Four Knights Press

www.ssa-vs.org

www.beelieveparanormal.com

Shameless Self Promotion

My Co-Authors and I will Appear on Coast to Coat AM With George Noory on May 7. For you southern Arizona folks we will be on KGUN’s Morning Blend that same day. Tune in and check out our new book

http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738756745

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/speaking-with-the-spirits-of-the-old-southwest-dan-baldwin/1127149230

https://www.facebook.com/Speaking-With-The-Spirits-of-The-Old-Southwest-130615794198010/

https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Spirits-Old-Southwest-Conversations/dp/0738756741

A Four Knights Press Production

© Dan Baldwin 2017

This blogette may be shared provided there is no charge associated and that the source is credited.

Writing Tip of the Week

The Magic of Just Doing It

One of the high school students I mentored a while back told me she couldn’t wait to get to college and take her creative writing courses so she could someday become a “real writer.” My response was to ask her if she knew how to write a sentence. “Yes,” she said. I then said, “Do you know what a noun is? A verb? An adjective?” Again, she said, “Yes.” I pointed out that she had just completed 12 years of studying English and that she already had the basic tools to become a “real writer.”

“All you have to do now is – write.”

I hope I got through to her, but I doubt it. Our society has achieved brilliance in the art of putting things in the way of achieving what we want. Writers are terribly guilty of this.

Here’s the secret to becoming a “real writer.”

Write.

Just do the work. Write every day. It’s a simple matter of discipline. Just sit down with your keyboard, pencil and paper, or charcoal and the back of a shovel and write.

Amazing things happen when you apply this discipline. Your friendly neighborhood muse drops in to help move things along. Ideas pop into your head. Fascinating characters appear seemingly out of nowhere. Mental neon arrows blinking and blazing away point the way to plot twists and turns. Suddenly that novel, memoir, non-fiction work, short story, e-mail or letter back home is done. And it’s good!

All because you just sat down and did the work.

It’s not really magic. But it damn sure is magical.

Quote of the Week: “Right discipline consists, not in external compulsion, but in habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather than undesirable activities.” Bertrand Russell

Recommended Reading: Ernest Hemingway on Writing edited by Larry W. Phillips

Recommended Links:

www.ssa-vs.org

Shameless Self Promotion

A Four Knights Press Production

© Dan Baldwin 2018

This blogette may be shared provided there is no charge associated and that the source is credited.

Writing Tip of the Week

I Was Going to Write About Writer’s Block,

But I Couldn’t Come Up With Anything

Beat… two… three… go. Not so funny, I know, but neither is the challenge of writer’s block. Notice I didn’t write that writer’s block is the challenge. To quote Chuck Yeager about the sound barrier (The Right Stuff), “I don’t think the damn thing exists.”

What does exist is the fear of writer’s block. For some people it seems they believe it’s almost a ritual that has to be endured so that he can claim the glorious title of writer. “I suffer therefore I am a writer.” As Col. Potter from MASH would say, “Horse hockey!” That fear is far worse and far more damaging than the (at least for me) non-existent thing called writer’s block.

The way to handle the challenge is easy: write a word. And then write another word and then write the word that comes after it and then the one that comes after that one and an hour or two later you’ll realize you never had writer’s block in the first place.

If you think you’re facing writer’s block: don’t think.

Write. Your determination, skill and your drive to see what happens next in your story will take care of everything else.

Here’s what a few other writers have to say on the subject.

“There's no such thing as writer's block. That was invented by people in California who couldn't write.”
― Terry Pratchett

“I don't sit around waiting for passion to strike me. I keep working steadily, because I believe it is our privilege as humans to keep making things. Most of all, I keep working because I trust that creativity is always trying to find me, even when I have lost sight of it.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert

“The subconscious mind is amazingly efficient – it wants to work your story out – and while I’ve never experienced it myself, my guess is that writer’s block is the result of the conscious mind having gotten too involved in the process.”
― Alistair Cross

“Writer's block' is just a fancy way of saying 'I don't feel like doing any work today.”
― Meagan Spooner

If you think you have writer’s block, think about the above. But not too long – and then get back to writing that next word.

Quote of the Week: “It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.” Thomas Jefferson

Recommended Reading: The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law

Recommended Links:

www.ssa-vs.org

Shameless Self Promotion

A Four Knights Press Production

© Dan Baldwin 2017

This blogette may be shared provided there is no charge associated and that the source is credited.

Writing Tip of the Week

Don’t “Help” Your Book Designer

Sometimes an inexperienced writer will “help out” his or her publisher by inserting design elements in to his copy to make it easier – he thinks – to produce.

Don’t do this.

I have ghostwritten a number of manuscripts in the appropriate style for several clients when submitting the work for their final fact checking. In too many cases my authors decided to “help” with the final version by inserting boxes and dingbats, changing typefaces and type sizes, changing colors, and varying from standard formatting styles in all kinds of ways thinking they were improving the work. I had to explain that thanks to their unasked for assistance the book or magazine designer would now have to remove all of his changes so that they could work with the original work in standard form.

What is the standard form? You’re reading it.

In virtually all cases a manuscript should be in basic caps and lower case format with limited use of boldface, underline and italic. If the piece needs additional work the graphic designer will handle that.

The author can provide formatting guidelines and suggestions, but he should never do that formatting. Leave it up to the people who know what they’re doing.

Quote of the Week: “Characters make their own plot. The dimensions of the characters determine the action of the novel.” Harper Lee

Recommended Reading: Think Like a Publisher by Dean Wesley Smith

Recommended Links:

www.ssa-vs.org

http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738756745

Shameless Self Promotion

My Co-Authors and I will Appear on Coast to Coat AM With George Noory on May 7. For you southern Arizona folks we will be on KGUN’s Morning Blend that same day. Tune in and check out our new book

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/speaking-with-the-spirits-of-the-old-southwest-dan-baldwin/1127149230

https://www.facebook.com/Speaking-With-The-Spirits-of-The-Old-Southwest-130615794198010/

https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Spirits-Old-Southwest-Conversations/dp/0738756741

It's so much easier for me to talk about my life in front of two thousand people than it is one-to-one. I'm a real defensive person, because if you were sensitive in my neighborhood you were something to eat."

A Four Knights Press Production

© Dan Baldwin 2017

This blogette may be shared provided there is no charge associated and that the source is credited.

Writing Tip of the Week

Be Funny – Now!

“I need you to write something funny. And I need it now!” The writer who hears that from an editor or a client in need of a pick-me-up for his speech to the Visiting Firemen’s Association shouldn’t panic. Writing Humor-While-U-Wait is like writing anything else. Just relax, follow a few basic guidelines and the good humor will come, man. Here are six sources of inspiration that always work for me.

Honesty
Tension release
Shock value
Attack authority
Audience involvement
Go for broke

Honesty really is the best policy because good humor is based in reality. Ron White knows how to charm an audience by making fun of himself or situations in which he’s been involved – situations the audience can identify with and laugh at.

I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade... And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party.

People are saying that I'm an alcoholic, and that's not true, because I only drink when I work, and I'm a workaholic

I believe that a bad Super Bowl halftime show is still better than a soccer game.

Tension release is useful because these days everybody seems to be wound up about everything. Anyone who can provide some relief, especially through laughter, is a welcome member of the family. George Carlin was a master.

You know an odd feeling? Sitting on the toilet eating a chocolate candy bar.
I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Shock value throws the audience a curve, gets them laughing and sets them up for what follows. Dirty jokes, insult humor and the unexpected utterance are examples. No one was better at throwing an audience curves than Robin Williams.

If women ran the world we wouldn't have wars, just intense negotiations every 28 days.
Never pick a fight with an ugly person, they've got nothing to lose.
The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying, 'Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and yelling, 'You want a piece of me?'

Attacking authority is a proven laugh machine. Who wouldn’t laugh at an IRS joke? This is a kinder, gentler form of shock humor and few have done it better than Bob Hope.

It's so cold here in Washington, D.C., that politicians have their hands in their own pockets.

Ronald Reagan is not a typical politician because he doesn't know how to lie, cheat, and steal. He's always had an agent do that."

Carter wants to go to Washington. He'll feel right at home there - he was raised on a nut farm ...

Involve the audience by commenting on the host, the honoree, the facility or something they can identify with in their immediate surroundings. You can open with, “An Irishman and a Brit went into a pub and….” Or, you can use the same joke employing familiar names or places. “Your boss and a Brit went into a pub and….” Richard Pryor’s interaction with his audience was one of the keys to his brilliant humor.

I'd like to make you laugh for about ten minutes, though I'm gonna be on for an hour.

Go for broke when you have a funny line or a funny bit and even though you can’t explain how, you know it will work. Even if it has little or nothing to do with the topic or event at hand, if you think it will help the presentation, go for it. Steven Wright is deadpan brilliant at these things.

Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.

I have a paper cut from writing my suicide note. It's a start...

I installed a skylight in my apartment... the people who live above me are furious!

During my freelance copywriting days I sometimes called my product Copy-While-U-Wait. The pressure to perform is always part of writing, especially when confronted with a tight deadline. Remember, the joke or the bit is out there in your subconscious. Jump into your ocean of experience, use one or more of the above guidelines and, as Jonathan Winters often said, “If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it.”

Quote of the Week: “The devil’s boots don’t creak.” Scottish Proverb

Recommended Reading: The Chicago Manual of Style

Recommended Links:

www.ssa-vs.org

http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738756745

Shameless Self Promotion

My Co-Authors and I will Appear on Coast to Coat AM With George Noory on May 7. For you southern Arizona folks we will be on KGUN’s Morning Blend that same day. Tune in and check out our new book

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/speaking-with-the-spirits-of-the-old-southwest-dan-baldwin/1127149230

https://www.facebook.com/Speaking-With-The-Spirits-of-The-Old-Southwest-130615794198010/

https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Spirits-Old-Southwest-Conversations/dp/0738756741

A Four Knights Press Production

© Dan Baldwin 2017

This blogette may be shared provided there is no charge associated and that the source is credited.

Writing Tip of the Week

Get A Job!

I knew a screenwriter wannabe who was so dedicated to writing the perfect script that he’s probably never gotten around to writing it. Before starting the script he studied creative writing. He then studied screenwriting. To familiarize himself with the techniques of filmmaking he took a course in videography. And then a course in film editing. Directing came next. That was 25 years ago and I’ll be he still hasn’t finished his script.

I’ll also bet that he’ll never finish that script. His excuses are probably numerous and seemingly logical, but the real reason he fails at writing is simple: he doesn’t treat his writing as a job.

Yes, writing is an art form. Writing is a creative process. Writing also a job. You’ll get more writing and better writing done if you treat it that way.

What does that mean?

It’s pretty basic.

Show up to work every day. If you’re a full-time writer, set a schedule and stick to it. If

Your writing is an avocation, find the time slots you can use for writing and make sure you use those times time to finish the job at hand.

Write when you have the flu. Or when the car breaks down. Or when your cousin Ed and

his team of brats come for a weeklong visit. Writing has to be a priority. Otherwise it’s just playtime.

Don’t “go home” early. Whatever writing schedule you develop, stay with it. Don’t

abandon the workplace just because you can. Besides, what better way to escape Ed ‘n the brats than moving into your writing room for a few hours?

Writing is a career. Think long-term success.
Think paycheck. Professional writers work for money and expect money in return for

their labor. Amateurs who write for praise from friends and family or for the satisfaction of seeing their words on paper also write for remuneration. Accept that fact and do your best to earn your rewards. No slacking even if you’re writing “just for the fun of it.”

Constantly improve your job skills. One of the best and most profitable days of my life

occurred when it finally hit me that I don’t know it all. Practice your craft. Improve your skills.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. Yes, I know you’re a writer and you have to sweat

blood to practice your craft. You may even be one of those unfortunates who have to suffer for your craft, but every now and then give it a break. Writing is a job and there is a time to struggle with it, a time to celebrate it, a time to mourn it… and a time to just laugh at it.

Enjoy the laugh.

And then get back to work.

Quote of the Week: “A man’s maturity consists in having found again the seriousness one had as a child, at play.” Friedrich Nietzche

Recommended Reading: Closing the Deal on Your Terms by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Recommended Links:

www.ssa-vs.org

https://beelieveparanormal.wordpress.com/about www.CosgroveCrime.com

Shameless Self Promotion

Check out more of my books at:

A Four Knights Press Production

© Dan Baldwin 2017

This blogette may be shared provided there is no charge associated and that the source is credited.

Writing Tip of the Week

Recommended Reading

One of the best days of my life was the day I leaned that I didn’t “know it all.” That day I started what for that time was a new experience – learning. Today that process continues, especially in reading to improve my writing skills. Here’s a partial list of valuable books currently in my library, books that have been and still are part of the process.

Writing

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White (top of every list)

Lessons Learned from a Lifetime of Writing by David Morrell

Grammar Sucks by Joanne Kimes with Gary Robert Muschla

Texting Dictionary of Acronyms by Randall C. Manning

The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri

Words You Should Know by Michelle Bevilacqua

Word Gone Wild – Fun and Games for Language Lovers by Jim Bernhard

Creating Plot by J. Madison Davis

Style and Circumstance by Phineas J. Caruthers

The Corporate Scriptwriting Book by Donna Matrazzo

The Lively Art of Writing by Lucile Vaughan Payne

Junk English by Ken Smith

Details

The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter

How to Sell Books by the Truckload on Amazon by Penny C. Sansevieri

CreateSpace & Kindle Self-Publishing Masterclass by Rick Smith

Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz

Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino and the Editors of Writer’s Digest Books

Business

The Copyright Guide by Lee Wilson

Literary Law Guide for Authors by Tonya Marie Evans and Susan Borden Evans

Quotable Business by Louis E. Boone

Philosophy of Writing

Stephen King on Writing by Stephen King

The Art of Non-Fiction by Ayn Rand

Writing Realistic Dialog and Flash Fiction by Harvey Stanbrough

Useful Fun

Crazy English by Richard Lederer

The Movie Quote Book by Harry Haun

The Greatest Stories Never Told by Rick Beyer

Thank Your Lucky Stars

Duel of Eagles by Peter Townsend

Dan Baldwin

baldco@msn.com www.fourknights press.com www.danbaldwin.biz

Amazon author page:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0080Z24CO

Writing Tip of the Week

Fear, Son of Fear, and Fear Meets the Three Stoges

The character Gordon Gekko from the film Wall Street uttered one of moviedom’s most famous lines. “Greed is good.”

I’d like to twist that technique and apply the phrase to something all writers face all the time. “Fear is good.”

Fear of starting the next novel, short story, non-fiction book, report, e-mail or angry letter to that old SOB down at city hall is natural. And it’s a good sign for the writer.

If you’re afraid it’s because you’re challenged.

Challenge is good. It means you have an opportunity to stretch as a writer. It’s a chance to grow, improve your skills, and earn a well-deserved sense of achievement.

Look at it this way: if you don’t feel challenged, if you don’t feel that uncomfortable cold spot in the pit of your stomach it’s because you’re comfortable with the writing ahead. The reason you’re comfortable is that you’ve done it before. Where’s the challenge in that? Where’s the opportunity for growth? Been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt. Got the mug. Why repeat the process?

I’m not saying that you should feel fear every time you write, but when that cold spot in the old gut does show up - embrace it. That feeling marks the next step and the next improvement in your writing career.

In Up the Organization Robert Townsend reminds us that, “Growth is a by-product of the pursuit of excellence and not itself a worthy goal.” That twinge of fear you feel at the beginning of a new writing project is a sign post: Excellence Ahead.

Pursue.

Quote of the Week: “A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice.” Edgar Watson Howe

Recommended Reading: A Farewell to Justice by Joan Mellen

Recommended Links:

www.ssa-vs.org

http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738756745

Shameless Self Promotion

Available for pre-orders in e-book and paperback. Release date: May 8, 2018

Speaking with Spirits of the Old Southwest – Conversations with Miners, Outlaws and Pioneers Who Still Roam Ghost Towns

LEWELLYN

AMAZON

https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Spirits-Old-Southwest-Conversations-ebook/dp/B075W1TJN4/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508072270&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=speaking+with+the+spirits+of+the+old+southwest

Check out more of my books at:

A Four Knights Press Production

This blogette may be shared provided there is no charge associated and that the source is credited.

Writing Tip of the Week

Avoid the Preamble Ramble Gamble

Every writing project has a beginning a middle and an end. Each element is important, but if the writer doesn’t get the beginning right the other two never get read regardless of their quality or significance. The author never gets to sell the next book, short story, news report, ad or recommendation at the end of the e-mail up to corporate. This is especially true for writers who want to continue writing. As Mickey Spillane wrote, “The first chapter sells the book. And the last chapter sells the next book.”

Regardless of what they’re writing, writers always face the same challenge with the beginning of each work and that challenge is the desire to get it down on paper (screen) right away and desire to get it right. Each is important and the goals are not mutually exclusive.

Finding the beginning of a non-fiction book, such as one of my ghostwriting or paranormal works, is generally easy. The events portrayed follow an established order. Novels and short stories are different – nothing is established except the need to fill the air pockets inside my head. Selection of a beginning is strictly up to me, the writer.

One of the biggest mistakes fiction writers make is to begin the work before the real beginning of the story. There’s a natural desire to set up the action that will follow, to provide a lot of background material. For example, the initial novel of my Caldera series of Westerns begins with a young mountain man stumbling onto a fortune in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains. The first draft began with the man struggling through a harsh winter north of Taos, New Mexico. At some point I realized that the real beginning of the novel was the moment he headed into the Superstitions. I cut out the first couple of chapters detailing his moves south and guess what? The novel doesn’t slowly slide into the plot; it jumps right into the action. And the reader jumps with it.

Before you write that first word, pause and ask yourself it it’s the true beginning or merely preamble.

My preference for writing is to bang out the entire first draft before beginning any *revisions. Provided I’m confident that my beginning the beginning is right to begin with I begin moving on to begin the rest of the work. For me that satisfies each desire I get it down and I’m confident enough of my skill that I believe I also got it right. Others may prefer to perfect their beginning word-by-word before moving on. And that’s okay. The thing to remember neither approach is automatically better than the other. How you best handle the getting it down vs. getting it right conflict is to find which approach works for you.

Once you know that, you know how to begin and with a little thought, you’ll know where to begin.

*True Confessions – I don’t do a lot of rewriting. I fix, touch up, and cycle back to fill in plot holes, but I don’t sweat blood over-polishing the work. I’d rather invest that time in writing that next book Mr. Spillane mentioned.

Quote of the Week: “It is only when proofs are lacking that people try to impose their opinions.” Andre Gide

Recommended Reading: The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri

Recommended Links:

www.ssa-vs.org

http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738756745

Shameless Self Promotion

Available for pre-orders in e-book and paperback. Release date: May 8, 2018

Speaking with Spirits of the Old Southwest – Conversations with Miners, Outlaws and Pioneers Who Still Roam Ghost Towns

LEWELLYN

AMAZON

https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Spirits-Old-Southwest-Conversations-ebook/dp/B075W1TJN4/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508072270&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=speaking+with+the+spirits+of+the+old+southwest

A Four Knights Press Production

This blogette may be shared provided there is no charge associated and that the source is credited.

Effective Communications Tip of the Week

A Comment on Puff Pieces

Writers who product public relations materials for clients often face the challenge of drafting a news article or feature that has at least a snowball’s chance in hell of passing through the electronic Hades of a news editor’s desk. The editor’s desk/computer is loaded with articles and each one (to him) is of equal news value. Puff Pieces are among the first to make it to the round file or to experience the delete key. Positive Aspect stories at least have a fighting chance of making it in print or on screen.

A positive aspect article differs from a puff piece primarily in that the PA is written strictly according to standard journalistic style. It promotes only the positive side of the person or organization; it is a legitimate news story told in the traditional manner.

A puff piece jumps from straightforward reporting right into unabashed praise. The writers generally don’t follow an accepted stylebook. They often use first names throughout the piece. Unnecessary and inappropriate adverbs and adjectives are often tossed out like Mardi Gras throws from a parade float.

For example, a puff piece might read:

"Bob is a terrific boss and we can go in to see him with a problem any time. We think that's really cool."

A writer who wants the piece to have a lifespan beyond the editor’s, “Bah Humbug!” will follow appropriate style.

"Smith maintains a good rapport with his staff by managing the office with an open door policy."

Notice that the puff piece and the positive aspect piece say the same thing. The difference is that the latter will possibly see life in print. The first version will be terminated with extreme prejudice.

The difference is mostly a matter of style, although sometimes the puff piece will slip into

outright falsehoods. "Bob supports women's rights in the office place" is pretty hard to believe when everyone in the community knows he refers to his universally buxom female staff as "My little groupies."

The biggest problem with a puff piece is that it is so obvious. The editor knows his publication will suffer from a loss of credibility. The writer knows this, too. Sadly, Bob (the swell boss) often doesn’t. Unless his craving for puffery is held in check, ultimately he is the one whose puffed up bubble bursts the loudest.

Quote of the Week: “The devil’s boots don’t creak.” Scottish Proverb

Recommended Reading: The Chicago Manual of Style

Recommended Links:

www.ssa-vs.org