Do You Feel Like a Writer In Prison?

A few days ago, I received this letter from a writer in a California prison.

The letter was written in pencil and addressed to me. He sent it to the PO Box for First Coast Christian Writers, a critique group I founded several years ago. I made a few modifications to the letter to protect his identity, but here’s the gist of the letter (including the errors):

Dearest Lorraine,

I’m a novelist. I just finished my 5^th novel. Loraine I am very serious about my writing career which is why I am writing you. Because I need help showing my works of art.

Lorraine if you permit, can I show you & your writing group my finished novel’s. Please don’t turn a deaf ear to my quest to become.

My lifes dream is to be come published & buy a home & give the homeless & destitute a place to live. As I introduce them to the majesty of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

If you will be so kind. Please send help & advice me what to do first.

Sincerely Yours

One praying for a chance

To be come

It would have been easy to ignore the letter or toss it into the recycle bin, but I can relate to people who have a desire to write and I thought I might do a bit of good by giving some hope to someone in prison. One thing I learned about wanna-be-writers over the years is that many people will remain in this state for many years, and some for the rest of their lives.

In essence, many wanna-be-writers are in some sort of mental prison in which they say they want to write, but go for years without completing their book or getting their articles published. I decided to write this letter not only to the man who reached out to me for help, but also for all the other writers who are in prison mentally. Perhaps this will help you escape.

Here’s the letter I sent back to him:

Writer In Prison,

Congratulations on writing your fifth novel. If getting published is your dream, then you’re well on your way by doing the writing! Over the years I’ve learned that lots of people talk about writing, but few people take the time to write and edit every day until they complete their projects. Finishing writing projects is the hardest part for most writers.

Publishing is much easier now than it was in the past, so if you want your works published, you can easily self-publish your books on Kindle, the Nook and elsewhere. Even big-time authors are starting to self-publish instead of going with the big publishing houses who take a big chunk of their commissions. But it’s up to you which route you choose to take.

First Coast Christian Writers is a local group of writers who meet face to face to provide feedback on each other’s writing. The purpose is to encourage the members to write every week and bring in up to 1,000 words for critique.

You probably don’t have a writers group in your prison, but if you have some friends who like to read and write, perhaps you can start up your own informal club where you are. If that won’t work, then I encourage you to visit several local writers groups when you get out and join one that suits you.

It sounds to me like you’re looking for an editor—someone to read your full novel and provide feedback and corrections. Editors charge for their work—you won’t find a professional editor who will do this for free. In lieu of paying an editor, think about the people around you right now and how you might help each other.

From your letter, I see that you’re in prison. I’m not sure what resources or conditions you have there, but if you can find a few guys who like to read, I’d encourage you to get them to read your novels and get feedback from them. If you have writing or speech classes you can attend, you can also share chapters or give speeches in the form of stories in your book. Or perhaps your chaplain may read your writing?

Here in Jacksonville we have a prison with Toastmasters—that’s another great organization for improving communication skills. When you have the chance, join Toastmasters (www.Toastmasters.org).

Share your writing with the people around you and let them know that you want their opinion of your work. Take only their suggestions that will improve your work. If they criticize your goal to be a writer or if they’re completely discouraging without telling you some good things about your work, then disregard their feedback. It’s not helpful to pass your work on to friends and family who will tell you that your writing is great. You need a balance of what they like about the stories and what they think you can improve. That’s the writing critique process and it’s essential to becoming a successful writer.

If you have a choice of movies, I encourage you to watch the movie, “Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story.” This is a true story of a man who wrote and successfully published while incarcerated. And he was nominated for a Nobel Prize!

Don’t just hold on to your dreams of publishing and helping the homeless. Keep taking action to achieve your dreams—just like the action you took to write this letter. And let me know when you get your first book published.

You mentioned two goals in your letter: publishing, and helping the homeless and destitute. The two can work together very well. I’m sure that you will hear many stories from all these people and you can really make a difference in the world by helping their stories be heard. Even if the stories come out in characters in fiction novels, it still spreads the message of social ills and challenges.

As a writer, you have all the control. You can allow your characters to have happy endings or you can show them suffering indefinitely in their life challenges. It’s up to you.

As thinkers, we have control of our minds, at least to the extent that we can edit and shift our thoughts to the things we want to ponder. This is one of the biggest challenges for all humans, I believe, but if you can master your thoughts, you can do great things. Here are a few of my favorite books on the subject of positive thinking: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude by Napoleon Hill & W. Clement Stone, and my all-time favorite As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. As A Man Thinketh was originally published in 1903 so the original copyright has expired. You can find this book online for free on various websites.

Here are a few other favorite writer books that I can recommend. Writing Fast by Jeff Bollow is a terrific book on how to improve your writing speed. He’s actually a playwright, but any writer who wants to write faster can benefit from his book.

On Writing by Stephen King is a must read for any writer. King is a great writer! The book is entertaining and he gives you insight into his writing schedule and the way he sees life. He takes life for what it is and then incorporates both the good and bad into his novels. I also like watching any movies that are based on his books. His writing is so crisp—he’s great at building characters and writing dialogue!

In writing this letter to you, it reminds me of how we’ve lost the art of letter-writing. It gave me encouragement to write letters more often. So, thank you for your letter.

The PO Box you wrote to expires on May 31, 2011. I’m not going to renew this PO Box since nearly all our communications is online now.

Since you asked a favor of me, I have one to ask of you. I’m working on a book about things people collect. I collect books, plants, kitchen tools, and more. Please let me know what types of things you like to collect, whether it was super hero figurines as a kid or baseball caps as an adult. Just so I know that you got this letter, please respond within 30-60 days and the letter should be forwarded to me.

Sincerely,

Lorraine

Beware of Writers Dying to Give You Their Novel

Looking for a shortcut to a bestseller? Learning to type faster is a good option. But as any writer knows, plagiarism is never a good idea!

Check out this story of an attorney who moves to Key West to write a book. He ends up falling for a temptation that he lives to regret. Here's the trailer for A Murder of Crows



This isn't among my top ten favorite movies for writers, but most writers will probably enjoy the fairly well written plot that keeps you guessing until the end. We got the movie through Netflix.

Got a favorite movie about a writer? Please leave a comment.

Zzyzx Won't Pass Spell Check

Today we drove by Zzyzx Road in the Mojave Desert. The street name really caught my eye.

You can drive down Interstate AnyNumber in the U.S. and not really notice the names of the towns because most of them sound ordinary. Like Springfield, for example, why didn't they name their spring something a bit more special? Or Washington--don't they have other people they can recognize? Or can't people find a new nickname like Washie-G and then tell a good story about how the nickname came about?

Next time I'm in the Mojave Desert, I'd like to stop and do some writing at the CSU Desert Studies Center on Zzyzx Road. I feel certain that I can come up with some good paragraphs on that road. And even if I don't, it's interesting enough just to mention where I was writing.

In fact, I've just decided that I want to write more about places and people whose names can't pass spell check. After all, I married a Haataia! The downside is that I have to spell it about three times before people believe that I've got it right. The good part is that I'm the only Lorraine Haataia on Facebook.

Got another unique name you'd like to share? Please leave a comment.

Brian Regan Tickles Readers

If you've had a busy writing day and need a good laugh, check out this short comedy clip from Brian Regan:



It makes you wonder how much paper we could have saved over the years if we didn't print the book title on every page! Can someone please forward this video-memo to the publishing industry?

Redemption for Writers

If you knew you only had a short amount of time remaining to live, would you finally finish your book? This movie inspires writers inside and out, literally. Whether you're free or your time is limited by your job or other commitments or constraints, Redemption should inspire you to get your message out to the world.



This movie highlights the difference between academic writing and writing that comes through life experience. Both have their place, but it's interesting to see how they come together in this true story about a Professor Barbara Becnel collaborating with Stan "Tookie" Williams, the founder of the Crips street gang, a death row inmate, an author and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.

The Ultimate System for Writing FASTer

In Writing FAST, Jeff Bollow speaks to his readers as friends. He provides a systematic approach to writing that works! And he tested it himself as he wrote his first book. His book is sprinkled with positive affirmations, such as "when you're done this this book, you'll write ten times faster than you did before." That's the kind of promise that keeps me reading. Even now I'm writing faster than I normally do because he told me to. "Don't let yourself get stuck," he says. "You can always change it later." I love this advice. It frees me to keep writing.

He tells his writing readers to begin with a central idea, something that can be stated in one sentence or less. And simple is better. This is essential before beginning the process of writing. He explains how to break your writing down into manageable chunks and then you move FAST.

From here he goes on to explain the details of the FAST system. He describes a method which he calls "talktation--taking your words onto the page, your fingers in sync with your thoughts." He encourages writers to smile while they write--to enjoy the writing process. The reader will be able to see the smile on your face.

"There is no right or wrong," he says when talking about writing. There's only clear or unclear. Effective or ineffective. Every idea and every word transfers to the reader's head, and that's what we need to be concerned about--that we're getting our ideas from the page to the reader. He reminds us that reading words about pictures makes them pop into the reader's head, so in the last phases of writing, we can evaluate whether or not all the pictures are the ones that we really want to give the reader.

"Completion means exposing ourselves to criticism," he says. And that's one reason why writers get a little scared at the end, even after conquering hardest part--the getting started part of writing. The writing is a reflection of the writer so it's difficult to not take criticism personally. He reminds us to expect that some will love our writing, some will hate it, and most won't care.

"I want you to become a writing machine," he says. Wow! Me too! It's like he's reading my mind. I'm so impressed when a writer can do that. Jeff tells us to conquer time by working with it, by riding it like a horse. And with the FAST system, he gives us a methodical way to move our process of writing through time quicker. He delivers what he promises. He gives us a means to write FASTer.

He describes our brains as "idea factories," reminding us that we need to write down ideas as soon as they come to us. He suggests collecting them in a BIN (Big Idea Notebook)or on a page or somewhere, anywhere. If we don't capture the slippery things immediately, they escape from us, and we may never get them back.

Jeff reminds readers that it's up to writers to put time into their writing every day to be sure it gets done. He describes a detailed process of how to break writing down into small chunks and provides strategies to get them done as quickly as possible. He insists that we create self-imposed deadlines and that we train ourselves to complete the projects we start. It's usually easier to get started than to complete things.

We each have a unique voice and he encourages writers to forget about comparing ourselves to other writers. Instead he tells us to "Fall in love with words." They're our tools and we need to befriend them. It's a love affair with great rewards, he promises.

Jeff's final advice to writers is that we write every day. Yes, every day, including holidays and weekends! Every day we must write something.

If you're someone who keeps talking about writing, Jeff says you're really just a thinker. Ouch! But if you want to transition from thinking about writing to actually writing, then I highly recommend this book. The FAST system provides a writing method to get you going. Or if you're a writer who just wants to write FASTer, this book provides a method to help you reach your goal. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to write more or write FASTer. Time is running out. Read it NOW. Set deadlines. Write NOW!

Movies About Writers & Writing

Do you like watching movies or documentaries about writers and writing? So do I. Check out this great list of 200 Movies About Writers and Writing provided by Susan Taylor Brown. Although I've already several of them, there are many I just added to my wishlist. I currently subscribe to NetFlix and there were several movies I didn't find listed there, but as I check more movies off my list, perhaps I'll search elsewhere for the movies later. We also subscribe to movies through Comcast, but it's so difficult to search for movies there that it reminds me that we need to cancel this!

One of my favorite movies about writing is Freedom Writers because it shows the (nonfiction) power of writing to change lives. It's a true story that was amazing enough to inspire a book. It was a book that was compelling enough to fund a movie. And it's about a teacher who was driven enough to inspire the Freedom Writers Foundation!

Another one of my favorite movies about an author is someone who is also a political activist, an attorney, and a four-time candidate for the President of the United States. I really enjoyed learning more about Ralph Nader in An Unreasonable Man. I hope he runs again. If so, he has my vote!

Do you have a favorite movie about writers or writing? Or do you know of another good list of movies about writers or writing? If so, please leave a comment.

Award Winning Author Encourages You to Be You

Not sure what to write about?

Get some advice from award winning author Julie Isaac on her brief video How to write a book: offer something new by being absolutely you.

Stephen King On Writing: A Must Read

"Your time is valuable and so is mine, and we both understand that the hours we spend talking about writing is time we don't spend actually doing it," says Stephen King is his book On Writing. King believes in telling the truth in writing, and he tells a hard truth to writers. There are no "magic secrets of writing," he reveals.If you want to be an author, you must write! 

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut," advises King. He reads 70-80 books a year. In case you weren't a math major or your cell phone calculator isn't handy, that's more than a book a week, or, more precisely, a book every four to five days. King is a fiction writer, so he's probably reading the books from start to finish to get the whole story. That's not how I usually read.

Nonfiction readers, like me, are probably more like bees, buzzing around from one flower or book to the next to catch a chapter, coming back again later to read another one. My books are like good friends and I keep them in every room of my home. I go hang out with them when I'm looking for some encouragement or counsel.

If I'm looking for some advice on article writing, I'll go to the bookshelves where my writing books live. I'll fish through, looking at the titles until I find a few good prospects. I appreciate a good table of contents and index in a book. It helps me find what I'm looking for. If I need business advice, I go to those shelves and do the same. If I've already read the book, I can go to my own notes I've written in the first or last blank pages of the book. I learned this note-taking strategy from John Maxwell. This is a great way to create your own personal index of the best quotes and ideas you got out of the book.

That's just what I did with King's book On Writing. Here are some of the best thoughts I got out of the book:

• Question: What should you write about? Answer: Whatever you love to read. What you know makes you unique. Write about it.
• "The scariest moment is always just before you start," King says of writing.
• There is no ideal writing environment. Don't wait until you have time to go to a conference or stay at a writing colony. Don't wait until after you've taken another writing course. There is no perfect time or place to write. King believes that the interruptions from family members can be used as material in your own works.
• You can read anywhere, but it's important to have a stable writing place with a door that stays closed until your daily writing goals are met. Music is also a good way of shutting the world out.
• "Writers form themselves into a pyramid," he says, "at the bottom are the bad ones. Above them is a group which is slightly smaller but still large and welcoming; these are the competent writers," and he continues on, "The next level is much smaller. These are the really good writers."
• People who buy books are looking for a good story they can read on the airplane--something that echoes of his or her own life.
• Description begins with what you want the reader to experience.
• When asked how he writes, King replies, "one word at a time."
• If you write around 2,000 words a day, you can write 180,000 words in 3 months. A book draft shouldn't take any longer than a season.
• "If there's one thing I love about writing more than the rest, it's that sudden flash of insight when you see how everything connects."
• Ask four or five people who are "Ideal Readers" of your works to read your drafts and give you their opinion. It's much better to get opinions before the book is published.
• "The job boils down to two things: paying attention to how the real people around you behave and then telling the truth about what you see."
• Rejection is part of the process. "By the time I was fourteen (and shaving twice a week whether I needed to or not) the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it."

 Stephen King

Although I read The Stand many years ago, I never read another book from King until he wrote On Writing. "Writing is magic," says King, where "writer and reader are participating together in a kind of miracle." King is a master writer. I just don't happen to be one of his "ideal readers" since I'm not much interested in fiction scary stuff. He is my friend, however, and On Writing holds a special place in the "K" section among my other writing books.

King mentions that he hopes to meet George Orwell in the afterlife to ask him a question about Animal Farm. I hope I have the chance to meet King in this life to ask him a question or two, and thank him for all his great advice on writing.

"Lift out the top layer of your toolbox--your vocabulary and all the grammar stuff. On the layer beneath go those elements of style." If you don't already have a King book in your collection, start today with On Writing or one of the other books King recommends.

• Elements of Style by Strunk & White
• Literary Market Place
• Writer's Market

You've just done some reading, so now it's time to order one of these great books, or get back to your writing!

Write Every Day

Some writers say they write every day, but not all of them have publications as evidence. They might still in the wannabe stage along with many others who never get to the published stage. Email is part of everyday work for lots of office workers who would never call themselves "writers." They write to their colleagues, suppliers, customers and friends nearly every day, drafting funny original jokes and new ideas, but they don't consider themselves writers at all. They call themselves engineers, managers, and accountants. If you asked, they might even tell you they don't like writing.

Some people write one book and call themselves writers or authors for the rest of their lives, but in reality do little writing. So what am I talking about when I speak of writers? I'm talking about people who hear a voice from inside that compels them to pursue the call. I heard that voice whispering to me in elementary school, talking to me in for many years thereafter, and finally shouting at me over the past several years. At any given time, regardless of where I am or what I'm doing, the voice may speak to me.

A writer can and should write every day. It's a cinch to microblog a or jot down a few words in a journal every day. Even when you aren't physically or literally recording words on paper, you can still be involved in the writing process as long as you're thinking about new examples for articles or chapters in draft.

A few days ago, one of my daughters told me how much she learned about her spending by managing her finances on www.Mint.com. As she described her Mint finance charts, I started thinking about how I might incorporate this website into an article.That's how writers think. They run everything through their "how can I write about this" filter. If you're experiencing this symptom, you're probably a writer.

If you keep hearing the call, but you aren't writing, the best way to calm the voice is to write! Doctors practice medicine and writers practice writing. It's something you have to do lots of in order to improve and become an expert. And one more thing, get as many people as possible to read and brutally critique your writing. That's how you learn to add value to others through the words you write every day. If you can't take the heat, the voice isn't loud enough for you to endure the life of a writer.

Author Brenda Martin Shares Book Writing Basics

Becoming an author requires a great deal of self-confidence, but writing everyday, finishing a project and taking the initiative to get a book published are great steps toward becoming a successful author. Become a published author with information from a writing and communications specialist in this free video on writing.

Author Brenda Martin describes how to set a goal and make a plan to complete a book. Listen to her great advice on this YouTube video:

Wattles' Summary of the Science of Getting Rich

Here is a summary of the Science of Getting Rich. It's an animation of chapter 17 of this amazing book.



Watch this video as often as possible for encouragement to reach your goals. This is one of my favorite books. Wattles is truly a gifted author.