Taking Care of Authors

Taking care of business (every day)
Taking care of business (every way)
I've been taking care of business (it's all mine)
Taking care of business and working overtime

The words from Bachman-Turner Overdrive say it so well.  In our fast-paced world, we all feel pressure to be productive; to take care of business: athletes train to compete; business people strive for success; blue-collar workers work to survive; medical professionals study to be informed; innovators create to make life more convenient; and authors write to inform, inspire, entertain, teach, encourage, and more.  Just like the words say, "Taking care of business," we also need to heed the words, "Taking care of   authors."

Here's a list of ten suggestions by ten authors that every writer should put into practice in order to maintain good physical, mental, and spiritual balance.

*  Take time to let the subconscious 'play with the story' and do something creative.  Robin Carroll - mystery/suspense author of "Fear No Evil."  Painting, gardening, scrap-booking, cleaning cupboards, or whatever suits your fancy provides a great release from your story.

*  Every author needs to exercise regularly.  Lynette Eason, suspense author of "No One to trust", "Nowhere to Turn," & "When a Heart Stops," and Becky Wade - Christian romance author of "Meant to be Mine."  Work it so it becomes a part of your regular routine.  Use a pedometer to make sure to get your steps in each day.

*  Foster relationships with other writers - especially after a long stint of isolated writing.  Kellie Gilbert - fiction author of "A Woman of Fortune."  Nurturing relationships with other writers is essential to cultivating fresh ideas and to inspire creativity.

*  Get away from the computer and spend time with real live people.  Katie Ganshert - contemporary romance/romantic suspense author of "Wildflowers."  Talk with hubby.  Call a friend.  Go shopping and have a conversation with the person standing in the check-out line.

*  Pace yourself.  Be focused and disciplined with your time.  When you meet your goals for the day or the week, stop.  Give yourself time off.  Rachel Hauck - fiction author of "Once Upon a Prince."  Or give yourself a time-out and go to your room.  If you can't shut off your thoughts, jot down a few notes, then set it and forget it.  For a time.  Set reasonable goals.

* Preserve "you" in your writing career.  Learn to say "no" to ancillary commitments.  Strike a balance between necessary productive time and time-consuming unproductivity.   Ronie Kendig - rapid-fire fiction author of "Raptor 6."  Do not become a slave to writing so that it becomes drudgery.  Smile at yourself in the mirror to make sure you are still you.

*  Eliminate physical clutter in your work zone.  It does wonders for productivity.  Carla Laureano - inspirational/fantasy author of "Five Days in Skye" and "Oath of the Brotherhood."  One day this past week, my very-organized daughter, LaDawn, came to help me with a writing project.  She sat down at my computer, looked over the disarray, and said, "The first thing we need to do is to de-clutter your desk!"  I had to admit that even though I knew where everything was in each of the fashionably messy piles, I operated much more efficiently once we made space on my desk.

*  Get up every hour and move for ten minutes - not just to exercise, but to give your body movement.  Dani Pettrey - mystery/suspense romance author of "Sabotaged."  Go outside.  Breathe.  Walk.  Sing and dance to your favorite music.

*  Eat healthy and exercise.  Keep your mind and body in good condition.  Cindy Woodsmall - Amish author of "A Love Undone."  Healthy eating and exercise go hand-in-hand like love and marriage.  'Can't have one without the other.

*  Pray regularly - before, during, and after writing sessions.  Christian authors know the immeasurable worth of close communication with the Lord - not just asking that the writing be blessed when all is said and done, but during the process.  After all, His ways, His thoughts,  are much higher than ours.  Consider the timeless Book He wrote.  Rita Kroon - author of "Kiss Your Mommy Goodbye."

A Time and a Place for Adjectives and Adverbs

Do you remember when in grade school we had to diagram sentences and name the nouns and pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs, prepositions and prepositional phrases?  I thought of one assignment in particular: "Write a descriptive paragraph using as many of the parts of speech as possible on a topic of choice for a five-minute exercise."  I couldn't remember any of the topics my English teacher gave us, so I wrote my own scene following her instructions.  I emphasized the POS (parts of speech tagging) as follows: nouns and pronouns, adjectives, and verbs and adverbs .  For my purposes here, I did not mark the prepositions or the prepositional phrases.  Here's the scene:

"Heat lightning flickered, like the tongue of a serpent,  across the murky night sky.  Megan Tayor stirred under the satin sheet uncomfortably aware of the sultry July air, and the threat of the pending summer storm.  Sheer bedroom curtains drooped at the sides of the opened window allowing the corner street-light's eerie glow to filter through the boughs of the tall spruce trees casting grotesque shadows on the wall.

Suddenly something startled Megan awake.  Instinctively she lay still, and listened.  An ominous sense of danger enveloped her like a sleeping bag with a broken zipper.  Her eyes slid to the silent television perched on the corner of her dresser, its screen rolling in crazy patterns.  Still holding the remote in her hand, she quietly clicked the button, and the TV turned ghostlike.

Lifting her head from the pillow, Megan strained to hear. A strange muffled sound came from the living room.  She swallowed hard, then opened her mouth as shallow spurts of air escaped.  Someone's in the house!"  (168 words)

This exercise would have done my teacher proud.  However, today it would give editors and publishers prickly hives!   Today's rule of thumb is: Seek clarity, accuracy and efficiency in prose above all. Mean what you say, and say exactly what you mean, as clearly and as compactly as possible.  In other words, "write tight," "use nouns and strong verbs," "use adjectives and adverbs sparingly," "try to eliminate the word 'was,'" and the sticker of all rules, "show, don't tell."

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to re-write the scene eliminating all unnecessary adjectives and adverbs.  Remember: Write tight/concise.  Show, don't tell.

Here's my revised version:

"Megan Tayor stirred under the sheet uncomfortably aware of the sultry air and pending storm. Half awake, she watched heat lightning flicker across the sky.  She squinted at grotesque shadows on the wall cast from  the street-light's glow through the spruce trees.

 

Suddenly Megan heard a muffled sound.  Her eyes pierced the darkness.  She  strained to hear.  She barely breathed.  Her eyes slid to the silent television perched on the corner of her dresser, its screen rolling in crazy patterns.  She heard the noise again.  Still holding the remote in her hand, she clicked the button, and the TV turned ghostlike.

Her heart beat wildly.  Beads of perspiration dotted her nose. 

Megan lifted her head from the pillow and listened. A muffled noise sounded  from the living room.  She swallowed hard, then opened her mouth as shallow spurts of air escaped.  Dear God, Someone's in the house!  (147 words)

I eliminated 21 words - mostly unnecessary adjectives and adverbs without loosing any tension or immediacy of the scene.  Go head.  Try your hand at it.  See if you can tighten up the scene even more. Practice this exercise in all your writing.

Remember: this works is all styles of writing - except maybe if you're writing an assigned 500 word descriptive paragraph for some writing class. 

Rita Kroon