To Write is To Publish...Even if No One Sees What You've Written

I'm not the one who invents the stories; I'm like a radio... Somehow, if I move the dial very carefully, I'll pick up the wave and get the story...
~ Isabelle Allende


Your stories exist...just as your dreams do. But it's the act of setting them to the page, of letting one word follow the next and then the next and then the next, that makes them real, that "publishes" them.

That's right: The act of publishing is an act of making public.

When you take your stories, those stories that have an existence only in your heart, an existence even your brain-mind may not see, when you take them and draw out the letters, stretch those letters into words and those words into sentences and paragraphs, magic happens. You take something that exists only in the airwaves, like a radio signal that broadcasts at a frequency not normally audible by the human ear, not normally picked up by even the most sophisticated audio equipment... You take that signal, which is your story, and translate it into a frequency that is audible. In doing that, you give it -- and yourself -- a new kind of life. A life in the public realm. A place on the radio dial of your life.

Perhaps you don't seek to have your work published in a conventional sense. Perhaps you do.

At this moment, it doesn't matter.

At this moment, all that matters is answering that call to write. All that matters is tuning in to that frequency, that normally inaudible signal, the one on which your Muse alone broadcasts, tuning in to it and taking down everything you hear. Everything. Without judgment. Without question. Without second-guessing. Without censoring.

All that matters is that you listen...and write.

Can you create enough silence in your life to listen for that radio signal, to listen for the voice of your Muse?

Stop, now. Turn off the radio, the stereo or the TV. Mute your computer.

Close your eyes, open your heart and listen.

What do you hear? What can you "publish" by setting it down on paper?

Take all the time you need. Gift yourself with all the time you need. Gift yourself with your stories, the stories that already exist in the airwaves around you. Gift yourself and the world. Start writing. Now.

If nothing happens beyond the writing, you will still have experienced the miracle of creation. If no one else sees or reads it, it has still been published: It has been given a physical life it never had before.

And just as every action in the universe has an impact on every being in that universe, or so our quantum scientists would have us believe, your words made manifest will have their effect.

If you do move from that point to print, that’s a bonus. But that’s not our starting point. Our starting point is you. You and your Muse. You and your stories. You and the word.

• If you'll be in New Mexico on June 20 and would welcome some help and inspiration with your writing, consider The Call to Write: Answering the Voice of Your Muse, an afternoon workshop designed to motivate you and propel you forward on your creative journey. For more information, read the next post or click here.

Adapted from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write, winner of a 2009 IPPY Silver Medal as one of the top writings books of the year

The Call To Write: An Albuquerque Workshop

Whether you're published or just starting out, whatever your form or genre, the fact that you're writing speaks to a deep call to express yourself and share your truth with the world. And whether you've worked with me or my book before, my upcoming workshop, The Call to Write: Answering the Voice of Your Muse, will take you deeper -- to the place where your stories reside...the place from which your Muse speaks to you...the place of ease, spontaneity and natural creative flow.

If you're not writing yet or are blocked, The Call to Write will get you writing.

If you're already writing, The Call to Write will open you to new possibilities and keep you writing.

And however you view yourself today, you'll leave The Call to Write with a new appreciation for your innate eloquence and creativity.

In short, you'll never feel the same about writing again!

The workshop takes place on Saturday, June 20 from 1-5pm in the Tramway/Candelaria area of Albuquerque's Northeast Heights.

And because this is my first time offering The Call to Write in New Mexico, I'm making it available at a substantial discount: $55 if you register by June 17. (PayPal and all credit cards accepted.)

But sign up soon: Space is very limited.

You'll find more information about the workshop on the flyer (click on it to see it full size, or email me to have me send one to you). Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Please, too, share this information with anyone you think might be interested.

If you feel any pull toward joining us on June 20, I encourage you to honor it. So often, the call to participate only makes logical sense once you're in the midst of the experience. And it will be a powerful, supportive, nurturing and accelerating experience. I hope to see you there.

Remember, space is limited. So sign up today.

Warm regards,
Mark David

"The Voice of the Muse" Named a Top Writing Book of 2009

Mark David Gerson's The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write was named one of the top writing books of the year last month in the Independent Publisher Book Awards, also known as the IPPYs.

Gerson's Silver Medal in the "writing/publishing" category was awarded in New York on May 29, in conjunction with BookExpo America, the U.S. book industry’s premier trade show.

The 2009 competition, the 13th for the Independent Publisher Book Awards, attracted more than 4,000 entries from the U.S., Canada and 10 other English-speaking countries and included winners published by Yale University Press and Kent State University Press.

"The excellence of the books was amazing and made judging very difficult," said Jim Barnes, one of the organizers. "The independent spirit of publishing is alive and well, as demonstrated by the creativity, originality and courageous spirit these books display."

This was Gerson's second IPPY. He won a Gold Medal last year for his novel, The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy, which continues to win awards in New Mexico and nationally. His screenplay adaptation of the book is currently in active development toward feature production.

The Voice of the Muse, distilled from Gerson's 33 years as a professional writer/editor and 16 years as a writing teacher and coach, is a dynamic blend of inspiration and instruction for anyone in any genre seeking to write more effortlessly, flowingly and engagingly. It has been likened to such classics in the genre as Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones and Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird

Lauded by critics as "the wise guide any writer would dream of" and a "phenomenal guide to overcoming writer's block and unleashing your creative potential," The Voice of the Muse has been equally praised by novice and seasoned writers alike.

Gerson has also recorded The Voice of the Muse Companion: Guided Meditations for Writers, a two-CD set that includes powerful exercises to free up and deepen creative flow. It's sold separately from the book.

Both Gerson's books are available from Amazon.com and other online retailers, from the publisher at lightlinesmedia.com and at selected U.S. retailers. The CD is available from LightLines Media and Amazon

Mark David Gerson lives in Albuquerque, NM, where he's currently working on a sequel to The MoonQuest.

• Click here for written and audio excerpts from The Voice of the Muse book, The Voice of the Muse CD and The MoonQuest

The Muse Speaks...and Delivers!

Just got this note from writer Malcolm Campbell. Kudos to me, but more important, congrats to him!!

Book Contract!

Let's hear it for The Voice of the Muse!!!

The book I wrote in 30 days using The Voice of the Muse and a few glasses of dark red wine is now under contract and may be released by late summer.

I'm rather astounded because I grew up in an era where the authors we all studied in school took years to write each book. So that's what I did.

Now, suddenly Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire (working title) is about to become a reality.

My Muse and I are going to go out and buy a bottle of good Scotch as soon as this thing hits the streets.

Thanks for The Voice of the Muse. It showed me how to hear mine.

Malcolm

Malcolm Campbell is author of The Sun Singer


The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write is available from www.lightlinesmedia.com, Amazon.com and other online retailers, as well as from selected U.S. booksellers.

The Voice of the Muse Companion: Guided Meditations for writers is available from LightLines Media and Amazon.com


• Have you had writing successes using The Voice of the Muse? Please share them in the comments or email them to me for a future blog post.

Tweet Write Today on Twitter

Join me this afternoon for #writechat, a live -- and lively -- real-time chat about writing on Twitter.

From noon to 3pm PT today (Sunday, May 17), I'll be once again guest-hosting this weekly event, where aspiring writers and published authors come together to talk about what they do.

If you're on Twitter, simply access it however you normally do. Then open a new browser window to http://search.twitter.com. If the link didn't already do it for you, type the hashtag #writechat in the search bar. This will bring up all tweets that include that tag.

Make sure all your tweets also include #writechat, which will allow others to read your tweets.

If you're not on Twitter, you can sign up at http://twitter.com.

Regardless, if you're not already following me on Twitter, please do: http://twitter.com/markdavidgerson.

(Julie Isaac is the regular host of #writechat.)

When Publishers Reject You, It Could Just Be Because They're Stupid

"In 1797, Thomas Cadell made one of the greatest mistakes in publishing history. A Hampshire clergyman had written to him, offering a three-volume novel for publication by a first-time author. Without a word of encouragement, Cadell declined the book, manuscript unseen, by return of post.

"Unfortunately for Cadell, the clergyman was the Revd George Austen, soliciting publication on his daughter Jane's behalf, and the novel in question was an early version of Pride and Prejudice, recently voted the one book that the British nation can't do without."

~ From Mark Bostridge's review of Claire Harman's Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World in the Literary Review

• Thanks to the Shelf Awareness newsletter for this item.
• Image of Jane Austen from TVO's Jane Austen bio page

For more encouragement on dealing with rejection, see Feeling Rejected? Don't Be Dejected!

It's Time to Live the Dream

“You just have to keep your dream. If you lose it and get cynical, you die.”
~ Meryl Streep

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."
~ Proverbs 29:18

What's your dream for your writing? For your life?

Know that whatever it is, however improbable it may seem in this moment, it's not impossible. Nearly every success story begins with an "impossible" dream. Nearly every "overnight success" was years in the making.

Have you begun the book you've always dreamt of writing? Now is the time to put your dream into action. It doesn't matter whether you can give it five minutes a day or five hours. It doesn't even matter if you know what it's about.

Every journey begins with a single step. Every piece of writing begins with a single word. Any word.

Write it. Now.

What about your dreams for your life? Have you abandoned them? Stuffed them in the back of a drawer because they seem so unreachable?

Open that drawer. Reach your hand in. Gently. Touch it. Reconnect with it. Reconnect with yourself.

Open your heart again. Open your heart to the vision. Open your heart to your life.

Meryl Streep photo from Pictures of Famous Actors and Actresses. Meryl Streep quote from Inside Inside by James Lipton.

The Real Word About Word-of-Mouth

A Guest Post by John Kremer

New York Times bestselling novelist Brad Meltzer tells a story about how he found out which Barnes & Noble outlet sells the most copies of his thrillers.

When a B&N national sales representative asked the author to guess which store in the chain sold the greatest number of his books, Brad first guessed Washington, D.C., since most of his novels are political thrillers. Not so, said the rep.

Brad then guessed New York City. Again, a no.

Turns out, Brad was never going to guess the real answer.

Why? Because the B&N store with the top Meltzer sales is located in a small town in Florida, just down the street from the furniture store where Brad’s mother works.

When it comes to word-of-mouth, there's nothing like a writer's mother!

Book marketing expert John Kremer is the author of many books including 1001 Ways to Market Your Books

Photo of Brad Meltzer from www.bradmeltzer.com

The Myth of Writer's Block: How to Get Unstuck and Stay Unstuck

You don't have to experience writer's block. Ever.

You don't have to sweat over the blank page. You don't have to chew your pencil (or fingernails) to the nub. You don't have to wonder where the next word is coming from.

Writer's block is a myth -- not because you won't ever feel stuck but because there's no reason for you ever to stay stuck.

Do you wonder where your next breath is coming from? Unless you suffer from some sort of lung disease, you rarely think about your breath. You assume it will come and it does. One breath and then another...and then another.

It comes because you let it, because you don't get in its way, because you're not thinking about it or worrying about it.

Words can be like that, too.

If you trust in your story, in its inherent wisdom, the words always come. The words always come because they're already there. They're there because, in some sense, your story already exists.

It exists in the same invisible realm in which your dreams, visions and ideas exist. And if you believe in that existence, if you trust in that existence, if you know deep in your heart that your story is already present and smarter than you are, you will never lack the words your story needs for its expression.

By the way, I use the word "story" in its broadest sense, to encompass all that you would write -- fiction or nonfiction, novel or screenplay, short story or poem. Everything you write, everything you experience, everything you share: It's all story.

So how do you get to that place where the story's words flow as effortlessly as your breath?

By writing. By writing without stopping...without stopping for any reason that could give your critical, judgmental, doubtful, cynical or analytical selves any opportunity for input during these initial, creative stages.

I call this nonstop approach "writing on the Muse Stream" because I believe that when we surrender to our Muse, creativity pours through us as effortlessly as water in a free-flowing stream.

It's natural to want to edit as we go, to want to stop to correct spelling, punctuation or grammar or to grope for the right word.

Don't do it. If you can't think of a word, leave a blank space or write xxx. If you don't like a word you’ve written, mark it in some way and move on. Don’t stop.

"Fine words," I hear you say. "But I'm still stuck."

You may be stuck, but you're not blocked. And you certainly haven't lost your creative ability.

You can't lose something that's an innate part of you, that's an innate part of everyone. Creativity is as natural as breathing and as long as you're breathing, you can write.

Here are seven reasons why you might be feeling stuck and some ways to get unstuck.


Fear

Are you discovering things about yourself or your beliefs through your writing that are making you uncomfortable? Is your story carrying you into new, potentially dangerous territory?

Fear will always block us from moving forward in our writing, if we let it. The only solution is to keep writing -- through the fear. Past the fear.

Your fears -- and all your emotions -- can be the most powerful components of your writing. Don't run from them. Write them.


Control

When we assume that we're in charge of the story, that it has to look or sound a specific way, conform to a particular genre or format, or match a certain outcome or expectation, we're bound to get stuck.

Your story has its own imperative and its own wisdom. You override those at your peril.

Abandon control. Let your story express itself. Let your Muse have its way with you. Let the words spill out of you -- the words your story needs, not the words you think you need.

Write on the Muse Stream, and just keep going. If you find yourself getting stuck, simply repeat your last word or sentence (or any word or sentence). Repeat them over and over and over and over again until you find yourself back in the flow. And you will.


Rhythms & Routines

Human beings like routine. We like breakfast at a certain time and a certain kind of muffin with our Starbucks coffee.

As writers, we often prefer to have set writing times and patterns: writing in a certain room, using a certain pen and sitting down at a certain time.

Routines, however, can turn into ruts. What worked yesterday may not work today...or ever again.

If you're feeling stuck, you may well be stuck -- in a pattern that's not working anymore.

Try new rhythms and routines. Break existing patterns.

Go for a walk, do yoga stretches, take a shower or do something else unrelated to writing or to your current project. Drive to a scenic spot and write in the car. Write in the morning instead of the afternoon, longhand instead of on the computer, in a café instead of at home.

Find the rhythm and routine that works for you today, and be open to changing it tomorrow.


Perfectionism

Whether in writing or in life, many of us are addicted to getting it right. Being perfect means we won't be criticized, judged or rejected. A perfect first draft means fewer revisions. Being perfect is, well, just a good thing to be. Isn't it?

I’ve got bad news: It will never be perfect. It may be excellent, accomplished, creative, innovative and insightful. But perfect? Not possible.

It's not possible because there's no perfect way to translate the intangible (ideas, thoughts, visions) into words on a page. There's no perfect way to describe a brilliant sunset or profound emotion in a way that guarantees each reader an experience identical to yours.

Do your best. But if you're intent on making it perfect, you may find yourself stuck on the same story -- or sentence -- for the rest of your writing life, never growing into something new.


Timing

Recognize that what appears as a block may be a matter of timing. If you've written as deeply into a story as you can and find yourself unable to continue, it may be that you need more life experience (or research) before you're ready to go on.

Instead of calling yourself "blocked," welcome the break -- to do research, to work on a different project or to get on with your life, trusting that you'll know when it's time to get back to it.


Passion

If you're feeling stuck, ask yourself whether the story is one that excites and impassions you, one that fires you up more than anything else you could be writing. Is it the right idea for you right now? Or is it just another good idea that anyone could write.

If you've lost the excitement (or never had it) and cannot rekindle your enthusiasm, consider that this may not be the best project for you at this time.

Lack of passion is a guaranteed recipe for stuckness. Passion, on the other hand, will always fuel your writing.


Self-Respect

Respect yourself and your writing. Respect every draft. Every word.

The more you beat yourself up over your writing, output or creative ability, the more you're inviting the kind of paralysis that feeds writer's block.

Discard judgment and punishing discipline. Cultivate discernment and discipleship. Recognize that every word, draft and emotion is an integral part of your creative journey. Honor all aspects of that journey -- including the painfully uncomfortable ones -- and writer's block will become a myth for you, too.

(c) 2009 Mark David Gerson

Adapted from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write (LightLines Media, 2008)

"Writer's Block" message pad available from TheDailyPlanner.com
Writer's block cartoon by Rusty-Siccors

The Voice of Your Muse Receives Premio Dardos Award

Awards are great! And this blog just won one earlier today, thanks to Missy Frye at the Incurable Disease of Writing blog.

It's the Premio Dardos (“prize darts” in Spanish), and it's given in recognition of cultural, ethical, literary and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing.

Now, it's my turn to pass the torch -- er, dart -- to these 15 blogs that, to me, meet the same criteria.

(Here's how it works: recipients accept the award by posting it on their blog along with the name of the person that granted the award and a link to his/her blog. They then pass the award to 15 other blogs that are worthy of the acknowledgment, remembering to contact each to let them know they have been selected.)

Here's my list, in alphabetical order. Check 'em out...
• Malcolm Campbell ~ Writer's Notebook
• Lin Ennis ~ Read - Write - Shoot
• Jett Farrell ~ Fishing with Crossbows
• Kimberlee Ferrell ~ Freedom Writing
• B.L. Lindstrom ~ Authorian Adventures in the Ether
• Julie Isaac ~ WritingSpirit Resources
• Gail Gaymer Martin ~ Writing Fiction Right
• Kaiser A. Nelson ~ Radio Free Bard
• Keath Pyeatt ~ Horror with Heart
• Susan Schanerman ~ heARTmatters
• Dan Stone ~ First A Dream
• Stephen TIano ~ Stephen Tiano
• Barbara Vey ~ Beyond Her Book
• Marvin D. Wilson ~ Free Spirit
• Chris Zydel ~ Creative Juices Arts & Painting from the Wild Heart