John Harrer

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Want to Be a Writer?

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Want to Be a Writer?  Do writerly things.

If you want to be a writer, you must do writerly things.  (I suppose that includes not using words like “writerly”. )

When I made the decision to work on my writing and become a better writer – let’s face it most people can write, few people write well – the best place to start is the path other writers have followed.

writerBesides the obvious “writers must write”, what other things make good writers?

Live

It’s easier to write when there is something to write about.  Go out live, have an adventure, travel, fall in love, then write about it.  The more adrenaline or endorphin it produces the better.  As a writer, there may be a tendency to stay home, “write what you know”, old memories or experiences.  Work on those in small patches for you memoir.  Find something that excites you today.

Learn

Last weekend the Writers of Kern held their Spring Conference.  Writer Anne Perry was there sharing her knowledge.  She has sold 27 million copies.  Every book she has ever published is still in print.  Yet during the morning session, there she was in the audience looking for kernels of knowledge she might use.  During the Q&A session she asked some insightful questions.

The point is, writing is a craft.  Like anything, it’s best to commit to the process of continual learning.  Not only must we have experiences to write about, we must know how to use the tools of storytelling to convey them.

Observe

Check out the world around you.  On a long trip I’ll try and create a story around a car or truck I see on the road.  Where are they going?  How much can I learn from the car?  Late-model or junker?  BMW or Chevy Cavalier with the temporary spare rolling on the left rear?  Is it just a driver or driver and a lover, confederate, or child?

My favorite book growing up was The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.  The powers of observation and deduction fascinated me.  Did he really see more than others?  Did Doyle possess those exquisite observational skills?  Did Doyle teach himself the powers of observation?

Be Understood

In the horse training business – in which I have been known to dabble recently – there is a trainer named Clinton Anderson.  One of my favorite sayings of his, and it relates as much to writing as horse training, is “If you want to be effective, you must be understood“.

That’s what I’m working on, being understood.  Communication appears simple, but it is not.  People rarely get my point without a second or third explanation.  Clearly, I’m not always being understood.

With each piece I determine what am I trying to say.  Not the top two or three things, the ONE thing I want to say.  Then, I work at getting all the words to work in that direction.  It’s a challenge, but I’ll keep working on it until I get it.

Those are a few of the key ingredients about writing I’ve learned from some of my favorite authors.  What are yours?

Politics Offers a Lesson

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Politics Offers a Lesson

First, let me say I’ve never written a political blog post.  I don’t care about politics or who becomes president.  I believe it doesn’t make a bit of difference who is in the White House.  The bureaucracy is so huge, one man can’t make a difference.  I believe that government is best left to fixing roads and defending the borders.

But there is a lesson to be learned about this election, just keep trying.  Back in my younger days, before I became jaded and cynical (just kiddin, I’ve always been jaded and cynical about politics), I thought the government needed to be run more like a business than, well, a government.

politicsThat was a long time ago (for me).  Pierre “Pete” duPont threw is hat into the ring.  Mr. duPont, of Dupont Chemical fame worked for the giant corporation for seven years before coming to politics.  Pete wanted to get welfare recipients into the workforce, allow people to fund their own retirement in exchange for less government benefits, and require students to randomly take drug tests and if they failed the test, they lost their license.  Oh, and he wanted to end subsidies for farmers.   duPont finished next to last in the New Hampshire primary and dropped out of the race.  I thought his ideas made sense, but never got a chance to cast a vote for him.  Talking about ending farm subsidies in Iowa, while bold, is not likely the best politics.  That was one of the reasons I liked him; he wasn’t the usual politician.

politicsRoss Perot came along in 1992.  Another businessman with a lot of money, Ross wanted the country to be run more like a business.  He wanted a balanced budget, a stronger war on drugs, and town hall meetings to discuss the serious issues of the day.  Ross spent a bunch of his own money on his campaign.  He took donations, but had a $5 limit.  Again, not run of the mill politics.  While Ross came across as a tough and savvy businessman, he was manhandled as a politician.  In the summer before the election he was holding his own against Bush and Clinton.  The found was to attack him and he dropped out.  Quit.  Then he jumped back in in October.  The country had supported him because he hadn’t been wishy-washy and then he was.

The Donald is in the race now.  I think he is spending his own money.  He seems to have touched the heart of one segment of the electorate.  He’s making people nervous because some say he has a chance to win.

The lesson of politics:  Keep trying.  You want blacks to be free, keep trying.  You want women to vote, keep trying.  You want gays to be able to marry, keep trying.  You want a businessman to be President, keep trying.  If it doesn’t work the first time, repackage it and try again.  If it doesn’t work the second time, change the name a bit, and try again.  Eventually you’ll figure out how to make it happen.

Now, if we could just find a way to get those roads fixed.

Cloud Computing a New Form of Skywriting

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Cloud Computing a New Form of Skywriting

Cloud computingYou’ve heard of cloud computing, right?  I have three computers because I hate getting rid of technology.  Well, four if you count the old laptop buried somewhere deep in a closet.  Two desktops, one from 2008 and one from 2011 and another laptop from 2013.

They were necessary when I ran my retail business.  Had to have one at the shop and one at home.  When I “retired” I needed to get the laptop, thinking I would use it for my traveling photography business.

As a computer user since the 1980’s imagine how much digital information I’ve gathered over the years.  Thankfully, hard drives have gotten bigger and cheaper so storing much of the data is far easier than it used to be.

Yesterday the 2008 desktop gave up the ghost.  It is a scary feeling when a computer goes kaput.  The Eight as I used to (affectionately) refer to it (now the adjectives are far more salty) had a pretty good run.  As a matter-of-fact we had just finished collating the last year’s taxes for preparation.  Yes, I know what you’re thinking and you are right, I DO wish I had printed my tax stuff before I shut the machine down.

Good thing it wasn’t THAT important. It was only tax information after all.  What if it had been my great American novel?  What if those hard drives were full of my journals and writings?  Without a backup, I’d be a gonner.  My book would never be turned into a screenplay.  Johnny Depp would get never get cast in the leading role. His acting comeback would fizzle and he’d spend the rest of his days playing rock ‘n roll with the band you saw on the Grammys last night.  He would die far too young and…..wait, wait.

Sorry, getting a little carried away here.  I’m not really sure Mr. Depp is right for the protagonist in my novel.  And, besides, all my writing is up on the Cloud now. It’s all safe.  Google and Microsoft with their Google Drive and OneDrive products insure that what I write is safe no matter what (excluding Armageddon, of course).

cloud computingOf the two free services, I prefer Google Drive, but I use them both.  The Docs app allows me to write on any device, computer, iPad, even iPhone.  If you are not connected to your drive, it won’t let you write.  And, every keystroke you make is backed up immediately.  If you type something on your iPad while your computer is turned off, once you flip your computer switch on, the files sync up.  There are storage limitations, but I’ve been using Drive for years now and have barely used 50%.  When you create a doc in the Google Doc app it does not go against your memory limitations.

Microsoft has a couple of good tools too.  Their OneDrive offers competitive storage and can take Word and Excel docs.  The Microsoft OneNote app is quickly finding its way to the top of my app chart.  Get an idea you want to jot down quickly?  OneNote is perfect for this.  It even has tabs so you can separate notes my subject.

With Cloud computing the need for a large computer and hard drive is going away.  Let the experts store this stuff.  They have so many redundancies something major would have to happen for me to lose anything.  Once I don’t need a computer anymore to store my writings I can go back to putting my tax stuff in an old shoe box.

Social Media and Writing

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Writers and Social Media

Social MediaDo you use social media?  Most writers are acutely aware that writing, for the most part, is a lonely endeavor.  For me it begins in my small office with perhaps only a cat as company.  Much comedy is made from all the wonderful little tasks writers do to postpone the actual writing process.  One of the big time holes for writers can sometimes be perusing Facebook or Twitter.  But for all its loneliness there is a camaraderie of sorts among writers.

As one of the managers of the Facebook page for Writers of Kern, a Bakersfield writers group,  I find something quite baffling.  As part of a volunteer-run organization the task falls on me to create posts, find content, and encourage writers.  Facebook etiquette prevents one for asking for “Likes” or requesting “Shares”.  From behind the curtain, I can see how many people actually view a post and how many people ‘Share” or “Like” a post.

The baffling part?  The Writers of Kern Page gets very little action.  Now normally I would take the blame for such a situation.  “If you post good content they will come” is the Facebook mantra.  If people don’t “Like” or “Share”, look first at the content.  While the content may not be great, it certainly is at the level of  good, so what else is happening?

It’s poor form to blame the audience, I know.  But they’re writers for crying out loud.  One would think they would have an opinion…on everything.  Some of the other “non-writing” pages I manage have people, who have no idea what they are talking about, go on for paragraph after paragraph.  Is it the general affliction of low self-esteem that dogs most writers from speaking up?

A few writers with an aversion to Twitter and Facebook often claim they are “technologically challenged”.  The world has changed people.  Publishing is open to everyone.  To say you’re technologically challenged today would be the same as Hemingway saying he can’t figure out the typewriter works.  One need look no farther than Andy Weir author of The Martian to understand the opportunities writers have today.  Andy published The Martian online, one chapter at a time, before putting a Kindle version on Amazon.  He built a league of followers on social media.  From there it caught the eye of publishers, and eventually movie producers.

In the early days of Twitter I had more time to follow different threads.  I came across a literary agent Tweeting regularly.  Over a period of half a year I saw more than one Tweet where she was pitched a story AND several congratulatory Tweets to authors who got published.  Authors she met through social media.

What about the time suck that happens on social media?  You sit down to look at a few notifications and 90 minutes later you are still there.  That’s not social media’s fault.  You don’t have to watch the puppy video, or the cat video, or the “He was just a bear in the woods, but you’ll be amazed at what happens next” video.  There is a smart way to use social media.  Like anything else, have a goal.  For me, I use Facebook to connect with other writers and see what they are doing.  Fifteen minutes, then I close the browser window.  If I see a writer friends’ writing oriented post I’ll “Like” it.  (If it’s a post about his trip to Disneyland, I keep moving along.)  If the post is positive and encouraging, I’ll “Share” with my friends and fellow writers.  The process takes literally 5 seconds.

Twitter uses a hashtag system.  In the Twitter search bar you can put some like #writing or #JustWrite and every Tweet with those hashtags come up.  And, if you do Tweet, always use a hashtag of some sort so people can find your Tweets.  That’s why many Writers of Kern Tweets end with the #JustWrite tag.

If you are a writer who is not on social media, maybe it’s time to take another look.  And if you are please take a moment to like or share a Writers of Kern post.  It makes me look good to the boss.

Writers, do you use social media to your advantage?  Let’s hear how – leave a comment.