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| Photo credit: Photomatt28 via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND |
At the beginning of every month, as part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, I take a look at my successes (not just in writing), share the ways I hope to improve in the next month, answer the IWSG question of the month, and provide inspiration (if I have any).
October Greats –
✓ Cultural experience: Atlanta Botanical Gardens (Chihuly in the Gardens Exhibit)
✓ Try a new restaurant for Halloween. (It's tradition.) 🎃
✓ Family time: my grandmother's birthday. 🍰
✓ Review a fryer I recently received.
✓ Continue to research Hawaii/Canada and make plans.
✓ Read one book
– Conquer food spending! (We did better.)
Other Successes –
✓ Go leaf looking in the North Carolina mountains! (which is also a cultural experience)
✓ Conquer the Visit A City app!
✓ Change my Disney Amex to one that is fee-free. (Goal: save $$.)
✓ Save money on Dropbox.
✓ Save money on my Earthlink email account. (The one I can't seem to let go of.)
✓ Successful movie-shop.
✓My Disney series! It was so much fun to write, contemplate, and edit the images for! (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
November Goals –
• Read a book.
• Family time: Thanksgiving
• Make sure I know what I'm doing for Christmas gifts.
• Stick to the grocery budget.
IWSG Question: What is your favorite aspect of being a writer?
Sharing my stories and providing insight. Through writing I get to relive my experiences with other people. I think that's why it's important to me to be able to write well – I love the prospect of other people being able to be "in my shoes" for a moment and feel/see what I felt/saw.
Writer Struggles
I just finished Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield and it really had me thinking. I mean – the whole reason I picked up the book was because I already knew that nobody wanted to read my sh*t, but I had really hoped Steven Pressfield would provide logical steps to improving my writing. And maybe he did. He suggested that writing is very formulaic; I can't recall his exact words, but basically he encouraged having a beginning, middle, and end to everything you write. He also talked about having a "call to action" at the end of your piece. And making your writing very concise. His point – we (as the audience) have so many things in a day to read or do (watch tv, read blogs, read the newspaper, see a movie, doing work, taking care of kids), that we (as writers) should provide a reason for people to read what we write. We should hook them in with the very first sentence (shocker!), answer a problem that they have (or are aware of – whether through a fictional character or real life scenario), and then end by telling them the meaning behind my answer. So yeah, I followed the book well enough, but I'm just not sure how to incorporate what I learned into my writing. I know my blog is not at the top of everyone's must-read list. And I also know that my blog is never going to be at the top of everyone's must-read list. We all have different interests and there is just no way to appeal to everyone. But the question I've got is: how do I make my writing something that others do want to read? How do I incorporate beginning (+hook), middle (answer), and end (why the problem and answer are important) into my writing? I feel like there is something I'm missing when I write, and I don't know what it is or how to fix it. :-/
Your Turn
What positive experiences have you had this month? Does noticing the great things that happen in your life energize you and prepare you for getting more done the following month?
If you are a writer, how do you keep the attention of your audience? Do you believe, as Steven Pressfield claims, that Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t? If you haven't read this book, would it be one you would choose to read?
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