Writer Mama Riffs on Raising A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids

With the media attention on large-advance book deals for bloggers, more and more writers may feel confident that their drive to put their most valuable content online is worthwhile.

I’m wondering what writer mamas think about this. Because I write for money, the lion’s share of my daily efforts are not visible on this blog. For example, I’m rewriting my second book right now and I’m not planning to share much on that topic until the book is done.

For me, it’s a matter of containment and concentration. Books require an extraordinary amount of detailed thinking. And I need deep concentration to get there and find the right words.

Other writers feel differently. They like to get immediate feedback to what they are working on. So they “blog” their books in various ways. They say that the open book writing process makes their books better.

However, it’s still the case that most of the writers I know who make their living writing (through freelancing and writing books) don’t necessarily open up their writing process via a blog, they focus on serving editors and/or clients.

Whereas, I know lots of writers who write a lot online, who are not necessarily making much money from writing. Though I see a few who are doing such a good job with their blog that I wouldn’t be surprised if that road lead to a book deal. But those writers are still very much in the minority, at least based on the hundreds of writers I personally know.

So…what do you think? Where is the smartest place to share your “value” as a writer? Is it online or is it to serve editors without the emphasis visibility?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about how you do one, the other or both.

Dear Mamas,

I love it when I see that mamas around the Net are reviewing, plugging and otherwise praising Writer Mama. Seriously, nothing warms the cockles of my heart more. When you have devoted over a year of seriously hard work to a project, you really, really want to move readers. So thank you, everyone!

I have a concern, however,  and it has to do with appropriate copyright. Please, don’t forget to give appropriate credit where it is due, which means:

If you pull a selection of words from Writer Mama you need to cite it with the full title, full name of the author (that’s me), publisher name, and publication date.

For my book, a full citation looks like this:

Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, Christina Katz (Writers Digest Books 2007)

Or you can write it more conversationally like this:

Writer’s Digest Books published, Writer Mama by Christina Katz… (you don’t have to give the date unless it’s a formal citing).

Simply linking back to this blog by way of citation isn’t the same. After all, this blog didn’t write Writer Mama.

And even though my online identity is “Writer Mama” or “the Writer Mama,” or “writer mama” or whatever, keep in mind that I wrote the book with a ton of assistance.

When you give a full credit using all the formal names, we all get the acknowlegement we deserve.

Thanks so much for listening. I truly appreciate all of your support.

Buy someone you love a new copy of Writer Mama during the month of February and receive ten essay markets on March 1st!

Or, if you are someone’s Valentine, ask them to buy you a copy of Writer Mama (and include the receipt). Then send the receipt to me to qualify to receive the ten essay markets.

You may forward your receipt to: “writer mama 2 at earthlink dot net”

Or mail it to:

Christina Katz

PO Box 1354

Wilsonville, OR 97070

Be sure I receive your receipt by February 29th.

The  other way to access these markets (and more markets especially selected for moms) is through Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff. The next class begins on April 16th.

From Publisher’s Lunch on Januay 8, 2007:

NON-FICTION: HOW-TO
Author of Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids Christina Katz’s GET KNOWN BEFORE THE BOOK DEAL: Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform, to Jane Friedman at Writer’s Digest Books, by Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency.

Check out my new blog of the same name.

What do you think? Does it sound helpful?

I’m not ready to share what my next book is about, however, I am ready to talk about the nonfiction book writing process.

Has anyone seen the magazine ad for American Express featuring Tina Fey? Her daughter Alice is sitting in the desk chair and she is under the desk in a pile of papers? That was pretty much me last book.

Because it was my first book, I tried every creative approach I could think of. I mean I tried EVERYTHING.

But what was cool for me when I saw this ad was to recognize the storyboard bulletin board in the background.

The storyboard technique was instrumental for me in trying to devise the form or shape that Writer Mama would take.

To read it, I bet you would never guess the pains I went through to make sure that everything was in there and in an order that made sense.

I had to prioritize and condense an enormous amount of information and—what I obsessed about most—make it enjoyable to read.

I am trained as a fiction writer, after all.

So, I used the storyboard constantly. I bet I rearranged those darn post-it notes about a thousand times.

And then of course, my editors would suggest rearranging chapter, sections and sidebars again. And I would. Right up until the very final draft.

OMG, don’t even ask me how many drafts I did. I’m going to guess about a thousand, especially on the front of the book.

The second half went much faster once we’d settled on a definitive format for the book.

I hope, if you are working on a nonfiction book this winter, that you will find my posts on process encouraging…especially when you are ready to throw the whole darn mss. out the window.

Just remember that all of your hard work, in the end, is supposed to be indiscernible to the reader. So when someone emails me and says, “I read your book in two days…” I just smile. And I know that all my hard work—and storyboarding—were worth it.

I have been wanting to do a writer mama panel for a long time. So I invited Chelsea Cain, Elizabeth Rusch and Heather Sharfeddin and we did a panel. Diana Page Jordan moderated and she was terrific. The whole experience was altogether enjoyable. I wish I had recorded it!

We’ve all recently published very different kinds of books and yet, despite our individual approaches to process, we seemed to agree on the following:

Childcare is important.

Supportive spouses are key.

Seeking a tribe of believing mirror fellow writers is critical (especially because they may not be the folks closest to you, that last part came from me).

Thanks, to Page Jordan from Barnes & Noble for hosting! And Jerry Isom and Bill Johnson from Willamette Writers!

Here we are. I will definitely be organizing another one near Mother’s Day. Thanks everyone for coming!

Meanwhile, when she wasn’t in the audience, Samantha enjoyed the children’s section.

She was also pleased to receive a copy of Elizabeth Rusch’s A Day with No Crayons (Rising Moon), one of four books she published this year along with the Oregon Book Award Nominated, Will It Blow? Become a Volcano Detective at Mount St. Helen’s (Sasquatch), The Planet Hunter, The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto (Rising Moon), and Girls Tennis, Conquering the Court.

All in all, it was a good day.

Did I mention that it’s the biggest Barnes & Noble between Vancouver B.C. and San Francisco?

That’s right.

If you want to learn more, please visit my earlier posts here and here and the Willamette Writers Website.

And don’t forget to tell the B&N cashier you want your book purchase credited to Books for Kids.

You may download cashier vouchers, which will also be avaiable at every cashier station, and a PDF flyer for the event, if you’d like one, here.

Alyson Hill contacted me from Australia about the Free Tip Markets awhile back. (Shout out to Alyson!)

After visiting her website, I told her I would post a link so everyone could see the awesome news video that tells the story of her writer mama journey with her first book, “Chooks in the City.”

It’s such an amazing feeling to be connecting with writer mamas around the globe. I just had to share the experience with you. (Thank you, Internet!)

View the video clip at Alyson’s site, Ruralrapture.com.

Be there or be square!

Sunday, October 19, 4:00 p.m.

Join Writer Mama Christina Katz and Sage Cohen, author of the poetry collection, Like the Heart, The World, and the forthcoming book, Writing the Life Poetic for Writer’s Digest Books, as we share Nine Strategies for Jump-Starting Your Writing Career at the 15th Annual Northwest Women’s Show.

Book signings to follow.

Here’s the poster for the show:

…and bring my family with me. But I can honestly say I made the most of every moment. I was all over that city (even though the Red Line wasn’t running). It’s amazing what you can jam into 48 hours when you (kind of) know your way around.

Here’s a photo of me and my college roommate and good friend, Susan Marshall Abraham. Sue is a pilates instructor, which is why she is in such fabulous shape and looks so great.

Here’s some photos from the reading that kicked off Columbia College’s Creative Nonfiction Week. It was great to see my old, advisor, Randy Albers, who is now the chairperson of the Department, to hear how the program has grown, and to hear the awesome readings.

Here’s Arnie Bernstein reading from his gripping work-in-progress, “Killers are Made, Not Born” about the Bath, Michigan School Bombing in 1927, which was the first known incident of terrorism in schools. Whew! It was intense.

Here’s Molly Each reading from her hilarious essay titled, “Plan B.”

The student readings were excellent (and often funny) and a good time was had by all…including Mary Jo Campbell, who showed up for the event and brought along her mom and sister. Thanks for coming, Mary Jo! (She commented in the last post, if you’d like to hear her official review.)

And here’s a photo of me with my graduate school advisor, Randy Albers. He knows I think so, but I think it’s okay to say it again: Thanks, Randy. You’re the greatest advisor a writer could ask for.

I wish I could have stayed for the entire event! Thanks Columbia College, Chicago’s Fiction, Journalism and English departments for a fabulous kick-off event for Creative Nonfiction Week 2007.

Oh! And a couple things I almost forgot…

Amazing African food was catered at the event by Tricia’s Tasty Treats. Yum!

And…I did make that trip to Thousand Waves Spa (on Belmont). It’s the one I was raving about here.

Home again, home again, as soon as I get picked up at the airport. Can’t wait to see my messy home and sweet family!