In the spirit of all things hopping this Easter, I thought I’d share a little – tall but true – story.
Source: https://www.freepik.com/
One evening in this past winter, I took my dog out for her nightly stroll. It was after 10 pm and pitch black.
She stopped suddenly and pulled on the leash.
I turned back to see what was going on and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a huge white snowball hurtling towards my face.
It hit and I was momentarily stunned, wondering simultaneously why someone would throw such a massive snowball at me and, at the same time, why it felt somewhat soft instead of icy.
I stood there in disbelief, with a split lip that was immediately getting fat, as the white-tailed jackrabbit ricocheted off my face and hit the ground running.
I ran back home and flung open the door, calling out to my husband before bursting into tears as the immediate shock wore off.
“A rabbit hit me and split my lip!” I sobbed as he came down the stairs.
Once he stopped laughing, he was really quite sympathetic.
Some people believe a rabbit’s foot is good luck.
What does it mean when it hits you in the face?
(Just call me Ms. Adventure! Stay tuned for more – tall but true – travel tales in my upcoming e-book!)
“I watched in horror as the small green cocoa leaf fluttered to the ground. Quickly and quietly, I bent over and put it back with the other two leaves in my outstretched left hand. I stood up and peeked over at the shaman out of the corner of my eye. He was staring right at me.”
Still under the weather at the summit of Salkantay Pass, Peru. (Photo: Brad Kopp)
Writing it Down
There you have it – the first excerpt from my upcoming e-book: “I’ll Never Pee in the Woods Again.” It is a collection of travel tales where not everything goes exactly as planned. The excerpt above is from the story of a misadventure on a multi-day hiking to Machu Picchu, Peru.
I’m putting these few words out into the universe for a reason. Hopefully a few people will read this post and I will have some accountability. This e-book is still a work-in-progress, but I’m excited to finally get around to finishing this tiny treasure. My problem is… SQUIRREL! I get distracted far too easily. Writing these words down forces me to focus and get this done. You will hold me to it, right?!
Finding Focus
My freelance writing path has been full of detours. For the past eight years, I’ve kept busy writing books, children’s non-fiction for educational publishers. A lot of books. Over eighty-five titles in all. Paying jobs came before creative work. I penned a few travel adventures, but they were few and far between. Time flew by and I found myself with little time or energy for personal projects, such as a short, but sweet, e-book of travel tales.
This year I’ve made a promise to myself to finish a couple of writing ideas that have been shelved for far too long. I’ve cut back on my educational book commitments and am making time to work on projects that I really need to see through to completion.
Evolution
The original idea for this book, first voiced almost nine years ago, was called “Wild Ice and Other Travel Adventures.” It was series of tall, but true travel tales.
The current e-book is still all about travel adventures, but with an extra dose of mis… misadventures, that is. The “Wild Ice” story in the first rough version was simply too short and unrelated to work. It had to go.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t share a condensed version with you here!
Wild Ice
Heading out from the logging road parking lot with burgeoning backpacks, we laughed as we struggled to keep up with the excited chatter of a five-year-old girl proudly wearing her pink and purple pack on her first overnight hiking trip to Lake of the Hanging Glacier in British Columbia.
We wound our way through the forested trail alongside Hell Roaring Creek, up switchbacks and across avalanche slopes before finally ending up in the subalpine meadow campground.
The chatter continued.
After setting up our tent, we strolled the half kilometer or so up to the lakeshore. The massive rock faces of the Commander and The Lieutenants stood guard silently at the end of the milky-blue lake. Jumbo Glacier flowed over the mountaintops and down the valley, one finger reaching into the water.
Our happy camper was captivated by the icebergs bobbing in the lake. Suddenly, she was silent.
“Do you want to try a piece?” her dad asked.
“Ohhhh… yes, please!”
Finding a longer stick in the avalanche debris littering the shoreline, he rolled up his pant legs and waded out in the frigid water. Slowly, but surely, he started to pull a small berg closer to shore.
Our little girl was dancing beside me, hopping around on the rocks like a kid at their first sock hop, barely able to contain herself.
“Why are you so excited?” I asked.
“Because… I’ve never had wild ice before!”
Putting Passion First
Wild ice – it’s pure, unfiltered joy. It’s trying something new. That’s what I’m doing. I’m writing something that I so passionate about that I’m willing to learn how to create my first e-book to see it published. I’ve been going back to school, taking online courses to learn how to get it done.
I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a bumpy path, but that’s okay. I promise to pop in from time to time and update you on the progress and successes and failures along the way. I’ll share the process of what works, what doesn’t, and why. I’ll chatter away like a five-year-old on a travel adventure.
What I do know is that I’ll be honest about the journey. If you’ve ever thought about publishing your own e-book, stay tuned for tips, tricks and insight learned along the way.
Enough About Me, What About You?
What writing project do you need to dust off and get working on again?
I started 2018 – work wise – by listening again to an archived version of TED Talks. The speaker was Elizabeth Gilbert, author of freakishly successful (in her own words) novel, “Eat, Pray, Love.” Gilbert’s talk wasn’t about the book. It was all about fear and creativity and genius. Write on!
It made me laugh
In the past, muses were disembodied creative spirits, first called daemons and then geniuses. If your work bombed, it wasn’t your fault. Your genius was lame. Love it!
It made me think
Gilbert talks about poet Ruth Stone at one point, and how poems would come roaring down on her and she would have to run. Run like hell to get into the house and find and pen and paper to write it down before it roared right through her to find another poet. How is it that ideas come out of the blue? Is it that genius, that muse, that daemon waiting in the wings?
Elizabeth Gilbert doesn’t claim to be a pipeline, waiting for the genius to rush through her. She’s a mule, like most writers. She does the best she can and, in moments of doubt, occasionally talks to her genius and lets them know if they want the work to be better, they have to show up to do their part of the job. Write on.
Writing is work. Sometimes it flows and sometimes it falters. Sometimes it sings and sometimes it sucks. And sometimes… yes, sometimes there is genius. If you want to read more about Gilbert’s take on the whole thing, check out Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.
It made me get to work
I’m still waiting… for the genius, that is… but I’m doing my part. New Year’s Resolution’s don’t work for me. This year, it’s more of a deadline-based project. I’ve dusted off my research files and started in again on a project that I have had on the back burner for years. It’s a children’s picture book. I’m going to be back off the work-for-hire educational titles and focus a little more on my own ideas. The title of this one will be “Run Percy, Run!”
I’m talking to my genius now. I’ll do my part if you do yours. Here’s the deal, by April 1st (no joke, it’s written in ink on the calendar), I will have the manuscript out to a publisher. With or without a muse, or daemon or genuis, it will get done.
What project are you holding back on?
Are you afraid it won’t be good enough? Join me in letting go of fear and getting the job done in 2018. Write. Onwards. Upwards. Let the whole world hear your words sing – genius or not!
Being afreelance writer is awesome – you get to pick when you want to work, do what you want to do, and go where you want to go. As I’ve said before, you drive the bus – or ride the mule!
Being a freelance writer is horrible – work never comes when you need it the most, almost always hits when you’ve planned to take time to travel, and because the paths are endless (fiction, non-fiction, travel, children’s, anthology, blog, e-book…) it can be hard to get traction to get moving. Sometimes, the mule gets a little stubborn and slow.
I don’t set goals or make resolutions in the New Year anymore because they always seem to start off big and fizzle out fast. This year I’m not making plans. Instead, I’m simply digging in to a steep learning curve to get this blog on track.
Hiking Northern Spain. (Photo: M. Kopp)
That doesn’t mean I’m not working on a e-book, still writing children’s non-fiction, and penning travel pieces – I am – but it does mean I’m focusing spare time on becoming a better blogger.
Let’s face it, I suck at consistency when it comes to non-paying projects. My aim is to make this blog a passive income machine. Pay it forward. Possible? Apparently. Over the next few months, I’ll post occasional updates on my progress.
First Steps – or how to get that bus moving again! I am starting slow and learning to walk before I run. Step one: sign up for a little education on the topic. I chose “From Blog to Business” by Wonderlass Allison Marshall. Part of her package is support and additional training opportunities, like a productivity party. Trust me, it’s not fun and games. It is all about sweat equity and it comes with a 25-page workbook. I’ve just finished p. 2 – Celebrate.
Celebrate – it’s time to write down your accomplishments over the past year. I was hesitant at first because it didn’t feel like I had a productive year in 2016. Well, colour me happy! I was pleasantly surprised when I took the time to look back at what I’d accomplished.
Deep thoughts. (Photo: M. Kopp)
Work
wrote 9 work-for-hire children’s non-fiction books
A little slice of paddling heaven! (Photo: M. Kopp)
And More Travel!
12-day trip to Vancouver Island for family and backpacking
6-day backpack across the Chilkoot Trail in Alaska and the Yukon
6-day trip to Northern BC to spend time with a girlfriend
5-day road trip to Tofino with my daughter
11-day bike/hike trip to southern Nevada and Utah
Write down your accomplishments last year – go ahead, give it a try. Your accomplishments can be related to writing or work or fitness or travel or whatever it is that you do. The act of writing it down not only feels good, it gives you a clearer picture of what actually happened and it gives you “themotivation to keep moving forward.”
Head down, office door closed, the last couple weeks of September and into October have been full of work. With seven books to wrap up, two magazine articles to write and travel queries to send out, there hasn’t been a lot of spare time.
So when I received a request for a school program late last week, I had to turn it down.
Not!
I jumped at the chance to talk writing while soaking up the positive energy that comes from a roomful of kids. It didn’t matter that taking another afternoon out of the office meant working late that night, those two hours were full of excitement and interest – and I think the kids enjoyed it, too 😉
Spending an afternoon with these keen kids wasn’t a chore, it was a privilege. Pushing my ability to multi-task when my plate was already full showed me that I was capable of more than I thought. In the words of Nelson Mandela:
“There is no passion to be found playing small–in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
3 Tips for School Presentations:
Start strong with a hook. I began telling the kids how I wanted to write a novel full of adventure and drama when I first started writing. The problem was that I wasn’t any good at writing fiction. I pulled out a copy of my first Reader’s Digest article and read a paragraph of Marianne trapped on a ledge, yelling into the wind at her rescuers in the distance, and watching the lights disappear. I wasn’t good at writing fiction, but I was skilled at writing non-fiction. They were hooked!
Circulate. I always make sure that there are several hands-on activities for the kids to do. Instead of twiddling my thumbs at the front of the room, I wander through the groups, offering suggestions and answering questions. The kids enjoy the one-on-one time.
Break it up. Be sure to build in bathroom and stretch breaks. Everyone will be happier and better able to focus.
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”
– Albert Einstein
In my spare time, I’m always looking for ways to improve my freelance career. The path wanders and it includes everything from searching for new markets, to learning to be a better blogger, to brushing up on my writing skills.
Be a Better Writer is a new site for me. It’s geared toward fiction and I write non-fiction, but one of the posts caught my eye. I had to take a closer look. “Tight Writing Gets Published” is a perfect primer (or refresher) for self-editing – no matter if you are penning a novel or drafting a travel article or editing a children’s book. Get rid of those things, somethings, and somehows. Use strong verbs and resist adverbs. Cut the excess and your writing will improve.
In the words of Elmore Leonard, “try to leave out the parts that people skip.”
What sites would you recommend for improving your writing?
Love coming home from a travel adventure to find hardcover proof that I do have a job! Four new children’s non-fiction books arrived from Crabtree while I took 10 days to decompress and dip into a little of Cuba’s charming culture.
The first two books explore the world of writing. “How to Write Science Fiction” reviews the elements of science fiction and guides young readers with step-by-step instructions on how to compose their own, out-of-this-world science fiction stories. “How to Write Drama” follows a similar pattern.
Two new books in the Text Styles series from Crabtree. (Credit: M. Kopp)
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Many people credit Ghandi with this saying and it is the cornerstone for Crabtree’s new series. My two books, “Be the Change for the Environment” and “Be the Change in your Community” offer a blueprint for young readers to follow and become active citizens. Can’t wait to present them to a local school!
Caring for Earth is everyone’s job. (Credit: M. Kopp)
Helping others helps you. (Credit: M. Kopp)
What do you use as a yardstick for measuring your “success” as a freelance writer? Leave a comment below!
