Peter Lopez Jr.'s Blog: Xulon Press Blog , page 34

New Year’s Resolution: Tackling the Blank Page

We have all been there: that white document glowing in your face, only marked with a flashing cursor simply ticking off the seconds that you aren’t writing—that you are allowing your idea to tuck further inside of you, away from the fate that waits on the page.

You have your idea, that little seed of inspiration you have carefully nurtured until a hint of a sprout peeks out, but when it comes time to coax it out into the world, you feel it shrink back into that safe space. Who can blame it? It is cozy and peaceful there, without any of the twisting and turning to find the sun and the pressure to blossom in just the right way. Any stray tendril, any leaf gone awry, will be subject to the shears—cutting away to reveal your desired shape. Even that most delicately perfect petal, your favorite, could be trimmed off if it doesn’t fit the silhouette just right.

The ubiquitous New Year’s resolution for those with their heads full of curled-up seedlings is to finally scatter them out on the page and shine a warm light on them. Why do we see writing that first line as such a hurdle? Why is typing suddenly an anxiety-inducing act?

Risk. Vulnerability. The actualization of an idea that looks so pristine in our heads, but may in reality reveal itself to be misunderstood. What we attempt to groom and trim into a soft, charming lily could turn out to be a stinking corpse flower.

And yet, we must do it anyway. We must clear our heads of these sprouted seeds—the beautiful, the odd, the painful to look at—to find what will grow in the light of that blank page. “There is nothing to writing,” Ernest Hemingway once said, “All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” It sounds horrible and painful—and it can be—but, as writers, we crave that release. All of those seedlings filling your head have curled around your thoughts and consumed your daydreams. You have a story inside of you just waiting to spring forward. You have words that the world needs to hear. You can feel the thoughts and images and characters build up within you; now let them spill out onto the page through your fingertips.

Don’t start trimming your ideas—don’t even read them—until you know what you have. Put away the critical eye of the pruning shears and simply admire the shapes that your words make on the page. Watch as they crawl and climb into places you didn’t even know they could go and transform that sad white page like lush green ivy down a flat stucco wall.

Let this be the year that you spill all those little seeds into the soil, give them love, and show them faith. A new year means a new opportunity to look at that blank screen and see promise, possibility, and purpose. The year will pass anyway, so you might as well watch what grows when you step out of the way, releasing your ideas from the shadows and flooding them with light on a beaming screen.

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Let the Holiday Season Inspire Your Writing

With less than a week until Christmas Day, we at Xulon Press are aglow with the joy that the holidays bring. As book lovers, we know just how stimulating the excitement of the holiday season can be for creative work—and, at the same time, how distracting it can be with endless to-do lists, gift buying, and traveling. Don’t let the busyness of the holiday season distract you from the writing inspiration that awaits!

Here are a few ways that you can let the spirit of the season breathe life into your latest writing project:

Use holiday travel as fodder for unique settings. As you drive to your Christmas gathering, use the wintery landscape—or the frenzy of flying cross-country—to fill your journal with detailed setting ideas for your next story. Allow the drive across mountains or plains, or the flight through fluffy clouds and vivid sunsets, to spark images of far-off places and fantastic worlds.
Create a Winter Wonderland atmosphere to inspire creativity. Turn on the Christmas-tree lights, stoke a roaring blaze in the fireplace, make a cup of hot cocoa, and fill the air with holiday music to create the perfect atmosphere for writing your next scene—especially one with a holiday theme. Let the wonder-filled atmosphere of winter and Christmas inspire you to put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard)!
Capture the joy of giving in your scenes. In the midst of the chaos and clamor of Christmas, take time to reflect on the blessings of the season in the presence of family and friends. As you meet to exchange gifts with a lifelong friend, inject that emotion into a description of friendship between two of your characters. And for inspiration to write a happy ending, it doesn’t take much more than seeing a child opening their gifts on Christmas morning.
Channel your family dysfunction into character development and vibrant scenes. For those of us whose holidays are filled with unresolved tension and bickering, the Christmas dinner table is the Holy Grail of inspiration for writing about family life. Take note of the verbal—and nonverbal—sparring, and make observations on body language, dinner conversation, and character traits. Remember, family tension equals plot tension in your novel!

Whether your holiday is filled with joy and light or stress and tension, don’t miss out on the inspiration that the holidays can provide for your writing project!

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The Books Every Writer on Your List Wants

If you want to write, you have to read, and what better gift is there for the aspiring author than a handpicked book to help them take the industry by storm? For writers, books are more than words on a page; they are teachers and models and muses. Every turn of the page should hold a new lesson for polished, effective writing. These five books are what every writer wants to unwrap this year.

1. The Book That Finds Inspiration in Real Life

Whether you aspire to write fiction or nonfiction, you must first find the beauty and narrative possibility in the everyday intimate moments we all find ourselves facing. Anna Lyndsey’s lyrical memoir Girl in the Dark captures her very normal life as it becomes increasingly not so. We all find ourselves alone with just our thoughts at times, but Anna is thrust into living almost solely in the dark and confronting her own mind—sometimes with pleasure, and sometimes with malice. Her book grasps the narrative potential of even the simplest activities with quiet, introspective prose. Once you learn how to describe the unremarkable, then you can find the words for the epic.

2. A Culmination of Advice

Every writer has a great author whose life and work sparks curiosity and inspiration. Find that author and give the gift of insight into a lifetime of writing advice. For someone who saw talking about writing as bad luck, Ernest Hemingway compiled a plethora of advice on the subject. His discussion of embracing the simplicity of writing from the gut will motivate any fans of his work to find their own personal styles.

3. The Marketing Workshop

The modern author’s job isn’t finished after the writing is done. Marketing is an integral part of literary success, and everyone can use a little help getting their books into readers’ hands. Enter Tim Grahl: “relentlessly helpful” professional book marketer who shares his tips for getting and keeping a fan base.

4. The Book That Adds a Little Poetry to Your Prose

Poetry might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the poet’s craft is built from rhythm, tone, word choice, and beat—devices all writers should be working on in their own writing. Like stumbling upon a full palate of colors after years of painting with just black and white, discovering the poetry that speaks to you can unearth potential you never saw before in your own ideas. Michael S. Harper is the perfect author to begin your journey into poetry; his use of narrative with pops of staggering truths brings together writing and music in a way that overflows his words with emotion.

5. A Lesson on Character

Nicole Krauss’s intriguing novel The History of Love uses alternating speakers and settings to advance her story, but her characters are so skillfully drawn that the narrative simply flows without any confusion. Study the magic that can happen when characters come alive.

Think about the writer in your life and what kind of book they need to amp up their craft. If you are still looking for ideas, check out our gift ideas for writers—and maybe even get something for yourself!

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5 Gifts You Didn’t Know Writers Wanted [hint: It’s not a notebook]

The holiday season is all about taking something you know and love about your friends and family and turning it into a wonderful gift that they will treasure—and you simply can’t give the writer in your life their millionth notebook! From the inspirational to the utilitarian, I have gathered together some fun, unique gift ideas that any reader or writer will love (or would make a perfect gift to yourself this year!).

1. Novel Teas

Get this on Amazon!

Do you know a tea-loving writer? Each of these English Breakfast teabags is tagged with a literary quote. All twenty-five have quotes from a variety of authors from all over the world, so every cup holds new inspiration.

2. “Just One More Chapter” Mug

Available on Amazon!

Everyone knows writers love their hot drinks, so why not give them something fun to sip out of while they tackle their next project? This mug lets everyone know just where their priorities are.

3. Frostbeard Candle

Check out Frostbeard on Etsy to get this Bookstore candle and lots of other great scents!

This charming Etsy shop offers all kinds of candles that will fill a writer’s home with comforting scents. With names like Old Books, Bookstore, Book Cellar, and Reading at the Café, writing inspiration will just be a match strike away. They even offer sample packs with names like Bibliophile and Book Nerd that include literary scents like Gatsby’s Mansion and Through the Wardrobe.

4. Literary Poster

Get this from The Bookerie on Etsy

What could be better than framing their love for books? The Bookerie on Etsy has lots of literary and book-lover quotes in their shop, ready to offer inspiration from their place on a wall or shelf.

5. Wooden Desk Organizer

This desk organizer comes in lots of different finishes on their Etsy store: iWoodDesignUSA

Most writers seem to spend their lives at their computers, so giving them a beautiful way to keep their space neat and tidy will be much appreciated! These wooden desk organizers from iWoodDesign USA on Etsy will actually make them want to sit down and write (really, what more could a writer want?).

Take your pick from this list of great gift ideas or forward it to someone who might need a little hint about what you want to find under the tree this year!

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5 Easy Steps to an Elevator Pitch

If you’re envisioning three tech guys talking about how their startup is going to be the next big thing, you’re in luck– because this isn’t about that kind of pitch. While pitching sometimes gets a bad rap, it’s important to be able to convey the message of your work quickly, clearly and concisely. An elevator pitch, which is typically presented in sixty seconds or less, challenges self-promoters to get to the point of their presentations, while effectively including all of the most pertinent information.

Will the next person you talk to about your book have a stopwatch to time your presentation? Probably not. Do you want to draw in listeners and tell them what’s most important about your work before they lose interest? Absolutely.

Step 1: Identify your goal. Do you want to share a summary of your book? Or, are you more concerned with peaking interest so people will want to buy your book and learn more? Figure out first what you want to convey in your elevator pitch and then go on to craft an opening line that is sure to grab attention.

Step 2: Introduce yourself. What’s your background and how did you come to write this book? Make sure to give yourself the credit you’re owed by letting people know who you are and how you’re associated to the work. Are you the author, co-author or PR manager? Make sure you remember to introduce yourself in your pitch.

Step 3: Explain how your book is different. As an author, you know there’s no shortage of work on the topic you’ve written about. Let others know how unique your work is and why it’s read-worthy. Focusing on key, interesting components will give your pitch high points throughout.

Step 4: Ask a question. Posing questions in speaking is one of the most common ways to engage listeners. Questions related to the work or that prompt critical thinking encourages people to stay tuned in to what you’re saying and look for answers in the remainder of your pitch.

Step 5: Conclude confidently. Your closing statement is almost as important as your opening. Reiterating what’s most important, encouraging a continuing dialogue or choosing a cliffhanger to close are all great ways to wrap up a solid elevator pitch presentation.

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What Does a Picnic Table Have To Do With Publishing?

In his latest video blog, Acquisitions Director Don Newman shares from the “Picnic Table”, a place where his team has gathered over the years to not only share and pray for each other, but also for the authors they’ve been working with.

If you’d like to get more information about publishing with Xulon Press, reach out to us at 1-866-381-2665. We’d love to hear more about your story!

 

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The 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Writing a Book

What comes first, a chapter or the title? How long is too long? Our panel of publishing experts answers your most frequently asked questions about writing a book!

 

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5 Quick, Daily Exercises To Make You A Better Writer

Reading and writing every day is the best way to sharpen your craft. What if you (like many people) don’t have time to sit down and write lengthy paragraphs on a daily basis? Or what if you need a little help with what to write? These quick and easy writing prompts and exercises are concise enough to do every day, but will give you that kick of imagination and inspiration you need for your next big writing project.

 

1.) Give It Life

Pick an inanimate object that you can see. It can be anything—a lamp, a knife, a picture frame, a highchair, a shoe, or a pencil. Now write a few lines from its perspective. What is its personality like? How does its everyday view affect it? What are its worries, its joys, its dreams? This could take a humorous spin, or become surprisingly introspective.

 

2.) Map It Out

If you are currently starting out a fictional project, think of your main character’s house. If you are beginning a memoir or are not working on anything specific, think of a house you grew up in or a place that was special to you (perhaps it was grandma’s house or your treehouse or the library). Draw a rough sketch of the place, and then label everything you can. Be specific, and think about what it says about the character (or you). If this was a special place to you as a child, how did that change the way you saw the furniture? What are the meanings behind these ordinary furnishings? What do they say about the person who lives there or goes there?

 

3.) Backstory

Pick out a stranger you have seen or met recently—the cable repairman, the woman behind you in line at the café, a child who passes you on the sidewalk. Describe them as specifically as you can using all five senses. Who are they to their loved ones? What have they been through that made them the way they are?

 

4.) The Other Side of the Story

Think of a story you know well. This could be a fairy tale, a movie, or a book you recently read. Pick someone other than the protagonist and write a paragraph from their perspective. How do they see the events? Can you flip it around the make the antagonist’s actions seem right? Or could the hapless sidekick really be the hero of the story?

 

5.) Letter List

This is super quick but will broaden your vocabulary to think of words you rarely use. Pick a letter, set a timer for three minutes, and write as many words as you can that start with that letter. Don’t think, just write. Keep writing until the timer goes off. We can too often get stuck in a rut of leaning on the same words over and over, but this will bring out some unexpected options. Keep the list and challenge yourself to include some in your next project.

 

With these exercises in your writing toolbox you will see how fun and easy it can be to train your craft. No matter what you are writing, it is good practice to uncork that inhibition to put words on paper. Be imaginative, lose the fear, and let the words flow.

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Free Printable: 5 Writing Mantras to Live By Everyday

Most days as a writer are fun. Full of creativity, where imagination and story and folklore are limitless and boundless, and the only thing holding you back is the speed at which your fingers can type.

Other days, however, the process of having to be brilliant, creative and original can be taxing; it can leave you feeling drained, insecure or ready to throw in the towel altogether.

If there’s something we know about writing, it’s that there is no truth to those little voices telling you to quit—and the best way to combat them is to dial in to some truth and plow ahead. Print off this beautiful printable of writing mantras (right-click and save, then print on regular 8 1/2 x 11 paper or better yet, card stock) and frame or hang somewhere near your writing desk. Repeat these mantras every day, and forge ahead. You’ve got everything it takes!

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Motivation Monday: What We Learned Just By Getting Out of the Car

My sister and her husband are the adventurous kind. No feat is too big, no task is too great, no car is too small. This time was no different. They packed up and began a spontaneous cross-country road trip from Florida to California. Their two daughters, who were preteens at the time, were not too excited about this adventure.

After days of endless roads, they pulled up to the Grand Canyon. My sister stood in silence with her husband, in awe of its majestic beauty. Closing her eyes, she breathed the fresh air in, completely enraptured in the moment. The colors, the great expanse, the grandness of it all was almost overwhelming.

“Come and see,” she called to her daughters who had stayed in the car. “It’s the Grand Canyon!”

The youngest looked up and replied, “Boooriiing!“

Now a funny story we embarrass her with, this reminds me of how we can be sometimes in this game of life. We miss once-in-a-lifetime moments right in front of us because we want to stay in our comfort zones. There is risk in the unknown. Maybe what is out there is simply not appealing, though you hear the call to just come and see. We don’t realize where one simple step outside of the world we know will take us. So we watch while someone else goes out and enjoys the opportunity.

It’s time to step out of that comfortable car. It’s time to not only hear the voice that’s calling, but also obey it. You might be called to a seemingly huge task. Maybe you will be called to rest. Maybe you’ll be led to leave something, somewhere, someone. It may be difficult, but whatever lies ahead is a beauty you will be completely enraptured in. Trust God the way He leads you. He never fails.

 

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