Michele Venne's Blog, page 13

Knowing Your Process

How long do we do a thing before we know our process? Running a meeting, training a dog, planting/harvesting a garden, making a pie, writing a book? This isn’t to say that once we know our process, we stop learning or trying something new. But how much “doing” has to happen before the confidence that comes from experience allows us to slip into flow? And once we understand the order of the steps...

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A Myopic View

Every artist creates differently. I wonder how many writers feel as if they can’t see the forest for the trees. Maybe that is something that plaques discovery writers more than plotters. For those writers who plot out their story, have notes for each chapter and/or each scene, it makes sense that they see the story from a macro perspective. And since I’m a discovery writer who records what she...

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Another Title!

As long as I feel excitement when a title is published, I’ll keep doing it! I started on this in October. It wasn’t on my production list until January. Once I started, I kept going. For me, working on a nonfiction title such as this math workbook allowed me to make progress when so many other tasks didn’t get done. I needed to clean out old papers I had from when I was in the classroom.

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Change is One Thing We Can Count On

Sometimes I think I’m from an earlier generation. I started my career in one school district and happily stayed for 21 years. I then was asked to come back and do Homebound. I did and found another place that I loved. It took over 3 years, but that job shifted, changed, and eventually evaporated. I’m blessed and very grateful to have found my next “home” working for my current company. Change isn’...

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Project Completion

After six months, I finally finished Building Fluency: Math Practice! I used about half the problems in the book from sheets of paper I kept from when I was in the classroom. The rest I created to fulfill my purpose for the book (lots of practice on foundational math skills). This means that each concept and skill has between 25 and 150 practice problems. Then I printed out the pages.

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Progress Relies on Perspective

Two hundred words a day may not seem like much, but it adds up over time. The same can be said for the steps we take toward our 10K steps a day, or the twenty-five dollars a paycheck we add to the piggy bank, or the extra ten sit-ups/push-ups/jumping jacks we do as we aim to be more healthy. Little progress is tough to keep track of, especially if we’re used to seeing big jumps in project...

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Be Like Those Famous Shoes

Just like a “breakout novel” or a “blockbuster movie,” marketing slogans that hit it big and stick around are rare. I wonder if Nike knew their tagline of “Just Do It” would become an icon. Or that so many would steal those three little words and apply them to everything from asking for a first date to returning to college to skydiving. “Just Do It” implies we have complete control of our...

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Control

Some people believe that we’re not in control of anything in this world. Others believe that we control everything. Maybe I missed the memo about “how” to control everything, but I don’t think there’s much I can do about the phases of the moon, how slow a saguaro cactus grows, or when a Palo Verde tree blooms. One of the people I see clients for told me, when I asked to have Saturdays off...

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So, I’m doing it Wrong

After 14 years, I would think that I’ve got things down. I understand my process. I know what trips me up. And I know how to get back to what I want to do. And yet… since I’m part of the publishing industry, it’s my responsibility to keep tabs on new developments. Technology that makes writing and editing and publishing easier. New social media platforms where readers and authors find each other.

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New Ideas

I heard a few things this week that tweaked my ears. Listening to one of my favorite podcasts, the host interviewed an author that used to have her own podcast. They talked about writing and if anything will change in 2023. The author didn’t think much would change for her this year. She described herself as a “factory.” Not that she does a rapid release, but her writing process is such that she...

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