do you write?

And Teresa, a bunch of us chipped in (led by J Perry) for Susan to write this blog!

LOL--no one paid me to write this blog. I hadn’t realized that there could be money involved!

A lot of people actually have to do the creative part of writing in longhand. I can’t edit on-screen. I print out the whole *%$& manuscript a chapter at a time and edit it that way at the end.

As for consistent writing--I try to get my pages in every morning, but there are days, like today, when I didn’t even start until 12:10. So I’ll be writing until I finish this afternoon. I write a certain number of pages, not for a certain amount of time. A time goal is an excuse for me to procrastinate. Writing until the pages are done usually means the pages actually get done.

Writing at the same time of day is best. You get into a habit of writing, which can be very helpful. But if that is impossible for your schedule, then try to at least to a page or two every day, just to stay in the book.

Susan, I’ve said it before......but it’s worth repeating.

You’re brilliant!

Great blog, Susan! Very useful, thanks!!!

Susan! You are awesome. Will you find time to talk about the office supplies you love? My favorite time of year is when all the school supplies go on clearance sale. Its like Valhalla, I’m in ecstasy.

Thanks Santa!  I knew I could count on you guys to get me motivated.  I wrote 4 pages just for you today!  (Although according to Susan, I should have written 4 1/2...UNLESS perhaps I only intended to write 3 1/2 so 4 is good.  Hmmmm....)

Oh, noooo. Kim asked Susan about office supplies.

Did you know until I met Susan I thought “California closets” were closets in California?

I loved this blog! It really got me in the mood to get writing again. My problem is the consistency to write. I will go days and weeks without writing and I know that you aren’t supposed to do that. My other problem is that I always second guess myself AS I’m writing which takes up more time.

But I will persevere and write my four pages a day....even if it takes me all day

Maureen--thanks, but I don’t think I qualify as brilliant. You write as fast as I do and without plotting!

Ah, office supplies. Let’s all pause for a moment and breathe in the glory of office supplies. How perfect they are. How beautiful. How filled with promise. How with the right storage containers one can have the illusion of controling life itself.

Terri--you could always go back and write that extra 1/2 page!!

I was doing okay until you all brought up office supplies.

I AM ADDICTED!

I’m the only person I know who would find a gift of blank notebooks and a box of ink pens a wonderful, blessed thing even though I have 20 blank notebooks and four boxes of ink pens waiting for me in my office. As Susan says, “full of promise”.

Great advice on the writing, Susan! Thank you!

Thanks so much for answering my question.  I guess there is no real formula that works.  I am realizing how important it is to stay in the book by keeping my hand in it everyday.  That has given my writing and goals real focus.

Wow, Terri!  4 pages!  Go lie down now....and get that 1/2 page in later!

Oh God, STAPLES......practically orgasmic. sigh.......

Susan, as usual your advice is excellent and inspiring. Thanks so much!

I’m not a big Staples fan, probably because I work in a law office surrounded by all the office supplies a girl could want. Accordian files, post-its, file folders, uniball pens, sharpies, three-ring binders and divider tabs, freshly sharpened number two pencils, they’re all just a phone call away. And if a packet of post-its or a sharpie accidently slips into my purse every so often, well, it’s not my fault...*g*

Question for Susan -

I like the idea of setting a goal for a certain number of pages each day, but what do you write when the ideas just won’t come?  Or do you ever have those days?  Do you just write whatever pops into your head, even if it doesn’t really fit what you’re working on?  Or do you try to stay on track instead?  (This from a person who never had the self discipline to actually finish anything.)

Mai

Ah yes, The Container Theory:

Useless Crap + Just One More Plastic Container = Happiness through Household Order

(And it’s lesser-known corollary, The Label Maker Theory:  Just One More Plastic Container + Label Maker = Ability to Find Any Piece of Useless Crap)

Despite many attempts to prove these theories, I haven’t been successful.  I think I’ll go buy some new rollerball pens to console myself.

It’s “its”, of course. 

One question, in case anyone is still checking, but I constantly struggle with the concept of a “page” as silly as that sounds.  I am curious to know how others handle this.  Do you take a projected word count for a book and then divide by the number of days in which you want to have it done and then see what that looks like on your word processor?  Or, do you just write a standard form of page--e.g., a page in Word using Times 12-point with double spacing.

Mai--I usually know what is supposed to happen from the writing. But when it all seems stupid, I just keep writing, hoping at some point it will move from horrible to less horrible to acceptable. On those days “brilliant” seems impossible.

There are also writing exercises you can do to be creative. I’m not into that, so I can’t think of any, but I know they are very, very helpful to others. The Artist’s Way has a bunch.

Personally, I try to stay on track but what works for some people is to get the writing flowing in any way possible, then return to the work in progress.

Kate--I didn’t think it was possible to have too many office supplies. It seems wrong somehow...like working in the M&M factory and getting ::gasp:: tired of them!

MelissaB--

Okay--a standard page is considered 250 works, with one inch margins all around, New Courier (Or is it Courier New? I can never remember.)

That’s an industry standard and then you do the math. 100,000 word manuscript should be 400 manuscript pages. 75,000 words is 300 pages and so on.

If you hate Courier, and many people do, figure out the conversion needed, write how you want and then send it in Courier. For example, I have a friend (Hi Chris) who writes in Bookman. She knows how many pages she needs in Bookman to get a 20 page Courier chapter. Most fonts require less pages because they adjust. A “p” in many fonts takes up less room than an “i”...in Courier, they’re all the same.

Also remember that computer count has nothing to do with publisher word count. A page in a book with one sentence on it is still a full page to a publisher but to your computer it’s only 8 or 10 words.

But some publishers are now asking for computer word count instead of the standard of 250 words/page. What a mess.

If you’re published, your editor will make it very clear what she wants. If you’re unpublished, look at the guildelines, do the best you can and don’t sweat it.

Hope this helps!

I’m about to have a glass of wine, which means it’s time to sign off for the night. There’s no typing for me after wine!!

Thank you so much for having me. I’ve had a fabulous time here at Squawk. You’ve all welcomed me and made me feel fabulously special.

I’ll be lurking…

Thank you for coming, Susan! It’s always a pleasure to listen to you talk about writing, and as usual, you were incredibly witty!

Thanks, Susan!  These were great posts today. 

DO THE 1/2 PAGE, TERESA, DO THE HALF PAGE!!!!

Although you’re a three pager, if I remember correctly so four is a nice start.

A START!