Kern Carter's Blog, page 9
February 15, 2023
Link to new round of workshops
Hello friends, we just wrapped up the Superstar Sessions, which were intimate “workshops” exclusively for the CRY community. Now we’re moving on to more traditional workshops that are open to the public.
That said, we always invite you first. These rounds of workshops begin on Saturday, February 25. The theme this time around is marketing and we’re starting with how to market your book offline.
Workshops are free so if you’re able to make it, sign up and let’s go. If you aren’t able to make it, share the opportunity. As a member of this community, let’s start taking accountability for helping other writers grow. Sharing this link is a simple but valuable step in that direction and an easy action you can take to show you value being part of CRY.
I’ll be leading this workshop and I can’t wait to see all of you there!
CRY
[image error]Link to new round of workshops was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
February 14, 2023
This is a special moment for me
Hello friends, let’s talk for a bit.
I feel humble today. When I wake up and think about my life, the gratitude that fills my heart is overwhelming. I say that because it wasn’t that long ago I would pray for the day that writing became my career; for the day I would be published by the exact publishers that I have right now; for the time I got to live life exactly how I wanted.
It truly is a blessing, and I want all of you to feel what I feel every morning.
I speak to writers almost every day. I know all of your challenges. We face the same fears and share the same aspirations.
All of the questions you’re asking yourself, all of the emotions you’re grappling with — I was there. At the end of the day you want to know two things: is it possible to do this writing thing and is all the effort to get there worth it?
The answer to your first question is “absolutely.” For the second question, only you can answer that. But that’s why CRY is here. We want to help carry you through the challenges and obstacles that are preventing you from achieving your goals.
Listen, all of my ambitions to be a writer could’ve easily been derailed when I turned 18 and found out I was about to be a father. I had never held a job longer than two months and there I was, not ready at all to be a parent.
What are the challenges you’re facing right now?
Maybe you’re in a job that doesn’t allow you the creative freedom you desire. Maybe you have a book idea in your head but haven’t worked on your manuscript in months. Maybe you haven’t even gotten started yet. Whatever your current lifestyle, it’s not writing. It’s not where you want to be.
Guess what? I have the exact resource you need, right now, to overcome all of those obstacles.
In a few days, I’m going to be announcing CRY Academy’s first-ever writing course. A course we designed to empower emerging writers to make a living by doing what they love to do.
This course is the magic you need to break free from emotional roadblocks and start making a living from your passion.
It’s the resource you need to:
Overcome your fear of feeling like you’re not good enough (confidence)Build a readership to support your career as a writerAnd earn an income from the words you createThe CRY Academy team and I look forward to sharing more details with you later this week!
In the meantime, I want you to do something:
I want you to share your dreams with me. When you close your eyes and think about your life as a writer, what does that look like? Think big here and leave your humility at the door. I want you to share your most ambitious dreams and goals.
Hit reply right now and let me know so we can do this thing together.
CRY
[image error]This is a special moment for me was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
February 13, 2023
February 12, 2023
February 8, 2023
How Do You Challenge Yourself as a Writer?
Artwork by the author (Agnes)In many ways, writing is a solitary venture. While there are many ways to connect with others, when we sit down and write, it’s usually us and the white page and the creative voice or voices in our heads.
For years, I was a closet poet & writer, and I shared my Narnia with no one. I don’t know if I wasn’t sure anyone would be interested, or if it was the fear that it wasn’t good enough or the fact that I often struggled to give them proper endings, or all of the above.
I started publishing on Medium to shed these fears. And maybe try to build an audience so that when I finally completed a novel, I had people to share it with. Along the way, I realized that having different people read my content and share their thoughts, feedback, and highlights also gave me a different perspective on my writing.
Below I’ve listed some of the obvious and less obvious ways I’ve been trying to improve my writing. I’d love to hear if you use these too and what other ways you have!
7 ways I work on my writing1- Getting feedback
This is probably the most obvious one. It requires little explanation, description, or defense. Having different people (admittedly, honest, unafraid-to-be-critical people) read your work is a great way of challenging your writing. Sometimes, it’s entirely enlightening, and you discover new things in the text, like interpretations you hadn’t seen or gaps missed.
Other times, it’s frustrating, and you fail to see how the reader fails to see your point. But even when it’s frustrating; (especially when it’s frustrating), I’ve found it has made my writing better. If you heard me following up on my brother’s feedback, you might think: “if you disagree with it so much, why do you keep sending him your stuff?” It’s because he is thorough when he checks the narrative flow and takes the time to analyze every literary device and question every comma — he’s really fond of semicolons.
2- Writing out of the comfort zone
Trying different styles and formats. I don’t think I have tried this since high school, but I’ve been working on it now and love it. I cannot recommend it enough. I’ll find an author or story I like and try to emulate the style. Or take a post I wrote and change it from story to article or poem, or the other way around.
It’s a great way of looking at our writing from a different angle (and a fun way to get back to writing on the days we’re less inspired to do so).
3- Learn from other writers with workshops & courses
While I read a lot of writing books, I think it’s more out of curiosity about other people’s writing processes and struggles than trying to glean a new process for myself. A lot of times, the guidelines and suggestions they have are rooted in that writer’s particular mode of writing, and it can be difficult and frustrating to try and use it for the projects you’ve already started.
For a while, I struggled to see this through. I felt like it was less challenging to improve my writing and more challenging to turn my writing process into something it’s not. Recently, I discovered that for me, at least, it’s better to create new pieces in workshops than to try to use their guidelines for whatever I’m working on at the moment. This allows me to follow the deadlines and delivery formats of the course more easily. If it sparks any ideas for other projects, then great, but it does so in a more natural way.
Some writers need to outline the entire piece before they sit down to write. One of my favorite authors, V.E. Schwab, shared that she will write out what will happen chapter by chapter before sitting down to write. Others work on a timeline to make sure they get the right build-up, or they focus on describing the characters and the relationships between them. I’m one of those weirdos that like to sit down and write like I’m seeing and writing the movie at the same time. After that first flow, I sit down and mold it into the format I want it to have.
4- Other ways of learning from other writers
Read! I like reading different books to see what they inspire; they offer different lenses through which to look at our writing.
When I’m reading, I often copy sentences (and even paragraphs) I like into a document I have of book quotes. Rewriting and rereading them, I try to figure out what it is about them that stuck out to me.
Book clubs can also help with this. Seeing how other people react to different events, what they highlight and question, and how they engage with the writing can also be quite enlightening.
5- Walk away and then come back
This is probably the closest I got to “other people reading it” when I didn’t share my writing. If you give it enough time, you come to the text with new eyes.
If it’s a piece you’re writing for Medium or a story on a deadline or any kind of piece on a deadline, sometimes walking away from it for a couple of hours or days is not enough to really shift your perspective. It may help you find typos or sentences to polish or a dialogue you can tweak a little, but if it’s a short piece, that may just be enough. For novel drafts, I find I need to walk away for a little longer before I get the editing toolkit out.
6- Reading it out loud (before and after Grammarly)
I love Grammarly, but it also feels a bit lazy to let it do all the work. I find that if I read it out loud first, I often find a lot of mistakes by myself, and they’re more likely to stay in my head the next time I write than if I just fix them with the app. Also, as great as it is, it’s not perfect. Sometimes it’ll suggest hacking words we add for emphasis, dramatic effect, or embellishment. And unless you’re paying for Premium, there are a lot of punctuation recommendations you don’t get.
Not convinced yet? I think reading out loud lets us slip out of the writer’s side for a minute. Try it.
7- Metrics?
I’m leaving this one with a question mark. I guess it depends on what you are writing and why. I believe writing more will improve my writing, so I set quantifiable goals for the number of posts I want to publish.
Clicks may be a measure of our title-writing skills. Looking at our posts’ engagements: likes, highlights, and comments may measure our ability to share stories and messages that resonate and spark recognition or questions.
That said, some of the stories I’m most proud of had very limited reach, and I’m not sure why this is intrinsic to the writing. So, do fixed goals and metrics help our writing?
How do you challenge yourself as a writer?Do you do any of these? Do you find some more useful than others? Are there any other ways you’ve found to work on your writing? Let me know in the comments!
[image error]How Do You Challenge Yourself as a Writer? was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Writing workshop this Saturday
Writing workshop this Saturday
ONLY FOR CRY MEMBERS
Hello friends, we have one more workshop left for this round. We’ve done three so far and all of them have surpassed my expectations.
As a reminder, these aren’t typical workshops. These are intimate sessions designed exclusively for CRY writers. There’s no one lecturing at these sessions. Instead, we have someone lead and facilitate conversations around specific writing topics.
So far, these sessions have been incredible and our final session is happening this Saturday. If you’d like to be a part of this Saturday’s session, plus future, more traditional workshops, SIGN UP HERE. It’s all free and, again, only for CRY writers.
[image error]Writing workshop this Saturday was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
February 7, 2023
Some Inspiring Tips on Therapeutic Writing
Image by Miesha Renae Maiden: https://www.pexels.com/photo/enjoy-the-little-things-notebook-243221/Besides going on a good 20-minute walk and listening to music, writing has always been one of my highest forms of therapy. Since seeing a therapist is quite costly, along with the difficulty of finding a therapist who I feel is genuinely listening to me, writing, walking, and listening to music has always calmed down my overly emotional spirit. (Plus, these three activities are 100% free)!
But since you’ve most likely clicked this article to learn how writing can be therapeutic, I’ll provide some research-based evidence and give you some writing tips of my own.
Some Proven Facts on Therapeutic Writing
Image by Ugurlu Photographer: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-eyeglasses-on-book-336407/According to an article from Positive Psychology, multiple studies have shown that writing something traumatic for just 15 minutes, 4 times a day, experiences great health outcomes. Therapeutic writing can help find purpose in your life and can bring out insightful revelations about yourself.
Therapeutic writing can also help with a plethora of mental health issues like anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, substance abuse, relationship issues, and low self-esteem. (This isn’t a complete list, and please also talk with a doctor or therapist if your mental health worsens or your writing causes triggers).
Using Therapeutic Writing to Combat Life Stressors
Image by Pedro Figueras: https://www.pexels.com/photo/stress-handwritten-text-on-white-printer-paper-626165/Life isn’t ever easy. Everyone deals with different kinds of stress, and writing is a very helpful way to combat the problems at hand. As a wife and a mom, I have stressful moments on a daily basis, and having anxiety makes the stress seem bigger than it really is. That’s why I turn to writing in order to clear my head and put things into perspective.
Writing isn’t a cure-all solution to my problems, but writing poetry, journal entries, and even writing here on Medium has helped tremendously. Writing has always been a positive coping mechanism for dealing with my negative thoughts and feelings since I was a teen, and therapeutic writing is still my go-to method of therapy to this day. There will always be things in life that stress you out, but there are also many things you can do in order to handle it, so why not give writing a try?
Write What You Want to Write
Image by Miguel A Padrinan: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-bubble-illustration-1111372/Seriously, you can write anything you want. You don’t even need to call yourself a writer or feel like your writing is any good. Sometimes, it just feels great to get your thoughts out in written form. Whether you want to keep a journal to write about your daily life, write a poem or song for an impactful visualization of your emotions, create a compelling story of whatever genre you desire with characters overcoming insane obstacles, writing an open letter, or just jotting down daily affirmations, the list of writing possibilities is endless.
You’d be surprised at just how much can come out of your mind if you write your feelings out. The best part is, what you write can be completely yours, or if you wish, you can share your stories with the world.
Journal Prompts to Start Out With
Image by Jessica Lewis: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-phone-on-top-of-notebook-3361492/Journaling is one type of therapeutic writing I use daily, and I’m always eagerly thinking of new journal prompts for my soul to dive into. Here are some prompt ideas that can get you started.
How are you feeling today?
What’s one goal you’re striving for?
What are you grateful for?
Who’s impacted your life in a big way?
How has your life changed from five years ago?
What are you looking forward to?
What are some things that are bothering you?
What are some words you use to describe yourself and why?
When you were a kid, what did you enjoy doing the most?
What are some hobbies that you can’t get enough of?
Image by Suzy Hazelwood: https://www.pexels.com/photo/notebook-1226398/Therapeutic writing is an expressive way to get those complex emotions out, and the best thing about it is that you often feel better afterward. Don’t be afraid to go deep into your feelings, and I hope that using writing as a form of therapy can help you as it does me. You’re not alone in how you feel, and I hope I’ve given you a spark of inspiration to get you started on your journey to therapeutic writing.
[image error]Some Inspiring Tips on Therapeutic Writing was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
