sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Reasons Not to Write: Number 3

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I’ve got nothing to write about.

‘I want to be a writer,” I hear, “but I’ve got nothing to write about.”

This is a difficult one. Difficult not because there IS nothing to write, but difficult because to me this excuse expresses one of two quite different problems.

Problem one is that some people are very much taken by the idea of wanting to be an author with their name in big letters on the front of a book, touring the country doing author signings and besieged by fans wanting autographs. But, in spite of that dream, the person is not really inspired to write anything. That’s too much hard work.

If this is you, stop reading now. Go on. Find something else to do. Because if you want to BE a writer, but don’t really want to write, I can’t help you. And if you’re after fame and fortune, then turn your back on writing and go and sign up for Big Brother, or Australia’s Got Talent, or do a nudie run at the tennis or… You get the picture. Your problem here isn’t that you’ve got nothing to write about, it’s that you don’t care enough about the writing to actually sit down and write something. And there are much easier ways of getting famous.

But problem two is something different. You want to write, maybe even need to write (and by need, I don’t mean need to do it to get rich and famous, but rather need to because you have this inner voice that insists you express yourself through writing) but when you sit down to do it, you find you can’t. Sometimes called writer’s block (which comes in different shapes and forms, in my experience) the answer here is more complex, but very often that feeling of having nothing to write about is self imposed. “I could write a story about…nah, no one would like that.” “I’ll write a novel about…nah, been done before.” So instead of having nothing to write about, you are telling yourself you have nothing important, or funny enough, or publishable enough to write about.

If this is you, there is one solution. Stop second guessing yourself. Just sit down and write. Often. preferably every day. Start something and finish it. Start something else and finish that. Read a writing book or browse the web for good writing exercises and try them. Once you’re in the writing habit you can start thinking about publication, or sharing your work. But for now, just write. About anything and everything. If you really want to write, you’ll find things to write about.

So what are you waiting for? You want to be a writer – write.

Featured Blogger Friday: Sheryl Gwyther

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Today I start a new weekly feature here on my blog (drum roll please).
It’s time for:
Featured Blogger Friday
Every Friday I’ll be inviting a blogger to drop in here for a visit and to tell you all about his or her blog. Of course, I will be focussing on blogs which relate to children’s books or writing for children in some way.

So, it gives me great pleasure to welcome today my first Feature Blogger, Sheryl Gwyther. You can check out her blog here, but first, let’s find out a bit about her and her blog. Welcome Sheryl.
What do you blog about?

No surprise, most of my blogging is about the writing life. But, because I love to write, I also cannot help blogging about other things that grab my fancy – like travel and people and places. Occasionally, my blogs get a bit radical too! (When I get angry enough about something – like racism and xenophobic morons.)
But I have noticed one strange thing about blogging – I might start off with a topic in mind, but within the first sentence another topic forms and it’s even better. So my advice is … trust your instincts.

Who is your target readership?

Have to admit I don’t have a target in mind. I just write and hopefully someone will get something out of what I produce. I suspect it is mostly other writers and readers who click on my blog at the moment.

How often do you blog?

I blog when I have something to say. At one stage, when we were fighting the lifting of restrictions against Parallel Importation of books, I blogged once every couple of days. But now, with a work-in-progress hanging over me like the sword of Damascus, I have to work at keeping up my blog. I also have another blog with a different focus: http://sherylgwytherauthor.blogspot.com/

How much time do you devote to blogging?

A morning can disappear very easily when blogging. But it sure is fun doing it!

Do you have a favourite blog post?

Probably the one about what authors need by the bucketful! ‘PERSEVERANCE IS THE WORD’  It was popular with readers too. But the one with the highest hits was ‘840 kittens – resurrected’ (about the RSPCA) – must have been the mention of kittens.

What do you see as the benefits of blogging?

I love writing! So it’s a pleasure when people read and respond to my blog articles. Also it lets people know when I have a new book coming out, or I’ve been awarded something (like an Australian Society of Authors Mentorship). Blogging allows an author to spread her/his ‘platform’ further than ever before – could you have imagined 10 years ago, a reader in the UK reading your words and commenting instantly?

What blogging platform do you use and why?

WordPress.com is fantastic. It’s so versatile and easy to use. It has the benefit of providing separate PAGES, so can be used a website if you want. Best thing is it’s FREE. You can pay more for the .org version with lots more attributes. WordPress also has an excellent SUPPORT link and forums. http://wordpress.com./

Do you have a favourite blog to visit (other than your own)?

Dee White’s blog is always good value! And must mention, Sherryl Clark’s blog too. I’ve learnt a lot about writing from Sherryl over the years  And I can’t go past author and social commentator, Dr Karen Brooks (she’s brilliant)
Lastly, when you are not blogging, what else do you do?
Haha, the trick question, eh? WRITING, of course! Or researching, or plotting, or reading the books of other authors. Notice I didn’t mention the weeds in the garden and the breakfast dishes still in the sink.
Thanks for stopping by, Sheryl.
 
I’ll have another featured blogger next Friday, so drop by and see who my next victim – errrr, visitor – is.

Reasons Not to Write: Number 2

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No one will publish me.

I hear this one pretty often, too. “I’d like to be a writer,” someone will tell me. “But I don’t know any publishers.”

Neither did I before I got published – but I do now.



You don’t have to know any publishers to get published. What you do need to know is how to read. If you are reading regularly you will know the names of the publishers who publish the kinds of books you like to read. And if you like reading them, then they’re the kinds of things you should be trying to write.


Once you have written something worth sending, you can research your publishers online and find out their submission guidelines before submitting your masterpiece to them


However, that’s all a bit chicken-and-egg to me. If you haven’t written anything yet, why are you worrying about who will publish it? Start writing. Refine your skills. Get involved in a critique group or find some other way to get some feedback. Write some more. Then, when your work is really ready to start submitting, work out who to send it to.




Yes, getting published is hard, and chances are, when you start submitting your writing , you will get rejected. But better to be rejected than to never submit at all. And no one will publish you if you don’t submit to them


So, what are you waiting for? You want to be a writer – write.

Reasons Not to Write: Number 1

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I don’t have time to write.

This is probably the most common reason I hear from people why they don’t write, in spite of their professed desire to be a writer and/or to get published.


“I am going to write a book one day,” they’ll say. “But I just don’t have the time right now.”


Tosh! If you are reading this blog post, you have the time to write. In the couple of minutes it has taken you to click on a link, open this post and read it, you could have written a paragraph. In the ten minutes you took on Facebook/Twitter/whatever other social networking site last hour, you could have written two paragraphs. In the hour you sat in front of the tv last night, two pages. And so on.


Now before you throw rotten tomatoes at me, I am not for one moment suggesting any one of those things is a waste of time (I surf blogs, facebook, twitter and watch TV every day). What I am saying is that if you really want to write, you will find some time to devote to it.


It might not be the uninterrupted days of writing you dream of – but even five minutes snatched here and there can add up.


I don’t know a single writer who has as much time to write as they would like. Many published authors (including myself) still need to work day jobs to survive financially, or have family responsibilities. Even those who do not have other commitments generally have writing related commitments which take them away from their writing – speaking engagements, promotions and so on. But they make time to write.

So, what are you waiting for? You want to be a writer? Write.

Writing Quote of the Week

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“Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don’t start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.”

(William Safire, ‘Great Rules of Writing’)

This one makes me smile, as it’s meant to, though it has plenty of truth as well.

sallymurphy.com.au