Beth Greenslade's Blog, page 91

Time to Shine

The time was here. We could hear the attic stairs being lowered. Soon we would start our journey. Where would we end up this year? Would we get new neighbors? Would we see something exciting?

We heard the muffled footsteps growing closer. We heard the dad kick the same wooden rocking chair he kicks every year. We were lifted and carefully carried down the stairs. We were placed on the floor amongst our brethren. Yippee!

Decoration Day!

Us ornaments, garland, nutcracker soldiers, and lights spend 11 months a year cooped up, tangled and mangled in old shoe boxes, storage totes and old shopping bags. The month of December was our time to shine.

We could see the tree. It was a 7 foot tall Douglas fir – nice. Full branches, healthy needles and almost perfectly straight in the corner. Kinda sad, I liked being by the bay window – but we were ready to do our jobs to the best of our abilities.

As strands of lights were tested – a few bulbs always had to be replaced. Sometimes they were just too tired after burning steadily for an entire month – or they just gave up hope after being in the dark for so long. Looks like the mom bought some new LED lights to go along the mantle – cool.

After the lights were wound around, garland comes next. Every other year the mom bought new – this was a re-use year. The iridescent blue made its way onto the branches.

Next came us – the ornaments. We are an eclectic bunch. Some of us were heirlooms, homemade, milestones and memories, and some were bought on sale long ago. We were placed one by one by the mom. Some of us were moved to the top after spending a few years near the bottom branches. Some of us were always placed in center and always in pairs. Mom and Dad’s first Christmas and baby’s first Christmas.

Sometimes a few ornaments were left in the box, sometimes one got thrown away and one year 3 of us were still on the tree when they put it on the curb!

We take our job seriously, always looking forward, never turned backwards. Some of our glitter or sequins had rubbed off after the years, but we still shine!

When the mother was done – her and the dad stood back to examine the results. We could see lights shining outside – the dad had been busy.

We ornaments had seen many things over the years. Large family gatherings, friendly neighborhood parties, quiet evenings with their son. The first couple of years when the dog was just a pup were kinda scary. Same goes for the baby’s 2nd Christmas – the first year he couldn’t reach us.

As the dad turned off the living room lamp and they sat on the sofa together – I noticed the dad placed his hand over the mom’s tummy. I wonder if the next Baby’s 1st Christmas ornament will be pink or blue?

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Holly’s Christmas Present

Holly didn’t know what to give Santa for Christmas. It was her very first Christmas with Santa and Mrs. Clause. Well, actually last Christmas was her first.  Holly was Santa’s gift last year from Mrs. Claus.  Oh, how he laughed his big belly laugh when Holly flew out of the Christmas tree that morning.  Holly was a baby budgie, as green as the tree.  She slept in the tree all night waiting to meet Santa. She could hardly sleep she was so excited!

When Santa came down for his cocoa on Christmas morning, Holly flew out to surprise him!  “HO HO HO” Santa laughed.  She flew around the room proudly as he laughed louder and louder.  Holly wanted to see him smile like that again this year.  She just didn’t know how.

Holly watched all of the elves work on their gift for Santa. They were making him a new sleigh this year!  They worked so hard.  During the day, while Santa watched,  they worked on making the gifts for the children.. and at night while Santa slept, they worked on the sleigh for him.

Holly would fly with them out the shop to watch them work on the beautiful new sleigh. It was shaped perfectly for flight and they had hand carved all of their pictures on the sides.  They had even carved a picture of Holly flying on the very front of the sleigh.  It was the most elegant Christmas sleigh Holly had ever seen.  She was sure Santa would love it!  She was sure he would laugh his jolly “HO HO HO”.

Finally, it was Christmas Eve. The elves were frantically loading Santa’s new sleigh with all of the toys.  Santa was putting on his new Christmas suit.  He would be so surprised to see the new sleigh.

Holly flew around in all of the excitement waiting for Santa’s reaction. She flew up and down and in and out.  When she saw he was ready to go out and get into the sleigh she flew out to let the elves know he was coming!

The North Pole was silent as Santa came outside. “It’s Christmas Eve and it is cold” Santa called as he walked out the door.  “HO HO HO”  Santa exclaimed as he saw his new sleigh “HO HO HO Merry Christmas” how he laughed as he walked around the magnificent new sleigh, touching the wood and the carvings.

Holly was so excited she couldn’t wait. In her best bird voice with all she had, she settled down on the front of the shiny wooden sleigh.  She spread out her wings and she puffed out her chest and she managed to repeat “HO HO HO Merry Christmas!”

Santa’s eyes sure did twinkle, and he laughed even more! The elves were delighted and clapped their hands as they jumped up and down!

 

Santa held out his hand for Holly to come to. She was so pleased she had made him smile.  “Merry Christmas Miss Holly,” he said with a grin.  Then he kissed her so gently and sent her off as he climbed into his sleigh.  Holly knew it would be a fabulous Christmas Day!

 

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Christmas Past

It was a fond memory for him and he had no regrets for those times. He then went on to speak of how when he was a boy he grew up on a farm and looking back he knew that his was an impoverished family. But on Christmas morning after the chores were done his father would start to gather up things about the place to deliver to families who lived around that were, even more, worse off than his.

Judging by the age of this man the time would have been during or just after the great depression of the thirties. He spoke of taking chickens and eggs, some meat and potatoes, apples and turnips to different homes within his community. He remembers going to one farmhouse where he was struck by just how poor the occupants must be. The family lived in the kitchen which was warmed by an old kitchen wood stove. The family that lived there was a young couple with three children under the age of five. He remembered that the rest of the house was shut off because not a single window had all of the glass in it. Broken or missing panes meant that the winter was everywhere within that house except in the kitchen. His father brought in some things and while his dad talked to the couple this man looked around the kitchen at the places where everyone slept and realized how lucky he was even being poor himself.

He spoke to one of the boys. He said, “Did Santa Clause bring you anything at all?”

“Oh yes,” cried the little boy, “It’s been the best Christmas ever.”

The man felt stunned and wondered what could possibly have been given to these kids for such a response. The boy took his hand and pulled him over to the corner of the kitchen where on the floor, in an apple box by the stove lay the family dog. The boy said “Look, Daisy had puppies last night. She had three of them. One for each of us.”

How this man told this story without crying was beyond me because the tears were running down my cheeks just listening to it. He really didn’t say much more except that sometimes we really have to look for a blessing, but if we look hard enough we can find something.

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How To Win Writing Competitions

Entering writing competitions can be a great way to boost your confidence, to motivate yourself to write and even win some money while you are at it too.

Of course, producing the material and submitting to writing contests is time-consuming, and if you want to give yourself the best chance of success you need to put the effort in and consider how you can increase your chances of having your entry chosen as the winning one!

With that in mind here are some useful tips to get you started!

Read the rules

One of the most important tips when it comes to submitting to writing competitions is to make sure you have read the rules! If you haven’t and you haven’t followed them then your entry will be disqualified, no matter how promising it may be. Overlooking even the smallest detail can make your entry invalid and all the effort you put into carefully crafting your submission will go to waste. Worst of all you probably won’t realise and just think that you didn’t win, when actually if you’d only taken the time to check the rules thoroughly, you could have been in with a chance!

Start with lots of ideas

When you decide to enter a writing competition, it’s good to start by brainstorming lots of different ideas, fleshing them out and then picking the best one. Even if you end up with two or three great stories, you can always decide which one is most likely to win once you’ve written them - or submit them all!

Think about the contest's theme and familiarise yourself with past winners

When you start to write your entry, it’s a good idea to have already familiarised yourself with the theme of the contest, the style of publication and looked at past winners to try to get an impression of the types of things they are looking for. Doing this will help you to mimic the style and ensure that your entry fits in well with the theme and the tone of the publication overall.

Start well, be daring and write a fantastic ending

Your submission needs to stand out from the moment the judges pick it up. For this to happen, you need a great opener, a tightly woven plot, intriguing characters and an ending that leaves your readers satisfied or reeling. Short stories mean you have to be more economical than even with your use of language. Make sure that you make every single word count.

Don’t forget to edit!

Remember, a poorly edited entry will be pretty off-putting so before you submit yours make sure you have checked and re-checked your story to make sure that it is formatted correctly and contains no spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors. It’s also a good idea to give yourself enough time before the entry deadline to put yours aside and come back to it a few days later. Re-reading with a fresh pair of eyes can help weed out any errors or inconsistencies and enable you to give it that final polish before sending it off!

By following the tips above you are more likely to win the writing competitions that you enter. Doing so can be a massive confidence boost, and can also be very helpful to include in submission letters when trying to get your other work published too.

So why not spend some time in 2018 discovering great writing contests and submitting your work to them? After all, what have you got to lose?

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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Great Places To Send Off Your Short Stories

Sending off short stories to publications can be a great way of building up your writing portfolio and giving your confidence a real boost.

While we all hear about how hard it is to get a book published by a traditional publisher, lots of publications are actively seeking submissions as they require fresh content each time they put together an issue or post a new story on their website. This means getting a short story published is far less competitive, and can pay well too.

Getting your short stories published is a brilliant accomplishment in itself, but it also looks great if you want to go for gold and get your novel published too. Including relevant writing achievements in your submission letter will show agents and publishers you are a serious writer and that you have a body of work that has been published already, and even potentially an army of fans who would be interested in buying your book.

So where are some excellent places to send your work to? Take a look at these:

The New Yorker

Getting a piece published in the New Yorker is a serious accomplishment. It is more competitive than most, but getting accepted puts you way ahead of the game and so is undoubtedly worth consideration. You can find the submission guidelines here: http://www.newyorker.com/about/contact.

The Atlantic

You can send nonfiction, fiction and poetry to this popular magazine, and in the past, they have published work from emerging writers who have gone on to achieve great things. Online content can also pay between $100-$200. You can find more information on how to submit here: https://www.theatlantic.com/faq/#42.

The Sun Magazine

Want your work to reach over 70,000 readers? The Sun Magazine could be a fantastic choice. The pay is potentially very lucrative too, with published work fetching anywhere between $300 to $2000. Find out more here: https://www.thesunmagazine.org/submit.

The Threepenny Review

The Threepenny Review comes out every quarter and is a sophisticated magazine covering all sorts of cultural topics such as arts and literature. They welcome short stories of 4,000 or less and will also accept submissions around culture, politics, and arts that are witty and humorous. You can find their submission guidelines here: http://www.threepennyreview.com/submi....

Zoetrope: All-Story

Want your work to sit amongst that of Salman Rushdie and Gabriel García Márquez? Who wouldn’t?! A published piece in Zoetrope: All Story will earn you some serious credibility - you can find their submission guidelines here: http://www.all-story.com/submissions.cgi.

Black Warrior Review

The Black Warrior Review only comes out twice a year, so you’ve got to produce something rather special to be considered. However, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners have been included! Find out more about how to submit here http://bwr.ua.edu/submit/guidelines/.

One Story

The simple yet brilliant concept for One Story sees a new short story published every few weeks. Stories can be any style, and so you have completely free reign, and if yours is chosen, you’ll get paid $500. Want to know more? Head here: http://www.one-story.com/index.php?pa....

Cincinnati Review

The Cincinnati Review is a great option for new writers who want to see their work in print in a highly respected publication. They welcome submissions from new writers and have been known to publish the work of future Pulitzer Prize winners and Guggenheim and MacArthur fellows. Their submission guidelines can be found here: http://www.cincinnatireview.com/#/sub....

The First Line

This is another excellent publication that welcomes submissions from new writers. The First Line comes out every quarter, and while writers can write about anything, they give you the first line to get you going! They’ve already released all four for 2018, so what are you waiting for? Find out more here: http://www.thefirstline.com/submissio....

Crazyhorse

Finally, why not try Crazyhorse, a publication which welcomes submissions in all genres styles and forms. Here you can get experimental and let your imagination run wild - they are specifically looking for pieces that are unusual, and that people won’t have seen before. Take a look at their submission guidelines here: http://crazyhorse.cofc.edu/submit/.

Of course, this is just a handful of the thousands of publications out there that accept short stories, poetry, and non-fiction submissions from new writers. So if you are looking to kickstart 2018 by getting some of your work published, submitting to magazines is a fantastic way to build up your portfolio, increase your fan base and start to get noticed!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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How To Commit To Your Writing And Take That Leap Of Faith

When it comes to writing, many of us teeter on the edges. We want to be successful; we want to pack in our day jobs and do nothing but write, we want to tell everyone that we are writers and that no, we don’t have another job on the side.

Committing to your writing can be scary. Let’s face it; there is no denying that it is a risk. It’s difficult to be willing to dive right in, to take that leap of faith and go for it when it comes to writing because we are continually told we won’t be able to make a success out of it.

There is so much negativity around trying to be a writer - in whatever form. It could be that you want to be a novelist or screenwriter, it could be that you want to set up your own freelance writing business. Whatever your dream there is probably no other profession where people feel happy and comfortable to keep telling you how tough, or rather impossible it is to fulfil your dreams.

But why should we listen? It is rarely those that just dip their toes in the water that get anywhere with their writing, or indeed anything that is challenging and difficult in life. Instead, it is the ones who did take a risk, those who were willing to make sacrifices, and who woke up and said, ‘right, this is who I want to be, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get there.’

Committing to your writing doesn’t necessarily mean storming into your office and telling your boss you quit. There are plenty of other ways you can give your writing the dedication it deserves, and really feel like you are making progress and giving everything you have to make your writing a success.

Find the time

Not having time to write is the worst excuse. There is always time. No one has every single minute of every single day already dedicated to something else. If you want to commit to your writing, this must end as an excuse - right now!

Change your self-perception

To commit to your writing, you have to believe that you are a writer. Stand tall, be proud and shout it from the rooftops! When people ask what you do, tell them you write, be passionate about it, bore them to death with it if you want to! Don’t shy away from who you want to be.

Say ‘I can.’

Having a positive attitude is so important. Stop listening to people who love to tell you just how hard writing is. What good will that do you? Instead, focus on where you want to be and figure out how to get there - nothing is impossible after all.

Do the work

Write pitches, enter competitions, send off your work. Your writing won’t get published by itself; your freelance business won’t get started unless you make enquiries. You are the one that can make it happen, but you’ve got to put the work in!

Listen to advice and learn from past mistakes

When it comes to writing, there is an endless amount you can learn. Aways be open to learning new things, always be willing to listen to advice, and always remember that everyone makes mistakes, it’s how we learn from them that counts!

Find your army

Fully committing to your writing isn’t easy, that’s why you need an army of supporters around you who are always going to tell you to go for your dream. Ditch those who want to hold you back and instead surround yourself with positive people who are always striving to achieve their goals and dreams too - their passion and commitment will rub off on you.

Understand what drives you

Find what motivates you, what inspires you what, deep down in your guts, makes you want to keep writing every day. Use your motivation to keep driving forward and don’t stop. Ever.

Remember, the best way to commit to your writing is by writing! Don’t let anyone say you can’t do it and don’t let negative thoughts hold you back. You can be whatever you want to be and if that’s a writer, then go out and be one!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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How Much Money Can You Make From Your Writing?

When it comes to writing, be it fiction or non-fiction, many writers want to know how much they can realistically expect to make.

The truth is many writers have misconceptions about not only how much money their books could make them, but also the cost of getting a book published and on the market in the first place. Both the self-publishing and traditional publishing route have their advantages and disadvantages, and while it is impossible to give an exact figure, by breaking down the costs and profits an author can expect to deal with we can provide more of an idea of how much money one might be able to make.

Self-Publishing

Costs

When you self-publish a book, you have to remember that there are costs you need to pay upfront. Getting your book professionally edited, having your book cover professionally designed and setting aside some budget to help with marketing your book are all important, and could set you back a few thousand before you’ve even begun. If you list your books on websites such as Amazon you’ll need to take into account their royalties for each sale you make. If you get your books into bookstores they may well pay upfront but on a sale or return basis, which means you could end up having to return the money if your books don’t sell.

Profits

Your profit naturally depends on the price point which you set your book at and the number of books you sell! If you buy your books directly from a printer at cost and try to sell them yourself, you can keep all the profit. However, reaching a broad audience this way is challenging. Exploring ebook options can mean less cost to you, but then you’ll price your book lower than if you were selling a hard copy.

Traditional Publishing

The advance and royalties

If you manage to land a traditional publishing deal, you can expect them to pay you an advance. This will be to secure the book deal with you and is paid before any book sales occur. An advance will be paid against royalties meaning that you won’t make any other money until your book sales have surpassed the advance paid. Once that happens you will be paid a royalty which will be an agreed percentage of the sale price for each unit sold.

It is worth noting that a traditional publisher shouldn’t ask you to pay them any money upfront. If they do this it should set off warning bells, and you should be careful about signing anything with them as many scam publishers will try to make authors pay, and then do very little to help them sell their book.

Of course, there are other ways to make money from your writing too. Entering your work into competitions where there is prize money up for grabs may be a long shot but is still worth doing. You can also find publications that accept short stories or poetry or even would be willing to publish your novel chapter by chapter over a series of weeks or months.

Article and blog post writing can also be lucrative. In fact, this is by far the easiest and most profitable way to make money as a writer. If you can find work as a freelance writer, and build up your portfolio, this can be a helpful way to boost your income, so you don’t have to rely on the uncertainty of making money through book sales.

When it comes to how much money you can make from your writing, it comes down to how much effort you are willing to put in. The more you can do to market your book the more likely you are to see sales soar. The more experience you get writing blogs and articles, the better, higher paid jobs you can win. At the end of the day, it is essential for writers to be realistic, only a fraction of us can survive purely on book sales alone, so try not to make money your primary motivation for writing your book and instead focus on the satisfaction you’ll feel for achieving a lifelong goal!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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Why Is It So Hard To Write A Book?

Everyone knows that writing a book is incredibly tough - here’s why!

It has to be well written.

Writing fiction is incredibly difficult, much more so than writing non-fiction. That’s why you might feel frustrated when you come across popular blogs or articles that have been published in magazines and newspapers and been baffled by how poorly written they are. How come these people can get their work published, or gain a significant following, yet, even though you have poured your heart and soul into your book you can’t seem to get anywhere with it?

Write a clumsy sentence in a post or article, and while your reader might be disgruntled, they’ll likely just skip over it. In a novel, however, doing the same can jolt the reader out of the story and they may be much less forgiving - do this too often, and they’ll give up on your book altogether, and possibly write you a scathing review while they're at it.

When it comes to writing a book you’ve got to be a perfectionist, you’ve got to be at the top of your game, and you’ve got to be doing your best work all the time - and that’s a pretty big ask.

The competition is overwhelming.

We all know how much competition there is out there, and we are reminded of it all the time. Of course, it depends on what your motivation is for writing your book in the first place, but if it’s to get it published, knowing how difficult that is means many writers feel daunted and overwhelmed before they’ve even begun.

It’s a huge project.

Writing a book is a massive undertaking. It’s not like sitting down one pleasant afternoon and writing a short story or poem. It takes months of crafting, research, writing, editing, redrafting and so on. Committing oneself to seeing this through is challenging, and probably why so many would-be authors never actually make it to the end of their books. Most novice authors are writing in their own time too so making time to get a book written at all, let alone written well, (especially knowing that nothing may come of it anyway) can make writing a book seem that much more of a challenge.

You are never really done.

Of course, even if you get to the end of your book you are never really ‘done’ with it. For a start, the editing and redrafting process can take just as long as getting your first draft down did. Even when you are finally ready to send it off to publishers or self-publish, there are an endless amount of marketing tasks you could get on with to give your book the best chance of success, not to mention continuing to write and even starting your second book too!

You may never achieve your goal.

The truth is, when it comes to book writing, there are no guarantees. You may put in all the time and all the effort and do absolutely everything you can think of, and yet still not achieve the kind of success you were hoping for. Whenever anyone starts a book, they know that this is the risk, but it can make the whole process seem that much harder.

While this all may sound somewhat negative, it is worth mentioning that many of the best things in life come from working really hard! Many writers find deep satisfaction in the process of writing as well as the sense of achievement that comes from finishing a book, regardless of whether they find a publisher or how many people end up reading it. Really what it comes down to is knowing how you would feel - yes, writing a book is hard, but it also can be the most rewarding thing you might ever do!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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How To Get Out Of Writing Fatigue

We’ve all heard of writer's block, but have you heard of writing fatigue? While writer's block can happen suddenly and without warning, writing fatigue is more of a gradual process - but can be equally destructive to your writing and difficult to get over.

We've all had those bursts of writing where you feel as though you are really onto something are amazing. The problem is they can disappear just as quickly as they come. Often when you have a period of prolific writing - one where you seem to be making significant headway with your work, this will be followed by a slump. When this happens suddenly, your writing feels sluggish and you become almost disinterested in it, or just can’t seem to write as well as you did before with everything coming out clunky and awkward.

Writer’s fatigue can be emotionally draining, incredibly frustrating and can have a severe impact on a writers confidence in their ability to get that book written. Typical symptoms are feeling fuzzy headed and having difficulty concentrating, or re-reading the same bits of your writing over and over again. Feeling like every idea you have can’t work, hitting dead ends in your writing, panicking that bits of your book are terrible and don’t make sense and finding that your negative thoughts take over and affect your ability to work are also signs writing fatigue has set in.

So what can one do about it?

Stop when you are on a roll

While it can be tempting to keep on writing until you run out of steam, often it is better to quit while you are ahead and still enjoying the writing process. Put your work aside for the day and come back to it, then you are more likely to be able to pick up where you left off.

Take regular breaks

No matter how lovely your writing space is, sitting at a computer all day will make anyone feel sluggish and fatigued. Treat your writing as a job and make sure you give yourself regular breaks, just as you would if you were working in an office.

Change location

Sometimes a change of scenery can work wonders, so if you feel an onset of writers fatigue approaching, get up, pack your laptop up and head out somewhere else to work. The different atmosphere, sights, sounds and smells may be just what you need to feel energetic and focused once more.

Try clearing your head

It might be a long walk, it might be quiet meditation, it might be just giving yourself the evening off and seeing friends - if your head feels cluttered and unsettled, it’s a sign you need to take yourself off and try to clear it. You know what works best for you, but you’d be surprised how not thinking about your work for a few hours means you can come back to it with renewed vigour.

Write through it

While it can be very tempting to give up on your writing when you are suffering from writing fatigue, this might be one of the worst things you can do. The longer you leave it, the more daunting it may seem. So while giving yourself a break or the evening off is a good idea, don’t wait weeks to start writing again. Otherwise, the weeks could turn into months, the months into years, and…you get the picture!

Writer’s fatigue is no fun and can feel distressing should it happen to you. However, it is essential to try to nip it in the bud as soon as possible, and by following the tips above you can refocus, refresh yourself and learn how to cope with writing fatigue so you can get back to your writing best as soon as possible!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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Does Writing Matter Anymore?

Anyone with a Facebook account will notice that more and more videos have been popping up on their newsfeed. Newspaper subscriptions are steadily declining, and YouTube continues to add viewer numbers. All this signals a shift from the written word to the spoken word.

Even in school, the last bastion of writing, teachers are assigning video making instead of essay writing. The logic is that some writing has to have been done prior to the words being spoken, but is it really the same as a written assignment?

And yet, despite the prevalence of video over letters, people still gravitate towards writing. And for those wondering if writing matters anymore, I would argue that yes, it does.

Writing is about both the writer and the reader. While the goal of writing can be for someone to read it, and hopefully appreciate it, another goal of writing can be of a more personal nature. Writing involves taking our thoughts, organizing them, and setting them down. It is a complex process that often does not get easier the more it is practiced.

Writing is often very personal and not meant for anyone else’s eyes. The diary is a perfect example of this. How many children crafted their thoughts into notebooks and then skillfully hid them from prying eyes? Writing matters because it gives a silent voice to the thoughts, hopes, and fears that we have. Without writing our thoughts can remain jumbled. Without writing, out hopes can remain unfulfilled. Without writing, our fears can remain founded.

Writing also matters when it becomes public instead of private. Writing is different than video in that it is much easier to re-read, stop, or even skip ahead. Yes, video has these functions, too, but it takes effort, and sometimes that effort can impede our actions. With writing, the reader is in charge of the pace. Writing, therefore, fosters a relationship between the words and the reader; something that can become truly intimate.

Writing still matters. We may live in a digital age, but there is still a place for writing. And as long as writers continue their craft, whether private or public, writing will continue to matter.

 

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