Brainstorms

You never know what will be the next great idea. Last night, I awoke at 3:00 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep again. Prayed for awhile (I know there's fighting in the Middle East, typhoons in China, dead water in the Pacific, and children starving in Darfur, God. But I can't do anything about that. So, while my concerns kind of pale in contrast to those, they're still my concerns. Just in case you needed some reminding of what's going on here in my little corner of southwest Michigan....). Still couldn't sleep. So I decided to put my mind to work on some issues that needed fresh ideas.

Bam! Right off the bat, I had three great ideas for marketing the skills and products of three different clients of mine. And one good idea for marketing Geoff's book. They were so good and so novel that I wrote them down... in the dark... hoping I'd be able to make heads and tails out of my scribbling in the morning.

When brainstorms strike, it's best to write them down. You can always look back on them in the harsh light of day and evaluate whether or not you think they were as brilliant as when they first occured. But if you don't write them out as they come, often, they slip away -- never to return.

There's something to be said for setting your mind to work on a problem when it's in a different attitude than normal -- when it's a little sleepy, or distracted, or when there's contemplative music playing, or you're engaged in some unrelated physical activity. (I highly recommend stall cleaning for jump-starting one's creativity. It's an unparalleled activity for brainstorms.)

In Orlando, at the MEGA Book Marketing University, Jean Houston had us do an exercise in which we focused on each of our 5 senses, one at a time. "Can you smell fresh cinnamon cookies?" she asked. "Now, smell wet dog... How about lilacs in springtime... Now, smell the sea..."

Evoking scents, sounds, sensations, sights, and tastes was a controlled way to jump start our creativity. Once we'd "awoken" our senses, she suggested that we "drop in" a creative problem that we'd been wrestling with. Our awakened senses provided mental "hooks" that could snag portions of the problem and lead to previously unthought of possibilities.

It's an interesting exercise. And I have to say that it can be quite effective in opening new channels of thinking about a problem that has previously been considered "done to death." Of course, so can lying awake at 3:30 a.m. -- as long as you've got something nearby to scribble down the resulting brainstorms in the dark.

"Carol of the Horse" News

My good friend Wendy Demarest who owns and operates Gilead Elder Care, will have a booth featuring her elder care homes at the Berrien County Youth Fair. She has agreed to let us feature "Carol of the Horse" at her booth.

The idea just occured to me this afternoon. (It was not one of the 3:30 a.m. gems...) Anything that brings people to your booth at the Fair is a Good Thing. Plus, people with small children and grandchildren are the same people who are in a position of deciding what to do with their aging parents. It's a perfect complement to their target demographics.

When I brought up the idea to Wendy, she was more than happy to let us feature the book at her booth. Friends are golden.

Tales from the Editing Trenches

Today the edit of the "Rider's Back Book" continues. It's going quite well. Dr. Warson has made a few additions to the original rough draft text, and I'm working those in, too. I hope to have it finished by the end of the day. Then I can send him a copy in case he has the time to look it over before Charles and I arrive next week.

This edit is fairly benign. Every so often, there's a turn of phrase that needs cleaning up, or a misspelling that slipped through. (My favorite so far, when talking about what to expect from a neurological exam: "Wrist and grip strength may be testes." Should have been "tested." Much less funny, though...) For the most part, however, there isn't a great deal of rewriting needed.

While on the one hand, this is great, on the other hand, it's easy to lapse into semi-somnolence when reading relatively clean text. For some reason, it's easier to catch mistakes when there are a lot of them. When entire pages go by without any significant errors or required changes, it's easy to lose focus.

Frequent coffee breaks (followed by frequent bathroom breaks) are the answer. Getting up, getting my legs moving, and taking my eyes off the printed page for a short while helps keep the editorial edge.

It's always most difficult editing one's own writing. I know what I meant to say. So, often, my brain just allows my eyes to see what should be on the page.

When the final galley proof comes in, I'll go over the project with a fine-toothed comb. I'll also read it backwards. That's one of the most effective ways to catch errors without getting caught up in the natural flow of the text and substituting words that should be there for the words that actually exist.

For now, I'll just keep plugging away with the initial edit. Listen for the party music when it's finished!

Thoughts on Terrorist Plots

It's not without a certain amount of trepidation that I watch the unfolding news of the terrorist plot to blow up airplanes bound from Heathrow to the U.S. using liquid explosives disguised as everyday objects like drinks, shampoo, conditioner, and other benign things. With the amount of flying I've been doing lately, the thought that someone would willingly get on a plane with the sole purpose of blasting it into oblivion just creeps me out.

As a writer, I should be able to put myself in the mindset of any number of other people with goals, experiences, and motivations different from my own. But I cannot understand the motivation behind a suicide terrorist. I'm not sure I'd even want to.

Terrorist , John Updike's newest novel, does just that -- it gets inside the head of someone bent on causing death and destruction. Updike is arguably one of the greatest living American authors. Perhaps one of the reasons why is because he's not afraid to delve into the sorts of questions most of us shrink from.

I wonder why those who are urged to give their lives for a "glorious cause" never stop to question why their leaders don't lead by example. By definition, that which we cannot understand scares us -- hence my healthy fear of people who want to blow up planes on which they are passengers. Completely foreign territory...

As I board the plane to fly to Hawaii next Wednesday, I'll try to push such thoughts firmly from my mind. No telling yet how successful that will be...

Rider's Wednesday -- Standing in the Wings

Regular readers may remember a post on June 28 about Brigadier, affectionately known as Buford. Brigadier is a Kansas-born horse with international talent. The post told about his upcoming appearance at a show in Verden, Germany, competing against some of the best and boldest in the world.

Here he is, in the ring:

I heard from Cecelia with an update. (Buford is her trainer's horse. She takes clinics from David Wightman, the rider.)

Bufford did pretty well over there. The first day he was a little tense and didn't do the flying changes very well but was still 25th out of 36 horses with a score of 6.70.

The second day in the small final he was very good and placed 9th with a score of 7.26. He was the highest placed American horse! There were lots of nice comments from everyone who was there watching. It was HUGE show....all the best riders were there including Isabell Werth.

I am so proud of him and David! I want to thank everyone for their help and support! The next step will be Kentucky for him and then home for a well deserved break.

I don't know the horse, his trainer, or his rider, but I know Cecelia. And being able to stand in the wings and watch an international contender take shape is quite an honor.

"Love Concerts"

So... Last week I worked dilligently for a few days typing up the manuscript for my friend Sharie's brand new book. I'm very proud of her. She took my advice (I love when people do that) and wrote an e-book -- start to finish -- in less than two weeks. And it's not bad.

I'm planning to host a two-day workshop later this fall, showing people how they can do the same thing. Sharie is going to be one of my success stories. I've told her for years she needed to write a book. Now she knows she can. She's already planning her next one.

Since she's appearing at the International Gospel Music Fan Fest in Tennessee, she wanted to be able to take the book with her and make it available to people. So I hurried. Which means I worked a little faster than I normally do. Which never bodes well.

I finished typing the document on Wednesday night. I did a too-quick-for-words proof, Robert made it into a .pdf file, and we took it to Conard's place. I prayed that I'd done a thorough enough job.

But no... We were looking at the last page -- a short bio of Sharie and a listing of her various project. The opening sentence was to tell about Sharie's appearances on television, radio, and in live concerts. Sharie looked at it and asked, "What are 'love concerts?'"

Blast!

"Love concerts," of course, rendered the whole .pdf flawed and unusable. So I went back to the file and gave it a good proofing. It's a good thing I did, too. I found a few other, minor little flaws. But I was ultimately able to do a better, more thorough job. And that's always good.

It's quite possible that a few glitches got past me. But at least there are no "love concerts" in Sharie's performances any more!

Going Live

My good friend Sharie Conard is a featured performer at the International Gospel Music Fan Fest in Columbia, TN next week. TCT Broadcast Network will air six live shows.

Singing. Live, onstage, in front of thousands and broadcast to millions. Sharie can't wait. I'd be OK speaking... but singing -- no, thank you!

Going live -- giving others the chance to see you in all your flawed glory. And, in this culture, that means opening yourself up to the inevitable criticism, glitches, snafus, and snags that crop up in any endeavor. Not for the faint of heart.

The online newsletter I've been working on for the past month is done. It's a demo version -- only available to the select few who have agreed to help me test it. My editor, however, opted in to see the demo... and never got it.

We've been trying to see if her spam filter is working overtime, or if there's another reason for the glitch. I was hoping to take the newsletter live this week. But there's no point in going live until the demo works.

In the past month, my wonderful husband has designed, tweaked, and posted online two full, functional websites.

One, Muse Ink, is a site for writers and experts who want to be writers. It offers coaching and consulting services, writer's workshop and seminar leadership, and free articles on writing. Eventually it will also offer mp3 downloads on various relevant topics and educational products to help writers get their words out.

The other is a site for my illustrated children's book Carol of the Horse. It introduces the project, plays the introduction to the song that accompanies the book, tells a little bit about each of the principal people involved, and includes ordering information. I think he really outdid himself with the site -- it's gorgeous!

Taking both sites live was nervewracking, though. These are pages that present aspects of me to the world. God forbid that there should be a typo on a page offering help to writers! Or that there's a glitch in the ordering process! Or that a programming hiccup makes a 14 inch right margin with all the text squished unreadably into a quarter-inch strip on the left hand side...

One of the most valuable lessons I've learned this year is: It's not about Perfection. It's about Progress.

If you wait until something is perfect, it will never get done. Nothing will ever be so good that it can't be improved. Often, however, taking something live will illuminate what needs improving in ways that simply working on it alone will never bring to light.

For good or for ill, both sites are live now. I'm proud of them and of my husband. He did a great job. If you visit them and find a mistake, accept my apologies in advance. Then tell me what you've found and I'll fix it. I keep reminding myself: Progress -- not perfection.

Coaching's Catch-22

I have my monthly coaching session with Stephanie today. She's used to coaching high-powered, get-things-done business execs.

I fear that my business, with conversation starters like Guess what? I've got to go to Hawaii, and then it's off to Canada. Totally unexpected. Couldn't be helped. Got nothing done on last month's To-Do list, but accomplished these completely different things instead... would normally fly too low to register on her radar. But she's great. She's supportive. And when I do what she suggests, I feel that I accomplish much more.

The problem is -- good coaching is expensive. It also takes time. A negative cash flow often inhibits coaching. So does a jam-packed calendar. But people who desire to make more money, to free up more time, and to move up to the next level in their field are the ones who need coaching the most.

I often find myself on the other end of the Coaching Catch-22 when I help writers with their projects. Sometimes a simple, targeted 15 or 20 minute phone consultation would clarify their issues, illuminate some of their recurring weaknesses, and clear the way for them to finish -- or polish -- their work. But the money / time snag is always there, ready to trip people up and hold them back.

Stephanie is not inexpensive. But my dreams are not small, either. I've seen what she can do to help push me to bring my dreams into reality. So today I'll sidestep the Coaching Catch-22, put my money where my mouth is, and make the time for our consultation.