These are some examples of Tech-savvy Writers for our discussion at AWP 2012 in Chicago today.

Get this, writers: traditional media is the circulatory system. But new media is the nervous system. And the two work great together.

The circulatory system makes sure all your everything gets nourished. But the nervous system means you get to have the perception to appreciate that nourishment.

When you want awareness about your book, you want the extended nervous system of humanity to know it.

Just make sure you bring the circulatory system along too, if you possibly can.

These writers do. Check ‘em out!

Cheryl Strayed

Most recent book: Wild, a memoir from Alfred A. Knopf (March 2012) and forthcoming Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar coming this summer.

It’s never too late to get techy!

Strayed is not the most tech-savvy writer you’ll ever meet, by any means. But remember this, writers—better late than never!

Strayed is appearing at AWP this year and you will be hearing her name a lot in the upcoming months if you haven’t already. She has a feature interview in the latest Poets & Writers magazine and also recently had a feature in my hometown paper, The Oregonian. In a rising tide of publicity genius, Strayed timed the big reveal of her role as “Dear Sugar” on The Rumpus to tie in with the launch of her two new books.

Wild will be released in March (you can pre-order it here) and another book that chronicles her columns from The Rumpus will be released this summer.

Strayed wrote a memoir about hiking the PCT, that’s the backstory.

Strayed wrote the line: “Write like a motherfucker,” for therumpus.net. That’s the lead-in story to the backstory.

The end of the story is that more people will read her memoir in the long run because she wrote that top-secret Rumpus advice column.

So put your judgement aside, writers, and see the Internet and technology as your allies, not your enemies.

Learn more about Cheryl Strayed. And buy her books!

Cory Doctorow

Science Fiction writer and activist, Cory Doctorow is one of the smartest people I have ever met. If you are also intelligent, I hope you will follow his proactive, provacative example.

What I’ve learned from Cory is that it does not matter how intelligent you are; it matters what you DO with that intelligence. Your intelligence is either serving your heart or imprisoning it (or something in between). I hope, for your sake, dear writer, that your intelligence is not only serving your heart, but also serving the world.

You can have an ego, that’s fine. Cory certainly has one. But as long as you use your ego in service of the world and others, we are going to cut you a lot more slack than if you just sit around indulging your pride.

You do not have to be perfect, dear writer. Perfection is unattainable and unsustainable. But there is no excuse for self-indulgence and laziness. Got off your rump and write something. Than do something with it. Isn’t that what we’re all here for?

I recommend any of Cory’s books hand’s down (especially to sci-fi fans) because they are so acclaimed and he is so adored by his fans. However, since I am not a sci-fi gal, I particularly like his two collections of essays, Content and Context. Tons of food for thought in there for any writer today and you can listen to them on audio for free.

Seth Godin

If every writer read all of Seth Godin’s marketing books, we would need to have this panel because marketing and self-promotion would be a required class in every writing MFA program in the country. And I know we are doing better but we are not there yet.

So don’t wait for your writing program to get schooled. School yourself. Seth’s books are remarkably accessible and east to digest. You can read them while you are on the bus or waiting to pick up the kids. Just read them!

Godin has saved my career more than once. He is a strong influences in my two recent books, Get Known Before the Book Deal and The Writer’s Workout Coach, both from Writer’s Digest Books.

You can buy them new or used and thank me later. Here’s the most recent list. Read them all is what I recommend.

Your author platform is as totally unique as this snowflake.

This is a special offer I made to my newsletter subscribers earlier this month and now I’m making it available to all, but only until January 31st.

You don’t need to spend a small fortune to cultivate your author platform, but you do need to think like an author. An author is the composer of a literary work or works, and platform development can and should begin long before a writer is ready for authorhood.

Most writers who are producing regular writing are ready to start thinking about their platforms. But often writers don’t realize that platform development is just as creative and synergistic as writing itself. In other words, you can enjoy creating, developing, and expanding your platform, just as much as you enjoy the rest of your writing career. In the long run, no two author platforms look alike.

I am all about teaching writers to understand their strengths and put them at the center of their writing careers. I teach writers how to discover their strengths and let their strengths lead. This dramatically simplifies the platform development process and puts you, the writer, in charge of the platform growth process.

Don’t give your writing career away. There are no funnels, no systems, no formulas involved in the way I teach platform. The way I teach platform it begins and ends with you. You don’t need me to have a successful platform…you need you.

The Build Your Author Platform Workbook was featured as a self-study course in the September 2011 Build Your Platform Premium Kit from Writer’s Digest, so you know it’s high quality. On January 1st the right to the material reverted back to me.

Now I can offer this 8-week workbook to you for only $29.99. The price will return to $39.99 on February 1st, so order now!

Learn more about the Build Your Author Platform Workbook here.

(Oops! The button was not working but all fixed now.)

• The people.
• The learning opportunities.
• The connections and ongoing relationships you can cultivate afterwards.

Not to “get discovered.”

In fact, I hope you don’t get discovered. I hope you discover yourself instead.

The problem with a conference full of folks who are hoping to “get discovered” is that very few of them will actually get discovered.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with attending a conference where you get to rub up against some of the top agents in NYC, including mine. This is an incredible learning opportunity, not to mention a chance for you to witness individuals up close and personal.

So, if you come to the Writer’s Digest Conference for no other reason, come so you can see that agents are mere mortals just like you and me. This will improve your chances of being able to speak to them without stuttering excessively.

There is also nothing wrong with attending a conference in New York City where you get to learn from and shake hands with some of the most knowledgeable teachers of writers around. I hope you won’t miss the opportunity to walk up to as many presenters as you can and stick out your hand. I still do this as often as I can.

Because here’s the deal: it’s not about us (the agents and other folks presenting and facilitating at the conference) being ready for you…it’s about you being ready for us.

And I don’t mean killing yourself with preparation. I mean showing up and being present and having a good time. This is what makes for a great conference. So…

Are you ready?

Are you game?

Are you willing?

Because these are attitudes that will help you get the most out of a conference.

If it’s not already apparent that this is one of the premier conferences in the North America, then please read the conference description again. Seriously. Did you see the lineup? It’s awesome and a half.

And please don’t come to cram your elevator speech down everybody’s throat. Unless you are in a pitching context, wait until you are politely asked about your work.

I know I always ask. It’s one of the first things I want to know when I meet a writer. And I don’t need to hear a rehearsed speech necessarily. I just want to know who you are and what your passionate about writing.

Let’s face it, folks, most writers are not yet ready for an agent and traditional book deal. They don’t have the experience (yet). They don’t have the confidence (yet). They have not written their way there or built the platform that they are going to need (yet).

“Yet” is the reason to come, not the reason not to come.

I always say that it’s important to invest in your writing career in order to take it to the next level. You guys have heard me say this a million times by now. This conference is a great way to do that.

I am honored to be presenting on…

Mailbox Full of Money: Micro-publish Your Way from Beginning to Book Deal

I’m also moderating a panel on…

Hardcore Author Marketing – What to Do to Rise Above in the Digital Age

I would go on and on about my fellow presenters, but I think their names speak for themselves. If they don’t, you might want to follow and friend them on social media.

Yes, I have a special speaker discount I can offer you. Just click on the conference badge below and then when you proceed through checkout use the code: WDCSPEAKER12 (this applies to new registrants and the full conference fee only):

And now, cue the New York, New York song!

I hope to see you there in a couple of weeks!

I’ve been hearing a lot online about how work should be play and we should all be having more fun, especially on social media.

So are we all having fun yet?

I think everyone has good intentions in spreading these messages. I don’t think anyone is trying to make anyone else — who may or may not be feeling like their work is play — feel badly.

But these fun-fun-fun messages might make you feel badly if:

• You are just getting started in your writing career
• You are overwhelmed by the complexity of choices available to advance your career
• You don’t yet feel confident in your ability to write well
• You don’t yet feel confident in your ability to use social networks
• You are still trying to find your regular work rhythm
• You have no idea which parts of your day are supposed to be “fun” parts that everyone else is talking about
• You feel guilty because the parts of your day that are fun for you are not the same parts that others seem to think are the most fun

The biggest problem today is that writers are going to be mightily confused if they try to follow the media-worship du jour as an indication of where to set your sights for success. Until now, writers tend to set their goals according to what the media tells us we should want. (This is a destructive cycle in and of itself but one that is tough to avoid in our society.)

In the old days, we all wanted a traditional book deal (usually before we were ready). We wanted to go from anonymous to best-selling, internationally known author because that’s the pipe dream that the media always fed to us. Writers who got book deals and were then on track to a concrete goal and (hopefully) future fame, were ecstatic to have a towering but concrete goal.

Then, the blog-to-book-deal became the ultimate goal. Blogggers flooded online hoping to become the next Dooce or Brogan phenom. I think most bloggers have figured out by now, just as most traditionally published authors have also figured out, that’s it’s far better to create your own modest success rather than try to be someone else or covet their success.

These days, a self-published book that hits a million sales and garners a traditional deal a la Amanda Hocking sounds just fine to those who are looking to the Internet for their daily dose of advice. And there are plenty of online gurus to supply this kind of fluffy, you-can-go-from-zero-to-hero and make it big-big-big kind of baloney.

But what I want to say is this:

Your fun IS your work. Your work IS your fun.

The truth about most beginning writing professionals today is that we don’t even know what we are hoping to create yet. We are creating careers, but even we don’t know, in the big picture, where we are going with all this.

And this is perfectly okay, as long as you are developing legitimate communications skills and finding whatever your own momentum is supposed to look like. Because once you start to become more confident that’s when the fun starts to kick in.

But if you are not doing your work because you are so busy with  fan worshiping and guru following, you can’t possibly be having any real fun. Or if you are, it’s the kind that is going to give you a major hangover when the ride is over (especially if you are giving your power away).

Because that nice, shiny guru, who told you that you could make it big if you just did this or just did that is going to turn out to be like The Wizard in the Wizard of Oz, just some schmoe who blew in on a balloon from Kansas and decided to set up shop.

So, if you want to have fun — real fun, creative fun, and not the guru-adoration kind. Then forget the wizards and get back to YOUR work. That’s where the fun is. That’s where it’s been hiding all along.

Avoid the people who want to help you to become a household name overnight. Instead just try to become a name in your own house first. Then take it one step further, one day at a time. Because that’s the kind of success that lasts and has integrity.

So, be like Dorothy. Forgive yourself if you’ve gone on any guru- or latest-greatest innovation misadventures and settle down, settle in, and get back to yourself and the cultivation of your own potential.

Slow and steady gets the writing done.

Slow and steady learns the skills.

Slow and steady builds the writing career that is going to last.

And remarkably, slow and steady really is the fun that you might be looking for somewhere else.

Because fun begins at home. And there is no place like home…just like Dorothy said.

~ Team Jenkins

I’ve added a new category to my list: “Misguided Advice For Writers.”

I was buzzing my Pitching Practice class on Twitter when another Tweeter asked me how I could still be teaching such a passé skill when so many of the online gurus are telling us that everything has changed in publishing.

I almost fell out of my chair. That’s how misguided this information is.

For one thing, I guess I feel like I know what I’m talking about after twelve years of professional experience and ten years experience teaching others. I don’t think this makes me a guru (and I don’t want to be a guru) but I do feel after all of these years that I know what I’m talking about.

Most of my personal success is based on the fact that I am pitching myself in one way or another every single day that I am working.

Big project or small project, every project happens because I pitch it. And because I am always pitching, I am always making professional strides in my career.

But I get it. Many writers seem to suffer from an aversion to pitching or are looking for a way around it. In the spirit of keeping things real, wouldn’t it save a lot of time and energy to finally learn how to pitch instead of wasting time trying to come up with ways to get around it?

When I look at my most successful students from the past ten years, they all have one thing in common: they know how to pitch and they do it on a regular, if not daily, basis.

If you would like to be one of them, please sing up for my Pitching Practice class that begins tomorrow. Pitching is a skill that pays off in the short run and the long. In landing gigs and selling your self and your services.

I look forward to working with writers who understand that pitching is the second most important skill right after writing.

If you’d like to learn more about my how you can write six queries in six weeks, please check out the class description. Class begins tomorrow but you can still jump in if you have adequate clips.

~ Photo by Paul-W

I’m ba-ack. Both of our family vacations were awesome and now I’m back in the saddle and ready to get back to work!

First on my list is this reminder: there are only NINE more days to pre-order my new book, The Writer’s Workout and get entered into a drawing in which you can win an hour-long session of platform coaching!

And guess what? I have a brand new method of Platform Power Phone Coaching that kicks in beginning September 1st.

I hope you guys are up for it because you will never look at your own platform progress quite the same way once you’ve done it.

And here’s another reason to order today: I’m raising my rate for phone coaching as of September 1st, which makes this offer for free coaching a huge steal!

All you have to do to enter is pre-order The Writer’s Workout by August 31, 2011. And then e-mail me your receipt. (It’s okay if you order other things on the same receipt. Don’t worry about that.) Just don’t forget to e-mail me the receipt after you order! Please send your reciept to “katz christina @ comcast dot net.”

And thank you so much to all the people, who have already pre-ordered and entered the drawing. I really appreciate your support and wish you the best of luck in the drawing.

After September 1st, my Platform Power Phone Coaching rate will go up to $199/hour for non-students and $99/hour for former students. So don’t miss your chance to get quality coaching for the cost of a paperback. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, September 6th right here in this blog.

This offer is only available for the first 50 people who pre-order The Writer’s Workout and submit the receipt to me by the end of the month.

Look forward to working with all the folks who are ready to take their writing careers to the next level!

Here are ten reasons I love platform development and building that I want to share with you. These are also the reasons why I never tire of platform development/building and will never stop doing it.

I dedicate this post to all of my students who work in such a holistic, integrated, joyful manner towards profitable self-expression, continually learning and discovering things about themselves and their readers along the way.

Love platform-building because:

1. There is nobody else like you, who is passionate about what you are passionate about, and who expresses what you express in the world the way you express it.

2. You never stop joyfully growing your platform, even after you get published,  even after you hit the New York Times Bestseller List, even after you are famous, and even after you are a household name. It’s just a part of any genuinely creative person’s life.

3. You are a creative person, who gets to do creative work and share creative work with the world. What’s wrong with that?

4. Even when you are over-tired, over-wrought, and creatively exhausted, you will have the satisfaction that you did your best creative work and shared it with the world. And this is an extremely empowering feeling, which often leads to future creative work.

5. There are no rules! No one person has the secret platform-building formula. I spend most of my energy encouraging my students to find their unique note and sing it more loudly, expressively, and confidently. I encourage creatives to tap into what makes them uniquely powerful not become a clone of me.

6. You are not done yet. You are never done. You are a work-in-progress living in a world-in-progress. You get to realize your full potential on a daily basis. Not too many day jobs expect this of you.

7. Just as anything can be elevated to an art form, platform-building can also be elevated to an art form. And why wouldn’t you do it in your own particular kind of signature style? I call this social artistry. You should try it.

8. If platform development/building is uncomfortable or you hate it, you might be following bum advice. Even in the early stages, platform development should be expressive, creative, and empowering. If it doesn’t feel this way for you, take a step back and consider starting over with fresh priorities.

9. Platform busywork is not a replacement for your core creative work. Your writing, art, singing, acting, or whatever is your primary form of expression must be your first priority. At the end of a typical creative work day, platform development and building should probably not take up more than 20% of your energy. Or devote one day out of five to platform maintenance.

10. You still have other important things to do besides creating and platform-building, like selling, specializing, learning, and growing. Platform should accentuate your professional strengths and the beauty your work brings to the world. But you should not become a slave to your platform. You should not let platform squelch your creativity or self-expression. You should keep platform in perspective.

Putting platform before creative self-expression is always going to create tension because platform is an extension of creative self-expression, not a substitute for it.

If platform isn’t an extension of your creative joy, then there has been a major mis-communication.

Your platform is an extension of your creativity. And your creativity, I hope, is connected directly to your joy.

So, back to work, people. First on your creative work…and then on your platform.

~ Photo by Peter Nijenhuis

I confess, it’s been a while since I have had time to read poetry. And when I say “a while” what I really mean is about a decade.

Maybe that’s why writer papa Guy LeCharles Gonzales new e-chapbook, “Handmade Memories,” was such a delightful surprise.

I told myself I was only going to give it a quick read, but that didn’t quite work out. I ended up flopping on the couch with my laptop, next to my nine-year-old, who was reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

I must have shushed my kid a dozen times, every time she jarred me out of the vivid world of Guy’s younger selves navigating his worlds in various degrees of defiance, fight-or-flight, and unflinching observation.

There were a couple of carefully chosen prose pieces in the chapbook, but, for me, they interrupted the pulsing voice of poetry that pulled me  in and kept me rapt all the way through 55 pages.

More poetry, please, Guy!

Here are a few of my favorite selections:

Years passed and
when he died
I arrived late for his wake
eyes and throat moist
from guilt and alcohol.

~ from “Sunday Mornings in the Kitchen with Gan’ganny”

The bartender
dresses for the crowd
in a shiny black bustier
and tight black polyester capris
long copper-dyed hair pulled
back into a poofy ponytail
flirts like Pollock attacking
a canvas, her artistic genius revealed
at the end of the night when
she counts her tips.

~ from “Old New York Love Story”

when he had three of us on his ten-speed
flying down the hill around the corner
him on the seat
Junior on that crossbar that dips
on a girl’s bike
and me, on the handlebars
navigating
never seeing that beer can in middle of the street
even after we hit it

flying through the air like some
dysfunctional acrobatic family…

Junior was temporarily blinded in one eye.

My father had amnesia and
sometimes
I suspect that he never fully recovered.

I got thirteen stitches
and an everlasting respect for manhole covers

~ from Prodigal Son

Christina Katz: What compelled you to share these collected works now?

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez: When I was active on the poetry scene, I published three chapbooks and loved the process of creating them by hand and having them with me to sell at readings. Unfortunately, a chapbook’s reach becomes very limited when you’re not actively performing, and I’ve been off the scene for several years now. Plus, I’m pretty sure Burning Down the House is now out-of-print (or should be, at least!), so there’s really no way for anyone to read any of my work in one place these days, and most of what I wrote after 2000 has never been published.

I initially got the idea to publish my own e-book from Jane Friedman during the first Writer’s Digest Conference, back in 2009, and actually put together something really simple and posted it on Smashwords to test it out as a free e-book. I briefly promoted it on my blog and then pretty much forgot it about, checking in periodically, and when I deactivated it this past weekend, it had around 750 views/downloads and one very generous review.

With my recent job change, I decided to carve out some time for my own writing again (because writers write, right?), and the first thing on my list was publishing Handmade Memories, a bit of unfinished business I had to get off my plate for a sense of closure so I could move on the next project.

Christina Katz: This collection covers a lot of time and feels almost like a coming-of-age journey in poetry. How would you describe your writing journey as a coming-of-age journey?

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez: I was 28 when I first started reading my poetry at the Nuyorican Poets Café in 1997 – single and childless – and, in a lot of ways, I was still an obnoxious kid. Reckless and self-destructive, I loved a good debate and I was always right! As far as my writing  went, I was still very immature, too, and it showed in a lot of my early poems, including a couple I put in Handmade Memories. “Prodigal Son” was actually the first poem I wrote that I was really proud of as a poem rather than a performance, in early ’98, and it heralded a gradual but permanent shift in my style, from the pugnacious energy of the hyper-competitive slam to a more narrative, storyteller approach. That shift enabled me to connect with myself, and over the years, my writing greatly improved.

By 2001, I was becoming known more for being the host and curator of my reading series, a little bit louder, than for my writing, as my output greatly decreased, but the little I did write over the past few years was far better than anything I wrote during my peak years on the scene. By the time I’d written three of my absolute favorites – “Old New York Love Story,” “Party Like a Rock Star,” and “Crazy White Devil” – I’d been absent from the scene for so long that most of the regulars at the series I founded (now called louderARTS), have no idea I ever wrote poetry!

Christina Katz: I know you have been reading, reviewing, slamming, blogging, building communities, and being a literary social artist for years. Tell us about the work you are doing now.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez: I joined Media Source, Inc. last month – publisher of Library Journal, School Library Journal, and The Horn Book – as Director, Content & Digital Product Development, and the short job description is that I’m now the guy I’ve fought with the most over the past 7 years of my career in publishing! My job is to develop our content strategy and introduce new digital products that serve our audience’s needs across a variety of mediums, while not forgetting that print is still an important channel that drives a lot of revenue. My first real job was at the Mt. Vernon Public Library, and I think librarians (along with teachers), are among our culture’s most unsung heroes, so being able to work with such an incredible community of people is an amazing opportunity.

During my job search in February, I had a few freelance and consulting opportunities present themselves that were rather interesting, and while it’s not something I want to do on a regular basis, I’ve launched a new initiative called Free Verse Media, where I plan to channel everything I’ve learned about storytelling, community building and marketing over the years into actionable forms; blog posts, conversations, presentations, and maybe even the occasional consulting gig when things settle down a bit.

Christina Katz: You’re a full-time working writer papa. What’s it like trying to juggle all you do literarily with making a living and raising a family today?

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez: Honestly, it’s pretty difficult, but two things make it work: I have a VERY understanding wife, and I don’t sleep much! For the past several years, my “literary” pursuits have mostly been confined to blogging, and I typically write posts early in the morning before leaving to work, or late at night, after everyone’s in bed.

I first started blogging in 2003 out of curiosity and it eventually became my only real outlet for doing any writing, especially when I faded from the poetry scene in late 2003. It kept the juices flowing for years, and twice it actually transitioned into “jobs,” once with PopCultureShock.com (where I was paid in highly discounted comics!) and most recently with Digital Book World, where among many hats, I was also editor-in-chief and primary contributor. Interestingly, after years of believing I was a novelist-in-waiting, I recently had to acknowledge that I’ve been a non-fiction writer for years, and even the majority of my poetry could be categorized as creative non-fiction.

As I noted earlier, the recent job change gave me an opportunity to carve out some time for my own writing again, and while it still involves getting as little sleep as possible, I intend to make the most of it. And by “most,” I mean finally writing some fiction!

Christina Katz: Your portrait of yourself as a young man is rich, complex, and powerful. It takes guts to share such an intimate e-book. How did you get so brave and any suggestions for writers who might feel anxious about publicly sharing themselves in such a manner?

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez: What actually gave me the courage to get on stage at the Nuyorican in the first place was a couple of acting workshops I took in college. My teacher was Annette Cardona, the original Cha-Cha from Grease, and she was intense and no-nonsense. I wasn’t a great actor by any stretch, but she was a closet psychiatrist and some of her acting exercises were all about stripping away all the layers and digging deep to connect with a character.

My personal breakthrough was an emotional scene from Michael V. Gazzo’s A Hatful of Rain; I was playing Johnny Pope, and he and Celia are arguing because she thinks he’s having an affair but he’s really hiding that he’s a junkie. The whole idea of letting a secret tear your life apart, and not letting the person you love and fear losing the most in on it because you’re ashamed was tough, but tapping into that emotion was incredibly freeing, too.

Also, on the poetry side, I’ve always responded most to very honest, personal work, and Charles Bukowski and Willie Perdomo are probably my two favorite poets of all, both tapping into the less-than-glamorous aspects of their own lives to tell compelling stories that are ultimately bigger than themselves. That’s the kind of work I always aspire to.

Christina Katz: What would you say to a dad, who feels like his creative energy is getting sapped by all of his daily responsibilities and commitments but wants to spend more time writing?

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez: It’s a cliché, but it’s true: “Writers write. Period.” (And yes, they also have to carve out some time for marketing!) If we can find the time to go out drinking, to watch a football game, to sleep in late on the weekend, then, assuming it’s really a priority, we can find the time to write. And I say that as someone with zero self-discipline when it comes to my own writing!

I’m working on it, though. And publishing Handmade Memories was partly a way to clear the decks so I can focus on writing new work, and also a way to reconnect to a community I’d drifted away from. Finding a community of writers, whether in person or online, is essential.

Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary experience; the group of poets I ran with in my early days kept me going through the dry spells. We went to readings together, workshopped together, and inspired each other to keep writing and improving.  In this day and age, there’s absolutely no reason to go it alone. [End interview]

Thanks for purchasing a copy a of  “Handmade Memories” by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez. I think women should read it to better understand what it’s like to grow up male in this crazy country. And I think mamas should by it for their men. I know my husband is eager to read it now that I’ve told him about it. Let me know if you like it by leaving a comment or e-mail Guy.

Order Info: Purchase Handmade Memories

Guy’s Bio:

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez works in publishing by day, world domination by night. Over the years he’s lived in Staten Island and South Beach Miami; served in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, US Army, and Dennis Kucinich’s ’04 Presidential Campaign; won poetry slams, founded a reading series, co-authored a book of poetry and believes in the power of publishing as a community service. He prefers Pumpkin and India Pale Ales, Jim Beam, and Dona Paula Shiraz Malbec, and is a devout Mets and Jets fan from the Bronx now living in New Jersey with his beautiful wife and two amazing kids.

So often when we talk about writers, we talk about their physical spaces as being crucial to what and how they write. But it seems to me that “place” where writers write is more of an internal construct than an external construct. This idea was validated for me when I read psychologist and creativity coach Eric Maisel’s terrific book, A Writer’s Space, which I reviewed here.

In our space, he says, “Like a surgeon, your goal is to focus. You want to muster your resources and canalize your energy.”

Canalize. Is that the perfect word or what?

He also says, that we are not merely seeking “a quiet room” but also “mental health.” In other words, we are seeking that sane inner space as well as the calm external space before we even start to write. And in my experience these are both prerequisites for successful productivity.

I know that I write better without interruption (although ironically I am being interrupted as I type this sentence by my daughter who wants me to come and see her latest acrobatic trick). This is why I typically get up early to write when the house is as quiet and still as it gets (with the exception of the cats, who are typically pretty active at this time).

I also like to write when the house is empty. When Jason and Samantha are at school, for example. Or in the summer mornings, if they have gone over to the high school so Jason can work at his desk there.

I know that I am a morning person. I know that I do my best and most productive writing in the morning. When all else fails. When I have to write in the afternoon or evening, I try and remove myself to the most quiet spot in the house like the basement or out on the patio under the Redwood tree. Whatever it takes.

A lot of the movies that depict mom writers portray them running away from their life circumstances. This was the case with the film “Motherhood” (2009) with Uma Thurman.

Chaotic as home life can sometimes be when you have a family, I don’t relate to this depiction of the frustrated would-be mom writer fleeing her life because my most productive years as a writer have come since motherhood, not before.

I think the premise that makes writing and life all work together under one roof for us is that everyone in the family has creative work that is important to him or her and it is the job of each person in the family, which operates as a team ideally, to support the goals and dreams of each of the other members of the family.

I suppose this requires a lot of understanding and flexibility on all of our parts, but it has also become so habitual that it feels completely natural at this point.

So if Samantha needs help mastering her bridge back-bend, we support her in that.

If Jason needs help working on his play prep for “Les Mis,” we support him in that.

And if mommy (that’s me) needs time and space to write her book, they support me, too.

There is no room for keeping up with the Jones(es) around here. We could care less what the Jones family is doing. We are not in competition with them. Nor do we wish to be like any other family other than our own.

Though, naturally, we wish them the best of luck with all of their creative projects.

How do you balance writing time and the needs of your family?

Does everyone under your roof get to have and pursue their dreams?

How does this uphold their desire for self-expression?

And is your family happier as a result of family members supporting family members?

I look forward to your insights.

Photo by afterthetone

Every three months, my blog is badly in need of an update. It’s been six months since the last update and so much has happened that many things that were posted were embarrassingly out of date. I could have let that throw me but I just used it as motivation to really dig in and get everything ship-shape.

Does this happen to you? I imagine it does. Part of the reality of the platforming writer/author is that we are building, building, building our business and networks all the time. So if we don’t stay on top of what we are communicating, it’s going to become stale quickly.

Here’s a list of the kinds of things that I fixed, maybe they will inspire you to check your blog too:

1. Blog title/subtitle: I tweaked these to a variation of what they used to be. I never wanted my blog and my e-zine to have the same name but I let that slide for a while. It feels good to finally have a separate identity for each of them. Basically my blog now says what I do. And my e-zine says who I serve. That works.
2. Consolidate Info: The information about my books was on two separate pages. In retrospect, that made no sense, so I consolidated all the relevant into onto one page.
3. Remove Out-of-date Info: Some of the information on my classes page was no longer relevant since I am not offering those classes at this time. Down the copy came.
4. Clarify Any Fuzzy Ideas: My page headers were too esoteric. Now they pretty much say what they are. I had gone with an idea that seemed clever to me at the time. But in retrospect, the vagueness of the page headers might have been impeding navigation of the site. And that’s always a bad thing. I think they are more clear now.
5. Proof All Copy Carefully: Even though I had partially updated some pages, I spotted several examples of my old e-mail address where my new one should have been and other mentions of timing that needed corrections. Always check your fine print!
6. Change Your Mind: When Author Mama came out in the Alpha edition, I raised the price from $5.99 to $9.99. In retrospect this was a bad idea, even though I suppose it must have made sense to me at the time. So back down to $5.99 it went and that’s where it’s going to stay.
7. Say What You Are Going To Do: Not what you already did. Are your upcoming appearances posted? Or do you still have your past appearances up there? Guess which I had? All better now.
8. Amplify Your Credibility: I had not listed where I’ve spoken or listed my credits. It took a bit of time to gather all this info together. But it should be shared since it’s an important part of my credibility.
9. Don’t Just Do What Google Does: On my Creds page I made an effort to compile the works that Google would not necessarily list for a person searching for me by name or book. I have, in the past, linked to a lot more online sources, but those links go out of date and need such constant updating that I’m going to let Google take care of it.
10. Share What Others Say About You: It’s difficult to remember to request testimonials from folks unless you make it a regular part of what you do. I realized that I had been collecting feedback from students but not audience members or coaching clients. So I’ve started to make this part of my routine.
11. Don’t Forget Your Mission: My Trust page is a way to let folks see what I’m all about. I want them to see both that I have a mission and that I’m a real person. I have a family and pets and a life and other responsibilities I balance with my work. I’m a person, not a brand. I’m a real person who works with real people. I want my blog to express this.
12. Comply As Necessary: I also state in my Trust page that I run a blog as part of my business and list my affiliations to comply with Federal Law.
13. Tweak Your Bio: My bio didn’t change too much except to say that I am working on my third book for Writer’s Digest. I think I must have already updated it several times since the New Year because it was pretty good.
14. Remove the Non-sustainable: I took down what is no longer sustainable for me at this time. Be careful that you don’t over-promise. Better to under-promise and over-deliver. The unsustainable was posted on both my Contact Me page and my Free page. My schedule has changed to include the writing of a 100,000-word book, so what I can freely offer has been tweaked accordingly.
15. Offer Some Things for Free: I noticed that my Free page needed a new post to share. So I decided to include this one. Please feel free to re-post it in your blog.

Sure, there’s always more you can do. I will add a slideshow by the end of the summer. I’m creating podcasts of my books for fall. I’ll have more e-products by then, as well. But for now, all we are talking about is getting everything up to speed. I hope this tour of my blog tidying helps you tidy your blog/site up, too. Give yourself some time and just go for it!

~ Photo by Pewari Naan