WRITER'S COMPASS

Directional notes to help writers navigate the world of writing and publishing.

NORTH: GETTING YOUR BEARINGS

In these dark days of fall and winter, I have a more difficult time keeping on track than at any other time of year. I have a few things I do to keep on track. First, I walk a few miles twice each day, with Riley my borderline collie. Researchers on depression have stated that even as little as twenty minutes exposure to outdoor morning light can be as effective as anti-depression medication.

I also try to follow those age-old rules for healthy living: eat well and have an early supper, go to bed before midnight, and exercise daily. A walk along the river or a stroll in the forest. A mid-winter trip to the coast. Nothing revives me as much as soaking in the beauty of nature. Even taking the time to look at the big evergreens in my neighborhood or to watch a fat crow or squirrel gives me a lift.

Because I tend to be someone who overworks, and then suffers loneliness, I have to remember to schedule in rewards for my labors. This might involve a phone call to a friend, a lunch, or inviting my folks over for dinner. Writing is a lonely profession and so is editing. Occasionally, I pack up my papers or my laptop and head to a coffee shop or Borders Books, where I can be around humankind.

SOUTH: TROUBLE-SHOOTING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

I believe you're halfway through a problem when you figure out what's wrong. For years, my friend Stew, a technical writer and editor, hammered me for insufficient outlining prior to writing a manuscript. He's totally right, but I'll never tell him that. When I wrote The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit, I followed his advice and made a detailed outline of each chapter's contents. I went with my writing and editing friends to a one-week retreat at a writer's haven called Colonyhouse, on the northern Oregon coast (www.oregonwriterscolony.org ). In five days, I typed 50,000 words of that book. That's forty pages a day. That was only possible because my outline was so detailed.

My greatest problem is, however, time management. If I ever truly conquer this difficulty, I will write a book about how I did it. I own several books on the subject, but after I read them, the advice floated away like a leaf in a breeze. I even took a Stephen Covey "First Things First" workshop and bought and read his book. I recommend it highly, if you are better at applying learning than I am.

I get a huge amount accomplished in my mish-mash way, but not without deadline panic. It would be nice to relieve myself of this panic. For one thing, I'm getting older and last-minute production takes its toll on the body. Now that I have seen my final and sixth book for writers through to completion and publication, I am looking forward to diving back in to my creative writing—memoir, poetry, and possibly revisiting some rough drafts of novels.

I suspect that the only way to manage my time dilemmas is to simply write word by word, to borrow from Anne Lamott's clever phrase "bird by bird."

EAST: MARKETING

All of my marketing efforts are eastward bound because west is not an option when you live but fifty-five miles inland from the Pacific coast. Presently, east means not only New York, but Wisconsin, the location of The Writer magazine. It's easy to read and chock full of practical how-to tips.

They have also been very friendly to me. They ran a marketing article of mine in the September 2002 issue, reprinted it in a "Toolkit" booklet, and posted it on their web site: www.writermag.com. You can see a copy of it on my Tips & Techniques page. In 2003, they printed my guest column in "Dear Writer." In 2004, they reviewed A Writer's Guide to Nonfiction and in 2005 reviewed A Writer's Guide to Fiction. Writer's Digest magazine has likewise published an article on writing the "big scenes" of a novel or memoir and reprinted an excerpt from Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write. I am proud beyond words of these two guides, because I believe they fill an instructional void by offering step-by-step instruction on the structure underlying writing nonfiction and fiction, and much more.

What is the relevance of my bragging rights to your efforts? My knowledge base about writing defines what publications I target for my marketing efforts. With web surfing, you can build a list of places appropriate for your writing, no matter what you are writing. These efforts require tenacity, overcoming boredom and tedium (few writers I know enjoy marketing), and raising your skills at research. That's all.

My friend and mentor, the late Gaines Smith, used to talk about Mailbox Phobia, the malady that strikes most writers occasionally. This so-called phobia is a resistance to marketing. Perhaps the secret is the same as my time-management problems: you simply need to do it. I am ever grateful to my friend, Patty Hyatt, who coined the term "Marketing Monday." She advocates setting aside one day a week to do nothing but searching out markets or agents, packaging queries and manuscripts, and mailing them.

Gaines also advocated the Rule of Twelve. This rule suggests that you get twelve things in the mail and keep twelve circulating at any given time. Twelve balls in the air at once! If you receive a rejection, you've got to get something out ASAP. The idea is that twelve is the magic number to begin to yield publication on a regular basis. I have to admit that I've not yet tried the system. I have known others who have and they say it works.

Now, I am proud as can be of seeing the publication of my magnum opus: Manuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore. I poured into this 368-page book each and every bit of advice I had gleaned from 20 years of editing novels.

With this book off my desk and in production, I can sit on my laurels, right? Anything but. This is the time for intense focus on marketing research to contribute to the book's promotion. I could spend 40 hours a week until the publication date on the marketing monster. The four months prior to a book's publication and the two to three months afterwards are the critical months for gaining attention and for an author to get any large publisher to provide publicist assistance. Notice that I said assistance. The publicist assists the author, not vice versa, as the author of any book that is not a bestseller has the primary responsibility to promote her or his book. Welcome to the real world of career success. For help with book promotion, I glean good ideas from Jon Kremer's 1001 Ways to Market Your Book. And, if you just spend the rest of your life following links and acting on what you find, you'll do fine. If you have deep pockets, hire a good publicist. You can find quite a few listed in my book, National Directory of Editors & Writers, where I offer full profiles of 530 freelancers (editors, writers, publicists, ghostwriters) living in 48 states. Good luck.

WEST: REFINING YOUR VISION

Years will slip by if you write and market but fail to take stock. I believe that checking your progress (or lack thereof) against the homing device inside you is as essential to your success and happiness as the outward activities of the writing life. It seems as if New Year's resolutions are the only recognition in our culture for looking inward. I advocate taking stock on a regular basis.

For instance, ask yourself these questions:

• What kind of writing gives you the most joy? Short stories? Novels? Poetry? Letters or e-mails to friends?
• Are you presently writing something that brings joy? If not, what are you waiting for?
• If you knew that you would be remembered by society for your writing, what kind of writing would you do?
• What kinds of writing and reading will build your skill toward eventually writing what brings you joy and meaning?

If you are not yet doing the kind of writing that brings you joy and meaning, that does not mean all is lost or that you have a deep, dark problem. I find that all writing is fertile and "cross-pollinates" to every other kind of writing. Sometimes we have to do whatever earns a living to subsidize writing that may not be developed enough to earn money. However, the time manager says that you can parcel out some time each week on writing that brings joy. In my introspecting moments, I remind myself of this, and believe me, I am my own worst enemy. That Calvinistic work ethic still echoes down through the generations and tries to make me think I should sit on the hard pew of self-denial. Echoes and ghosts must be dealt with, given their due to shut them up, and then you can write like a banshee on whatever thrills you.