I AM MOVING.....

I am posting the last time to this blogspot. :(  WHY??  I have had issues with blogspot through these years with posting mistakes I did not enter, broken posts and the latest broken comments field.  No one can post a comment right now to this blog.  I also have several broken "gadgets" that I cannot fix and it is making the management of this blog IMPOSSIBLE.....

  So I have moved here - http://mjgrothoff.wordpress.com/

I am sorry to my current blogspot followers but I ask for your forgiveness.  I will continue to update my new blog like this one and will continue to promote writers in the twitterverse! ;)

Come on by!

Why I #WW all of those Writers

  ***The following is a REPOST from an earlier post I wrote about those I follow on Twitter.  I am posting again because I decided to do some #WW and I really want those writers to know I am out here and listening.  I love being part of this community!  You all rock!!!!!***

  Writing for me is a place where I allow complete freedom of my senses and feelings.  I found it many many many years ago to be my bless, my awareness and often not, my meditation.  These similar connections follow me when I fall into a book.  Yes, I did say fall since this is the sensation I often get when I am reading a great book or enjoying a good tale. 

  Through these many years of participating in this writing thing I do and being part of the writing community, I found myself desiring the need for more information about it.  I read periodicals, magazines, blogs, tweets, forums, websites, etc… to gain this knowledge.  This need grows my energy and experience with it every day to the point now where I have become a picky writer.  Picky in the sense of where I get this information (often find the same thing repeated in several different platforms) and with who is releasing this material.

  This brings me to twitter and blog following and why I recommend those #WW.  I carefully peruse twitter and follow those writers, agents and publishers who are sending out good, no great information about the world of writing.  I do not just follow someone because they follow me.  My time spent reading and learning the ways of this writing world, to me, is precious because it has the ability to intervene between what is really important to me.  MY FAMILY. :)  I do not take it lightly when I follow someone and I certainly read the material they are writing and handing over to this world for consumption.  It was important to them to share so I find it important to read.

  I love this writing thing we do and will ALWAYS promote and market every person in this writing world of ours!

Happy #WW writers, agents and publishers!

Hello is this Mic on?

  It has been a while since I entered something in this beautiful blog of mine.  I am working on a new writing adventure, besides the novel series, and it is consuming a major piece of my time.  I wish I could write about it right now but "hush" is the word on it.  There is a new market out there for writers and it will become a lucrative one by the end of this year.  Not keeping it on the wraps to avoid sharing.  No not at all since this is not what I am about.  I feel like the more writers providing this service the more jobs will be produced.  The demand is so great that there is enough for everyone.  I must keep at a hush for other aspects, not the writing side.....

  I can tell you though it is a lot of fun and you use your creative senses through out the process.  I hope by end of March or beginning April I may share it all.  It is GREAT to be a writer.  Our industry is changing so quickly with Borders filing Chapter 11, publishing industry trying to get a handle on self publishing and the ebook thing and the social networking becoming the most important thing you can do as a writer.  ALL GREAT STUFF and feel great to be part of it at the beginning.  Twenty years from now what will your story be on going through this writing reface.  Mine, BUSY and LOSS OF SLEEP.  :) :)

  Happy writing writers!

  Now stop surfing the web and write something!

Marketing Mania

  This writing gig has a part which I found to be bigger than the writing.  What’s this you say?  If I am a writer wouldn’t the writing be by far the biggest?  You would think, but a writer writing and no one listening is similar to a body builder in the gym everyday and not wanting any results.  Now I am not saying write just for profitable results, no not at all.  The first result should be in the happiness of writing because if you are not happy when writing, why write.  What I am speaking about is in the art of marketing and making this part of the result.  I say part because really good writing or maybe even great writing should be the end result.  We strive to ensure our words tell the tale (but not too much), be the voice and carry your reader into another place -- IF you have someone reading! 

  How does a writer get people to listen?  MARKETING!  And a lot of it……

  Well duh, you say?  You would be surprised how many people do not consider this faction in the writing gig.  After all, isn’t it enough just to write?  Ok enough rambling about how important and what it means to market your work.  It is important, so how or where do we go?  Here are some many places I visit on a weekly basis (some daily) and push to make contacts, connections, friends and a name.  These are just some of the places and often not known by writers.  I will not name the usual Twitter, Facebook and MySpace since these are in society’s mainstream.  I will showcase the possible unknown or little known which will and can help your marketing…… (Disclaimer:  I have no affiliation with any of these groups and have gathered them over time.)

Holding an event?  Here is a great online organizer -  http://www.eventbrite.com/

 

Talk about your stuff and create a show (podcast) - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/

 

Create a teleconference allowing readers to talk with you - http://www.talkshoe.com/

Setup a book tour - http://booktour.com/

Get some PR Buzz going and use the leader in this area (this has a cost) - http://www.prbuzz.com/

Build a profile and learn a lot - http://www.authors.com/

Find reading groups to read your work! - http://www.readinggroupguides.com/content/index.asp#

Oh and if you need to find it… - http://carolkluz.homestead.com/index1.html

Find the next workshop or author events - http://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/

  Again these are just a few I have come across through these years and have used them in some sort of fashion.  It is up to you to sell your work.  No one else will because no one else cares about it as much as you do!  Now do some marketing and help your writing to be heard.

  Oh yeah, do not forget to break up your week and do some writing already!

Happy Writing!

Head Buried in the Words

  I am buried in words right now and happy to be covered.  This covering means my mind is racing with story(s) and I have little time to look up.  This also means I have little time to post a blog.  I took 30 minutes from my day and sat back to figure out a clever quip or some great writing information you MUST have<laughing here is appropriate>, but alas I do not for now.  I hope to have some great marketing links listed and remarked by next week with some things I have learned over the past month on what is working or NOT with social media.  It has been an interesting start for 2011.  I am excited to get deeper into the year with this latest writing endeavor.  To me, it is some real cool stuff and I believe a new avenue for writers to venture towards.

Happy Writing!

Expand Beyond Comfort

  One thing I have learned about being a writer is you must be able to expand beyond one particular area or writing technique.  Huh?  I shall explain.  In my quest in becoming what I call a full time/all the time writer, I have come to the understanding you MUST have a lot of great products to sell.  If you are not selling, you are starving.  Problem here!  As one who writes novels and still holds a day job this meant I was going to starve for a LONG time before making this dream come true.  Understanding this dilemma, I took it upon myself to expand my comfort zone.  Oh and believe me it went well beyond this zone and I dove head long into it.  Comic book writing!

  WHAT??  How did this happen?

  One of my closest friends who I am collaborating with on MANY adventures is also the artist behind my novel series EVERWING (artist - @gregeales).  He is originally a comic book artist and took it upon himself many years ago to expand his technique into my favorite world, the fantasy realm.  This world I created has many stories to be told and in particular, there is a smaller series which I always felt would be a great comic book.  Greg felt the same after hearing the story and he challenged me about a year ago to venture down this path and start working it.  I agreed.

  What a great path it has been!  Here is what an artist would expect from you if you ever have the desire to try this type of writing because one thing to remember, most of the story is told in the art with the words just enhancing the surrounding.  Yes, this was a big change in thought since the words are everything in what I have created.

  Artists work in panels (where we writers work in scenes) and these panels have limited space so less is better when it comes to words.  The panels work like this…..

Comic Book #1

PAGE ONE – <2 Panels>

PANEL 1:  THREE SHOT – Character 1, Character 2, Character 3.

    The setting in the background is a forest. The characters are standing on a small cliff overlooking a lake. Character 1 is fishing.  Character 2 is reading and Character 3 is pointing and laughing.

Character 3:  I don’t think you are catching anything today.

            Character 1:  Yes I will! You watch! (Excitedly)

            Character 2:  Shhh, I am trying to read!

PANEL 2:  TWO SHOT: Character 1, Character 3.

  The focus is on Character 1 & Character 3.  Character 3 is now looking over the small cliff and shaking his head.  Character 1 wears a scowl.

Character 3:  I’m waiting…

            Character 1:  Just get away from me.

 

  As you can see it is close to screenplay writing (close but not exactly) and when it comes to the writing few words.  The description allows the artist to understand the scene you are working to portray.  It also helps to cut down on the redraws or rejections on the artwork plus keeps things happy between the partnership of the writer and artist. Very Important!

  I hope this helps if you ever desire to expand beyond your style or area of writing.  Remember to always push yourself as a writer.  It will only make you a better one.

Greg and I are working on three different comic books.  Something I never expected to do! I love this writing stuff! 

Happy Writing Writers! 

Go Writer Go!

When You Go Without

  Over ten days ago I had a tragedy, wherein, my laptop made a decision to shutdown and not power back up.  Now you may think the tragedy could be the loss of items I had on this machine but oh no, I had everything I needed (my day job is in I.T. and I should be ashamed of myself if I ever lose items in such manner).   The tragedy was also not the inability to cohort with others on Twitter, Facebook or other social media (I quickly put together an old pc and got it running to give me Internet access).  My tragedy or shall I say my calamity, fell into the inability to do what I have done every day of my life (includes holidays, vacations, birthdays, anniversaries, etc…) for the past six years!  WRITE! 

  You may say to yourself this should be a good time for this writer to read since the only way to be a great writer is to read.  Well I already read and often, so catching up in this department was not a positive and relaxing direction (in fact, it performed the opposite by reminding me what I should be doing).   Sigh.

  Writers are like any obsessive compulsive, nail biting, caffeine binging, must be sitting in MY chair and drinking from MY cup group of people (oh look a shiny penny).  Hhmm where was I?  Oh yeah, so for a writer to be frozen from their ability to do what they MUST do is well, close to removing the air from your lungs and asking you to speak (had to do this in Navy bootcamp and was a chiller I wish upon no one.  Well, I can think of a few people…anywho).  

  What am I getting at????  I learned a lot about myself and what writing really means to me.  I found how important the ability to express myself and these inner voices by inking the words upon a blank canvass really is to my whole SELF.  I learned as an I.T. person, how dare I allow my world to come down to one computer and put my life in such duress and horror.  Shameful!

  The event I am now calling “LaptopGate” made this writer fall deeper in love with this world of writing and made me realize I don’t write because I have a passion for writing. Oh no, I write because letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, novels, characters, plots and voices mean life.  They mean love, energy, source and any other analogy or synonym you may find.  This writer loves writing and is happy to be back with his love.

  Happy Writing Writers.  Go Writer Go!  

Oh to have rhythm...

  A glancing blow is all it took to down the rhythm.  A sudden shutdown sent my writing vibe into a screaming panic and the voices feeding the story blabbering with emptiness.  I lost a friend, confidant, therapist, scribe and partner.  My laptop     crashed!  You always ask why!  You always blame yourself for the loss and wonder what you could have done differently but know in your heart you did everything to prevent the madness.  Oh the last moments were sweet. The writing was pure and unleashed.  The rhythm and speed in tune and blinding.  I was in my writing zenith and feeling the keys tap ever so lightly when it all ended.  The lights went out.  Silence stung the air.  Panic rushed my skin and my thoughts went numb.

  Here I sit on a borrowed machine. An unfamiliar partner.  A cold feel and passionless.  Unless....

  Is there a voice I hear?  I think I need to write down what they are saying..... Oh, well hello new friend.  Let us begin and I will show you how this writing thing is done.  Happy Writings.  I think.

  I'm gonna need a lot of pudding.
 

Some say Stigma, I say Writer

  Oh the so called stigma that comes with being a Self-Published Author has been an interesting or shall I say an eye opening awareness.  The change in peoples faces when they find my books are self published depends on who they are and how they really approach life.  You have two camps in this department: those who smile with great excitement and want to hear the story about how it was written and what it takes to write a novel and those who grin with a questionable eye and a quick comment, “Oh so you’re not really published.”

 

  They both come with challenging answers but invites new followers to my writing.  How could the latter bring in new followers?  It is all in the delivery….   :)

  I answer their statement with a question, “Why do you say this?” (I often know what the answer will be so really I am bating them at this point) and the answer, “Because anyone can self publish but not everyone is published.” 

  I have a quick retort, “Define published for me?”  At this point the answer is often the same; one who is paid for their work to be published not one who pays to have it published is a published author. 

  My answer, “Says who?”

  Now often a questionable brow comes across their stumped expression because they are really just going by what the press is pushing or what they have heard from a journalistic article in a magazine UNLESS I am speaking with someone in the writing world (this debate goes in a different direction).  

  I draw them in by answering in this matter, “The definition of published work is to issue in print, a written or graphical work for sale to the public for consumption.  The definition does not define by whom or how but rather it is for sale.”  Ahh the expression changes now back to a smile and they answer with, “I didn’t know that, I just thought it was always this way.”  I have them now and show them my work.  The smile of a new fan!

  They are correct though, it is this way because of those spinning the tale with their words to define who is allowed to be a member and who is not welcomed. :)  The SFWA is a fine example of the haves and have not’s….

  One of my best friends is an artist (in fact, he has done both of my book covers and we are working on several projects together) and is a freelancer with his work.  He picks up jobs here and there and he laughs at the have and have not attitude in the writing world.  He tells me in the graphical / artistic world there are no have / have not’s, everyone who draws is considered an artist.  He has worked with many big names in the art community and not one of them asked if he has been published or require he is published before working with him.  All they ask is for his work.  They assess his ability by his provided work and not the awards, articles written about him, how he has gone about making his work available or question is technique.  It is solely on his provided work.

  I have another good friend who has his own gaming studio where he writes his own video games available for download on various platforms.  His studio is his own creation and he does this from his house in hopes some day that his company takes off by his games becoming bigger and better.  In his community of game programmers, there are no have / have not’s.  It is solely based on your work provided.  Does your game grab the interest of those playing it!  Yes, another world where it is about your work and not how you go about providing it for consumption.

  Yet here I sit as a writer who is working his third novel and writing in various other areas but considered “not published” because it is not in the “traditional” standards.  Again I question the word traditional because really what is traditional?  If we say traditional is the mainstream of how work is being pushed for sale these past eighty years are so I would argue this way to be mislabeled.  Since we are talking about a process of the written word, eighty years does not make tradition for the written word has been around for a long time.  Tradition is the ability to make your work available in print for anyone to read not how but the ability to make it available.  The past eighty years I say it has become more “mandated” so for me there is published and mandated published.

   The mandate is driven by --> $$$.  Shocking I know!  But even as an Independent Writer I drive for my work to bring in the mighty $$$ to help offset the costs of publishing and marketing plus fill the coffers so I may buy a coffee somewhere or more pudding.  Pudding is delicious and just saying the word makes you smile. 

  I guess really the juxtapose will remain for now and many doors will be shut due to my direction BUT it does not knock the fact I love writing and love the many conversations I have with the writing community.  They are a fickle group these writers and they challenge me to write more for those listening.  My goals for this upcoming year will “bridge the gap” or bring a “positive eye” to all writing directions, styles and methods. 

  My friends shake their heads at the notion of a hierarchy and wonder what would happen in their communities if a Stigma like this attached itself to their world.  Each one of these communities welcomes the independents and searches these areas as a great place to find a wealth of great work NOT a place of STIGMA.  How much innovation or beautiful artwork would be missed?

Happy writing……(now where is the pudding!)