By Cheryl Rushing

Image by thorinside via Flickr

Today was a very light day, because today was a very heavy day.  My day job seemed more like a nightmare than a way to make a living.  It’s gotten to be mid-evening now, and I’m just not willing to write anything tonight.

Here’s what I got done today:

1.  Personal blog post.

After work I ran by the library and picked up a copy of The Well-Fed Writer.  I’m on page 13 (Chapter Two) and I can already tell that I am going to have to buy the book.  I really like what he has to say.  He thinks the way I think, and after the day I had today, I could definitely seeing living the life he talks about.

Tomorrow I will be doing lots of writing.

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I had big plans for today but my day job exhausted me, so production was light.

1.  Personal blog entry.

2.  Personal blog entry about Haiti.

I think I will be taking a long weekend to get some assignments done.  I might possibly do more writing tonight, but I doubt it.

I did add a page with some links to web writing I have done in the past, so please check those out.

I’ve been mulling this over for a while, and I decided that I might try it and see how I like it.   Probably the most important advice I’ve ever read but can’t remember the source of is “If you want to be a writer, write.”

So I shall write.  I think I write much more and more often than I realize, so here is where I am going to try to start keeping track.

Today, January 12, 2010, I wrote the following:

1.  Website copy for my local Mensa chapter.

2.  A blog post for my personal blog.

3.  A paid blog post/SEO.

4.  Another paid blog post/SEO.

The plan is, if I wrote it and I can link to it, I will.  This helps me keep track of my productivity, and might provide some work samples for prospective clients.

Today I received a copy of the 2010 Writer’s Market Deluxe (the one that includes one year of access to writersmarket.com), and the plan is to start scouting the magazine markets for a series of articles I would like to write about a certain topic.  I’ve got some great ideas for the series, and I am going to start writing those this weekend, if not sooner.

I also have a couple of novels in the works, though those are just for play at this point.  I will probably do a little work on “JT” tonight.  That’s the one foremost in my brain lately.

I hope that you have a productive week.  That’s my plan.

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When my favorite writers group splintered last year, I went looking for a new group.  A new one had been created from my old one, but it met too far away.

The same state association also created another group that meets in my area, but it didn’t have the same feel for me as the first one.  I then tried a different association, but it was also far away.

Most of these associations focused on book authors, something I do not believe that I am.  I have books in various stages of work, but nothing complete and I don’t know if that will ever happen to me.

I met with my friend and mentor, Lisa Wroble, last year, and she told me that she was a part of the Florida Freelance Writers Association.  I had never heard of it, but she told me about the group, and I thought it was worth looking into.

The group doesn’t have any meetings, but they have a ton of resources.  I joined online and got a (non-canned) confirmation e-mail and then a big packet of paperwork in the mail that included press credentials (!!) and the last 4 issues of the national and state association newsletters.

I decided not to renew my memberships to the other two state associations, which paid for this membership.  Already I’m impressed by what I’ve learned from the newsletters, and the amount of resources they provide.  I’ve only had the new packet less than a week.

I highly recommend Florida Freelance Writers Association.  If you decide to join, please let them know Cheryl Rushing referred you!

In my last post I talked about the Outlander series and how, being almost finished with the second book (Dragonfly in Amber) I was simply not going to read any further into the series.

Well, damn Diana Gabaldon and her ability to suck you in, because the minute I finished Dragonfly in Amber I was dying to know what happened next.  Luckily, a friend owns the entire series and brought me over Voyager and the fourth one (I don’t know what it’s called).

Voyager has been a very easy read.  So easy, in fact, that I find myself saying “I’ll just read to the end of the chapter” but something happens that is so shocking I have to keep reading, and then it’s 2 a.m. and I have to be up for work in 4 hours.

I think there are what, 3 or 4 more books after Voyager?  I’m not sure, but I think this will keep me busy the rest of the year.

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I’ve spent a lot of time the past several years thinking that, as a writer, I had to write a book.  So I’ve started books.  Many of them.  I’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo and failed miserably. 

All I’ve gotten for my trouble has been a large pile of half-finished manuscripts (ok, perhaps a jump drive full of them) and a lot of frustration.  When I’ve explored the publishing process, it just seems overwhelming.

I’ve watched friends and fellow writers get published.  Lauren Conrad has been published, for Pete’s sake!

And all the while, I’ve just been paralyzed by fear.

A couple of years ago I took a class about writing, and I got interested in magazine writing.  It seemed to be a bit easier than novel writing, plus I could probably finish a magazine article, right?

Thanks to a friend who is mentoring me, I’ve got an idea on how to get my foot in the door with magazine writing.  I’ve been compiling a list of articles I’d like to write, and I’ll be looking for places to get them published in the next month or so.

Write what you know… so I am!

This past weekend I had some inspiration on a novel I had started writing this past spring.  I wrote on that for a bit, then noticed in the same folder some documents from a novel I had started in 2008.

I spent Sunday morning reading what I had written in 2008, and falling in love with the characters and the story all over again.  I’ve got some ideas for that, and I’m looking forward to putting it all together.

I might just end up writing a book someday after all.

A few years ago a friend recommended that I read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  I picked up the first book (Outlander) from the library, and was unable to get through the first chapter.  I was bored with it.

My friend was aghast that I was not as enthralled as she was by the series.  I was at a local bookstore about a year later and bought Outlander from the used section, then found it dusty, with the receipt still in it, two years later.

I slogged through the first several chapters until it got good, but even then I only wanted to finish it because I’d already invested so much time in the characters.  Normally a 2 book a week girl, this one took me nearly a month to finish.

For some reason I bought the second in the series, Dragonfly in Amber.  Despite a strong start, it is still taking me a month to read this one, and no matter how it ends I will not be finishing the series.

It’s an example, in my opinion, of how I do NOT want to write, and not something I want to read.  No offense meant to Diana Gabaldon, she’s just not my style.  Maybe I’m missing something?  She’s made a lot of money and is quite popular, so she must be doing something right.

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Ever year, my female relatives and Iget up in the wee hours of Black Friday, fight our way through the crowds to get deals, and then finish our morning at 8 a.m. at Chick-Fil-A for breakfast.  While there, I get my annual Cow Calendar.  It’s tradition.

This year, we started talking about Black Friday on the day I arrived, but on Thanksgiving Day we combed through the sale ads and decided there was nothing that was going to make us (1) get up that early and (2) part with our hard earned cash.

I didn’t even think about the calendar again until Sunday, when the restaurant is not open.  This is when I always crave Chick-Fil-A: Sundays.

This past weekend I had to work, which necessitated a trip in town on Saturday.  I decided to stop by the restaurant and take advantage of a deal: $20 in Chick-Fil-A gift cards means a free calendar.  I had a gift card that needed reloading, so I got that, a peppermint chocolate chip shake, and my free calendar.

This year’s calendar?  Great Works of Cow Literature.

Mooby Dick.  Sir Arthur Conan Broyle.  I love it!

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First I got busy, and then I got distracted.

Somehow I found myself, the week of Thanksgiving, planning my crops in Farmville and Farm Town around my travel schedule.  I even found moments while in a house filled with family, to make sure nothing withered on the vine.

Nothing virtual, anyway.

I’ve been letting little piddly things get in the way of real life, so I decided to close out the farms and do something productive.

Yesterday I woke up really early (husband was snoring!) and came in to the computer, and realized I had no crops to harvest, so I checked e-mail and then went back to bed.  Last night I was laughing while telling my husband the story, and said “I don’t have anything to do now!”

And he said “You could write.”

Ouch.  Yeah, I guess I could, couln

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It’s been a long time since I posted here, which is probably the most obvious statement ever typed in a blog post.

Over the past several months I’ve been shifting my focus when it comes to writing.  You see, I always figured that to be a writer, you had to be writing a book.

Well, I’m writing a book.  Three, in fact.  Which, in case you are wondering, is about two too many for someone who can’t seem to finish anything that is longer than a magazine article.

I’ve also been involved with writers groups that mainly focused on writing books, not that there is anything wrong with that.  I’ve made some great friends and I’ve learned a lot.  The most important lesson I’ve learned is this:

Writing books doesn’t pay the bills unless you are Stephen King.  Or David Baldacci.  Or Danielle Steel.

I wrote for the school newspaper and the yearbook.  I started out as a journalism major in college.  I like writing short stories and articles.  These days, blog posts and other articles are where the money is.

Not that I am writing just for the money.  I do love to write, like I love to breathe.

I just spent two years working on a professional designation that gives me more credibility as a writer of articles in my chosen field, which is how I plan to get my foot in the door (thanks for the advice, Lisa!).  I’ve got the designation, and now it is going to be full speed ahead.

I’m also considering taking Angela Booth’s course Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON).  If anyone has any information on this, I’d love to hear it.  I have yet to see a bad review and that makes me kind of suspicious!

If you’re still reading this blog, thanks for hanging in there.  More content soon!