writing life Archives

Being a Library Power User

July 12, 2019July 7, 2019Motivation and the Writing Life

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I have always been a huge fan of libraries. Growing up, one of my favorite memories is of going to the library with my father (sometimes riding our bikes there) and hanging out for hours.

I still spend a lot of time there because sometimes when I get bogged down when writing at the house. Maybe I’m not totally in the zone and anything will distract me: the dishwasher stopping, the dryer buzzer, a table that needs dusting. Leaving the house and going to the library is usually the perfect remedy for the problem. I don’t need total silence to work, providing the background noise has nothing to do with me.

But I use the library for more than just a place to write when I need to escape the distractions at home. I use it to fill my creative well, exercise my brain (which seems to help my writing), and inspiration.

Below are the ways that I use my library. I’m in the Charlotte, NC library system and it is a big system and fairly well-funded. Your mileage may vary with yours, but if you find a service here that sounds interesting, check to see if your library has it. If not, see if they’ll consider offering it.Continue reading

How I Work

April 8, 2019April 7, 2019Motivation and the Writing Life, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’m a fan of a series that Lifehacker is running: “How I Work.” In it, various people in different industries describe how they got where they are, what a typical day looks like, and tips/hacks for how they handle their workload.

Every time I go through my blog feed reader, I always stop to read posts where writers describe what a typical day looks like for them. It fascinates me, although I don’t think I ever adopt what they’re doing, because I know what works for me.

I thought I’d do my own version, edited for space (theirs has lots of helpful details). Keeping their series in mind, here’s my take on it. After writing it out, mine looks a bit repetitive, long, and not as interesting! I think that’s because I’m doing this all day long and not part of a day like some are.

A workday in March:

Got up( 4:45) put workout clothes on, came downstairs, took dog out and fed him, fixed coffee and sat down in front of laptop.

Worked on Edit to Death (1st draft) until reached word goal.

Worked on Checked Out (edits) for 30 minutes

Scheduled several time-sensitive tweets relating to publishing news for the day.

Shared my blog post on Facebook and scheduled a Twitter share.

Quickly checked emails and found that there was a problem with Babelcube’s paperback edition to Amazon (actually 2 separate German translations). Marked on my list to address it later that day.

Had breakfast with my daughter before she headed to the high school.

Went to the gym for a 25 minute workout.

Came back. Responded to comments.

Saw my husband off to work.

Emailed my cover designer about another Babelcube project that is ready to publish: an Italian edition. Asked her if she could squeeze in an altered cover for the translation.

Responded to emails and used my canned response feature for a few requests regarding the blog. Continue reading

Writing While Uninspired

August 27, 2018August 26, 2018Motivation and the Writing Life

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

What is inspiration? I don’t think ‘inspiration’ is synonymous with ‘ideas’. I get ideas and don’t feel necessarily inspired.

To me, inspiration is more of that creative rush or creative energy and passion. It’s being in the zone and writing until your wrists and hands are numb or sore. It’s trying to jot down a tsunami of ideas or even a whole plot before it disappears into the far reaches of your brain.

I rarely write while feeling inspired. When I write, I usually feel as though I’m working very hard at it. But the end result still works out…there’s still life in my words and in my characters. The dialogue can even still be funny (I write humorous mysteries), even if I’m not ‘feeling it.’

I think the whole concept of the muse does something of a disservice to writers. It may make writers feel as though they need to write when inspiration strikes instead of simply making time every day/week to make progress on their stories, regardless of how they’re feeling.Continue reading

5 Things About Being a Writer

January 26, 2018January 1, 2018Business of Writing, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The writing life can be a wonderfully rewarding one. But there can be headaches along the way.

Here are five things I’ve learned about being a writer: some of them apply solely to self-publishing and some to both traditional and self-publishing.

There is always something else to consider with self-publishing.

This might be expanding your formats (print, audio, translation, digital, hardcover). This might be expanding your distribution (to aggregators like Draft2Digital and Smashwords, to the library market through Overdrive via PublishDrive or Street Lib, to international markets through PublishDrive or Street Lib), or it might mean expanding your social media presence by exploring Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.Continue reading

Art in the Everyday

July 3, 2017June 28, 2017Motivation and the Writing Life, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I was looking for a movie to watch and stumbled across “Paterson” on Amazon Prime Video (free to Prime customers).

The description of the movie reads:
Every day, Paterson adheres to a simple routine: he drives his daily route, he writes poetry into a notebook; he stops in a bar and drinks exactly one beer; he goes home to his wife, Laura. By contrast, Laura’s world is ever changing. New dreams come to her almost daily. The film quietly observes the triumphs and defeats of daily life, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details.

It was, I think, the quietest movie I’ve ever watched. Because of its R rating, I kept expecting some sort of horribly violent or upsetting incident to take the film in another direction. But there was nothing violent or especially upsetting (except, well, maybe for writers. I won’t give any spoilers here). I discovered later that the R rating was because of language, although I didn’t even remember or notice bad language–a sign that it must have been slipped in very naturally.

Although I’m not a poet (at least not a good one), I loved the way that poetry was woven into the everyday (repetitive, routine, and rather boring lives) of the main characters. I’m a subscriber to Poet.Org’s Poem-A-Day newsletter, which sends me a poem to read each day (frequently accompanied by the poet’s thoughts on the poem and a bit of bio). As critic Kate Taylor wrote for The Globe and Mail: “Everyone, it appears, is capable of art.” And: “…The sameness of it all only serves to underline that the creative act belongs to all of us every day.”Continue reading