A Writer's Guide To Holiday Travel

As we get deeper and deeper into the holiday season, many of us are finalizing preparations to visit family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Some of us are traversing countries, or even continents. The holidays come with some built-in travel, and as in any situation, it's best if we writer's are prepared. So here are a few things to make sure you've got in your carry-on.

Laptop/Notebooks. This is the most important thing to have. I know the holidays can be completely chaotic and crazy. They are for me, and I'm typically not great at writing when I'm visiting family. My goal is to do better at that this year, and one obviously needs their word processor or notebook in order to write. If you're limited on space, save your projects as word docs and use the computers at whatever relatives your visiting. And of course, make sure you have your creative writing notebook with you wherever you go. As always.

Books. Again, this is a given. I suspect that for most of us the issue is narrowing down our options. Make things easier on yourself by choosing paperbacks and ebooks. And may I recommend a subscription to Audible.com. You get a free audiobook just for signing up, and those are fantastic options for long car rides. I also recommend bringing poetry and short story collections, as those are easier to ingest in the quick, low-focus chunks of time you're likely to have when surrounded by relatives.

Headphones. To give yourself some music or background noise to help you focus while little ones play around you.

Camera. The holidays provide great moments to record for possible story ideas, and blog and social media posts. With the appropriate permissions, of course.

Plan your writing schedule. I know that for my family, once everything gets going we go and go until we're all basically asleep on our feet. But the thing is, we don't usually really get going until after lunch. That means for me, if I can get a bit of writing in earlier on in the day, then I get the writing done and don't miss or interrupt the Russian teacake baking and Muppet Christmas Album singing and the Jim Carey quote wars. (I can't miss that because I always win. No child can defeat the Grinch.) Basically, figure out the best way for you to incorporate writing into the holiday schedule. It may not be your normal schedule, and you may not get your normal amount done, but at the very least you can keep your momentum going.

Collaboration ideas. I have some siblings who also occasionally enjoy writing stories, and we've had some fun times doing the back and forth collaboration thing. Or maybe your cousin plays the guitar, and the two of you can write a funny Christmas song with which to annoy your aunts and uncles. Or maybe your aunt is a great artist and the two of you work on a book to give to your Grandma. Whatever your situation, holidays can be a fun time to collaborate, and I believe any creative endeavor is worthwhile.

What do you think? What other supplies and strategies can we writer's use in our holiday travels?

Write on!

Sarah Allen

This Week on Social Media:

SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES:

• Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition: We’re looking for short stories! Think you can write a winning story in less than 1,500 words? Enter the 15th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition for your chance to win $3,000 in cash, get published in Writer’s Digest magazine, and a paid trip to our ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference! Due Dec. 15.
• NPR Selected Shorts Contest: First Prize is $1000,  plus a scholarship for a 10 week course at the Gotham Writers' Workshop. Your story will be read to a national audience by a well-known actor. Due March 15.
• McNeese Review: McNeese Review, the literary journal of McNeese State University in Louisiana, is reading submissions for Issue 52, to be released February 2015. Send in your best short fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, interviews, and original black and white art and photos. We value clarity of image, complex worldviews, genuine emotion, character, coherency, compression, and all the right words put in interesting combinations. Due Dec. 1
• Split Lip Press: Split Lip Press welcomes submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry for the first volume in its new book series, Utter Foolery: The Best Global Literary Humor, 2015. We’re looking for writing that makes us laugh, yes, but we’re also looking for work that shows a deep understanding of humor’s ability to elucidate serious subjects and disturbing truths. Due Nov. 30
• In Fact Books: In Fact Books (US) seeks original stories that address — either directly or obliquely — the trials of living with mental illness for an upcoming anthology tentatively titled Beyond Crazy: True Stories of Surviving Mental Illness. Stories should combine a strong and compelling narrative with an informative or reflective element, reaching beyond a strictly personal experience for some universal or deeper meaning. Length: 4500 words max

SPOTLIGHT:

• 8 Bogus Rules New Writers Tell Each Other (Anne R. Allen)
• The #1 Habit Killing Your Writing (Helping Writers Become Authors)
• Foolproof Strategies For Staying Creative During A Writing Slump (Writer Unboxed)
• How To Motivate Yourself As A Writer (Chuck Wendig)

Morning Prayer

Morning Prayer

I forget

like dropping my sleep

mask on the floor by the bed,

not knowing where it is

when I come back at night.

The light comes in too early

these days and I forget

what I was dreaming

and how to close my eyes again.

My skin sucks in the chilly air

like gasping for breath

like a Christmas light buzzing, fritzing

and suddenly POP

a burst of light then darkness

and broken glass that will cut

if you're not careful.

I feel alive as broken glass.

Last night I dreamed a man came

into my room

to grab me, to hurt me

his hands were large, dirty when he

tied my wrists with rope.

But when I woke up into the cold

cold air

I was not afraid.

What Matters Most? And Is That Why You Write?

I stayed up late this weekend and watched Sense and Sensibility for approximately the bajillionth time. I feel like I always kind of learn something or discover something new when I watch that movie.

This time I noticed what I guess I could call endurance versus intensity. Marianne undergoes something so traumatic and so deeply cutting in a moment of intense pain that she nearly, literally, doesn't survive. The punch is so hard it knocks her completely out for a while. Eleanor, on the other hand, has a less dramatic yet far longer struggle. Her battle is one of grit and endurance. She has to grin and bear a secret that breaks her apart inside all while managing family practical matters as well as caring for her sister in her lightning strike of a blow. Eleanor's type of battle has its own kind of intensity, I think.

This may be a bit more of a personal, thinky-type post, but I hope you'll bare with me. It's something that's been on my mind for the past little while.

Perhaps its the holidays, but I've found myself looking a bit more closely at my priorities list. Not reevaluating, necessarily. More experiencing emotionally how incredibly important the important things are, and how everything else is just so not.

Blogging is not important. The number of readers you have on Feedly or followers on Twitter is so not important. I am one of those very prone to getting that wrong--to letting my day feel crappy when I lose a follower on Instagram. To rising levels of anxiety when I think too hard about how many Facebook fans or YouTube subscribers I'd need to sell all the books I haven't published yet. Brain...what?

You know what is important, though? The people who read your blog. The bloggers you read. Not the number of followers, and not even necessarily the topics of the blogs, but the individuals themselves. They matter. You matter. And if even one person has read something on this blog that has been useful or calming in any way, that is the point.

We writers face battles all the time, of both the intensity and endurance type. (I mean, every one does, in every profession, but we're talking specifics here.) A rejection from an agent or a negative review can strike you down for a week. And the battle of submission is, I'd wager, the longest battle many of us have ever fought. Not to mention the battle for readers.

It is wearing. It can beat you down. Both kinds. There are times when I've felt like I've been walking the road for so long my metaphorical feet feel worn to the bone.

So why? What's the point, anyway?

I'm not here to answer that question, and not able to, anyway. At least not for anyone but myself, I don't think. All I know, though, is that when I focus on how many people came to my blog that day or how many Tumblr reblogs or Twitter favorites I got, I feel anxious and restless until it all feels pointless.

But you know what doesn't feel pointless? Watching the deleted scene from Sense and Sensibility fifteen times then fifteen more. Skyping with my family on the east coast. Disney music. Puppies, kitties, libraries, movie theaters. Making dinner for my dad during his layover visit. Sharing funny GIFS with my roommate. Helping input applications for a stressed out coworker. Smiling at the old man walking through the Bellagio atrium and getting a smile back.

What else never feels pointless? Praying. The tenor part in church hymns. Talking with my sister for half an hour about her boyfriend who thinks she lights up the world. Quoting Christmas movies. Putting on pajamas and finishing the last chapter of a really, really good book. Finishing the last chapter of your own book.

But why does that matter, the finishing of the last chapter? The writing and creating? How does it all tie in? I don't know about you, but after watching Sense and Sensibility, I feel like this lump of something hot and unpleasant and sharp has been expunged from me, and I feel grateful to Emma Thompson and everyone else for that. And it's not just about catharsis, or even escape. I've never had to walk to my own death, but I can feel good about the human race, and feel close to my own family, when Harry Potter brings back his mother and father to help him face Voldemort alone. I can start an hour long laugh-fest/philosophical discussion with my roommate based on a Disney movie GIF set that someone on Tumblr took the time to create.

And if we writers and artists can do that for any other human being--in a full length novel, short story or poem, in a 140 character tweet, in a joke on Tumblr or blog post about the latest episode of Supernatural--then that I think is what makes everything worthwhile.

That is why I write.

What matters most to you? And is that why you write?

Sarah Allen

This Week on Social Media:

For more frequent updates, writing tips, and funnies, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, 
YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, GoodReads, and/or Instagram. Or if you enjoyed this post, sign up for the monthly newsletter and get a free copy of 50 Marketing and Networking Tips for Writers!

SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES:

• NPR Selected Shorts Contest: First Prize is $1000,  plus a scholarship for a 10 week course at the Gotham Writers' Workshop. Your story will be read to a national audience by a well-known actor. Due March 15.
• Big Book of Useful Poetry: Submit "useful" poems as well as the tags for their usefulness. Tag examples: . Poems can be previously published as long as you have the rights for reprints. No limericks. Submit up to three poems. Until Filled.
• Blue Heron Review: Please send 3-5 poems in the body of your e-mail. (Short, poetic prose will also be considered.) No attachments, please. Due Dec. 15
• Understory Magazine: Understorey Magazine seeks fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and spoken word about motherhood. We publish online and pay $30-$50 (CAD) for accepted pieces. Rolling
• Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition: We’re looking for short stories! Think you can write a winning story in less than 1,500 words? Enter the 15th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition for your chance to win $3,000 in cash, get published in Writer’s Digest magazine, and a paid trip to our ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference! Due TODAY.

SPOTLIGHT:

• 7 Things I'd Do Before I Published A Book (If I had to do it over again) (TheWriteGame)
• 39 Things To Remember When Struggling To Build Your Writing Career (Your Writer Platform)
• Successful Querying: It's Not All About The Letter (Books By Women)
• How To Choreograph A Great Action Scene (Darcy Pattison) 
• Does The Market Readily Accept Genre Change? (Tossing It Out)

Don't Touch Me, You Beach

I’m just going to come right out and say it. I don’t really get beaches.

Do people enjoy getting sand in every crevice of their body?

And the sun. In many ways I feel about the sun like I feel about cooking; it can be beautiful, and is necessary to sustain life, but as little direct contact as possible is preferred. (So maybe I’m a little vitamin D deficient…)

People say the beach is relaxing, but there is a big difference between relaxing and draining. Relaxing means rejuvenating; that you feel rested and ready to get back in action when the relaxing is over. The beach doesn’t do that for me. The beach leaves me feeling shriveled, and like the life-force has been evaporated out of me. Maybe it has to do with my Norwegian heritage.

There is only so much you can do when it’s hot. You can be Tony Stark naked and still be sweating like Bruce Banner in an elevator.

Make it cold, though, and you can pile on hoodies and blankets and a fireplace and a cup of grandma’s sweet-and-condensed-milk-hot-cocoa. And a book.

Here’s the thing about the beach. It can occasionally be too draining and too sandy and too bright to read.

Do you understand? TOO BRIGHT TO READ. Why would anyone VOLUNTARALY choose a place that makes it DIFFICULT TO READ A BOOK?

Okay, okay, so I know reading at the beach is a thing, and maybe I’ve just never learned the proper technique, because it doesn’t quite work out for me. My family loves the beach, so I’ve learned to cope by staking myself out under the umbrella, next to the Coke, draping towels over my shoulders and lap, and bringing a book. But by the time I’ve been in the sun and sand long enough to walk from the car to the umbrella and get myself settled, I already feel too drained and shriveled to focus on words on a page. And then I have to get in the water with my brothers for at least a little while, because even I can’t go to the beach and not get in the ocean, and then I’m wet and even MORE drained and shriveled.

Okay so even I have a good time at the beach, but like a cleaning at the dentist, I prefer only occasional and short appointments. When I think relaxing, give me a cabin with the softest couch and the largest fireplace and so much snow outside nobody can get in or out. Give me a large television and strong wifi connection and a library to rival the Beast’s. Give me a hoodie, a book, and no bedtime.

That, I get.

Are you a beach person or a snow person?

Sarah Allen

For more frequent updates, writing tips, and funnies, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, 
YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, GoodReads, and/or Instagram. Or if you enjoyed this post, sign up for the monthly newsletter and get a free copy of 50 Marketing and Networking Tips for Writers!

How Small Projects Can Get You Through The Dry Spells

I am incredibly honored today to be posting at C.S. Lakin's wonderfully inspiring blog for writers, Live, Write, Thrive. I am over there giving some ideas about smaller projects and how they can be especially beneficial during the times when our big novel projects aren't quite cooperating. Check it out and be sure to comment!

We will be back to our regularly scheduled writing advice/blog spotlights/submission opportunities next Monday.

Teaching Myself To Draw

Ok, so I'm not really drawing. I feel like that's probably too lofty of a term for my doodling. But as someone who wants to write in basically every format--definitely including picture books, comics, and perhaps even graphic novels--I feel like some basic illustrating/cartooning skills would be a good idea. This is not a natural area for me, but I want to expand my range, so I'm giving it a shot. I figure why not? So I'm putting myself on a practice regimen.

I love the childlike quality, humor, and story in every drawing from Ally Brosch. I love the spot on humor in both the language and comics from cartoonists like Gary Larson and Jim Unger. Obviously I will never be even close to the realm of these folks, but if I can have fun playing with that kind of thing and a few other people enjoy it too, I will consider my goal accomplished. I want to tell stories in every way possible, and make people smile and laugh.

So I'm working at it.

Don't worry. I won't be subjecting you to all my practice scratchings. I simply wanted to prove to myself that I am really doing this, and really putting it out there. We'll see how this turns out.

Are you working on any indirectly-but-still-writing-related projects?

Sarah Allen

For more updates, writing tips, and funnies, sign up for the monthly newsletter and get a free copy of 50 Marketing and Networking Tips for Writers!

For more frequent updates, writing tips, and funnies, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, 
YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, GoodReads, and/or Instagram.

5 Things To Help You Win NaNoWriMo (and any other novel)

On Halloween, writers everywhere wait anxiously around their clocks for the stroke of midnight. No, not for the arrival of witches, or ghosts, or the walking dead, but for the arrival of November.

The arrival of National Novel Writing Month.

50,000 words in a month? writers say. No problem. But a month is a long time. Long enough for distractions, for losing interest, for life to get in the way. And a month is also a short time. Short enough to make you want to tear out your hair when you realize you have 1/3 of the month left to write 2/3 of your novel.

So how to make it through this Herculean endeavor that is NaNoWriMo? There are a few tools and strategies that might help. And these strategies can be used not just for your NaNo novel, but for any other writing project throughout the year.

1. Community Support. This is something the NaNoWriMo group has down to perfection. The wonderful NaNoWriMo site has community boards and inspirational posts and ideas from a great crop of talented and successful writers. Not only that, but by using the #nanowrimo hashtag on sites from Twitter to Instagram, you instantly have access to other writers partaking in the same adventure you are, and coming up against the same struggles and difficulties. This community can give you ideas, encouragement, and emotional support. Set up NaNo parties with your friends. Make sure your family knows what you're doing, and what times you need to be alone to write. Find friends on Twitter or throughout the Blogosphere that can help and support you. This goes not just for November, but for the whole year.

2. Online Tools. There are lots of online tools that use tricks and gimmicks to help spur you on. One that I personally find terrifying, but imagine could be extremely effective, is Write or Die. With this website, you set your parameters and then start writing. And if you stop writing, your words start getting deleted. Gone. So you have to just write and keep writing to keep that from happening. For those who like a more positive reinforcement approach, I like the site Written Kitten. The premise is simple. You type into the text box, and for every 100 words you write, you get a new picture of a kitten. Pretty sweet, right? In lots of ways :)

3. Setting the Mood. There are a couple methods for picking your background "noise" while you write. When I'm looking for music to underscore my words, Pandora is an obvious but easy and incredibly useful tool. I highly recommend the Michael Giacchino station for writing background.

The other option is to go for writing talks and podcasts. I'm not one who can write while listening to anybody else's words, but whether you listen to writing talks while you write or while you take a break, they can be incredibly beneficial. I've compiled a list of my 3 favorite TED Talks for writers, and if you haven't discovered the Writing Excuses podcast, do yourself a favor and check it out. I've mentioned it before on this blog, and I'll probably mention it again.

4. Poetry Collection. I know, I know, we're writing novels here, not poetry, but here me out. I don't think a writer can get a bigger zap of inspiration, or give their Muse a bigger kick in the pants than by reading poetry. Poetry is like the 5 Hour Energy drink of writing. There's a hump we just have to get over when we sit down at our keyboard of just getting the words to start coming, and poetry can ease us more quickly over that hump. Read a poem before you start your writing for the day, and I can guarantee it will make things go a little more smoothly. I recommend the 180 More anthology from Billy Collins, or the Good Poems For Hard Times anthology from Garrison Keillor. 

5. Reminders. Reminders can be very helpful, and can come in many forms. You can set an alarm on your phone to tell you its time to sit down and write. You can make your little brother your official alarm. You can buy a hat and set it apart as your official "writing" time hat, that signifies to both you and others that when you're wearing it, you are WRITING. You can post pictures of your favorite authors and inspirational quotes above your desk. And of course, you can make an actual reminder list. Reminders to tell your internal editor to shut up, this is a first draft. Reminders to take breaks every 300 words if that helps you keep your stamina. Reminders to eat. Reminders that this project in its final stage will be AMAZING.

So use these tools, and maybe November will go more easily for you. And not just this month, but every month next year, and the next. And of course...

Write on!

Sarah Allen

[Image Source]

This Week on Social Media:

For more frequent updates, writing tips, and funnies, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, 
YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, GoodReads, and/or Instagram.

SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES:

• Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition: We’re looking for short stories! Think you can write a winning story in less than 1,500 words? Enter the 15th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition for your chance to win $3,000 in cash, get published in Writer’s Digest magazine, and a paid trip to our ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference! Due Nov. 17.
• StoryShelter Personal Essay Anthology: StoryShelter is accepting submissions for personal essays of 400-1200 words for a book called I Am Here: The Untold Stories of Everyday People. Due Dec. 31
• Museum of Words Micro Fiction Contest: The competition is for very short fiction pieces of up to a maximum of 100 words. The winner will receive a prize of $20,000, with three runners-up each receiving $2,000. This contest is open to writers from all countries and entries are accepted in four languages: English, Spanish, Arabic and Hebrew. All stories entered must be original and unpublished. Due Nov. 23
• Jane Lumley Prize for Emerging Writers: The Prize is awarded annually to a writer who has not published a full length book of poetry or prose. This year is poetry. The winner will receive a prize of $300 and will be featured in Issue 6 of the Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal. Due Nov. 30.
• Schnieder Family Book Award: These awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. Three awards of $5000 each will be given annually in each of the following categories: birth through grade school (age 0-10), middle school (age 11-13) and teens (age 13-18). May be fiction, biography, or other form of nonfiction. Due Dec. 1

SPOTLIGHT:

• What Should Authors Blog About? (Jane Friedman)
• 4 Ideas for Ending Book Chapters (Helping Writers Become Authors)
• How To Know If Your Book Is Ready To Market (Self Made Writer)
• 4 Ways to Write A Killer Plot Twist (Writer's Digest)