Making Money in a World Addicted to FREE—What Do Writers DO?

Kristen Lamb's Blog

I think we need to renegotiate the terms…

One of the reasons I did such a detailed post about the pop culture and how it’s impacting artists (A Culture Addicted to FREE) is that for us to make any solid plan, we need to gain a good understanding of how things are being run and also grasp current consumer habits.

To fix any problem, we must be aware of what are called operational constraints.

Operational constraints are any real or potential roadblocks in the way of our goals. If you ever do a S.W.O.T. Analysis, which I strongly recommend, it stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Any time we do business—which writing IS a business—we need an accurate picture of the terrain so we make wise business decisions and can plan ahead.

Image via Wikipedia

The entire reason for me blogging about the impact streaming could…

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Sending in the Flying Monkeys—Get Your @$$ to Work!

So many people say the same thing. “If I could only find the time…” Thing is, time isn’t lying around in the couch cushions hanging out with loose change, the TV remotes and stale Cherrios. It isn’t like time is hiding. Time is everywhere. And THAT folks is the problem.

https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/sending-in-the-flying-monkeys-get-your-to-work/

#DVPit: Writers Wanted – Marginalized Voices

#Save Yourself #Your Friends & Family, too #Am Writing

Oh’ good morning my sappy writer friends and to all those who know better, lol!

What a day, what a life, what it means to surround yourself with those of a similar, twisted, like mind. Do you remember the wild ride? Yes, the nauseating thrill that beckons us forward, casting a voodoo spell until we vomit from excitement and exhaustion.

I would imagine the same can be said in all of our passions, albeit I speak of mine, writing, scribbling, dabbling with a pen, chewing the lid until plastic shards fill your mouth and your lips become covered in an explosion of red.

(Pencils, I know, dream with me, my people)

It is that gnawing creature inside inking its way out.

This week has encapsulated Sandi and me with a solid core, a safe zone of inspirational minds who have left their egos at home. (hallelujah) Portland has welcomed Larry Brooks an amazing story coach and writer, and you would almost say, friend. He is hard-core, yet genuine in his honesty, speaking those nasty words you truly need to hear. Logic, structure, placing a skeleton behind the myriad, fleshy jumbled literary maze, that would be our mind, and asking in simple plain terms,

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Simple questions, like, “What is conceptual about this?

What is your core dramatic thread? Your premise?”

And you stop and say, yah, I just wrote 20,000 beautiful, pain-staking words of… let’s be honest, not much, equaling a chalk board void of scribble. What he lays out may seem simple to some, but this is complexly clear and offers…

FOCUS…FOCUS

Substance, sprinkled appropriately, given straight.

The beauty of dissecting our thoughts saves us time and sanity.

As a glorified rambler, babbler, pantser, sitter down and jumper in, I recognize the need in myself for this framework, before.  

If I am truly serious, this I will do.

Insecure Writers Unite –arm yourselves with the appropriate weapons to slay these inner gremlins, ultimately, holding us back, allowing clarity of our vision to be seen, when planned appropriately.

 Skip the 18 drafts and cut that time in half, reach for the light!

Write on! ❤ Jessica

Larry Brooks Rocks

OMG! What did Jessica and I get ourselves into? We are taking a 4 day workshop with our guru, Larry Brooks and his co presenter, Stephanie Blanchard! Hooray!! After a full evening of intensity, we went to our room filled with feelings: excitement and trepidation. Are we going to embarrass ourselves? What will the other participants have to say? What will they be about?

After snagging a cup of Joe, opening our packets and ready with our pens and notebooks, we surveyed the room to check out our fellow writers. Some introduced themselves as traditionally published authors and others, as we are, those wanting to learn and get on with our path to publishing. We independently noticed those who were puffed up and their own best fan and others who were open, vulnerable and willing to share their own foibles and frustrations with their writing experiences.

Hmmm.   Which ones are “safe” and aren’t sizing us up as worthy or unworthy? Aren’t we humorous? The primal urge to protect our underbelly is alive and well,

We’ll keep you informed.

Sandi

Getting in Character—Deep POV Part Two

Love this lady!

Kristen Lamb's Blog

Image courtesy of Jules Morgan via Flickr Creative Commons

Yes today is odd. Posting on a Sunday. We are headed into Spring Break and yeah…hard to maintain my usual schedule. Today we’re going to dive deeper into deep POV and then, later in the week, I am going to bring you guys an expert on deep POV 😉 .

Will be fun.

To accomplish “deep POV” yes, there are style changes we can make, like removing as many tags as we can and ditching extraneous sensing and thinking words. But deep POV is more than just tight writing, it’s also strongly tethered to characterization. Good characterization.

It is essential to know our cast if we hope to successfully write “deep POV.”

KNOW Your Cast

There are all kinds of ways to get to know our characters. I often write detailed character backgrounds before starting a story so it doesn’t become a…

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