Follow Your Bliss, Mary Kay Andrews Style!

I recently attended a book signing event for Mary Kay Andrew's newest book, Christmas Bliss.  As always she was gracious and expressed gratitude to her readers and to the indie book store, Foxtale Book Shoppe, for supporting her and coming out for the event.  Dressed in her Mrs. Claus inspired dress, Andrews was at once down to earth and personal as she shared how she develops her stories and creates characters that readers love.  In Christmas Bliss, Andrews continues of the saga of Weezie Foley, a picker and antique dealer and her best friend Bebe Loudermilk.

As I listened to her talk about her career as a writer, I was struck by her statement that when she writes she writes about what she loves; junking, home decor, Christmas collectibles, the beach, especially Tybee Island and Savannah.  She is not the only writer who has followed this advice. 

Author, Mary Alice Monroe is devoted to the environment and currently involved in saving dolphins.  Her latest book, Summer Girls is set at the beach and involves these lovable creatures as an integral part of the story.

Lisa Wingate, author of The Prayer Box writes about characters who have great challenges in their personal lives and find healing and guidance through faith.  When she isn't writing,one of Lisa's passions is teaching Sunday School class to high school students and guiding them through the challenges of teen life.

Do What You Love

I think there is good advice for writers and other creatives in this message.  What do you love to do?  What are you passionate about?  Where do your interests lie? What would be fun to research, learn about or spend your time doing?  Chances are if you follow your bliss, you will not only create something worthwhile that others will appreciate but you will have a great time doing it as well!

Some of the best advice given to me when I was contemplating moving beyond my job as a school counselor and was feeling overwhelmed with determining the direction to go in was this, "Start with the low hanging fruit."  In other words, what do you already know about, what are you already an expert in and what do you most enjoy to the point that you would do it even if you didn't make money doing it?  For me this was writing stories for children that helped them learn many of the concepts that I was already teaching them in my job as a guidance counselor. 

Look for the Need in the World

It's not enough to just identify your passion, however.  You must translate your passion into a  solution to a need or at least a want in the world.  You might be passionate about eating pizza for instance, but probably no one will pay you to eat pizza.  You can't make a career of that.  However, you might become an expert at making pizza.  You might establish a pizza restaurant that was a unique experience.  You might write a pizza cookbook. Mary Kay Andrews is successful at least in part because the things she likes to write about junking, antiquing and relationships are things that readers love as well. 

Do you wonder how to follow these authors' examples and take your passion to the next level?  I hope you will join the Called Woman Creative Team, Sunday, November 10th for our free webinar:  Taking the Leap-How to Become Unstuck without Becoming Unglued.  You can sign up here:  http://acalledwoman.com/teleseminars/

Mark your calendars for the Called Woman Conference coming up March 15th where you can spend a whole day reinventing your life and discovering your passion:  Read all about it and sign up here:  http://acalledwoman.com/


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Callahan and Andrews Share Their Best Advice for Writers

 

I was at a book signing recently at Foxtale Book Shoppe for Patti Callahan and Mary Kay Andrews.  Both authors talked about the craft of writing and how they became writers.  Andrews was already a journalist for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution when she began writing her novels after hours.  Callahan began taking writing classes but didn't tell anyone until the two met up at a party and she revealed her "dirty little secret" to Andrews. Writing is one of those gifts that one is often shy about sharing  and she is not alone in her feelings.  In fact in the book, Making a Literary Life;  Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers, Carolyn Sees encourages writers to wait to share their work until they feel confident to do so.  As she puts it, "Write your stuff, hide it, let it stack up.  Reread it.  Don't worry about it.  Don't look for perfection.  To switch metaphors, your first writing is as delicate as a seedling.  Don't show it to some yahoo who wouldn't know an orchid from kudzu." I love this advice!  It is so important to have a support group for your writing.

Both authors were asked to share their best writing tip or technique and amazingly enough they both indicated the same thing:  Just do it.  Or as Callahan said "just sit your butt down in the chair and do it".  Overcoming that initial resistance is the biggest feat of all and the only way to do that is to press ahead and produce something. Carolyn See in a chapter entitled, "A Thousand Words Day" writes, "Anything to keep from writing, as they say.  That's why so many male writers commit adultery and female writers have clean houses because I did notice, when I was looking for the Chapstick, that the bookcases in the living room need dusting.  And there's a long list of groceries to buy out near the kitchen sink..."  She goes on for a whole paragraph about all the things she could and NEEDS to do instead of writing.  Haven't we all been there?  Right now with a deadline looming for a magazine column, I've already emptied the dishwasher, put in a load of clothes and considered vacuming the living room.  Not to mention fed the dog and taken her on a walk.  As Callahan says, "Just sit your butt down and do it!"

In the book, Writing on Both Sides of the Brain, Henriette Anne Klauser  writes about another obstacle for writers; hitting the wall.  She discusses the impulse to  stop writing just at a point of feeling resistance.  Her advice instead is to  press on through because often the resistance indicates that a great idea is just about emerge.  Klauser compares it to a mountain climber who begins fresh and eager only to feel like giving up just before reaching the summit.  The climber might say to himself, "Well I've made a good effort.  At least I've made it this far.  It's okay to quit."  The point though is that if he will just push that much farther, he will reach the top.  Haven't you felt this way? In more activities than just writing?  The exercise you start but stop just short of your goal?  The business you start but quit just before it becomes profitable? The chapter or article you write but stop just as you are getting into the flow?  How easy it is to sabotage our selves and give up, just before we reach the point of success!

What can you do to create an environment conducive to reaching the summit? Here are a few suggestions for writing:

1. Set a specific time up for writing and don't vary it.  Don't schedule appointments during that day and don't allow yourself to heed the call of the "urgent" but unimportant tasks that call you.
2. Set a specific word count or number of pages or task you must complete before you stop.  Don't talk yourself out of changing it "just this one time."
3. Some writers work best in a particular environment.  Determine what this is for you.  Do you work best when you go on a retreat to a different place, or in a public coffee shop or at home?  Where are there the least distractions for you?
4. Prepare your environment and your schedule the night before for maximum success.  Know what piece of writing you plan to tackle. Have your supplies and your resources already available so all you have to do is just begin writing. 

Are there other suggestions that have helped you reach the summit?  What are the major areas of resistance for you?  Let's all press forward through the resistance, bust through the wall and reach the summit!  I'm cheering for you!

Five Ways to Make Your Book Launch Successful

Last week I wrote about a series of book launches that I attended at Foxtale Book Shoppe.  Four launches in about seven days to be exact!  This week I promised to go into more detail about how different authors made their launch memorable. 

Be Generous

Many authors have a cause that they are benefiting through sales of their books or the launch.  Mary Kay Andrews sold raffle tickets for amazing prizes and gave the proceeds to Bright Pink a breast cancer awareness and research organization.  Claire Cook at the movie premier for  her book, Must Love Dogs, had dogs available for adoption walk the red carpet. 

Besides benefitting a cause, many authors have special giveaways that generate interest in upcoming books.  Typically the sweepstakes is related to the theme of the book.  For instance, Wendy Wax gave away a trip to England in conjunction with her book, While We Were Watching Downtown Abbey and Claire Cook gave away a trip to an elegant spa in Texas, in conjunction with Time Flies.  Not every author can of course afford such lavish prizes.  But anyone can put together a chic bag filled with books and related items to give away. People love a chance to win!

Develop Relationships

Readers not only enjoy winning things but also learning about the author's life, their writing habits and research.  Book events that provide a time for the author to talk and answer questions are popular.  Erika Robuck engaged her readers with stories about her research on Zelda Fitzgerald and how she connected through personal aspects of her own life.  For instance she has a relative who was a psychiatric nurse so she had insight into this profession when she decided to make a psychiatric nurse the main character in her book, Call Me Zelda.  Claire Cook talked with her audience about having a book made into a movie and what it was like to walk the red carpet.  Another way to develop relationships is to have an active online presence where the author is communicating with readers about their lives.  Authors like Claire Cook are a master at this as they not only share their activities related to launching a book but take an interest in their readers' lives and comment on it when the reader attends a book launch.

Be Remarkable

In the past book signings were always held in bookstores but the new trend is to hold a book event in a unique venue that is somehow related to the book.  Mary Kay Andrew's most recent book, Ladies Night is about home decor blogger so she held her book launch at Kudzu, a home decor store in Sandy Springs, Georgia.  The goal is to create a unique and memorable experience that people will come to for more than a book. Recreate a theme or historical aspect of the  book.  Hold it in an unusual location.  Provide refreshments that tie into the theme of the book.  Encourage readers to dress the part of characters in the book.  Use music, decor, goodie bags, events to continue the theme.  Mystery books could involve a mystery to solve as part of the event.  Books about dogs could be held at a pet store in conjunction with dogs for adoption.  The possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

Be Real

Readers can buy a book easier and cheaper online.  They come to book launches to experience something unique and to get to know the author.  Sharing personal experiences and insights makes the book more meaningful. Getting to know the author as someone who is real with a family, a history, and their own personal quirks not only brings people to the book launch but encourages them to buy books.  Karen White, at the launch for her book, The Time Between, for instance talked about her compulsion to organize things and how she has used that trait in her characters.  She also talked about the difficulty of naming characters and how she used the name of one of the owners of Foxtale Books in her newest book as a character.  Claire Cook, at her book launch, talked about the theme of women reinventing their lives and how that has been her own story. She said that she knew that she just had to get over her own fear and do it, so she wrote her first book at the the age of forty-five while sitting in her minivan waiting for her daughter to finish swim practice.  

Be grateful

Every author is aware of the important role others have played in their success.  Thanking family, editors, agents is standard but still heartfelt.  Authors who express gratitude to their readers and who follow that up with real interest and concern in their lives recognize the gift they share.  The connection between an author and her readers is more than that of customer to seller.  It is best described as a large extended family made up of the author, the reader and the imaginary characters in the book who often seem more real than imaginary.  Authors who can nurture this relationship while thanking their readers for the gift of their participation understand the true nature of the book launch.  

Want to read more about marketing books and creating a unique book launch?  Here's some great books:  Stress Free Marketing, by Renea Winchester and Sell More Books by J. Steve Miller.  I highly recommend both! 

Wonder what your calling is and how to turn dreams into reality?  Sign up for the email feed at www.acalledwoman.com and receive the  free Called Woman Manifesto along with weekly motivational and practical emails.

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