The Key to Nonfiction Writing

Do you yearn to really connect with your audience?
 

*  Write directly to the person reading your book or article.  *

Your book is a conversation between you and the person reading your words. Picture sitting across the table from him, each of you holding a cup of coffee, as you tell him the information that you're writing. It's between you and him (or her) -- a personal conversation.

You want to sound like a well informed, helpful friend. Not too casual, not too stiff.

Try it for a day or two, and see if that one key doesn't open the door to a rich connection with your readers.

Happy writing ~

Lin

The Changing Definition of a Book?

What's the Definition of a "Book"?

The rules and definitions in the book world continue to change at the virtual speed of light. As eBooks become more popular, the very definitions have changed.

On one of the huge LinkedIn author/writer groups, the perennial question - What's the difference between a writer and an author? - was asked.

Not long ago, an author was one who wrote a book that was published, printed and bound. A writer wrote anything shorter, and a professional writer got paid real money for those words. Simple enough.

But it made me wonder just what qualified as a book these days. So instead of smugly typing in the  old definition, I went to the Bowker* website for a what I was certain would be a quick, crisp answer.

           *Bowker is the company that sells and tracks all of the ISBN numbers used
            in the United States and would theoretically be THE authority on books.

There I clicked the Contact Us link and asked for the current definition of a book, thinking the reply would be 49 pages or more for a book. Oh, but I wasn't considering eBooks.

After carefully checking their database, the Bowker person couldn't find a definition by either pages or work count. Now, an 8 page, half-size booklet a "book" may look like a Hallmark Greeting, but the writer could call it a "book" if he or she chose to.

But wait! That doesn't seem fair. Doesn't "book" imply substance and depth of content? Only Rumi could produce a short paragraph that carries that kind of substance. A booklet or brochure doesn't.

So, my friends, I'm afraid we'll have to be very cautious about how we toss around the term "book." Even the rules makers don't know anymore!

Happy reading ~

Lin

Write Life Experience Pieces with Feeling

Whether you plan to market your nonfiction writing or write for the joy of it, you'll want the reader to really feel your experience. Were you anxious, blissed out, energized, confused, devastated? Relive it in your mind and use the words and cadence (or pace) that will put the reader into the experience.

1. WORD CHOICE. Ordinary nouns and verbs provide your readers with bland, foggy impressions. Where's the "life" in those experiences? It's in specific words! The action part of the experience will primarily show in your verb choices. The mood of the experience shows in the detail.

These examples come from my  September 4, 2014 post "Jury Duty Write Up":

• I got popped in the bumper. She jumped out of her SUV
• and we surged forward as a friendly mob
• were beginning to get a little sassy and laughing

2. SENSORY WORDS. These introduce your reader to the sight, sounds, smells, feel, and taste. Such words can go a long way towards bringing your readers with into the scene with you.

If you enjoy travel writing, the sensory details become key aspects of your reader's "view." This example comes from The Many Faces of Journaling (2nd edition), pg. 160:

"Conner Prairie   Connor Prairie (Indiana). What a fantastic experience! This 'living history museum' is a reconstructed 1820's village on an immense plot of land just north of Indianapolis, and there life goes on the way it did in 1823. We could hear the clang of the anvil as we walked down the dusty road to the blacksmith's shop... The weaver was in the middle of making a beautiful, patterned red and cream wool blanket on his loom... He had bunches of aromatic dried herbs handing from a rough, smoke-blacked beam near the fireplace... the pungent smell of drying sage and thyme scented the air in the cozy cottage."

3. SENTENCE LENGTH. A writer can pack a lot of punch into a page or article by varying the sentence lengths. A medium-length sentence states the facts. A longer sentence becomes more lyrical. A short sentence is an exclamation, regardless of what punctuation you use. One, two or three word carry far more emotion and/or power than a longer one.  

Also from The Many Faces of Journaling(2nd edition), pg. 104:

"The Bombing of Baghdad   Wed., March 19th, '03 - all day watching CNN & MSNBC. This evening the countdown on the latter. Right now it's 5 minutes and counting. Counting towards what? Armageddon? I'm starting to cry. This countdown isn't exactly like the New Year's Eve ball. But the reverse timing sounds and looks the same. Even that's obscene. Too much like a happy, hopeful, traditional annual event..."

We can often bring more of our living experiences into a piece if we write it as though we were telling a friend or acquaintance about it. When you really want them to "be there" with you - write it that way.

Happy writing ~

Lin

Writing Your Reflections and Insights

The future value of your Writer's Journal entries grows exponentially by including both the facts and the insights of your life experiences. The details of both the event and the take-aways will provide you with rich material for future writings, large and small. Who knows? One journal entry may become the opening line of a book someday!

In the last post, I described my first experience of being summons for jury duty. Now it's time to share my reflections and insights after the fact.


First, what had seemed so anti-climatic at the end of the long day's waiting turned out to be a beautiful learning time in gentle ways. No, I wasn't called to serve on the jury for a high-drama court case. But for one who works (writes) in solitude, it proved to be a warm experience of people and processes.

POTENTIAL JURORS
That retired St. Louis policeman I sat next to was black. Either my family wasn't racially prejudiced or the subject just never came up. But that allowed me to form my own ideas: I've never understood why the color of a person's skin mattered. Our similarities and differences have to do with life values and interests, not pigmentation. OK, history has screwed that up quite a bit. But those remain our real sharing points.

When I was a child, the Supreme Court issued its ruling on equality of education. As I wandered around in our backyard, I thought - Everybody goes to school to learn the same stuff, so why would there have been a separation to begin with? It didn't make any sense to me. 

Back to our story, September 2nd wasn't very long after the emotionally charged events in Ferguson, a suburb or St. Louis County, Missouri. And many of us, it was a powerful time of wanting to reach out and connect with others. When it came time to find a seat in the jury waiting room, I consciously chose to sit beside a black person, whom I'll refer to as "Ed."

Ed and I talked about our work, including his celebrity-rich limo driving and my book writing, our families, life values - especially respect and education, and all manner of things. We spoke seriously, and we laughed about life together.We also found that we shared the same ideas of personal budgets - neither of us is a fan of extravagant spending. We didn't talk about Ferguson specifically, but we did get into other news issues. He'd brought his newspaper, and I had a book, so we'd alternate chatting for long periods with reading. And, yes, we did solve some of the world's big problems.

We shared so much with each other in an relaxed, mutually interested way over those 8+ hours. I may never see Ed again, but he will always be with me.

Since the 250 potential jurors had to wear highly visible JUROR badges all day, striking up a conversation with another of our "gang" never proved a problem. We generally opened by asking each other if he or she hoped to be called to serve on a jury or not and went on from there.

THE COURTHOUSE STAFF
The screeners, bailiffs, and jury room assistants, shared three lovely traits: they were all kind, unhurried, and welcoming. I felt OK being a clueless newbie. The experienced screening crew were all County Police for whom the job was routine, but who joked easily with each other as they worked. Each bailiff had his own blend of matter-of-fact attitude with a dash of humor, especially trying to pronounce the 170 names. (St. Louis has a fine mix of nationalities.) The women who run the juror waiting room are pleasantly efficient. Although by the time we were dismissed for the day, at least one looked like it'd been a long day!

MY FEELINGS
Even though I'd only waited, I came away with a feeling of being an active part of the larger community. We had a job to do and came to it willingly. No one was cranky or out of sorts, even if they, like me, had originally wished to be excused, although we all moaned together as the day stretched on and on. That feeling of working together surprised me, and to be honest, by the time we turned in our badges, I wouldn't have half minded being called to return the next day.

Have you started keeping a Writer's Journal yet?

Lin

Jury Duty Write Up

Some big adventures are smaller than others. Such was my first time as a potential juror at St. Louis County Circuit Court on September 2nd. But all life experiences offer new writing material. First, I'll share the day's events, and later, my insights and feelings about it.

From my Writer's Journal:

Wed., Sept. 3, 2014: [about jury duty] I was really curious, but you know me and my comfort zone. Then Sunday I realized I'd neglected to mail in the bottom half of the notice that said - Yes, I'll be there! So I thought I might be "found in contempt" or sumsuch when I got there. (They are some of the very nicest people I've ever met!) Good old rush hour traffic - about 1/2 mile from the parking garage, I got popped in the bumper. She jumped out of her SUV, I jumped out of my 23 year old Camry - no damage whatsoever, I hugged her and said - We're fine.

 

Found the parking garage, wandered down an alley behind it, and just happened to cross the street with a Bailiff :) who said - Walk with me. And he led me down a maze of sidewalks to where you enter the courthouse and go through screening. By then, nearly all the citizens wandering around were reporting for jury duty and we surged forward as a friendly mob. The bailiff had told me not mailing the confirmation form in would be no problem, and he was right - a total non-issue. In fact, the woman behind me had misplaced the whole packet, and they didn't bat an eye.

 

In the huge waiting room, I sat down to a slightly built man who turned out to be a retired St. Louis policeman, who then worked for a while at [large corporation], before starting his current job as a limo driver. And, man, did he have stories. I know pretty much his life story - born in [in the South], mom moved her and the kids to St. Louis (dad didn't want to move), his wife died of MS. Since that's almost what [my daughter] has, we shared a lot about that, and about life and the news and so many things.

We met another juror at Panera's and chatted there and after we got back. Waiting to be called is soooo boring, even if you alternate between chatting and reading. (My copy of Charlotte Kasl's if the Buddha got stuck didn't address jury room boredom!) They called a 4th list of jurors at 4:30, which brought the total to 170 out of about 250 originally in the room. We were told that trial would probably begin immediately, so jurors might be there as late as 10:00! We all held our collective breath and were beginning to get a little sassy and laughing. (Poor Bailiff was pretty pooped himself by then.) Then at 4:45, the rest of us were dismissed and told we didn't have to come back today. We turned in our juror badges, and that was that. Wait! What?

 

After all my fretting about the unfamiliar, it was truly an anti-climax. But ... I was exhausted when I got home, sore from sitting in a chair all day, and yet, overstimulated :) I went to bed a little early, and slept around the clock! So I'm pretty sure it was a growth experience.

STAY TUNED: In my next post, I'll share my reflections on the whole experience.

Happy writing ~

Lin

Jury Duty is Writing Material

The surprises and events of our lives provide an endless source of writing material. We write about life, what we've learned and what we wish we'd known, as well as the joys and frustrations, hesitations, and head-long leaps. Because we've lived them, our writing can flow with rich detail and feeling. (Unlike my beloved research, which produces more fact than feeling.)

[My books, And Now We Dance: Journaling for the Woman Within and The Many Faces of Journaling: Topics & Techniques for Personal Journal Writing, both contain pages of my personal experiences.]

Another one will open for me in a few days: my first call to Jury Duty, and my curiosity has kicked into high gear. What? Who? Why? Who says so? I'll present myself at the St. Louis County (Missouri) Circuit Court at 8:30 and hope that everything in my carry-all purse will pass inspection.

I'm told by a more experienced friend that the holding room for potential jurors can become a social event, but that the waiting time can still be long and tedious. I wonder where we'll eat lunch, and if we'll break off into groups. Imagine the new friends I might meet! Being quizzed by the defending attorney and prosecuting attorney should be interesting.

How will I apply what I learn to the stress book I'm working on now? Who knows? But I'll make lots of notes in my writer's journal as soon as I return home each day, so later I can pick and choose depending on the writing project at hand.

That is what life experiences and a writer's journal are all about: building a personal treasure trove of fascinating ideas and material.

Happy writing ~

Lin

Testing New Nonfiction Writing Ideas

TheBookDesigner.com shared this  practical and useful article on test driving your book (or article) topic ideas.

10 Ways to Test Market Your Nonfiction Book Idea Before You Publish 

Not only can we check the interest level among potential future buyers, we can also build a following, work up our research files, and explore alternate subtopics and slants along the way.

Stay tuned. I plan to use some of these tips myself!

Happy writing ~

Lin