Writing Without Stability

As this scantily upkept blog no doubt shows, there has been little to no stability in my life for the past while. By that I mean I have been involved in a large number of things like school and shows, family reunions and summer vacations, things like that. I've barely had any time at home, let alone time to write. I'm sure you have all experienced times in your life such as this, where you are struggling just to make it through the day without dropping too many of the balls you have in the air, and for a while time for writing just kind of doesn't exist. Here are some ideas I've thought of for how you can still be writingly productive during the insane times.

Write on the run. I've found that for me its hard to do actual writing of a piece while I'm on the run. But something that does work for me is bringing around a bigger notebook and using it for outlining and planning. I'm in the process of starting a novel, a screenplay and a short story, so for the past while I've just brought around that notebook with me in the car, to rehearsals, etc, and jotted down scene ideas and stuff. Now I've almost got outlines enough for me to get started on the actual writing.

Read. While waiting in line, in the car, for a meeting, any time, have a book with you and pull it out and read. I didn't think it was possible, but in the past week or so I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, mostly at rehearsals and waiting in the car. You can't be a good writer without being a good reader, so use your waiting time to your advantage.

Marketing. Crazy busy times often include meeting a bunch of new people, and these new people are all potential help for spreading the word about your next book. Make friends, make connections, add people on facebook and twitter, talk about your writing. You never know what these people can do for your writing career. Plus making new friends is always awesome.

It seems that my life is stabilizing itself a little bit, so hopefully I can get this blog back up and running at its best. I hope this helps. We all have busy times, but if you are serious about being a writer, you need to always be working at it, no matter what else is going on in your life. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Sarah Allen

Movie Review: Toy Story 3

For my 100th post, I wanted to write about something special, and this movie definitely qualifies. This blog has been a fun journey for me so far, as has the Toy Story universe. That's pretty much the only connection I can force on why Toy Story is an appropriate 100th post marker, but here goes anyway.

To start bluntly, Toy Story 3 is the best movie I've seen in theaters this year. All the characters, witticisms, and humor that we love from the old movies are back in abundance, plus some new awesomeness. If you haven't seen it yet, you're missing out.

Despite, or perhaps because of all this, Toy Story 3 needs to come with a warning. Without giving too much away, you can't go expecting a light-hearted, easy movie. On the contrary, it was pretty intense, very poignant and at some points flat-out scary. They took the story and the characters to a much deeper, more profound level than not only the other two Toy Story movies, but most animated movies in general. I would say that its up there with Up and Monsters, Inc. in its emotional intensity/poignancy level. I, for one, really appreciated the thought and depth of this particular movie, and I think its wonderful for kids (and everyone else) to experience stories and characters at that level. I will admit that I got teary eyed multiple times.

While still a movie that anyone can appreciate, it was definitely geared towards people who grew up with the Toy Story movies. There are subtle references that just make you smile. We've all kind of grown up with Andy, and there's a bitter-sweetness in seeing him move on in life and realizing that we have too. Though, I will say, since I'm admitting things anyway, I still sleep with a teddy-bear.

Sarah Allen

p.s. The preview for Despicable Me looks freaking hilarious. Check it out, if you haven't already. There's another one I want to see the day it comes out.

Re-post: What Writers can Learn from Project Runway

I'm sitting here watching Project Runway, and thinking of what I can learn from this show that will help me in my own work. It may not seem like a reality show about designers and real life creative writing may have much in common, but here are some things to keep in mind:

-Be ready to push through sickness, time constraints and surprises. These designers get things thrown at them all the time, but in order to make it, they have to be ready to deal with it. So do writers.

-Be dedicated. Work as hard as it takes to make deadlines. The difference between you and your competition is how hard you work.

-Be professional but also unique, both in your writing and as a person. The girls have to follow the rules and create pieces that fit modern style and the tastes of the judges, and writers do too. Our readership is our judge. We can't create something so out there they just don't get it, but we don't want to create something that just blends in with the crowd either.

-Be teachable. From what I've seen the girls who make have the most success are willing to take advice from professionals. Again, you can't give up your own unique voice, but don't discount advice from people who have made it further than you have.

-Be observant and attune. Get inspiration from everything around you, especially things that other people might not notice. This is one situation where I can imagine it would be helpful for writers to carry around a camera, and just practice seeing the world through a photographers eye. But don't just observe visually, be aware of sounds, insinuations in things people say, smells, the way things feel under your fingers. Let it all inspire you.

Hope this helps. Happy writing!
Sarah Allen

Re-post: Marketing your Creative Writing

As you can tell by the horrendous upkeep of this blog in the recent past, things are a little crazy. But fear not, this blog is merely temporarily back-burnered, never abandoned. To keep things up and running, however, I've decided to start reposting some of my old posts, and hopefully this will serve as reminders to any who have already read them, and won't make any difference to everybody else.

Creative Writing Marketing

No matter if your writing the next best thing in the English language, without good marketing strategies, no one will know. I'm just beginning to find my way in the marketing world, and look forward to better, more advanced suggestions, but here are the basics of what I've found so far.

Duotrope

This is a great site for just plain old publishing your work. It is a searchable listing of thousands of places for you to be published. Find hundreds of publications that are looking for the kind of thing you write, and keep submitting until

Craigslist

This is an obvious one, but a very good one. Craigslist provides a listing of local writing opportunities, and you never know what gems of experience you'll find. Keep track of what writing opportunities are happening in your own town, and help build your local following. This is one to check regularly.

Twitter

This is also an obvious one, but a very good way of spreading news to hundreds of people at once. This is an incredibly useful supplement to your blog. Keep your followers aware of publication dates, readings, signings, etc.

GoodReads

You want people to find your book. This site is about people finding the next thing on their reading list. Its a perfect match.

YouTube

This is one I'm still trying to figure out. Obviously its for video, not text, but it is also one of the most popular sites in the world right now, and any creative ways of marketing your writing using this site will, I'm sure, be of great help. Perhaps video of readings, home-made book trailers, interviews, etc.

Flickr

This is in the same vein as YouTube, in that its for photos, not text. But again, its a hugely popular site, so any way of marketing through photo on this site has the potential of reaching tons of people. Here's another site similar to Flickr that can be used similarly: deviantART

Gaming Sites

Ok, so this one is a little weird, but there are lots of people on gaming sites that could potentially be turned in to readers if you can reach them. Besides, its fun! Just don't let gaming get in the way of writing. Here are a few big sites: Zynga, Neopets.

Social Networking sites

One of most necessary and useful online marketing tools. Here's a short list of the top ones:
Squidoo
Facebook
Myspace
Ning
LinkedIn

Random Interest

Look for local or national groups that may not have to do with writing specifically, but still are applicable to you. Make friends with people who love dogs, theater, medicine, or whatever it is your interested in, and you will have expanded and diversified your readership.

So there's the basics of what I know about reaching people and finding new opportunities. I hope these ideas are things you can use.
Sarah Allen

p.s. Here's a list of the top sites in the world, and any of them that you can use to market your creative writing will definitely help: Alexa