Month: October 2013

I’m currently writing a novella
for an anthology.
I was motoring along in the first draft
and then, all of a sudden,
the words stopped flowing.

Years ago,
I would have called it writer’s block.
I might have pushed my way through,
forcing myself to continue writing.

Today,
I know the reason the words stopped
is I made a wrong decision.
I forced characters to do something
they wouldn’t do.
I was out of character
and this makes it impossible
to make more decisions for the character
(writing consists of
making decision after decision).

Is this experience
or is this listening to my gut?

I think it is a combination
of the two.

When something feels wrong,
stop,
listen to your gut
and then apply your experience to the ‘problem’.

I write for two publishers.

The big New York publisher
cares about the number of books sold.
They sell novellas for 99 cents.
I make 8 cents a copy
and my royalty check is tiny.

The eBook publisher
cares about profitability.
They sell the same length of stories
for $4.50 each.
I make $1 a copy
and my royalty check is respectable.

I couldn’t survive long
with the first strategy.
I have bills to pay.
I need cash flow to do this.

As Barry Moltz
shares

“Sales are vanity,
cash is sanity.
Forget about how big
your revenue number is or
how many people you employ.
Learn how to read
a cash flow statement and
find out how much cash
you actually get to keep instead.”

Cash flow is king.
That is the most important number.

I grew up dirt poor.
The house my family lived in
didn’t have running water.
We didn’t eat every day.
(yes, people live like this
in North America,
likely in your State or Province)

It made me fearless.
We had nothing and I survived.
I know if I lost everything material tomorrow,
I would also survive.
I don’t have a fear of being poor.
However, I have a great incentive
to ensure I never am poor again.

Terrence J
shares

“I had it tough growing up.
I was born into welfare
and I never met my biological father.
And I talk about all of those things in the book.

But for me,
I think sometimes
when you get the short end of the stick
in the beginning,
it gives you that fuel to never give up
as an adult.

I just always tell young people,
especially when they’re going through
something hard,
to not let it become a hindrance
or an excuse,
but to let it be your motivation,
let it be your fuel to go out there
and take over the world.”

When you have nothing to lose,
you can take bigger risks.
Being born into poverty
is no excuse for not being successful.

One of the most common myths
with starting a business
is the entrepreneur doesn’t have a boss myth.

I supposedly work for myself
yet I report to readers (my customers).
I report to editors and publishers (my partners).
I have deadlines set by other people,
meetings I can’t move and must take.

As Julie Cole,
one of the co-founders
of
Mabel’s Labels,
shares

“You’ll never work harder in your life.
And I remember thinking
‘This will be great.
I won’t have a boss.’
Well, I have loads of bosses.
I’ve got my business partners.
I’ve got staff.
I’ve got our customers.
I’ve got our suppliers.
Suddenly,
one boss doesn’t sound so bad,
does it?”

We ALL work for someone else.
All of us.
Expect to work for someone else
when you start a business.

As soon as a story is published,
I know I’ll receive
many, MANY emails
from readers
telling me about spelling mistakes,
misused words,
things they didn’t like.

The world is filled with problem finders.
They are EVERYWHERE
and, once you’ve been in any business
for a while,
you tend to tune them out.

What gets my attention
is when a reader or writer or reviewer
suggests a solution.
That’s rare.

As Robert Murray,
author of
It’s Already Inside,
shares

“Problem finders are everywhere.
Innovative problem solvers are rare.
Imagination and thinking
outside the box is scarce.”

If you want to add value
to your chosen industry,
be a problem solver.
Your solution doesn’t have to be perfect,
it likely won’t be,
but offer one.

As I mentioned yesterday,
I’m trying to write more mainstream.
When I tell writers this,
some of them are horrified.
They worry that
my writing will become
just like everyone else’s writing.

It won’t.

The TV singing competition,
The Voice,
is proof this won’t happen.

On The Voice,
contestants sing popular songs.
The only differences
between the performances
by previous artists
and the contestant’s performance
are the voices and the interpretations.
Yet the performances
are very unique.

What does this mean
for product developers?

Our products don’t have to be
and often shouldn’t be
completely different.
Focusing on one big difference
can be powerful.

My writing remains very quirky.
When I went on the great agent search,
I submitted a sample of my work
and stated in the query letter
that I wanted to become more mainstream.

The agent I signed with
enjoys my work
but she sees the flaws.
She criticizes my work,
honing my writing
so it’ll be more mainstream,
more acceptable to
the average romance reader.

She isn’t a cheerleader,
loving everything I write,
not wishing to change anything.

She’s a mentor.

The only reason
to pair with a mentor
is to change,
to gain skills
and knowledge
we don’t already have.

Expect criticism
from your mentor.
That’s her job.