The Secret

by: Maryanne

Most of my writer's boards have been abuzz lately with talk of The Secret, a movie that promises to unlock "the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted".

Pretty powerful stuff, huh? Even Oprah jumped on The Secret bandwagon and had a panel of The Secret teachers on her show yesterday to talk about how people can change their lives.

The only problem I found with The Secret is that....well, it's not much of a secret. The idea that what you can see with your mind’s eye is what you will create in your life has been around for years. That if you believe positive things will happen, you will attract positive things into your life. Not only have these ideas been around for years but most truly successful people have espoused these beliefs in interviews and books for as long as I can remember.

Now I don't want to seem like I'm knocking this new craze. I'm all for people bettering their lives and reaching their dreams. And, if you need to spend $29.95 for a dvd on how to do it, I say go for it.

For those of you who aren't ready to whip out your credit card just yet, let me offer a few suggestions I've found helpful in my quest to becoming a successful writer. I'll call these Maryanne's Secrets, although, chances are, you've all heard my secrets before.

1) Define success for yourself. Is success making a lot of money (or money period)? Is success seeing your name on the spine of a book sitting in a bookstore? Is success writing ten or fifteen minutes every day?

For example, my writing dream has always been to make a living (i.e. money) as a writer. For years I worked on different novels and magazine articles and made some money along the way. But I never felt successful. It was only when I realized that I personally would only feel successful when I made a certain amount of money that I recognized I needed to change courses and do a different type of writing (one that would make me the money I sought).

2) Once you've defined exactly what success is for you, write down the necessary steps to achieve that success.

3) When you've defined what steps you need to take to be successful, make a plan for implementing these steps in your life.

Another added bonus of defining what you need to do to reach your goal, is to also see what you need to NOT do. By defining the steps I needed to take, I was able to comfortably turn down writing opportunities which did not funnel into my ultimate goal of making a living as a writer.

4) You have a plan in place and now you must not only stick with that plan but visualize yourself at the place you're trying to get to. If your goal is to be a successful author or freelancer, take five or ten minutes a day to visualize yourself as a successful author or freelancer. When you work, think success and feel success. Feeling and acting successful will draw success and good things to you.

Did Maryanne’s Secrets not do it for you? For those of you who want more or want more from people who actually know what they’re talking about, check out SuccessConsciousness or read M. Williams' article Banishing the Bogeyman: A Writer's Visualization. Both are interesting reads and can give you some pointers in reaching your full potential as a writer!

Taking Good Advice

by Chris

TIP OF THE DAY: read, read, read your genre!

In 1980, when I was graduating from 5th grade, the school librarian signed my yearbook. I don't remember her name (I was only at that school for that one year) and I have no idea where that yearbook is ... but I remember what she wrote: "Summer Reading: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson". This was shortly after the book won the 1978 Newbery Award for the most distinguished American children's book (kind of like the Oscar of children's writing).

Even then, I loved to read and I loved to write, but I looked at the title that the librarian had written in swirly perfect cursive and thought, 'that book sounds weird' and proceeded to ignore her advice...

Fast forward to today, to a crazy world moving at a breakneck pace, where I spend a good part of my time writing books for children -- and Bridge to Terabithia -- the movie! -- is opening next Friday in theaters everywhere.

This fact, of course, makes me desperate to read the book. The movie is NEVER as good as the book, after all, and my nine year old is already begging me to take her. Besides, why can't I shake the memory of that librarian's autograph (I can still SEE it on the page!)? So -- 27 years later, I finally take her advice and check it out of my local branch.

Now I know why she was so eager to plug the book; it's wonderful. I'm about half way through, but I am fully invested in the main characters -- a young, misunderstood boy and his new neighbor, a girl. I already love them, I already fear for the inevitable obstacle that will cause them some sort of pain, I am already wishing them victory. I already know that at the end of this book I will cry.

My writer's mind begins to think... How did Paterson do it? How did she and writers like her paint believable portraits of children when they themselves are far removed from childhood? I guess that's the key. Maybe we are not as removed from childhood as we think.

In quality children's books, no matter which era they were produced, we see familiar emotions, fears, disappointments, triumphs and memories. We are reminded of the vital ingredients of a well-lived life: family, friends, faith, and a constantly blossoming sense of our role in the world. Even as adults we struggle for these things.

Do I think that if I had read this book as suggested long ago that I would have passed through puberty and young adulthood unscathed? No. I read what I was interested in at the time, I adored mysteries and biographies and books set in the past -- and I found plenty of characters to relate to in those. I just wasn't into contemporary novels with weird titles, and so I never visited Terabithia.

Am I glad I am reading the book now? Oh Yes. Not only is it a tool for learning about effective character development (chapter six is priceless), but it is making me really happy. When I read, I vividly remember what it felt like to be 10 and I know that Jess and Leslie are still more than happy to let me swing into their magical world.

Aren't books wonderful that way?

What a relief to know that in this moving at the speed of light world, some things are still timeless, like the good advice of a kind librarian, or the simple power of the well-written word.

Baby it's cold outside...

I'm not sure, but I think I'm Freelancer Number 3, of the "Three Freelancers and a Blog." Maryanne is Freelancer #1, Chris is Freelancer #2, which must make me Freelancer #3.

So...hello everyone and welcome to my blog!

That sorta sounds like welcome to my home, but it's not really the same thing. Or is it? I mean, this isn't really my home. I actually live in Michigan, not online. Then again, while I spend 95 percent of my time in Michigan, and the remaining 5 percent of my time "out of touch with reality," the truth is that about 98 percent of my overall time -- regardless of what state or state of mind I'm in -- is actually spent online, so maybe this is where I live. Huh. While I enjoy learning something new about myself and the world I live in on a daily basis, I have to say that bit of information really stunk and I'm so sorry I brought it up. I assure you I wasn't searching for a reality check.

So, yes, I'm in Michigan and yes, this is winter. I know I should expect it to be cold in Michigan in winter, but we had been spared so long I was hoping this year, at least, that winter wouldn't arrive. After all, we had to figure out how to celebrate Christmas without snow -- that was a first for us. We were up for no winter at all...another first.

Still, like it or not, winter has arrived and this week Mother Nature is making up for her tardiness. We only have about 4 inches of snow, but the cold snap that came with it is debilitating. My poor stray cat, Spooky, is freezing! But not to worry, my husband, the softy, made her a little house. (Yes, folks, I have a cat house on my porch.) Electrician that he is, he created a heated house for Spook by inserting a caged light on the inside of the house. I simply screw in a 25-watt light bulb (any color but red) and viola! Heat! Not much, but I guess it's enough for a chubby stray and a friend or two.

Anyway, now that Spooky is warm and safe, and my electrician is taking a little cat-nap before Boston Legal, I should get back to work. This year has been wonderful for freelancers -- at least it has been for me. I'm up to my ears in work, and that's exactly how I like it. I even was accepted for two Chicken Soup stories this year. And that was my first attempt at submission to that venue, so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself.

More importantly, I have my eyes set on a big job that I've been working on for the past three months. (Don't you guys hate proposals and the waiting period between sending them out and actually receiving a response?) So far my project has passed two green lights, but I don't want to jinx myself so I can't say exactly what it is. Suffice to say it has to do with a book. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I should know in about 2-3 weeks if it's a go. I can hardly wait! And I promise, you'll be the first to know...

Until we meet again...keep your fingers to the keyboard and accept the fact that if you're a freelance writer, you, too, live online.

G'night, neighbor!

Why are you writing?

Asking a writer why she or he likes to write may appear, on the surface, to be similar to the question, 'why do people breath?'. But let's face reality. While most of us do, in fact, love to write, we also have ulterior motives for doing so.

I realized mine several months ago during a conversation with my sister who is also a writer. I was giving her an update on the novel I was working on at the time and talking about how I hoped to get an agent who could sell my book.

My sister, who is one of these people who tends to walk on a different path from the rest of the world anyway, looked at me like I had suddenly twisted my head around on my body, spit up green vomit, and spat out a variety of offensive curse words. Then she ask, "why would you want to sell your novel?".

Why? To see my name in print. To have book signings. To send a copy to my tenth grade English teacher who told me I couldn't write. To make money.

My sister just shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't care about any of those things, especially making money. She just loved to write.

It was then that it hit me. Besides confirming my sister is a bit crazy, I realized that as much as I love to write, I do so with the intent to make money. I don't usually write just to write. I write with the desire to turn my passion for writing into a career.

When I came to that realization, I suddenly saw my writing priorities in a whole new light. While I do want to have a book published one day, trying to do so doesn't meet my immediate need to pay the bills. Neither does writing for magazines (at least for me).

That's when I turned to copywriting. I had toyed with the idea for a while. Having a business degree with an emphasis in Marketing seemed to give me some qualifications. And being able to write a variety of different things helped as well. But what's helped me the most in become successful has been to look at others who are successful. You can glean a lot of knowledge from those folks.

If any of you have the same money making motives, here are a few sites I've found helpful:

One person I find very informative is Tiffany Dow. Check out her Squidoo The Art of Becoming an Information Entrepreneur. She has free info on this site as well as links to some of her e-books. Tiff was a very successful copywriter on elance (I checked her out) and she really knows her stuff.

Also, if any of you are interested in trying your hand at copywriting, check out Elance or Guru. These are bid sites which help newbies to get their feet wet and also check out copywriting. It's not for everyone.

My suggestion is to go with the free memberships at first. Bid on a copy of jobs and see what you think of the process. But beware, there are some employers on these sites looking for writing....cheap. Although you're getting experience, value your work. Don't way underbid a project just to get a job. You'll probably regret it.

Good luck!

What's worse than a rejection letter?

I'll admit I've been a bit testy lately. I've had a lot of work to complete, not enough hours in the day to finish my assignments and suddenly it's colder than Alaska. And I'm in Texas. Oh and did I mention my husband quit smoking?

Between my fatigue, lack of body warmth and my husband who acts like he might commit some heinous crime against me at any moment, I've not been a happy camper this week. Which makes the fact that I've called myself The Positive Writer a bit ironic but that's a whole different post for another day.

The point of this blog is to bring up a subject which has bothered me more than anything this week. It's the answer to my question, "what's worse than a rejection letter?".

Well I'll tell you what's worse....silence.

You see I sent a query in October to a well-known online parenting magazine. Now I don't generally write for parenting magazines but I had a great idea for an article and thought I would pitch it. So, after lining up two really strong expert sources who gave me a world of information on my topic and then putting together some of my best clips, I wrote what I thought to be a great, attention getting query and sent it off.

Then I waited.

I'm still waiting. Even after contacting the editor a second time asking for verification they received my query, I've heard nothing.

This to me is unacceptable. Sure, I can understand not responding to the initial query. I can even understand receiving a rejection letter. But to not respond at all just seems.....wrong.

Yes I know editors have tons of work and not enough time to get it all done. One of my closest writing friends is an editor and she's given me the inside scoop. She even managed to talk me down, yesterday, from the edge of insanity when I briefly debated on whether or not to email this particular editor and give her a piece of my mind (not one of my better ideas, she assured me).

The point is, however, as writers, most of us work hard at our craft. We put time and effort into queries. To receive a rejection is tough but at least it's validation that, yes, someone read what we had to say. Or someone just pretended to read what we had to say but at least took the time to send us back a response.

So instead of dashing off a nasty email, I turned my bitterness toward doing a bit of research to find out what a writer should do in my situation. Moira Allen has a wonderful article entitled How to Write a Successful Query where she talks about how long to wait for a reply and what to do when you don't receive one. I also read another very good article on a Suite 101 site called Great Query Letters, No Replies. This article is about queries sent to fiction agents. Both are very informative and I suggest you check them out.

For now, I'm going to sit tight, try not to hurt anyone and give it two more weeks. Then, if I have to, I'm going to write myself a rejection letter and be done with it.

Are You the Next Erma Bombeck?

As humorous I like to think I am (and hey...don't bust my bubble if you don't agree), I don't believe I would ever compare myself to Erma Bombeck.....at least not to anyone outside my immediate family and only then after drink had been taken. The reason being is that Erma Bombeck was truly one in a million. Her writing conveyed the thoughts of a regular person who had a very funny take on life. And as much as some other writers are able to make me laugh, no one compares to Erma Bombeck.

So enough of my own thoughts and on to all you essay writers. Here's a contest you might be interested in. It's the 2007 Erma Bombeck writing contest which I saw mentioned on Sherry Stoll's Greeting Card website. Although Sherry writes about opportunities for greeting card writers, she mentions this contest as something of interest to her readers.

Check out the contest guidelines and also be sure to take a peek at Sherry's site. It's filled with some interesting information for those of you who might want to break into the greeting card market.

Have a great Monday!

The Revelation Brought on by Literary Agent Blogs and Charlotte's Web

This morning one of my kids frantically yelled to me for help. I immediately ran to her aid, almost breaking my neck in the process. I expected to find her drenched in blood or on fire. Instead, I found her staring, wide-eyed, down the hallway, pointing at something. I followed the direction of her finger and there, on an almost invisible piece of a web hanging down from our ceiling, was a small spider.

Now normally when I see a spider, I yell for my husband or I grab the largest object I can find and hope my aim is on target. However this morning I did neither of those two things.

The reason? This past weekend we saw the movie Charlotte's Web. After watching poor Charlotte (the spider, in case you're not up on the story) give so selfless of herself only to die in the end before she could even see her children born just broke my heart. And it changed how I look at spiders. Well the small ones, at least.

So instead of callously taking the life of the spider hanging in my hallway, I gently picked up the string it dangled on and walked it outside. Actually ran it outside when my visitor started quickly crawling toward my hand.

The same revelatory experience I've had with spiders also happened the first time I read an agent blog. Now I'm not trying to suggest I think of spiders and agents in the same category. Exactly. I'm just saying there are similarities between the two.

For instance, spiders scare me. So do agents. Or at least they did. But that was before I discovered something very important about powerful publishing people. They're human.

Sure, I knew they ate, breathed, and slept like the rest of us. But I figured most agents were the hard-boiled types, callously sending rejection letter after rejection letter and dashing the dreams of promising aspiring authors in the process, all before lunchtime.

But then I visited the Nelson Literary Agency website and realized how wrong I was. I went there looking for submission guidelines when I stumbled across agent Kristin Nelson's blog. I didn't think much about it but decided to take a quick look.

What started out as a glance turned into a forty-five minute laugh fest. Filled with agent advice and business related info, this blog is worth checking out. Kristin tells readers what she has on her iPod when she blogs, what she's doing agent-wise, and how her jury summons went this past Tuesday.

After reading Kristin's blog, I not only realized there was a human side to agents but I also discovered something else. I want Kristen to be my new best friend. Never mind reading my query. Forget publishing my book. I want the two of us to have coffee at Starbucks. I want us to go shopping at the mall together. I want us to have a girls' night out.

Okay so maybe I'm exagerating a bit (although she does sound pretty cool), I have now changed my mind about agents. I guess they're not so bad after all.

Can you write 120 queries in 12 months?

I like to think I could write this many queries in a year's time. To tell you the truth, I like to think I can do just about anything (minus appear on some reality show and eat dead things with fur). But, as I seem to be having a difficult time lately getting the work I already have finished and sent out, it's probably more likely I could digest a small rodent before I could pound out 120 queries.

However, if you happen to be a query guru (or not), check out InkThinker. There you can sign up for The InkThinker 2007 Query Challenge, which looks interesting (to say the least). The contest started yesterday but I think you can still sign up.

I found this contest tidbit last night when I visited WritingSpark. The site owner, a writer named Alicia, is a member of one of the same writer message boards as I am and I like to read her blog every now and then to see what she has to say.

I initially decided to check her blog out because I love to read Alicia's posts on our board. She's always so upbeat, always cheering on other posters or writing something nice. People like that just make me smile.

Anyway, her blog is fun to read and will make you smile too. It will also give you some great links so be sure to check it out!

And if you're one of the brave souls who decides to take the query challenge, may the force be with you!

Have a Beautiful Day

This morning, after dropping my kids off at school, I ran to the grocery store to pick up cat food. I had made the horrible mistake of running out of feline food on Sunday night and my three kitties were on the verge of joining my Lab in eating the living room furniture.

After nearly parking my car in the space reserved for expectant mothers (the only time I want more children), I rushed into the store, quickly grabbed a cart and headed straight for the cat food. While I wheeled my basket at dangerous speeds, almost knocking down (accidentally, of course) an elderly lady on aisle five, I prayed today wasn't the day they stocked the cat food aisle.

The reason being is that on my last several trips to the grocery store, I had been plagued by delays due to the fact that everything I needed seemed to be on an aisle which was being stocked. And when I say stocked, I don't mean stocked by one lowly store clerk. I'm talking like a huge group of serious looking folks who all stare at you like "what the hell do you want?". And they don't move.

So, while I worried about running into the stocking clan along with calling out apologies to the elder lady on aisle five, I wasn't happy to be in the grocery store. And to make matters worse, I needed to get home immediately to begin work on two newsletters and one article I had due today.

After grabbing the cat food without incident (the clan was on the shampoo aisle, luckily), I rushed to the checkout counter and waited impatiently for my turn. When it finally came, I busied myself by trying to mentally will the checkout girl to go a bit faster with her scanning so I could book it out of Dodge.

While I was working on my telepathic powers of persuasion, I failed to pay much attention to the man sacking my groceries. The reason for this is that the man, Todd, is someone I see quite frequently. And because he and I seem to have some script we go by every time I come into the store, I guess I didn't put much thought into our conversation.

"Will plastic be okay?" - TODD

"Sure."-ME

"Is everything okay with you today?"-TODD

"Great. And you?"-Me

"It's fantastic."-TODD

But as I grabbed my receipt and started to head out the door, Todd changed the script. Instead of telling me to have a good day like he usually does, he told me to have a beautiful day. A beautiful day. Not a wonderful day. Not a good day. But a beautiful day.

For some reason, I walked out of the store a bit slower than I walked in. His words had spoken to me. They opened my eyes to what was around me, forcing me to see that despite my impatience, despite the fact that I almost injured a woman with a walker, despite the fact I had too much work to do today and not enough time to do it, it was a beautiful day.

For the rest of the day I thought about Todd and what he had said. I couldn't get the thought out of my head that what was said to me was what I needed to hear. And to pass on.

So to all of you, have a beautiful day!

Writing Lesson #1: Sometimes You Have to Go Back to School

I'll admit it. I was never one of those kids who loved school. Actually, I hated it. Had it not been for my father's insistence that I go to college (by the way, thanks, Dad), I would have happily graduated from high school and have never opened up a textbook again.

But here I am, thirty-eight years old and going back to school. Well, kind of. You see I started an SEO/Marketing class yesterday. It's an online class put on for free by a great company called GNC Web Creations. These kind people offer classes on how to properly use SEO (search engine optimization) techniques along with a marketing class.

Because I write quite a bit of web content, I decided it was important to master SEO techniques. Also, having been out of the "official" workforce for about eight years, it seemed necessary for me to gain some real skills besides being able to turn the computer on and open email.

I would like to say I'm excited about this SEO class, but I'm actually pretty nervous. I shouldn't be. It's not like they're going to grade us...I don't think. No, my nerves have more to do with the whole learning process. You know, the "getting it" part of class.

See I've been having flashbacks to when I was a junior in high school and had to take a computer programming class. Our assignment was to write a program on our Macs which would create a moving stick figure (hey, this was the 80s). While all the other kids created these nifty little moving people, I sat for hours in front of my computer screen, rewriting code and praying my stick figure would just appear, never mind move.

Sadly, my stick figure never materialized. Besides a D for a grade, I ended up with a pile of mismatched lines that just sat on the screen while my fellow classmates all managed to create their moving stick figures. Some even did tricks!

You can now understand why I'm slightly nervous about this class. I feel like I did twenty something years ago (except less bitter). I'm worried that my classmates will be just like the kids in my high school computer class. They'll excitedly master SEO techniques while I'll be left wondering what the heck is going on.

Of course, in saying all of this, I guess I'm failing to recognize that I'm a different person than I was in 1985. For one, I like to think I'm smarter than I was back then. And two (and more importantly), I'm definitely more self confident and driven to succeed.

Come to think of it, those stick figure-making classmates of mine really have nothing on the adult me.

Well except for the fact that I still can't make stick figures.

Writing Buddy

I once had a friend send me a quote that went something like this...people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. I'm sure I'm not quoting the saying exactly like it was written but you get the general idea.

This quote always pops into my head now when I meet someone. I always find myself wondering why I'm befriending such and such and if that person will be in my life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

One such friend I've been thinking of lately is my writing buddy Helen Polaski. She and I are both contributing writers for an online magazine called Garden and Hearth. I write for their gift basket business column and she writes their gift basket column (yes they are two different subjects).

Helen and I met when I posted a message on a writing board for a critique partner. She answered the call and we immediately bonded. Of course if you knew Helen, you would suspect she bonds with just about anyone but I like to think of myself as special.

One of the things I love about Helen is that she's quirky without being nuts. Like for example, she's a huge Barry Gibb fan. Like a HUGE fan. Not a BeeGee fan, mind you. But a huge Barry Gibb fan.

When she first mentioned Barry Gibb and how much she loved everything the man has ever sang, I thought she was joking. It wasn't that I didn't like him....exactly. I liked him fine as part of the BeeGees and as Andy Gibb's older brother. But Barry alone?

But that's Helen. She's quirky and kind but most of all, she doesn't take herself too seriously. She takes her writing very seriously but not in an obsessive, overbearing way some of us writers do. She seems to go with the flow and not let things bother her to the point to where she gets into a rut.

I've learned a lot from Helen since we've become friends. Besides sharing her vast amount of writing experiences with me, I've found someone who knows exactly what I'm going through with writing ups and downs. She understands rejections and acceptances and editors not responding to emails in a different way than my husband, mother, or sisters can. She knows the path I'm traveling because she's on the same trip as I am.

I can't say for sure but I hope Helen's one of my friends who is here for a lifetime. She's definitely a keeper!