Writing Tips at GarySpeer.com

I had an interesting, almost-useful experience in “networking” back when the Internet was very young and when networking had little or nothing to do with computers and more to do with making social contacts. (Sort of like the “social marketing” phase the Internet is going through right now.)

I was working on an M.A. in history at Missouri State University (Southwest Missouri State University then) and I was on campus doing something at the library on a Saturday afternoon. I happened to run into one of the other nontraditional (i.e., older adult) students I’d shared a class with the semester before. She recognized me and stopped to say hello. We chatted a couple of minutes and I made mention that I was working on a mystery novel manuscript.

“Oh, yeah? That’s neat,” she said. (I’m paraphrasing all this conversation from memory. Bear with me.)

“Yeah, well, I guess. I haven’t gotten far with it yet,” I said.

“Hey, when you get it done, if you want, maybe I could ask my friend Uncle Jimmy to look at it?”

Having made several false starts on novels over the years, and having frequently gotten offers from friends and their family members to look at what I’ve written, I tried to be gracious about it.

“Oh, yeah. That’s be nice,” I said (or something like that). “Uh, so who’s Uncle Jimmy.”

She smiled. “Well, he’s not really an uncle. He’s a longtime friend of the family and I used to ride horses at his ranch when I was a kid and we visited. He’s really a nice guy. And Jimmy’s had a few novels published, so maybe he could help.”

Now she had my attention. “Uh, sure. That’d be great,” I said. “So just who is Uncle Jimmy anyway?”

“His name is really James Lee Burke, but we all just call him Uncle Jimmy,” she said. “Hey, anyway, good to see you. Keep in touch.”

With that, the woman smiled and walked away. I was too surprised to say anything. I didn’t even think to get her phone number or any other contact information.

All I remember now, probably 10 years later, is that her first name was Linda and I THINK she lived and taught high school in or near Crane, Missouri.

Moral of the story: You never really know when you meet someone just who they might know and how that might fit into YOUR career/writing plans. It pays to 1) make lots of friends, and, 2) be open to lots of possibilities as a writer.

Meanwhile, Linda, if you should happen to be reading this, I apologize for not paying attention. I still haven’t finished that novel, but it would be wonderful to keep in touch with you and Uncle Jimmy, just in case …

Okay, obviously that was just to get your attention. I’m sure “real” writers and writers of all sorts do indeed drink espresso. (Some of them — not ME! — probably even got beautiful espresso machines for Christmas. I was lobbying for one of those single-cup regular brew coffeemakers, myself, but it never happened.)

Actually, though, I have a point to make here: “REAL” writers are as diverse in their personal habits and their writing habits as you could imagine. When you, whether a beginning writer, writer “wannabe,” or experienced and well-published, begin to stereotype writers (including yourself), you are on the wrong track. “If only I did this like he/she does …” is NOT the way to develop your writing style or your writing career.

It’s very natural to become a fan of someone who’s writing you admire. I’m a big fan myself of Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Stephen King, Lawrence Block, Ernest Hemingway, and many other writers. But does that mean I want to live as they do, write as they do, learn and copy their research and story development habits? No, of course not. Because what works for them may never work for me.

I once told a spiritual advisor of my, jokingly, that I admire my wife’s emotional stability and depth of character so much that “I want to be just like her when I grow up.” His immediate response to me was: “Why not be just like YOU instead?”

That showed me this particular spiritual adviser may be lacking a bit as far as his sense of humor — but he was on target in many ways with his comment.

Learn what “real” writers do. Weigh how their work habits, lifestyle choices, experience and education, etc., might be useful for you. Then make your own way down the twisting path of “writer’s world” as best you can. You’ll become the best writer you can be that way.

(Personally, I don’t care much for espresso, though I’ve enjoyed more than a few good lattes. Good old fashioned Maxwell House, however, is my caffeine source of choice.)

As I roam the halls of the wonderful world of affiliate marketing, I come upon ideas I clearly do not understand — so this is a question for those of you out there who have been doing the work longer than I: Do you have any affiliate sites that offer incentives? If so, how do your merchant partners feel about that?

I ask because most of the merchants I’m affiliated with do not allow “incentivized” sites as affiliates.

In fact, I’m not entirely sure I know what such a site would be — but I’m sure I don’t have any. Someone out there, please enlighten my ignorance. What are incentivized affiliate sites and why are they objectionable to merchants who run affiliate programs. I can sort of guess why merchants wouldn’t want me offering some sort of custom promotional product to draw traffic to my site. I assume the problem is that such traffic would not be likely to be customers, rather they would be people eager for “freebies” and just browse around.

But what I don’t understand about the whole issue is this: If someone came to my affiliate site because I was giving away a download or even a product of some sort — why would that be a problem for the merchant I’m partnering with? So what if I give ‘em a freebie — if they click through to a merchant and buy, that’s still a legitimate sale for the merchant, right?

Probably I’m getting into far too much on this subject already. But perhaps one of my readers who really DOES understand all this stuff will come along and clarify my misunderstandings and enlighten us all — I hope.