Op-Ed Writing

I ran across this helpful article the other day: "10 Rules for Writing Opinion Pieces," by Susan Shapiro. Here is a summary, but I suggest you read the entire article.

1. Be timely or early.
2. Be very opinionated.
3. Convey a strong link to your subject.
4. Add unknown facts.
5. Don't share the obvious slant.
   
6. Keep it short and sweet.
7. Be aware of your audience.
   
8. Don't be afraid to be Sybil.
9. Don't comment on another commentary.
10. Follow up.

This article appeared in the May/June issue of Writer's Digest. Click here to order your copy in print. If you prefer a digital download of the issue, click here.

Women Writers and Success

"From George Sand to George Eliot, Isak Dinesen to E. Nesbit, P. D. James to James Tiptree Jr., there’s a long history of women writers who have used disguised names to realize their ambitions. Even J. K. Rowling—the best-selling author of all time—adopted a neutral moniker on her way to success: Before Harry Potter became a phenomenon, Bloomsbury, Rowling’s publisher, asked her to use initials to reassure the target audience of young boys who might be reluctant to pick up a book by 'Joanna Rowling,' a female author.
"

This is just one of the observations by Anna Clark in her article, "The Ambition Condition" that first appeared in Bitch Magazine's "Loud" issue in Fall, 2008. I've touched on this problem before (see my Femagination blog for the post "Women Writers Get No Respect."), but Clark has more to say about the way women are treated if they are talented and ambitious.

It's all too common for a woman to belittle her accomplishments or pretend to not care about fame or fortune. If she shows her hand, she is either ridiculed, criticized or, worst of all, ignored. She does what she has to do be successful, knowing all along that her success will never be rewarded to the degree that men writers' are. She's damned if she fails and damned if she succeeds.

I see this pattern in my own writing career. I'm working on an essay right now that I really think has potential. Okay, I'll go ahead and say it: I think it's marketable. But after the first burst of enthusiasm I found myself downgrading what I'd written: It couldn't possibly be that good. Not only that, but I began to doubt whether I had a right to publish an essay that mentions other people. Isn't that an invasion of privacy? Women aren't supposed to make others uncomfortable, especially for the sake of their own ambitions.

So what do I do? I'm at a stalemate right now. I've lost my motivation to finish because I don't know if I will ever try to market it. Better to just keep it with my papers, as if it is only a journal entry. Maybe it will be discovered after I die.

I think that a lot about things that I'm working on: if I don't have enough guts to submit this, I'll save it and maybe someday after I'm gone someone will read it and say, "She was a really good writer!" But maybe they'll also say, "Why wasn't she ever published?"

Is that really how I want my career to play out? Am I so damn afraid of success and of being seen as ambitious that I will passive-aggressively let the dice posthumously fall where they may? How pathetic!

Ms. Clark suggests at the end of her article that perhaps women shouldn't worry about fame and fortune. Maybe what women have to offer is "simply writing to a different standard. It may be a part of the creation of our alternative to the traditional literary culture."


I take issue with that. I'm not saying that women can't contribute something that is uniquely their own, or that they can't show men different ways to be successful. I am saying that they shouldn't have to, if that's not what they want. Women should be taken as seriously as men are, and if they're not, they should raise a stink about it.

Of course, the tricky thing about writing is that you're competing with yourself, trying to beat your own record, struggling to find your own voice. You can't afford to spend any of your energy on righteous indignation.

But then again, you could write about it.

Author Interviews

I just happened upon a gem: Powell's Books Author Interviews. Each interview I read was lengthy and revealing. Just the thing for readers and writers who are fascinated by what makes authors tick.

Five Tips From Michael Crichton

Click here for Michael Crichton's top five writing lessons.

Following Blogs

I have a friend who just recently decided to get on the Internet with a blog of her own. She started it toward the end of January and has written every day since. Her blog is called "Erasing the Bored," and that's exactly what she attempts to do with every one of her posts. She could have written about a multitude of topics but she zeroed in on Change and Creativity and her post is all the stronger for it.

I've been reading her post almost every day (and I always catch up if I've missed any). I enjoy reading her thoughts and gleaning bits of knowledge from her posts. I am officially a follower of her blog--she has 18 official followers already--but I would follow her blog even if I wasn't. She has a voice that I love to "hear." And she makes me think.

This got me to thinking about all the blog followers out there. Unless you have analytical tools that keep track of your visitors and what they view (see Google Analytics, for one), you would never know that they'd been there unless they leave comments or link to your post from their own. I have a blog on Word Press, too and it keeps track of your visits automatically. From that I found out that one of my posts, "The Future of Newspapers" drew 13 "hits," but only one of them left a comment.

These ghosts that pass through our lives are our audience and we don't even know them. That's not so different from writing a book and not knowing who is buying it (hopefully) and reading it. But the Internet is so transitory and so secretive. People who followed mailing list conversations used to be called "lurkers" and that's a little bit how it feels when people visit your blog without leaving a trace.

I do the same of course. We're too busy to leave comments everywhere we go, not to mention that sometimes we just can't think of anything to say. But now that I've become a blogger, especially one who hopes to be read, I can see that I've been remiss with the blogs I follow. I need to let the posters that I'm out here and that I care. That might sound sappy, but I'd hate for someone to stop blogging just because they think no one is reading the words they've thrown to the universe.

I have my blogs listed in my profile, except for my newest (and most personal) one: miteypen.wordpress.com. If you do happen to pay me a visit, leave a sign. It will encourage me to keep on blogging. (Although to tell you the truth, I'd probably keep on doing it anyway.)

Tips for Writing a Novel

For those of you who are interested in writing a novel, here's a great article on WritersDigest.com. It includes a Story Plan Checklist. Good stuff!

Fear of Marketing

I love to write--I hate to market. I can't be alone in this, but all you ever read about in articles about writing are the success stories. People who were published because they learned how to promote themselves, through queries, submissions and networking.

All I've ever wanted to do was write, and I don't even mind being left in my own little world in order to do so. But I admit that there's a part of me that needs more: I want to be read. I want to make my mark on the world, no matter how small.

I have been published a few times, but being published at all is like a drug: once experienced, you want to experience it again. And again and again. And that's besides the need you may have to make money. Like me, you just want to be read. The money is frosting on the cake.

I wouldn't turn down the money, but what I really want is fame. I want to become a word-of-mouth writer, to have people recommend my writing to others. But I don't take the steps necessary to be read. I'm overwhelmed by the marketing process.

First of all, I have trouble picking out suitable markets. If I find something before I write, I get twisted into knots trying to cater my writing to that publication. If I find a market for something I've already written, I'm afraid it's not quite right and will just be rejected. And it's not so much that I fear the rejections--okay, it is partly that. But mostly I need the feedback (which you don't usually get in rejection letters anyway). I need encouragement and validation. Publication gives you that. Hiding your work under a bushel gets you nothing.

Almost all of us have special readers: friends, family, fellow writers. But it's easy to dismiss their judgments because they know you and might not want to hurt your feelings. The opinions of editors and unknown readers carry more weight. I'd love to get those outside opinions--I crave them, as a matter of fact. That's one reason I write for my blogs. But how do you get readers if they don't know you're there?

I don't know how many times I've read that if your writing is good, you will eventually get published. I tend to think that my writing must not be any good, because I'm not getting published. It hardly ever occurs to me that I can't get published unless I put my work out there. And not in some blog that people only discover by accident.

Don't get me wrong: I love to write posts for my blogs. Because it gives me practice, it gives me an outlet for my writer and it gives me the illusion of being published. But that's just it: it is an illusion. I didn't have to pass muster with any editor or make money to prove that I'm a writer.

But I have to admit that I feel like the tree that falls in the forest: if there's no one to hear, does it make any sound?

Reading Nonfiction

I ran across the post "Reading Nonfiction" today and thought I'd share it. It's from the blog Educating Alice.

Bookshelf

I just ran across a thought-provoking post on Bookpuddle about not finishing books. It's called "What's Your Abandonment Rate?" and it contains many jewels about the relationship between reader and books, like, "Regarding consummation, how many boring and uninteresting pages or chapters will you endure before you annul your vows and open the covers of another?"

The avid reader can relate to the concept of taking a vow every time you open a new book. That's why it's so hard to give up on it: you feel like you're asking for a divorce--and you're the one who is at fault. I know that I do. I don't give up on a lot of books. But when I do, I agonize over my decision. I generally will hold onto the book as long as the library allows me to. (I rarely buy books: I can't afford to and haven't the room for them if I could. I will often buy a book after reading it from the library if I just have to have it.) And if I haven't finished it by then, I let it go. There are so many books in the world, I rationalize, I just can't afford to waste time on a book that I'm not enjoying. But still I feel guilty.

I do three kinds of reading: books that are good for me (Literature with a capital 'L'), "junk" books, and books that give me information. I always have to have a junk book on hand for quick reading--I can go through two or three while I'm perusing one non-fiction or literary book. My junk books of choice are mysteries and thrillers. Sometimes horror or science fiction. I don't care for chick lit or romances, although I've read them from time to time.

I'm terrible about reading Literature. I tend to rebel against authority and if someone tells me that reading a certain book is mandatory if I want to be well-read, I instantly take a dislike to it. In all fairness to myself, however, the literary novels I do read rarely satisfy me. They tend to be about nothing, in my humble opinion, and therefore make for slow reading. I'm an extremely fast reader, but only because I skim like mad, and it's hard to get anything out of a literary work if you skim it. Basically, I'm just impatient.

One of my resolutions for this year is to read more meaningfully. That means, I guess, that I'll give Literature a fairer shake than I have in the past. I've been looking at book lists for suggestions and tuning in at Good Reads and Library Thing. I've also found a couple of really good book blogs besides Bookpuddle: So Many Books and Semicolon.

The books I read for information depend on what I'm delving into at the time. I periodically gather up several writing books, I've gotten books on motherhood, feminism, biographies and memoirs, how the brain works, travel, spirituality and religion--and the list goes on and on. I'm sure my librarian thinks I'm schizo, my reading list is so eclectic.

I spent four months in Germany a few years ago and was appalled to learn that their libraries are not free. You have to pay a fee for so many books, sort of like a subscription. Since I regularly have 50 books out of the library at a time, I'd be broke in no time. Or terribly frustrated. I have to have a lot of books around me for fear that I will run out of things I want to read. (As if.)

I know I'm not exactly an oddity--unless all bibliophiles are oddities. But I suspect I'm in the minority. Except for readers of this post: if you're a writer, you're probably an avid reader; the two seem to go hand in hand. What and why do you read?