Rowena Wiseman's Blog, page 10

Jason Howell on Extrovert Writers

Today I give thanks to writer Jason Howell. On his groundbreaking site Howlarium he asks the important questions. His discussion on Extrovert Writers made me reassess online attention seeking ...

He says ...


How are you writing books and your face is all in a web cam on YouTube, when you've got colourful shit on the wall behind you, and you've got makeup on and you're talking like you're trying to promote your fucking high school homecoming game, but you're talking about a book that you wrote. Why did you write that shit? I'm sorry, I wish you all the luck in the world, I really do. I just don't understand how that happens ...


(Listen to Jason below, it's far more fun when you hear him saying it ...)


In this digital age, we have these writerpreneurs in our faces, making a business out of talking about writing. There's also a new breed of vlogging writers, who may be as talented in their writing as they are with their banter, but it shouldn't lure other writers into thinking they have to do that.


It's too easy to be influenced by extrovert writers and to think that audience building is as important as fine writing. But really, the best writing is probably being done right now in someone's bedroom who doesn't have high speed broadband or a web cam and they've never posted a word on Twitter.





Listen to more of Jason's thought-provoking discussions here:  http://www.howlarium.com/stories


Image via Favim

Recipes for writers - Healthy writing snacks

Let me start this post by saying I think ‘snack’ is one of the ugliest sounding words in the English language. In any case, good food can be great fuel for writing and concentration. Rather than sitting at the keyboard gorging on dark chocolate, here’s a couple of sweet recipes I love making lately that contain food for the brain. They can also be healthy school snacks or work snacks, beach snacks or travel snacks … snack, snack, snack … yucky word, yummy food …

100g butter
80g honey
90g brown sugar
40g chopped dried apricots
40g dried cranberries
20g sunflower seeds
20g pumpkin seeds
160g rolled oats
20g poppy seeds
30g chia seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinammon
pinch of sea salt or himalayan salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsiusMelt butter, honey and sugar in a saucepan over low heatMix dry ingredients in a bowl and pour over wet ingredients. Mix well.Pour into a lined baking tray. I like to use a large roasting dish, so the granola bar is thin and crispier.Cook for 30-40 mins until golden on top.Cool in tray and then cool completely on a rack before slicing and storing in a container in the fridge.

Banana breadI’m always excited when we have some browning bananas left in the fruit bowl. I make this every other week and keep half in the fridge and half in slices in the freezer for a rainy day.
¼ cup milk 6 tbsp melted coconut oil6 tbsp maple syrup1 tsp vanilla extract3 bananas2 cups flour (I use 1 cup plain spelt and 1 cup wholemeal spelt, but I've also used self-raising flour if I haven't had any spelt and works equally fine)1 tsp. baking soda1 tsp. baking powder½ tsp. sea salt1 cup total of walnuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds¾ cup dark chocolate buds
Directions:Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsiusLine a loaf pan with baking paperPut the milk, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and bananas in a blender and blend until smooth, add nuts and seeds and blend until just choppedIn a large bowl combine dry ingredients. Add banana mixture and combine using as few strokes as possible. Fold in chocolate.Pour into loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, approx 40-50 mins.Check out more RECIPES FOR WRITERS - best brain foods , including the life-changing crackers and almond and chia seed biscuits.

10 tips for how writers can use #bookstagram on Instagram

The problem with being a writer is the act of writing is boring. Look here I am at my laptop, writing. Oh again, I'm at my laptop, writing. I'm drinking a long black coffee out of an aqua blue cup. I'm typing on my laptop. I've had three coffees already today, so I'm drinking a black tea. I'm at a cafe. Writing. Fingers, keys, laptop. I've got crumbs on my keyboard. The act of writing is repetitive and not very Instagram-worthy.


So when I came across #bookstagram I was like, finally, this is something I can contribute to! Type #bookstagram or #bookphoto or #bookphotography into Instagram and drool at some of the great photos #booklovers have been taking!

Instagram is a great way to connect with other #booklovers. People are like happy on Instagram - so if you want to feel some love, it's the place to be! The use of hasthtags also mean that your posts have a wider reach and a longer life-span than they do on other social media sites. Hashtag a book #ItaloCalvino and it's likely another Calvino lover will discover it two months down the track! That's the beauty of Instagram.

Here are my best tips for how writers on Instagram can use #bookstagram Search through #bookstagram #bookphoto #bookphotography and find some accounts that you like. Get ideas and inspiration from others!Take your time composing a shot, anything good takes time and practiceI like to set aside an hour and do a number of shots at once. I then use Latergram to schedule posts throughout the week: https://www.latergram.me/ (up to 30 free posts a month)Find good light. I often set up shots on the floor by a window, or on my white kitchen bench that has lovely natural light. I've seen some beautiful shots by one bookstagrammer who takes photos of their books outdoors in the woods, at the base of trees or next to wild flowers.Use props - your favourite teacup, a jar with flowers or coloured pencils. Set up compositions that aren't obvious. One of my favourite shots was with a notebook, a cup of tea and a Kewpie doll ... Think about colour, texture and patterns. For example, what's on the front cover of a book and what can you match or enhance it with?Use image software to sharpen your shots - such as apps like Afterlight. Lately I've been steering away from those Instagram filters and prefer the #nofilter look! Since you've taken so long and so much care doing your Instagram shots - reshare them on Facebook and TwitterFind inspiration outside of #bookstagram too - follow design, fashion, art and food InstagrammersUse hashtags. My favourite book hashtags are: #amreading #booklover #literary #bookstagram #bookphotography #bookphoto #books #booklove #bookish #instabook #bibliophile #shelfie but don't forget to connect with other writers of Instagram with writing hashtags such as: #amwriting #mywriting #writersofinstagram #writing #writer #iwrite #lifeofawriter #writerslife
Follow Rowena Wiseman on Instagram: www.instagram.com/outaprintwriter

Touching Doodles

Like finding gold amongst rubble, I recently discovered Touching Doodles on Twitter. Kyle is creating a daily sketch and quote inspired by life's confusing and terrifying bits. His posts are often inspiring and thought-provoking and I find myself looking forward to what he's going to create next. I've asked Kyle if I can share a few of my favourite ones here ...

Often there is a little bit of sadness hiding behind every moment of happiness

Be careful with careless words, they can make people care less



You can choose how to tell your story but you can't choose to run away from it completely


Enjoy Touching Doodles on Twitter: www.twitter.com/touchingdoodles or on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/touchingdoodles  

10 things I’ve learned about readers from crowd-writing on Wattpad

I’ve had my stories on Wattpad for about 18 months now. With every chapter I’ve posted, I’ve built a readership. But more importantly, crowd-writing on Wattpad has allowed me to find out what my readers think as I go along. I’ve been interested in their feedback – it’s diverse – funny, intelligent and sometimes plain rude. But I can’t help loving each and every comment that I receive because it teaches me so much about readers. It also helps me to cultivate a thicker skin for criticism and to understand that some readers are flippant, some are easy to impress, some are hard to impress, some readers get my humour, some readers see humour when there was none, some readers are impatient with the story, some readers want the story to slow down, some readers are fans who want to shake pom poms at every sentence, some readers will read right to the end of a novel and then say your story stinks …

10 things I’ve learned about readers from crowd-writing on Wattpad:Readers will go along with you. Editors will not. Readers may excuse flaws in the plot if they like your writing styleReaders can sometimes be overly sympathetic and may barrack for the wrong personReaders like discovering parts of themselves in a storyReaders can be very interested in the minutiaeIf you’re putting your work out there in the world, some parts of the world may judge it differently. Readers in some countries are more conservative than others.Many readers will skip to the last page (the reading stats on the last chapters of my stories are consistently greater than the second last chapters)Some readers make up the most creative assumptions as they're reading that I never could have even imaginedEndings are extremely important for readers, but you can't please everyoneReaders may help you discover what your talent is and it may even surprise you
My stories on Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/outaprintwriter

10 tips to take your own author headshot

There are three things a publisher is going to need from you when you're having a book published: an author bio, a blurb and an author headshot. As much as readers love to read your words, they're also going to be curious about what you look like, and your author photo can say something about you.

Luckily, the good people at HarperCollins have been able to help write my blurb for The Replacement Wife. As I've said before, I'd rather write a 50,000 word novel than a 1-page synopsis - so writing a promotional blurb is incredibly difficult for me. So too is the author bio - do you go chatty and funny or serious and professional? What about you is going to be interesting to a stranger? Is anything interesting?!


And then comes the author headshot. How do you want to present yourself?


I looked into having a professional take my author photo, but I've had a couple of photographs taken by local newspapers lately and I find that I can't relax in front of strangers. I found the experience to be on the extreme side of awkward.


Luckily, I came across a fabulous blog Delightfully Tacky by Liz Morrow ... she's a fashion, food, design, lifestyle blogger and she takes lots of photos of herself in different outfits and she's shared how she does it with a tripod and self-timer. Liz has released an ebook called Photobomb ... best $30 I could have spent!


Finally, with Liz's advice, I've taken my DSLR off auto and onto manual (I've had the camera for 8 years!). I made my husband go into our dark, spider-infested shed to look for that tripod we somehow inherited when Uncle Roy passed away years and years ago. I dusted the cobwebs off and set it up. Sure the legs don't extend properly, and it's wonky and rusty, but it seems to do the trick.


Here's my best tips for taking your own author headshot:Use a DSLR and beg, borrow or steal a tripod.Learn how to use the self-timer on the DSLR camera. Mine has a consecutive shots option, so I can take 3-10 shots at a time, slightly changing my pose, to save time running back and forth between the tripod and my spot.Stand in front of a plain background or somewhere neat that says something about you. Make sure you're in a good soft light ... photography is all about finding the right light!Try a few different outfits and hairstyles and think about how you want to present yourself. Do you want to be serious and literary? Quirky and fun? Try out different expressions. Do you want to smile with teeth or no teeth? I often think about artist Hazel Dooney's Ten Dicta for Young Women Who Are Artists - 'don't smile for photographs just because it's expected'Do some silly shots to loosen up!Learn which angle works best for you. They say to turn your face away from the camera and then to look back at it with your eyes. Try not to look face on at the camera.Take lots and lots of photos. It's probably right at the point when you're about to give up and feel like smashing the camera that you'll start to get some good shots!Be discerning about which photographs you choose. Just like when you're writing, sometimes you have to kill your darlings - if something is not quite right in the photo, delete it! Shortlist your favourite ones. Then edit down again. Leave it for a few hours and come back and look with fresh eyes. You can use other favourite shots for guest blog posts, media requests, Instagram, Twitter etcExperiment with retouching in your image software. I realised that the top I was wearing in my favourite shot had visible white lint on it! With a few quick clicks in the editing mode I was able to make my top look clean again.Enjoy it! You get to be the photographer and the subject. And there's probably no one you'd be more comfortable with to get the kind of author headshot you're looking for!

Juggling writing with motherhood - Ericka Clay

Ericka Clay, author of recently published Unkept (Bannerwing Books), founder of TipsyLit and one of my favourite online writers and bloggers tells us how she juggles writing with motherhood. She suggests that we embrace our imperfections and that writing mothers are almost oxymorons ...

How do you juggle your writing time with being a mother? 
I try to get as much writing done for the four hours Ava’s in junior kindergarten. I think the key to this (and to anything really) is not beating myself up if I don’t complete my day’s goal. When it comes to it, my daughter’s the most important thing, so if that means I have to push back my writing (which often feels like air is being sucked out of my lungs) I do it anyways. Raising a confident, kind and thoughtful human being is much more important to me than publishing a stack of books. And trust me, I have to remind myself of that constantly when the words start building up.


How is your writing viewed by others in your household? 
My husband and daughter think it’s cool I’m a writer and my husband, in particular, is kind of in awe of what I do considering his background is in chemical engineering and we have two very different brains. That being said, he also thinks I’m an idiot savant in the simple fact that I can write a poem in half a second but have no idea how to change an air filter. He would be correct.


The dogs just want me to feed them.


What do you think are the main challenges for writing mothers? 
Finding the balance between being this nurturing mother figure and being this feral creature who wants to pluck at words until we get to the bloody stump of what we’re trying to say. People have way too many expectations of mothers (and women in general) and these expectations don’t often jive with what being a writer is. As a writer, I’m an open-minded potty mouth who snorts at the concept of hand sanitizer. As a mother, I buy hand sanitizer in bulk and find myself wiping down surfaces 90% of the day. Writing mothers are almost oxymorons, but I find mastering this kind of challenge good for society’s soul.


What advice or tips would you give to other writing mothers? 
First, I’d give everyone a hug. I think hugs are underrated and we all need one, especially us writer types. Secondly, I’d say ignore the pressure to be perfect, which is so difficult to do but it’s an absolute must. Perfection is silly and uninteresting. I mean, would you want to read a book about a perfect woman who washes her hair every day and never accidentally locks herself out of her house? Me neither.


Tell us about your latest book and why you'll one day be pleased for your child(ren) to read it ... 
This past March, Bannerwing Books published my novel, Unkept, a book that I actually dedicated to my daughter. It’s about two women who are simultaneously struggling with impending motherhood and the path they take together to learn to forgive themselves and start a fresh chapter in their lives. I want Ava to read this book, to read about two women who are screw ups in their own right, and to know there’s nothing in the world that she can do that would make me stop loving her. We all have skeletons in our closets and there’s no shame in letting them dance, especially if that means finding a truer version of ourselves in the process.


Visit: http://erickaclay.com/

Also in the juggling writing with motherhood series: 
Liz Madrid writes contemporary new adult as well as paranormal fiction and her novel Loving Ashe has had over a million reads on Wattpad in less than six months. Liz Madrid suggests that writing mothers set up a schedule to write each day and that they also find balance outside of the family to recharge those writing batteries. Read Liz Madrid's responses here ...

Tess Woods's debut novel Love At First Flight has just been published by HarperCollins Australia's Impulse. Her advice for other writing mothers is simple - get a good coffee machine, a cleaner and build a community of other writing mums around you! Read Tess Woods's responses here ...

What’s in a character's name?

Last night I went to a local theatre production of a new work of dance, comedy, drama and physical theatre. I’m acquainted with the writer/director and the lead actress through the local community. I’ve seen one of their other performances and really enjoyed it. Anyway, I’m sitting there with a friend of mine, enjoying the beginning of the performance, when three minutes in the main character refers to herself as ‘Rowena’. It made me a little flushed around the neck. Rowena, that’s my name. It's not all that common. That’s okay. I guess they have to call her something. Why not Rowena? I give names to my characters all the time: Luisa, Sylvie, Ivy, so what? I knew a Luisa once, it didn’t mean anything at all to me to name my character Luisa.
But then, ten minutes in, 'Rowena' yells at her boy ‘Zac’. That’s my son’s name! They know that’s my son’s name! Now it’s uncanny and awkward for me. One name was enough, but the two of us? I slumped further down in my seat, wondering if anyone else in the audience had picked up on the naming coincidence.

The story itself had nothing to do with me, nor could it, because they don’t know me, really. But it was a strange experience having my name and my son’s name thrown across the stage.

Maybe they liked the names? When writing fiction, I often pick names that I like. Sometimes those names were on my list of possible baby names, but I never got to use them. In two of my stories the love interest is called Jarvis just because I love the name so much. And even though it’s kind of stupid to have two main male characters in two different books with the same name, I can’t seem to change either of them. They are Jarvis. There is no other name in the world for either one of them.

Sometimes I can’t think of names at all for my characters, so I go to Google and type in ‘naughty boy names’: Joseph, Jamie, Lewis, Benjamin, or ‘Popular girl names 1970’: Jennifer, Lisa, Angela, Amy, sometimes the character goes through five different names until I settle on one that I like, sometimes they remain as xxx until the third draft. 


Recently I realised that I'd used a colleague's daughter and son's names as names for some minor characters in a book. I'd picked very common names - Sarah and Chris - and when I realised what I'd done accidentally, I changed one of them, to avoid any future puzzlement.

My all time favourite character names are Ignatius Reilly, Holden Caulfield and Veruca Salt - what brilliant, defining names. If only I could come up with such sharp names. But then again, I often forget to give my characters a surname, as one editor once pointed out to me ‘readers like to know a character's surname, it makes them seem real.’ Huh. Something for me to work on. But in the meantime, I’m just glad they didn’t use my surname in the show last night as well …

Juggling writing with motherhood - Tess Woods

Tess Woods is a health professional who lives in Perth, Australia, with one husband, two children, one dog and one cat who rules over all of them. Love at First Flight is her first novel for HarperCollins. Her advice for other writing mothers is simple - get a good coffee machine, a cleaner and build a community of other writing mums around you ...

How do you juggle your writing time with being a mother?
Poorly! I do most of my writing at night when the kids are asleep, but it does leave me feeling exhausted when I’m up early the next day to get them ready for school and to get myself off to work in my day job as a physio. But I do it anyway because it’s my passion.


How is your writing viewed by others in your household?
The children are proud that I’m a published author but they have no interest in my writing really. It’s a bit of a non-event for them. If I wrote Young Adult dystopian books, I think I would be much more of a hit with my kids than being a romance author.


What do you think are the main challenges for writing mothers?
Time management and fatigue for sure. As mums we make sure all the children’s needs are met first. So it’s preparing their food, washing their clothes, doing the school run, being the after school mum taxi, helping with homework and attending to the countless other commitments that schools want from us on a weekly basis, whether it’s baking for a cake stall or filling in walk-a-thon forms. Then there’s enjoying life with the kids too and creating special experiences with them and spending time just being with them. After the kids needs are met, we attend to our partner’s needs and supporting them and investing time into our relationships. And then there’s our day jobs! And then there’s running a home – cleaning, ironing, paying bills, caring for pets, grocery shopping. So for me, writing comes in a firm last when prioritising my day and that’s why I end up writing until 2am and doing the next morning’s school run with my eyes hanging out of my head!


What advice or tips would you give to other writing mothers?
1. Get a cleaner!
2. Invest in a coffee machine.
3. Get a community of other author mums around you, we understand each other’s crazy ☺


Tell us about your latest book and why you'll one day be pleased for your child(ren) to read it ...
Love at First Flight is an unconventional love story. It doesn’t follow the typical romance theme and it asks the questions, how far would you go to be with the love of your life? What would you risk? And what if your soulmate is the one who will destroy you?


Mel is living the dream. She’s a successful GP, married to a charming anaesthetist and raising a beautiful family in their plush home in Perth. But when she boards a flight to Melbourne, she meets Matt and her picture perfect Stepford life unravels as she falls in love for the first time ever.


What begins as a flirty conversation between strangers quickly develops into a hot and obsessive affair with disastrous consequences neither Mel nor Matt could have ever seen coming. Mel’s dream life turns into her worst nightmare.


Both of my children are the inspiration for Mel’s children so it will be a buzz for them to read about these characters once they are old enough to understand the themes in the book. I’m also really proud of the book, so I’m excited for them to see that Mum can write and she can write well!


Visit: http://www.tesswoods.com.au/

Also in the juggling writing with motherhood series: 
Liz Madrid writes contemporary new adult as well as paranormal fiction and her novel Loving Ashe has had over a million reads on Wattpad in less than six months. Liz Madrid suggests that writing mothers set up a schedule to write each day and that they also find balance outside of the family to recharge those writing batteries. Read Liz Madrid's responses here ...

Juggling writing with motherhood - Liz Madrid

Our first writing mother featured in our ' Juggling writing with motherhood series ' is Liz Madrid. She writes contemporary new adult as well as paranormal fiction and her novel Loving Ashe has had over a million reads on Wattpad in less than six months!  Liz suggests that writing mothers set up a schedule to write each day and that they also find balance outside of the family to recharge those writing batteries ...

How do you juggle your writing time with being a mother?
I’m still trying to find the balance in that. I have a 5-year old boy who’s on the spectrum and he’s about to start kindergarten in a few months. But first, there’s summer and because I’m not enrolling him in a summer program, it’s just going to be us and maybe some play dates with other parents and their children.

The days when he’s in school 3 hours a week, I write like a madwoman during those times on my laptop, as well as first thing in the morning before he wakes up, and late, late at night when everyone is asleep - you could say that I’m sleep-deprived. I also have learned to write on my iPhone. I used to write on my iPad but ever since I got the 6 plus, it’s like I’m attached to the hip with it. But I write my ideas on there and even record myself with text to speech apps and podcast apps while I’m driving, just so I don’t lose my ideas by the time I get to sit in front of the computer. I also keep a journal.


I even bought a used Neo2 keyboard writing thingie that basically just allows you to type your story, no connectivity to the internet - just write. Afterwards, you hook it up to your laptop, turn on your word processing software and your laptop recognizes it as an external keyboard and types out whatever you want to import into it. Anything for the story!


How is your writing viewed by others in your household?
They tolerate it; they’re not hot about it at all. There’s nothing they can do about it - I’m going to write no matter what they say. There’s some bitterness, I’m sure, especially when things don’t get done around the house because I just did a word sprint of 5K words in one day and laundry wasn’t done for the day. My mother still hopes that I’d choose art one day - portraiture, because she thinks it’s my calling and I can make more money doing it - over writing. She doesn’t get the writing part even though I got my love of books from her. The rest of my family just tolerates it.


I know my in-laws don’t understand it, though when my sister-in-law found out that I was letting go of my teaching position (part time) so I could write more, she was very supportive about it and actually just read 50 Shades of Gray and had to admit that she never knew such books existed. She did bring up an important point - why aren’t there any stories about middle-age women? Love stories in the midst of having work, kids and the PTA. She said that it seems that we’re all invisible and no one wants to accept that middle-aged women have sex lives too. That’s actually an excellent question right there. Maybe there’s a market.


What do you think are the main challenges for writing mothers?
Time. With a spouse and children, time isn’t always there for you to do whatever it is you want. I read a poem once penned by a man about why there are more Pulitzer Prize winning males than females and he wrote that men didn’t have to kiss boo-boos, make dinner and attend PTA meetings. I wish I could find that poem again because I sure will frame it. Not that it’s impossible. I am in awe of women who manage to do it though. It’s just that I’m so disorganized.


Not feeling guilty over writing. I feel guilty whenever I write. When the husband comes home and the house is still a mess and toys are all over the place, whatever I just wrote - 500 or 5,000 words become a non-achievement because I didn’t do what I was “supposed” to do around the house. Maybe it’s just me, but all it takes is a look and I’m back to square one and wishing I could rewind the day and clean the house, do the laundry, pick up after the kid - but at the same time, I don’t want to give up that story. There have been many days - and there still are - where I want to just give up writing and be that perfect mother. I may be unhappy, but look, I’m perfect. But then I think to myself, whose life am I really living? What if there is no other life to live, no reincarnation? And the words died with me? Sorry for being depressing, but the guilt has truly become part and parcel of every story I write, no matter how awesome it may be.


What advice or tips would you give to other writing mothers?
Don’t be too hard on yourself like I am! Set up a schedule and write, even if it’s just 100 words a day or 1,000. Maybe sit with your family and tell them just how important it is for you to have YOUR time, the time to write. Have them understand that maybe you’ll be successful at it, but maybe you won’t, but at least everyone’s on the same page. Still, just to let them know what’s up. I’m not there yet, but I hope to get there eventually.


Find balance outside of the family. Hang out with friends, even if it’s just for a walk or a cup of coffee. I walk with a group of retired women once a week and it’s so refreshing to just be out and about with them. Hang out at the beach, or just out in nature. Writing is such a solitary activity and we’re mostly indoors, so being outdoors can definitely bring about a change emotionally, physically and subconsciously.


Tell us about your latest book and why you'll one day be pleased for your children to read it.
Right now, I’m working on the second book of the Ashe and Riley trilogy. While the first book, Loving Ashe, is sweet, the second, Loving Riley, is a bit spicy - one where maybe I won’t be too pleased if my child would read it till he was older. Hopefully he’ll be into other types of literature though, not the new adult stuff his mother is writing. This year I’m making it a point to write and publish erotica (not under my name though) so my kid won’t be reading that!


I don’t actually want to pick any one of my books for my kid to read one day. I’d just like them to be pleased knowing that mom finally figured out what to do with her life and despite the challenges and the missed dinners and one too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, she went ahead and wrote anyway.


Visit: http://lizmadrid.com/


Also in the juggling writing with motherhood series: 
Tess Woods 's debut novel Love At First Flight has just been published by HarperCollins Australia's Impulse. Her advice for other writing mothers is simple - get a good coffee machine, a cleaner and build a community of other writing mums around you! Read Tess Woods's responses here ...