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Nink: Maintaining Momentum ~ How To Avoid the Dreaded Saggy Middle!

This article by Joanne Grant is from the July 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

An impactful opening will hook your reader and quite rightly, there is a lot of emphasis placed on writers to get those first chapters right. And then there’s your ending. If you’ve done a great job, your ending will leave your reader feeling great about the time they’ve spent with your characters and are more likely to come back for more of your stories.

But what about everything in-between?

Whatever genre you’re writing, whatever the word count, there’s a lot of “in-between” that has to be just as engaging and memorable. After all, what’s the point of that fantastic finale if few readers make it there! But I know that writers can struggle to maintain momentum through the mid-section and are in danger of developing a saggy middle.

In this article I will focus on the often-overlooked middle by highlighting common symptoms and causes, and then suggest some toning exercises.

What does a saggy middle look like?

As a reader, you know when you’re in saggy territory because you find yourself losing interest, skimming the pages, in short – you’re bored! This could be because:

  • There’s nothing really happening – it’s all a bit dull
  • Or there’s lots happening! It’s all action and excitement, yet … it leaves you feeling flat
  • The narrative is confused, repetitious or waffley

What is going on? The chances are — not a lot. And there sits the problem. You’re wading through a sludge of filler because nothing significant is happening to move the story forward in an engaging, meaningful way. This is key:

  • Every scene, within every chapter, should be moving the story forward. Whether through plot, character motivation, emotions, conflicts, character development — something should be shifting, moving, propelling the reader through.

Without this forward-moving momentum, the pace will stall, your middle will sag, and readers will start to lose interest.

You know what sagging middles feel like as a reader, but how can you recognize it as a writer? Or when you feel like it might be sagging but aren’t sure? First, let’s identify whether your mid-section is in trouble.

Signs you’re developing a saggy middle

  • You’ve lost interest in writing your current story. In fact, your head may be half-way into a different story. If you’re bored, your reader will be too!
  • Your writing feels mechanical, you’re losing your natural voice and spark, and everything you write seems to lack the energy you created in the opening.
  • You find yourself checking your word count every half an hour (or more!), willing it to have magically shot up a few thousand so you can move on to the next exciting part of the story.
  • Your characters are repeating themselves — in actions, thoughts or conversations. In fact, they have run out of new things to say to each other!
  • You find yourself describing the mundane. It may be real life, but it probably isn’t that interesting to read.
  • You throw in some action — another sex scene, another fight — because, it’s exciting … isn’t it?

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, your writing is displaying some of the symptoms of a saggy middle, but the good news is that there are ways you can tone it up!

Two exercises to tone up the middle

Scene by scene analysis

We’ve established that every scene should be moving something along, so a good place to start is by looking scene by scene and asking: what purpose does this scene serve? Here are some elements to focus on:

  • Characters: What have you learned about them? Have you revealed anything new to the reader, to another character or even to themselves? What has changed within them, or is the aim to show that they haven’t/can’t change?
  • Emotion: Have the emotional stakes shifted? Have emotions changed in the scene — from hopeful to anxious; from insecure to content; from in love to feeling betrayed?
  • Conflicts: Check your conflicts. If you haven’t noted a change in the above two points, it is likely your characters have stalled in their development and character arc: perhaps conflicts have been resolved too soon. This could also signal that the conflicts are simply not strong enough to sustain the story.
  • Plot: What is happening in the external action of the story — has the plot progressed?
  • Repetition: Is there any repetition of information, action, behavior from what has come before? Question whether the repetition is necessary — to emphasize a point, flag it as important to the reader — or is it just repetition with no purpose?

If you consider each of these elements and nothing has shifted from the beginning of the scene to the end of the scene in a meaningful way – then your scene is contributing to the sag, it is just filler dragging down the pace. However, just a note on some of those calmer scenes.

You may have a scene where everything is seemingly static and you can’t decide if it should stay. A moment of calm in the story can be a welcome moment of relief – it provides a sense that everything is going to be fine after all. Such scenes have much more impact if the scene that follows has high drama, this becomes the purpose of the calm scene. The trick is not to linger too long in the calm otherwise the pace will drop. And it never hurts to plant a seed of doubt that all is not well to propel the reader on.

Identifying where the sag began

It is often not the middle’s fault that it lacks tone – it really does get a bad reputation! Instead, the problem likely originated elsewhere so it’s important to detect exactly where:

  • Look at the chapters that came before. It may be that your opening doesn’t have such strong foundations after all. What threads did you start that need continuing, what has been resolved too soon, or even forgotten about? Revisit your early chapters and check that your scenes have purpose here too.
  • Think about your ending. You might find that you are meandering through the middle of the story because you’re not quite sure where you’re going, or how you are going to get to the end. This may be the time to focus on your story outline and synopsis to make sure you are heading forward with purpose.

Now on to the painful point…

Sharpen those editing tools!

You’ve identified which scenes have purpose and which don’t and where the problem originates from, so it’s time to get editing, and you may need to get brutal! No one said this was going to be easy…

  • Work on your saggy scenes to ensure there is purpose: that it links to the what has gone before and pushes forward to what is about to happen.
  • Once you’ve made sure that your scene has purpose, check it for any unnecessary description, exposition, repetition — basically cut the waffle! We’re trying to tone that middle, not hide all that great work under layers of padding.
  • Adding purpose is not the same as an information dump! If you have a lot of information that needs to be shared by the mid-point, make sure those crumbs are dropping in sparingly before you get there.
  • Sometimes a saggy scene can’t be toned up. You need to be objective and honest. Even if you like the scene, if it isn’t doing your story justice, it’s time to let it go. This could be mean losing a whole scene — it’s time for the chop!

And now breathe… How are you feeling after your workout? I hope you are feeling much more confident about how to tone up the middle of your story and have recognized that it deserves to be lavished with the same love and attention as the opening and ending.

Now, someone pass the cookies – I think I’ve earned one!

________________________

Joanne Grant is an editorial coach with over 16 years of editorial expertise working for the global bestselling publisher Harlequin. Joanne has edited hundreds of romance novels over the years and understands how to coach authors of all genres to deliver their best work. If you’re interested in finding out how she can help you achieve your writing goals, get in touch – Joanne loves to chat! You can find Joanne on Twitter @JoanneMGrant and Facebook at JoanneGrantEditorialCoach.

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Nink: Writing During a Pandemic ~ Intuition and Self-Awareness

This article, written by Denise Agnew is from the June 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

In April and May, I detailed how authors found a way to push through hard times and continue to work. This month focuses on ways you can discover inspiration, even during a pandemic.

Let’s get personal

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, my generally calm interior started to wobble. I felt a little like the heroine of a disaster movie, preparing to jump over an enormous crack in a glacier shelf as it hangs by one inch of ice. I was startled and disappointed that my steel backbone wasn’t holding me up the way I wanted. After all, I’m in an advantageous position in comparison to many. I can work from home and my husband has a secure job where he can also work from home. However, I didn’t factor in that extra stressors might toss me off balance.

Even before COVID-19, my stress level started to rise in December when we discovered my dog had a mass cell tumor in one of his legs and would require surgery, chemo and radiation. Taking my dog for radiation in Tucson, which is 175 miles round trip, exacerbated my stress. For three weeks, I dropped my pup off at the vet on a Monday and he’d board there all week because he was receiving treatments every day. Friday I’d return to pick him up. (The good news is the treatments worked well and my dog is now healthy.)

The stress took its toll, and I started meds in February, after being diagnosed as having a mild case of hypothyroidism. Between the stress and starting meds, I lost more weight than I intended.

What’s the point of me revealing this about myself? I expected the stress to block my creativity. It did, but not as much as expected. I’ve worked on a screenplay, and I’ve even started a new novel.

Here’s what I did to keep the creativity flowing—I focused on intuition.

I spent many years denying my intuition always works far better than if I try to “logic” myself into a decision, even though evidence repeatedly showed I made my best decisions by following my gut. Now I’ve become far better at allowing my intuition to guide me in everyday life, including how I approach my muse.

I’ve discovered many writers struggling with creativity have abandoned their intuition, or perhaps they have never used it.

This means when my intuition told me to write a “pandemic time period” romance, I went with it. If instead I’d told myself no one will want to read that story in the coming months or years, I wouldn’t have started it. My guess is there are dozens of writers out their struggling to create even though they’ve got an idea calling. Take advantage of this inspiration. Don’t allow yourself to allow “logic” to stifle creativity by telling yourself the idea isn’t worthy.

Why do we deny intuition has value? Answer—it’s too uncertain and scary. In the Western world, we are geared toward an “outline until your eyes bleed” work process. Even when people tap into their intuition, they don’t always know that’s what they are doing. Maybe now is a good time to experiment with an outside-of-the-box approach.

How can you experiment with letting your intuition lead your creativity? Here are a few tips:

  • Experiment with writing by the seat of your pants. If your writing is feeling clogged up during the pandemic, consider trying to write a story without an outline. It can be a story just for you. Let it rip and allow yourself to play. You never know where that story could evolve, and that’s a good thing. Go with inspiration and not logic to free up space for new ideas.
  • Grab some paper and solitude. Take a favorite pen, paper, and schedule time when you won’t be disturbed. If you are locked in your house with other people this might prove a challenge. Schedule it anyway and don’t allow others to derail you. If the weather allows, you might go outside. Put on favorite soothing music, or “theme” music that goes with a story idea you already have. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Close your eyes and let images roll around in your mind’s eye. Don’t try to make those ideas conform to a story. When the timer goes off, immediately write down the images, thoughts, and feelings that came to you. Don’t be concerned if the things you wrote do not seem to embrace a coherent story idea and sound like gibberish. Don’t trash it even if the ideas seem mean-spirited or contrary to the way you’d like to think of yourself. Most of us try to be good people, and therefore we repress recognizing that we don’t always have charitable thoughts. Write it down anyway. You might find a story idea or tidbit immediately. If you don’t, that’s okay, too. Save what you wrote. These ideas and images might be useful for a project down the line.
  • Do more reading, not less. If there is an old favorite you haven’t read in ages, why not read it now? Oftentimes, reading something you loved (yes, even a children’s book) can rev up your creativity. Don’t overthink. Just enjoy. If an idea comes for a new story, or if it inspires your current project, it is all good. Write down the idea, no matter what, even if it sounds wild or is out of your typical genre.
  • Look to your dreams. If you remember your dreams, immediately write down what you recall as soon as you awaken. Not every dream may evolve into a story down the pike, but you never know.
  • Reconnect with nature. Depending on your current weather, can you sit outside for a few minutes or take a walk? Even a gentle stroll could refresh you physically and get your creative blood flowing. If your weather isn’t cooperating, what can you write down about that weather that could shape or change a current project or inspire a new project?
  • Watch some television. In our productivity-oriented world, people sometimes say watching television is a waste of time. Can it be overdone? Of course. Moderation is key. When I mentioned reading more and not less, I think that also goes for television. If there’s a beloved movie or series that always makes you feel good or gives you creative ideas, why not find some time to watch it? Binge on whatever provides comfort and satisfaction.
  • Write down what makes you feel good. Simply acknowledging what lifts you up can refresh your memory of it and could generate creativity and a sense of profound well-being. Many times people use journals to express their unhappiness. See if you’re spending equal time to remind yourself of what is working right in your world and how grateful you are.
  • Acknowledge possibilities. Write down every idea you’ve had about something you want to create in your writing world, even if it seems impractical. In our society, we often downplay loving to do something and devalue that experience. It goes straight back to the idea that if you enjoy doing it, it must somehow be unproductive or not worthy. I’ve coached a number of writers who’ve discovered that they want to write about XYZ and haven’t because of outside influences and fears about what other people will think.

I hope these ideas give you some inspiration. Now is the time to discover new facets of your creativity you’ve always wanted to explore.

________________________

Denise A. Agnew is the award-winning author of over 69 novels and screenplays. Denise’s novels Love from The Ashes and Blackout were optioned for film/TV by Where’s Lucy? Productions, Bright Frontier Films and MDR Entertainment.  Denise is a Writer/Producer (Where’s Lucy? Productions, Happy Catastrophe Productions, Bright Frontier Films), a paranormal investigator, Reiki Master, and Certified Creativity Coach. As a creativity coach, Denise assists anyone in the creative arts to maintain lifelong creativity. You can find her at www.deniseagnew.com and www.creativepencoaching.com.

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Nink: Be Your Own PR Person ~ The Real Secret To Writing A Good Press Release

This article, written by Michele Dunaway is from the June 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

In a previous installment, we worked on the idea of your “Home Base” or your key message. This concept revolves around the idea that you don’t have to hire an expensive public relations firm to be able to stay on message with the media, and that with a little work, you can develop and disseminate your own talking points.

In this article we’re going to focus on what really matters when you write a press release. What we won’t focus on is stuff you can learn when you go online and Google “press release samples.” When you do that, dozens of images are going to pop up and they will tell you exactly what needs to go where. They’ll tell you what you need to include and give you sample formats where you can slot your words right into the fields of headlines and body copy and contact information. Easy peasy. Poof.

You’re done… only to have your hard work sent off and immediately deleted and discarded. After all, how many pieces of email come into your inbox only to be deleted unread? How many newsletters do you send to your readers that do not get opened, or if opened, are not really read or converted into sales?

Before we go on, I’m going to send you to this site. Seriously. Go read it. Or give it a quick skim.

While all that information is relevant and important, you probably overlooked one line that seemed like a throwaway: “Don’t waste the journalist’s time with a long-winded, self-absorbed introduction to yourself or your business. They probably don’t care.”

I’m going to repeat that last part: “They probably don’t care.” It’s tough to hear, but true.

What’s in it for them?

I ask my high-school journalists two critical questions when I’m coaching them on writing their news and feature stories: “Are you bored writing this?” and “Why should the reader care?”

Think about it. Every year there is a homecoming dance. Every year there’s a varsity football team. Every year there are final exams. School starts sometime in August. Graduation is always the first Saturday of May. For 17 years, I’ve guided my students through the creation of award-winning yearbooks. We know, every year, we’re going to cover the exact same stuff.

So do newspapers. There will be the sweet stories published on Valentine’s Day. There’s all the election coverage that ramps up every two and four years. 2020 was a leap year, and of course a story on leap year babies ran. The same principle applies for magazines. Fashion follows a cycle, so does sports, so does gardening, etc.

Your book release is one of all the other book releases out there, and with the advent of self-publishing, the noise of those wanting to be noticed is even louder. In order to get the press you want, to get to that interview stage or to get your press release to simply be printed almost verbatim if the media doesn’t have time for anything else, the content has to make the reader care. In Part I of this series published last month, this all boiled down to answering the simple question the consumer wants to know: “What’s in it for me?”

Your message map keeps you on point. However, when you looked at the sample, were you bored? Did you care? Most likely no, you didn’t care.

Pretend you’re a journalist. If University of Missouri Extension sent you a press release about one of their programs, you would look at it because you had to look at it, not because you think it’s the most exciting thing on the planet to receive.

As much as our latest book is the most exciting thing on the planet to us, it’s not necessarily the most exciting thing for everyone else. So, as the next part of your media message, you have to figure out how to make your message the most exciting thing.

Making them care

Let me digress with an example that I promise will make sense, so bear with me and please keep reading. I teach Walt Whitman, who is considered one of the most important American poets ever. Except if you’re a high-school junior in regular English III. However, I usually introduce Whitman in the last week of January/first week of February, right around the Super Bowl. Spoiler: high-school kids are into the Super Bowl. So I ask how much does a Super Bowl commercial cost for 30 minutes? (Someone will know. They always do.) Okay, I say, Apple made this commercial a while ago and not only paid for a minute and a half or airtime (we calculate that amount in today’s dollar value), but then they had to get the rights to the voice-over you’ll hear and then film and edit it.

Then I play the commercial. Take a minute and a half and go watch how Apple introduced the iPad Air.

Kids all know Apple. They have iPhones and iPads. Some may know Dead Poets Society, and most still know Robin Williams. And let’s face it, it’s a pretty awesome commercial with excellent visuals.

By the end of the commercial, it’s clear that Apple made Walt Whitman cool again, and I let my students know that when this commercial came out, all over Twitter people were like “That’s Robin Williams’s voice” and others were “That’s Dead Poet’s Society.” We talk about how Apple built an entire campaign around the slogan “What will your verse be?” (which excites all the kids who like business class best) and how the campaign went beyond the Super Bowl. Suddenly Whitman is relevant again, and “O Me! O Life!” suddenly matters.

To get people talking, you have to make them care. You have to show them why it matters to them. The secret to making them care all comes down to this: Stories are about people, not things or events.

Your book launch is an event. Your book is a thing. You are the real story.

So how do you make the story about you, while still talking about your book and its launch? You have to find the hook that makes the reader care.

Your company has its message, but now that message must translate into newsworthiness. When editors decide what to cover, they look at various elements that make the story newsworthy.

Newsworthy elements include but are not limited to:

  • Celebrity and prominence: How famous or important a person is. The more famous, the more attention.
  • Conflict and impact: As writers we understand conflict and how it will impact or effect people.
  • Emotion: Emotion means the story pulls on your heartstrings. Think of the old adage “if it bleeds, it leads.” Blood, tears, and laughter get attention because we feel them in a visceral way.
  • Proximity and timeliness: Proximity means we care because it’s close or local, while timeliness means the story matters now and has a sense of immediacy.
  • Novelty and unusualness: Novelty means it’s different, while unusualness might mean it’s weird or odd—like the guy who at ate 20 hot dogs in one minute.
  • Human interest: Human interest is a bit of a catchall, but it’s understandable as to why we love stories about puppies, kids with lemonade stands, a girl who conquers cancer, or why we want to help when we read about those who need help.

Looking at each of these elements is how my yearbook staff and I find a new and different angle for the stories that are essentially the same event each year. Like the books you write, the characters are different. Stories are about people, not events or things.

The unique hook I often use is “teacher by day, romance writer by night.” It’s novelty. When I spoke at the Kirkwood Public Library, the press release played up I was a local native, so proximity. The article began: Twenty years ago, author Michele Dunaway was shelving books at Kirkwood Library for $2 an hour. Now the library has all seven of her books on hand and Dunaway is the library's June "Author of the Month." You can read the rest here.

Finding your hook

Now go back to your message map. Your hooks, your newsworthiness, should come from your positive, proof-positive, and more specifically, your distinguishing points. Your distinguishing points should explain how you are different from everyone else. This is your newsworthiness. What can you do to hook the person who will receive your press release? What can you do to make them care about you? Or be intrigued? Or curious?

Your uniqueness is what makes the reader care and why they will want to know more. There are tons of authors putting out books. So what makes your story the one that should be told? How can you sell them that writing about you is a different approach to the same old story?

Here’s an example from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan. 19, 2018, the fifth anniversary of the death of Stan Musial, baseball Hall of Famer, the first million-dollar player, and a St. Louis icon. The challenge for the reporter was how to find a new angle to commemorate the day of his death. Ben Frederickson started his story like this:

Swap a Stan Musial story today.
If you don’t have one, hear one.
It’s not hard.
You can’t throw a four-seamer in this city without hitting the glove of someone with one to share.
On the five-year anniversary of the day we lost “Baseball’s Perfect Knight,” find a moment to remember what made him so much bigger than the game.
I’ll go first.
Leo and Jane Garvin can’t forget their Musial story, because without Stan, there wouldn’t be a Leo and Jane.

Trust me, go read the rest of the story, hyperlinked under the word read. I’ll wait.

Now that you have, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Jane is my late father’s sister. Leo’s my uncle, and Patrick is my cousin. I don’t know Ben. I knew about the birthday party, but not about the fact there wouldn’t be Leo and Jane without Stan.

I had a reason to care when I read this article. But did you care? This story has emotion, human interest, and celebrity. If you said yes, if you kept reading even if you didn’t know Leo and Jane, or if you found yourself finding yourself thinking “this was cool,” even though you aren’t a St. Louis Cardinals fan, this is because the story is about people (Stan, Leo & Jane), not events (in this case, the anniversary of Stan’s death).

When you craft your press release, when you write your story, if you are bored, the person reading it will be, too. The secret to a successful press release is figuring out how to make the reader care, so don’t be afraid to dig deep and focus on you. Trust me, your story is worth telling.

________________________

 

Michele Dunaway is in her final year as the Nink editor. Writing press releases and giving interviews don’t scare her. The fact that her term is almost over and she’ll really miss doing Nink does.

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Nink: Going Retro in the Digital Age with Paper Planners (a.k.a. You Got This)

This article, written by Patricia Burroughs is from the May 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

  * * *

“It’s for writing something down. Then doing something about it.”
—Merlin Mann

In 2004, American writer, blogger, and podcaster Merlin Mann decided that the Blackberries and PDAs so many people lived with 24/7 were harder to use than a simple stack of index cards clipped together with important info on them — a way to write stuff down so that later you could do something about it. For him, it was just easier to whip out the index cards and scrawl on them rather than deal with the PDA. Oh, and he called this the hPDA — the hipster PDA. His explanation, bottom line, of the hPDA: It’s for writing something down. Then doing something about it.

Despite the size of his audience, this suggestion did not kill the electronics business or even put a dent in the PDA market. In fact, most people didn’t ditch their PDAs. But some thought he was on to something: a pen and something small and portable to write on was simply faster and easier.

Now, some 16 years of tech-explosion later, there are more people using paper than there were before. In fact, AP News even featured a story about this “digital detox” in January.

Which brings up one simple question: Why paper? (By the way, if the idea of using a paper planner has no appeal for you at all, time for you to bail on this article. Just saying.)

Benefits of paper planners

  • You don’t just plan your future, but you also have a diary-like record of your past, which can come in handy. Most importantly, the time you spend with paper and pen helps you get the most out of the present because you are able to bring together differing demands on your time and resources before they are on top of you. You can create a schedule or set aside specific days for specific tasks. Once you’ve done this, your tension will ease because instead of carrying around the stress of All the Things, you can focus on what is in front of you, knowing that you will be addressing the other needs on Thursday, or next month. Sometimes you even recognize that you can’t do everything and that it’s time to be more realistic about priorities and the demands you’re making of yourself.
  • Studies show that the physical act of writing instead of typing engages your whole brain, resulting in deeper comprehension, increased focus, and unleashed creativity. This effect can be strengthened by enhancing your planning time with a scented candle or music that calms or energizes you. And whatever else you do, don’t forget to take a few deep cleansing breaths before you begin!
  • The act of transforming thought through hand and pen and onto the page, watching the words appear, is textural, sensual, and an act of creation. Some have even compared handwriting to sigil magic, where the act of putting an intention in writing gives it more power. (Sigil magic, however, involves symbols rather than text.)
  • Paper planners don’t provide the temptations and distractions digital ones do, since almost anything you use digitally also has social media, email, internet access, etc.
  • There’s just something intensely satisfying in lining through a task when it’s completed or giving yourself a gold star as a reward!

But with so many options to choose from, where do you begin? Follow your gut.

Choose tools that make you want to use them

The number one thing you should look for in a planner is that makes you want to pick it up. Choose a planner that makes you want to open it, one that pleases you. This simple yet vital aspect will make the difference in how much you use it. And the more you use it, the more you’ll want to use it.

By the way, the same goes for the instruments you plan with.

If writing in purple ink means you enjoy looking at your planner more than if it’s a totally business-like grid, don’t second guess yourself. Buy a pen with purple ink. A fountain pen, if that’s what you want. Or the sharpest pencil you can sharpen — an entire tin can full of them — if that’s what floats your boat. Ballpoint pens or gel pens or an 18th century dip pen — never underestimate the motivating power of loving your tools.

How do you want to use your planner?

From bullet journals to to-do lists and daily calendars, there are as many ways of using your planner as there are people. When considering which planner to buy, ask yourself:

  • Do you want something you can carry with you everywhere? A desk-sized planner that stays open beside you on your desk all day? Both?
  • Is it specifically for your writing business and projects, or do you want to keep all your life’s appointments and organizing under the same cover with your writing?
  • Do you want a planner that helps you set goals and work toward them or a business planner that is primarily for schedules and organizing?
  • Do you want a daily, weekly, or monthly planner?
  • Do you want to have room to doodle, sketch, or decorate in the margins?
  • Do you want a planner that is decorative right out of the box?

If all these questions make you dizzy, you can narrow down your choices by surfing websites and watching videos. Some planners will excite you and make you want to try them. Others may overwhelm or bore you. But either way, you’ll begin to see which aspects you love and which ones mean nothing to you. Jot down the terms for things you like so you’ll be able to find them when you get ready to do your serious planner shopping.

The great news is that you can find just about any type of planner you want available for all budgets.

Want to DIY it?

Videos and websites, like the one linked in the subhead above, will provide many ideas for creating the system that is perfect for you.

You can easily customize loose leaf binders or discbound systems. Even if you buy a complete planning system kit, you may decide you would prefer your sections to be in a different order, or you may want to leave some out, or create sections that are specific to your project.

Bullet journals [aka bujos] are the ultimate DIY, a spiritual descendant of the hPDA, in that instead of bulging with everything you might ever need, these small pocket-sized notebooks will only contain what you think is important.

And don’t forget the printables! Whether from Etsy or planning blogs, an array of printable planning pages are available, many specific to the business and creative sides of writing. Many are free, though you’ll often have to sign up for a newsletter to get them. Print out the type you’re drawn to for a test drive. Once you see what you like the best, you’ll shop with more confidence and knowledge.

To decorate or not to decorate

Many writers will know if they want to decorate or not. If you wonder if decorating is frivolous, the answer is an emphatic no!

The time spent setting up the week with stickers, washi tape, or stamp-art is an activity that slows us down, releases tension, and allows the brain to work in the background. Doing one creative thing can stimulate your writing. If you’re artistic you may want to use watercolor pens and markers to create your own designs. But those of us who aren’t artistic can get just as much a creative satisfaction by choosing colors, stickers, tapes, and themes for the day, week, or month.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. If you’re in love with an expensive binder and system available online, check out Walmart, Target, or any discount store near you. You’re likely to find one similar enough to take for a test run to see if it’s working for you. Then invest in the more expensive brand.

Before I invested in my first Franklin Planner back in the early 1990s, I bought their one-month trial. I loved it so much that not only did I dive into the complete system, I also bought one to use for each trip I took overseas for research. It was an amazing organizer and I also treasure it for the running commentary and notes I jotted down.

One last tip

Don’t get overwhelmed by All The Things!

Isolate one thing, The Thing. The Thing that is the one overwhelming you, or The Thing that seems the easiest place to begin. Start there.

Whether you end up using a broad-strokes system with a few lists and schedules or a detailed system that holds all your needs in one place — planners work.

Finally, remember the first rule of planners: You’re the boss of the planner. It works for you.

You end up building trust and faith in yourself. You’re telling your brain, “We got this.”

And you do.

________________________

Pooks (a.k.a. Patricia Burroughs) is a novelist, screenwriter, occasional short story writer, and short story anthology editor. She is also an Academy Fellow, having received the Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting (awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences). She and her high school sweetheart husband (a.k.a. The Resident Storm Chaser) are living happily ever after in Dallas. She loves Pratchett, Aaronovitch, Dunnett, and Heyer and is unable to contain herself within a single genre.

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Nink: Four Ways to Building an Online Community

This article, written by LaShaunda C. Hoffman is from the May 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

Building an online community takes time, consistency and knowing it’s not going to happen overnight. Below are some ways I used to build my online community over the years.

Website/blog

Your website is yours, and you can share whatever you want or when you want on your site. Even if you hire an assistant or have someone or some company maintain your site, never let someone else have full control of your access to your readers. You should always have final control over your content as your website is your asset.

When I started building my online community for my magazine, Shades Of Romance Magazine (SORMAG), I started with a website. It wasn’t the most beautiful website, but it did its job to showcase the magazine.

Your website should at the minimum host information about your books and about you. I recommend keeping the readers on your site as much as possible versus sending them to various social media sites to interact with you. You can do this by adding a blog, forum, or membership area to your website.

Give your readers a reason to visit your site daily, weekly or monthly. What you share on your site is what brings the readers back. Here are a few ideas:

  • Share what you share on social media, like what’s going on with you and your writing. Put this also on your site.
  • Share resources such as tools you use to write or podcasts you listen to.
  • Share tips like articles on world building or how to plot your next book.
  • Host workshops on topics that appeal to your audience. If they are aspiring writers, you might offer a workshop on how to write your first book.
  • Host events. Monthly book discussions and interviews with writer friends are popular.
  • Host contests. Readers love to win prizes, so you might want to choose a Reader of the Month or give a prize to the first person to post a review or buy a copy of a new release.

One of the things that hurt my promotion of SORMAG was when I focused more on social media instead of the blog for the magazine. The blog used to have a lot of engagement, but when I focused on social media, the blog slowly started to only have visitors and no comments. Having visitors was good thing, but I know now that the interactions and engagement was what made the blog work for the magazine. I learned the hard way that when you when you move your readers off your website, they usually don’t come back mainly because it’s easier to be on one platform instead of visiting multiple sites.

Social media

Even though I’m a fan of websites, I know many writers choose to use social media as their home base because it’s easier to maintain. It’s also a fun way to build your online community — and you don’t have to leave home to do it! I tell my clients to find the platforms where their readers hang out and go have fun. I recommend starting with one or two platforms.

In this article, I will focus on one platform — Facebook. I’m a fan of Facebook because it lets you create communities with your profile, fan page or group. I call my FB community my FB Fam. Some of the people who follow me I’ve known over 20+ years when I first started online.

There are three main ways to interact with your fans on Facebook:

  1. Profile page – You can build a community with your profile page. However, you are limited to 5,000 followers, so you might have to be picky on who you let follow you.
    • Your profile is more for building relationships, so be careful with doing a lot of selling posts or you could end up in Facebook jail or worse, kicked off Facebook.
    • One of my favorite ways to engage my community is to ask questions. I ask at least three questions a day. This keeps my engagement up and often introduces me to new people.
  2. Fan pages – If you can get the engagement started on your fan pages, this is a good way to build your community. It’s open to everyone to see and you can have unlimited followers.
    • I see this as more of a billboard to showcase who I am and what I do.
    • I invite people to like my pages which helps grow my following.
    • I post at least three times a day. This helps my posts show up in my follower’s feed. I also try to ask questions to get the engagement going.
    • Your fan page is where you promote your book by using boosts or ads. Look at your results to see if you reached your promotion goals for your ads.
  3. Groups – My favorite way to build a community using social media is groups because you can make them private and be selective of who is in your community. I like that I can see who is inside the group and who is engaging or not.
    • I use my groups for learning, networking and sharing content.
    • The downside to groups is that they are time consuming and a commitment you must be ready for. It’s your duty to keep your members engaged.
    • I create promotional campaigns to invite new members to the group.

I’m a huge fan of using social media because it’s a fun way to build relationships with your readers and to make book sales. I use it to get to know my readers by asking questions and sharing things about myself. I’ve learned it is an important part of my promotion plan but it’s not the only thing.

Videos

If you aren’t camera shy, video is another way you can build a community. My favorite form of video is live streaming because I enjoy the live interaction with my fans. They can ask me questions and I can do the same with them.

You can go live on many social media platforms (like Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram) and engage with your community. Each one has time limits so check each platform for specifics.

Another option is to record your videos and post them on your social media platforms and wait for views and comments. It’s helpful to be able to record in batches and create a bunch of videos you can schedule for later.

  • You can use videos to teach workshops, read excerpts from your books, conduct interviews or just share news about your writing.
  • Make sure to add the link to your email list to your videos. You can also put this in the written descriptor and comment section of your video platform, so you can get new subscribers.

I'll be honest, at first I was intimidated by video. I thought I had to be perfect: hair done, face flawless, and my words not tumbling out of my mouth.

But when I started doing it, I learned that I missed one key point. With video that’s not live-streamed, you get a million takes to get it right. Editing is your friend. If you’re like me, don’t be intimidated. Get your hair done, your make up flawless and get in front of the camera and do your thing, then get a good video editor (or become one yourself).

Recognize & reward your community

Who are the people engaging with you?

  • Do you have someone who opens all the emails you send?
  • Do you have someone who engages in all the social media posts?
  • Do you have someone who shares all of your videos?
  • Do you have someone who is highly engaged in your group?

These are the people you offer a thank-you gift to — gift certificates, free books, or book swag. Let them know you appreciate them and their support.

I’ve learned over the years how important your community is. As I grew SORMAG’s community, I saw how loyal the readers were to the magazine. They attended the events and joined the social media community. They enjoyed the SORMAG goodies I sent out. I always wanted them to know they were appreciated. For the last few years, I’ve hosted a free online book festival for readers and writers with workshops, panel discussions, book discussions and prizes. Consider doing a Reader Appreciation Day or event for your readers.

Readers are loyal to writers they enjoy and these readers will stay a part of your community if you treat them like you appreciate them. Make time for them — respond to emails, reply to comments, and answer direct messages. Get to know them and you will see your readership grow.

Now, are you ready to start building your community? Go showcase your wings, social butterflies.

________________________

 LaShaunda C. Hoffman created Shades Of Romance Magazine (SORMAG) and published it for 20 years. In 2015 she wrote a book about book promotion, Building Online Relationships — One Reader At Time, featuring lessons she learned while promoting SORMAG Digital. Join her community and receive a copy of SORMAG’s Literary Directory.

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