Lucky 7 is Almost Here

Writers can get quick tips on writing and editing with “50 Tips for First-Time Authors.” Pull up a chair, get your favorite beverage and dive right in to learn writing, editing and publishing tips.

By SHELLEY WIDHALM

Seven is a lucky number that represents perfection and completion, both physical and spiritual.

There also are seven days of the week, seven continents and seven brides for seven brothers. Seven has a lot of mathematical play with repetition and multiplication*. And it is the number of objects you can hold in your head when they are placed on a table. After that, counting is needed.

I counted 50 of my best writing, editing and publishing tips in my book, 50 Tips for First-Time Authors, which I published in print and e-book formats on 7/7 in 2020 (a year some consider not so lucky with the worldwide pandemic, social isolation and mask-wearing and other mandates).

The Lucky 7

This year on Lucky 7, or July 7, I will have my e-book at a lucky discounted rate, so that you can get a quick jumpstart into the writing life.

Leading up to that day, I will have other discounts, the first of which is for 7 days June 21-28. Through a Kindle Countdown Deal, the e-book will sell for $0.99 June 21-24, then for $1.99 June 24-28. It will return to the regular price of $2.99 at midnight PDT.

In my book, I assembled the best tips I’ve gathered during my 20 years of writing novels and four years of professional editing to help writers get their books publication ready.

The Tips Simplified

I want to let writers know that though writing is hard, it also can be fun. It doesn’t have to be some overwhelming, daunting task but can be broken down into chunks, such as writing for an hour a week or setting a page or word count goal—basically, just get out the rough draft and worry about editing later.

I also want to inspire writers to start but also to maintain writing, so that it becomes a hobby or even a job. Writing is a craft that can be learned through reading, webinars and classes, but then the writer brings in their magic through their style, voice and use of words. That’s where the fun can come in.

I also give tips on the writing and revision processes, plus offer a few ideas for overcoming writer’s block. I explain the differences among writing in the fiction, nonfiction and poetry genres. And I touch on methods for writing concisely without repetitions and things like word echoes.

If you want to get lucky (in writing, that is), check out the best 50 tips.

* Note that my Lucky 7 blog is posted on 7/21, or a multiple of 3, and that the date of 21 has the numbers 2 and 1, or 2 + 1 = 3. So nerdy, right!

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Writing Conferences: Prepare, Pitch and Post

Northern Colorado Writers member Shelley Widhalm holds up her conference book from the NCW Conference in 2017, “Imagination: The Alchemy of Writing.”

Going to a writer’s conference is like getting a micro-MFA but cheaper and faster.

And it’s a way to rise up through the ranks, if just a little.

Conferences, as well as webinars that have gained popularity since the pandemic, give attendees an opportunity to meet with literary agents one-on-one and edge out of the slush pile.

Meeting agents often happens in pitch sessions. Attendees can make quick verbal or written pitches to agents, trying to essentially sell their work in five or 10 minutes or in a few paragraphs. If there is a request, they typically are asked to submit a query letter and/or synopsis and a certain number of pages or chapters.

The personal connection, even if it’s online, gives extra attention to the pitch above that of sending it anonymously. It’s the next best thing to a personal request from an agent or a recommendation from another writer.

Conferences also offer an educational component for writers to grow their craft. Presenters at a conference, whether in-person or virtual, offer trade secrets about writing, editing and publishing. They provide ideas for improving your writing, inspiration and motivation to do that writing, and tips on the ins and outs of self-, small and medium-size presses and of traditional publishing.

I’m particularly excited for the 2021 Northern Colorado Writers Conference that is a mix of a day of in-person workshops on April 24 and a virtual conference April 27 to May 4. There will be sessions catering to a variety of genres including fiction, nonfiction, poetry and screenwriting; networking events; and, my favorite, pitching opportunities to a lineup of six agents.

My attitude about conferences has changed since I attended my first NCW conference in 2014, long before the restrictions of the pandemic and when everything was in person. I sat in on a pitch session and was certain my YA was destined to be a best-seller, but when I didn’t get a little piece of paper inviting me to a second round of pitching, I headed to the bathroom. I went into a stall and cried, because I thought my dreams were over.

They weren’t, of course. I went to NCW’s conferences nearly every year since and continued to pitch, getting requests for partials and fulls. I did three rewrites and resubmits to one agent but eventually got a no. My takeaway is that I love writing and can’t give it up, even if I am not yet traditionally published—I want to be a debut author at a Big House and in the meantime self-published a small reference book in July 2020, “50 Tips for First-Time Authors: Learn the Secrets of Writing for Publication.”

Through my conference dedication, I picked up a few tips on being a conference attendee expert. My hot tips for being cool at the conference include:

• Plan ahead on which sessions you want to attend; and don’t forget a notebook or laptop to take notes (both for virtual and in-person sessions).
• Know which genre your work fits in; don’t just say fiction or nonfiction.
• Prep for pitch sessions: research to find the best fit for your work and check the agent or editor’s websites, social media and other material online to identify what kind of books and writers they represent.
• Prepare your pitch with a logline and synopsis. If you get a request, ask when and how you should submit your proposal or sample chapters and how best to contact the agent or editor.
• If you learn that your work isn’t right for the agent or editor, don’t take it personally.
• Follow up when you receive any kind of positive feedback from agents, writers and others.
• If you’re attending the in-person session, take photos and post them. Tweet, blog, Facebook and engage in other types of social media to promote your writing and the conference.

Lastly, remember when you invest your money into a writer’s conference, you want to get a good ROI. You’ll get reenergized about the writing and editing processes and hopefully learn something new about you, the writer, and what keeps you going despite the temporary not-yets that you might hear.

Note 1: This blog appears in NCW’s March newsletter, “The Write Stuff.”

Note 2: I provide editing, writing and ghostwriting services and can help you perfect your project from an article or blog series to a short story or novel. I also offer consultations on writing and editing through #ShellsInk at shellsinkservices.com.

Fires and Masks: I Can’t Breathe

Multiple fires across the state darken the skies in downtown Loveland, Colo., making for an eerie atmosphere.

As ash falls out of the sky, I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop struggling to write my blog.

The sky is spooky, haunted and surreal as leaves shimmer gold against a smoke blanket. Ash coats sidewalks in small, blowing piles of destruction, and pieces of pinecones curl like oversized eyelashes.

It’s nine days before Halloween, and I feel anything but eidolic, only thinking about fun and candy.

Like everyone else, I’m trying to sort through the tragedies of 2020, how they all seem to focus on breath. First, the masks that cover our faces, then “I can’t breathe” leading to the BLM movement, followed by fires across the West that significantly lower our air quality.

Trifecta of Breathing

I can’t breathe as my heart breaks at how the sky literally feels like its falling, but in little white  and black pieces of life destroyed.

I can’t breathe as I run—I’ve moved inside and run in a gym, my mask in place.

I can’t breathe as I shame myself for my pivot from writing to editing. I’m not getting work fast enough. I might fail. And on it goes.

I started my writing and editing business nearly four years ago because I lost my reporting job at the local newspaper. When I got the pink slip at my journalism job, I gasped. Not me. I was told my position had been cut. I was laid off.

I couldn’t find a job. I started a business and gasped for breath as I tried to understand how to be a solopreneur. I read books. I met with consultants at the Loveland Business Development Center. And I called my brother, who owns a business, asking tons of questions.

After a couple of years, finally I felt grounded. My numbers were growing. It looked like I could quit my side gig job. And then the COVID-19 pandemic happened. I lost two-thirds of my business, and over the months, built it up to half of a loss.

As we got shut inside, I increased my hours at my essential services gig job (just by 4 to 24 a week). I became more engaged in writing and editing my novels. I got obsessed with Zoom webinars on writing and editing.

Fires Recolor the Sky

And then the fires came. I didn’t want to write. I stopped blogging, thinking it felt like a chore. And then I missed it, just like I miss Colorado’s blue skies I took for granted until two months ago.

Each day, I wonder what color the sky will be. I wonder how it will feel to breathe again without thinking of facial coverings and falling ash.

I wonder if I’ll cough, if my chest will feel tight.

I don’t wonder about love and passion. I love writing, and I love editing, my breath givers.

What are yours? What do you love that is helping you through these hard times? What are three of your passions? What are three of your skills? What are three ways that you can reach out to others?

What makes you feel like you can breathe again?

A Handy (and Fun!) Reference Book for Writing and Editing

Shelley Widhalm of Shell’s Ink Services poses with the proof of her book, “50 Tips for First-Time Authors.”

Becoming pro at writing takes time and experience, but for those gaps in knowledge, it’s great to have a bookshelf (virtual or real) of reference books.

I consolidated many of the writing tricks and tips I learned over the years in my new release, “50 Tips for First-Time Authors: Learn the Secrets of Writing for Publication.” The book comes out in Kindle and print on Lucky 7/7, or July 7, 2020.

From the Reviewers

I sought reviews for the book and got some great responses, including one from a reader who said the tips “are clear, compelling and practical.” “They truly provide a map to move steadily forward in the writing journey,” the reader said, adding that the journey also can be discouraging.

I can attest to that discouragement. I’m trying to get traditionally published and have had some interest but not a final yes, while self-publishing requires the same amount of time, dedication and patience. There is as large a learning curve as there is to learning how to write and edit in a clear, crisp and compelling style that gets reader buy-in and builds a fan base.

Another reviewer said, “In this concise and practical book, this successful writer uses her insight and skill to encourage, support and guide fellow writers through their creative process.”

And Now for the Tips

In nine quick-to-read chapters, I offer tips for getting started writing, what’s involved in the writing process, the difference between writing fiction and nonfiction, and editing best practices, plus ways to avoid the dreaded writer’s block. I wrap up with a dozen reasons for loving writing.

The final chapter, “Loving Writing (Because It’s Essential!),” is my favorite. An excerpt from the chapter sums up why writing is a great practice.

It’s a way to be whoever you want to be and do whatever you want to do, going places, and doing things you might not do otherwise.

And, most importantly, it’s interesting to find out what you created after spending a few minutes or hours on a novel scene, short story, or essay. It’s the ultimate process of discovery.

To learn about these and other tips and find out about the essentials to writing and editing, visit Amazon to get a print or Kindle version of 50 Tips for First-Time Authors.

Thanks for checking out my favorite tips from the hundreds I’ve learned and collected over the years!

Author Website Gets a ‘Wardrobe Makeover’

Every so often, websites need an update, or viewers will think they are a little sleepy and outdated!

Websites are like wardrobes—they need to be changed every so often to be fashionable and up-to-date.

That’s what I did with my author website that describes my writing projects and author story. I tossed out the old—especially the photos of younger albeit heavier me before I started my daily one-hour running and weight-lifting regimen—and brought in the new. I have fewer photos, fewer tabs and a whole new look.

Originally, I created my website in 2010 when I read a Writer’s Digest article stating that aspiring authors should have a platform that includes a blog and a website, so I started both.

Out with the Old, In with the New …

My first website had a banner with a cutout photo of me up top and the tabs on the side—an outdated look, though everything was in shades of blue, even my outfit, which was kind of nice. The tabs included About Me, which had three sub-tabs of Profile, Photos and Questions (an old version of FAQs), News and Writing, also with sub-tabs, and my Blog. Very unwieldy and a bit busy.

The new website is neater and cleaner with three of my top book projects featured on the home page and six tabs for the About Me, Publications, Readings, FAQs, Blog and Contact Me pages.

Blog Relaunch

The Blog tab sends visitors to the Shell’s Writing Ink blog I started in June 2010, that of https://shelleywidhalm.wordpress.com. I will continue in a similar vein with my new and improved blog, offering fast and fun writing and editing tips and glimpses into the life of a writer. But what will be different is the offering of samples of my novels, short stories and poetry. That way visitors can delve into my writing style and see what kind of characters, settings and storylines I like to create.

As I did in the past, I will aim to blog on a weekly basis, though I do skip here and there.

Honestly, blogging sometimes feels like a chore—maybe because writing isn’t always magical and easy. But I love sharing what I’ve learned from attending writing workshops, reading writers magazines, being part of writers groups and engaging in conversations about writing.

Newsletter Addition

I also will encourage visitors to join my newsletter list for even more writing and editing tips.

Why share? Because it’s good to do (and something we learned in kindergarten), and writing about writing is a way of self-teaching. It’s a way to see what fits, what works and what needs to go—be it recycled, reused or repurposed. Writing is a way to get in all the colors, be fashionable and try out the new trends.

In other words, writing is … yep, fun!

Want to Have Fun Writing Poetry? Here’s How.

I have the honor of being Kat Valdez’s guest blogger this week at Secrets of Best-Selling Authors.

Katherine Valdez

Featured photo taken in Harare, Zimbabwe by Trust “Tru” Katsande @iamtru/Unsplash

Odes, Elegies and Workshops
Guest Post by Shelley Widhalm

Poetry used to be so archaic and foreign to me until I started writing it.

Of course as an English major, I studied #Poetry but also found it to be intimidating, especially as I learned about sonnets, sestinas, villanelles and haikus, each with their specific meters, syllable counts and rhyming schemes. And then I found out about free verse, but that, too, has its rules: get rid of the extra words while providing artistic expression in the open form.

As I practiced free verse, the other forms became easier to incorporate in my daily poem habit—I’ve been writing a poem a day since September 2017. I now like writing haikus—they’re short and all you have to do is count out syllables of 5-7-5 in three lines of poetry.

Odes and…

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Reading Poetry at ‘In Just Spring’

Shelley Widhalm recites poetry at a seasonal reading in 2016 at the Loveland Museum/Gallery.  She will be part of a reading there April 15.

April is my favorite month for three reasons—it’s spring, it’s the month of my birthday and it’s National Poetry Month.

To celebrate the celebration of poetry, the Community Poets in Loveland, Colo., will present In Just Spring with a poetry reading, music and storytelling at the Loveland Museum/Gallery on April 15. National Poetry Month was organized in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry during the month of April.

The Community Poets chose the name for the reading to reflect E.E. Cummings’ poem [in Just-] about mud, puddles and the springtime. The reading is part of the seasonal equinox and solstice readings the group hosts four times a year. The group organizes the readings and other poetry-related activities, including visits from poets and poetry workshops, to get the local community interested and engaged in the poetic discipline.

The Poetry Reading

The reading, which will be 1-3 p.m., will feature 45 minutes of an open mike, where the public will be invited to read one poem, followed by the regular reading with 10 invited readers.

The Community Poets invited me to be one of the readers who will recite two springtime-themed, lighthearted poems. I’ll be reading a poem about sparrows and the second about The Squirrel Man who feeds the squirrels near the lagoon where I like to run and walk my dog. The two poems come from my Poem-a-Day Challenge.

Since September 2017, I’ve written a poem a day—not literally, because I have to do lots of fill-in-the-blanks and catch-ups, but it equals out to a daily dose of poetry. From this challenge, I have learned a few things about daily writing that makes it fun and not feel like a chore.

Writing Poems

To find a poem (especially daily), here are a few things you can do:

• Pay attention to the one thing from the day that strikes you—an interesting happening or something you notice. Describe it to yourself and say you’ll write it later.
• Write the poem even if you don’t feel like it, not worrying about quality.
• Write haikus of 5, 7, 5 syllables. The more you do them, the easier they are to do, and you can do them quickly and still get in your poem for the day.
• Write a crappy first poem and maybe a second and then let the good poems show up.
• Don’t wait for inspiration or the right circumstances to right the poem, just write it.

• Use the senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting) to describe an observation or experience. Thinking about them will allow you to access better descriptions.
• Play around with words and descriptions, or simply put words on the page and rearrange them.
• Be specific in your descriptions, avoiding clichés and general terms, instead favoring concrete terms, such as red-twig dogwood over tree. Here’s a line from one of my poems about dogwoods: “Red-twig dogwood/ crayon marks across/ gray winter light.”

One Last Thing

Lastly, have fun with the writing. Writing poetry makes you a better writer in other genres, such as fiction, blogs and articles, because it makes you think about description and language while also getting across what you want to say about the topic.

Valentine’s Day and a Writing Love

Besides writing, Zoey the Cute Dachshund is another of my Valentine’s Day loves!

Valentine’s Day is about declaring your love for someone—or something.

It’s about cards, flowers and candy. But it also can be about other loves— a hobby, a passion or a job.

For me, my love is writing, and a close second is editing.

Here are a few things to love about writing:

• Writing is a way to figure out what you really think or feel about something.
• It’s a way to be creative.
• It’s a way to play around with words and language.
• It’s a way to improve your understanding of words and how to be concise with language and how to effectively get message across.
• It’s a way to express yourself, using your intelligent and creative minds at the same time.
• It’s a way to make connections with text, memory or experiences that you might not otherwise make by thinking or talking.
• It’s a way to tell stories and disappear into another world, where you don’t see the page and can’t tell you’re writing.
• It’s a way to be whoever you want to be and do whatever you want to do, going places and doing things you might not do otherwise.
• And it’s interesting to find out what it is you created after spending a few minutes or hours on a story or essay. It’s a process of discovery.

Writing is an accomplishment:

Lastly, it gives you a sense of accomplishment after completing a story, meeting a word or time goal and finishing a novel or other large project.

In essence, it’s reciprocal, just like love, because you give your words and you get back a product, starting in rough draft form. But as you get to know each other even more, you develop a relationship, turning something rough into your perfect match.

Why Blogging is Important for Writers

Thank you, Ryan, for this honor. I love the layout!

Getting Yourself to Write

Getting past writer’s block is like a dog trying to walk on the snow.

Writing can be a struggle for writers of all levels, from beginning to professional.

The struggle has a dreaded name: writer’s block.

Writer’s block refers to not being able to write while facing the blank page or the middle of a project. It can be a matter of losing the inspiration or motivation to write, or not having the time and space.

Maybe the writer wants to write but does not know what to say or how to say it. Or the writer does not have anything new to think about or ways to describe things.

Or, could it be a matter of the writer not knowing where to go next?

Every time I face writer’s block, I engage in a little bit of B.S., my form of freewriting where I don’t care about anything but putting one word after another, placing speed above content.

I quickly think of a setting, situation or character and start writing, not caring about what I’m saying, aiming for quantity, not quality. The quality comes later when I get started and realize I have something to write about, can scrap the beginning bits and edit the rest.

Here are ways to get yourself to write:

• Make up a writing prompt or use an existing prompt, which can be found online or by visiting my blog about ideas for writing prompts at https://shelleywidhalm.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/benefits-of-writing-prompts-examples/. Prompts can serve as a freewriting, block-freeing exercise.
• Go to the dictionary and pick a word, using that as your starting point.
• Try to write as many words as you can in 10 or 15 minutes, or even in an hour. Experienced writers can write 1,000 or more words in an hour—though what they write likely will need editing.
• For fiction writers, start with a setting or a situation. Or develop a character identify and think about what that character would do in a certain odd, unwanted or awkward situation.
• For nonfiction writers, think of a topic you want to learn more about and look up three ideas about it. Relate your personal experience or knowledge to that topic and aim to write 500 to 700 words, the typical length for a blog.

Why freewrite and use prompts?

The idea of freewriting and using prompts is to let go of the editor self and just start writing, not thinking too hard about the words and sentences and whether or not they are written correctly and make sense.

Freewriting allows for free association as you let the mind go, letting subconscious material arise to the surface. It’s a way to get ideas for a blog, article, short story or a novel you’re already working on. It’s a way to think of new ways to describe things and new approaches to what you’re already working on.

It’s process, then product.

What you write is rough, and then with the editing and revision process, you give it shape. You cut and paste and rework until you get what you want, seeing that you have something to write, say and do.