Five Ways to Create Inspiration

Paula's note: I've been wanting to write about inspiration and came across this wonderful post -- which first appeared as a guest post on Cassandra Jade's site -- by author and blogger, K.M. Weiland. Katie was gracious enough to give me permission to reprint her very astute and insightful description of this critical element of the writing process. Enjoy! -P.M.

I think it’s safe to open this post with a broad, sweeping generalization: We write because of inspiration. Not only because without inspiration we wouldn’t have anything to write about, but also because inspiration is the writer’s version of runner’s high. It’s this top-of-the-world, explosion-of-joy experience that makes the personal sacrifices and hard work of the writing life more than worth it.

Inspiration, however, is a slippery thing. Ultimately, it is intensely personal, unrepeatable, and often unresponsive to conscious prodding. You can’t force inspiration. It either happens or it doesn’t. You can’t sit yourself down at your desk, squeeze your eyes shut, and demand that inspiration appear in front of you complete with a drumroll and a puff of smoke. Inspiration is a gift, and like all gifts it must be treated with gratitude and responsibility.

But none of this is to say that we can’t position ourselves in the path of inspiration. Instead of just waiting around for the muse to hit us in the head with a lightning bolt, we can learn, in a sense, to create inspiration. Following are five ways I’ve learned to be receptive to inspiration. Inspiration, after all, is all around us; we just have to learn to become a conduit for it.

1. Look at the world through the lens of your story. When I’m in the midst of brainstorming a story, I wear it like a cloak. I, in essence, look at life through the lenses (rose-colored or otherwise) of my story and its characters. I’m washing dishes, walking the dog, running late? Maybe my characters are too. I hear a song on the radio, and it becomes an anthem for the scene I’m working on. I pass an interesting old codger in the mall, and suddenly he’s running amok among the characters in my head.

2. Listen to your subconscious. Never underestimate your subconscious. When you’ve come to a snarl in your plot, don’t think too hard. You can only push your conscious brain so far. On more than one occasion, after I’ve backed myself and my characters into a seemingly insurmountable corner, I’ve sat at the keyboard for hours, racking my brain for an answer that just wouldn’t come. But when I return to the problem the next day, after my subconscious has had a chance to mull over the matter for the night, the solution is practically staring me in the face. When you come across an interesting snippet of an idea that you aren’t quite certain how to develop, toss it into your subconscious for a while. Sometimes ideas stew in the back of my mind for years before suddenly reappearing on center stage as something worth pursuing.

3. Lollygag creatively. Novelist Michael J. Vaughn, who coined the term “creative lollygagging,” purposely looks for mindless tasks (gardening, walking, pulling weeds) to occupy his hands, while his brain stews on his story. “We are not talking about sitting around on a couch. Just as a satellite dish needs electricity, you need some blood pumping into that brain. Next, consider low focus. The activity shouldn’t be so intense that you don’t have time to think (Grand Prix and ice hockey are out). Look for a mellow pursuit, surrounded by low-level distractions.” (From Vaughn’s article “Creative Lollygagging” in the December 2006 issue of Writer’s Digest.)

4. Combine stories. Like most every other writer on the planet, I have at least half a dozen stories romping around in my brain at any given moment, most of them in need of that spark of “something” that will suddenly transform a gem of inspiration into a full-fledged concept worthy of my time and attention. Stories require many layers, and usually they acquire their layers organically. But some of the best complexities in my stories have been the result of combining two (or more) entirely different stories. Juxtaposition creates instant conflict, originality, and depth. Take a look at some of your embryonic stories and see if you can get something special by combining one more of them.

5. Feed the muse. Your creative mind is a living organism that requires just as much attention and nurturing as any visible part of your body. Lavish it with care, and it will flourish. Feed it just as carefully as you would your stomach. Nourish it with quality literature, movies, music, and art. Let it lap up the offerings of other artistic minds—and just see if the muse doesn’t take off running all on its own!

Finally, and most importantly, don’t wait for inspiration. We’d all like to take up permanent residence in that rarefied atmosphere where the “inspiration high” is a constant state of being. But, as all writers discover sooner or later, that high will inevitably run dry. If we allow our writing to dry up with it, we’ll never so much as finish a story, much less be read by anyone. Inspiration is much more likely to strike when your mind is active. So even on the days when the mental well seems to have evaporated and blown away in clouds of steam, sit yourself down at your desk and keep writing. Inspiration, after all, is really a very small part of the big picture.
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K.M. Weiland writes historical and speculative fiction from her home in the sandhills of western Nebraska. She is the author of the historical western A Man Called Outlaw and the recently released medieval epic Behold the Dawn. She blogs at Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors and AuthorCulture.

Seven Ways to Make Hiring a Book Publicist More Affordable

Hiring a publicist can be an expensive proposition, especially for self-published authors and those whose books are published by presses that offer little or no marketing support. With some publicists asking $1500 - $5000 per month in fees, authors are often surprised by the amount of money they need to spend to get the word out about their books.

But publicity doesn’t have to be a bank-breaker. Here are some tips you can use to help defray costs when working with a publicist to promote your book:

1. Plan ahead
The best time to start planning how you’ll market a book is while you’re in the process of writing it. Think about who might want to read your book, where you’re most likely to find those readers, and how much you’re willing to spend on reaching them. If you plan to self-publish, research PR pricing in your subject area and start setting aside cash early, so that you’re prepared for costs when your book is published. Any amount is fine, as long as you’re willing to live within those monetary limits when your book comes out. If you’re offered an advance on your manuscript, don’t spend it -- save it to create promotional material, advertise, hire a publicist, and/or cover travel costs when your book is released.

Once your book is published, think about what you want in the way of events and media coverage. Decide who your readers are, and consider the different niche categories and venues you might explore to reach your audience. The more clarity you have about who your audience is and what you want in the way of publicity, the more you’ll be able to articulate that to a potential publicist.

2. Shop around
Get the names and numbers of publicists in your price range or area of expertise and spend some time getting to know them. Ask for references and talk to those individuals – they’ll give you a good idea of what it’s like to work with the person you’re considering hiring. Discuss your needs with potential publicists and be certain that they have the experience and contacts to do what you want done. Know how each individual publicist bills, how she provides updates, and when she expects to be paid. If you work on a contractual basis, ask to review the contract first, and don’t be afraid to make changes based on your own expectations.

3. Negotiate
Everything’s negotiable these days, and that includes public relations services. If you cannot afford a publicist’s fees, offer to pay what you can afford and see if there is some work the publicist is willing to do for that amount. Consider prepayment options – perhaps a publicist would be willing take a percentage off her rate if you offer to pay in advance for a set amount of work, or if you can guarantee a number of hours per week. Be creative, but be fair – if what you’re offering doesn’t cover what you expect the person you’re hiring to do, the relationship most likely won’t last.

4. Be prepared
The more footwork you do up front, the less you’ll have to pay your publicist to do. Learn how to write a press release and generate one that your publicist can either use as is or as a source for key information. Once your press release is finalized, post it on free sites on the web. Create a bio, Q & A, and brief synopsis, so your publicist doesn’t have to spend time on these pieces herself. Research venues, media, and blogsites you’re interested in, and provide your publicist with contact info – the more you do up front, the less she will have to do for you.

5. Participate
Once your publicity campaign begins, be a willing participant in the process. Keep your publicist informed of commitments and dates you’ve scheduled on your own, so he doesn’t double book you. Offer information and assistance with locating media in the areas on which you’ve focused – oftentimes a publicist will be trying to book you in a part of the country (or outside it) with which he is unfamiliar. If you have first-hand knowledge of certain city, county, and state areas, libraries, booksellers, and media outlets, share what you know, so that he doesn’t spend extra time on research.

6. Partner up
Even if you haven’t coauthored a work, there are plenty of other authors out there who are published in the same genre and niche market as you. Work with those writers to team-up at book signings, workshops, trade shows, and fairs. Share costs on booths, travel, and even publicity work by doing events jointly rather than alone.

7. Develop a backlist strategy
While it’s true that the window for marketing most books is during the first six-eight months after they're published, you’ll still want to promote your book once that time period has passed. Even if you choose not to continue appearances and book signings after the first year, you’ll want some kind of promotional effort in place for the months that follow. Work with your publicist and your publisher to develop a marketing strategy for your book once it’s backlisted. Enter your book in contests and issue press releases when it wins awards or garners any other news-worthy attention. If your book first appears in hard cover, consider a re-release in paperback form. Write columns and blog posts, and use social networking and a strong web presence to keep your book in the public eye.

No Excuses

Because I work from a home office and will use any excuse I can to get away in the middle of the day, I slap on my loosest sweats and head out to a yoga class twice a week at the 24 Hour Fitness Center in the nearby town of Rancho Bernardo. There are two different instructors, one on Tuesday and another on Thursday, for the 11:30 a.m. class slot, but the group of students is pretty much the same for both classes. Because RB is made-up of mostly retired residents, my fellow practitioners tend to be on the older side. I don’t mind this at all; in fact, I find that many of the silver-haired enthusiasts who roll out their mats next to mine are quite limber and can kick my 53-year-old rear end on any given day.

One of the ladies in the classes (they’re made up of mostly women, although there are a few die-hard men who show up every week), is battling breast cancer. We’ve spoken a few times, enough for me to know that she has a grown son in New York and a daughter who is finishing her college degree here in San Diego. This woman has lost all her hair to chemotherapy treatments and sometimes comes to class with a bandana covering her head. On some occasions, she appears with a bandage on her arm; I don’t ask, but I assume it’s from having had a recent chemo treatment.

Even though my yoga friend is battling cancer, she’s a committed regular, who arrives at class every Tuesday and Thursday, chipper and ready to go. She warms up with the rest of us, babbling about kids, weather, cooking, and the latest substitute teacher, and enthusiastically assuming the starting seated position, despite the fact that the hair on her head is growing back in downy tufts and her arm bears evidence of the latest poisonous chemical concoction. She performs each pose fiercely, never taking the easy way out (as I sometimes do) by sinking into Child’s Pose instead of Downward Dog, or stopping in the middle of an asana to take a drink of water (something a few of the others do occasionally). Matter-of-fact and friendly, she doesn’t complain about the rigors of a particular class or the side-effects she endures. She appears centered, focused, and willing to participate, reminding the rest of us that each measured breath we take, in class or out, is a gift too precious to waste.

I couldn’t stop thinking about her today, on my way home from a class that went a little longer than usual because the instructor had arrived late. To make it up to those of us who waited for her, the teacher (a substitute) gave us an extra half-hour of postures. It was one of the best classes we’d ever had, and the group seemed particularly focused and in sync during this session. But it was long and tiring. Even the younger students were quieter than usual afterward, reaching for their towels to wipe the sweat from their brows and blinking at the bright sunlight as they stumbled out into the gym parking lot.

Despite the length of today’s class, my friend with the bandage on her arm and the cloth around her hairless head stretched, posed, and balanced with the rest of us, in tune to the vibes around her, never once complaining or giving in. Not once. Ever.

So, the next time I start to mentally complain about the number of calls I have to make for my clients, or the fact that my house is a mess, or the kids aren’t helping enough, or that I need to sit down and write some pages if I’m ever going to finish my second novel, I’m going to remind myself about my yoga friend.

And the next time I feel the urge to skip a class because I’m feeling too tired or lazy to go, or decide to blow off writing because I’m not mentally in the mood or don’t want to do the work of focusing on it, I’m going to think of her.

Because, heck, if she can show up to class twice a week and give it her all, with no complaining or excuses, then, certainly, so can I.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! And to my fellow yoga practitioners: Namaste.

Tips for Doing Radio and Television Interviews

Appearing on a radio or television show can be an important part of your book publicity efforts. But for some authors, especially those who spend the majority of their time in front of their computer screens writing, the thought of appearing on camera or tape can be terrifying. To help you get ready to for that infamous close-up, here are some tips for appearing in-studio for radio and television interviews:

1. Once you’ve booked an appearance at a radio or television station, find out who will be doing your interview. Make sure that the person interviewing you has a copy of your book in advance and, in addition to your press release and bio, a Q & A or FAQ sheet with standard questions, so that s/he is prepared for your segment.

2. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the studio where your interview will be taped/shot. Confirm directions and parking availability, and allow between 1-2 hours for the interview.

3. For television interviews, most media outlets recommend that your attire be business casual. If you’re not given specific instructions by your publicist or media contact, plan to bring several options for the wardrobe department to consider. Try to avoid solid black, solid red, solid white, super busy prints and shiny fabrics. Also, remember that in some interviews, the viewers will only see you from the waist up, so, it may not matter what kind of shoes or trousers you wear. Usually there is a wardrobe person on set who can steam your clothes to ensure they are ready-for-camera. And there are often some additional wardrobe options available on set.

4. Women who are interviewed on television should also consider bringing a few jewelry options to go with the outfits they bring along. Smaller jewelry may be harder to see on camera, so bring necklaces and earrings of varying sizes. Men should plan to bring along extra ties with different color schemes (avoid busy or wild prints and shiny fabrics) to go with their shirts and jackets.

5. When you arrive on set, often your first stop will be make-up. If you have allergies to certain products or are wearing hard contact lenses, be sure to tell the person doing your make-up ahead of time (I once lost a contact lens when a make-up person got too ambitious with her eye shadow brush while prepping me for a commercial shoot).

6. After make-up and wardrobe, you’ll be escorted to the stage area of the studio, where you’ll be seated in a chair and interviewed by a producer or news anchor. S/he may ask you questions ahead of time to get a sense of how you respond. Use any prep time you’re given to ask questions you might have about speaking into the microphone or where to focus your gaze during the interview.

7. When sitting in front of the camera, remember to sit up straight and try not to tilt your head when you talk. Also, be sure to look at whichever camera you’re instructed to face, even if there are lights or other cameras off to the side. While the interviewer is asking questions, look directly at him or her, and don’t forget to smile!

8. When answering questions during radio and television interviews, it’s a good idea to rephrase the questions you’re asked, so that they are somehow included in your answer. For example, if you’re asked how long it took to write your book, you might answer, “It took me three years to write the first draft of My Great Novel," rather than simply, "Three years." Try to answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use the title of your book as often as possible.

Note: If you have issues with your voice, practice speaking into a tape recorder before doing radio interviews. Play back your recordings and notice where you may have raised or lowered your voice, or inserted too many "ums" and "ahs." Before television interviews, have someone film you on a video camera, or practice in front of a mirror. See if you’re smiling enough, if you’re keeping your eyes focused and your head is straight while you talk. And don’t forget to practice using gestures with your hands to emphasize points (or tone it down if you move your hands too much).

9. Try to relax and forget that you are being recorded or on-camera. Doing a radio or television interview is a great opportunity to introduce yourself and your book to potential readers. Be yourself and have fun!

10. When your interview is over, be sure to thank the producers, anchors, and staff members who helped you that day. Also, find out when your segment will air and if there are clips or CD’s available of your interview. Let everyone on your email lists and social networking sites know when your spot is airing, and don’t forget to post any clips or audio recordings of your interview on your website or Internet fan page.

What Makes a Good Memoir?

As a publicist, I’m sent books of all genres by authors interested in my services, but lately I seem to be on the receiving end of a lot of memoirs. I’ve also spoken to a higher-than-usual number of memoir writers, who either telephone or approach me with questions at writer’s conferences. The bulk of these conversations have to do with why their memoirs aren’t selling and what the authors can do to make them better.

My first suggestion for all memoir writers is to take a look at their market and identify the different types of people who would want to read their book. This is tricky, for while many memoir writers have done a good job of detailing certain aspects of their personal history, a number of them have not thought about who might be interested in reading what they’ve written.

A lot of memoirs I’ve seen recently are nothing more than personal recountings of an individual’s experiences – some of which are, indeed, memorable. But I’ve found that a great number of memoirs contain information that might only be interesting to the author. In this category, I include stories about having a child out of wedlock, rescue missions by health care workers, struggles with family members over an elderly relative’s care, vacations or trips abroad that the author found life-changing, collections of stories that the author told his/her children while they were growing up, or collections of a family member’s letters from World War II. Although engaging and, occasionally, entertaining, books with these topics typically focus on material and/or experiences that a number of us have already encountered in our own lives. And, thus, because we readers are familiar with the situations ourselves, stories like these don’t always make interesting reading.

So, what makes a compelling memoir? I believe that in order to become a bestseller, a memoir must have a strong storyline. That means that there is a beginning, middle, and end to the events that are recounted in the book. Examples of breakout memoirs with clear timelines are Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa, where the author, Danish baroness, Karin von Blitzen-Finecke, describes the political and emotional barriers she faced while trying to build a coffee farm in Kenya, and Before Night Falls, by Reinaldo Arenas, the rebellious and flamboyant Cuban poet and playwright, who describes both his early years as a homosexual artist under the Castro regime, including his imprisonments and escapes, and his last days as an exile in the United States.

Successful memoirs also have compelling or distinct characters in them. Just like fiction, a good memoir will introduce the reader to individuals who are memorable and, sometimes, highly unusual. Examples include Augusten Burrough’s mother, Deidre, and her unorthodox psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, in Running with Scissors, or the sadistic mother in A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer.

Oftentimes, as in fiction, the individuals in a memoir will be sympathetic, so that readers strongly identify with them. This is particularly true of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, who begins her book by depicting herself in a heap on the bathroom floor, devastated by a recent divorce, or Joan Didion in The Year of Magical Thinking, who lost her husband to a sudden heart attack and shares the aftermath with the reader in a way that is heart-wrenchingly honest.

Another reason for the success of these two memoirs is the fact that they both tell love stories. In Eat, Pray, Love, Gilbert begins the memoir with the loss of love (after a failed marriage) and then ends it with the start of a new relationship with the man who will become her next husband. Likewise, Didion recounts the significant moments of her marriage to her husband, John Gregory Dunne, as she describes her attempts to grapple with her grief at his passing. These two books are skillfully written, with clear, strong voices and brave directness, and both authors draw painful moments with great tenderness.

People in successful memoirs often face situations with high stakes consequences and experience an emotional trajectory, or arc, whereby the individuals are changed somehow at the end of the book. Many memoirs have to do with the author or a parental figure teetering on the brink of alcoholism (Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller), destitution (Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt), poverty and spousal abuse (All Over but the Shoutin’, by Rick Bragg), drug addiction (A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey), cultural adversity (Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver-Relin), and life-threatening adventure (Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer). What makes these books stand out above the others is that in all of these stories, the authors and/or their loved ones faced extreme circumstances – incarceration, kidnapping, starvation, emotional abandonment, and, sometimes, immanent death – and somehow survived.

In addition to the victim/survival type memoir, there are celebrity memoirs, where the author recounts his own story as a celebrity or his experiences living or working with one (examples include Here’s the Story by The Brady Bunch star, Maureen McCormick, or Everything about Me is Fake and I’m Perfect by supermodel Janice Dickenson). There are also tell-all or insider memoirs, where the individual describes events in an environment that most of us would never have a chance to experience. Many of these are political in tone, such as John Dean’s Blind Ambition, the anti-Nixon tome published in 1976, or George Stephanopoulos’s All Too Human, which describes intimate details about the first family during the Clinton administration.

The message here is that unless your memoir is something like the ones I’ve mentioned in this post, you might have a tough time selling it. That doesn’t mean that authors shouldn’t write memoirs – on the contrary, writing a memoir can be a wonderfully revealing and cathartic experience for the author and of great significance to family members and friends. But to reach further audiences, memoirs that don’t involve a celebrity connection or insider information must have a definable storyline, remarkable characters, high stakes, and a great love story – or some combination, thereof – in order to experience breakout success.

How to Be a Poet

Because I am in awe of anyone who can write poetry (I, sadly, lack that skill), and because Wendell Berry is one of my favorite poets, I give you:

How to Be a Poet

(to remind myself)

By Wendell Berry

Make a place to sit down.

Sit down. Be quiet.

You must depend upon

affection, reading, knowledge,

skill— more of each

than you have— inspiration,

work, growing older, patience,

for patience joins time

to eternity. Any readers

who like your work,

doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath

the unconditioned air.

Shun electric wire.

Communicate slowly. Live

a three-dimensioned life;

stay away from screens.

Stay away from anything

that obscures the place it is in.

There are no unsacred places;

There are only sacred places

And desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.

Make the best you can of it.

Of the little words that come

out of the silence, like prayers

prayed back to the one who prays,

make a poem that does not disturb

the silence from which it came.

Using Q & A's and FAQ's to Your Advantage

One of the least expensive ways to promote your novel or non-fiction book is to create a Q & A or FAQ and ask bloggers to post it on their blogs and websites. These postings can be coordinated to appear at certain times/dates (this is known as a blog tour), or you can approach individual bloggers and ask that they list your information in future posts.

It's easy to create Q & A's or FAQ's -- use simple questions that all readers want to know about writers, and write brief, sincere responses to them. Examples of commonly asked questions include: What was your inspiration for this novel/book? How long did it take you to write? Who are your favorite authors and why? What is your next novel/book about?

Once you have a list you like, send it with a jpg of the book cover art, an author photo, and other information about your book (ISBN number, ordering information, links to websites, etc.). It's good protocol to follow the blogs where your information is posted and to include links to that blogsite or website on your own sites. Also, don't forget to thank those who agree to post information about you and your book after the post has run.

Here is a sample FAQ I use for my own novel, Coyote Heart:

Coyote Heart by Paula Margulies
ISBN: 1-933794-16-X
Publisher: Kirk House Publishers, April 17, 2009
$15.95
www.amazon.com
www.kirkhousepublishers.com
www.paulamargulies.com

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long have you been writing fiction?
I started writing fiction about nine years ago, when I was in my mid-40’s (kind of a mid-life crisis, I suppose). I was an English major in college, but I studied composition and teaching, and had never taken a creative writing class.

2. Where did you learn fiction-writing?
In 2001, I took an Intro to Creative Writing course at Mesa College. I wrote a few short stories that won some awards, and took one of them to the San Diego State Writer’s Conference in 2003, where it won the Editor’s Choice Award from Brenda Copeland, who was then an editor at Simon and Schuster. She suggested that I try writing novels instead of short stories, and I decided to take her advice.

3. Where did you get the idea for this novel?
I had the idea for a short story about a married woman who falls in love with a Native American man. I don’t know where this idea came from, but I kept seeing the image of the husband, who I imagined had been in an accident of some sort, sitting in a chair with a rifle in his hands and his arms raised up in an Indian victory gesture. This image haunted me so much that I began a story about it, and that evolved into the novel, Coyote Heart.

4.How long did it take you to write this novel?
One and a half years.

5. How long did it take to get the book published?
I began Coyote Heart (then called Bow and Arrow) in 2003 and finished it in 2004. In January 2005, I took it to the SDSU Writer’s Conference, where it won an Editor’s Choice Award from Shaye Areheart, an editor at Crown Publishers. I met my agent, Bob Tabian, at the same conference, and in 2008, I was offered a royalty contract by Kirk House Publishers.

6. How did you find your publisher?
After the book made the rounds with the bigger publishing houses from 2005 – 2007, I submitted it to some university and smaller presses. One of them, University of Nevada Press, held it for one year and almost took it (it made it through internal and external reviews, but the editorial staff passed on it in a final publishing meeting). Kirk House was one of the small presses originally approached in 2007; they extended an offer in 2008.

7. Do you have a favorite character?
I read somewhere that an author should love all the characters in her novel, and I feel that way about this one. They are all flawed and all have suffered some kind of loss, which makes me feel for each of them, but if I had to pick one, it would have to be the husband, Everett Weedman. He is a rational man, who likes order and logic in his world yet, at the same time, he has a deep love of nature and he’s willing to sacrifice for what matters.

8. What is your next novel about?
I am working on an historical novel called Favorite Daughter, which is about Pocahontas, who tells the story in first person, in her own point of view. I recently read Sena Jeter Naslund’s novel, Abundance, which tells the story of Marie Antoinette in her own voice and was fascinated by the way it dispelled so many myths about her character, while showing us who she really was as a person. I’m trying to do the same thing in Favorite Daughter, by telling the story from Pocahontas’s perspective and letting her show us the true nature of her relationship with John Smith and how she came to play such a significant role in American history.