My First Time as a Professional Liar

By Jessica Hunter

People ask me what my story is about and all of a sudden I'm at a complete loss of words. It's like when someone asks: What's your favorite song? And all of a sudden your brain goes dead, and you can't even think of the last song you heard let alone which one is your favorite. Song? What's a song? This is exactly what happened to me when I attended the Liars Club this past Sunday, and it taught me a valuable lesson. But first let me go back to the beginning. To the moment I entered the den.

"We're going to sit in the front," SJWG Membership Director Glenn Walker said as we walked into the room. Little did I know, he meant the front front. As in the bright blue table that faces everyone else. The place where the professionals sit. (i.e the people who actually know what they're talking about.)

"You are a professional. If you act like a professional, then you are a professional," he told me when I expressed my concern. As I contemplated my choice, I asked myself, what is it that makes an author a professional? Is it the fact that you’ve published your stories, or is it your passion, your drive, the hours you spend doing the one thing that eventually gets you published - writing. If it’s the latter then yes, I am a professional.

Feeling slightly more confident, yet anxious, I took a seat at the table. Fellow SJWG member Bruce Capoferri offered me some reassurance. "I look in the mirror every morning and say Bruce, you are a professional salesman. Act like it." It reminded me of something Glenn mentioned earlier. "If it's not there, build it."

I needed to build the confidence that I belonged here, or at least fake it ‘til I make it, right? Honestly, I don't know why I was so afraid. It's not like everyone was going to chuck their books and pens at me. However, the room was filing with faces that I would probably see again. And I really wanted to make a good impression— in other words, not say anything stupid.

"What could you possibly say that would be stupid?" Glenn said. He was like the life coach I’ve always wanted.

The meeting started and with it my nerves hit overdrive. Sweaty palms, pounding chest, my thoughts tumbling over one another - we're introducing ourselves if you couldn't tell. But then something wonderful happened. I realized that everyone was just as nervous as I was.

"I panicked," said Dawn Byrne, fellow SJWG member.

"I feel like I'm having a heart attack," said one woman.

“Fake it 'til you make it!” someone shouted.

And then Keith Strunk put the icing on it all. "I’m not afraid to look dumb. Obviously."

I couldn't believe it. All of these established writers were feeling exactly what I was feeling. We were all in the same boat.

Now that the ice was broken, the group started talking about networking— get to know people not their pages, don’t pimp your writing, establish a network before you have something to sell. I was getting so many great notes. Just as I’m jotting down something Keith is saying, I realize that he’s speaking to me. Like he literally just asked me a question. It was then that I realized I wasn’t just a silent observer taking notes. These people had accepted me into their group. I was one of them, I was feeling on top of the world, and then the networking happened.

The first part was great. I spoke to Jon McGoran about our shared habit of writing ideas while driving. I spoke to someone else about yoga and language. I was on such a high. And then I was asked the one thing I didn't want to be asked. "So what's your story about?"

My entire brain shut down. I began babbling and hacking at my story. What is this nonsense you're saying? I thought. The guy was being so nice and patient as he listened to my rambling, but I could tell he was thoroughly confused. He had no idea what my book was about, and it sounded like I didn't know either. In fact I had somehow given him the wrong idea entirely. Just explain the themes, I thought, but even that came out a mess. He was asking all of the right questions geared to help me, all of the questions an agent would ask, and I had the answers, but none of them came out of my mouth. For some reason, my mouth had an agenda of its own, which was: gargle, gargle, gargle, Reapers, gargle, gargle, I'm not going to say anything you're telling me to say brain.

Just stop talking! I was screaming in my head. At this point he had started taking notes, "I'm just trying to get a picture," he said, but that added to the anxiety because now I was like, Why is he taking notes? He’s probably going to give them to me and say, "Get it together Jess!" Nope, he took them with him. When the conversation was finished, I rose from the table feeling paranoid, lost, and dazed beyond control.

How did this happen? How is it possible that I can fully understand my idea, yet butcher it when I try to explain it out loud? I don't know if you've ever felt this way, but it's like, you know the story - you know the plot, the themes, the characters, the twists, the symbolism you've placed throughout, yet still you don’t know how to summarize all of this in a concise way that will do the story justice. Ironically this is exactly how I feel about myself as a human being.

With that said, I left the meeting feeling completely and entirely discouraged. Maybe my story isn't as good as I think it is. But how could that be? I was just drooling over it before I left my house this morning. I'm an avid reader. I know a good story when I read one, but perhaps I am under a delusion spell. I must be blind to what I've actually written. I was now questioning everything, even my skills as a writer. My breaths were constricting, my thoughts were tumbling, it was hitting me like an avalanche. I'm having a panic attack, I thought as I sat in the backseat of Glenn's car.

When we returned to Jersey, I thanked Glenn, climbed into my car, and just sat there for who knows how long. My story totally sucks. And I've forgotten how to breathe. Maybe I should just start over? I thought, but that quickly crashed and burned. I had already fallen in love with my characters and promised them I would tell their story. I can't give up just because a seed of doubt was planted. Right?

So what did I do? I did what I always do when I'm stressed out - I went shopping.

As I'm strolling through the mall with a shirt that I don't need and feeling nonetheless better, a super model, of all people, helped me climb out of this mess. Well, it was actually just a poster in a jewelry story but same thing. Under the woman’s face was a hashtag that read: Don't crack under the pressure. The words reached out and grabbed me. They shook me by the shoulders and said "Stop freaking out! Stop doubting yourself!” It may have just been an ad for diamonds, but it reminded me that despite the anxiety I was feeling, I still believed in my story. And then I realized, I wasn’t freaking out about the opinions and advice I received. I was freaking out because I was afraid of failing. But when it comes to writing, what is failing really? You can’t fail if you’ve learned something. Sure, your book may not be picked up by a publisher, but then you'll self publish, and people will still be able to read your story. I was once told, “If you write a good story, people will freaking read it!” And in the end that's all that matters.

So don't lose hope when you start second-guessing yourself like I did, and definitely don't stop writing. Whatever you do, do not stop writing! (Seriously I'm going to want to read it once you're published) You simply take what caused the doubt in the first place, and learn from it because it is what makes us better writers. And perhaps the lesson you learn won't be about your story, but about you, yourself as a person. That’s what this ride has been for me. I walked into the Liars Club thinking I was going to learn about writing, and I left learning more about myself.

I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Sure it scared the crap out of me, and made me question everything - but that's a good thing! If everyone tells you you're wonderful all the time, then it's probably time to get some new friends. Because real friends tell you when you're doing something wrong and headed in a bad direction. They tell you the things you don't want, but need, to hear. And this is exactly how I feel about everyone I spoke to at the club. To them, I may have just been the babbling girl in the green skirt, but to me they are all my new friends.

There were two things said at the Liars Club that I will forever carry in my pocket (said by Keith and Jon respectively):

"Don't apologize for who you are" and "I'm a f*cking writer!"

About today's guest-blogger:

Jessica Hunter is a book junkie, an aspiring author, a Whovian and a Gryffindor. She dabbles in web development and yoga, but writing has always been her passion. On most days she can be found 30,000 feet in the air, but you’ll also catch her with the South Jersey Writers' Group, at her blog or on her Instagram.

Research, Research, Research

Guest post by Tony Rothman

The old adage, “Write what you know,” remains one of the soundest pieces of advice you can give a writer, be the recipient of that wisdom a novice, a veteran—or yourself. Nothing eases the agonies of creation more than the ability to draw on first-hand experience. But two provisos should be added to the age-old counsel: One, personal experience too often proves a disguise for self-indulgence; witness the sea of personal memoirs currently drowning us, as if no worlds exist beyond a dysfunctional childhood or a sick parent. Two, if you don’t know something, you can learn it.

Luckily, there is a fairly straightforward cure for both self-indulgence and ignorance: research.

This year, by a strange alignment of the heavens, I’ve had two novels published on two very different themes. The first, called Firebird, is a scientific suspense novel involving a race for nuclear fusion between two giant laboratories, a fictional one in Texas, the other the real-life ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project currently under construction in southern France. The second novel, titled The Course of Fortune, is a three-volume historical epic set in the sixteenth century Mediterranean and climaxes at the 1565 Great Siege of Malta.

By training I am a physicist and, as it turns out, essentially grew up at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, where my father worked during the 1960s. In embarking on Firebird, I was very much on home territory. Nevertheless, while I might have been able to write a novel about fusion based solely on my knowledge of physics and my memories from boyhood, it would have been neither a good nor authentic one. Science, more than any other activity, teaches you to doubt your own convictions and bend over backward to prove yourself wrong. Keeping an open mind that there may be a lot more out there than you think you know is the first step in undertaking research for any project, scientific or literary. Nowadays, the second step may be to realize that you can’t learn everything online.

For Firebird, I wanted to convey the atmosphere of a big scientific laboratory, but I had never worked at one and you can’t feel virtual labs, or smell them. To remedy that deficiency (and to do some genuine scientific research), I got myself invited to PPPL for a year, where I went through the training courses, ate lunch with colleagues, listened to their stories, sat with the crews as they ran experiments, smelled the acorn oil used to lubricate the generators. Nothing could substitute for the on-site research, which added immeasurably to Firebird’s authenticity.

Although The Course of Fortune is a historical novel, I applied much the same attitude toward researching it. The Great Siege of Malta was one of the most momentous and fiercely contested sieges in history. In the summer of 1565, between 30,000 and 40,000 Turks and Barbary corsairs invaded the island of Malta, which was defended by some 600 Knights of St. John, and another 6,000-8,000 mercenaries and untrained Maltese militia. After four months of the most vicious and ingenious fighting imaginable, the Turks gave up, having lost perhaps 15,000 men. When you first encounter the Siege of Malta, as I did accidentally while researching another possible novel, your first reaction is to disbelieve it.

That is, to a large extent, the point. The other thing science teaches you is to bring a sharp skepticism toward any subject you encounter. Had I relied solely on the Internet in writing The Course of Fortune, the book in the first place would never have come into existence. The sources available online were few and far between and not nearly detailed enough to recreate the 16th century world. What’s more, to rely on popular accounts quickly proved dangerous in terms of authenticity. If the numbers above seem slightly vague, that is intentional. Popular writers tend merely to repeat the previous writer’s account, with the result that many statements accepted as fact are little more than legends and errors passed down through the centuries. For example, the Wikipedia article at the time was obviously written by a youngster intent on recounting a heroic adventure tale. Very likely the author had read Ernle Bradford’s Malta: The Great Siege, the most popular account of the battle, which turns out to be a novel in its own right, full of inaccuracies, major errors and inventions. Nevertheless, subsequent authors have casually accepted many of Bradford’s statements, whereas serious investigation reveals that no one is certain about many details, especially of the numbers involved. (Some time ago, I should say, I rewrote the Wikipedia article.)

Thus, step three in conscientious research is to enlist a healthy skepticism of the sources that lie at your fingertips and to venture into the territory beyond. For The Course of Fortune, I needed to dig up rare four-hundred-year-old texts (including contemporary curses), which to this day have not appeared online, and I needed to teach myself to read them. I visited Malta on several occasions, climbed around the fortifications and, most importantly, found myself a Maltese advisor, who to my great fortune turned out to be not only Malta’s leading historian but exceedingly generous in sharing his time and original research. People like to help. Use them.

My approach might seem extreme to authors who have been raised online, but once a sufficient amount of research has been carried out, it will guide a novel, especially a historical one. In that sense, The Course of Fortune turned out to be one of the easiest things I ever wrote, despite its one-thousand-page length. Certainly, the research alone does not itself determine a work’s artistic success; nevertheless, it is only after you know the sights and sounds of your imagined or recreated world, its smells, its customs, the books its citizens read, the music they listen to, the food they eat, the oaths they swear, can you make it as real as the world we inhabit every day.

About our guest blogger: Tony Rothman is a physicist who has specialized in general relativity and cosmology, although he is interested more broadly in fundamental questions. Most recently he has been teaching at Princeton University. He has also written ten books for the general public and hundreds of articles. He can be found on Twitter, Facebook and his own website.  Tony Rothman will be speaking at the Lawrence Branch of the Mercer County Library in Lawrence NJ on Tuesday, June 30th at 7:00 PM.

Loner in the Garret: A Writer's Companion

Guest blog post by Jennifer R. Hubbard 

Last year, I gave a talk for the South Jersey Writers’ Group called, “It Was Sunny Just a Minute Ago: Weathering the Storms of Writing and Publishing.” It focused on an aspect of this business where I’ve needed a great deal of support myself, and have found myself encouraging others: the mental and emotional aspects. 

Writers spend a fair amount of time and energy coping with rejection, writer’s block, sudden changes in fortune, ups and downs. We try to quantify the qualitative, predict the unpredictable and control the uncontrollable. Even when we recognize how much of this is out of our power, that our power lies in our ability to tell our own stories, it’s easy to say, “Just sit down and write.” Doing it is another matter.

Out of all this came my latest book, Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion (edited by SJWG’s own Amy Holiday!). There are so many good books on the craft and business of writing already. I wanted to focus on this particular side of it, on cutting through the emotional obstacles and mind games. I wanted to produce a book that would provide short bursts of inspiration, suitable for pre-writing-session reading. I wanted to provide the kind of reassurance to others that has helped me along the way: the simple knowledge that the path is unpredictable and rarely smooth, and it’s okay to keep going anyway.

We’re not alone.

Synopsis: Sometimes the most difficult part of writing is not coming up with a plot or the perfect turn of phrase. It’s getting motivated to sit down and start, or having the confidence to go forward, or finding the courage to move past the sting of rejection. Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion provides inspiration and encouragement for that mental and emotional journey. Covering topics as varied as procrastination, the inner critic, fear, distractions, envy, rejection, joy, and playfulness, it charts the ups and downs of the writing life with honesty, gentle suggestions, and a dash of humor.

For more: http://jenniferrhubbard.blogspot.com/p/publications.html

Bio: Jennifer R. Hubbard (www.jenniferhubbard.com) is the author of three novels for young adults, several short stories, and a nonfiction book about writing. She lives near Philadelphia with a very understanding husband, a pile of books and chocolate, and a tyrannical cat.

New Year, New Rant

Presenting another in our series spotlighting various members of the South Jersey Writers' Group - today's guest blog is by Barbara Godshalk.

While it’s still only February, I thought I’d pass along a few thoughts on the new year. To quote my six year old daughter, “How many more days until spring, mommy?” I guess I got spoiled by last winter. We delicate flowers need our heat. It’s been absolutely rude out there. We haven’t even had a decent snow yet. You would think after all the carbohydrates from the holidays I’d be warm enough but no, as we say in these parts, it’s friggin’ freezing. I’ve been living in layers like a walking wool parfait. Isn’t that one 'advantage' of winter? I don’t have to see all those carbs, they’re buried under sweaters!

It’s taken years, but I’ve finally smartened up when it comes to mitigating the damage from all that shopping. Only buy what you have to for the people you’re going to see in the order you see them. For that special breed of masochists who shop on Black Friday, God bless you. I’d rather stick forks in my eyes. I’ve been able to scoop up a few bargains for friends’ kids at the post holiday clearance sales. I also shopped in my basement as much as possible. I’m a year round squirreler. If I find something for someone in July, I’ll grab it for later use.

This January has been every bit as annoying as last year. The difference is I’m feeling slightly better. I didn’t say optimistic, let’s not get crazy. I am however, busy at home and very lucky that I still have that ability. It does feel funny that I don’t have any official job lined up for tax season this year. However, that doesn’t mean I’ll be hanging out watching the “he-did-it-fry-the-bastard” channel while my girl is at school. My guilty pleasure isn’t reality TV per se, but those "Dateline" style crime shows (not something I’m proud of).

While I won’t be receiving a steady paycheck in the near future I have found money in my house (at least a few shekels). I’m getting ready for a huge clearance sale. My development has a yard sale every spring. The gory details can be found in a whole separate soap opera previously published (Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey). Yes, I haven’t given up on that. Why? We need the space.

Toys "R" Us explodes in our house every Christmas and every birthday. This goes beyond the idea of ‘it’s not the kid, it’s the crap they come with.’ This mushrooms into the network of our friends’ kids that we buy for and get gifts from. It’s like a warped Catholic Hanukkah (with a lot less meaning). The gifts go on for a lot longer than eight days. I’m trying to remember that we’re lucky to have a herd to thin. As every parent knows, old toys must disappear by stealth. We could own something my daughter hasn’t touched in over nine months. I will start to view this as a possible good candidate for sale. This toy will emit some sort of distress signal to our girl and she will suddenly find it fascinating! I never see the leftovers in our refrigerator do this.

There are also the ancient mommy clothes hiding in my dresser. I am referring to the fact that the last time I went grown up clothes shopping was for maternity clothes and maybe one other time in the last six years. If it’s older than my daughter, there’s a good chance it’s way older and should probably leave. Unlike the music I listened to in college, however, I wouldn’t call those old clothes 'classic.' No one’s possessions are safe, especially when I can’t answer the question "Why the hell are we keeping this?"

Once again, I could use to put those hearts up around the house and maybe a few turkeys would have been nice it they’d only remind me to be grateful. The problem is I need something that says, "be grateful," not "we Heart poultry." Hearts yes, but turkeys??? (I’m open to suggestions.)

If I could be said to be 'looking forward' to anything, it would be to seeing the floor in our basement. By then, the weather will be warmer, I hope. In the meantime, I’m planning to help myself survive the winter by planning a summer getaway - not for me. I’ll be looking for summer camps for our daughter!

Happy New Year, enjoy your ride in the slingshot.

About today's guest-blogger:

Barb Godshalk is a married mommy of a now six-year-old wealth of material and lives with her supportive husband in South Jersey. Her work had been featured on the In the Powder Room website as well as on Sirius XM's late lamented Lime Radio. Recently, you can find her in the South Jersey Writers' Group anthology Tall Tales and Short Stories. The majority of works involve memoir and life lessons pieces with as much humor as readers can tolerate. You can check out Barb's blog Momsanity here. Enjoy.

The Mad Writer

Presenting the next in a series spotlighting various members of the South Jersey Writers' Group - today's guest blog is by Kahlil Weston.

My writing style is based on black humor. I consider myself a dark writer. I really get off verbally smashing and dismantling people when I go into battle writer's mode. My style of writing will either have your jaw dropping about what I said or I'm socially mentally unstable as a writer. I'm prepared for the fallout if you think I'm "The World's Worst Writer." I believe in myself that I'm "The World's Greatest Writer."

I get a kick out of people when they think they got the last laugh on me and I hit them with the element of surprise and verbally shred them in my book. Be careful when you cross me you might end up in the book. That warrants a response to let you know why "The Mad Writer" had gone mad.

I treat writing on so many angles. I use it as an escape. I have no rules to writing and I break them all. If you think you can't be touched guess again. I can go ten pages long and it's like a journalist writing their report except I'm not on a deadline. It's kick ass and there's no need to ask questions later. Silencing my enemies when they see me is rewarding. Silence is golden especially when they can't counter a scathing ten-page attack.

I got the influence to write again and go professional with writing when I got to meet and kiss Mika Brzezinski. Doing that lit that fire for me to type again.

I write pretty obnoxious but I don't care. If I don't write crazy then I would go crazy. All I got to see is the dumb shit that goes on in my life or America and I can spin that metaphor. My nickname is Wes, but my other aliases to writing is "The World's Greatest Writer" and "The Mad Writer." There has to be a villain running around that people need to channel their dislike to and it's a role I grew accustomed to. I guess I'm the black sheep to the South Jersey Writers' Group. To sum it up...

"SAY HELLO TO THE BAD GUY!"

About today's guest-blogger:

Kahlil Weston has authored three books (all mature content), "The Kahlil Weston Hour," "The Wes Daddy Mack Hour," and "The Young and the Wesless" "I consider myself a different breed of a writer. I wrote with no rules and everything within my realm is fair game. When I have a bone to pick I consider myself a battle writer. I have started my own publishing company called Mad Writer Publishing. My goal with my publishing company is to publish books for writers whose last name isn't Weston."

Happy January

Presenting the first in a series spotlighting various members of the South Jersey Writers' Group - today's guest blog is by Barbara Godshalk.

Happy New Year! Jingle Bills, Jingle Bills, Credit cards are due! It’s freezing out, my pants don’t fit, no wonder I feel blue. I am knee deep in January let down. I feel fluffy - who doesn’t after the holidays? Santa forgot to leave a few things under my tree - patience, gratitude and organization skills would have been nice. Patience is one of my biggest problems. I have to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was my gut. If it took time to build up, why am I so frustrated when I don’t drop five pounds in twenty-four hours?

Organizational skills - especially where my three year old is concerned - would definitely come in handy. I wish I had a shop vac that would suck up small toys but I’d still need a place to keep them - instead of scattered. There are also toys that my daughter no longer plays with that had to disappear by stealth.

This brings me to gratitude because we are lucky to have this “problem”. I have a lot of stuff that needs to be organized. There are people - and plenty of them - who don’t have enough. I also have a spouse who is a bit of a slob. While this doesn’t help keeping the house in order, I still have a spouse - in good health - and a great father to our daughter. Said spouse also still has a job, certainly a plus in our economy these days. He is also not harassing me about my lack of full time paying employment - another unusual feature in a spouse.

All this cold weather and lack of distractions makes me introspective - what a pain in the ass.

Unfortunately, the nearest major holiday is months away. I have no problems looking forward, it’s looking around that seems to be a problem. Maybe I should have asked for a pair of good glasses. It would be great if I could see how blessed we are without having to make such a deliberate effort. More than that, I’d like to be able to relax and enjoy - does Santa do miracles?

What’s weird is that I have so much to be thankful for that I feel like a fish out of water. I had a friend remark that when you’ve spent your life waiting for the other shoe to drop, it’s hard to break the habit.

Optimism is never on sale for half price after Christmas. People do tend to talk about it in reference to a new year. Personally, I resolve not to make promises I know damn well I won’t keep. For me, optimism feels like a hair shirt. So maybe rather than resolving to be optimistic, me and optimism could meet for coffee occasionally.

Some people say optimists see the glass as half full. I’d say it needs more wine. To see the glass clearly, or anything else for that matter, I would like to be able to remove the crap colored glasses through which I’ve been seeing my self and my house. Since tempus fugit is the understatement of the century, isn’t negativity a waste of time?

I understand that this is a new year but some things don’t seem to change. We go on diets and break them and we promise to clean more and don’t. What I’d really like for this year is to hang onto the lessons I’ve learned from the last year rather than repeating mistakes like a bee trying to fly through a closed window. Personal changes seem to move along like glaciers. What is this patience and where can I get some right now??!!

This year my house will still be messy, Playboy won’t be calling, and I’ll probably be just as sarcastic as I was last year - maybe worse in an election year. However, if I’m going to fight the winter let down, I can make sure my thermostat isn’t set to cheap bastard. Not playing human vacuum when my little food critic won’t eat all her dinner would certainly help my pants - if not my outlook.

I may even manage to put a few paper hearts up around the house to celebrate love - and life - for as long as we’re allowed to have it. Hell, I may even leave them up till June. Happy New Year, Happy Valentine’s Day, and Happy Thanksgiving. How’s your winter going?

About today's guest-blogger:

Barb Godshalk is a married mommy of a now five-year-old wealth of material and lives with her supportive husband in South Jersey. Her work had been featured on the In the Powder Room website as well as on Sirius XM's late lamented Lime Radio. Recently, you can find her in the South Jersey Writers' Group anthology Tall Tales and Short Stories. The majority of works involve memoir and life lessons pieces with as much humor as readers can tolerate. It is hoped that this blog post will be the final cattle prod to start a blog of her own. Enjoy.

Writing 2.6 - What to Write About

Guest Blog by Rich Voza, originally presented on his blog, Brainsnorts: Trashing Today for a Better Tomorrow. You can see it here.

Preface 1: I started this post thinking it would only be about three paragraphs, maybe 300 words. Not so.

Preface B: I am not writing this to criticize anyone’s blog or suggest that anyone should do anything any differently than what they’re happy and comfortable doing on their blog. I’m writing this because I’ve been asked a similar question, and I’ve seen similar questions posted on other blogs, so this is an extensive answer either to those bloggers who have asked or those who are thinking of the same question but haven’t yet asked it. I’m not suggesting that I’m any kind of a blog authority or writing lord. I’m nothing of the kind, but I like questions, both asking and answering, and I like being thorough. Sometimes. Also, these are my thoughts only. Every other blogger in existence might disagree with me, and that’s not only okay but probably good.

Someone recently asked why I blog. That wasn’t easy to answer. In a way, blogging can be like a comedian testing jokes in a small comedy club before going to Vegas or Atlantic City, but that carries the suggestion that I’m “going somewhere” after this. Not likely. My blogging originally stemmed from something at work. I had to send out daily, boring e-mails to about a hundred people. I knew those e-mails would be annoying, stupid, but necessary information.

So my goal was to make it a little entertaining and perhaps make someone smile a little. I admit that it gave me a little extra boost when someone with whom I worked a long time would reply to my e-mails and tell me how funny I was or that they never realized this other side to me. I tend to be very boring and monotonous in person until I get to know someone well enough to unleash the demon known as – Rich. After enough people said, “You really should be writing for a living, or writing comedy, or host a game show or something,” I agreed, but I still wasn’t sure what to do about it. So far, this blog is all I’ve done about it. But this post isn’t about me, although it certainly seems to be going that way. This is about you. Well, not you personally, but those of you who have asked me or posted questions about blogging.

Over the past two weeks I’ve seen more than the usual amount of blog posts in which someone did one or more of the following:

1. Apologized for not posting often enough and promising their lovely readers that they will get his or her or both asses in gear and start producing more.

2. Acknowledged that they just couldn’t think of anything to write about lately.

3. Promised not to let that blog fizzle out and die like a previous blog.

4. Asked readers to help decide what they should write about next.

I’ve also seen blogs on which the author posted a poll asking readers to vote for a favorite topic on which the author should mainly focus. Movies? Television? Music? Books? And I’ve also seen the blogs on which an author begins a story and asks readers to make suggestions on which direction the story should take. Now that I’ve made you read through about 600 words, I’ll get to the point, but it’s nothing you haven’t heard before.

If you’re not sure what to write about, most people say, “Write what you know.” I disagree. I say, “write what you feel.” If you see a movie you love – write about it. If you read a book that bores you, or turns you on, write about it. If a driver on the road next to you does something that pisses you off and you’re thinking of giving her a flat tire, write about it. If you love to cook, take pictures of the process, sketch the details of the recipe, and write about it. If you love sports or political debates, park your laptop in front of the television, take notes, and write about it. And if you find yourself strangely attracted to the female news anchors of CNN, well, maybe you should keep that to yourself. You shouldn’t just write about things or topics without specifying how those things affected you. I don’t need you to tell me what the movie was about. I need you to tell me how it made you feel. If all I want are the facts, I’ll watch the news. No, not Fox News. Duh, I said “facts.”

 Every one of us has probably heard the words “write what you know.” Well, if I’m an electrical engineer, and I know electrical engineering, but I love hockey, then I’d said it’s better to write about hockey than electrical engineering. One particular blogger I know used to write great posts about lists of all kinds. Movies of the 60’s, breakfast cereals, sexy commercials, all kinds of things, all kinds of lists of things with his opinion on why each deserved to be anywhere from #10 to #1. After a while, he thought perhaps he should only write about one thing – movies, food, sexy things? So he asked his readers to vote, and I politely told him that was not a good plan. His readers were not there because they loved movies or commercials. They were there because they liked the combination of his style, attitude, and opinion. Readers did not care if he made a list of oatmeal flavors or golf courses, they just cared that he was entertaining in his presentation.

He had a counter argument. “But blogs with specific topics have more readers than blogs that don’t have a specific focus.” Yeah, he’s right, but that’s because there are people out there who only want to read about food or cars or a guy pretending to be a girl and writing about “her” promiscuous exploits. So those readers had searched for blogs about food or cars or sex, and then those readers follow those blogs. True they might have more followers and “likes,” but that doesn’t mean those readers are enjoying it more. Those topic-specific blogs will likely have more views per day, but that doesn’t mean they’ll have more comments or a more interesting and rewarding conversation. I’d rather have 20 comments than 100 views because I’m not really about the numbers as much as I am about the interaction and conversation. I’d rather have two people give me their opinions on my book or movie review than 20 people just click on it and go away.

The other question that comes up is how often to post, which, although it’s a matter of personal preference, I can at least give not a writer’s but a reader’s perspective. In the almost 500 bloggers I follow, there are some who post several times a day. Sometimes it’s all photography, each picture as a separate post. For me, that’s overkill. For photog fans, it’s a mother lode. After a while, I’m breezing through because I don’t have time to study them all – but I know I’m not the target audience. I also follow blogs on which there might be three or four new poems a day, each in a separate post. Having studied poetry extensively in college, I love reading and interpreting poetry, especially when I can sometimes leave a comment that lets the poet know that I can feel exactly what they were thinking. I love when that happens, but most readers don’t have time for careful reading of everything that we all post every day. Conversely, there are other authors who post only once a week or less. I wish they’d write more, but those carefully crafted, well-researched, and very entertaining posts just can’t possibly be produced on a daily basis.

Please remember, neither me nor any individual is important enough for you to aim your blog at us. Those writers and photographers do not need to care one bit about what I have to say. They only need to care about how it makes them feel to write and post what they’re writing and/or photographing. So, if you’d like a one-sentence answer to sum things up, it would go like this:

Instead of “write what you know,” consider “write what you want others to know.” And I want others to know how I feel about the movie I saw, the book I read, the mouse I accidentally stepped on, etc. And if I write it well enough, then you will know exactly how I feel because I will have chosen the right words so that you feel it too.

About today's guest blogger:

Richard Voza Voza has been writing since 4th grade when he forgot about a summer book report and created a story called Carrot Top Mr. Mouse, about a mouse ridiculed for his red hair. After accidentally becoming an English teacher for 25 years, he now takes writing seriously.

The first volume of his short story collection, When the Mirror Breaks, has been accepted by Whiskey Creek Press. He is currently marketing a suspense novel called Woodbury Avenue, about a stalker in a quiet suburban neighborhood. Two other finished novels are Lizzie’s Journal (paranormal) and Room 317 (suspense).

Most days he drinks coffee and wonders if anyone will read his blog, brainsnorts.com. Other days he sits on the beach, listens to baseball, and watches the waves with friends and a cooler nearby.

Merry Jones at SJWG

Guest Blog by Victoria Marie Lees.

At the South Jersey Writers Group monthly meeting held on November 2l, 2013, writers and friends welcomed Merry Jones, an established novelist and writing teacher at Temple University. Merry has a master’s degree in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania and an impressive array of writing credentials from humor to non-fiction to mystery, including her latest release, Outside Eden.

Merry opened her discussion with a surprising fact: The average writer earns about $3,500 per year.

“So why do we write?” She asked the assembled writing group.

That’s a good question.

Merry informed the group that some people have a need to communicate. Writing is a communication process. “Writers are writers because they can’t help it. If we don’t write, we feel guilty.”

The process of writing is a lifestyle for the writer according to Merry. It’s a part of their personality, a basic fundamental aspect of their lives.

One of her grad school professors felt that creative people must create. If they didn’t, there would be physical symptoms to deal with. Merry finds she becomes grouchy and agitated if she doesn’t write regularly.

While some writers at the meeting agreed, some writers felt that they needed to wait for inspiration or a reason to write. This brought up a very real obstacle for many writers: incentive. With no agent, no book deal, why am I writing? Why write if I’m not getting paid to write. I should find a real job and make money.

Merry understood their quandary. She had it at the beginning of her career, too. She informed the group how the publishing field has changed since she wrote her first book, advances are much smaller, no paid tours by the publishing house. Editors don’t promote writers like they used to. They don’t help writers much.

“In publishing no one is your friend,” Merry said, “not your agent, not your publisher. Sales numbers are how you acquire your next book deal.”

Merry was cut by St. Martin’s Press because she was a midlister, as that publisher eliminated all midlisters at that time. Her agent cut her off too. She was lucky, though. Through some writing friends she acquired another agent about a year later, and because she continued to write, Merry had books to give her new agent. Small presses are a good alternative to the big publishing houses.

Writing groups are essential for both the budding writer as well as established writers. “All writers need writers to share experiences, energy, and the drive to continue writing.” Merry said.

And she’s correct.

Do people really decide to become writers or is it instinctive? What do you think? Why do you write?

About today's guest-blogger:

Victoria Marie Lees has been a member of the South Jersey Writers' Group for several years, maintains blogs at Adventures in Writing: One Woman's Journey, Parenting Special Needs Children, and Camping with Kids, and she can be found on Twitter.

NaNoWriMo: Through the Eyes of a Novice

Guest blog by Lisen Minetti

I first heard of NaNoWriMo only a few months ago, when I finally crawled out from underneath my rock wanting to connect with other writers. Before then, writing was just something I loved to do for myself. I rarely shared my stories, or talked about my writing with others. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there was an entire month dedicated to novel writing!

However, I viewed the idea of NaNoWriMo with a healthy dose of skepticism at first. The thought that someone – namely me – could write 50,000 words in 30 days seemed like madness! The fact that I was seriously considering participating left me questioning what little sanity I claim to have.

On the one hand, I did have a story floating around in my head, and had just finished work on book one, so I knew I was capable of finishing a manuscript. On the other hand, however, a little voice inside my head kept reminding me that it took the better part of eight months to write that first book; and that my word count of said book was only around 35,000 words. Yet here I was, contemplating challenging myself not only to write 15,000 words beyond that, but to do so in one-eighth of the time.

But I love a challenge. So I signed up for NaNoWriMo in September with all the same feelings as if I were walking into a particularly scary haunted house: fear, trepidation, and a twinge of excitement. I had no idea what to expect and the possibility that I was going to pee my pants and run away screaming half way through was very real.

To my delight, once I entered the world of National Novel Writing Month, excitement began to edge out the fear. Despite my pantster leanings, I started to jot down ideas and notes to help me organize my thoughts for the upcoming project. I wrote out a timeline for characters to follow, knowing this would help as the entire story took place over the space of five days. I created note cards describing the powers my little witch discovered in book one, and all the ones I wanted her to discover in book two. I pitched my story to my cat, who really didn’t care enough to be bothered with it, and also to my husband, who was helpful in ferreting out holes in the plot. And when I finished all my prep work on October 1, I was ready to write!

Unfortunately for me, National Novel Writing Month is November, not October, so my story had to sit. And about a week before November, I realized I wasn’t excited about my story anymore. Panic ensued and I was almost ready to call off the whole thing. I mean, how could I possibly write a story I wasn’t excited about? Well, there’s the rub. I realized that if I only wrote when I was excited about what I was working on, nothing would ever get finished.

So come November 1, I sat down and just started writing. I didn’t stay up until midnight on Halloween; I didn’t get up early to start writing before work. I waited until I got home from work that Friday and made a commitment to sit in front of my computer until something – anything – came out. And eventually it did come. Within the first few hours, the enthusiasm flooded back and in the first three days I wrote over 10,000 words.

By the end of week two – November 14 – I had written close to 30,000 words. There were days when I hated every word I wrote. Nights when I felt like doing anything else other than writing. Times where I wanted to do nothing more than delete whole sections of prose. But I didn’t. I wrote through it. And came out on the other side.

Week three of NaNoWriMo is upon us and I have written nearly 40,000 words. And with a little luck and lot of hard work, I will ‘win’ NaNoWriMo by the end of this weekend, hitting the coveted 50,000 word mark.

On top of that, I blogged nearly every single day. I continued to help my kids with their homework. I haven’t missed any meals, or suffered from an insane lack of sleep. I worked a full forty hour week every week just like always. And I had the flu.

So how did this miracle happen?

It happened because I embraced the spirit of NaNoWriMo at the outset: I sat down and wrote every single day. Writing became part of my daily routine. If I wasn’t writing, I was thinking about plots and character flaws and story lines. During homework time I would imagine how my characters would behave when their mothers’ were helping them study. When I was sick, exhausted and so cold I could barely feel my fingers, I wrote about the misery I felt, which evolved into a new scene I didn’t anticipate at the outset. But it worked.

When I got frustrated at my story or hit a wall, I wrote some more. I turned to my blog creating a “Dear Abby” format to give myself encouragement and vent my frustrations. I made up stupid songs and skits. I was creative in other ways, and soon my story was back on track.

Most importantly I didn’t give up. I kept writing, even when I didn’t want to. I didn’t necessarily add words to my WIP every single day, but I wrote every single day. Something. Anything. Just to keep writing. Because not writing is the only surefire way to ‘lose’ NaNoWriMo.

And if I end up not hitting the 50,000 word count? Well, I am okay with that too. I write middle grade, so my story may not have that many words to it. But even if I don’t hit my word count, I have something to be proud of: A first draft that I didn’t have on October 31 and the knowledge that I didn’t give up. And there’s always next year.

About today's guest blogger:

Lisen Minetti really hates writing bios because she feels stupid talking about herself in the third person. She lives, works and writes outside of Atlantic City with her husband, two kids and an evil cat. Her current WIP is a middle grade series, the Cady Martin Witchsteries:

As if growing up weren't hard enough, twelve year old Cady Martin has to live with a big secret: she's a witch. While she is busy trying to learn her newfound powers and keep her secret from the rest of the world, she also finds that she has a knack for attracting trouble. No matter where she goes, danger seems to follow her - both from this realm and the supernatural realm.

You can connect with Lisen on her blog or on Twitter.
 

SJWG at the Maple Shade Library

Guest blog by Dawn Byrne

A group of writers and readers didn't let the cold weather keep them from meeting on Novmber 13th at the Maple Shade Public Library in Burlington County New Jersey, inside Maple Shade's municipal building at 200 Stiles Ave. Visitors are encouraged to ask for assistance with information, as you can tell by this sign on the wall above the librarian's desk just inside the library.

This was the South Jersey Writers' Group's second visit to the library this year to promote their anthology, Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey. Members of the SJWG are preparing to publish a second Tall Tales anthology within the next year, so look for more local tales to come. The SJWG thanks the Maple Shade Library for inviting us back to speak about writing and publishing.

One audience member shared her sad experience with a publishing company and how the company not only didn't promote and distribute her book after she had paid them, but that she has lost control of her book. Writer Marie Gilbert suggested the importance of being part of a writing community, especially for new writers. The panel also mentioned that information and support from a group, and resources they offer, can help keep writers from becoming prey to dishonest publishers. And, as luck may have it, the SJWG is open for membership until the end of December.

The evening also featured an opportunity for public readings. Our panel read from their works and then opened the floor to the audience. John Farquhar, author of What To Expect When You're Dead, read his short story "Bad Day For Santa" from our highlighted anthology, Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey. Staying with the holiday theme, Dawn Byrne read her short story, "The Christmas Hostage" from the book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: It's Christmas. Both authors received laughs for their humorous works as well as applause.

John L. Smith, a retired economics teacher and member of the Juliette Writers' Group, which meets in Moorestown's Barnes & Noble on the third Tuesday of every month (except December), read two of his poems from his self-published book, Food For Thought. His poems, "Dark Satanic Mills" and "Pins In New Shirts" raise empathy and awareness for those forced to work in sweat shops.

Marie Gilbert, who is up for Skelations' Blogger of the Year 2014 (have you voted yet?), answered questions from the audience and spoke about the value social media holds for promoting oneself as a writer. She explained how blogging can create a brand for a writer, showcasing his voice, style, and type of writing for his readers, which can attract multiple reader audiences.

Our cold evening continued to warm up at 8 PM when the discussion switched locations. Some of the panel and audience attended a reception at Dawn Byrne's home. They exchanged mutual conversation that moved from general writing and publishing topics to specific issues.

The South Jersey Writers' Group appreciates the Maple Shade Library, the SJWG panel, and an amazing audience for a memorable evening of the spoken and written word.

About today's guest blogger:

Dawn Byrne, a grandmother, writes inspirational and fictional stories about families from her New Jersey home. She's a member of the South Jersey Writers' Group, facilitates the Juliette Writers' Group, and teaches Sunday School. Dawn strives to leave a small carbon footprint, reads classical literature and has stories featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories for Wives: 101 Daily Devotions to Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire You and Chicken Soup for the Soul: It's Christmas. Her website is www.dawnbyrne.yolasite.com.