I haven’t implemented it myself, but he’s absolutely right. You will find yourself selling a number of books each week if you’re able to pull a copy out when someone says, “You’re an author? Cool! Tell me about your book.”
I don’t know if I’ll start carrying books around myself, but I like the idea. My biggest concern would be that most people don’t carry cash anymore. But maybe if I ever get my Square account set up, it’d be able to do it piece of cake.
This is a great quote. Don’t worry about running out of ideas or stories. Write the ones bouncing around in your head. More will be presented to you. Your creativity isn’t going to disappear.
In that same vein…
Your writing is all yours. Say what you want to, the way you want to. #writetip@amwriting
Great advice to remember. Strive for being succinct. But at the same time, given what we just discussed, if your style is not brevity, then write in your style. Don’t write what others want you to write, even if it is Thomas Jefferson.
When I was growing up, my parents were very fond of saying, “It builds character.” I now simultaneously love that and hate that line. Do with that what you will.
A must at .99 cents. Please drop the dollar and take a look. I have been trying to get my hands Dan's insightful poetry since Christmas! https://t.co/DxQOdnTdiq
This photo is wonderful and terrifying all at once. Growing up in the Great White North that is Minnesota, I fully understand the plight that lay before this poor man. Being a writer, I fully agree that this is what it feels like about one hour after sitting down to write. All that excitement and adrenaline has worn off, and all that remains is the thought, “Damn! This is hard!”
So how do we shovel off that proverbial writing roof?!
Perfect! Passion is great, friends, but passion comes and goes. Excitement waxes and wanes. If you expect to rely entirely on your passion, you will be cast aside into pile of millions of people throughout time that have said, “I could write a book.”
Don’t let that happen! No if, ands, and Peter Pans! Write that book. Set goals. Schedule time. Remember why you started writing the book to begin with. Harness that passion and excitement to work for you, even when it ebbs.
"Better to write for yourself and have no public, then to write for the public + have no self." – Cyril Connolly #writing#writerslife
This is great to remember as well. If you always keep this in mind, you’ll be able to remember why you started writing to begin with. Write for yourself.
Besides, if you don’t write for yourself, it’s not going to change the fact that doubters will abound. People are going to make you feel lousy about your book for sure. Trust me. I speak from experience. Don’t sweat it. The sooner you accept that it will happen (and will happen again), the better you’ll be at not letting their negativity affect you.
Ok, now that we have a little motivation and fortitude within us, how do we actually write that book, and do it well?
Wait, hold up. What if you cross out all the wrong words and you have nothing left? Anyone want to buy my book of blank pages?!?!
Here’s a fun article on Goodreads.
Don’t make me complain yet again about Facebook’s terrible embedding feature. Yes, that’s a screen shot. No, you actually can’t click it. Don’t blame me! Or do blame me, see if I care.
Anyway, here’s the actual link to the article: https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/845-20-problems-only-book-lovers-understand.
Random Marketer Reading This: “Well that is just terrible marketing. He sent his readers to a different site. Their gone now. He can’t be sure they’ll ever come back. That’s just really poor marketing. This Dan Buri guy is never going to make it.”
Random Obnoxious Grammar Guy Reading This: “You misspelled ‘they’re’.”
You know you're a writer when you're in an ambulance, in pain, and you're thinking, "I gotta remember this for my next book." #amwriting
This is so true. I catch myself all the time thinking, “That’s such a funny, random happenstance. I need to remember that for a story.”
Here’s a good tip from @KellieMParker:
Sometimes the promise of action is more effective at keeping the reader's attention than the action itself.#writetip#amwriting
— Kellie M. Parker/ VanHorn (@KellieMParker) April 9, 2017
I don’t know if I’ve ever actually thought about this as concretely and succinctly as Kellie puts it here, but it’s so true. I immediately thought about the Jason Bourne books. The books have a ton of action and I loved them. I read them 15 years ago and I distinctly recall that any time the action scenes happened, I was a little bored. It was the build up that created all the suspense and excitement. Robert Ludlum was a master at the build up to the action.
Everyone reading this should stop right now and go leave a review. I mean it! Stop and go leave one review. It helps authors, I promise. Go support an author you love. We’ll wait.
Go! What are you waiting for?!?!
Random Marketer Reading This: “He did it again?!?!? Argh!!!!”
This next one has nothing to do with writing, but it made me laugh this week.
Now a little motivation to urge you into your weekend writing. Be persistent, friends. Your path may wind and loop, but press on. Don’t allow anyone else (or even your own self doubts) to deter you from what you want to accomplish.
Finally. It’s Easter Weekend, friends. I will allow my heart to be sad and then celebrate. I will enjoy time with my family and friends. I will take time for myself to reflect on who I am and what I have been afforded. I will thank God for my faith and thank God for the faith He gives to others, in all forms. I will remember that I am simultaneously and paradoxically important and nothing but cells and dust. I will be humbled.
Happy Easter. Keep doing what you love. Keep on writing.
I know this is one of your favorite running segments here on Nothing Any Good. Sorry about the short hiatus from it! I was working on a new segment about which I am very excited.
We have officially kicked off Confessions of an Indie Author! You can view Episode 1 and Episode 2 now. You’ll enjoy them, I promise!
Now, get on with it, Dan!
Ok, ok. I’ll make it up to you with some extra tweets of the week for your reading pleasure. Without further ado, your Author Tweets of the Week.
Let’s kick it off with a Twitter poll I ran a couple weeks ago.
That breakdown seems about right to me. Honestly, I bet you down to a man (or a woman) these percentages probably reflect our own individual time spent on Twitter as writers. Two-fifths of the time we’re distracted. Two-fifths of the time we’re getting a healthy break. One-fifth of the time we’re actually inspired.
That sounds about right, not just as a poll of the #amwriting population, but as an individual breakdown.
Thanks for sharing this quote, @bapudliner! Great quote. If you have a story that burns inside you, tell it! Write that story, friends.
Well said! There’s only one you, friends. Be you and follow your own path. Don’t follow the masses!
I do not know A.J. Rynell and I am impressed with her dedication to the craft of writing. However, I don’t get our infatuation with word count. It needs to stop. My intent is not to call out Ms. Rynell, but to call all of us out. Every writer at some point has googled: “How many words should a novel be,” or some variation of that. We’ve all done it. Be honest.
What a silly thing to focus on. There are short books that are excellent. There are long books that are excellent. There are far too many perfectly-lengthed books that are f-ing terrible.
Let’s stop this friends. Word count is a detriment to our craft.
I love this quote. There’s something about it that resonates with me. I think many readers are frustrated with a book that doesn’t provide a full view of the back story or doesn’t fully resolve all issues. No matter how much an author tries, no matter how much the reader wants it, the story doesn’t end. It just keeps going. The sooner we realize this as writers, the better writers we will be.
This next tweet needs no additional commentary, certainly not from a white middle-aged man.
As a black woman writing a black female main character in a scifi novel, seeing my character whitewashed on the cover felt-like-erasure: pic.twitter.com/h5Nlhp8DHe
I love this. This is a concept I have explored in my writing for years. There’s a quote from one of the characters in Pieces Like Pottery: “All people have the ability to control their happiness by controlling how they think about each day and each event. Every situation turns out sour for those who are always complaining about how things turn out. We will always be affected by our own attitudes. Every response to every action affects our character.”
I wrote about this on my wife and my now-defunct blog Buris on the Couch.
I love this quote by the great Roman orator. Thank you for sharing @crassusmedia!
(As an aside, I never thought Buris on the Couch would get so much positive feedback over the years and requests to return. It’s been 6 years since we stopped it and we still hear from people saying that we should reboot it. If you haven’t, you can view all the old posts on the site. They’re still available for your reading pleasure. My wife is funnier and more intelligent than I am. If the populous gets loud enough, we may not be able to ignore you any longer.)
Now, if you’ll let me indulge the basketball junky in me.
9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possible NCAA Tournament Brackets. That's 9.2 quintillion! #goodluck
The honest truth, @anaisbelieve, is that none of us do. We pretend we know what we’re doing, but we don’t. That creates both the beautiful truths and the god-awful paralysis that every writer knows and experiences. Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing it. Don’t let it keep you from continuing to write, though!
We can all imagine a land that provides no support for Art. But is that a place you’d want to Live? To Visit? To Play?
My thoughts on the quote? Yes. 100 times over, Yes. In today’s loud and busy world, we miss the value of silence. The truly wise realize the power of quiet. Time is our most valuable asset, but solitude and silence come in close second for a writer.
My thoughts on the follow up to the quote? The irony is dripping. Rest in the quiet. But follow me on Facebook first!
I love this and then I love this again. When I was in law school, I taped every law firm rejection letter onto my desk as motivation. I have saved every magazine, publisher, and agent rejection notice I’ve received as a writer. They fuel and remind me. Embrace your rejections, friends.
Yes! Dr. Suess has a poem that I love so much that I had it engraved on a piggy bank that I gave to my godson: “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
There is only one you, friends. Never forget that for a moment. In this universe that’s been around for 13 billion years, on this earth that’s been turning for 4.5 billion years, with the 107 billion people that have taken a breath in this life, there is only one you. That should make you feel simultaneously small and important.
There is no one, ever, that has been like you. Not a single one of those 107 billion people that came before you are like you. Don’t try to be like any of them. Be yourself.
NothingAnyGood.com is a book blog that provides authors and readers with book recommendations and book promotion while helping and supporting other indie authors.
NothingAnyGood.com provides authors opportunities for guest posts that provide writing tips, marketing advice, publishing information and more. We also provide author interviews and unique book marketing and advertising opportunities.
NothingAnyGood.com supports indie authors of all kinds. Guest contributors provide useful insight into their experience as an indie author and with the self-publishing publishing process. Here you will find countless articles providing important knowledge about writing, marketing, publishing and book promotion. We are a community of loving and supporting indie authors. Contact danburi777@gmail.com for more information on being a featured author on NothingAnyGood.com or for advertising and marketing opportunities.
Welcome to my Book Blog! NothingAnyGood.com was Created to help Indie Authors with Writing Advice, Self-Publishing & Marketing Tips & More!
