I decided to do the same. The discipline of writing shorter when you want to wax eloquent is a useful exercise in word selection, pacing, restraint, and vivid writing. I opted to publish the series on my other blog, CarolynBahm.com, mainly because the essence of those posts for me is the vivid memory, not the craftsmanship of the writing. You can check out my progress so far at this link to my 47×365 category.

You may want to try it out yourself for a zippy little writing project. The hardest part is making the list of 365 people. Even though the list doesn’t have to be exclusively of life-changing characters — it can include peripheral contacts too — I currently have fewer than 200 on my list. So it’s helping me pay more attention to the people around me, and I’m adding daily.

I think I’ll add to my list the nice middle-aged woman who has a brilliant smile that lights up her eyes and transforms her plain face, making my breakfast stops at the local Burger King such a pleasant spot in my morning.

[tags]writing exercise, x365, 47×365[/tags]

1. Get mental stimulation. This just means being around something other than the inside of your own head. It can be family, community, or people-watching at the mall or coffee shop. Or it can even be online with podcasts, website forums, and blogs. Whatever works for you.

2. Do NOT, however, keep filling in every moment of your silence. Your brain needs time to let images and ideas percolate. How can it do that if you’ve got a constant yammering in your ear from the iPod, the cell phone, or the TV? Don’t feel like every drive to work has to be actively productive or every moment as you fall asleep has to be filled with a book on tape. Even a good field sometimes needs to lie fallow.

3. Think about your story often.

4. Keep pen and paper with you AND by the bed AND within reach of the tub and shower. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dreamed up a complete story and felt it vanishing from my mind while I scrambled for paper and pen.

[tags]writing tips, writer’s inspiration, writer’s discipline[/tags]

I bookmark good articles on writing topics when I find them. Here are a few excellent ones about titling your work:

• Title Tale, by John M. Floyd over at Criminal Brief. His 14 rules of thumb are great inspiration fodder.
• Common words in book titles.
• An article that gives many examples of the first-choice titles that some published books almost used.
• A brainstorming list of information to gather when you’re trying to dream up that just-right novel title.
• An online tool to check titles of books already in print. Factoid: I read online that titles can’t be copyrighted, which I didn’t know. But it can’t hurt to check whether your title is already in use. You don’t want people confusing your book with someone else’s, do you?

[tags]book titles, naming your book[/tags]

I only wish the site had a link to subscribe to a feed for any follow-ups on this story!

Found via Tess Gerritsen’s ever-fabulous blog.

[tags]romance writing, misconceptions about romance writing, how to write a romance[/tags]

Don’t be scared off by the length of the list or be deterred by the fact it’s intended for non-fiction writers; the skills are transferable, the writing is pithy, and the contents are thoughtful.

[tags]writing tips, Poynter Institute, writing tools, Roy Peter Clark[/tags]

If you’re a reporter covering a house fire, sure — you want to talk to a fireman when things calm down a bit. And yeah, have a chat with the neighbor who called in the blaze. But while everyone on the block is watching someone else’s life savings go up in smoke, turn away from the flames and look back. What do you see? A smoky, water-logged teddybear on the curb beside a kid being hugged by his mom. Neighbors holding hands and praying. An exhausted firefighter getting oxygen. You’ll see more than just combustion for a change.

You can apply this tip in all sorts of ways; whatever you do, shake up your routine and do the unexpected to get a fresh view:

• Driving to work as usual? Take a different route.
• Always buy your lunch? Bag it with the cafeteria crowd for a change.
• Always tape record interviews? Grab a pad and take notes longhand.
• Usually cocoon for the weekend with your chores and hobbies and the cats? Get out in the community at the library, park, or town square.

Just remember: When everyone else is looking north, take a peek south.

[tags]Poynter Institute, Roy Peter Clark, writing tips[/tags]

But don’t submit a list of questions as long as I did; I’m embarrassed to tell you how many. You’ll get a (very polite) note back saying that he charges for in-depth advising of that level. It’s $100 per hour with an upfront estimate before he begins. Very reasonable, but beyond my budget at the moment, unfortunately.

The site is well worth checking out, though!

In the meantime I am hopeful I’ll find an expert online who’ll be intrigued enough to answer some (or — maybe all?) of my questions for no charge. I posted a question at the Forensics and Crime Discussion Board, but I don’t know if anyone will be interested in responding on a fictional case. After all, I’m not a published author (yet!) and they’re not friends who already know I’m a decent person; for all they know, I’m some internet gore hound. So I’m hopeful but not overly optimistic. It feels kind of weird to ask people I don’t know this kind of thing, too. I’m just hoping I will get a nibble so I can e-mail back and forth with someone privately. Keep your fingers crossed for me! UPDATE: I wrote this last night and this morning I got a response. *Squee* I am trying not to gush. I sent him my questions this morning and am keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn’t mind getting 19 questions. (I am so greedy.) What a cool way to start the day, with high hopes like this. [Update: Although I would have been happy to get an answer to any one of my zillion questions, I found that the sheer volume of my data wish list was too much; I got back a cordial note offering to quote me a rate for providing a response of that magnitude.]

My best hope is that someone who offered to help me in the past is still available. She’s a published author with her own medical expertise, and I’ve sent her an e-mail asking if she’s still interested in my zillions of crime-scene questions. If she is still free, I would be thrilled. *Holding my breath*

[tags]forensics, book research[/tags]

Q: What is R.U.E., and what do we need to know about it?

DK: Resist the Urge to Explain. It’s a simple mnemonic that captures the most common editing mistake – explaining elements of your story that you should show to your readers. When you’re first starting out, it’s hard to trust your writing to convey what you need to convey. There’s a tremendous temptation to tell your readers what you want them to know. If you bear R.U.E. in mind, the temptation’s a little easier to resist.

Props to the blogger, Therese Walsh, for being prepared with good questions specific to the interviewee; she did a bang-up job, and I love to see a thoughtful interview. ;o)

[tags]show don’t tell, R.U.E., writing tips[/tags]