Category — Writing and Life

My manly "machismo" probably is driving this statement: Worrying about how and where I sit while writing on my computer has always seemed silly to me. "Real men" (and "real women") can pound those keyboards anywhere and scoff at such silliness as "ergonomically correct" workstations or whatever.

Wow, I have changed that attitude completely in the last week.

Now I'm struggling with the way my chair's adjusted, the way my laptop sits on the table -- a table with an array of angles and heights that are adjustable -- and the posture I use while I work. If I could afford it, I'd even run out this afternoon and get an expensive adjustable beds to try and sleep better most nights.

Why the sudden change? Why the new found appreciation for ergonomics?

You've probably guessed already what my problem is: I am suffering from some sort of Repetitive Strain Injury, apparently, though I've not seen a doctor for a formal diagnosis.

I am struggling to work more than two or three hours a day on my blogs, my writing, and my online activities. After two or three hours of steady work, my wrist begins to ache, my forearm joins in the throbbing, my bicep starts to twinge, and my shoulder even feels sore. It's only happening in my right arm, the one which stretches most to hit the keyboard and the one which uses the mouse most.

I mention all this not to gain sympathy or indulge in self-pity. I mention this as a cautionary tale for all of you reading this. I have been typing/keyboarding pretty much full-time at one job or another and in my spare time for more years than most of you probably have been alive. (Okay, I'm maybe exaggerating there, but probably not by much. I've been making some sort of money from writing and editing in one way or another since 1973.) Based on all that, I never dreamed I would be smacked with this kind of physical problem now. Thought I had at least another 30-40 years of good typing left in me??

Be careful how you sit. Be careful how you hold your hands, your wrists, your shoulders, all of those things. Find a good chair, a good table/desk/stand for your computer. Take ergonomics seriously.

I do now.

Technorati Tags: keyboarding, ergonomics, Repetitive Strain Injury, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Whether you're writing a real estate ad to plug office space Connecticut style, blogging about how to sell on eBay, or writing the middle section of that novel you've been working on over the years, you must always consider your audience.

For that reason, I posted here a few days ago inviting comments and feedback about what you, faithful readers, would like to read about here.

The response was less than overwhelming. There were a few of you who chose to contact me, and I already responded to one question regarding getting a blog indexed in Yahoo.

So I'll take this occasion to ask once more: What would you like to read about on this blog concerning writing tips, types of writing, Internet writing and blogging tips, or any other writing related topic I've not mentioned?

Here's a preview of something coming up: I had a blogger contact me who specializes in blogging about tips for doing business online, with special expertise about marketing on eBay. He is interested in doing a "guest post" for me here and we're working out the details. You can expect something from him in the next week or so.

Send me some "Contact Us" feedback or leave a comment please. I really want to know my reading audience better.

Technorati Tags: types of writing, writing for an audience, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Welcome back -- to myself.

I guess the busy-ness of the season, the alternating cold weather and torrential, tornadic downpours -- it's a conspiracy, I tell ya, a conspiracy to keep me offline.

Okay, I'm not the victim of any conspiracy except the conspiracy of time and events we call life. Since I work at maintaining and doing chief writing for six different blogs, sometimes I lose track. In this case I honestly didn't know it had been four days since I last came here to share some of my wit (half) and wisdom (?) with you. But here I am, so here we go.

I hope to appeal to your better nature with this one -- tell me about your writing life. I'm inviting comments here because I really hope some of the experiences I've had as a writer and editor may be of value to you. But that can only happen as I know more about you who are reading this. What sort of writing do you do or do you hope to do? Are you more interested in writing short stories or novels? Fiction or nonfiction? Copy writing or poetry?

I have been looking for some good software that will allow me to post a poll or some similar multiple-choice feedback options so I can get to know more about you who read this blog with a view to helping me understand what you'd like to read.

I'm still looking for that software. Any of you who blog have any suggestions?

Talk to me, friends and regular readers. Talk to me, first-timers and occasional visitors.

The floor is open and I await your comments, questions, and suggestions. And if you're most comfortable not posting a public comment, then use the "Contact Us" page and it'll send email directly to me without making your comments or questions public.

Technorati Tags: what do you write, writing types, writing tips at garyspeer.com

If nothing else, every writer out there needs to read Shakespeare at least occasionally for the rich link he provides to the past of our language and English culture. Just as everyone who really wants to be a writer in the English language also needs to read the King James Bible.

So what are your favorite quotes from Shakespeare? I don't mean the hackneyed "To be or not to be" stuff, although that's fine enough. Are you familiar with his many other plays BESIDES what I think of as "the Big Three"? (Those would be "Hamlet," "MacBeth," and "Romeo and Juliet." Breathes there an American past high school age who hasn't at least heard of those three?)

Have you read Shakespeare's Sonnets? No? Maybe?

Here are my two favorite Shakespearean quotes:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep." (From his play "The Tempest")

And:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." (Sonnet Number 18)

Sure, I confess: The second one is probably the ONLY one of his sonnets that everyone who's ever read English poetry has read. That doesn't diminish it, does it? Here's a "confession," but keep it secret, just between us: I cannot read that sonnet without thinking of my wonderful, glorious wife of nearly 41 years. (And, yes, I do let her know that frequently. Pay attention to that, all you young husbands out there.)

What are your favorite quotes from Shakespeare? Leave a comment and tell us all, please.

Technorati Tags: Shakespeare, favorite Shakespearean quotes, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Funny how cliches creep into the language, isn't it?

I was looking at some stuff related to steroids -- yes, I am a baseball fan and, yes, opening day is very soon -- and realized as I searched Google that the expression "put you ... on steroids," meaning something like "make your ... spectacularly, gigantically, great" and is used about everything from muscles to websites. (My search also taught me that there really are such things as legal steroids out there which are sold both in stores and online. But be very careful if you're in the market for the legal steroids, would be my suggestion.)

Have you, too, encountered this relatively new cliche? I assume it came about through all the press steroid use in sports has been getting in recent years. I imagine someone took the accepted wisdom that steroids cause rapid increases in growth and muscle mass and made it into a metaphorical (is that correct?) expression for rapid growth in any area.

Anyone know how the expression may have started? I'm suffering a mental lapse this evening and can't think of a quick and ready source to check out the origin of the expression. Anyone out there able to enlighten us? Tell us if you can, please.

Technorati Tags: legal steroids, metaphors for strength or growth, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I've always given some thought to setting up a forum for writers and bloggers to share their questions, answers, and tales of woe and whoopie. Problem is, there are millions (yeah, maybe really millions) of forums on the Internet for blogging and/or writing. What could I offer that isn't already done frequently and done better in the way of a forum?

Then it occurred to me: Why not ask the people who hang around here how they feel about a forum for the website? Anybody interested?

Obviously I won't have time to handle it if there are hundreds and thousands of people who flock to it and sign up. And, frankly, my desire in life isn't to run such a forum. (I do belong to a couple of such forums and really enjoy them, though.) But I'm sort of interested in the idea of setting one up -- if there's interest in such a critter.

In fact, this blog is "powered" by WordPress software, and I know of at least one WordPress plugin that's supposed to make it easy to set up a forum.

Let me know. Forum or no forum?

Now I'm off to see what sort of easy poll/survey plugins might be around for WordPress. Any body know of one in particular?

Technorati Tags: writing forums, blogging forums, setting up a forum, writing tips at garyspeer.com

In a recent post, we discussed the importance of organization and scheduling your writing efforts. I came up with a revolutionary way that works for me. It's called a pocket organizer or calendar. Yes, truly "revolutionary" because it's so "low-tech" in our world of computers and gadgets.

I don't care whether you own the latest, cutting edge PIM software, an expensive Hublot Big Bang watch (which I understand are highly coveted and not easy to find) -- if you don't actually USE the scheduler or organizing tool, it won't work for you.

Which brings me back to the trusty pocket organizer. I'm not talking about anything digital or electronic here. I'm talking about something made from paper, bound in a plastic cover, with each two-page spread holding a single week. (If you want to go the luxury route, look for one with each two-page spread holding a single day.)

It works for me. It probably works where none of the others do because I'm accustomed to pulling something out of my back pocket or book bag, flipping through it, and using a pen or pencil to write in it, check off completed items, cross off changes, etc.

Funny thing, but something just that old fashioned works for me because it's what I used first, in those long ago days before I had a laptop computer or my trusty AlphaSmart Neo.

So do what works for you. Don't try to adapt yourself and your writing comfort to new scheduling technology. Yes, learn to use all the high-tech tools out there, and learn to use high-tech organizers if you really want to -- but find what REALLY works for you and then "just do it."

Technorati Tags: time organization, scheduling, writing time, writing and life, advice for new writers, writing tips at garyspeer.com

There's a nasty stereotype of writers hunched over their keyboards in a smoke-filled room, planted firmly in "The Zone," creating tons of material in marathon writing sessions alleviated only by booze, drugs, and an occasional glass of milk.

Or something like that.

You've seen such imagery in movies and novels, I'm sure. It's the "bad boy/bad girl behavior and excesses stimulate the creative juices" mentality of writing and art. Blasting through life with the after burners flaring seems to attract certain personality types, including those creative people who often strive to write. Too many young writers fall into the trap of thinking they will live forever and always have the mental edge it takes to write like demons. They give little or no thought to tomorrow and tomorrow's career.

In real life, every writer I've known personally has either 1) never behaved even remotely like that, or, 2) managed to salvage their lives and careers by going through drug rehabilitation, alcohol rehabilitation, or a good, swift "kick" of proper diet and exercise followed by a major change in lifestyle.

We've gotten way past that destruction-means-creativity mentality for writers, haven't we? My reason for bringing this up is that I fear young or new writers, especially in this age of celebrity gossip and entertainment 24/7 on the Internet and cable TV, may fall into such a trap.

Don't let abusive or negligent behavior drain your creative resources. Keep your mind and body in shape and "clean" from all the garbage that's out there to tempt you.

Now get busy and write something that'll make us all proud of you.

Technorati Tags: drug rehabilitation, destructive lifestyles, creative resources, advice for new writers, writing and life, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Have you ever wanted just the right poster or framed artwork to hang above your trusty writing desk/sofa/whatever?

Now you can find just what you're looking for right here at our blog. You can click on this link to get there, or you can simply use the "Posters & Artwork" link in the site navigation bar at the top of each page on the site.

Take a look around. I hope you'll find something there you like. If you want to click on any link on the poster/artwork displays, you'll be taken to the merchant's website and you can find a huge selection of posters and framed or unframed artwork on just about any subject or topic that might suit your decorating fancy.

Technorati Tags: posters, artwork, framed posters, framed artwork, writing and life, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I just realized that I've mentioned "Writer's Digest" magazine from time to time in this blog -- but I've never, as far as I can find, featured their website as one of my "Useful Websites."

So that's what I'm doing today: Go right over to the Writer's Digest website and take a good look around. They have a nice bunch of resources on their website, almost as useful as the magazine itself. I strongly recommend the link near the top of the page to their set of blogs. They have specialized blogs done by various editorial staff members and staff writers you really need to look over and take advantage of.

No matter what your interest in writing or your area of expertise, there's a wealth of good stuff at the Writer's Digest website. They push their various paid writing courses -- and I suggest they're all good and all worth the money. But they have a lot of free material and useful links to the writing world and the publishing industry. I suggest you bookmark their site and return regularly. Make it part of your writing routine.

Technorati Tags: Writer's Digest, free writing information, publishing information, useful website, writing and life writing tips at garyspeer.com

When I began trying to write novels some years ago now (too many years ago now), I thought I would really like to write "Westerns." Or, as they are often called now, "historical novels set in the West." I'm not sure why this genre appeals to me, except that I grew up in the 1950s and '60s when there were whole barns full of Westerns on television. I was first an avid fan of "The Lone Ranger," then "Gunsmoke," and of course "Bonanza." Coming in between were such great series as "Wyatt Earp," "Maverick," and "Have Gun Will Travel." There were a ton more, but you get the idea.

I've always thought I would not like writing anything resembling a "current events" historical novel. I doubt that's a legitimate genre anyhow, but I can't think of a better term. I'm referring to novels set in contemporary time that rely on any sort of intricate knowledge of the culture and world events going on. I'd always be afraid I'd get too many details wrong. (Remember our discussion a couple of months ago about anachronisms?)

I suppose I could pull that contemporary thing off if I dealt with a tiny snippet of current life. But if it required knowledge of computer software, for example, I'd be lost, especially if it were gaming software because I hardly ever do games.

If I had to talk about cars, I wouldn't know a set of Z06 Corvette wheels from a set of Ford Contour hubcaps. (I guess they call them wheel covers these days.) Even here, though, I could find help. In fact, if you click on the link here to "Z06 Corvette wheels," you'll get to an entire website, "WheelHQ.com," which features some excellent deals on custom wheels, and includes a section with "how-tos" related to using those wheels.

In fact, the Internet is a great resource for researching just about any contemporary cultural theme and historical period. But I personally would feel more confident and comfortable writing about something more "static" than contemporary history, if you wish to call it that.

What period of history do you write about? Why did you choose that particular time and/or place? Do you adhere pretty closely to the times and customs or do you "lie" and make things up when you must? Tell us, please.

Technorati Tags: historical writing, contemporary culture, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Everyone reading this who has NOT mastered the techniques of scheduling, daily "to-do" lists, time management, etc., RAISE YOUR HANDS HIGH.

Yeah, that's my chubby little paw sticking up right there in the front row.

I'm going to assume that you naturally went to Suzanne Lieurance's website, The Working Writer's Coach, after she was a "guest blogger" via one of her excellent articles last week. You did go there, right? And you did sign up for her excellent daily email highlighting writing tips, "The Morning Nudge," right? If you haven't done that yet, you can sign up for "The Morning Nudge," or "The Nudge" as I call it, right at the top right-hand column on her home page.

Go ahead. Go there and sign up now. I'll wait.

Now. My point about the importance of scheduling is simply a reinforcement to her tip in "The Nudge" today. I quote:

"People always ask me why I'm not stressed out over all the things I have to do every day.

"My answer is simple.

"I schedule everything.

"Once something is on my schedule, I don't think about it any more until the scheduled time for it.

"That way, I'm able to relax and focus on just one thing at a time."

See why you need this nifty little daily boost in your writing life? I could drone on here about all the techniques I've tried and perhaps you've tried, too. I could tell you about spending literally HOURS roaming the Internet over the years looking for just the right Personal Information Manager (PIM) software. I could tell you the many times I've been confused trying to use Outlook and trying to use Time & Chaos, and a bunch of other fancy time management software. (If all the time management tips and software I've gone through in the last five years were like travel supplies and luggage, I'd be well equipped for a quick three laps around the world.)

But I won't tell you all that. I'll just give you the only two tips that have ever helped me schedule and organize my time and efforts as a writer -- on those days when I discipline myself to use them. Here they are:

1. Write everything down when you think of it.
2. Look over all that you've written down and take it one step at a time.

Be sure to use lots of notecards, stickies, and scratch pads. That'll create lots of random scraps of chaos to make you look and feel busy.

Seriously, tell us about your system. How do you organize or disorganize your writing life?

Disclaimer: This post has been brought to you at the urging of my Good Wife, St. Shirley the Encourager (I call her "St. Shirl" for short), who has been after me all day to get organized and accomplish something more than sitting here moaning about how in the world I'm ever going to accomplish anything yet today.

Technorati Tags: scheduling, time management, organizing your writing, advice for new writers, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I know the question in the title of my post isn't really that on-topic for writing and writing tips, but I know also that part of what I do at this blog is discuss general issues related to writing.

So where do you shop most often when you buy books? Is there a favorite local bookstore you go to? Do you shop mostly online for books? Or do you go to the "big box" offline bookstores? (Here's a useful link for you for Barnes and Noble coupons, if you're interested in buying online from their website.)

My wife, Shirley, and I generally watch for email coupons that we get regularly from Borders and go to our local Borders to use them. That doesn't happen often, because we don't buy that many books, really. Or if we buy them, they're often "Christian" writing that we buy through a local outlet linked to our former employer -- where Shirley still gets a regular 30 percent discount as a retiree.

Do you mostly shop for books with coupons, either online or offline? Do you ever go to used book stores? (What's the correct way to say that "use bookstore" or "used book store"?) We have several stores in my town that offer some great deals on used books. Those are mostly paperback fiction, but they offer a fair amount of non-fiction stock, too.

Or do you generally use the public libarary a lot and buy very few books?

I suppose the 800 pound gorilla in the room when you discuss book buying has to be Amazon, followed closely by eBay. Even with shipping charges, you can often find a specific book more quickly and cheaply through Amazon or eBay than shopping locally.

What about you? How, when, and where do you shop for books? Tell us, please.

Technorati Tags: books, book buying, online bookstores, used book stores, writing tips at garyspeer.com

This seems to be a day all about words for me. I was just sitting here looking at some papers and realized what an important role "nicknames" play in our writing.

A pseudonym can be thought of as a type of nickname -- the pen name you choose or that is given to you by a publisher for some reason. Some pen names and the reason behind them are now classics: "George Eliot," you probably know, was really a woman. Her real name was Mary Ann Evans and she wrote Victorian novels. She chose a male pen name to make people treat her writing more seriously. "Richard Bachman" was a pen name used by Stephen King. It seems almost laughable now, given his practically-a-book-a-month writing pace, but when he was starting out King's publisher wanted to limit the novels released under his name in any year's time. So King came up with that pen name.

Getting away from pen names, I have a name/nickname situation which has led to minor confusion all my life. My given first name is "Garold." The name family and friends have used for me all my life is "Gary." At some point in my high school years, I started making any business or "official" records use "Garold," but still continued with "Gary." As it happens, there is a "Gary" in the city where we live with the exact same last name. He's gotten phone calls from people asking me about everything from magazine articles to sermon editing. He works in a music shop, last I knew, and repairs instruments. I was totally unhelpful on the one or two occasions when I got calls about saxophones and clarinets.

Do you have a pen name? Do you have a given name/nickname mix up you've been living with? Tell us about it, please.

Oh, yeah. I also have a slang nickname I picked up when I worked as a delivery driver. Don't think I'll share that one publicly.

Technorati Tags: nicknames, pen names, Stephen King, George Eliot, writing tips at garyspeer.com

It's good once in awhile to remember that now classic name tag applied to the Internet by Al Gore -- I think it was Gore who popularized it anyway? -- the "information super highway." Because on most days, you can easily forget the "information" aspect of the Internet. It seems everywhere a person turns, you run into porn sites, porns sites disguised as legitimate sites, spammers trying to sell you everything and anything (including porn), and lots of gossip and wild rumors.

But that's not the point of this post. I want to get you back to the information concept, specifically websites run by newspapers. Would you have thought five years ago that you might find reading your local paper easier and more useful online than offline? Many mornings before leaving for work last summer, I was able to go online and get all the stuff I wanted from our local newspaper's website long before our carrier threw it behind my wife's flower bushes where it was almost impossible to reach.

Now I have several newspaper websites bookmarked and go to them regularly for news and information to help me as a writer and a blogger. I am no longer stuck with the local paper, I can readily access the nation's and the world's leading papers with the click of a mouse. I generally visit The New York Times and The Washington Post regularly. I also have favorites from cities I've lived in throughout my life: The Denver Post, The Idaho Statesman, and The Seattle PI.

Sure, you can go to Yahoo news and Google news sites, and for quick information and search functions, I recommend both. But for getting stories for your writing, you can't miss the local color and drama of a newspaper website. Look around and find your favorites.

Perhaps you already have a favorite newspaper site you visit regularly? Tell us about it.

Technorati Tags: Internet information, news and information, newspaper websites, writing tips at garyspeer.com