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How To Think Sideways

What My New Year’s Resolution Means For You

by Holly Lisle on January 1, 2010 · 27 comments

in Big Courses, Books, How To Revise Your Novel, How To Think Sideways, NONFICTION, ON SPEC, Rebel Tales, Writing Life, Writing Neep

The path that brought me to this moment started exactly 25 years ago today, when in my diary I wrote, “Before I turn 25, I want to write a book.”

25 years later, I’ve written 33 novels (plus one I did anonymously as work for hire), am working on a couple more, and intend to keep writing novels as long as I live.

I’ve also written 100,000+ words on writing on my website (a very fat nonfiction book), five Writing Clinics (“Scenes” is also a clinic) with a sixth, “World” in progress, one massive course on writing/creativity/career creation, and I’m working on the second massive course, “How To Revise Your Novel.” I’ve done some smaller writing projects, too, both fiction and nonfiction.

I built and ran the free writing community Forward Motion for years. Have a much smaller writing community growing now inside the ThinkSideways/HTRYN course umbrella.

So that writing thing turned out pretty well.

But in ten months I’ll be 50. And I have a resolution.

Before I turn fifty, I want to show people how to FIND their dreams, how to dream BETTER dreams, and how to turn those dreams into reality.

This is a resolution that, like “write a book”, entails much more than anyone can hope to accomplish in ten months, and I know that. I’ve been writing with intent to sell since I was about 23, and I still love the work. “Write a book” became a lifetime calling for me.

It’s also a resolution that, in many ways, I’ve been working toward my whole life. Some of the ways I hope to accomplish this are already in place—the writing courses and the writing community and my website help writers who already have their dream in place figure out how to make their dreams real.

But my daughter wants to create handcrafted jewelry. My father-in-law is a public-school science teacher looking for a different way to teach science. I have one son who wants to make movies, and another who currently wants to build robots.

I have friends who want to leave jobs they hate, but aren’t sure what they could do instead. I know hundreds of writers who are looking for a new way to break into publishing and get paid for their work.

And I know people who have no better dream than just to get through the day. And so do you.

Over the past three years, I’ve been quietly investing in training and education, learning how to create businesses, how to create products, how to reach the people who want those products. Most of my life, I’ve been learning to teach. I’m studying professional publishing.

And I have projects that have been pending while I work on other things, or on hold because they’re in software development. I offered an e-mail course for a while called Money To Write. I’ll be bringing that back with some serious bells and whistles—it will focus on letting writers create businesses that will free them from day jobs so they can write.

Margaret is making good progress writing the software we call “the seller piece,” the engine that will allow me to PAY writers for the Rebel Tales serialzine, and PAY product creators with the Money to Write program. When that’s done, we’ll get Rebel Tales and Money To Write going.

But it all starts with DREAMS

Our reality, both good and bad, begins as someone’s dream, someone’s vision, someone’s abstract idea that “this could be different.”

Some dreams are magnificent, some are terrible.

Grocery stores and skyscrapers, cars and computers, paintings and literature, music and movies, roads and silverware and dishwashers and clothes and shoes and agriculture and every other form of creation and production all started as someone’s dream.

Nursing and medicine, education and food service, telephones and the Internet all began as someone’s dream.

So did the genocides of Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Adolf Hitler, and other monsters. So does every murder, every molestation, every enslavement. Drug cartels, prostitution rings, and street gangs all arise from someone’s dream, too.

We live in the reality created by the people who act on their dreams, whether good or bad.

There is no way to force people to dream better dreams, to want better things. “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” (Alfred in “The Dark Knight).

There is no way to dream for others—anyone whose dream is to “make your life better” is imposing a his dream on you. And what is better for him will not be better for you.

You can only dream for yourself, you can only change yourself.

But you can provide the example of your own life, the tools and the teaching, the means, and the direction, to others who also want to dream better dreams, make them real, and in the process, live better lives.

This, then, is my dream. My resolution. To be the person who does that. To create ways to help you, if you choose to use them, live the life you dream.

Happy New Year.

May 2010 be your best year yet.

{ 27 comments }

I GOT MY RESOLUTION!

by Holly Lisle on December 15, 2009 · 16 comments

in Articles on Writing, Big Courses, Books, How To Revise Your Novel, How To Think Sideways, NONFICTION, ON SPEC, Rebel Tales, TalysMana, Writing Life, Writing Neep

All caps… Yes. I’m shouting.

You know I wanted to come up with some magnificent challenge for myself to pledge as my New Year’s Resolution, to have going in some beginning fashion before I turn 50 in October of next year.

And I was standing in the shower just minutes ago, and thinking about TalysMana and Becky’s NOW-limited-to-50-EVER TalysMana Viewer, and about Rebel Tales and what I want to accomplish with that, and about all my novels, and about my How To Write A Novel And Build A Career Course, and about the novel revision course, and about FM, which I started and then ran for years, and about the Clinics, and the other smaller projects I’ve done.

And about the 33 Mistakes Books, and why I produced those.

And my thoughts turned to themes. The theme at the heart of TalysMana. The theme of my life. How everything I’ve done has been related, how it’s all been pointing toward something.

There was this ‘click’ in the back of my mind. A moment of clarity. An understanding of what comes next, and why it matters, and how to do it.

This is the biggest thing I’ve ever imagined, the biggest dream I’ve ever had.

I’ll have an interesting post for you on New Year’s Day.

Watch this space.

{ 16 comments }

Stress, Migraines, and Stuff You Love

by Holly Lisle on June 19, 2009 · 14 comments

in Articles on Writing, Big Courses, Books, Dreaming the Dead, How To Think Sideways, Mind/Body, NONFICTION, ON SPEC, OneMoreWord Books, PARANORMAL, Rants & Observations, Thinking Sideways, Worldbuilding Clinic, Writing Life, Writing Neep

As noted elsewhere—I hauled ass like nobody’s business for eight months to create a way for me to write the novel I wanted to write without having to do it to anybody’s specifications but my own.

My mad plan worked, and for the first time since I was an RN, I had a regular, reasonable income that did not depend on me writing at a hard run in order to keep us all fed.

I got started on the Dreaming the Dead—the novel of my passion—and I was having a wonderful time with it, sitting down late at night every night and getting as many words as I got before I fell asleep. No pressure, no specific deadline (a vague one in the back of my mind only), and not even any dedication to the idea of writing to a market or marketing the book when it was done. I was writing for the sheer love of writing—to spend time with characters I could not find anywhere else, to explore a fascinating problem, to uncover mysteries and wonders.

Yes, I fully intended to send it to my agent. When it was done. When I was damn good and ready.

And then…

And then…

Brief aside here: You might have noticed, if you’ve been around here or in Think Sideways, that I … ah … am not a good relaxer. I am very good at deadlines, very good at pushing hard toward goals, very good at driving myself.

Taking my time? Taking it easy? Doing things just for fun? Not my best skill. I know this about me, but I sometimes forget it. End Brief Aside.

I forgot why I had worked so hard last year and part of this one. I forgot that THIS book was supposed to be special, different, NOT the same ferocious race to the finish line, doing the absolute best I could in the absolute least time humanly possible so that I could get paid and we could eat.

I forgot. And I set what seemed like a reasonable deadline for myself. 2000 words a day, more or less.

I also forgot that my life is different now. When writing fiction was all I had, writing fiction WAS all I had. I could put the rest of the world aside for long stretches and just push for the finish line.

I wrote, I got frustrated and guilty because I wasn’t getting other things done. When I got other things done, I got frustrated and guilty because I wasn’t writing. Over the last couple of days, I got hammered by headaches, stress, and guilt, my productivity on everything dropped to miserable levels, and I started hating life. In one week. From one change: the decision to write Dreaming the Dead to a “publish it” deadline.

I sat down this morning and took stock of what I have going on that is NOT the novel—stuff I love and am thrilled to be doing and want to complete.

You can look at the mindmap I did here, or the outline version here.

The fact is, my life is full of cool and wonderful work. And writing fiction is the cool and wonderful play I had planned for the end of each day.

I need to get back to my original plan.

{ 14 comments }

Adding A New Way To Pay

by Holly Lisle on June 19, 2009 · 9 comments

in Administrivia, Big Courses, How To Think Sideways, Thinking Sideways

Over the last three or so years, since I brought out Create A Character Clinic, I’ve had requests to add another way to pay besides PayPal.

I’m finally able to do so, and am looking at three alternative methods. (PayPal will remain my preferred method, but I want to be able to meet the needs of folks who can’t or won’t use them).

My three possibles (these are possible because the upgraded How To Think Sideways software supports them) are:

  • 2CO
  • Authorize.net
  • Clickbank

I’d like to know if you have recommendations, either as a customer or as a merchant, and either pro or con, for any of the three payment processors above.

The new payment processor will be for Think Sideways, not for the shop. There are still issues with adding another processor there, unfortunately, though I haven’t given up.

{ 9 comments }

Writing the Novel: Math Hurts

by Holly Lisle on June 16, 2009 · 10 comments

in Articles on Writing, Big Courses, Books, Dreaming the Dead, How To Think Sideways, NONFICTION, ON SPEC, PARANORMAL, Thinking Sideways, Writing Life, Writing Neep

I’ve done the math on Dreaming the Dead, but it isn’t adding up to the kind of progress I want to see.

This year, I’ve had The Silver Door come out in hardcover, The Ruby Key come out in paperback, and Hawkspar come out in paperback. And I had the short story “Light Through Fog” appear in the anthology The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance.

But last year, instead of another book, I wrote the How To Think Sideways course—about, I’d guess, 250,000 words long. I haven’t counted. I SERIOUSLY don’t want to know. But I know my writing speed, and I know I put 70 hours or more a week into that course for eight months, and while it wasn’t all writing, a whole lot of it was.

So I got the course instead of a new novel…but I did it so I could pay bills while I wrote the novels I wanted to write without having to have contracts for them, to write them to someone else’s specifications. This was not self-indulgence. This was a determination to write the books I know I’m capable of writing without having an editor tell me “there’s too much story” or that the audience for which she’d bought the books “isn’t that smart.”

I have a problem with this. I don’t want to have my writing crippled by someone else’s low expectations, or the demand that those low expectations be treated as a law of physics.

(This has nothing to do with the Moon & Sun series, by the way, or with the Korre novels. I’d love to continue those. In the future, if the opportunity presents itself, I will.)

So Think Sideways is buying me the time to write what I intend to be one hell of a novel, and to—when it is DONE—find an editor who wants to find the readers THAT novel will appeal to: someone who isn’t acquiring product for readers he or she doesn’t respect.

I’ve met a lot of my readers. I like them. More, I respect them. Smart, tough people overall. I want to be able to look them in the eye when I have a book coming out.

But because I chose Think Sideways and threw myself into that, next year I won’t have a book coming out. This was a trade-off. A gamble. My decision to believe in what I can do, and do it, and see if my unadulterated vision for my books can grab the passion of an editor, a publisher, and readers.

(My agent is … intrigued … by my career choice here. And supportive, for which I’m deeply grateful.)

Now, however, I’m six months into 2009, and 15,000 words (6%) into what I’m targeting as a 250,000-word first draft. Not good. I would very much like to have a shot at a book coming out in 2011—which means getting this one done this year.

Writing the novel becomes, therefore, first on my list. I get the words, THEN I do other things. On the days when the words don’t come easily, nothing else gets done. (If the possibility of switching off to site work exists, then the writing will get shoved to the side, because site work is easy, and writing sometimes isn’t.)

I have roughly 165 working days ahead of me. A few of them will go to family stuff. A few will be eaten by problems. The Christmas-through-New-Year block will require probably ten. Figure 140 days base.

I’ll need at least a month for revision. 20 days, leaving 120.

I have 235,000 words to go to hit the end of the first draft.

120 into 235,000 gives me 1958 words per day, minimum. Extra words on any given day can buy a breather on a future day. Breathers matter.

So round up to 2200 words per day before I do anything else. Night writing can buy me some time. Last night it bought me about 500 words into today’s total, if I choose to count them. I might not. The more time I can buy myself up front, the more time I can spend doing a revision that nails every issue. I want this book as tight as I can get it before my agent sees a word of it. I could just count night writing as a buffer.

Going to see what I can do in the next two hours. And though I made an exception today, because I needed the math, and figured I’d share the process and the reasoning behind it, writing updates, news, and other bloggables will hit the site AFTER I’ve gotten my words.

Wish me luck.

{ 10 comments }

Think Sideways Students: Course Software Upgrade Downtime

by Holly Lisle on June 8, 2009 · 6 comments

in Administrivia, Big Courses, How To Think Sideways, NONFICTION

The much-awaited and frequently delayed upgrade of the How To Think Sideways classroom and forum software starts on Wednesday.

No one will be able to access ANYTHING on Think Sideways between Wednesday June 10 and (most likely) Friday June 12. No one will be able to sign up for the course during that time, either.

This is a big upgrade that is going to require a block of time when NOTHING is being done to any of the databases, except by us. That’s the reason for the complete shut-down. And while it would be cooler to have this thing done by a team of ten ninjas at three-a.m. on a Sunday, who could all just work until it was done, … well, both Margaret and I have families and sleep addictions, and a Red Bull fueled 24-hour marathon just ain’t gonna happen.

So. If you have a recent lesson you’re going to want, get it now.

If you have a lesson that’ll be delivered during those three days… it’ll be there when we open the doors again.

Expect some rubble.

{ 6 comments }

Quick Note for Think Sideways Students and Grads

by Holly Lisle on May 27, 2009 · 4 comments

in Administrivia, Big Courses, How To Think Sideways, NONFICTION, ON SPEC, Writing Life, Writing Neep

The Writing Craft: Dialogue Episode 1 — Dialogue and Subtext is now completed and available for download.

  • Onsite student theater (1 hr) will remain available
  • Four downloadable segments of the same episode, each around 25 MB
  • Transcript
  • Worksheet

There’s also a long post with a survey here:
What Do You Want from The Writing Craft?

I’ll be putting up a public survey for everyone else pretty soon. This is what it’s about.

I’ve decided that I’ll keep all eight episodes available to everyone (who’s in Think Sideways as a student or a graduate) until I finish up the series. Folks who join later might have to rush a bit, but you’ll have the complete Dialogue course available at no charge until I’ve finished it.

And by the way, I don’t think I actually ever outlined the contents of the course. These will all be roughly hour-long video episodes with transcripts, downloadable and online-viewable lecture, and such handouts as you’ll need to actually do the work.

The Writing Craft: Dialogue (8 Episodes)

  • Episode 1: Dialogue and Subtext
  • Episode 2: Dialogue and Characterization
  • Episode 3: Dialogue and Theme
  • Episode 4: Dialogue and Plot
  • Episode 5: Dialogue and Realism
  • Episode 6: Dialogue and Humor
  • Episode 7: Dialogue and Action
  • Episode 8: Dialogue and Emotion

Do you see anything that I’m missing?

I’ll also be doing the following modules for The Writing Craft. These will NOT be offered as Think Sideways freebies, but students and grads will get an impressive discount.

The The Writing Craft: Description (8 Episodes)

  • Description and Action
  • Description and Pacing
  • Description and Plot
  • Description and Movement
  • Description and Suspense
  • Description and Theme
  • Description: Time, Place, and Person
  • Description and Characterization

The Writing Craft: Pacing (7 Episodes)

  • Pacing: What and Why
  • Pacing and Action
  • Pacing and Plot
  • Pacing and Characterization
  • Pacing with Theme and Structure
  • Pacing and Genre
  • Pacing Your Reader’s Emotions

The Writing Craft: Relationships (10 Episodes)

  • Heroes and Villains
  • Families
  • Women in Heroic Roles
  • The Romantic Challenge
  • Sidekicks and Comedy
  • Mentors and Guides
  • Guilds and Associations
  • Friends and Enemies
  • Work and Play
  • The Dark Side: Obsession and Worse

The Writing Craft: Nit-Picky Details (8 Episodes)[/b]

  • First Lines and First Pages
  • Clarity and Intent in Storytelling
  • Prose and Artistry: The Words Themselves
  • Presentation
  • Professionalism
  • Doing the Work
  • Grammar and Other Sins
  • Writing As A Career

Since I’m only doing one of these a month at most, and am not putting myself back on the treadmill to absolutely get one done every month (I’m enjoying writing the novel too much to create another Think Sideways that will eat my life and my fiction writing for eight months or a year— :D ), we’re looking at several years for these courses to come together.

So. Anything you don’t see here that you want? Anything you do see here that doesn’t interest you?

{ 4 comments }

Review of “Light Through Fog”

by Holly Lisle on April 30, 2009 · 3 comments

in How To Think Sideways, NONFICTION, Short Fiction, Writing Life, Writing Neep

I wrote the short story “Light Through Fog” for the collection The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance because I needed a live project to demonstrate my techniques in the How To Think Sideways course, and I had to have the pressure of writing something that was commissioned, had a hard (and very close) deadline, and that the editor could reject.

Story went well, the editor accepted it and liked it so much she requested another for her next collection (this one I’m doing because the first one was fun in spite of the pressure)… and my daughter found a review of “Light Through Fog”, and sent me the link, which I’m passing on to you.

http://www.scifiguy.ca/2009/03/reviewette-light-through-fog-by-holly.html

{ 3 comments }

Did a freebie online writing workshop today. You can take the workshop.

by Holly Lisle on February 19, 2009 · 1 comment

in Administrivia, Appearances, Audio, How To Think Sideways, Writing Neep

The workshop is Creating Characters With Character. My host is Cindy Rushton, and we did this live on the air, so it has the usual rough edges you get with a live workshop…but also the energy you get from someone pacing around the room talking and gesturing (that would be me—cannot sit still while I’m doing a workshop).

I liked the system enough that I’ve created an account for myself. We’re in the midst of chaos (of a good kind) here, so I won’t be able to use it right away. But I’d like to be able to do some live Q&As with writers on your writing questions, and maybe just some discussions on different aspects of writing.

Let me know what you think.

{ 1 comment }

My Birthday Bash: Presents for You

by Holly Lisle on October 2, 2008 · 19 comments

in Big Courses, CRITICAL SKILLS SERIES, Cadence Drake Novels, Create A Character Clinic, Create A Plot Clinic, How To Find Your Writing Discipline, How To Think Sideways, Hunting the Corrigan's Blood, NONFICTION, Page-Turning Scenes, Personal, Slightly Loony, Thinking Sideways, WB1--Language Clinic, WB2--Culture Clinic, Worldbuilding Clinic, Writing Life

Yeah, my birthday is almost here, and I decided this year to celebrate by giving presents to other people. And not just on my actual birthday, either. I’m giving away presents every day next week, plus a couple of presents starting today.

So what are your presents?

Total value of my birthday presents?

Absolute lowest value—$1720.33
Absolute highest value—$1987.43

But it’s more than that, really.

  • Because today five people will win. ($79.95 minimum, $159.75 max in presents)
     
  • Friday four people will win. ($103.60 minimum, $167.80 max in presents)
     
  • Saturday three people will win. ($107.55 minimum, $179.85 max in presents)
     
  • Sunday, two people will win. ($91.60 minimum, $123.60 max in presents)
     
  • Monday, two people will win. ($211.40 minimum, $243.50 max in presents)
     
  • Tuesday, two people will win. ($303.28 in presents)
     

    AND…
     

  • Wednesday two people will win. ($564 minimum, $600 max in presents)
     

So the minimum total in presents I’m giving away for my birthday is…

$2518.87

And the maximum total in presents I’m giving away for my birthday is…

$2993.22

But that’s not all. EVERYONE who enters will receive one gift on Monday, October 13th.

The total value of my birthday bash giveaway including those gifts should be well over $5000. Could be a lot more. I’ll let you know once the confetti settles. :D

RULES

Who can enter?

Anyone but my immediate family.

And…

You could win twice, if you enter early. Here’s how:

Anyone who wins an e-book gift cannot win any further e-book presents, but will be re-entered for one of the full scholarships.

What if you win and you’re already a student in the Think Sideways course? Then I’ll refund the tuition you’ve paid to this point, and you are in free for the rest of the course.

Will I refund you for e-books you win but already own? No. Therein lies a madness of paperwork I will not even consider. HOWEVER… I’ll be very happy to send any prizes you win (INCLUDING a full scholarship if you want to be that generous) to someone you choose. If you win and this is an issue for you, contact me.

So…

How do you enter?

Follow me on Twitter. Here’s my page: http://twitter.com/hollylisle

It’s free, it’s easy, and I’m already discovering that Twitter is a lot of fun.

If you’re already following me, you’re already entered. If you’re already a Twitter member, go to my page and click Follow and you’re entered. If you’re not already a member, it’s free and it only takes a minute to join. Then return to my page click Follow. The Follow button is right under my picture on the top left corner.

I’ll print off the complete list of my Twitter followers every day, and do a random drawing from those pages, PLUS the pages from every day’s pages before. Yes, this means that if you start following me today, you’ll get one new entry in the drawing every single day. Yes, this will improve your chances of winning, at least a little. I have no way of figuring odds. I have no idea how many people will enter. Today, right this minute, you’re odds would be about 5:32. I expect they’ll get a bit steeper over the next few days.

I’ll announce the winners at around noon my time every day. On Twitter. :D (Except today, when I’ll announce at around two, because I am SO behind schedule.)

And I’ll do a final listing of everyone who won here after it’s all over. Probably on Tuesday the 14th. Finally, EVERYONE who’s following me on Twitter will get a link to one gift on that day.

So. Does that count as a cool way to celebrate a birthday?

{ 19 comments }