Sacrifice, Persistence, and Struggle

Struggle or fail. Pick any discipline, any profession, any artistic endeavor, or any career.  Without struggle there is no progress, no excellence, and no prize.  

Wilma Rudolph knew struggle.  Suffering with infantile paralysis at age four she wore a brace on her left leg and foot until she was nine. One day she decided to become a basketball player like her sister. She took off the brace in private, and struggled to walk across her room. Day after day she stood, and fell, and stood up again. One day she took the brace off for good. Not only did she walk, she ran. She joined her school’s basketball team, and then the track team. At age 20, she won three gold medals for track in the 1960 Olympics. She achieved her goal through sacrifice, persistence, and struggle.

Abraham Lincoln experienced another type of struggle:  to lead a country torn by war and prejudice. He once said, “The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.” He did not win every political fight, but his struggle did lead to a new era of freedom for millions of Americans.

The beloved children’s writer and illustrator Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel ) couldn’t convince publishers to accept his story And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street. He submitted it 27 times and got 27 rejections. But he kept trying until he did get it published.  He struggled. He succeeded.

In today’s world, society works hard to remove every struggle in people’s lives. (Perhaps we’ve gone too far?) Like a butterfly that gains strength in its struggle to free itself from its cocoon, stories of high achievers often start with overcoming poverty, prejudice, tragedy, or physical problems.

Writers can learn (at least) two lessons from struggle. First, like in the case of Dr. Seuss’s unstoppable struggle to get published, persistence must be an artists’ closest friend. Every artist must struggle to perfect his (or her) craft, dedicate concentrated amounts of time and energy in the creative process,  and relentlessly build a platform that will enable him to bring his creation to the public. Second, since struggle is so important, it makes sense that every person reacts to its power and emotion.  Because of its power, the depiction of struggle in art, whether in music, visual arts, or writing is a key element in connecting with your audience. (Without conflict, there is no story.)

Creativity is a lonely craft. It does not achieve excellence without great effort, nor does it reward its creator without relentless sacrifice and struggle.  For those who are brave enough to throw off the leg braces that hold them back; who are willing to stand up, fall and stand up again; who are willing to learn to walk in baby steps before they can run; they are the ones who will rise above the noise of seven billion people, and be heard.

May your day be full of good words.

For information on my latest story "Takeover" please go to www.alanelliott.com. This short story, Takeover: A Writer’s Nightmare, is a romp through the messed-up brain of a creative writer that takes you on a bumpy joy ride with a twisted ending.

My eBook Adventure

My eBook Adventure

It was bound to happen. I’ve dipped my little toe into the big ocean of eBooks. After I attended a talk by writers Jan Peck and David Davis (who have stuck all four of their feet into the eWaters) I decided to give it a try. Here's what’s happened so far.

First, the bottom line. What better eStory to start out with than a tip-of-the-hat to all creative writers. The short story is called Takeover: A Writer’s Nightmare. It is my offering to all writers who spend time in the ether of creativity struggling to create exciting characters that come alive for a story that starts out quick, builds interest and tension, moves toward a climax, and ends with a satisfying conclusion.

After looking a several options, I settled on using Smashwords to put my eBook into shape and get it out to as many eReaders as possible. The site http://www.smashwords.com/ has a number of helpful guides to walk you along the eBook path. Here are my experiences.

It’s a little tough to get your manuscript formatted correctly so that it can be converted to eBook format. This is because of all the gunk that Microsoft Word puts into the background of each document. Basically, you have to get rid of all of the Word formatting to make the thing work. I made a valient effort to remove all of the offensive formatting, but I gave up. Instead, I used the “nuclear option” which means copying the entire document to a plain text editor (such as notepad) to remove all formatting – then copying it back into Word, and putting in only the recommended indents and centering. (You can also hire something to do the formatting task.)

For Smashwords, once you get the document cleaned up, you submit it and they put it through their handy-dandy meat grinder that spits out the story in Kindle and other eReader formats. It's then sent to the formatting police who check to see if it passes the grade. If it's okay, it is accepted and “published.” But wait, there’s more. Once it is "published", Smashwords submits it to various sellers such as Amazon, which may take several weeks. All in all, plan for it to take a month before you can look it up on Amazon. So much for instant gratification.

There are other details that I’ve left out, such as getting an ISBN number for your book and creating a cover, but that’s covered in the Smashwords guides.

Now the plot turns to the subject of ePromotion. (Don’t you love all of the eWords?) Of course this isn’t a new thing. For every book I’ve written, I’ve had to beat the bushes to get it noticed (and bought). Please consider that this blog has now shaken your bush in the hopes that you will click here, and spend less than a buck to be entertained and amused -- maybe even inspired. A brief description…

Takeover: A Writer’s Nightmare by A.C. Elliott -- Is she insane, or trapped in her own story? Darla is thrown into a writer's nightmare where she struggles to keep characters from taking over her story. In a quirky romp through an action-packed adventure with a surprise at every turn of the page, Darla finds herself up against the pen of an unseen literary adversary in a battle to the finish -- and only one writer can win. It's creative writing gone berserk. Click for more information.

Steve Jobs and Walt Disney

I’ve hated cancer for a long time. It has taken away my own loved ones and many other people that still had contributions to make. Steve Jobs was one of those people. As writers and artists, we are particularly touched when a creative spark is snuffed out. In our own writing, when we are in the middle of a project, we wonder what would happen to it if we were hit by a bus. Will our creativity live on? Steve was “hit by a bus” called cancer, and died at age 56. A lot people compared Steve’s creativity to that of the previous generation’s Walt Disney. It is no wonder that his Pixar partnered with Disney in so many successful projects. One wonders -- what would Steve have accomplished if he’d lived longer? Walt lived to 65 (barely) – what if he’d died at 56? Walt would barely have gotten Disneyworld open – it would be his iPhone. In Disneyworld, some of the projects he pioneered would never have happened – Pirates of the Caribbean, the Matterhorn, the Haunted House, and many others. Would Disneyland have even survived without the Wonderful World of Color on TV promoting it every week? The Florida project (Walt Disney World) would certainly never have happened – and probably none of the other Disneyland projects (Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai.) The (now classic) movies “Old Yeller,” “The Shaggy Dog” and “Mary Poppins” would never have been made. Who knows if the Disney creativity that exists today would have survived if Walt had died at age 56? There would be no Little Mermaid, no Beauty and the Beast, and a host of other movies, events, rides, and other entertainment innovations that we’ve seen from Disney over the last 50 years. In the next 50 years will there still be a legacy from Steve Jobs? From Apple and Pixar? I’m sure the spark of his creativity will outlast him by a considerable number of years – we’ll continue to see innovation from his legacies. But what more would we have seen if his light had not been extinguished? I hate cancer.

Please see my latest ebook, Takeover: A Writer's Nightmare

Is Creativity Out the Window for Novels?

I’ve just finished preparing a proposal for a novel. Using the guidelines provided by an agent I created a ten page document (along with 3 chapters) to “sell” the book. Things have come a long way since I first submitted a novel fifteen years ago. Back then agents and editors wanted a cover letter and the first few chapters. What’s changed?

The publishing industry is evolving. A decade ago you could still occasionally query a publisher directly with a submission for fiction. Now it’s almost impossible. Publishers only want to look at submissions from agents. So, the monkey is on their back. To keep their relationship and reputation right with publishers, agents want to make sure the books they suggest are targeted, well written and from a writer who means business.

Thus, the proposal for a novel is now similar to that of a non-fiction book. (For many years, the standard for submitting a non-fiction book has been the proposal document consisting of lots of marketing information. )

I went through the hoops and prepared the 10 page sales document for the agent. But I’m troubled. I know that most publishers are now part of big conglomerates – and they watch the bottom line like a hawk. Because of that, they want to be extra careful where they put their resources. But we know from Hollywood that the creation of clone products (which corporations’ find safe) is not a great stimulus for creativity.

There is a great story about Walt Disney. When his short film about the Three Little Pigs became popular, people clamored “Give us more pigs.” He refused to make a “follow up” film. When Snow White was a hit he didn’t do a sequel – he did Pinocchio instead. When other animators reused film in scenes (such as a chase scene) Walt insisted that no portion of his films be repeated. This kind of insistence on newness and creativity could only have been demanded by a person with Walt’s power. (Notice that Disney now does sequels of even mediocre successes.)

What does this mean to the writer? Is creativity out the window? Perhaps not. First of all, you can still find avenues of creativity in the safe projects corporations want to do – if you are creative about it. Secondly, there are other ways to “publish” now – although typically not very lucrative. Some blogs ago I wrote about the cell phone novel in Japan – millions of novels written (mostly by teens) on cell phones and uploaded to the Internet. Some were good enough to make it into print – and became best sellers.

Perhaps that’s where creativity will come from in the next generation of fiction – eBooks. Some will rise to the top and be successful enough that the big corporations will publish them – and if they are a new genre or introduce some innovative way to tell a story – then it will open up the mainstream for something new. Who knows…

Create an Idea File

Create an idea file. Its an essential tool for every writer. In the olden days writers used to have a little box – a shoe box worked well. The purpose of this little gem of a file was to collect information that popped into your little pea brain -- scribbled on a scrap of paper.

Every writer should have an idea file. (This means you.) Nowadays the file tends to be electronic rather than a box (although either will work.)

Collect anything that tickles your ear or strikes your fancy -- ideas, phrases, word plays, names of people, situations, snippets of conversations, etc.

The thing is – when you’re writing you can’t remember every little turn of a phrase that’s gone through your mind over that last umpteen years. When you’re in a bind and searching for a character or a phrase or an occurrence, shuffle through your idea file and see what comes up. You might just have a Eureka! moment that turns your ho-hum scene into a show stopper.

This is not cheating! This is how many, many writers make their writing seem fresh, pithy and witty.

For example, one day I got into a mood to collect funny names for people. I’m sharing these names with you not because they are great. In fact, they are somewhat stupid. But, they illustrate what I’m talking about. I cut and pasted this info directly from my “ideas” file. Laugh if you wish, but if you are serious writer you MUST play with words. You MUST come up with ideas and write them down no matter how stupid they sound at the moment. Don’t worry about complete sentences or grammar – these are NOTES – scribbles of information. Get loose. Okay, hold your breath – here are my stupid notes on types of people and their names:

Paige Tern – a bookworm

Particular Paula –Wipe the mustard off your lip. Stand up straight,

Lunatic Larry - A high maintenance person always griping about everything. Nothing is good, nothing meets his standards

Diane the Drama Queen – She is staging her own drama with you as the supporting cast

Jennie – The Gen-Xer -- It’s about me, me, me. Selfish.

Lucius - Quiet schemer, turns people against one another

Loud-mouthed Lyndon– Talks too loudly. Talks incessantly. Says embarrassing things.

Eavesdropping Earl – Has to know everything about everyone – salary, love life, etc.

Ditsy Dolly – Head up in the cloud, full of psychobabble

Freddy Friend – Jovial friend who is always borrowing things, eating your food, he peeves you but you can’t help but liking him.

Military Max – Spit and polish, by the rules

Okay, that’s enough. You get the idea? Here’s the plan. Have a few post-it notes in your wallet or purse and a stack beside your bed. If you’re high-tech get one of those little digital recorders. Then, when an idea strikes, capture it, and put in into your own personal idea file. And don’t just do it this next week – do it for many years to come. Believe me, it will come in handy later.

Creativity & The Artists Way

10 Books Every Writer Must Read: The first book in this series of 10 must-read books for every writer is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Don’t let the word Artist in the title fool you.

Writers are artists.

We sculpt in words. We paint pictures in phrases. Our lyrics make music come to life. I recommend that you read this book with a few friends.The book is like a 12-step program. It came about from Julia’s experience in helping other writers fight writer’s block. But it is more than that. It creates in you an artist’s mindset. And it’s message is best put into practice by meeting with a group of people over a 6 to 12 week time frame and studying this book chapter by chapter.

Now some would say such as book is a bunch of hooey. Some woud say is a kind of voodoo book that's supposed to turn a frog writer into a prince (or princess). Believe me, there is a lot of hooey out there having to do with writing and getting published. I think this book is not one of those. Yes, it is touchy-feely. It deals with your spiritual nature -- your creativity. But after all, if you can't be a little touchy-ffely and creative as a writer, what are you doing in this line of work anyway?

Let me tell you what I got out of going through the book in a group setting (twice.) One of the crucial exercises in the book that can change your life forever is the morning pages. This is an exercise where you handwrite three pages of anything every day. You let your mind wander as you write and see where it leads. Sometimes it leads to silliness, sometimes to revelation, sometimes to confession and forgiveness, expressions of hatred or love, ideas for writing or a reminder to call the plumber to fix a leaking faucet.

The morning pages are cathartic. They allow you to spew your thoughts in privacy, to discover what is important to you, to have revelations and eurekas about writing, art, life and plumbing. I don’t want to make this book sound to pie-in-the-sky, but let’s face it. Writing is not calculus. It is art.

As art, it must be fed with creativity. Without creativity there is poor communication. With creativity even an article on atomic physics can be made understandable and interesting. And if you can get your writing to the level where you can make any topic interesting and readable, then you will stand out from the crowd. Most people I meet who want to get published are not willing to jump into the fray and immerse themselves in the writing process.

The Artist’s Way encourages you to get into deep water – to discover what it is about yourself that holds you back. It makes you ask yourself, what would I write if I knew I would be successful? Or what would I write if I didn’t have to worry about what Aunt Mabel would think? What would I write if I knew my writing would change the world for the better? Or what would I write if I knew God was on my side?

The Artist’s Way is a spiritual journey. No matter your spiritual beliefs, creativity is spiritual. God is a creator. We are made in His image. As little gods we naturally emulate our parents – we want to create just as God created. I think, in fact, that this would be a much darker, sinister, murderous world if it were not for the writer’s (and artist’s) creation of beautiful, inspirational, thought-provoking, comedic, real-life, revealing, and society-challenging works.The Artist’s Way is a beginning for every writer.

Don’t be like most wanna-be writers and think that you can write the great American whatever without paying your dues. Like any athlete, concert musician, college professor, or electrician, you have to learn your craft thoroughly and be connected to it spiritually before you will experience what it really means to be a significant and successful writer.

This book is your nursery school. It is your graduate course. It can help you make the most of your God-given talent for creativity so that you will begin thinking like and acting like a noteworthy writer.