Category: Support

These posts provide stories–famous authors, community members, my personal experiences–and quotes which are supposed to encourage writers to keep going, even when they feel that they can’t write another word.

Writers on Writing: Neil Gaiman

For today’s “Writers on Writing”, I’m turning to another contemporary genre writer, Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is a popular English author, best known for his novels Stardust, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, and American Gods, as well as his comic book series The Sandman. He has won the Bram Stoker, Hugo, and Nebula awards and the Carnegie and Newbery medals. His novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, was even voted Best Book of the Year in the 2013 British National Book Awards. His book Stardust was adapted into a film in 2007, and American Gods has been adapted into a television series by Starz with Gaiman himself as an executive producer.

For more information on this well-received author, be sure to visit his Wikipedia page.


Image retrieved from Buzzfeed

Unfortunately, I haven’t read much of Gaiman’s works. In fact, I’ve only read Stardust. I haven’t even watched any of the movies based on his work or the American Gods TV series. Even so, I admire the man and I wouldn’t be doing the fantasy, science fiction, or horror genres justice if I didn’t talk about him.

Gaiman, like most writers, has commented on the art of writing. In this post, I want to focus on a remark he made about handling feedback/criticism.

Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

–Neil Gaiman

I find this quote very interesting as I believe it can be interpreted in two slightly different ways:

  1. Writers should be open to criticism because they very likely see something that you don’t. However, if they try and direct how you fix the problem too forcefully, their interference won’t really help because it will get in the way of your creativity and art.
  2. When critics say something is wrong or doesn’t work for them, they’re right because it’s their own opinion. You have to choose whether to act on it or not. However, if they try and force their revisions onto you, they’ll be wrong because it’s not your vision if you just follow their suggestions blindly.

No matter which of these interpretations you agree with, the second half of the statement remains the same: do not take critics too seriously if they insist on pushing their specific revisions on you.

Writers can be horrible about receiving feedback. Even if we don’t show it, we take it all pretty personally. I know I do. Feedback, even that with the best intentions, can discourage writers from that work or the craft altogether. Or worse, we ignore good feedback because we’re too attached to what we wrote originally.

Still, we need to know how readers receive our writing. After all, once it’s written and published, it no longer matters what you meant to say; all that matters is what readers think you said. It’s better to know ahead of time and adjust accordingly if we don’t like how our beta readers interpret it. More importantly, they can let us know where we make mental leaps that do not seem like leaps to us. Often we just don’t know when something isn’t as obvious as we see it.

Unfortunately, following feedback too closely could lead to a big mess of writing that even we can’t stand to read anymore. In particular, if we blindly believe when someone says that this is wrong with the draft and that we should do exactly this in order to fix it, we could be making a huge mistake and not realize it. Specific advice for how to fix a specific problem is too rigid for writing. Your writing is a growing piece of art, almost alive, in a way. If you let someone else to tamper so closely without any boundaries, they might coerce you into snipping off a life-sustaining root that only you knew about.

Of course, I don’t think Gaiman means to ignore them entirely. After all, he said that they are almost always wrong when they tell you exactly what is wrong in your writing and how to fix it. You should always keep your mind open to feedback. Regardless, take the second kind of feedback with a grain of salt. The critics cannot know your whole vision for your work; only you do. You know what it should grow into, and so you should follow your instincts about the work and use feedback more as…guidelines.

What is your interpretation of Gaiman’s advice? How should we handle feedback that points out specific problems and gives specific solutions? And where exactly is the line between being open to feedback and being pliable? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve: Showing Emotions vs. Telling Them

Happy Valentine’s Day! Whether you’re in a relationship or single, you can still spread the love today. I choose to spread the love I have for my pets, my family, and writing. That’s why I’ve chosen to address a rather tricky part of writing: expressing emotions.


The current love of my life

The issue of expressing emotions is along the same lines as the show vs. tell debate. In fact, it’s more of a specific branch of show vs. tell. The problem with expressing emotions, however, mostly has to deal with showing the emotion through actions, body language, and facial expressions versus using adverbs.

Here’s an example:

Tell: He looked at his newborn daughter lovingly.

Show: As he looked down at his newborn daughter cradled in his wife’s arms, a small smile touched his lips and tears threatened to break his tough-man facade. A warmth grew in his stomach, one which he had not felt since his wedding day.

Cheesy, I know, but you get the point. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather read the “show” of the man’s love than the “tell.”

What’s the difference?

Readers love sensory details. These details pull them into that world and, in this case, that emotion. An adverb such as “lovingly” just does not build the same connection between the reader and the character as sensory details do.


Image retrieved from The Strangest Situation

Mind you, sometimes you just need an adverb. That’s fine. Yet you must be careful with how you use one. Stop and think, “How would I react to this sentence as a reader? Would it make me feel the character’s emotions, or am I just going through the motions? Can I replace this adverb with something more accurate and descriptive?” (I’ll get into the general adverb use controversy at another time; right now I want to focus more on showing vs. telling emotions.)

Of course, you don’t always want to use elaborate descriptions for emotions. Spending a paragraph to describe a character’s reaction to their breakfast will grow tedious. (Unless, that is, they haven’t had eaten breakfast in ten years because they’ve been in jail. Then you will want to take the time to describe it.) You have to pick and choose which emotions you provide in detail.

As with most aspects of writing, this concept is easier said than done. You have to decide when you should expand on an emotion. Sometimes you do, sometimes an adverb will suffice, and sometimes you just need a brief visual cue in your character or flat out say what the emotion is. You need a good feel for your writing in order to choose the best method.

Your narrative will be too slow with too much description. You also shouldn’t allow your descriptions to be too cheesy or played-out. Still, brushing over important emotions and/or only using adverbs to describe them disconnect the readers from the story and can even create a choppy narrative. It’s a balancing act, and sometimes you will fall too much to one side or the other. In that case, all you can do is take it as a learning experience and start again.

How much emphasis should be put on emotions in fiction? Should you show emotions, tell them, or make a mix of both? How do you approach this dilemma? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Marketing: The Forgotten Step in Writing

Writers like to let their work speak for itself. Unfortunately, even in the modern world that alone will not get people to read your writing–perhaps especially in the modern world. Readers are bombarded every day with new material, from novels and poetry to news articles and magazines. How can we make our writing stand out from the rest? Well, how does any product or service stand out? Through marketing.

Marketing spreads the word about a poetry collection or book series as well as it does for a car or smartphone. To the writer, a book is art. To the public, it’s a product. Like any other product, it must be marketed or its audience won’t grow.

If you’re published traditionally, your publisher will help you with some of the marketing. (Just remember that you still have a lot of heavy lifting to do as well.) If you’re self-published or published through a smaller press, you’ll have to take on more of the marketing yourself. In fact, you have to do it all yourself if you’re self-publishing. Some self-published writers can afford to hire someone to handle the marketing campaign, but most cannot.


Image retrieved from Snap Editing

Right about now you might be thinking, “I’m a writer, not a marketer!” Well, yes and no. You are a writer, but that doesn’t exclude you being a marketer.

Many writers are unintentional marketers. Do you tell people about your latest work as soon as it’s published? Give out free copies to friends and family? Then you’re already marketing.

Of course, there are more “professional” ways that writers can market their work. Let your audience read the first couple chapters of your new book for free on your website. Host a giveaway. Hold a book reading at your local library. You can even make a book trailer, if you’re so inclined.

Even the most experienced and famous writers market their own writing, whether or not they realize it. While the Boy Who Lived is still the face of the franchise, J.K. Rowling handles the bulk of marketing for her books just by staying in the public eye. The same rings true for Stephen King. Even Anne Rice and her son Christopher market their own books; after all, they regularly discuss their writing and occasionally hold giveaways. (Giveaways which my mom jumps on every chance she gets.)

Now, when your entire public life is essentially a marketing tool for your writing, you have to be careful. Everything you Tweet, post, comment on, whatever could bite you in the butt and shrink your readership. This issue has been debated in regards to J.K. Rowling recently. Conversely, you can also gain readers through advertising or posting something which alienates others. Regardless, that’s all best left for another time and another post.

You can’t assume that someone else will market your writing for you. You can’t even rely on word-of-mouth or reviews from loyal readers. Don’t shy away from marketing your work just because you aren’t a “professional” marketer or business person. As writers, we have to take control of getting our writing noticed. Otherwise, we might never be anything more than someone who put pen to paper.

Do you market your writing? How? With all the “marketing for writers” resources out there, have you found any that are helpful? Leave your thoughts and advice in the comments below.


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Special Announcement: Kickstarter for The Present is a Gift by Elchanan Ogorek

Hello, everyone! I want to take some time today to tell you about a kickstarter for a special children’s book called The Present is a Gift by Elchanan Ogorek.

The Present is a Gift teaches children about mindfulness using animals. As you can read on Ogorek’s kickstarter page, these animals teach the readers about several aspects of mindfulness, including:

  • Living in the moment
  • Being curious
  • Paying attention to the little details
  • Accepting yourself
  • Staying focused
  • And more!

On top of these lessons, each animal demonstrates a different yoga pose. As you can see in the picture below, they also provide useful facts for the reader.

Perhaps the best part of this book is the author himself. Elchanan Ogorek is not only a father but also a social worker. As such, he genuinely wants to help young readers and teach them how to apply mindfulness to their lives. That way, they can become happier, more relaxed, and more grateful adults later.

You’re probably wondering why Ogorek has started a kickstarter for this book. What costs could a children’s book incur?

All $5,000 are going to one of the most frustrating yet satisfying parts of the writing process: publication. The money raised from this kickstarter will help to publish, market, and distribute The Present is a Gift.

We all know how pricey indie publishing can be, even for the simplest books. However, I think this book is worth the money and effort. I’ve always been a very anxious person; it’s only gotten worse in adulthood. I think that, like everything children encounter at an early age, this book could instill values and habits into its readers which will help them deal with stress and anxiety later on. I, for one, want the next generation to be a lot less wound-up than mine.

To learn more about The Present is a Gift and contribute money for its publication, check out the kickstarter campaign. But you should hurry–there’s only 11 days left in the campaign!

If you know about any worthy book-related kickstarters or charities, please e-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and it might be featured in a future post.

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Writing Contests: Staunch Book Prize

TGIF, everyone! I want to start this weekend by telling you about a new writing contest–and when I say new, I mean brand new. This year is the first year of a new annual contest called the Staunch Book Prize. I’m pretty excited because this contest requires writers to really stretch their writing muscles.

What is the Staunch Book Prize? It’s a contest which calls for thriller novels in which “no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered.” If you’re familiar with the thriller genre, you’ll know how often writers fall back on these techniques to make a “thrilling” novel, and that’s why I think this could be a good creative exercise for those willing to try it.

Here are the basic guidelines, beyond the topical concept, for the Staunch Book Prize:

  • Authors of any nationality who are over the age of 18 on the closing date may enter.
  • Traditionally-published and self-published books may enter so long as they were provably published within 18 months of the closing date. Works not yet published are also welcomed.
  • Entries must be in English, but translations are allowed.
  • Authors, agents, or publishers may submit entries so long as they comply with the submission formatting.
  • The entry, all in ONE DOCUMENT, should include the first 5,000 words of the manuscript (double-spaced, 12pt font) and a one-page synopsis (single-spaced, 12pt font).
  • NO IDENTIFYING NAMES OR MARKS ON THE ENTRY; enter in PDF or Word doc format
  • Completed novels–which should be at least 50,000 words long–will be requested by the end of August.
  • There is an entry fee of £20 per entry (multiple submissions accepted)
  • The entry period is February 22, 2018, through midnight BST on July 15, 2018.
  • The prize is £2,000, and the winner will be announced on November 25, 2018, to coincide with International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

There is one issue being brought against this contest. Namely, the Staunch Book Prize has been criticized by a writer for The Guardian for supposedly ignoring brutality against women.

I am split on The Guardian‘s opinion. Well, their writer’s opinion. On the one hand, I understand where she (the writer) is coming from. We cannot ignore brutality against women. We need books which represent the all-too-prominent problems of women being beaten, stalked, raped, exploited, etc. On the other hand, I also understand the stance taken by the founder of the Staunch Book Prize. The thriller genre is rather notorious for making women victims and putting them through horrific situations before they can feel empowered. This disproportionate representation doesn’t really seem fair, does it?

I would love to see more thrillers in which women are not tortured like that. Frankly, it’s demoralizing when so many books in a genre depict women that way. Can’t we have as many thrillers that use strong female leads as that explore the horrors that our patriarchal society and rape culture have forced upon us? That’s why I support this contest, so that we as writers can make women feel empowered but also bring attention to the important issues.

To make your own judgment on this debate, check out this article from The Guardian.

For more information about the Staunch Book Prize and to enter starting February 22nd, please visit the contest’s website.

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

 

AND CO from Fiverr

So, I’m sure that all freelance writers and editors working with Fiverr have heard about Fiverr’s acquisition of the company AND CO. Frankly, Fiverr has covered it so much that it’s hard to miss. For those who haven’t heard, here’s the announcement on Fiverr’s blog, “The Do List”.

I’m sure most of you are thinking what I first did: so what? Why does it matter to writers and editors if Fiverr acquired AND CO? Well, for those of us running our own freelancing businesses, it means a great deal. The most important implication, however, is that AND CO services are now FREE.

What is AND CO? Why would freelancers care that their services are now free?


Image retrieved from dribble

AND CO is a freelance software which helps you do all the bookkeeping and nasty office stuff so that you can focus on creating. There’s an income and expenses tracker, a place to organize your projects (including sending invoices), and you can even write and sign contracts vetted by the Freelancers Union with your clients. Essentially, it can serve as your accountant, to-do list, and office assistant all in one.

Imagine all the time you could free up for editing and writing! Besides, it’ll be far more efficient than trying to keep track of everything in three or five programs and/or a hand-written planner.

AND CO from Fiverr has only been available for free for about a week, but I’ve already gotten a lot of use out of it.

I can finally keep track of my income and expenses without having to wrestle with Microsoft Excel. The graphs which AND CO generates also help me understand my net profit/loss much better, and the visual really gives me a feel for where I’m spending too much for my business and where I have a little more wiggle room.

I can also more easily keep a handle on my projects, both within and outside of Fiverr. So long as I remember to enter them into my tasks list, I have access to all of my projects in one place.

Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten the chance to try out the invoice creator yet. I should soon, though, probably within a week, and I’ll let you know how that turns out.

If you want to learn more about AND CO and give the software a try, make sure to check out their website.

What do you think about this acquisition? Can freelance writers and editors benefit from it? What would you do if you could save time on managing the administration of your freelance business? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

What Prose Writers Can Learn From Poetry

Happy Saturday, valued readers! It’s finally the end of a busy and emotionally-conflicting week. Today I want to go down a route I’ve only explored on here a handful of times: poetry.

It seems that, nowadays, prose writers and poets are at odds. Poetry has taken a backseat to prose, with fiction becoming more popular among the masses. Even some prose writers have an aversion to reading poetry. Then we have the issue of which form better utilizes the art of writing. Poets argue that their work requires a better mastery of language, while prose writers argue that they have to be just as skillful in their pieces.

Honestly, this semi-rivalry is pointless. Whether you write poetry or prose, we all share a love of the craft and work hard to make sure our art is the best it can be. Many writers even straddle the prose/poetry boundary, choosing to work in both forms.


Image available at Waterstone Creations

John Milton and T.S. Eliot wrote both poems and essays. Edgar Allan Poe, while most famous for his short stories, is most praised for his poem “The Raven”. Ursula K. Le Guin, the late fantasy/science fiction icon, also composed poetry along with with her novels and essays. Despite the fact that I’m much better at prose works than poems, I dabble in both forms as well.

I think that all writers would do well to try both forms at least once, but I think prose writers in particular could learn a lot from poetry.

Poems require a level of control and concision that is paralleled in prose only by flash fiction. Even short stories, which need a lot of restraint to be done well, do not quite match poetry in this area. Poems can be long, but they must generate a flow and rhythm, which necessitates a careful use of words. Descriptions must be vivid and precise; each individual word must deliver a powerful punch; and some lines even have to deliver double-meanings in fewer words.

I know many prose writers could learn from this practice. (I happen to be among them.) Sometimes the freedom of prose, the lack of expectations regarding form, can make us a little sloppy with word choice, and we tend to ramble. That’s why editing is so important for prose writers. It’s important for poets as well, but it seems that prose writers don’t always pay as much attention to details as poets even in the editing stage.

Now, that’s not to say that prose does not require control and concision. I’m saying the opposite, in fact. The language in prose needs as much attention and honing as the language in poetry. The difference is that prose writers don’t always make that extra effort–they usually claim they are more “storytellers” than “writers.” Regardless, I think that prose writers would do well to take a page out of the poet’s book.

What do you think? Could prose writers learn from dabbling in poetry? And vice versa? Which do you prefer to write? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Fantasy and Science Fiction: Underestimated Genres

Fantasy and science fiction are genres very near and dear to my heart. I grew up on fantasy series such as Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. Late in middle school I developed a taste for science fiction, in particular Anne McCaffrey’s The Dragonriders of Pern and Crystal Singer series. Now, fantasy and science fiction are intricately woven into my life, from what I read to what I watch on TV to how I connect with others.

Despite this love for these genres, however, I still find myself hesitating to tell people that I write such stories. Why? Well, the answer is very simple: these genres are not seen as “literary.”

Keep in mind, the term “literary” is incredibly subjective and difficult to define. For some readers, it merely requires a high standard of writing. For others, the works have to be more character-driven than plot-driven, pedestrian fiction rather than anything more extraordinary, addressing specific socio-cultural or socio-political themes, or, most frustrating to me, only within “realistic” genres.

No matter what the definition, fantasy and science fiction are almost never included. Unfortunately, the more vocal members of the writing community tend to look down upon anything that they do not consider “literary,” thus suppressing works from other genres which could, in fact, change the world.

This bias doesn’t just exist within the writing world and literature. George Lucas was rejected repeatedly by studios when pitching the first Star Wars movie because science fiction was “for children” and a “dead genre.” (Well, George Lucas sure proved them wrong, didn’t he? It almost destroyed him, but he did.)

These genres are considered “popular fiction” and, some argue, “low brow.” Yet when we put down any genre like that, we give into elitism and ignore the possibilities lying in wait.

Fantasy and science fiction give us an empty canvass on which we can paint any story, any socio-political and/or socio-cultural commentary, that we can imagine. The fantastic settings that these genres provide us give us virtually free reign to explore human nature without all of the restraints we face in realistic genres.


Image retrieved from Wikipedia

I think that Ursula K. Le Guin put it best in an article for Smithsonian Magazine in 2014:

Anything at all can be said to happen [in the future] without fear of contradiction from a native. The future is a safe, sterile laboratory for trying out ideas in, a means of thinking about reality, a method.

Science fiction and fantasy–whether it takes place on a planet far away in the year 3130, a land untouched by technology but ruled by magic, or side-by-side with our own world–allow the writer to explore what matters most to him/her with only the restrictions they put on the worlds they built themselves. The struggle for a planet like Pandora becomes a metaphor for colonization; Middle Earth serves as the battleground between man and nature; and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix illustrates the issues of governmental oppression, censorship, and the injustice of imprisonment without a proper trial.

Many works in these genres take advantage of this potential; even if the writers don’t purposefully include any socio-political/socio-cultural commentary, the themes still slip into the narrative. However, I feel that writers and readers both could recognize and utilize this potential more readily. After all, these genres aren’t just “children’s stuff” or “low-brow popular fiction.” They are virgin worlds waiting to be explored.

What do you think? Do you think that science fiction and fantasy could be used for socio-political and socio-cultural commentary? Do you think that writers take advantage of this potential enough or that readers recognize it? Or do you think that these genres just belong to the world of trade paperbacks, a relaxing read for when you want to escape and be entertained? Is there a happy medium between the two extremes? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Janus and a Writer’s Endless Possibilities

Greetings, readers and writers! Today I am going to give you an exclusive glimpse into the chaos which is my mind. Namely, I’m going to walk you through one of my random tangents in which I connect two seemingly-unrelated subjects: the Roman god Janus and the endless possibilities available to writers.

First, a brief mythology lesson. Janus is the Roman god of beginnings, endings, doorways, passages, gates, time, and duality. He is depicted with two faces, one looking to the past and one looking to the future. Janus is an uniquely Roman god, meaning that the ancient Greeks had no equivalent.

Before you ask, no, the month of January was not named after Janus. Many people attribute the month to him–and it would make perfect sense–but ancient Roman farmer’s almanacs claim that it’s named for Juno.


Image retrieved from Wikipedia

Now that you know more about Janus, you probably have a rough idea as to why I’ve connected him with all the opportunities available for a writer.

I’ve been thinking a lot about choices lately, especially choices I’m having to make regarding my career and education. I’m busy, overly tired, and have way too much to do. It forces me to prioritize and make tough decisions. I’m even having to decide how to use my writing skills. These sorts of decisions are common among writers.

Everyone faces numerous choices on a daily basis, and this is especially true for writers when handling their career and craft. Some of the most basic choices writers have to make include:

Prose or poetry?

Fiction or non-fiction?

Short story or novel?

Traditional publishing or self-publishing?

Maintain a conventional job while writing or become a full-time writer?

This list just barely scratches the surface. We have to decide what to write, when to write, how to publish our writing, how to market it, the choices we have to make just go on and on. Janus really has his hands full with us.

Just as there exists a duality to Janus, so there is also a duality to having all these choices. On the one hand, having to make so many decisions is draining. Sometimes it feels like we will never reach the end of the tunnel–or worse, we’ll make the wrong decision and throw our careers entirely off track and force ourselves to start all over. On the other hand, so many opportunities means that when one door closes, another one opens. Even when we feel like we have no other option, we can find another way if we just look.

Janus is the god of beginnings and ends. The two concepts are virtually inseparable; everything that begins must come to an end, and everything that ends once had a beginning. That’s why choices are so overwhelming, but it’s also why they are so good for us. We end a chapter with each decision we make, but we also begin a new one. The possibilities are endless, and so are the paths we can take in order to fulfill our writing ambitions.

That’s my mind for you: a little bit random, a little bit pointless, and way more complicated than it needs to be.

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

A Writer’s New Year’s Non-Resolution

Greetings, readers and writers! January and 2018 have both officially started, and I’m sure that a lot of you have started on your New Year’s resolutions. Heck, I’m guessing a fair number have already failed their resolutions. I personally dislike the concept and have come across what I consider a much better alternative. Let’s call this alternative a New Year’s non-resolution.

I can’t take credit for the idea behind the New Year’s non-resolution. A few days ago, I got an e-mail from The Writer’s Life, which is sent out by American Writers & Artists, Inc. (AWAI). The e-mail contained a brief article by Mindy McHorse, executive editor for Barefoot Writer, called “Forget Resolutions: Do THIS for Writing Success”. In this article, McHorse discusses why New Year’s resolutions fail and presents an alternative which she has been doing for years.

I don’t really want to get into why resolutions fail (they’re hard to maintain, we feel like failures if we slip up once, etc.). Instead, I want to focus on McHorse’s alternative. It’s very simple but also very powerful. McHorse’s alternative is to choose one word to guide you and your actions through the entire year.


Image retrieved QuizzStar

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but this non-resolution has so much potential. One example McHorse gives is if your word for the year is “fun.” Let’s say your asked to go to some social event, like an office party or family dinner. When making your decision, you ask yourself, “Will this be fun?” If you think it will be, you go for it. If you think it won’t, you politely decline. This would save you from a potentially boring or stressful event while also guiding you to outings that will truly make you happy because you would genuinely think they’re fun.

McHorse points out that your word can help you in your writing and in your life overall. It’s not as stressful as a New Year’s resolution because there aren’t any huge expectations for you to fall short of. At the same time, using this word is broad enough that you can apply it to every aspect of your life, from work and writing to your social and private lives.

For my first year enacting a New Year’s non-resolution, I’m choosing the word “balance.” My life has certainly been out of balance this past year and, I think, my entire life. I tend to focus mostly–or entirely–on one thing in my life and let others slip through the cracks. Then, as I scramble to make things right, I become stressed and fail to meet my own expectations. By using the word “balance” to guide my life in 2018, I will be forced to remember that my life shouldn’t be all work or all school, that I have to find time for everything, even if it means cutting back on something in order to achieve a better balance.

Which word will guide your life in 2018? Leave your New Year’s non-resolution in the comments below and check out what other writers have planned! To read McHorse’s article and sign up for The Writer’s Life, follow this link to AWAI website.

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011