Chico Writer’s Group

The April edition of the newsletter is here! The first page can be found: http://www.ejourn.net/YTBNnews/apr2010/index.html and the new location for the newsletter is at http://cwgnews.blogspot.com.

Enjoy!

Chico Writers Group: 

If You Write It, They Will Read It

Welcome to the Year 2010!

Did you ever watch Conan O’Brien and his sidekick, Andy, doing their skit “In the year 3000“? Fun stuff.

So here we are in the year 2010. Resolutions are being made. Changes and revisions are being pursued. Now’s your chance to get in a squeal of a deal at any of the gyms in town. And since the introduction of the fantasmagoric CSUC Associated Students gym, there will be some incredible deals.

And how about you, as a writer? What does this mean for the likes of us? Maybe this is your year to take your writing to a whole new level. To dust off a few manuscripts, spend some one-on-one time and polish it up, see if it will fly. Try your hand at a different genre, perhaps, maybe even a completely different style or just work on improving what’s tried and proven already.

Whatever your resolutions are, your goals, your dreams and aspirations, may the year 2010 be yours! And to help kick off your year, we bring to you the very first issue of the CWG Yet To Be Named Newsletter, a monthly publication for all current and former members of the Chico Writers Group. Enjoy!

Kathie Leung
Founder & Organizer
Chico Writers Group

January 2010 Newsletter Article                                                     Vol#1, Issue # 1

What’s your poison? Linked-In? Facebook? Twitter? What social network are you using to connect with others? Are you doing the network thing in hopes of creating a marketing base when it comes to publishing your work? What are the upsides of social networking? Etiquette? Precautions to consider? Here’s the scoop!

The very first thing to remember – anything that goes out into cyberspace is there to remain forever.

This is a concept not a lot of people understand. And yet we must. Think about it. The Internet is a network of computers. It’s always on. It’s always gathering information. If you delete a spiteful post, remove a rather questionable photograph, upload the rough draft of a manuscript then delete it when you realize you have a best seller – it’s all out there. It’s resident on someone’s computer, squirreled away on a server.

The purpose of this article is not to sell books. It’s not on how to market you, your novel, or even to make money using a blog. It’s about looking down the road, off into the future to that day that you finally sell your manuscript, it goes into publication and you’re ready to hit the circuit peddling your finest work.

No, you might not be going for a political position or that big corporate job or off to track down serial killers with the Behavioral Analyst Unit at Quantico. But yet what you say, what you do, how you react could potentially become your enemy down the line. So it’s important to keep in mind what your ultimate goal is here and now. Focus on that when you are interacting out in the public eye.

Pictures: Be very mindful of any picture you upload anywhere on the ‘net. Even if you’re in the biz of selling sex (erotica and the like), social media isn’t the place to be posting sexually explicit photographs. Suggestive, yes. Explicit? Absolutely not.

Leave the kids out of it. And family, too. Cherish their privacy and safety. In the public eye, it only takes one deranged person to bring your world crashing down upon you. Be mindful of this in the here and now.

Connecting with family: Again, privacy is imperative, especially when it comes to minors. You’re looking at a business proposition, a viable source of income, a money maker. Unless you are engaging your entire family in what you’re writing, say a non-fiction piece on the importance of volunteering within your community, leave your family at home and focus on your work. There’s no need to make them accessible to your public.

The dividing line: If you opt to use social media to keep in touch with family and personal friends, consider a secondary account and keep the two separate. Still be very careful of what you post. Even when your settings might initially be very private, remember, nothing is every a constant on the ‘net and anything that goes out, stays there. We saw this happen with the recent (12/09) changes in privacy at Facebook. Suddenly the personal, private information folks were putting on their pages was made public and very accessible to others. To those who forgot the golden rule of not putting personal, private information out on the ‘net, the fallback was tremendous.

Stay focused: Even if you don’t have a salable manuscript in the works, even if you don’t see yourself publishing anything in the next three to five years, it’s still important to maintain a social network profile that shows your head is in the game. Going off topic now and again is perfectly acceptable, even good practice. Remember that saying, all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy? But keep the majority of your interactions about  your writing, your intent to publish, making contacts and rubbing elbows with those in the industry and those that contribute to the industry by buying books, where your focus is at least 90% of the time.

Cheat Sheet:

• Do not publish pictures that you wouldn’t have on your jacket flap.
• Do not publish pictures of family members.
• Use a business or post office box address, not your personal residence. Same applies for phone, instant messaging, any other form of contact.
• Fudge on your location, especially when you live in a rural area. Select a larger area or omit it entirely.
• Never use your family member’s real names.
• Don’t say online what you wouldn’t say in person at a book signing.
• Keep your private life separate from your online business persona.
• Stay focused on the prize. At least 90% of the time.
• Write!

January 2010 Newsletter Article                                                     Vol#1, Issue # 1

Benjamin Franklin wisely advised, “By failing to plan, you are planning to fail.” What are your dreams, your goals, your desires when you write? Have you taken the time to think of it or are you afraid to because you’re afraid you won’t be able to fulfill them? If you do take the time to think about where you hope to go with your writing, are you shooting it down with excuses, pointing the finger at reasons why you won’t be able to achieve your goals? Here are some tips and sage advice from authors and professional writing coaches that might help you reevaluate and take the stand in setting writing goals.

Bonnie Hamre (www.bonniehamre.com), a multi-published author of fiction and travel, has several pages worth of resources for writers including one about setting and making goals. As with any type of goal setting, it’s all about the path you choose to follow. And to get to the big goal, of course, you should take small steps.

Bonnie sets out an easy-to-follow plan that takes you from looking at the big picture and then breaking it down into smaller, more obtainable and palatable ways to get there. To learn more about her method, visit: www.bonniehamre.com/goalsetting.htm

Joe Konrath (J.A. Konrath, author of the Lt. Jack Daniels series) has a wonderful website (several, actually) built to help writers learn from his 600+ rejections to best selling author experiences. At his blogspot site (http://jakonrath.blogspot.com), he shares his insights and wisdom with his “Newbie’s Guide to Publishing”. Most notably, and the most worthy for any burgeoning writer to read, is his very recent “to sum it all up for you” post dated Sunday, December 27, 2009: What I Know (http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-i-know.html). It’s hard not to be inspired to set down on paper your writing goals after reading this post.

Linda Sellers (L.J. Sellers, author of the Dect. Jackson series, professional editor, journalist) is a big proponent of setting writing goals and does this often as she progresses with the various phases of her own noveling ventures. The art of setting goals has fueled Sellers as she has made some phenomenal changes in her career path over the years, all of which have been hugely rewarding on both a personal and professional level. While she doesn’t exactly spell out the process of how to develop personal goals, she does offer some insight with a very candid post regarding her goals for this past year. Take a peek here: http://ljraves.blogspot.com/2009/01/goals-for-2009whats-really-important.html

And then there’s Holly Lisle who’s profession is fiction noveling and has fed, clothed and housed her family solely from the proceeds – which is quite a feat! She maps it all out for you in one of her free workshops, all on one page. Definitely worth visiting and reading what she has to say. Get started here: http://hollylisle.com/fm/Workshops/setting_goals.html

FAQ:

1. Q: Should I be setting up goals for daily writing or long-term goals, more lofty, like being a best-selling, multi-book author?
   A: Up to you. Both, one or something entirely different. These are your goals.
2. Q: What are some daily writing goals?
   A: Setting a minimum number of words/pages to write; setting aside so many minutes/hours to write in a day. One author elected to learn a new word a week and try to weave that new word into the manuscript!
3. Q: In the ever-evolving world of publishing, is it even worth developing a long-term plan?
   A: Of course! But it would be wise to update the plan more frequently in light of these changes.
4. Q: How often should I revise my goals?
   A: As you reach your goals or if there are influences directly related that would alter them.
5. Q: Is there a site that I could use to help me be held accountable for the goals I set?
   A: Try www.43things.com. You can set your goals, find others with similar goals who may be on their way to achieving them or already have and get advice from them. You can also set up the free service to email you periodically to “check up” on you.
6. Q: Is there any software out there to help me keep track of my progress when it comes to writing?
   A: There are many. Next month in our newsletter there will be a spreadsheet that you can download that can help you keep track of and watch your progress with your manuscript.