Inspiration and Perspiration, A Study in Balance

by Katherine Harms

Someone wiser than I once said that real achievement is 90% perspiration and only 10% inspiration, or something like that. I am mathematically challenged, so I may have the precise numbers wrong, but the concept is clear: any achievement is about hard work.
_However, achievement really does require inspiration as well; otherwise, hard work is merely drudgery, work that must be done for no heartfelt reason. There may be times when writing is, in fact, drudgery. When Mother requires a child to write a thank-you note to Grandma for a pair of yellow pajamas with lambs on them, the child who despises both the color yellow and anything to do with a sheep may consider the job of writing that note to be real drudgery. It is to be hoped that none of us who feel that God has gifted us with writing skill and called us to use that gift in service to others feels that writing is drudgery.
_In my experience, the writing life is about achieving a balance between the joy of those delightful moments when inspiration lights up the road ahead and the anguish of those painful hours when the road ahead seems to be nothing but a deep, muddy swamp. It can be a real challenge when inspiration shows more than one pathway without clarifying any way to choose among the options. I recently had the joy of a couple of inspirations coupled with a strong sense of calling in both directions. I felt torn, because I could not see how to answer both calls at the same time.
_I write on the subject of the life of Christian faith. Sometimes I write about teachings. Sometimes I write about faith disciplines. I have recently felt led to write on the subject of Bible study principles and techniques, because of questions people have asked me. I had the good fortune to fall into a class on hermeneutics taught by a seminary professor, and during that class _I began to solidify the structure of a series of Bible study guides. At the same time, I was experiencing a strong sense of calling to write and teach about the importance of Christian testimony. Cultural chaos, economic crises, social problems and a political climate of real aggression against religious expression made me feel that it is important for people of faith to speak up and live their faith publicly lest the Constitutional principle of freedom of religious expression in the USA be lost. Then one morning I found myself meditating on a Bible verse that said, “Do not be afraid.” It was addressed to the disciples Jesus sent out early in his ministry to announce, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” It became clear to me that this theme was the right focus for my work.
_Most people have trouble enunciating any heartfelt principle, whether or not it relates to their religious faith, because of fear of the consequences. They may fear the scorn of others, or they may fear that they cannot defend their point of view in an aggressive debate, or they may fear social or even political punishment for their viewpoint. It may be simple shyness. In the case of religious faith, those fears can impede a person’s ability to live and speak the faith with confidence. When I read the words, “Do not be afraid,” I realized how often God has given his people those words when he commissioned them to speak for him. The Bible is full of such reassurance. I needed to pull that message out and make it clear for myself and others in order for us all to feel confident and strong in our public expression of our faith. I do not see this expression as an attempt to convert other people; rather, I see it as speaking and living truth in public. It is not about judging people who are not Christians; it is about living with integrity and honestly confessing to the source of our life principles.
_To write a series of Bible study guides and to write blogs/articles/book on the subject of fearless, truthful expression of our faith were two very big projects. I was overwhelmed. How could I do both things? How could I achieve the focus required for either project while giving the required energy to both of them? The answer proved to be another moment of inspiration.
I had begun my research on the subject “Do not be afraid” using library software where I have stored multiple books and references on the Bible as well as multiple translations of the Bible. The search feature allows me both rigid and fuzzy searches using specific words and topics. I pulled up a search on my basic phrase, “Do not be afraid” and copied the resulting list for study. Then is when the light dawned. I would, of course, study the texts I found using the best principles and techniques I know for Bible study. Therefore, as I did the research for the work on Christian testimony, I would be creating examples of good practice in Bible study. One line of work would clearly provide the foundation for both writing projects.
_Now I have the inspiration I need to get both projects done. That inspiration must sustain me as I slog through the mud of research. I will study biblical texts in various translations. I will search commentaries, historical resources, and many other books and web resources. I will use specific principles of biblical interpretation to determine what I keep and what I discard. The analysis and record-keeping required for these projects will be all perspiration. That 90% perspiration part that we all must get through somehow. I think I can do it, because I believe this is what I was created to do.
_I have been writing lots and lots of words ever since I first learned how to do it. In grade school I organized a writing club. In high school I won writing contests. I have piles and piles of written work cluttering up my space. Writing lots of words is easy. Nevertheless, writing with discipline and writing to specific standards is not so easy. It takes a lot of inspiration to support the production of that perspiration, but I will do it. There. I said it. You can hold me to this promise. Check back with me in six months. I need to know that you expect some results. Please let me know that you are counting on me. I am counting on you.

Meeting

Thursday, September 17
6:30pmHavre de Grace Public

Libraryhttp://www.hcplonline.info/services/branches/havredegrace.cfm

Bring a current project to share with the group and be prepared to critique in return.

Havre de Grace Critique Meeting

Writers Critique Group Meeting

at the Havre de Grace Library tomorrow, Thursday, at 6:30. Bring a current project to share with the group and be prepared to critique in return.

http://www.hcplonline.info/services/branches/havredegrace.cfm

Calling All Writers

Several times a week Anne Wayman publishes "Freelance Writing Jobs" Anne also offers a host of helpful blog posts. Sign up here:

http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/

Breathe Books

Check out this weeks events at Breathe Books:
http://www.breathebooks.com/index.php

Writing Class: Progress through PoetryClass

Poetry is a powerful vehicle for expression and change. The very nature of a poem (precise language, concentrated intention, and vivid imagery) allows it to move and touch us so deeply. Using poetry as a medium of discussion and inspiration, the class will talk about and write from the themes, images, and triggering subjects that arise for us as readers, as humans.

One does not have to be interested in writing poetry but more willing to write from the universal themes of poetry. We will not just interpret the poem’s meaning, but we will look beyond what is on the page and what is coming up for us emotionally, psychologically, and creatively.

Mary Oliver captured the essential power of poetry and wrote, “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.”

The class is for anyone with an interest in creative writing, philosophical discussions, and poetry. Taught by Soo Young Lee, published writer, English professor, Transformative Consultant Cost: Drop-in: $45

Rabbi Sherre Hirsch...

... is the author of We Plan, God Laughs: What to Do When Life Hits You Over The Head a wonderful book that I am currently reading. Below is her letter:


Dear Friend,

Life certainly hit us over the head.

Four months after We Plan, God Laughs was published my mother was diagnosed with Glioblastoma (GBM) stage 4 brain cancer. I dedicated this book to my mother for her courage and how she overcame so many challenges in her life. Now she is facing her biggest challenge yet, and she and many others suffering with GBM need your help.

Today, June 16, 2009, my mother turns 65 years old and the paperback of We Plan, God Laughs goes on sale.

In celebration, I will be donating 10% of the paperback profits to the Art of the Brain Fund to help in the fight against brain cancer.

To celebrate with us:
1. Buy the paperback of We Plan, God Laughs.
2. Send this email to three friends and ask them to do the same.
I pray that the new edition of We Plan, God Laughs will heal in more ways than one.

Warmly,
Rabbi Sherre Hirsch

"Two Tips for Beginning Freelance Writers"

Guest Post for "Dialogue"
by Anne McClure

Google “Freelance Writing Markets” and you get 908,000 hits. Try “How to Become A Freelance Writer” and you get over 5 million. With such an overwhelming number of directions to head, you’ve got to focus your approach if you want to get your freelance career off the ground.
First, find a niche. Are you an engineer? A science enthusiast? A gardener? A pet owner? A cook? Do you live in a big city? Run a family farm? Determine your area of expertise and query publications within that genre. It’s possible—and probably a fun process—to become an expert in a new area through study and exploration. If freelancing is part of a desire to switch careers, this may be a path to follow. For most people, though, the quickest way to finding your freelance market involves analyzing what you already know or what you’re already doing.
You don’t have to determine this niche immediately. In fact, you probably won’t. As you write, pay attention to the way you feel. Even within a general niche (i.e. the Catholic market) you will need to find more specialized submarkets (i.e. Catholic parenting, Catholic commentary on politics, Catholic apologetics). Note the stories and genres that feel the most organic as you are writing—the ones that seem to pour out of you and materialize on the page. As you proceed, remind yourself that you preferred devotionals to political commentary, poetry to prose, tech manuals to movie reviews. Then pursue similar opportunities. Instead of just writing to write, you’ll be accumulating a body of work centered on an area of personal interest or expertise.
Second, make connections and rely on the connections you have already made. Did you receive helpful advice from a writing coach while attending a conference? (Hi Patricia!) Did you work closely with an editor, tweaking several drafts of a piece before it was finally approved? Did an author at a book signing kindly offer to give you a leg up? However you established a relationship, treat it as the source of invaluable advice that it is. Of course, be respectful of the time and obligations of experienced writers and editors; but once you’ve developed a working relationship, don’t be afraid to approach them with questions and send additional queries their way. Ask for resources and accept feedback humbly and honestly. Use their words of wisdom to reflect on your progress and make decisions as you proceed.
I’ve just started down this writing path myself, and I’ve made every mistake I just advised you not to make. I’ve wasted my time writing about politics when I should have been reflecting on my faith journey as a mom, and I’ve queried big name publications when smaller ones were looking for the kind of work I could do. I’m finding that if you try to be what you’re not or start somewhere unfamiliar, your writing will lack a depth of knowledge and experience that lends credibility. Finding your niche and accepting help from experienced professionals will free you to write from your heart and jump start your entrance into the world of freelance writing.

Anne McClure taught high school until her son was born and now works as a mom and freelance writer. Read more at http://catholicmommybrain.com.

Libby's Books

Libby Malin is the author of the soon-to-be-released romantic comedy FIRE ME (Sourcebooks) and the 2005 chick lit novel LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT (Harlequin). Writing as Libby Sternberg, she’s the author of four teen mysteries, the first of which was an Edgar finalist. A Baltimore native, she now lives in Lancaster, PA. More info about her can be found at www.LibbysBooks.com

What is a day like for a professional writer?I usually rise early (by six) and linger over coffee and chatting with my husband before he goes to work, reading the Wall Street Journal (our son writes for the Asian edition) and watching morning news. By eight, I’m ready to tackle the day’s tasks. If I have any freelance writing assignments, I might start on them, either organizing the work or actually beginning to contact folks I need to interview for articles, etc. Because I bill by the hour, I carefully note the time spent on these tasks in an ever-present ledger.
_If I’m writing a book, I might carve out several mornings where I start work on that project—my best writing time is usually in the morning. If I’m on a deadline—for example, if I have a full manuscript due to an editor by a certain date—I make sure to stick to a daily page quota.
_I usually quickly review what I wrote the day before, maybe tweaking it but not doing a full-fledged edit, and then plow forward.
_If I stall, I try to figure out why. If it’s because I’m unsure of direction, I might write in one direction anyway, just to get something on the page. I will write notes to myself in ALL CAPS, things like INCREASE TENSION BETWEEN CHARACTER X AND Y or something similar that I know will need to be included.
_If I’m in the editing stage of a manuscript, things move pretty quickly and I can find myself at the computer almost all day, with short breaks, usually because I’m too excited about the project to leave it.
_I will make notes on paper as I go – characters’ names and descriptions (I don’t want to have one start the novel with blue eyes and finish it with green!), important plot points and maybe even timelines (to make sure I don’t include eight-day weeks).
_I usually do at least three edits. If I have a book about to be released, I devote a portion of my days to actual promotional tasks, such as writing blog entries for the “virtual tour” set up by the publicist, cleaning up my personal mailing lists and preparing a mailing of promotional postcards, setting up a book-signing, etc.
_Finally, in the afternoons I will read….but not for pleasure! I read manuscripts for a publisher, making recommendations for purchase. So I’ll set up my laptop in my sunny living room, put a small notebook and pen nearby to jot down observations, and start reading!

Meet Jennifer Zeman

You sit down to write, and then you remember – you wore your last clean bra to work today, and what will you do in the morning? As you are delivering the dirty underwear to the laundry room, you notice that the bathroom sink looks actually disgusting. It only takes a minute to spray, wipe and shine. But then, you might as well empty the trash while you are there, and why empty just one wastebasket? They are all overflowing. The washer buzzes, the phone rings, there are dirty dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher, and nobody has vacuumed the living room carpet since Halloween. Oh, no, there is neither bread nor milk in the kitchen. As you eventually lay your weary head on the pillow and collapse into dreamless sleep, you tell yourself that tomorrow for sure, writing comes first.

Jennifer Zemen, a pre-published writer who lives and writes in Rising Sun, Maryland, has solved the problem of making time to write. We could all learn from her. Now approaching the moment when she will release her first book-length manuscript into the publishing wilds, I think she would say that the sun is rising on her writing career.

Growing up, Jennifer always enjoyed the arts. She would probably call herself a right-brain personality. She originally found her outlet in graphic arts, but as an adult dealing with the consequences of family tragedy, she discovered the art of words in journaling. It provided a way to talk about the loss of her mother, the stress of adjusting to a blended family after her father remarried, and the depression that accompanied these experiences. As she wrote, her journal became an important tool for clearing her thoughts.

There came a time in Jennifer’s personal growth when she felt that her story needed to be published. Not just for her, but for others. Anna Quindlen’s essay about the death of her mother resonated profoundly with Jennifer’s own experience. Reading Ann Hope’s book Comfort, Jennifer also discovered a great deal of common ground with her own life. Yet Jennifer saw that she had something unique to say, something that would not only share her grief but also provide help and hope for others.

Jennifer found that journaling led very naturally into the writing of her memoir, but writing a book did not fit naturally into an already busy life. When she began writing the memoir in 2006, it was a venture into the unknown. Jennifer’s full-time job meant that weekends were the natural time for her to write, yet in the early days, the weekends came and went with little or no time for writing. Every writer can relate to this problem. Few of us can simply decide to write without interruptions. When there was time for writing, Jennifer tried to make the most of it, and when the time slipped away, she felt discouraged. Eventually she decided it was time to take action. If she were ever to finish her book, she had to build a wall around time for writing. Her strategy was to declare weekends off limits for household tasks. Trips to the grocery store, housecleaning, laundry, and the thousand and one things that always loom large the minute a writer sits down to write were confined to weekdays. No more trying to write between laundry loads. No more last-minute trips for bread and milk on Saturday morning.

Her strategy paid off. Today she is completing the second draft of her book, and she says she expects in the near future to be ready to submit her manuscript to publishers. Time management is not, however, the only tool in her writer’s survival kit. Jennifer is a member of a critique group, and this group helped her to hone her first draft. It was through the critique group that she met Patricia Punt, the hostess of this blog, and Patricia provided her with editorial guidance to begin her second draft. Along the road to success, Jennifer subscribed to Writers Digest, devoured articles in Writers Market, read books and articles on writing and picked the brain of a writer friend. She found an opportunity to write for a blog where she can grow her skills and start building her platform.

Being a guest blogger is only one plank in Jennifer’s platform. She has pages on MySpace and Facebook, and she has a blog of her own. She is still feeling her way to the right balance of platform-building and writing. For now, writing takes center stage, but she expects to be more involved in platform-building as she moves closer to the sale of her manuscript.

I always ask writers what they would say to someone who wants to be a writer. Jennifer’s answer was typical: Write. It is a simple, yet profound truth. If someone wants to be a writer, it is necessary to write. As Jennifer suggested, it is also a good idea to read what other writers are writing, to read books and articles about the craft of writing, and to connect with other writers, online and in person. Putting pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, is a big hurdle; nothing promotes commitment to good housekeeping like the sight of a blank page. Above all and before all, a writer must write.

It is always a great pleasure to meet someone who has found her fulfillment in life. Like most of us, Jennifer did not start writing until adulthood. After telling a few people about her goal, she discovered that some people thought it was frivolous, silly or even hopeless. Everybody felt completely comfortable to tell her that success as a writer was not worth the effort. Jennifer’s response was to ignore them and follow her dream. Jennifer’s advice to others? Do what fulfills you and makes you happy. Don’t let fear of the unknown hold you back from becoming what you were born to be. If you dream of becoming a writer, don’t spend your evenings telling friends what you would do if you were a writer. Get thee to the computer and write. One day you will be telling all those naysayers what you have written, and then they will be saying to you, “You write? I could never do that.”

by Katherine Harms