I, in my turn, consider their attitude to belong in the past – perhaps the Paleo-lithic era.

Times are changing in the publishing business, and the book stores that are on the front lines, serving their customers are changing along with it.  The industry no longer has cash to throw around marketing books, and far more books are being published outside of the traditional publishing houses.

Regardless of how your project sees print (or e-reader) remember you are writing for a reading audience .  The book store or other delivery mechanism is the intermediary, not the bullseye.  It is your duty to produce a quality product, and then to help it find its audience.

In this era, it is more and more the author’s own resposibility to market the product and reach the audience.  Having a concrete idea of  who that target audience is, and where to find them is mandatory.  Learning marketing strategies and implementing them is critical.  Even “If You Write It….”  they may not come, unless you do your marketing part.

  Attitudes Matter – Be sure and Keep Yours Positive – no matter how many Cavemen you encounter.

Originality does not consist of saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself.

Remember this as you write!

          My personal favorite involves a novel strategy to disrupt a suffragette march.  Many of the male powerbrokers in the country held demeaning beliefs about women and how to handle the delicate flowers they believed women to be.  Or perhaps hoped women were.

          This particular story came out of a newspaper in the Midwest where it was displayed on the front page with other national news.  The article told of men who had captured hundreds of mice and rats from the streets and docks of New York City and were planning to release them along the route of the women’s march and turn an orderly protest into a gaggle of panicked screaming women who were obviously incapable of making important decisions and casting votes.

          Lesson # 1:  Look Further and Get Context.  This is not as harmless and hysterical a prank as it first seems.  In the papers of the day, rats were frequently mentioned as the cities struggled to control and eliminate the pest.  I turned up more than one thousand mentions in the Quincy, Ill papers over a four year time frame in the early 1900’s. The funny picture of women running screaming from the parade route changed.  In 1914 bubonic plague and other diseases carried by sewer rats were a serious threat, with New Orleans struggling against a plague outbreak that claimed a dozen lives.  Think about this threat pre-antiobiotics.  Today we would likely arrest these men as terrorists using biological warfare. (OK – maybe not, but you get the idea.)

         Lesson #2: MAKE NOTES of your Side Tracks: keep a notebook  or a computer file listing the subject, the  article locations, dates, page numbers, references, etc. etc. etc.  It will save countless hours when and if you want to find that piece again to use it. (Profit from my learning curve – I still haven’t found that original article, and it was a priceless piece of journalism.)

Beth’s Research Rule is:  if it catches your attention once write it down and keep the citation.  You’ll be glad when that idea tickles your fancy again and you can find it to write.

Most of All,  Keep Writing!

Just thinking about all the steps that must be taken after a work is finished/published/available can be daunting unless you make it a friendly, easily managed experience.  So start with the easy, supportive pieces and get into action even if it isn’t comfortable for you.

Start with the basics:

Think of where you went to school; where you attended church; what clubs or organizations where you are/were a member, including book clubs, coffee shops,  gyms; sports clubs; writing groups; study groups; volunteer groups.  When you are thinking about  your marketing plan remember these people who already know you.  They may be more interested  than you imagine, or even proud of your accomplishments. They are a potential source of readers.

I was fortunate enough to attract the attention of my hometown paper and be interviewed for an article.  It was a fun and rather humbling experience to be considered newsworthy.  Here’s a link:  HART: Former Payson resident lets readers decide in century-old murder case

Start Easy – but Start!  Your readers are awaiting you!

And most of all,  Keep Writing!

As I see it, there are two parts to the problem of truly understanding them: first of all the reporters covering these events selected and then flavored their reports with a view toward selling newspapers.  They also had opinions and biases – recognized, or not that came through their writing.  These filters give us an incomplete picture of past happenings, and one that has already been interpreted  by the one recording it at that time.

Secondly, there is the internal motivation of those involved.  This is where we ourselves must speculate, usually based solely on the reported actions taken by those people.  Now the filters are our own and belong to our own time.  We can only think as members of our culture and society. We  attribute motivations based on our current understandings.

The important thing to remember is that times were very different , even though basic human psychology remains unchanged.  Sensibilities have changed; trigger points have raised or lowered; morals and standards have morphed over time.  While it is fascinating to speculate on motives, I invite you to then examine those speculations (as much as possible) from the perspective of the time in question.  1912 was a far different world than today, even though in broad brush-strokes the similarities are compelling to what is happening in our world now.

In other words – speculate, and then speculate on your speculations.  At some point you will discover something that feels true to you, and that is likely the best answer – unless you are lucky enough to discover a personal journal detailing the inner workings of your subject’s mind!

I’ve been reading a lot of newspapers from the late 1800′s and early 1900′s and I must say, we have certainly lost the punch in our newspapers.  Much of this can be laid at the feet of Political Correctness, and then there’s a tendency for lawsuits to be filed, and certainly there is merit in holding the media accountable for what they write.

That said, here’s my favorite description of a justice of the peace who overstepped his authority in 1896, and incurred the wrath of the local paper for his actions.  They described him as follows:

“This is the same distinguished jurist who held the dark-lantern inquest on Solomon P. Bradshaw in defiance of the coroner…..He has cost the county $100 more than necessary in the last two years.  He is about one hundred years old and knows as much of law as an angel band does about sailing flat boats.”

If an angel band sailing along on a flat boat doesn’t conjure up images for you, it’s time to get your imagination out of the closet and give it some exercise.

Keep Writing!  and Check out Lies Told Under Oath – there’s more wonderful language quoted in it.

Normally I am not a big proponent of the “why” question.  Human brains will always find a reason why something happens or doesn’t.  And it will suit your own beliefs.  But in this instance, it can also illuminate your beliefs, and that is helpful.

So ask youself WHY can’t I write that?  Your first answers can safely be ignored – the ones that are easy excuses which involve lack of time or lack of motivation or even lack of ability.  It’s the next level of answers that you want to reach.

Ask yourself what would happen if you HAD it written.  What if it was completed, finished, published?  That should surface the real reasons… which are always fears.

You’ll likely hear yourself thinking things like:

(You fill in the blanks.)   I’d be criticized by _____ because I wrote_______.

I’d feel terrible that _______might happen … or not happen because of this piece.

I’d hate for this to make _______feel bad about________.

Once you know why you’re not writing, you can choose to honor that reason.  Or you can move beyond it.

Afterall, it’s your writing life.  My best advice is to write the thing – then decide if anyone else will ever see it.  Exercise those writing muscles.  99.9% of the time the stuff we worry about never happens anyway.

Most of all, Keep Writing!

As a matter of fact, I may even teach a workshop on Books You Never Meant to Write!  It’s amazing how many of us have resisted, pushed against and denied the very things we seem called to write.  We have a large variety and excellent reasons for doing so, but somehow, that ‘thing’ just won’t go away.  I’ve decided it’s best to humor your Muse, and give in gracefully.  It’s a terrible waste of energy otherwise.

But I digress……lThis week I have a favor to ask from my readers.  Please let me know which, if any, web sites or blogs influence the books you read.  I’m looking for places on the internet to market this historical true-crime, amazing story.  It’s a niche genre, but becoming more popular – and anyway, I didn’t have a choice, this book demanded to be written.

Thanks for your help and ideas, and remember

Keep Writing!

          Just about now, we are afflicted by the dreadful WTU’s.  “What’s the Use?”  That question, like an infection, slips into the brain and effectively slows, halts or even paralyzes the entire system.  WTU in writing 300 words when I need 80,000? WTU in writing another query or proposal or marketing plan?  WTU in going to a writing group when the others are all so much better, further along, smarter… (Fill in the blank)… than I am?

          Of course the WTU virus spreads from its initial point of infection and unchecked can spread to sabotage an entire life.  We may begin to feel like some of the characters in fairy tales, doomed to try to spin straw into gold, or separate poppy seeds from dust.   We begin to apply this dastardly question in other areas:  WTU in even trying to diet, exercise, play the piano, follow a marketing plan…..when my little efforts seem to produce such tiny results that I will surely never succeed. 

          What is the antidote to WTU?  Pick your favorite:  Faith.  Hope.  Charity.

                Faith: that little efforts are rewarded and aided in ways we cannot foresee.

                Hope: that better things are coming if we just keep on a little further.

                Charity: to yourself in sparing the harsh judgments that belittle our own efforts.

          Hang on – spring is coming again this year.  Ignore the WTU question.  Distract the mind.  Praise little accomplishments.  Persevere.

          And Keep Writing!

        The foundation of good writing is the emotional resonance it creates in others.  The books that inspired you to begin to write; the lyrical poem or illuminating choice of phrase; the glimmer of understanding that was created in your mind by another came from an awakening of emotion within you.

       Let’s return to the idea you dared not tackle.  Please look at the feelings surrounding that topic.  Penetrate the swirling aura of emotion that cloaks it from clear sight. What is the emotional underpinning to your decision never to wield a pen on that subject?

       We agree that there is power in words, or we would not be writers.  What would you name that feeling?  Dread?  Fear?  Hurt?  Anger?  Need? Despair? Abandonment?  Love? 

       Now comes the tricky part.  Take a minute and think about how it is you came to feel that your own emotions are “wrong.” Look especially at how you came to judge your own feelings to be inappropriate. 

       You will likely find that your decision to avoid some topic is not really yours at all.  It may stem from thoughts and    judgments and preferences of an older generation; it may be a safeguard installed to guide you by someone else’s criteria; it may be a desire to protect you from something another faced decades ago.  Who are you attempting to protect by avoiding this theme?

       Yet that very subject has a gift for you or it would not call you to it.  Exploration can be freeing.  Writing can be private……and healing.

       Write On!