10 Unique Christmas Gifts for Writers

by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

Ho-Ho-Ho

This week, Catherine embraced the Christmas Spirit of Marketing (yes, Virginia, apparently holiday goodwill can be harnessed to help you market your writing!), and I, too, must get my ho-ho-ho on.

(Yeah, I’ll wait while you realize that didn’t sound right….  )

Today, I bring you 10 gifties for you and your writer friends.  May the delight of giving lead to milk, cookies, and a  Grinch-y ”heart that grows three sizes that day.” 

#10  Punctuation Saves Lives

I think we know this deserves a t-shirt.  Why, look at that!  A t-shirt perfect for gift giving.

This shirt is yours for $15.99 over at Cafe Press.

#9  Going Straight to Hell

Some clients, some projects—they’re hell.  Just sayin’.  Why not get a passport to make your trip easier, something that doubles as a journal for these trying times? 

Yes?  Hells, yes!

Travel instructions included.  Just $2.95 at The Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild.  Wild site.  Fabulous gifts.

#8  Everything is Better if It Looks Like a Book

I sob at the practical nostalgia of BookBook, a case/wallet for your iPhone.

I found it at that gift-giving-extravaganza that is Amazon, just $59.95 for iPhone 4 & 4 S, same for the new Iphone 5.  Suddenly you’re not working, you’re spending quality time with books.  Totally different.

#7  Old Book Smell

Many of us fell in love with writing as a child, in a dark musty library (one of the 2,509grand structures built by the Carnegies, no doubt, where the motto “let there be light” made every reader feel heroic).

If you miss that good ol’ musty book smell, good news, you can buy it and successfully make the transition to electronic books smell intact.

Smell of Books offer Classic Musty and New Book Smell for $9.99 each.

But be careful.

Please use in well ventilated area.

May cause dizziness and hallucinations. May cause itching and runny nose.

If symptoms persist for longer than eight weeks please consult your physician.

Not for use on “real” books.

Do not use while riding public transportation.

Discard empty container with hazardous waste.

Not for use as a room deodorizer.

Not for use on burning books.

Do not use on a Zune.

Keep away from the Kindle Fire!

(Plus, it’s not a real product. But the hilarity of this site alone should inspire you to pen your own faux site as a Christmas gift to those you love.  Or even customers and readers.  Everyone needs a good laugh for Christmas.)

#6  Paint a White Board on Your Wall

IdeaPaint is proof science makes the world a better place. Proof, I say!

It comes in clear, white, and black.  Enough to cover 50 sq. ft. is $225.00; 100 sq. ft. is on sale for $315.00 (for clear).

I found this goodness at an equally awesome site called Idearella: Creating Glass Slipper Ideas in a Wicked Stepsister World. Their 2010 list of Christmas Gifts is super-awesome-sauce.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Diane writes two columns for Freelance-Zone: (1) Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and (2) Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Writing.

3 Massive Goals for Writers (Move Over NaNoWriMo): Part 2

by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

Thousands of writers around the world are taking on National Novel Writing Month (November), where you write an entire novel in a month.

It’s one massive goal.  It’ll shake you up and jumpstart your creativity and your career. 

Well, I’ve got 3 other massive goals that could be just as epic. If NaNo isn’t your thang, check out one of these.

Last week I encouraged you to Create a Writer’s Manifesto.  This week? Your massive goal is to go head-to-head with Leonardo De Vinci, the Big Guy.

.Josh Mings, over at SolidSmack, wrote about the awesomeness that is Leonardo De Vinci’s resume.  Apparently the Big Guy actually had to write up his skills and sell his ideas and abilities to his royal patrons.

In other words, he had to first get hired.

So, here’s this week’s Big Massive Goal.  Write a resume as if you are the Leo De Vinci of your field.  Feature the skills, ideas, and abilities you WILL have once you reach that status.

Leo didn’t start off a

• painter,
• sculptor,
• architect,
• musician,
• scientist,
• mathematician,
• engineer,
• inventor,
• anatomist,
• geologist,
• cartographer,
• botanist, and
• writer.

He had to gain those skills and master them first.  So project yourself into your own future. 

What does your resume look like AFTER you’ve mastered all the skills you need to be a living legend?

What are your skills, traits, abilities, ideas, influences, moments of genius, hidden accomplishments, strokes of brilliance, and shining moments?

What would your writing life look like if it were so “out there,” so stratospheric, that it was studied by students of writing for the next 500 years?

Write that.

And then make it true.

TO BE CONTINUED,

Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

3 Massive Goals for Writers (Move Over NaNoWriMo)

by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

Sometimes you need a massive goal, the kind that requires heroics and gives your life meaning. The kind that kickstarts your efforts and launches you to victory with immediate results.

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where you write a 50,000-word book in one month.

Polished?  Er, no. 

A messy first draft?  Hells yes.

In honor of this prime example of Massive Goal-ness, I bring you 3 equally massive goals you might not have considered… but you should!

1. Create a Writer’s Manifesto

Why?  It’s a rallying cry for your career, your passion, and your intent to succeed.

I first became aware of the awesomeness of modern manifestos when I read Chris Guillebeau’s Art of Non Conformity website. 

This, I thought, is what life can be like.  This is the power of words.

He’s added a second manifesto, and you can read them both here:

• A Brief Guide to World Domination
• 279 Days to Overnight Success

Want to read more about creating a manifesto?  Read these articles:

• The Art of Manliness’ post: How and Why to Write Your Own Personal Manifesto
• Soul Pancake’s Do Something Eye Opening post: What’s Your Writers Manifesto?
• Chuck Wendig’s post at Terrible Minds: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know

And check out Jeff Goin’s e-book: The Writers Manifesto.

TO BE CONTINUED,

Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

Multi-Tasking with MS Outlook

I tend to multi-task. And since I work from a home office, this often means that while I’m writing a book or working on a large publication layout project, I’m also doing laundry, prepping meals, and tending to the everyday needs of my freelance clients. How is this possible?…Microsoft Outlook.

While many of you probably think of Outlook primarily as an e-mail client, I use it as a task manager and the hub of both my freelance work and household activities. In addition to its function as an e-mail program, Outlook has several nifty little features, including a calendar, pop-up reminders, and a task manager, which help me run my blended business and household like a Swiss watch.

I use the calendar to schedule appointments and deadlines, as well as recurring events such as holidays, daylight savings time, birthdays, and anniversaries. I also use it to schedule smaller events, such as taking vitamins and medications, recording television programs, watering plants, and keeping up with my son’s academic and social schedule. Each time I schedule an event, I create a pop-up reminder that can be customized to notify me anywhere from one minute, to days or weeks in advance. There’s even a *snooze* function that allows me to postpone or procrastinate if needed.

My favorite Outlook feature is its To-Do Bar. This customizable list-making device sits just to the right of my e-mail window; its width can be sized according to the screen space; and it’s divided into six sections: Today…Tomorrow…This Week…Next Week…Next Month…and Later. On it I can jot down a quick note to make a phone call, create a small errand/shopping list, schedule a recreational outing, or make a list of goals for the day. And much like the calendar, I can also note future tasks or events. Tasks may be color-coded for organizing and prioritizing; and the drag-and-drop feature allows me reshuffle the tasks on the list, or move leftover tasks forward to another day. Best of all, Outlook’s To-Do Bar has almost eliminated my need for Post-It Notes.

Outlook has become such an integral part of my daily life that I also use it to compose drafts of all my writing. To begin a blog, article, or even a book, I open up a new e-mail document and use it like a word processing program. If I need to take a break, I can close the document and store it in my Inbox or in a separate e-mail folder for that specific project. I create all my research notes, outlines, timelines, and drafts as e-mails in Outlook, and I send myself a copy of the e-mail to leave on the server for safekeeping. Once I’m done with the project, I create a permanent document in MS Word and save it to my hard drive and back-up drive.

No doubt, there is an array of similar programs out there for both PC and Mac that will function in much the same way, but for my purposes, Outlook has everything I need in one facile suite. It’s the first program I open in the morning…and the last one I shut down at night. I’d be lost without it.

Celeste Heiter is the author of Turn Your PC into a Lean Mean Freelancing Machine (http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Your-Freelancing-Machine-ebook/dp/B008LOX1MQ), the creator of the LoveBites cookbook series for Kindle Fire (http://lovebitescookbooks.com), and the author of Potty Pals , a potty-training book for children (http://pottypalsbook.com). She has also written ten books published by ThingsAsian Press (http://thingsasianpress.com); and spent eight years posting her recipes, food photographs, and film reviews on ChopstickCinema (http://chopstickcinema.thingsasian.com)

Visit her website (http://celesteheiter.com), and her Amazon Author Page (http://www.amazon.com/Celeste-Heiter/e/B002OXU6S2)

Find A New Dream

by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

Your dream is about writing.  I already know that.  But what I want to know is if you’re living your big writing dream today? 

Because I’m not.

And, in a way, I’m farther away than ever.

(How in the world 20 years of hard work can lead you farther away, I have no idea!  But reality is like that.  It’s illogical and ill-behaved and apt to squash your hopes and dreams.)

Now, some of you are getting close to your dreams, so this article won’t help much.  But if you have worked hard every waking moment and still aren’t “there,” then this article might help you ask The Big Questions.

Should I let go of my dream?

Should I stop giving it CPR?

Should I find a new dream to dream?

The more you fear these questions, the more important it is to ask them.

And yes, your new dream can be a new writing dream. Or not.  I’m not imposing rules on your dreaming.  Not my job.  But basically you have all of reality to play with, so don’t panic.

The Importance of Today

In all my years of hard work and dreaming, what have I been doing?  I’ve been clawing my way toward a future goal.  The Dream.

I thought that was how it was done.  Everyone said so.  You set your sights on a big dream and then you don’t give up.  You use your fingernails if you have to, as you dig in and keep going. 

But now, I’m not so sure.

• What about all the todays on the way to your dream? 
• What if you don’t reach your big dream, ever? 
• What if your fingernails break before you get there? 
• Does that mean you have no dream to live, because you never made it to your dream location?

What if the future is today?  How would that change things?

The folks over at The One Question put it this way:

“…to find your life purpose you have to live your life purpose. You can start living your life purpose immediately.”

If you don’t live your purpose (or your dream), then you’ll never find it.  And if not today, then when?

Just For Today

Instead of a big dream, I wonder if the key isn’t found in what you dream just for today?

What you live for today

Maybe all you have to do is find your dream for today.  Or as John December says:

Find a way to gain some aspects of your dream today.

The pieces of the dream ARE the dream, just smaller.  To ignore these small pieces is to miss the whole point of having a dream.

Gain your dream, piece by piece.

Own your dream, today by today.

By owning a piece of your dream today, you are eliminating the space between you and your dream.  In fact, you and your dream are one.

Dreamer and dream.

Now Back To The Big Questions

Is it time for a new dream?

It really comes down to today, doesn’t it?

Do the small pieces of your dream create a wonderful today?

That’s the one question this whole article comes down to.

Until you can answer this question, you can’t ask any of the others. 

How can you know if you should let go of your dream–if you should stop giving it CPR–unless you ask yourself about the reality of how you live your dream.  Or how you don’t.

After all, if your dream doesn’t even exist until some dim future, then what are you planning on letting go of?  Something that never existed?

And what about if you decide to let go?

There are so many, many changes you can make to your dream and how you experience it.  And beyond that there are a multitude of dreams you can call your own.

You’re the dreamer.  It’s your call.

It’s okay to make a change.  It really, really is.  And it’s okay to keep your dream exactly the same.

I just wish we talked about the small pieces more.  The day-to-day tasks.  the way we tried to move forward.  About how we see these small pieces as “living the writing dream.” 

I think we might be a lot happier with a dream we live just for today.  A dream we can touch.  A dream that makes us… US.

—

Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

Is It Really a Vacation If You Work?

My wife and I recently took our summer vacation — a 12-day trip that took us to Massachusetts, where we enjoyed the company of family and lobster; Las Vegas, where I can’t tell you most of what we did, because that stays in Vegas; and San Diego, where we chartered a sailboat and alternated between utter peace and quasi-mayhem in one of the world’s busiest harbors.

Now, here’s the confession: We both had our laptops and iPhones (mine equipped with a mobile hotspot) in tow, and I had my digital recorder and earbud microphone.

It’s a shame to ruin your time off with work, isn’t it? Doesn’t that just defeat the whole principle of getting away and decompressing?

Meh, not really. There have been times where we’ve taken completely unplugged vacations; this time, it wasn’t really an option. My wife is finishing up her master’s degree and had assignments due. I had received a plum writing assignment two days before we left from one of my longest-term and most lucrative clients. (I didn’t even tell her I was going on vacation.) I’d need to do the interviews, though not the actual writing, from the road. At the risk of sounding like a professional athlete, “It is what it is.”

And at the risk of sounding like a politician, make no mistake: We didn’t work the whole time. Indeed, we compartmentalized our work bouts to as short time frames as possible — and were 100% in vacation mode every other waking minute. And that, right there, is the key.

Yes, it required a mind-shift and significant self-discipline to leave a hot craps table to interview a CPA about tedious multistate tax issues and the rapid increase in IRS audits. In an ideal world, I surely wouldn’t check emails from a secluded little harbor where we were the only ones anchored.

But at the risk of sounding like a goon in a mafia movie: It’s just business.

Jake Poinier is the owner of Boomvang Creative Group, a Phoenix-based editorial services firm, and writes an advice column for freelancers at DearDrFreelance.com.