I spent some time with one of my friends and her 6-year old twins recently. They came to visit with a big pile of first-level reading books, and we adults had a chance to help them over the hard parts.

I don’t know about you, but I remember learning to read. I remember getting stuck and needing help because, well, English can be tricky. But there were some things that surprised me.

Remember Your Audience

Some of the sentences in these books were well above the reading level of my friend’s twins. Just because what you’re writing makes perfect sense to you, doesn’t mean your audience doesn’t need a little hand-holding.

Keep it Simple

We already know you’ve got a masterful vocabulary, but that doesn’t mean you need to pull it out and show it off. Your objective is to get your point across, not to dazzle. I was mentally editing some of these books as I read them, because the authors seemed to be writing in what they THOUGHT was a child’s reading level but was really far too complex. My friend’s twins are smart and have good working vocabularies, but they don’t exactly have the reading part down yet. Save the elaborate stuff for a LITTLE later in the process. Don’t scare your readers away by being too complicated too quickly.

Don’t Take Shortcuts

My friend and I were shocked to find the contraction “I’m” in her son’s new book. This was a book geared to beginning readers, just past the “See Spot Run” stage, but well before they’d understand the concept of contractions. It’s one thing to use them when you’re talking, but shouldn’t they learn to read full words first, before they need to learn the shortcuts? Spell out the jargon and acronyms at the beginning to avoid sounding like a code that needs to be broken.

Make it Exciting

Above all, we should be making reading fun, exciting, wonderful. Something to capture imaginations and make pulses race. How else can we initiate non-readers into the wonderful world that words create?

Yes, we are all adults, and most of us write for adults (or near-adults), so you might be thinking, “Why should I care about these tips, Deb? Kids don’t read my web copy.”

The point, though, is that writers LOVE words. We live and breathe them. We notice them when people speak them, we remember them when telling stories. We spot typos in menus and inconsistencies in books. We love the way words play together, create imagery and whole worlds.

Sometimes, though, we get so caught up in the act of writing, we forget that a lot of our readers really just aren’t that interested. How many friends do you have that never pick up a book to read? Who find sitting and reading anything longer than three paragraphs a chore?

Hard as it is for you and me to believe, a lot of people don’t like to read.

It therefore behooves us … we writers whose lives revolve around words … to be ambassadors to those poor benighted folks who simply are not interested. We should be making it easy for them, not hard.

We live in a society that adores multi-tasking. We watch television while we cook. We listen to the radio (or MP3s, or DVDs, or CDs, or whatever) while we drive. We talk on the phone while we iron. We text while walking the dog. We read while we brush our teeth … (or, is that just me?) We dart back and forth between windows on our computer screens, checking emails, sending tweets, while also writing blog posts, reading message boards, and keeping an eye on the news on the television in the corner. Not to mention answering questions, watching the kids, throwing balls for the dog, running errands…

It’s rare to sit and do ONE thing any more.

Even when you’re doing something that should exclude other activities, it’s hard to focus. When I shower each day, my mind is running over problems. You would think I’d be concentrating on the water, the soap, and not slipping and falling, but no. I watch television while I knit, rather than focusing on what my hands are doing. I check email while talking on the telephone instead of giving my full attention to the person on the other end.

Well, last night, our power went out.

Only for an hour or so, but it left me sitting in a dark room, with a candle, and the choice of straining my eyes trying to read or knit in the dim light, or opening up my netbook and writing. (I have to say, I DO love the battery power of my little netbook. It really does last for 8+ hours.)

I picked the writing, and I have to tell you. A miracle happened.

Sitting in a dark room with nothing to see except the computer screen? And, since the family’s wireless router doesn’t work without electricity, without the distraction of the internet? None of the usual, “That was a great couple of paragraphs, so I’ll reward myself by checking my email.” Nothing to distract me at ALL except to reach over and pet my dog from time to time. (The blackout spooked him, everything was so DARK.)

Well, it was amazing. I had no choice but to focus, and surprisingly, I actually remembered how.

Because the flip side of being able to DO so many things all the time, all at once, is that our collective attention span is getting shorter all the time. I used to be able to sit with a homework assignment and a notebook for at least an hour and really FOCUS on that one thing, but I’ve lost that. These days, the only thing that gets that level of concentration from me is, sadly, not writing, but reading. Hand me a book I haven’t read before and I’ll do nothing else for however many hours it takes, but anything else? Nope. Can’t do it anymore. True, it’s been 20 years since I’ve been out of school, and minds wander more as they get older. (My theory on that is that, since the legs are getting wearier, the mind decides to travel more on its own. Why should the mind AND the body be stuck in one place?)

Mostly, though, it’s that pesky modern living thing that’s causing the trouble. We’re so linked-in, connected, and intertwined and busy ALL the time, none of us has had to focus on any one thing for more than 5 minutes in over a decade. Sure, there are still professions that require absolute focus–you don’t want your brain surgeon stopping midway through a procedure to tweet about his lunch–but in general, we’re losing our ability to do just one thing at a time and do it really well.

Am I the only one this bothers?

I’ve decided I’m going to try to focus more.

• I’m going to try to forget the internet exists when I sit down to write–no checking emails between sentences!

• I’m going to try to limit my time on social media distractions. They’re good, they’re important, they’re fun, but they’re time-sucks, and worse, they’re attention-suckers. When part of my brain is whining, “What’s happening on Twitter?” while I try to do, well, anything, that’s counter-productive. So I’ll try to put restrictions on that kind of stuff.

• I’m going to leave the television off more often. I used to leave it off entirely unless there was something I wanted to watch, but I’ve gotten into the habit of putting it on in the background, which is much too distracting.

• I’m going to try knitting and spinning in a quiet room for a change, just to see if that helps me regain some focus, like a training exercise. If I can relearn how to focus on the one thing I am doing, maybe it will be easier when I’m sitting in front of the computer, too.

How’s that for a start? What suggestions do you have? Am I the only one struggling with this?

As much as it kills me to admit it, sometimes the best salesmanship doesn’t involve any words at all. This ad just about kills me, it’s so perfect.

It’s National Grammar Day again … and, really, one which can be celebrated by any nationality. And what better way than to sing the theme song?

“March Forth: The Grammar Song”

Like many girls, when I was little, I wanted to be a princess. I wanted to wear the floaty skirts.I wanted the jeweled crown–gold, of course, to go with my then-blonde hair. I wanted birds to help me get dressed in the morning, and to go to balls.I wanted to live in a romantic (though no doubt drafty) castle.

In short, I wanted to be perfect.

Because, you understand, I thought princesses were perfect. Did you ever see Cinderella lose her composure? Did Snow White throw temper tantrums? Did Sleeping Beauty forget to make her bed in the morning? No, of course not. They were princesses and raised to meet a higher standard of behavior. I was convinced that, if I just had that full-skirted ball gown to wear, I would suddenly behave just like a perfect princess should.

My mother used to love when I’d pretend to be a princess. I’d sit up straight. I’d say please and thank you without prompting. My clothes would stay neat, I wouldn’t fidget. And my table manners? Well, they were not only good, they were superb. I would even eat my peas one at a time because (naturally) a true princess wouldn’t be so gauche as to eat them by the forkfull.

I was remembering this the other night while I was goofing off, watching episodes of The West Wing on DVD rather than settling down to write, or to do some necessary filing, or even plug away at my knitting.

A princess would never goof off.

Being responsible, as they must be, a true princess (or prince) clearly meets their obligations promptly and without hesitation. Duty comes before pleasure.

A princess is always neat.

Take a look around. Is your desk covered with papers? Are there files on the floor? Piles on the chair? This is NOT royal behavior. Whether your castle has a staff or not, there is simply no excuse to make all this extra work for whomever does the cleaning–especially if it’s you. It’s easier to file one or two things right now than it is to wait until you have a pile of fifty items which will take a chunk of your time.

A princess has exquisite manners.

Have you received an invitation to a ball? (Or a meeting, seminar, or even just a request for a phone call?) Naturally it is only proper behavior to respond promptly and courteously. Not all of us have a social secretary to handle these mundane chores for us, but it is rude to keep people waiting, so please respond promptly to requests for your attention.

A princess takes responsibility for her actions

As tempting as it is to blame the peasants when things go wrong, a true princess understands that her country’s well-being is ultimately her responsibility.

A princess is always perfectly dressed.

A true princess would never dream of rolling out of bed and going down to the throne room in her bathrobe and slippers (exquisite though they undoubtedly are). No, she is always dressed in exactly the right attire for any occasion, with her hair neatly coiffed. She has too much respect for herself, her kingdom, and the responsibilities of her job to lounge around in sloppy clothes. I wouldn’t go so far as to tell you that you should sit at your computer in stockings and heels (or a suit and tie) at 5:00 am, but show some respect for the work you do, and at least put shoes on. And brush your hair, if you can’t find some helpful birds to comb it for you.

A princess always has sunshine.

The weather is always perfect when you’re a princess–sunshine, happy birds tweeting, puffy white clouds dotting a blue, blue sky. Really, though, the secret is that the princess brings the sunshine with her. She loves what she does and focuses on spreading joy and understanding because strife comes too often from outside her borders–she does what she can to keep her own kingdom on the right track. This is not the same as being blind to the things that need to be fixed, but more about the certainty that things will get done.

See? Even us peons can at least act like we’re royal … because inside, aren’t we all?

Now, THIS is a direct mail offer I can get behind.

This is a subscription offer from National Geographic and is one I think did just about everything right.

The top portion states “Preferred Account Order Form.” See? No attempts to mislead me. It’s telling me that I would be a preferred account (so flattering), but acknowledging that this is an order form, an offer, not something I’ve already expressed interest in. It tells me what the newsstand price is, what I’m being offered, and how much I’d save if I take them up on it.

Yes, there’s a reply-by date to encourage me not to dawdle, but it doesn’t make it sound like missing it is a black mark against my character, either.

There’s a nice premium offered, too, a free world map once I pay for my subscription. I like this because it perfectly fits National Geographic–and it’s something offered to everyone who accepts this offer, not just a select few whose mailmen raced to the mail truck the fastest. It’s something that has some value to it, too, not a cheap throw-away kind of gift like a bumper sticker. (Not that bumper stickers are bad things, I have nothing against them, but the option of using my car for free advertising would not encourage me to subscribe to a magazine.)

The letter portion spells out the subscription benefits, but unlike the Good Housekeeping offer, it talks about the subscription benefits, not just the magazine benefits. This is one of those things that can go either way–do you want to inspire people with your product? Or with the offer? You can do either–or both–but it never hurts to explain why signing up for a subscription is a better idea than picking this up at the newsstand. (Though, for the record, the back of the letter actually spells out what the magazine offers … so they’re covered either way.)

One of the other things I like? As if getting a free map and a good price wasn’t enough, they’re including some return address labels for me, just because. Now, return address labels are easy enough to produce and almost every charity seems to include them in their mailings these days, but I like them here. They immediately give me something with some value, even before I sign up. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy, like they’re really making sure that I’m going to feel welcome as a subscriber.

Then, not for nothing, but the quality of the paper is particularly nice–glossy stock with a good finger-feel to it. I don’t object to normal paper for these things, but there’s something satisfying about feeling good paper when you take the offer out of the envelope.

Well done, National Geographic!

I have already told you about the things I wanted to see in a Kindle, before plunking down my money to buy one. Without them, it just wasn’t worth $260 to me. And then, they came up with an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Buy a Kindle, try it out, and if I didn’t like it, not only would they return my money, but they would let me keep the Kindle either way.

Now, first, let’s think about this as a marketing technique …

It’s almost diabolical in its “How can you pass this up” vibe. There’s literally nothing to lose. In the details, it specified that the offer was strictly for me, that I could not pass the Kindle on to anybody else and still be eligible for the offer, there was a sharp deadline (two days before Apple’s announcement of the iPad, as it happens) … but nothing to make me suspicious. And you know I can be suspicious about “Very Special Offers.”

This one, though … how can it hurt them? Worst case scenario is that everybody who tries one asks for their money back … but hopefully will continue to use them, anyway. My guess is that they wanted to get Kindles in more people’s hands before the Apple announcement, and that maybe they’ve got a Kindle 3 in the works and wanted to get rid of some inventory ahead of time. (I told you I can be cynical.) But still … they want you to buy THEIR ebooks, not ebooks from the competition, so having a Kindle in-hand is going to encourage customer loyalty. It’s a great scheme.

Now, as to the Kindle itself.

Now that I’ve gotten my hands on one, what did I think? Starting with my points from July:

My verdict?

While there are definitely things here that I liked, as it happens (and to my own surprise), I did not actually love the Kindle. I really thought that I would, but apparently the (available) techology is not quite where I personally want it to be to wean me away from paper books. It’s the words and sentences that matter, not the delivery method–paper or electronic, a story is a story, good writing is good writing–but after playing with this for a few days, I am still reaching for my paper books instead of being beguiled by the electronic options. Will this come in handy for my next vacation, though? Oh my, yes. For travelling, I love the idea of being able to bring a huge selection of books in one place … but since I usually only have one trip a year …

As I said, I didn’t love it as they promised I would, and have asked for my money back. I’m waiting to hear what happens next. I wouldn’t be surprised to have to fill in some kind of survey about why I’m not satisfied, and I’ve hung onto the (very simple, environmentally-sound) shipping box, just in case, but still. I’m all in awe at the marketing technique.

I sometimes think my life would be easier if there was just one kind of writing that I enjoyed doing. If all I loved was copywriting, I could focus on polishing my marketing technique. If fiction was the all-powerful muse, I could immerse myself in prose and telling great stories. Poetry, word-play, essays, articles, websites … there are so MANY different kinds of writing that I enjoy.

Sometimes nothing will do but to write non-fiction. Hard, edgy facts, temptingly spun to just the angle I want the reader to see. There are times when I want to speak in my own voice and just chat, like I’m doing now. Then there are other times when fiction calls, and I want to concentrate on a story–plots, characters, dialogue, with all the fun of seeing what happens.

For some writers, of course, this is not a problem. They do one type of writing, and do it very well, so they have no need to branch out. A person who has been writing ad copy for twenty years can probably resist the lure of novel-writing. A successful novelist probably doesn’t feel the urge to bang out a marketing campaign. Sure, they may dabble. Novelists adapt their stories into screenplays. Copywriters write articles for trade publications. Poets dig down to produce the occasional short story … but many writers know what they like to write, and they stick to it.

Some of us, though (cough), want to do it all. So, what’s a writer to do? How can a writer deal with being pulled by different muses–fiction and non-fiction–without being torn apart?

In some ways, this is easy … the point is to WRITE, no matter what you are writing.

Writing is like a muscle that needs to be exercised. It’s a skill that needs to be honed. A pot that needs to keep simmering. If you let it get flabby, dull, and cold, it’s just going to be that much harder the next time you sit down to write. You are better off writing descriptions for catalogs or letters to old friends than writing nothing at all. Just … Write. It doesn’t matter what.

Sometimes the Market determines what you write.

If you are between novels, you can write and sell a few short stories, or some articles while you wait to hear back from your publisher. If you are a freelancer facing a lull in paying clients, this is the perfect time to work on that novel. If an editor calls and offers you a contract for a series of articles–even if articles aren’t what you normally do–you should consider it. Don’t forget, writing is not just a hobby or vocation (though it can be those things)–it is also a profession. You should follow your heart and preferences as much as you can, but sometimes you just need to go where the money is.

Is it possible to be a fabulous writer without focusing on one kind of writing?

I think absolutely yes. Far from believing that dabbling in a wide range of writing styles makes me weaker, my technique diluted, I think that it gives me an ever-growing list of skills to fall back on. Knowing how to pace a story makes my ad copy better. Understanding basic marketing techniques makes my query letters stronger. Enjoying the word play of a good poem heightens my appreciation of finding just the right word when I’m writing anything else. Just like a diet of one kind of food is unhealthy (and boring), it’s good to mix things.

A change is as good as a rest.

So, you’ve been slogging on your novel for weeks, concentrating on character development, making sure your scenes are successfully doing whatever they need to do, and frankly, you’re a little tired. The last thing you want to do this morning is to look at your computer keyboard … But, wait! Somebody wants you to write their new webpage. Something new! Something different! Suddenly, you feel inspired. Your fingers fly over the keys, and you produce new copy for them in record time … and, even better, when you look back at your novel? It doesn’t feel like slogging anymore.

Just like a vacation, or pausing for a long walk–sometimes, just doing something else for a while is all we need to reinvigorate ourselves and our writing.

You can use your desire for other types of writing as incentive.

Maybe this only works for me because I am a fiction addict. I love stories. I love to follow a character through the course of a book (or better, a series) until I feel like they’re old friends. Curling up with a new book by a favorite author is one of my all-time favorite ways to spend a Saturday afternoon–or any afternoon. But, I find that I get so caught up in reading about other people’s characters, I sometimes lose the incentive to focus on my own. So, I’ll put myself on a fiction diet–no reading fiction allowed until I’ve worked on my book. It might seem crazy, but it works, because the need in my blood for plot, character, clues, layers–all the things that make a good story–will ultimately drive me to sit in front of the computer. If my own fiction is all I can get, I am so there.

Similarly, if I’ve been neglecting my blogs … I stop reading other people’s. No blogs, no posts, no updates, no thoughts on the writing industry … so, obviously, I need to write my own.

Balance is never a bad thing.

And, anyway, whoever said that you could only do one? Keeping a healthy balance of gifts, skills, talents, and interests are what make us balanced people. Sure, if you are a prodigy with an enormous gift, you need to focus on that to exclusion of other things, practicing your violin until all hours, but falling behind in biology class. But, with the exception of some rare, truly gifted people … most of us have a variety of normal-sized talents instead of one big one, and it’s better to keep them all in shape. If you love writing fiction and non-fiction, then darn it, write both. Why not?

Personally, I find I need a balance of both–for reading and for writing. Even with television–I watch scripted shows for the stories, but also watch news and documentaries for the factual stuff. If I start getting too much of one, I feel unbalanced, just as if I suddenly ate nothing but sweets … or stopped eating them altogether. I’m happier with a mix. I find the urge to write fiction is strongest when I’m sitting at my desk at my day job, trapped without access to TV or a novel. (Awkward, of course, because that’s when I need to be doing the work they pay me for.) When I’m home watching television or sitting with a book, I find that I want to write blog posts or marketing copy. I need a mix to keep myself happy.

You are only limited by yourself.

Why limit myself? The better I write, the better it is for everyone–me, my readers, and the people who pay me. It doesn’t hurt to have preferences, and a natural bent for a specific style or technique should be encouraged … but who says a violinist can’t branch out to the cello once in a while? Or that a baker can’t get the urge to make a pot of soup for a change? Just because you make your living as a copywriter doesn’t mean you can’t write short stories, too. And if you’ve got a novel you’re working on, why not do some freelancing, too?

Because–limiting your writing because you think you should? That’s like any other diet … it’s going to get very boring very quickly. Variety is the spice of (writing) life!

I got this direct mail piece the other day, and was kind of appalled at how sneaky it was.

Mind you, I love creative direct mails. It’s a tough market, and if you have something to sell, you need to be creative.

This one, though? A DVD in a nice case, a “yours to keep!” so-called collectible coin (golly, for me?), two separate return envelopes, and a confusing set of instructions.

Picture it: I just came home from a long day, am tired, just want to flip through my mail and start thinking about what to do for supper, and instead I’m trying to figure out why these people are sending me a DVD I didn’t order.

First, I had to find the letter. This long sheet of paper has a return envelope and instructions on the outside, with this letter folded onto the inside … but since it was behind/inside/attached to the envelope, it took me at least two passes through the pieces in the envelope to find the thing.

The letter starts off, “You must be wondering why you’ve received the enclosed DVD, entitled ‘How the Earth was Made.’ the reason is simple, please let me explain…“  Well, they got that part right because that was exactly what I was wondering.

It then goes into a lengthy explanation about how the Smithsonian Institution is creating a “landmark” collection of DVDs and how I am so, so lucky to be given the chance to “see, hear, feel and appreciate what the Chronicles Series is all about.”  It explains how I can “keep it with no obligation as a gift.” Okay, fine, whatever. I’ve subscribed to Smithsonian Magazine since the 1980s so I am legitimately on their mailing list. I’ve gotten Very Special Offers from them before, just … never one like this.

Because here’s what bugs me. Well, really, there are several things, but this is the big one.

I’ve read this thing several times, and I still swear it’s contradicting itself.

It says:

“If you don’t wish to participate in the series you may return the DVD along with your Member Reply Form in the white postage-paid Merchandise Return Envelope attached to this letter… Because you didn’t ask for this special DVD, you don’t have to participate or send it back and you can consider it a gift.”

Um, call me crazy, but why are they both asking me to send back the unwanted DVD and also telling me that I can keep it? If I’m supposed to feel empowered by having all these options, it’s not working. I just feel confused. Am I particularly slow today? Am I lightheaded from hunger because I’m still trying to get past the pile of mail and to the kitchen?

The actual order form doesn’t help. It’s got two check boxes, one for “Yes, please, sign me up” one for “No, I’m returning the DVD, please don’t send any more,” AND then there’s small print telling me I can just keep it without participating. Huh?

Now, as a consumer, I’m not only confused at this point, but I’m frustrated. Confused, frustrated, hungry, and getting annoyed.

Seriously–it’s a direct mail piece, something I did not request, so legally I am under no obligation … so why are they (1) making it so complicated and (2) making a big deal about how I should return the DVD if I don’t want it and yet still decide to return it (as opposed to not wanting it and just throwing it away)?

You think I’m kidding?

Talk about labor-intensive. If I am feeling so inclined as to return this lovely little DVD I never asked to be saddled with, I’ve got this cute little pictogram explanation of exactly what I am required to do to return it. 1. Detach the envelope, 2. remove the DVD from its case, and 3. mail it back–but it comes with the warning that, “Due to postal changes DO NOT return the plastic DVD case. You may keep, recycle, or discard it.” (Well, that’s lucky.)

How is putting your Business-Reply permit limitations on the consumer a good idea? Some people love nothing better than wasting as much of that as possible–they stuff BREs with cardboard, send back blank blow-in cards, anything they can think of because they’re so frustrated with direct mails and subscription cards. If I were that kind of person, telling me that you–who have already made me confused and frustrated–will get in trouble if I send back the entire case is frankly just asking for trouble.

But, let’s go back to that whole Do I or Do I Not Return the DVD issue which I’m STILL not clear on. What on God’s green earth does my sending back the unwanted DVD in a paper envelope do for any of us? You can say what you want about the post office, but that thing is going to get stomped on. It’s not like it’s going to return intact. In fact, the Smithsonian is going to end up paying fairly substantial return-mail postage for me to send back a DVD that I didn’t ask for and that they’re going to have to just toss in the garbage.

As I see it, there should be THREE possiblities at this point–1. Yes, I love this video, enroll me, and keep them coming. 2. I didn’t like this particular DVD, and am returning it, but would like to see more, or 3. Who are you and why are you bothering me, this is all garbage.

Except, none of the verbiage in the letter or on the order form acknowledges option #2 at all–which, to my mind, is the only reason you would WANT someone to send back the DVD if they’re not interested.

Believe me, the cheap “Collector’s Series” collectible coin with the picture of the Smithsonian castle is NOT enough to counter-balance the things wrong with this direct mail.

No matter how wonderful the DVD is … I haven’t watched it, and don’t really plan to … the Smithsonian just spent a small fortune to assemble and mail this crappy direct mail. There’s the special, outer envelope, the DVD in its snazzy case, a non-postage-paid return envelope, a postage-paid return envelope, (and, why two envelopes?) an insert reiterating the instructions for returning the DVD that I apparently don’t need to return at all, the letter, the order form, plus the coin. That’s a lot of stuff to get into one envelope, and not really light on the postage, either. Not to mention that the letter/order form/BRE combination was likely a custom paper order.

And, after putting all this money into the direct mail, they end up with a presentation that’s confusing and complicated … I’m still waiting for a reason as to why I should bother sending the DVD back at all. The letter with an explanation was buried, folded in amongst all the other things, so that I was already frustrated by the time I found it.

Folks, here are some of the things you need to remember about direct mails.

• Get people to open the envelope–which this one, I admit, did
• Keep things simple. Don’t make your potential customers hunt for what you want them to do.
• Give them as much information as you want, but make it accessible.
• For heaven’s sake, don’t give out mixed signals. If you want the DVD back, say so, but don’t tell me that I CAN send it back but that I can also keep it for no obligation. Which one am I supposed to do so that I can sleep at night?
• Remember that customers–much as we love them–can be stupid. If you make things too complicated for them, they get upset, like a 4-year old trying to fit together a jigsaw puzzle.
• Bonus gifts are nice and catchy–the “collector’s coin” idea had potential, but the actual coin is kind of cheesy. That can still be okay, if it’s a one-shot, get-attention deal. Then you could just give it to your child to play Bank with, but no, the sales letter makes a point of telling me that I’ll get more coins with the other videos, “until my coin collection is complete.” Gee, there’s incentive, because I really want more of these things.
• Don’t make people WORK for what you want them to do. The harder you make it to respond to your mailing, the fewer people are going to respond. Consumers may enjoy actively checking off their preferences in boxes and sticking stickers on the right form, but make it clear! Make it fun! Don’t make it feel like work.

Oh yes, and why did I call this sneaky at the beginning? Because, since the instructions are unclear, and the proper response if you don’t want it is perplexing, my guess is that some people are going to get this mailing, with the DVD right there in their hand, and just pay the $12.95 because they don’t want to get into trouble. Not something you’d expect from a classy organization like the Smithsonian Museum.

But then, there’s more small print to this mailing, saying “This program is being administered under a licensing arrangement by TN Marketing LLC, a for-profit company.” Maybe I’m not the only one to question their practices, and perhaps the Smithsonian should have done some more research?

It’s so easy to get caught up in the technological marvels of the 21st century. High-speed internet access and wi-fi at every corner. Cordless telephones and cellphones to keep in touch everywhere we go. Computers and email have far eclipsed fax machines and typewriters. We can bring our entire music collection with us in our pockets so we always have something to listen to, and more and more we can bring our libraries as well. Even cooking is high-speed, with microwaves and prepared convenience foods.

Still … there are lessons to be learned.

Let’s wax nostalgic for a moment, shall we? Let’s all think of those golden days of yore when people lounged on their front porches drinking lemonade; when children played ball in the street. Let’s remember a time when…

• We put letters in the mail and were happy to wait one or two weeks before we got a response.
• We did not expect answers to be instantaneous.
• We were happy visiting the library for books to read or to reference.
• We regularly met with our friends in person, and even dropped into each others’ houses regularly.
• We understood that travel could be an adventure to be savored, not a hassle to be rushed through.
• We wrote long, thoughtful, descriptive letters to friends, family, and even near-strangers, just as a way of keeping in touch and sharing our lives.
• We wrote them by hand, usually in ink, while sitting at a desk and relishing the feel of the pen in our hand and the texture of the paper under the nib. (Oh, and we had the penmanship to match.)
• We had telephones that stayed in one place, so that we couldn’t walk all over the house while on a call–instead, we stayed in one place and focused on the conversation.
• We took the time to do things well and thoroughly, without worrying about tight deadlines or the need to get on to the next thing.
• We understood that the world was wide and relished the communities we built close to home.
• We went to school to learn to think, not just to get passing grades, and then we took that ability to think to create the world we wanted to live in.

It’s easy to get so caught up in the urgent forward movement of progress. The desire to discover the “next new thing,” and to play with all the new gadgets is tempting to say the least. Because, let’s admit it, they’re fun.

As much as I always wanted to go back and really see what history was like, I would not want to give up any of my modern conveniences. I love email and twitter to connecting to my friends. I can’t imagine life without internet access any more than I could imagine not having light (or air conditioning). And I really, really like my indoor plumbing, thank you.

It’s important, though, to remember how far we’ve come. To look back to acknowledge the progress we’ve made, the changes that have occured … and to note the little grace notes of life that may have been drowned out in technology’s hum.

Even with my appreciation for the past, I wouldn’t want to live there. It was hot without air conditioning, and I’m not fond of growing my own food. But, still, some things were valuable, and some skills should be saved. I cook from scratch, and bake my own bread. I spin yarn and knit it into sweaters and socks. I like these things but I’m not going to give up my jeans or the convenience of a grocery store.

And the internet. I say we definitely keep that. Or how would you leave me comments?

Here, in case you missed them, are some of my favorite posts from the year:

• Pulse Warmers: What little things help you through your day?

• Loot and Plunder: Do you follow through? Or do you leave people feeling like they’ve been pillaged?

• Let the Yeast Do the Work: Because writing is remarkably like baking bread.

• Anticipation: A rare appearance of a poem I actually wrote.

• Spinning Words: Because specialized vocabulary can be fun. (There were two more installments, here, and here.)

• Pet Names: Do you have pet phrases you keep nearby at all times? How well-trained are they?

• Right to Write Right: How important is correct grammar to you when you read?

• Why I Write: Because it’s the best fun around, that’s why!

• Four Reasons to Turn Off Your Computer: (This one should be pretty self-explanatory.)

• Is What You Write More Important than How You Write It?

• Putting Together the Pieces: Because my favorite part is seeing how all the plots, characters, and selling points all fit together.

• How NOT To Get Your Novel Published: Tongue-in-cheek, kind of, but if you don’t want your novel published, these can be important tips! Plus…

• How NOT To Get Hired as a Writer: The companion piece…

• Shoot for the Moon: Because there’s no dream too big.

• Where the Action Is: Are the best stories the ones where events drive the story? Or where the characters do? (Or both?)

• Wanted: Literary Agent of my Dreams: Because it never hurts to put out into the universe what you’re hoping to find.

• You Can Lead a Dog to a Story: Because sometimes what your readers take away is not what you thought you were giving them.

• It’s Puzzling: Building a plot is a lot like creating a puzzle–it’s a lot of backward engineering to make sure everything works.

• Writing Makes Everything Possible: Without it, we’d still be in caves, right?

• Let’s Not Forget Civility: Life is too short to let the DIPs (Delusionally-Important People) ruin it.

• Lost Your Train of Thought? What can you do when your train of thought left the station without you?

• 9 Things You Need on a Freelance Resume: Apparently even freelance writers need resumes, so it’s best to be prepared.

• 7 Reasons a Good Schedule Can Keep You on Track

• 5 Tips for Better Time Management

• Can a Game be a Story? Can an event that’s happening in front of you be defined as a story?

• Why a Copywriter Needs to Tell Stories: Because stories aren’t just important in fiction, they can be the best selling tool you have.

• I Am Woman, Hear Me Blog: Apparently the battle of the sexes isn’t over … not even on the internet.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane. I know I have!

I haven’t spread any link-love in a while, so I wanted to take a moment to list some of the many blogs that I read every day and that give me that warm, cozy feeling inside. (Or, you know, are just really helpful or entertaining.) I’ve got hundreds of blogs in my RSS reader, so this is just a fraction, but I wanted to share. Most of them are about writing or reading in some way or another, but a couple are there just because they’re good.

• All Freelance Writing
• Ask Allison
• Betsy Lerner: The Forest for the Trees
• Booking Through Thursday
• Bunch of Grapes
• Catalyst Blogger
• Confident Writing
• Copyblogger
• Freelance Folder
• Freelance Zone
• Gail Carson Levine
• Grammar Blog
• The Grammarphobia Blog
• Inkygirl
• Joyful Jubilant Learning
• Kimbooktu
• Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
• Men with Pens
• Michael Stelzner’s Writing White Papers
• Nathan Bransford: Literary Agent
• A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing
• Not Always Right
• Procrastinating Writers
• Problogger
• The QC Report
• The Rejectionist
• Rona Maynard: Let’s Talk
• Sara in Vermont
• Sirius Graphix
• Seth’s Blog
• The Simple Dollar
• Unpublishable Pennings
• The Urban Muse
• The Wealthy Freelancer
• The Well-Fed Writer’s Blog
• Word Sell, Inc
• Words on the Page
• Write to Done
• Writer Dad
• A Writer’s Words; an Editor’s Eye
• Writing, Clear and Simple
• Writing Forward/Scribizzy from Melissa Donovan
• Writing Roads
• Writing Thoughts

Don’t see your blog or website? Don’t see one of your favorites?

Well, don’t assume that it just didn’t make the list–leave a comment to be sure!

Share YOUR favorites!

Here’s wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.

Because, hey, even if you don’t celebrate December 25th as a holiday, you might at least be lucky enough to have it off from work, or be taking at least a few hours off to hang out with the family. And even if you don’t even do that, I certainly hope you have a wonderful day, so … be as non-denominationally merry as you can!

• Do you have a magic trick to get your writing started each day?

• Do you have a specific routine that you must follow before you can settle down to work?

• Do you have a lucky charm on your desk? A piece of jewelry you must be wearing? Some kind of talisman to ward off writers block and bad grammar?

We writers seem to be a superstitious bunch. If we don’t get to read the morning’s Pooch Cafe comic, we can’t write. If there was only enough coffee for three mugs full, we can’t write. If the internet is broken and we can’t check our email, we can’t write. If we can’t find our fuzzy bunny slippers, we can’t write. If we can’t find our favorite green pen and have to use a blue one instead, we can’t write.

This intrigues me.

I don’t think of myself as having a standard routine I have to follow each day to write. I don’t spin clockwise three times and spit on my shoulder (ick), or drop crumbs as offerings to the Writing Gods (and my dog), but that doesn’t mean I don’t have certain things I need just so to be able to write–especially the creative, fiction stuff. I can’t stand having clutter on my desk, and I can’t write at all with any type of audible words around me. No television, no radio (except, perhaps, classical music). If there are words to be listened to, my brain tends to latch on and then I can’t think of my own. Heck, I can’t fall asleep with the television on, either, I’m too busy listening to the dialogue.

While I lack a specific, superstitious routine, though, I do have a couple personal talismans I like to keep around.

One is this necklace:

Hope necklace

I bought this back in 2008 from Kathryn Riechert’s Etsy shop, when we started having family financial issues and I needed something tangible to remind me that Hope was vital. Except for the weekends when I usually don’t bother putting on any jewelry at all, I’ve worn this just about every single day since then. The fact that the chain constantly eats my hair I just put up with because, well, hope can sometimes be painful. Even an optimist like me can use a reminder now and again.

Penny for your thoughts ring

The other is this ring from Nina Gibson Designs, which I find wonderfully symbolic for a freelance writer. First, it’s made from money … sure, it’s just a penny, but when you collect enough of them, it really starts to matter … and anyway, it’s the symbolism thing.

Penny for your thoughts band

And then, the band is stamped with “Penny for your thoughts,” which is the whole point, don’t you agree? Because my thoughts ARE worth money, and even more, I want people to be offering to pay for them. Anyway, it’s symbolic (and it didn’t come in silver dollars, which would have been way too big to wear anyway).

So … I shared mine.

What lucky routines, talismans, charms, superstitions, or habits do YOU have to get you writing?

You may have heard, it’s been all over the internet today– in the freelance writing world, at least–our buddy James from Men with Pens is, in fact, not a man at all. She is a single mother who was driven to writing under a pseudonym as a means for putting food on the table for her two kids.

Why the pen-name? Because it was easier to find work, easier to get the rates she deserved, by using a man’s name. She (and it’s going to take some time to get used to this pronoun) says that when she would apply for the same job, using both her real name and her pen-name, the name made a difference.

I was still bringing in work with the other business, the one I ran under my real name. I was still marketing it. I was still applying for jobs — sometimes for the same jobs that I applied for using my pen name.

I landed clients and got work under both names. But it was much easier to do when I used my pen name.

I find this fascinating and not a little depressing.

I was born in the mid-1960s and have lived my entire life hearing about feminism, equal rights, the NOW organization, the glass ceiling … all of it. Women earn less than men for the same work. Many jobs aren’t “suited” for women because they’re too technical, important, or whatever nonsense. (That works in reverse, too; just try being a male nurse or kindergarten teacher). Women’s Studies was an available major when I went to college, as if women needed our own, pink, ruffly little classes so we’d feel included while not interfering with the important, male-dominated topics.

The point, though, is that I grew up believing that I could do anything I wanted to, and that, by the time I was an adult, the fact that I was a woman wouldn’t matter anymore.

I can’t tell you how sad I am to learn that that’s not true, not even on the internet. Not even when it’s a matter of writing, which can be done equally well (or badly) by men or women–writing talent is NOT gender-based.

Do I blame the talented and driven James Chartrand for doing what she had to do to support her family? Not in the least. Do I feel betrayed or deceived, by the male-persona lie, not to mention left out for not having known the secret? Well, maybe a tiny bit, in the first few minutes as I pulled myself up off the floor. (Concussion from falling to the floor will do that, you understand.) After the shock wore off, though, I was filled with nothing but admiration for the way she tricked that gender-biased system … and, a little, a wish I’d thought of it first.

But here’s my question to you.

Why do you suppose that this gender bias exists? Especially in the freelance writing field?

In the multitude of comments in Copyblogger’s post today, there were a couple mentions of the old New Yorker cartoon. “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” If you’re hiring someone to write a webpage, does it matter if the writer is a man or a woman? Maybe, perhaps, in some instances. If your site talks about tips and tricks for breastfeeding your baby, a male writer might not do as good a job as a woman–though I’m sure he could still write decent copy, with some research. And vice versa for a site on, say, motorcycles (or pick the male stereotype of your choice.)

My biggest question, I suppose, isn’t why clients might assume that they could pay women less than they’re paying men for the same number of written words … they probably pay them less for answering phones, making sales calls, and working in human resources, too. It’s what they DO. They pay women less.

No, my biggest question is … why do we women let them? Why do we accept less pay? I can (almost) understand that in some traditionally male-dominated professions, women are still having to prove themselves. (I mean, gosh, it’s only been a few decades, right?) But … writing? Women have been writing for centuries, and it’s not like we spend our time swooning on the chaise these days, in between embroidery stitches. We’re too busy running after our jobs, our kids, our spouses, our dogs, and our sanity. You know, just like many of the men are.

Is it because we were taught differently? Did our mothers somehow encourage us to accept less, even while telling us to reach for the stars? Or is it simply because we have not put our collective foot down and say, “Enough, already?” I’ve never been a radical feminist, even when it was popular. I figured I already deserved equality, and any perqs beyond that were up to me.

Thanks, James (or whatever your name is), for showing everyone that gender doesn’t matter when there’s a brain and a talent at work.

You know, for those people who hadn’t figured it out already.

Yes, my name is Deb Boyken, and yes, I am a female writer. Proud of it, in fact.

Not only that, I’m proud that almost every comment I’ve seen on this topic today–mostly from the freelancing/writing community–has been supportive and generally in the “What difference does it make?” arena. At least we writers know the facts.

It’s the writing that matters. Not the gender.

Now, we just have to convince the rest of the world…

Do you know  the most powerful tool a writer has in his or her arsenal?

Telling a story.

I’m not talking about a fairy tale that starts with “Once upon a time” and ends with “happily ever after.” I’m talking about the kind of story that immediately makes your readers interested in what you have to say, and how it affects them.

The best stories start with a character having a problem.

His wife leaves. A hurricane destroys his house. The aliens invade. On top of that, he just got fired from his job  just as his parents are due to come visit, and he’s coming down with a cold. And it’s only Monday. You’re immediately drawn in–HOW is he going to manage?

Or, maybe you prefer non-fiction, and you’re wondering how the doctors will cure the plague, how Louisiana is going to handle massive flooding, or how Abraham Lincoln is going to convince his biggest rivals to help him hold the Union together. It doesn’t matter, which. The point is, you’re going to care.

The gripping stories pull you in right away by making you curious, and making you care about the outcome.

They add some kind of human interest–you’re not just reading about statistics, you’re reading about how the hurricane of the century affected ONE person, or how a global crisis affected one small town. It’s immediate. It’s visceral.

You don’t start with, “Once upon a time, there was unemployment of over 10% and the Great Depression was spread across the globe.” No, you start with “Once upon a time, when every tenth person couldn’t find work, one man was determined to create jobs for every one, no matter what the cost. This is his story.” Focusing on something or someone specific immediately makes your reader want to know what happens next.

This is a powerful, immediate tool. And you should be using it in your copywriting … right this minute. Case Studies are built on this. So is some of the best Copywriting.

Think about it. What’s the best way to get somebody’s attention? You start off with a person, just like them, who woke up one day with a problem, or an idea, something to change the world … and then you tell what they did about it.

Tell a story.

You’ll be glad you did.

(Now, the next question? Ponder this: Would this entire post have been more powerful, more helpful if I had written it as a story? If I had framed it by telling you how this technique has helped me gain clients, or write better copy, making me more successful? Of course it would! Because here’s the other, big secret … Lectures are boring. Stories are fun. Discuss!)

Joanna wants to know which post of 2009 I would consider essential? As in, showing the very essence of my blog, as well as being essential to my readers?

Man, I hate making decisions. I can almost never state that any one thing is my favorite. I can pick favorite authors, but not favorite books. I can pick favorite musicians, but not favorite songs. So, saying I need to pick ONE post to symbolize my entire year?

Um, what d’you say I share my three favorites, huh?

Let The Yeast Do the Work

Writing is like bread baking. You start with the basics.
Yeast: The initial idea. The spark that’s going to make your writing grow into a loaf of bread. (Well, you know what I mean.)
Flour: This is the substance, the main argument. Really, without the flour, what’s the point of baking? Or writing?
Water: Flour may be the building blocks, the structure, but without the water, it’s going to fall apart. This helps tie it together, blend together
Salt: The extra zing that makes it come alive, that adds savor to keep it interesting.

How NOT To Get Your Novel Published

Anybody can claim to be a novelist and then not carry through by writing an actual, well, novel.

The real challenge for being an Undiscovered Novelist is to actually HAVE a completed manuscript, one that is good, interesting, and entertaining, one that has real character development and depth, and a multi-layered plot that all ties together. A masterpiece, that is, or at least something that is good.

To have all that and still remain unpublished is tricky. It takes a master of evasion. An expert at avoidance. That’s where my distinct talents come into play. Because, naturally, my completed novel is wonderful. Every time I pull it out of mothballs, it makes me laugh, smile, cry, and tingle all the way to my fingertips, it’s so darned entertaining.

Writing Makes Everything Possible

Writing–just the mere act of putting words on paper–shapes the possibilities of our lives. Things we’ve learned. Things we want to share. Things we want to pass on to other people and other generations. Ideas. Philosophies. Poems. Emotions. Stories. Drama. Comedy. History.

Here’s the other thing about my Dad that confuses me. (Well, there’s more than two, but I’m trying to focus, here.)

When he reads for pleasure, he likes mysteries, or those adventure kinds of stories where the hero saves the world because he uncovered the enemy’s secret plan just in time.

If you give him a book that simply tells a story, though … he’s bored. He wants a plot that’s working to solve something, or to figure something out, otherwise it’s too mundane; there’s no point. Okay, I can appreciate that. I like books like that, too. Yet, if I hand him a book that tells a real-life story of defeating a terrorist plot, or saving the world by deciphering a code just in time, he says that’s boring, too, because it’s history.

Sigh.

No point? Boring?

Obviously my father doesn’t understand the point of a good story … It’s not just that they are entertaining, but they are about problem-solving.

The detective is presented with a twisty murder and must follow the clues to find the killer. The FBI agent catches wind of a plot to destroy the Capitol building and races against time to prevent it. How is that different than reading about the problems the Allies faced in deciphering the Enigma Machine in WWII? Or how we finally stopped the global flu pandemic in 1914? The way those stories play out fascinate me.

Puzzles aren’t limited to mysteries, though.

Even in “quieter” stories, characters in books face problems every day.

They may not be life-and-death, but there are always puzzles to solve. How to make ends meet. How to raise the children after the husband takes off. How to rehabilitate the troubled dog you brought home from the shelter. How to keep your close-knit group of friends together after college. How to find the girl who left the shoe in the ballroom.

The best stories have some kind of conflict, something that need to be solved or fixed or prevented.

Sure, that can be a person with a gun or a vengeful serial killer, but they could also be the character’s own memories that prevent them from succeeding, or the dysfunctional family that comes to him for help every minute of the day.

The trick as a writer (and not just a fiction writer) is to find the problem and tell how the protagonist solved it.

Because, obviously, keeping my father entertained is hard.

My father is a puzzle to me. He watches sports for entertainment, for example, and when I protest that I prefer watching something with a story, he tells me “It’s all about stories.” He believes (I’m guessing) the strategies and the occasional player biography means that watching the events of a game unfold makes it a story.

This logic of his makes no sense to me.

Saying that a football game is a story is like saying a rainbow is a poem. It can inspire one, certainly, it can become one, but it is not one while it is happening.

The story is what happens later, when you’re TELLING what happened. The event itself is no more a story than the list of to-do items in your schedule is a journal. (Although I’ll grant that the instant replays can qualify as anecdotes–little, mini-stories.)

A story isn’t a story until you define it by the explanation of what happened and why.

Think about history. You can look at it and figure out how the pieces fit together to make the Battle of Gettysburg or the discovery of penicillin possible at just that moment in time. While it’s happening, you might get that little frisson up your spine of “We’re making history, here” but what you’re doing is participating in the events that become history.

When you tell it to other people, it becomes history–before that, it’s just current events. A sporting event in progress is just a game. You don’t know the story of the game until it’s over.

Mind you, I’m not saying there aren’t any similarities.

When you watch a sporting event, you do have many of the features that make for a good story–you know who the main protagonists are, and are usually rooting for one of them. You have the rush of adrenalin at knowing something is going to happen, but not knowing how it’s going to play out. There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end, and the people in charge are trying to plot for every possibility. Presumably you’re interested in the outcome, or you wouldn’t be watching at all. And, of course, you want to know how it turns out.

But it’s still not a story. It becomes a story later that day when you tell a friend, “I saw the best game today! Our guys were down 5-to-2 and it didn’t look like they could possibly win, but then…”

See, Dad? Even the most exciting event–the birth of a child, a marriage proposal, a successful defense of your country, the final game in the World Series–is just an event.

It doesn’t become a story until you tell it.

Imagine this: You’re busy all the time. You’ve got more assignments than you know what to do with. You’re running continually just to get things done and still find time to see your kids for five minutes once a week.

How did your schedule get away from you?

First, congratulations on being so busy that you’re almost too busy. Hopefully, most of your full schedule stems from your booming business.

Not that that’s necessarily true. You can be busy trying to build your business. Or running errands. Shuttling the kids back and forth to school and soccer practice.

Or maybe you’re simply not the most organized person.

So, how can you reel it back under control?

Keep a calendar.
Remember that old saw about “a place for everything, and everything in its place?” It not only works for keeping your home and office neat, it works for your time, too. Do you have things that need to be done? Write them down. Then you can not only stop worrying about remembering to do them, but you have the time blocked off for it to make sure you do.

Make a plan.
Take a few minutes every day to think ahead to what you need to do. Plot out where you need to be, what you need to get done. (Don’t forget to stop for lunch.) Even just 10 minutes at the beginning of the day will make your work flow purposefully, rather than bouncing around like the ball in a pinball machine. You have time at the beginning of the day, before you’ve started answering emails, before you’ve started making phone calls—take advantage of it! You’ll accomplish more than you think.

Take good notes.
I don’t know about you, but I have a good memory. I rarely forget birthdays, I’m never late to appointments, and I can remember details from jobs I finished months ago. Yet … sometimes it fails me. I’ll say, “No, I don’t remember why we made that change,” and will search frantically for an email to back it up and … nothing. So, take notes. You never know when your own memory will fail, so it’s better to be safe than sorry—it saves all that crazed trouble-shooting later on.

Stop goofing off.
I don’t want to tell you to stop reading blogs (especially mine), or to avoid those online forums that give you support and ideas. Those are good things—but like many good things, they’re better in small doses. Like junk food, or dessert, they’re delicious, tasty, enjoyable … but a steady diet will leave you feeling bloated and tired, with no energy to accomplish anything. You can still play with your online friends, just, like Mom always said, do your homework first!

Reward yourself.
But, of course, you still deserve to play. You can’t work ALL the time. Make sure you make the time to play with your kids, take your dog for a walk, joke with your friends on Twitter, spend time with your favorite hobby. There’s no point in earning enough money for a good life if you don’t take the time to enjoy it.

Okay—your turn. What are your favorite time-management tips?

I am so conflicted about my schedule, it’s not even funny.

We’re in the process of moving from our home of 34 years, and time-management has been forefront in my mind for weeks now, as I juggle my full-time job, my freelancing, my novel-writing, blog-writing (not that you would know that, sorry) … and, oh yes, packing.

The irony is that, the more things that I have to do, and have to do right now, the less time I have to organize myself. It’s just one more item on the to-do list, right?

Well, no, not really.

When things are slow, why would you need a schedule?

I’ve gone for years at a time without keeping a schedule, or even writing things down on the calendar. Vacations might have been marked off with a highlighter, or, maybe, I’d scribble down the time of my next dentist appointment, but otherwise? I had no need to “schedule” anything. I had a regular job that I went to five days a week, followed by a quiet evening at home, curled up with my books or my computer monitor. The only thing time-related thing I had to worry about showing up to the office on time.

Who needed a schedule? It was simple enough, and routine enough, that the rare alterations like doctor visits were easy to keep in my head.

Shortly before that, though, it had been different. I had a datebook/calendar system in college to keep track of my classes, my assignments, when papers and exams were due—all the irregular things that make college life so varied.

So, why would I need a schedule now?

Obviously, the useful thing about a meticulous calendar schedule is that you don’t have to rely on your memory to show up for appointments or meet your due-dates. They’re right there in black and white. If you’re using an electronic scheduler, you can even program reminders that pop up an hour, a day, or even a week in advance—all to make sure you don’t forget the meeting with your most important client, or forget to send your Mom’s birthday card.

• Schedules can remind you of places you need to be, things you need to do.
• Schedules can remind you of the things you WANT to do—things that aren’t as firm as an actual appointment, but that are on your To-Do list.
• Schedules can serve as a record of what you’ve done. Can’t remember when you talked to John about that brochure project? Glance back through your schedule.
• Schedules can be a place to jot down ideas as they happen—just because you’ll have it with you, and not only is it important to record them when they occur, it’s important to record when they happen, for future reference. (“Oh yes, I had that idea on a Thursday afternoon, right after I spilled coffee on my keyboard.” You never know when information like that could be handy.)

There are two tricks, though.

Any calendar is useless if you don’t fill it in.

It doesn’t matter what calendar system you’re using—a paper date-book organizer, an electronic schedule, a series of post-its, or a secretary (sorry, administrative assistant). If you don’t add in the things you need to do, it’s not going to do you any good.

I’ll confess that whenever I’ve tried to institute an efficient calendar system, I’ve quickly failed, dwindling away from the routine of writing things down—just like a New Year’s diet resolution wastes away to nothing by February.

Use any system you want, but write things down, preferably before they happen. Write down the “hard” events like meetings, phone calls, appointments—those are easy—but also enter the “soft” events like reminders to follow-up with a client, or to check in with a prospect.

Writing your schedule down doesn’t help you if you never bother to look.

This is my other problem—even in those few weeks when I try to be as organized and efficient as possible about scheduling my time—I have a nasty habit of writing things down, but never actually looking at them.

You have to agree that that is not exactly efficient.

Part of the point of your calendar is to make sure you do what you need to do when you need to do it … not two days later when you look and say, “Crap, I forgot Mom’s birthday again!”

Let your brain focus on what it does best—thinking, not remembering!

Ultimately, the better you can discipline yourself to put these life details down on paper (or into the computer), the more your brain can relax and focus on how to get things done, instead of having to concentrate on remembering that it needs to do them in the first place.

So … let’s have a poll. Do you have a calendar system? What is it? Does it make your life more efficient?

It’s Blog Action Day, the annual blogging event that “unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance.” Last year’s theme was Poverty.

This year’s theme is Climate Change.

The idea, of course, is to talk about the environment. Global Warming. Melting Ice Caps. Severe storms. Acid Rain (remember that?).

These are all important topics, of course, but I figure my fellow bloggers have that covered. What I want to talk about is more the social climate. This is a blog of writing and good manners, after all, and it seems that the good manners most of us grew up with are slipping away.

Let me tell you a story. When I went to my junior prom, way back in 1984, my date … well, he drove me nuts. He was determined to adhere to all of the rules of etiquette and to be a perfect gentleman. I appreciate good manners, of course, but he took this to extremes. He didn’t just hold the door open for me, which is reasonable, but he made a point of walking on the outside of the sidewalk. He didn’t just hold my chair when I sat down to dinner (which, since I was wearing the oh-so-trendy hoop skirt a la Molly Ringwald’s bridesmaid’s dress in Sixteen Candles was actually quite helpful), he also politely waited for me outside the ladies room.

His argument? That his family had recently been out with his grandmother and she told him that it was nice to see a young man with such good manners. Well! You can imagine how thrilled that made me, because what 17-year old girl isn’t delighted to be compared to her date’s grandmother?

The point, though, is that the good manners his grandmother was so delighted to see were already falling out of fashion in 1984. Not only were standards relaxing, but there were rampaging feminists taking offense at innocent door-holdings. (“What? You don’t think I’m capable of opening a door for myself?”)

Manners have consequently only gotten worse.

We live in a world where so many things are instantaneous. Have a question? Check the internet. Want coffee? Go to Starbucks. Need to ask your mother how to cook a roast? Pull out your cell phone. Short of matter transmission, there aren’t many things any of us really need to wait for any more. Long gone are those lazy days when you would write a letter, put it in an envelope, hand it to your friendly mail-carrier and then wait a week for a reply. Now we have faxes, email, mobile phones … not to mention instant messaging and online conferencing. Twitter. Facebook.

Meteorologists talk about globally shifting weather patterns which are causing more intense storms–record-breaking hurricanes, tsunamis, tornados, and wildfires are all over the news, as are the less flamboyant but equally severe extremes like droughts and heat waves.

More and more, it seems to me that we are suffering from similar firestorms of bad manners–massive shifts in behavior, in patience, in basic courtesy. Changes in trends that have gently sloped over decades and that have recently spiked into outbursts of rage and basic rudeness, simply because it’s more acceptible than it was in the past.

Climates change. Emotional, physical, and social. Sometimes there are causes that can be seen or measured, sometimes there are not.

But it is always important to take note of the changes. There are reasons we have scientists recording tiny bits of data in weather stations around the globe–because you can’t always see the changes as they happen. It’s not until later that you look  back and see that the change started here.

Sometimes a 17-year old boy in a rented tux is just being faintly ridiculous (and annoying) because he doesn’t want to embarrass himself on a date. Sometimes he’s a metaphor for an entire metaphysical shift in the cultural mores of an entire civilization.

The trick is knowing which is which … before it’s too late to do anything about it.

Just a quick note to direct you over to my guest post at Joyful Jubilant Learning:

Because, Autumn is a Breath of Fresh Air.

I talked the other day about DIPs (Delusionally Important People). You know the ones, the ones who think they can get away with whatever they like because they’re so special. Well, I am not the only one to find these folks annoying. Check out this column from Ruben Navarrette Jr at CNN. He says, among other things,

There are many people out there, in all walks of life, who think they’re more significant than they really are. Plagued with an exaggerated sense of self-importance, they feel entitled to do whatever they want, whenever they want to do it no matter whom it hurts. The self-centered rarely think about the consequences because they’re too busy claiming what they see as their rightful place in the spotlight.

Ouch. That sounds just about spot-on to me. Just in the last week or so, we here in the U.S. of A. have had a tennis star, a musician, and a politician all speak out, in public situations, in the rudest possible manner. A member of Congress who vocally accuses the President of lying while he is in the middle of a speech is nothing if not rude. You can disagree all you like, but there is a time and place for this sort of thing. A tennis star who lambasts a referee in the worst language? Perhaps her fame is going to her head? And when a musician gets up on stage and takes the microphone away from a giddy young star who has just won an award, so he can say that a friend of his was robbed? That goes beyond rudeness.

Want another spot-on statement?

Americans have reared at least one generation of kids, or maybe two, to think of themselves as the last bottle of soda pop in the desert. We said we were building children’s self-esteem so they could be successful, but it never occurred to us that giving kids what psychologists call “cheap self-esteem” could do more harm than good by making our kids think they’re 10-feet tall and bulletproof when they’re neither. Besides, what many of these parents were really doing was feeding their own egos; by telling your kids they’re special, it confirms that you’re special for having such special kids. Isn’t that special?

I think of this as the “Gold Star Syndrome.” The minute you give everyone gold stars, is the minute that all of them become meaningless. What happened to having to earn them? What happened by showing the other people around you the kind of respect that you expect yourself? Sigh … sometimes I just cringe for the future of the human race.

So, Joanna wants to know how writing makes things possible?

Well, duh, Joanna.  What DOESN”T it make possible? (grin)

Writing makes everything possible.

For example:

Writing down instructions on how to build things.

Writing down instructions how to do things.

Writing down lessons for children so they can learn.

Writing down ideas for children so they can think.

Writing down the hard lessons for adults.

Writing down advice to make those lessons easier.

Writing down wisdom from generation to generation.

Writing down stories to inform.

Writing down stories to entertain.

Writing down stories to escape.

Writing down history so it won’t be forgotten.

Writing down possibilities so they can be met.

Writing down dreams so we have something to aim for.

Writing down anything we can imagine so we forget our limitations.

Writing down our hopes so that we don’t let our disappointments tie us down.

Writing down our wishes so that we know exactly what we are trying to accomplish.

Writing–just the mere act of putting words on paper–shapes the possibilities of our lives. Things we’ve learned. Things we want to share. Things we want to pass on to other people and other generations. Ideas. Philosophies. Poems. Emotions. Stories. Drama. Comedy. History.

If there was no language, we’d barely be able to communicate at all–certainly not the grand, huge, bigger-than-life things that make exploring life at all worthwhile.

But, if there were no writing, how would we share these Ideas between generations? Would the world still know that Galileo proved the Earth circled the sun? Would we still know about Socrates? Plato? Aristotle? Would Americans remember the ideals the founding fathers fought for in 1776? Would the Magna Carta be as bold an example of democracy? Would we even have democracy in any form? Would there be art? Would there be any point to anything other than mere survival? Would we have gone to the moon? Explored the world’s oceans? Been able to build a ship in the first place?

Writing–the mere act of putting words on paper–makes everything possible.

Amen and Hallelujah.

You may think that, as the writer, when you tell a story or write an article, you are leading your readers exactly where you want them to go. But is that really true?

Have you ever watched a dog out for a walk?

The person walks along in a straight line, glancing around a bit, but not deviating from the path. If there’s another person, they’ll be having a conversation, but very little attention is paid to the actual walk.

The dog, on the other hand, is busy. Sniffing around, veering off the sidewalk, looking for squirrels, and generally immersed in the Walk Experience. He doesn’t care that it’s almost the same walk as it was yesterday. The smells are still there for the sniffing. The sun is just as warm on his fur. He is out of the house and doing something fun, where anything can happen.

What does this have to do with writing?

Too often as writers, we get so wrapped up in trudging along the same old path, talking amongst ourselves, that we take for granted the wealth of possibilities around us. We come, we write, we get the job done, and then we move on.

But, to our readers, it’s all new. The stories and articles we write are filled with potential, like that moment in a movie theater when the lights dim and you are facing two hours of possible greatness. A reader opening a book, or clicking to a blog post, is ready and open to being entertained, or informed. Their eyes are open to possibilities.

It doesn’t matter if your mystery’s villain is predictable, or that your inspirational posts (cough) are trite. (Well, okay, it matters a little, but still.) You don’t expect to finish the latest John Grisham book feeling blown away with its originality. You’re reading John Grisham because he brings familiar things to his writing–his style, his vocabulary, his characters. The situations may be new, but the stories are familiar.

Just like walking around the block.

Your job as the writer? In this regard, it’s twofold.

First, provide the story. Just like your dog can’t enjoy his seemingly boring, every-day walk around the block on his own, you have to WRITE the story/post/article/essay for your readers to have someplace to go.

Second, let your readers bring themselves to the story. You might feel like the last thing the world needs is another romance novel, or how-to blog post, but every one offers the reader something they can’t get anywhere else–a chance to interact with you and your writing. For example, a scene you thought mundane might resonate because your reader had done something similar. Maybe a bit of throw-away dialogue might exactly mimic the fight they just had.

And, if your mundane writing efforts can resonate that way?

Think what your best work can do.

Talk about happily wagging tails.

It’s puzzling.

One of my responsibilities at my day job is writing and designing the company newsletter. Since newsletters, even the best of them, can be boring, and I figured it couldn’t hurt to put something in each issue that clients would want to look at. A reason to open the pdf that shows up in their mailboxes.

So I added a monthly puzzle.

The type of puzzle varies from issue to issue. I’ve done basic word-finds, as well as crossword puzzles and sudokus, but also double acrostics and labyrinth puzzles. Anything I can think of.

I was working on this issue’s puzzle the other day–a labyrinth puzzle. The player is faced with a grid and a list of words, and must put the words in the correct places on each line so that, a path of shaded squares leading from the center will spell out a sentence, a clue to the key of the puzzle.

As the puzzle’s creator, I know exactly what that key is. I know what the clue needs to be to solve it, and all I need to do is lay out the grid and pick the random words accordingly.

Really, it’s a lot like plotting a story.

In fact, I think the reason I’ve enjoyed doing these puzzles all these years is because I like knowing the answers. I like having the inside knowledge as to how everything works together. You can layout a crossword-puzzle grid like a Scrabble board and then, when it’s full of interlocking words, you come up with the clues … but unlike everyone else, you know exactly what the finished puzzle is going to look like. Or you plot in all the words for a word find and then throw in random letters (or, better, almost-words to through the puzzle-seekers off). Interested in Sudoku? Fill in a completely blank grid and then subtract numbers to the minimum needed for solutions.

Puzzle-creating is backward-engineering.

You start with the solution and work backwards to what will be the beginning point for everybody else.

The tricky part is that you have to be careful. If your clues are too obscure, nobody will be able to solve the problem. If there are too many complex steps, the players will be scared off. If it’s too hard, they won’t play at all.

Similarly, when you’re writing, you know exactly where you’re going, and you need to take your readers along, step by step.

If you throw too much at them at the beginning–too many facts, too many characters, too many twisting, winding paths embedded with clues–they’re going to get lost or give up. You need to make the early clues easy, to draw them in, get them hooked. If you need a Phd to solve a crossword puzzle, the puzzle’s creator has failed. (Unless the puzzle was designed strictly for, say, a specific university department and is meant to be highly detailed, but you know what I mean.)

Plots, like puzzles, need to hold together under scrutiny. All the pieces need to interlock correctly so that the finished piece can stand on its own, even if a reader has missed a clue. You can make them as multi-layered and complex as you like as long as you never, ever, ever forget that you have to make the ultimate solution accessible to a reader who doesn’t know all the ins and outs of the story like you do.

You are the mastermind, the puzzle master, but if you make your puzzle impossible for everyone else, you’ve failed. If your plots are too outrageously complex, or if you make a crucial step too obscure, you’ve failed. Your object, as the creator, is to be standing at the finish line, at the center of the maze, ready to congratulate your readers as they arrive.

In other words, writing is exactly like creating a puzzle.

See? Maybe this whole plotting business isn’t as puzzling as you thought!

What do you think?

Wanted: A Literary Agent Who Will Love My Book as Much as I Do.

I’ve tried those online dating services, like Writers Market.com, but still haven’t found The One yet. You know, the Literary Agent that will read my entire manuscript and be so enchanted that she or he will go to any lengths to put it in the hands of just the right book publisher.

Sure, there are dating services that promise to help match me up with just the right Agent, but that process is so sterile, so cookie-cutter. It can work, of course, and I’m not knocking it–you have to do what works for you–but my experience has been disappointing. The search criteria meant to help pinpoint just the perfect agent seems less than helpful. Too many of the suggested agents aren’t accepting new clients, or only clients that have been recommended (an option that WM doesn’t seem to have a filter for).

And then, the bullet-list feel of some of the entries, that just list a series of genres, without saying what the agent actually likes. What’s with that? If you’ve got a science fiction novel and they say they like sci-fi, that’s great, but how do you know what kind of sci-fi they like? I entirely understand a person (and Literary Agents ARE people) having a variety of interests, but bullet-lists just don’t cut it for me.

No, the mix-and-match online services just don’t seem to be working for me. I want to find the Literary Agent of my dreams naturally, you know? Bump into her at a coffee shop, get introduced by a mutual friend. Maybe we could both be reaching for the same book at a bookstore, and our eyes will meet, and she’ll say, “That’s one of my authors, you know.” And then I’ll say, “But, I LOVE her. She’s such a strong influence on my own novel.” “You have a novel?” she’ll ask, eyes kindling with interest …

Too romantic, you say? No such thing, say I! A relationship between Author and Agent should be so much more than a contract for mutual benefit. It should be more meaningful. Just because it should be profitable for all parties concerned doesn’t mean that there should not be fun, affection, and passion as well.

I’m not looking for just any Literary Agent. No, I’m looking for one who will read my book and fall in love with it, like I did. I’m not saying I want him or her to be blind to its faults (I’m sure there are some), but if she can’t see the wonderful points, why should either of us bother? I don’t want some fly-by-night business relationship, I want the kind of long-term partnership I’ve heard other authors dream of. And yes, I mean Partnership. Equal give and take, support, mutual esteem, respect, and … did I mention the fun and passion?

Because, let’s not forget, I’m looking for someone to help guide the interests of my baby, my 124,000-word collection of inspiration, wonder, hard work, and perspiration. I don’t want just anybody taking care of it. I need The One. Someone who will be as committed to its care, feeding, and welfare as I am … and who will be as delighted as I to see it grow and prosper.

Is that really too much to ask?

It’s one thing to talk about goals and plans, but there’s a difference between discussing something fairly straight-forward that you plan to do, and talking about The Dream.

You can talk about how you’re going to write a 400-word article, or how you hope, by the end of the year, to have an article published in a magazine, or will have finished your novel. Having plans with reasonable goals is good.

But sometimes, you have to shoot the moon. You have have to reach for the stars. You have to go for the gold. You have to pick the cliche of choice and just … go for it.

Dream the big dream.

We’ve had wise and brilliant people telling us for centuries that we are only limited by our own imaginations. External circumstances can affect us, sure, but we only truly fail when we accept that we have failed.

Or when we haven’t challenged ourselves at all.

So, today, on the 40th anniversary of Mankind walking on the moon, stop to think … what big dreams do you have?

Are you thinking about writing an article? Why not dream about it being published by Time, People, or Smithsonian?

Are you thinking about writing a book? Why not dream about it being on the NYT Bestseller list?

Are you thinking about starting your own business? Then dream about it being so wildly successful that you’ve just bought two homes and are turning clients away.

As President Kennedy said in his speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962:

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not only because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

This is a time of challenges for all of us, but ultimately, our only limits are the ones we allow ourselves to be limited by.

There is no dream too big to be dreamed.

There are no wishes too big to wish.

We may not be able to accomplish everything we hope for–world peace, prosperity for everyone, an end to disease and suffering–but they are worth fighting for. Dreaming the Big Dream is what makes us human. It makes us visionary. It makes us limitless.

On this day, on this anniversary of the day that mankind actually walked on the moon–something inconceivable for most of our history–take a moment to ask yourself: If I could do anything at all, what would I do?

And then? Ask yourself what you need to do to make that happen … and do it!

Reach for the stars.

Dear Amazon:

The first thing you need to know is that I want a Kindle. I do. I’m in the middle of trying to pare down my 3000+ volume library down to manageable size, and have to admit that an eReader that can hold half of them in its memory is tempting, to say the least. Not to mention space-saving.

It doesn’t hurt that your available Kindle library is huge. When you read as many books as I do, this is a huge bonus. And how cool is your Whispernet service, too, which would let me order books any time, any where (more or less)? No cables, no messy computer interface, just a quick order, and boom, reading within minutes. Can’t beat the convenience!

But, I’ve got a few concerns.

First–and this can’t be a big shock–is the price. I’m delighted, actually, that you just dropped the price to $299, which is now in between the Sony PRS-505 and their PRS-700BC. But, still, you have to admit that it’s not a cheap little gadget. I know, neither is an iPhone or an iTouch or a Netbook, but they can all do other things also, which helps ease the pain.

But, it’s  not just the price of the unit. I could gulp a little, take the plunge, bite the bullet, throw caution to the winds (pick the cliche you like) and splurge on the $300 (or the $480 for the bigger DX version), but I still need something to read. And, frankly, the books aren’t all that cheap! There are Kindle books that cost almost $300. (As big a fan of Shelley’s poetry, I can’t imagine spending $288 for a critique of his work.)

Okay, to be fair, there are a LOT of books available for less than $5, which I think is fabulous. But why are so many of the Kindle books you sell going for prices remarkably similar to the paper editions? Sometimes the same as or even MORE than the paper version? I am all for writers’ royalties–I hope to have some of my own someday–and I know that you and the publishers have to stay in business. I’m certainly not suggesting that you give copies of current bestsellers away for free (unless you want to). It’s nice enough that you give free samples.

But, since there are no printing costs, no postage costs, no binding, storage, or paper involved, no inventory to keep, just digital bits, shouldn’t the electronic copy of a book that’s already written and published be, well, cheaper? And not just by a few dollars, but substantially cheaper? Sure, when a brand-new hardcover is selling for $24.95 and you can get it on Kindle for $9.99, that’s a great deal. Can’t be beat. No argument. But once the book comes out in paperback, shouldn’t the Kindle version still be LESS? Like, half-the-price less?

There are other little quibbles. It’s a black-and-white reader, and color would be nice, but no rush. It would be really nice to be able to share books with friends. I understand the process for transferring pdfs and such to the Kindle for easy reading is unwieldy which is a shame since I have a lot of pdf-format ebooks already. It seriously worries me that there’s no changeable battery. I try to avoid buying ANY electronics that don’t have a battery pack I can replace myself. That’s like buying a digital camera without a memory card, where all the pictures are stored into the camera itself, and if it dies … too bad. And, speaking of the memory card, why CAN’T the Kindle read a SD card?

But, really–here are my biggest, most serious concerns.

There’s the longevity. I’ve heard horror stories–and yes, I DO consider this a horror story–about books and magazines that people have bought that suddenly are no longer available on Kindle. Poof! Gone from the library, just like that. As a person who’s been building her own personal library for decades now (as you know, since you’ve sold me most of them), the idea of any of my books just disappearing is … disturbing. If I buy it, I want to know that it’s going to be there when I need it.

So, why couldn’t I read it on my computer? Or even print it out? I understand about the proprietary coding to keep me from buying one copy and then handing it out to four hundred of my closest friends, but what if the Kindle’s battery is charging? Or–heaven forbid–what if it’s broken? Shouldn’t there be SOME way to be able to read your books on something other than the actual Kindle? Even if I had to log into Amazon via the internet from my computer to do so?

And, don’t tell me. I could use my iPhone. But, I don’t have an iPhone and can’t get one because they’re only supported by AT&T (don’t get me started). Nor do I have an iTouch iPod, either, because my MP3 player is a different brand. I can’t afford an extra $300 just to get a back-up gadget that meets your very limited criteria for “acceptable substitute.”

You know what I’d really like to see?

(Cut to my soapbox; cue stirring, patriotic music.)

I’d like to see eBooks have standardized formats, like MP3s for digital music. Isn’t part of the beauty of this electronic age we live in the fact that exchanging information is supposed to be easier? Isn’t this little format war just like the VHS/Beta war? Where, when the dust settles, half the people will have wasted their money backing the wrong side?

I would never steal your content, or spread it illegally, but I do understand there are people who would. But I don’t consider lending a copy of one of my books to my sister is harming the authors–not if my sister wasn’t going to buy a copy anyway. Making a copy of a cd for my mother to listen to in the car seems within reasonable User Rights, since we live in the same house and she can hear the music wafting down the hallway. I know there are growing pains this eBook technology has to go through, just like the ones the music industry did when faced with illegal MP3 copies racing around the internet.

But that’s the point.

I want my eBooks to be as convenient, portable, and sharable as my paper books–or the MP3 albums on my harddrive.

I know that, if I buy a Kindle now, I will find all sorts of things wonderful, convenient, and useful. The ease of travel, the freed up shelf space, the multitude of books, will be very helpful. I WANT one of these gadgets.

But I don’t like then being totally reliant on what you, Amazon.com, allows me to do with that content that I paid for.

Words should be free. That doesn’t mean “unpaid for,” but rather “free to be shared, free to be spread.” Our very country is founded on the concept that ideas cannot be controlled or censored, and it worries me that, by putting so many restrictions on the books readable on this wonderful invention, that you’re limiting my freedom as a book-purchaser to what YOU deem appropriate.

Which is why I’m reluctant to shell out the $299 … no matter how miraculous the Kindle is. It’s not the gadget I worry about–it’s its gate-keeping restrictions on the content that concerns me.

Hoping we can come to a mutually-satisfactory agreement, I apologize for the length of this letter and remain yours,

–Deb Boyken

(stepping off the soapbox)