Jane's Tips for Great Writing

Jane's Tips for Writing Great Books

Here's a few tips about writing - not just for writing Great Books - but for writing Great Anything. These tips and ideas have worked for me and they might help you out as well. Some of these tips were handed down to me by my writing mentor, Mrs M. and I've found them to be 'tried and true.' Give them a go!

There's nothing like a book launch

Yup there's nothing quite like it ... after you've worked for months (make that, years ...) on a creative project, night and day, thinking there's no end in sight and questioning 'why am I doing this, for Pete's sake?' (and who is Pete anyway).

I was really happy to attend the October (2011) launch of my friend and colleague Christine Rule's book of short stories called Lost and Found. I've known Christine for some time as a fellow Breast Cancer Support Breast Friends Group Coordinator (Christine runs the very popular group in Central Auckland - you can read all about her group and their activities here on the BCS website) and every now and then we'd talk about writing. Christine is a great writer and performer - she's written plays, short stories and belongs to a thriving writers' group - and we'd share the difficulties, the ups and downs, the joys and the not-so-good-times of the writer's life. In the photo(taken by Bev Robitai) above, Christine is signing books at her launch.

Christine has self published her book of stories (available by contacting ruslette@gmail.com) about every day New Zealanders going about their lives throughout the twentieth century and experiencing all that life throws at us, bestows upon us, and both blesses and challenges us with. The stories are funny, sad, poignant, moving ... real stories which we can all identify with. Christine's words create a vibrant, colourful tapestry. One of my favourites is a little story entitled Mission Accomplished. It begins: Ailsa's self-esteem was at a low ebb. She was on the wrong side of sixty and her friends were departing, either for overseas or a better life on the other side. Her interests were many and varied, but her meagre back balance was showing signs of an imminent death rattle. Fabulous! It's a lovely little snapshot of an older woman trying to find employment.

Many writers are self publishing these days and Christine has done a super job with her book. She ran 100 copies ... and is ordering a reprint already. Christine's book launch was packed with friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances from all parts of her rich life and it was a real treat to applaud and celebrate her creative efforts and wonderful book.

This is a photo of me signing books at the launch of Welcome to the Amazon Club at The Women's Bookshop in Ponsonby, Auckland. One of our Cancer Babes, Kay, made up these fabulous black shirts for all of the Cancer Babes to wear to the launch and what a gorgeous team we were! And that's me with Mom and Dad.

To say it was one of the best nights of my life would be an understatement - it was probably one of life's highlights and I think there's nothing quite like that first launch for a writer. It's a truly wonderful event. People have come to see you, to hear you read from your book, to congratulate you and to share in the moment and celebrate you accomplishments - and of course to buy your book! Yeeha!!

The party makes it all worthwhile, all the solitary hours of writing, and all of the self doubts and worries that plague us are dispelled with the raising of the champagne glass.So keep working away on your writing because the launch party is so worth it - there's nothing quite like it in life's great scheme of things.

I haven't been writing ...

.. and wow, do I feel it.

It's beginning to be quite a problem, this need to create. It's interfering with my life ... or should I say, life is interfering with my need to create. I feel mildly anxious a lot of the time, kind of upset, a bit 'on the verge', pent up ... things are about to boil over ... you know the feeling.

I haven't worked on The Book About Mom for some time - and I reckon Mom would be a little upset with me for that. I've felt doubly sad this month because another of Mom's beloved friends passed away, another of her old Crab Club friends from childhood days. I was so glad Dad and I were able to spend time with her before she passed away during our visit to Roanoke, Va.

This reminds me that our time is short here ... there is always much to do ... and how would we like to be remembered? What contributions do we want to make, to leave behind. I think I'd rather be remembered for my books than anything else. How about you, fellow writer?

I've been so busy with contract work, developing spreadsheets, writing on websites, making strategic plans. There has been no time' to do nothing' (I wrote about that last time! Ooops!) because life is frantic.

The Famous Jane McPherson (you'll have to read Welcome to the Amazon Club to find out who she is - and it's well worth it! You can buy WTTAC in my Shop ...go on!) always said, 'Never say 'should' because 'should' equals 's***'. ' JMcP was never one to muck about. So I can't say 'I should be writing' I need to say 'I will write.'

I need to write to save myself. Today? Maybe tomorrow ...

Taking time to do nothing

'An artist must have down time, time to do nothing. Defending our right to such time takes courage, conviction, and resilience. Such time, space, and quiet will strike our family and friends as a withdrawal from them. It is.' (Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way)

As writers, we all need time to 'look up and look down', ponder, think, feel ... and sometimes those around us don't always get it, this need for solitude and quiet contemplation.

We tend to fit in this time to ourselves amongst other things: family, kids, work, domestic chores, cats (let's face it, that's true!) - and sometimes when we say "I want to be alone!" everyone gets a bit antsy and thinks we're sick of them, or we are being selfish, or we're just downright weird. Heaven forbid if we wrote full time! Would the lawns get mowed, the dishes done, the groceries bought? Gosh.

I'd hire a PA, I think.

Truth is, we need this time to ourselves, to get our ideas together, look at the world, translate our observations, feelings into words. It's important to remember that you're not actually taking time to 'do nothing' - you're working. It's part of the creative process.

Defend this time, stake a claim, map it out so everyone knows it is yours. When they see you sitting in front of the window, looking out to sea, make it clear that you are not to be disturbed. This is your time, you're creating and that is important.

Going for the jugular

The Great Mrs. M used to say, "Don't just write about the nice stuff; take on the yukky bits too."

We all have times in our lives when we've done something we're not proud of.

Perhaps we've really hurt another person through our actions or words. Maybe we broke Aunt May's precious china poodle, worth a million dollars, when we were staying over one weekend, tried to glue it back together, failed, stuck it in the garbage and never fessed up.

And then there are those deep secrets we have that we hold close, never wanting them to see the light of day. It would be too humiliating, too devastating, to write about them, just too difficult. We might hurt someone else, too, if we let them out of their box.

Natalie Goldberg offers some good advice in her book Old Friend From Far Away:

Go for the jugular, for what makes you nervous. Otherwise, you will always be writing around your secrets, like the elephant no on notices in the living room. It's that large animal that makes your living room unique and interesting.

When we write about those things that are personally difficult, Natalie goes on to say that we're actually building up a tolerance for what we cannot bear. If you start out by writing down frightening things and then tearing up the paper, that's OK. Keep going and keep tearing it up if you want to until you arrive at a point where Natalie says 'chew it up and swallow.' It's good practice. The more you challenge yourself to 'go for the jugular' in your writing, the more willing - and able - you will be to go to those dark, secret places, and the richer your writing will become.

Here's an exercise suggested by our Natalie: Make a list of the things you should not write about - then systematically go down the list, take ten minutes on each one, and 'let it rip.'

Finding the inner child again ...

I often hear this about imagination: we have it when we're little, and then as we become older, assuming the responsibilities of life and the weight of the world, we tend to lose it. It's important to recapture our imaginations when we write, to delight in simple things and to see the world anew through the eyes of a wondering child.

Most days I go outside and sit on my front deck and I try to look at something as if I am seeing it for the first time.

The birds come most mornings to have a feed on the bread that I throw out on the grass. There is a small, delicate, pale brown thrush that I've watched grow from a tentative fledgling into a fearless, strutting little number, seemingly unafraid of cats and any other bird, scuttling about along the lawn to eat the food. The bird is used to me feeding it and when I don't put the bread out there, it sits outside my office window and chirps loudly at me until I come out and give it what it wants. This is also the one who takes a bath in Little Boy's water bowl, despite the large bird bath sitting on the lawn.

When it was a little guy, I tried to see the world through its eyes: the tentative fledgling discovering the green grass, the tops of the trees, the warmth of sunshine and the feel of rain, the food on the ground, the wind ... sounds crazy? Now it is a worldly-wise grown up who has learned a few tricks, knows to shriek at me outside my office so I'll come out and throw some bread about.

Ah yes! Indeed some craziness is afoot - many writers are a little bit nutty in some way or another.

Exercises like this help us to peel off the layers that we've been piling on since we were kids, to expose our senses again, to allow ourselves to look in wonder at all that is around us. Have a go.

Why do you write?

My writer's group came up here last month (January) for our annual summer lunch. Everybody brings something (curried eggs, wine and nibbles, dessert etc) and we sit down, enjoy our shared lunch, talk about writing and generally have a jolly fine catch up.

This year, we've decided to do some writing exercises when we meet (we get together every month). Three of us are working on projects so it's always good to be able to share progress, read out work and receive feedback at our meetings but having a short writing exercise to do as well gets the mind going, activates the creative zone and it's really fun to see what comes out.

At our summer lunch, we read an article called 'Why I write' written by Terry Tempest Williams (taken from: Forche, Carolyn and Philip Gerard, eds, Writing Creative Nonfiction, Story Press, Chicago, 2001:6-7) in which the writer notes down all the reasons for writing. There are so many but here's a few:

'I write ro record what I love in the face of loss. I write because it makes me less fearful of death. I write as an exercise in pure joy. I write as one who walks on the surface of a frozen river beginning to melt.'

We then wrote for fifteen minutes, noting the reasons why we write - and I tell you, it was very interesting and a worthwhile exercise. Have a go.

Why do you write?

Write wherever you are ...

In her really super book Writing Down the Bones (Shambhala 1986), Natalie Goldberg talks about Writing in Restaurants (pp 90). It's all about writing wherever you are and how it's good to 'change the scenery from time to time.'

Summer provides so many opportunities for a change of scenery. Perhaps going on holiday to a place you've never been or re-visiting an old summer favourite with familiar sights, smells and feels. Whatever it is, it is different to where we usually are, there will be something new even in the familiar and we can sit and doodle ... we can write about what we see.

Natalie seems to be quite a fan of writing in cafes and she says that writing in such places can ..."improve concentration. But instead of reducing stimulation, the cafe atmosphere keeps that sensory part of you busy and happy, so that the deeper, quieter part of you that creates and concentrates is free to do so." (pp 92).

I think there's alot of truth in what she says here ... whilst we are sitting on the lawn, feeling the sunshine and the breeze in our faces, our creative side is out exploring and it feels good to let your pen wander across the page, writing down whatever comes to mind as the little creative person within rambles and frolics.

And these wanderings are the gems and the jewels, the stuff of great stories so whilst many of your doodlings you might never use, there will always be a few sentences - maybe even just one word - that will evoke something inside you, touch a nerve, ring a bell ... and it's full speed ahead and all systems go.

And remember, as my writing mentor Mrs. M used to say, 'Don't throw anything away!"

Encouraging new writers

The Great Mrs. M used to say, "Write about your life to help others make sense of theirs."

Mrs. M used to tell me that by writing about our lives we can help other people understand their own. We all like to read life stories, especially those Hollywood tiddle-taddles about who's up to what with who.

Perhaps the gossip magazines won't help us too much to figure out more about ourselves but the process of Life Writing, or the personal memoir - and reading the results - can be a way of doing it better.

I recently attended the launch of a new collection of stories by new writers. The book is called Translucence and is the product of the 2010 First Chapters programme run in Manukau Libraries by my friend, colleague and business mentor Jocelyn Watkin - read more about Jocelyn (and our writers' group) in my Hall of Fame!

This new book is available through the PublishMe website online shop.

A limited number of new/beginning writers are accepted into the community-funded programme each year and this year Deborah Shepherd was the author selected to facilitate workshops and coaching for the Translucence collection of Life Writing or the writing of personal memoir. Deborah and Jocelyn are both members of our long-standing writers' group.

The launch was a truly wonderful event: the new authors bursting with pride over their accomplishments, friends and family gathered to celebrate and applaud. Some read from their work and Deborah graciously acknowledged each of the contributions in her speech. Much credit needs to be given to Jocelyn for the enormous amount of work she puts into organising the programme.

The stories reflect life: the joys, the hardships, the good times and the bad, little insights into lives lived with passion, determination, intensity. Not only are we sharing in and learning from these stories - but we are celebrating these bold and brave works by new writers - and we can never have enough of those!

If You Want to be a Writer ...

The great Mrs. M used to say, "Always stuff a book in your bag, wherever you go."

... and Stephen King agrees, saying writers should, "... read a lot and write a lot" and I couldn't agree more. In his book On Writing (Hodder and Stoughton, 2001), King states that, "Reading is the creative centre of a writer's life." He takes books with him wherever he goes and never misses an opportunity for a quick read - or a long, luxurious one.

I remember when I was about ten or so, my sister and I would trail around with the 'junk stores' with Mom, looking for antiques. Mom did very well and my sister and I did too, always making a bee-line for the used books section. we'd gather up all the Agatha Christie books we could find - and any 'classics' too like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Robinson Crusoe, Jane Eyre.

I loved to read and these books gave me a sense of narrative, plot and structure, how to engage a reader. I didn't know it at the time, but all the reading was preparing me for The Writing Life - and it still does.

As they say, practice makes perfect - so keep writing, lots ... and read lots too. King offers some wise words to us: "The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with the process of writing; one comes to the country of the writer with one's papers and identification pretty much in order. Constant reading will pull you into a place (a mind-set, if you like the phrase) where you can write eagerly and without self-consciousness. It also offers you a constantly growing knowledge of what has been done and what hasn't, what is trite and what is fresh, what works and what just lies there dying (or dead) on the page. The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor."

Yeah, man.

Let Yourself Listen

Some wise words from Julia Cameron
(The Right to Write (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York, 1999))

The Great Mrs. M used to say, "Just get it down and stop fussing about!"

In her book The Right to Write, Julia Cameron gives some very good advice, practical exercises and insight into The Writing Life.

I've re-read the section about listening ... about allowing yourself to just be with your writing. She has one sentence here that I remind myself of from time to time - and it's especially relevant now with the work I'm doing about Mom. Julia says: "Writing is about getting something down, not about thinking something up."

She goes on to say that we can either think of something to write about or we can just write what we happen to be thinking about. And, most importantly, she says: "We can either demand that we write well or we can sette more comfortably into writing down what seems to want to come through us - good, bad or indifferent."

Writing about Mom is such an emotional roller-coaster alot of the time. So many feelings and thoughts tumbling over themselves like a breaking wave, wanting to come out. I cannot stop them to think, "Hmm - how shall I write this down?" I have to let them come as they will and whether the writing is fabulous or lousy, it doesn't matter.

Just get it down - listen to those thoughts and feelings - put aside thoughts of clever plots and structures for now. Let the writing flow.

Conditions of Excellence

The truth according to Ms Dorothea Brande

I've always thought that my mentor, Mrs. M, was right up there with the Queen of all Writing Mentors, Ms Dorothea Brande.

If you've never read Ms Brande's classic book, Becoming a Writer, then you must dash out and procure a copy immediately. I have to warn you that this how-to-write-creatively gem was first published in 1934 so whilst the writing may seem a bit dated, the advice it presents is as relevant today as it was then. Timeless, indeed. Good, solid, no nonsense advice from Ms Dorothea.

I've had a copy of this book by my side for years and dip into it now and then for some grounding because Ms Brande is very forthright about her advice and pulls no punches, shall we say.

One can interpret the advice within a modern context. For example, in the section called The Conditions of Excellence, she says: " … set yourself to discover if you can see any connection between a good morning’s work and the conditions of the evening before. Can you tell whether or not the good writing came after you had spent an active day, or after a quiet one?"

Of course I immediately relate this to whether I drank too much the night before and was so hung over I could not produce ‘a good morning’s work.’

Dorothea also insists that writers maintain a good daily regime. Under the heading of Dictating a Daily Regime, she writes: "Most writers flourish greatly on a simple, healthy routine with occasional time off for gaiety … If you are going in for a lifetime of writing, it stands to reason that you must learn to work without the continual use of stimulants, so find what ones you can use in moderation and what must be dropped." I think she approves of coffee … Indeed she does offer some advice on this matter:

"For Coffee Addicts: If you have an ingrained habit of putting off everything until after you have had your morning coffee, buy a thermos bottle and fill it at night. This willl thwart your wily unconscious in the neatest fashion. You will have no excuse to postpone work while you wait for your stimulant."

You see? She's thought of everything!

Being bossy

The Great Mrs. M used to say, 'I'm a bossy old tart - but I have to be sometimes.'

My writing mentor, Mrs. M, used to tell me to write about everything - even the really painful things, or those times in life that you feel may never end because they seem like bottomless wells or endless roads.

When I was going through breast cancer, it was a bit like that. Mrs. M wrote letters to me during that time and in one she said, "As my mother used to say, 'everything passes.' Hard to bear, I know. What are words? Sometimes there are no words to describe what one has to go through. The whys and wherefores are beyond us. No answers at the time. But they will come. Believe me."

She encouraged me to keep writing when I could, get the words down whenever they would come and she said, "I am bossy - but I have to be, in a gentle way, to keep you writing." The letters came most every week and would finish with a little cartoon of my cat Betsy giving out some pearls of wisdom! It was this constant encouragement to write when I could, even if it was just a little, that helped create my first book ... and she was right too. The answers did come, over time, in the writing.

I'm facing a similar time in my life as I write about my Mom. Sometimes the words flow freely because the

visits are good ones. We play cards, have a laugh, enjoy being in the moment together. Other times, it is so painful that the words hurt way too much. The process of taking them from my emotions to the page is almost more than I can do.

But we have to do it. Sometimes we need a 'bossy old tart' like Mrs. M to encourage us to keep going and if we don't have one of those, we have to boss ourselves around, get the words down, no matter how painful or how difficult. Because that's life and that's what we write about - the ups and downs, joys and sadnesses, truths and lies - and therein rests our challenge as writers. To go to those places, get it all down, go with the pain and the joy. It takes courage, determination and no small amount of backbone. But go there, do the business, ask the questions ... and the answers will come.

Telling the truth in your writing

The Great Mrs. M used to say, 'People want to read about your life - it helps them understand theirs.'

As Anne Lamott says in her fabulous book Bird by Bird (Scribe, Melbourne, 2008): "The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so very little. But we do. We have so much we want to say and figure out."

We have a natural curiousity about life - our own and others' - we want to know how somebody,managed to climb that mountain, or how they got through that dreadful experience. What did they do? How did they survive it?

When we read the words of others, we're looking for truth - so when you're writing, tell it like it is, let it all hang out, be truthful, share your experience honestly. When I was writing my first book Welcome to the Amazon Club I had to put alot of personal stuff out there, because an experience with cancer can be that way much of the time. There were some aspects I hesitated over. I was discussing this with one of my writing group ladies and she said, "Tell the truth. If you don't, people will know." ( "... yeah, honest, I did see a giraffe looking through the window at me while I was flying over Africa - no foolin'!!).

So there was that to consider - I didn't want to be seen as a liar, or omitting parts of the truth or making things up; but overriding that was the reason I wrote the book - to help others going through a similar experience and the only way to do that well was to tell the truth.

Virginia Woolf recommended 'a room of one's own'
The Great Mrs. M used to say: 'Any room will do and all you need is a firm writing surface - the kitchen table will suffice.'

1. I've never been able to write at the kitchen table, in spite of what Mrs. M used to say. However, I do believe in the firm writing surface and have always worked in 'a room of my own.'

2. 'A room of one's own' doesn't necessarily have to be a room. It can be a little alcove under the staircase, a tray on your knee outside on the screen porch, an old caravan out the back of the garden.

3. Wherever it is, it should be your own space for working, the place you do your writing. Whether working on the computer or writing by hand, have a space that is yours and ask those living with you (including cats and dogs) to respect your privacy and your space.

4. If you have a room, it's good to be able to close the door, keep the work inside and other people/cats/dogs (as cute as they may be!) outside. When I'm working on something, I spread papers and things about and need to feel comfortable that they will not be disturbed or looked at. Writing for me is quite a personal and private process, especially in the early stages of a work, so I need to feel I have privacy.

When the going gets tough ... the writers run for the hills.

The Great Mrs M. used to say: 'Rubbish! As a writer you must be able to write anywhere, anytime.'

1. When you go out, take the trusty 3B1 notebook with you and a good pen. Jot down things you see and hear, save them for later. You may not be working on anything specific but such gems can come in handy for writing projects.

2. If you're working on something and you get stuck, take a break. Such breaks can last anything from one hour to three months or more. Don't worry about length of time. Take as much as you need.

3. Sometimes we need to 'replenish the well.' We're continually drawing bucketfulls of creativity from our well and sometimes we get pretty near the bottom - or dry up completely! Don't despair! The well will refill. Give it time. Open up, let the thoughts, feelings, emotions and information flow in ... and refill.