Overcoming Rejection.

Harlan David Sanders, best known as Colonel Sanders, owned an automobile service station in Corbin, Kentucky, where he also cooked meals for customers. Eventually, he moved to a restaurant and perfected his method of cooking chicken using a pressure fryer—and don’t forget those eleven herbs and spices. On the verge of success, construction of Interstate 75 diverted traffic—and most of his customers—from his restaurant, forcing him to close.

At age 65, Sanders had nothing more than faith in his talent for cooking chicken. He drove around the country in the 1950’s trying to sell franchises to restaurant owners who hadn’t asked for one. He faced over one thousand rejections before making his first sale. Yet, by 1964, more than 600 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises existed. Later, Colonel Sanders sold his business for a huge profit.

I can't imagine how Colonel Sanders continued to persevere over rejection those 999 times. Let's not succumb to rejection of our manuscripts. Instead, let us be like the Colonel and continue with faith in ourselves and our stories.

~~~

Writers on Rejection:

"Practice, practice, practice until you eventually get numb on rejections." ~ Brian Klemmer

"After rejection—misery, then thoughts of revenge, and finally, oh well, another try elsewhere. " ~ Mason Cooley

We keep going back, stronger, not weaker, because we will not allow rejection to beat us down. It will only strengthen our resolve. To be successful there is no other way." ~ Earl G. Graves, founder and publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine

"There are two wrong reactions to a rejection slip: deciding it's a final judgment on your story and/or talent, and deciding it's no judgment on your story and/or talent." ~ Nancy Kress

Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil - but there is no way around them." ~ Isaac Asimov

Every writer faces rejection. How do you deal with it?

~Roxanne Sherwood

Use Find & Replace and Highlighting to Save Time Editing

"Writing is 1 percent inspiration, and 99 percent elimination."—Louise Brooks

The first and last thing I self-edit on a manuscript includes finding and eliminating passive and overused verbs. Like on a search and destroy mission, I use the Find & Replace function to highlight passive and overused verbs.

Although grammar check won’t point out every passive verb or repeated word, turn on grammar check to point out passive sentences. Here’s how to turn it on: Tools>;Spellcheck>;Options>;Check grammar with spelling.

To Highlight all passive verbs in yellow, on the Edit menu, click Find. In the Find and Replace box, enter the passive verb or empty or repeated word. Then click on the Replace box. Type in same verb. Select Highlight. Then Find All.

Eliminate most passive verbs and insert active verbs.

Highlight passive verbs and most used verbs in yellow.

• am, being, to be
• is, is being, are, are being
• was, were, was being, were being, will be, will have been,
• has, have, had, having, has to, has been, have been, had been, would have been
• do, does, did, doing
• get, got, getting, gotten
• use, uses, used, using
• go, went, gone, going
• could, would

To make the sentence active, flip the sentence.

• P: Veils are worn by brides.
• A: Brides wear veils.
• P: My editing is an improvement on Sara’s manuscript.
• A: My editing improves Sara’s manuscript.
• P: The Marriott has wedding receptions.
• A: The Marriott hosts wedding receptions.

Find and replace the top 25 most used words.

According to the billion-word Oxford English Corpus, the most frequently used verbs that express basic concepts are: be, have, do, say, get, make, go, know, take, see, come, think, look, want, give, use, find, tell, ask, work, seem, feel, try, leave, call.

Save time using an online thesaurus.

Enter the verb into the search field at thesaurus.com 

Peruse the list of synonyms. What are the advantages of finding synonyms online?  Beside listing the part of speech, synonyms and antonyms, thesaurus.com provides:

• Definitions: Make sure you find the correct word that communicates your thought.
• Notes:  Helps you eliminate those pesky common usage errors. For example: affect/effect: as a noun, affect means 'a feeling or emotion,' whereas effect means 'the result or consequence of some action or process'; as a verb, to affect means 'to exert an influence upon,' and implies the action of a stimulus that can produce a response or reaction, whereas to effect means 'to bring about as a result' effect is a noun referring to a thing, but if you mean an action, that is affect; if you want the verb meaning 'achieve, bring about,' that is effect
• Synonyms: The synonym list also links synonyms to other synonyms. No need to flip pages in a book, one click lets you explore and find the precise word to best fit. 

If you're looking to save time, use Find and Replace and the highlighting function to speed up editing a rough or final manuscript.       

Don't Strangle Your Voice

Photo by hozer/StockXchange.com

I like to sing. And yes, I can carry a tune. Given a choice, I prefer to sing in groups. When I stand center stage and perform--and that has happened on a few occasions--I struggle to force the song past my throat. Who cares about remembering the words when you can't breathe?

Singing is impossible when I feel like I am being strangled.

In Inkspired, my critique group, we look for the music in each other's writing. We look for the moment the writer's voice sounds true and clear throughout every sentence, every paragraph. When that happens, we tell the writer that their work is "singing." I've been known to scrawl "Lalalalalala!" across the top of a manuscript or inside a comment box when I feel like a chapter has hit the mark.

As a writer, you've been told to discover your voice--your style, your personality. I'm here to tell you to protect your voice. Just as a singer protects her voice, a writer must learn to protect the voice that shines through his words.

I doubt if Barbra Streisand would ever let someone tell her to sing a song like Jon Bon Jovi. She has her style. He has his style. And neither performer wastes time wanting to be the other person.

If someone comes along--say another writer or an editor--and tries to mess with your writing voice, be confident enough to say, "Thank you for your feedback." And then stay true to who you are as a writer. Don't let anyone strangle your voice.

I'm not saying that you don't ever listen to constructive criticism. If your plot is garbled or your grammar and punctuation is a mess, pay attention.

What I am saying is: Any suggestions that tamper with your style of writing shows that the person doesn't understand your writing voice. This is why it's vital to be involved with a critique group--a place where people know you, know your writing style and will help develop your voice.

Where's the Beginning?

Once upon a time in my childhood, which now seems so very long ago, all the stories my mother read to me began with those words. It was a much simpler time. Everyone knew where books started—at the beginning.

But when I started writing stories of my own, those beginnings weren’t so easy to identify.

This week, a budding new author trusted me to read her work-in-progress. She jumped right in with action in the Prologue. (Prologues are often controversial; people love ‘em or hate ‘em. Whether or not you decide to write one, don’t let a weak prologue dilute a strong first chapter.)

The heroine—I’ll call her “Elise”—was struggling for her life in a shadowy battle but I had trouble making sense out of what was happening. Then, Elise opened her eyes and saw the familiar surroundings of her room. What? It was a dream. Oh, I don’t know Elise yet. The story wasn’t anchored. The entire scene was a puzzle. Okay. Puzzles aren’t bad. They make your brain try to figure them out. Next, Elise sat in bed remembering the stranger, a businessman named Frank Wells, who’d heard her sales pitch and offered her a prestigious job at his company in another state. I turned the page to begin Chapter One. The scene was well written with lots of active verbs, precise nouns, and well-placed description. The dialogue was snappy, and the scene flowed smoothly—until Elise met Frank Wells and he offered her a job.

What? The entire scene was a flashback?

The author had just given me literary whiplash, and I didn’t like it. I felt obligated to finish reading her story. But if this were a novel I’d casually picked up, I would have closed the book.

Romance readers seek entertainment. It’s not that we don’t have brains. We’re generally intelligent, successful women with busy lives. We read for pleasure, entertainment, and maybe to escape for a little while. We don’t want authors to make us work that hard to understand what’s happening.

An author admitted her first novel, prior to publication, contained a first chapter that was axed by her editor. He said, “Your story really starts in Chapter Two.” Several authors agreed they’d had the same problem. In the first chapter, they were getting to know a new character, and they hadn’t hit their writing stride until the second chapter.

How do you know where a story begins? What advice can you give to new writers?

~Roxanne Sherwood

2010 Get Re-Inspired Workshop

Glen Eyrie, one of my favorite locations in Colorado Springs, is the site for the June 6-9 Get Re-Inspired! Writers Workshop featuring Angela Hunt, James Scott Bell, Nancy Rue and Kathy Mackel.

The teachers take a different approach to the workshop. At the beginning of the conference, each teacher explains their areas of expertise and teaching methods. Attendees then "team up" with a particular teacher--spending most of their time with that particular teacher, except for the morning keynote addresses.

Angela Hunt focuses on process, having developed systems to organize and improve any style of writing.

James Scott Bell zeroes in on communication--presenting a clear, effective and entertaining message.

Nancy Rue helps writers develop relationships between characters, and between readers and stories.

Kathy Mackel enables writers to create stories that touch hearts, while sticking to a sellable format.

The coference fee is $288 and there are different room rates for staying at the Glen. Information is available here.

Dialogue Tags and Attribution, When is enough?

Author Beth Vogt has graciously allowed me to use a rough draft of a scene from her work-in-progress. The novel is a romantic comedy called Wish You Were Here and has great dialogue.

Setting: Best friends lingerie shopping at the mall in a Victoria’s Secret store.

The door to Meghan’s dressing room swung open. “Pajama check. Yes or no?”

“I vote yes,” Allison replied.

“Me too.” The door clicked shut. “How are the men in your life?”

“Daniel e-mailed me to say he’d be in town this weekend and that he’d touch base about a sleigh ride.”

“Nice of him.”

“Seth called a couple of times.”

“You don’t say.”

“No big deal. He just wanted to say ‘hi’. I’m keeping it casual.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I believe you want to keep it casual. Seth—I’m not so sure.” Meghan said, moving around the dressing room. “No peeking, just tell me: flowers or basic purple?”

“Both.”

“You love to spend my money.”

“I just want to make sure you feel better.”

“I do have nail polish that exactly matches this purple set.”

“That settles it then. Can we get dinner?”

“I’ve got a few more options here. So, back to Seth. Why are you talking to him?”

Allison leaned back against the wall. “You sound like my aunt.”

“Thanks, I think. What did you tell her?”

“Because.”

“Very mature.”

“Aren’t I being mature, Meggie?” She stood and paced in front of the dressing room. “Things ended badly between Seth and me—I ended them badly. Wouldn’t it be better if we could be friends?”

***

Did you have trouble keeping track of who was speaking? I sure did. Allison and Meghan were slamming dialogue back and forth like tennis players at Wimbledon.

Let’s get some quick housekeeping out of the way. Here are a couple of definitions, which you may find helpful.

--Attribution: Using the word “said” or any of its synonyms to identify which character is speaking. Example: Meghan said. Or Allison replied.

--Dialogue tags: Identifying which character is speaking by using a verb or stating an action. Example: Allison leaned back against the wall.

--Both attribution and tags serve the same function: to identify the speaker of a line of dialogue.

In her second draft of the previous scene, Vogt added more tags to keep the speaker’s identity straight.

When I write, I clearly see my characters and hear them speak as if I were watching the movie of their lives. When I begin to write, I capture their dialogue first, then add tags and attribution. The trick is remembering to add them before the reader gets tripped up.

Writers need to remember the reader is at a disadvantage. She isn’t watching the movie playing inside your head. Outside distractions may steal some of her concentration. Don't make her work so that she has to stop reading, then go back and painstakingly count lines to discover who's speaking. She may decide your book is not worth the effort.

My personal goal is to attribute every four lines. Occasionally, I’ll stretch it to five lines—making it an odd number—to give a sense of movement to the other character. Of course, this doesn't have to be your rule. Just make your writing a joy to read, not a chore.

What are your experiences with writing dialogue? Do you forget to add tags and attribution during early drafts in your effort to get the words on paper?

~Roxanne Sherwood

Do tears of the heart stain the pages of your writing?

“The tears fall, they're so easy to wipe off onto my sleeve, but how do I erase the stain from my heart?”—Unknown

What is the greatest struggle you’ve encountered writing nonfiction?
In a three-minute video, author/educator Thomas Farber shares the greatest struggles nonfiction writers face.

Farber has edited fiction and nonfiction for authors including Bob Woodward, Scott Armstrong, Chris McKinney, Judith Orloff, Wilbur Crane Eveland, and John Krich. 


Farber's credits include: Awarded Guggenheim and, three times, National Endowment fellowships for fiction and creative nonfiction, Thomas Farber has been a Fulbright Scholar, recipient of the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, and Rockefeller Foundation scholar at Bellagio. His recent books include Brief Nudity, The Beholder, and Hesitation Marks. Former Visiting Distinguished Writer at the University of Hawai'i, he teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, and is Publisher/Editor in Chief of El Leùn Literary Arts.