Interviewed by Nate Hendley

Susan J. Forest is a Prix Aurora Award finalist (“Back,” Analog, June 2008) and winner of The Galaxy Project adjudicated by Robert Silverberg, David Drake and Barry Malzberg (“Lucy,” Rosetta Books, 2011). Susan works as a fiction editor for Edge. Her stories have appeared in Analog, Asimov’s, OnSpec, AE Science Fiction Review and Tesseracts and her collection, Immunity to Strange Tales is forthcoming from Five Rivers Publishing. Her website is located at www.speculative-fiction.ca

What motivates you to write? Is it the promise of money, fame, power, recognition, self-fulfillment or something else?

Money or getting my name on the cover of Analog, as I did in April, is a thrill, for sure, but it isn’t–and can’t be–the driving force behind writing. Those external acknowledgements of merit are reaffirming, but there are too many days facing the blank page or uncooperative characters, discouraging critiques and publishers’ rejections for such kudos to support my drive to write. I love being “in the moment” with my characters, feeling out what they facing and what they’ll do next, and why. Timothy Findley once said, the reason writers write is the same reason readers read: to find out what happens! That is so, for me.

Do you have any “tricks of the trade” that help you kick-start the creative process?

Absolutely. I find I am more creative when I rise to a challenge, so looking for the improbable is helpful. Starting the story at a point somewhat distant from where I want to go, and finding the route through obstacles to get to my ending is one technique. Lots of thinking–in the shower, as I wash the floor or run the treadmill–and recording my ideas on a mini-tape recorder is helpful: when I transcribe the tape, I not only get the ideas in their original form, but with the passion in my voice that re-creates the mood.

What are your “de-motivators” (i.e. things that take away your drive to write or steer it to an unproductive place)? How do you cope with these de-motivators?

Ensuring I don’t “jinx” the story by telling it to someone before I am prepared, keeps the story-writing tension built up and ready to spill onto the page. Nothing is worse than trying to explain a partially-developed idea and realizing it sounds silly.

Do you have any role models who inspire you in your personal and professional life?

Robert J. Sawyer has been a great friend and mentor who is very generous with his writing tips–and after 20 books and all the major awards, he has a great store of useful information. I have also had the great opportunity to work with very inspiring writers who are also insightful teachers, such as Nancy Kress, James Alan Gardner and James Van Pelt, to name a few.

In your opinion, is talent overrated? Does society put too much emphasis on skill and not enough on will?

Rob Sawyer says a writer needs three things: talent, persistence and luck. I believe that, whether through genetics, environment, learning or practice, there is such a thing as talent and a degree of talent is critical to success as a writer. One must have an ear for language, because writing is an art and can’t be merely assembled from basic principles. Having said that, plenty of talented people never achieve writing success. A writer has to develop talent by being exposed to the best (i.e. through reading), learning what others have to teach, practice and persistence and self-reflection. And to become published, a writer needs all of that, plus opportunities, some of which he or she can work toward arranging, and some of which are serendipitous.

(Nate Hendley is the Toronto-based author of Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, available in paperback and on Kindle. He has also written several other works, primarily in the true-crime genre.)

By Angela West

(Angela West provides copywriting, social media and web design services through her company, Working Web Copy and runs the website, Canadian Freelance Writing Jobs. She is a proud member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada and encourages anyone who writes for a living to join the organization.)

My work week usually consists of writing blog posts and website copy for clients, most of whom are regulars. While I work faster when deadlines draw near, my creativity suffers when I’m in “crunch writing” mode, even if the subject is one that I enjoy.

Here are a few tips on how to avoid falling into “crunch writing” mode:

1.Set Your Own Deadlines
Sometimes, clients will set short deadlines in order to give themselves some “wiggle room” to review the work. While the client’s word is usually law, consider your workload before agreeing to a deadline. Can you honestly fit it in without getting into the “crunch writing” zone? If the answer is yes, then go ahead and accept the project. If the answer is no, ask the client for more time to complete the project. Don’t be afraid of losing the client; they will respect the fact that you have an actual workload just like they do.

2. Use Scheduling Software
I currently use Google Calendar to plan out my time. It gives me a reminder on my Android phone when I have to begin a task, which can keep me from dropping any of the balls I have in the air on any given day. While there are more robust GTD (Getting Things Done) suites like OmniFocus, Google Calendar has served me very well so far. I also keep a running list of assignments I’ve completed so I don’t forget to invoice at the end of the month in Basecamp, my project management and file-sharing software.

3. Make an Editorial Calendar
My editorial calendar, which I maintain in Google Calendar as a part of my schedule, contains all my regular clients and the number of posts that each of them requires per month. If I enter a post per week on my schedule rather than jamming everything in at the start of the month, I feel less stressed and better able to tackle my workload.

4. Plan “Crunch Writing” Time
Even with planning, there will be a couple of times a month when I am crunched anyway. When the time comes, I find it helps to prioritize. There are some projects that require more creativity than others. I’ll start researching these projects first so my thoughts have time to percolate while I am working on other items. Simple news stories can typically be banged out quickly, even if you’re not “in the creative flow”, whereas some website copy and blog posts require more thought and inspiration.

5. Exit Home Office Stage Left
When I really need to get something done and focus, I do the opposite of what most people do. I go somewhere where I can hear a lot of noise around me. This usually means hoofing it into town and having a long lunch at a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi (my nearest Starbucks is a two hour drive away—the humanity!). Feeling like part of human race for a while rather than working in my own idyllic corner of the world speeds up my work and thought process.

What do you do to avoid the creative oppression of deadlines? Let me know in the comments section.

(Nate Hendley is the Toronto-based author of Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, available in paperback and on Kindle, and the content manager of this blog. He has also written several other works, primarily in the true-crime genre.)

Interviewed by Nate Hendley

Paul Lima (www.paullima.com) is a Toronto-based freelance writer, trainer and author of 14 books and reports on business writing, the business of freelance writing, how to write a non-fiction book, etc.

Read about his books at www.paullima.com/books. Read his blog, The Six-Figure Freelancer, at www.paullima.com/blog. And read about his new collection of short stories, “Rebel in the Back Seat”, at www.paullima.com/cw.

What motivates you to write? Is it the promise of money, fame, power, recognition, self-fulfillment or something else?

I was seven years old when I published my first magazine. Using a stubby pencil, I meticulously printed articles about members of my family and illustrated the articles with crayon art. I produced only one copy of the magazine, but my entire family read “The Lima News”. I had great fun doing it and words have been an important part of my life ever since. There is no denying it: there was both a recognition factor and a self-fulfillment factor involved. But I also learned, since that first foray into writing, that I could make a living doing something I enjoy, and that’s cool too. Recently, though, I published my first collection of short stories, Rebel in the Back Seat. You don’t publish short stories for the money, so I guess I’m back to trying to gain a bit of recognition and self-fulfillment, while having fun with fiction.

Do you have any “tricks of the trade” that help you kick-start the creative process?

Darn good question. I know a lot of writers who admit they procrastinate. I can’t afford to do so. I’ve been earning my living as a fulltime freelance writer and writing trainer for over 20 years. If I want to get paid, I have to work and meet my deadlines. That keeps me motivated! At the same time, there are some mornings when I have to find ways to kick start my engine. I sometimes start work before I have breakfast. The deal is that I don’t eat until I accomplish a particular goal. Don’t know if it’s healthy, but it works for me—because I love to eat!

When it comes to my creative writing, I listen to my gut. When an idea starts to percolate, I use several creative techniques to develop it, including freefall and clustering. I’ve taught these techniques in creative writing workshops and put them, and a number of other techniques, in a book called (re)Discover the Joy of Creative Writing. Sometimes you just have to play with writing until you get this feeling that you are on to something—then you run with it. So learning how to be patient, while inching forward, is something I advocate. After all, Rome was not built in a day.

What are your “de-motivators” (i.e. things that take away your drive to write or steer it to an unproductive place)? How do you cope with these de-motivators?

I think de-motivators have changed over the decades. I remember in the early days, I’d stop writing to check and see if the mail had arrived. Would do that several times an hour, and then be peeved when the mail arrived because I’d have no excuse to stop writing.

Then it was email and web surfing. Now it’s that plus social media. They can be very distracting. So what I do is treat my distractions as rewards for reaching goals: No personal email or social media until … (I’ve achieved whatever goal has been set). Once the goal is achieved, I’ll give myself a set time to goof off, and make sure I have something work-related to come back to. But if I have a pressing deadline, it has to be met before I allow myself to have fun.

The problem freelance writers sometimes face is the lack of deadline. In other words, there are times when you have no work to do. At times like that—infrequent, thank goodness—I set marketing goals. I have a list of marketing tasks that I keep handy. If work ebbs, I turn to the list and try to complete several tasks before I take time off. No fooling around until I send out two queries, follow up on several sales pitches, find and email several potential clients, update my website.

Do you have any role models who inspire you in your personal and professional life?

I don’t have any one role model, but I have known a number of successful freelancers. What they have in common is that they devote x-number of hours a day to their business. They are either writing or working on landing writing gigs, be it corporate, periodical or book work. They also reward themselves with set breaks, after they accomplish a particular goal, and build in time to socialize with other writers. Writing is a solitary task and getting out of the house to meet with people once in a while is important.

In your opinion, is talent overrated? Does society put too much emphasis on skill and not enough on will?

I’ve said on more than one occasion, “There are writers out there who can write circles around me.” Some of them (certainly not all, by any stretch) are struggling. Writing takes a degree of skill or “talent”, no doubt about it. But to succeed as a freelancer, you have to combine your writing talent with business of freelance writing discipline.

I write and/or train daily. I’ve also written 14 books and detailed reports in the last six years. You don’t do that without desire and working to fulfill your desire in a dedicated and disciplined manner. In other words, you have to put your butt in your seat and work if you want to be a successful freelancer. I didn’t write my first book of short stories until I felt the desire to do so. But once I felt that desire, I acted on it—dedicating time in a disciplined manner to writing my book. There is no denying it though: sometimes the decision to act is the hardest part of any act.

As long as you are moving towards your goals, though, it’s fine to take some down time. That means you have to know what your goal, or business vision is, and you have to have landmarks that demonstrate you are moving in the right—or should I say ‘write’—direction. That will help keep you on track and honest, with yourself. Because when you work on your own, you don’t report to a boss. You only report to yourself, so you have to learn how to be upfront and honest with yourself.

(Nate Hendley is the Toronto-based author of Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, available in paperback and on Kobo. He has also written several other works, primarily in the true-crime genre.)

I will be doing a free, online author’s chat April 20,  6 – 7 pm (ET) on the topic of “Non-fiction Writing as an Art Form: How to Write the Truth With Dash, Style and Panache”

sign up here: http://natehendley.eventbrite.com/

Check it out. Pester me with questions. Add your own opinion.

Interviewed by Nate Hendley

Amy Bright is an essayist, a short story writer, and a novelist. Her first novel for young adults, Before We Go, will be published by Red Deer Press of Markham, Ontario this year. She holds a BA in English from Mount Allison University in New Brunswick and a MA in English from the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her academic work can be found in the Journal of Children’s Literature and Studies in Canadian Literature. Amy was recently short listed (with two others) for the Howard O’Hagan Award for best short story written by an Albertan in 2011. She also writes book reviews at http://girltotherescue.blogspot.com/ and has a website at http://amybrightbooks.blogspot.com/

What motivates you to write? Is it the promise of money, family, power, recognition, self-fulfillment or something else?

Characters, plot, and dialogue motivate me to write. There will be a point when my head will be so filled with ideas piecing themselves together, that writing them down makes it possible to actually do the normal, functional, everyday things in life  that sort of get pushed out of the way with all of that clutter. Trying to approach material or an idea in just the right way, or finding a side door or window that shows me how to say something in a way that hasn’t been said before keeps me writing.

Do you have any “tricks of the trade” that help you kick-start the creative process?

Write, write, write. Even when it isn’t going well, or is hard and stilted, write anyway. Even if an entire page of writing has to be deleted or thrown out, there will be something in that writing – a line, a word, a character, or an idea – that makes it worth it. As soon as you leave the world of your story, the story stops, and it’s not going to keep on writing itself without you. And the more time away from it, the more distant it seems; the more unreal, and the harder it is to find the thread that brought you there in the first place.

But, conversely. Give yourself a break and time away from a piece of writing. This doesn’t mean stop writing – it might just mean move onto writing something different. Space is good. Good things come out of space.

What are your “de-motivators” (i.e. things that take away your drive to write or steer it to an unproductive place)? How do you cope with these de-motivators?

Books are a double-edged sword for me. I wouldn’t be a writer if I wasn’t a reader first, but when I’m writing, sometimes I have to be a little bit less of a reader. The worst thing I can do is be in the middle of writing a story, pick up a new book by one of my favorite authors, and think, “Wow. I will never in my entire life be able to do something like this.”

That’s a good thing, not being able to write something that another author has written, or not being able to write in that same style or voice. You have your own voice. But at the time, it can seem like the absolute worst thing, that you can’t do what another author can do so well.

When I’m writing, right in the middle of a frantic, quick, first draft, I really limit the books that I let myself read. I usually stick to graphic novels, because I don’t write those. But I stay away from a lot of fiction, because that’s the vein I’m working in.

Of course, once I have a first draft I binge-read like crazy to make up for it. But while I’m in the middle of a draft, reading keeps me away from writing, so I have to take a short break from it.

Do you have any role models who inspire you in your personal and professional life?

I think social media has expanded the access that readers have to their favorite writers. The connection between author and book is so much more prevalent than it was before, when an author was only identified by the name on the book and maybe the short bio or picture on the book jacket. Now we can read their blog entries, we can follow them on Twitter or Facebook, we can follow who they follow on Twitter or Facebook, we can read their book recommendations. We can connect with them in a way that might initially begin with a book, but the lines of communication now seem to circumnavigate that process of needing to read a book in order to connect with its author.

My role models are other authors, and social media allows me to read about their writing process, the publishing and editing processes of their books, and the way that they connect their writing with their readers. Loving their books is one thing, but being able to have that “behind-the-scenes” look of how they go from sitting in a small room alone writing at a computer to having a published book to read, is so inspiring. Some of my favorite authors are the ones who are actively engaged with their readers online, including Neil Gaiman and Robin McKinley.

In your opinion, is talent overrated? Does society put too much emphasis on skill and not enough on will?

I think there is something, maybe talent, to finding the way into how to tell a story. I think it’s about approaching the material or the idea, and the way an artist finds his/her way in. And then it’s just work, work, work. It’s about writing, and putting one word in front of another until they arrange themselves into sentences, and paragraphs, and pages. I think the “talent” lies in finding the way into telling a story. And then telling the story is about the will and motivation to keep going, even when it looks like the plot is falling apart, or the characters are flat and uninteresting.

(Nate Hendley is the Toronto-based author of Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, available in paperback and on Kindle. He has also written several other works, primarily in the true-crime genre.)

By Nate Hendley

I recently gave a lecture on non-fiction writing at the Oneonta, New York branch of the State University of New York (SUNY).

One of the professors who sponsored my talk asked if I would contribute a piece to their union newsletter on what it was like to be a writer outside of the academy. A writer who doesn’t have an academic job to fall back on that is.

Here is my piece, slightly tweaked:

What is it like to be a freelance writer without a university or college posting to fall back on for income?

I refer you to two books: The Six Figure Freelancer, by my friend, Paul Lima and The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman. Both books are aimed at freelance writers. I can’t tell you if these books are any good, however, because I haven’t read them. I cite them for purpose of illumination, in that their titles reveal far more than their authors intended. To hype success in your title is to concede that failure is a distinct possibility. So few freelance writers make over $100,000 a year, a six figure income is held out as a lure and a promise. Ditto for the notion of having plenty to eat.

You’ll notice that I referred to a six figure income, not a salary. Freelance writers don’t make a “salary” because they’re not considered “employees”. We’re considered “self-employed independent contractors” or something similar. We generally work for whatever media outlet wants to pay us for our labours. Sometimes, you strike up a relationship with a given magazine, website or book publisher and write for them for years. Other times, it’s a one-shot deal—a quick article for an editor you never hear from again.

Freelance writers generally toil at home and don’t get any work perks like health and dental benefits or a gym membership, unless we pay for such things out of pocket.

The downside of being a self-employed independent contractor is pretty obvious. Zero job security. None. Zip. Blanko. We can be fired without warning and for virtually no reason. If we go on vacation, we don’t get paid. If we’re sick and can’t work, we don’t get paid. If an editor gets mad at us, we can’t file an employee grievance with the union, but have to put up with their tirade.

I should mention there are plenty of good things about the freelance writing life. Because we usually work at home, we don’t have to endure staff meetings and office politics. We can pick up and leave if a gig turns sour. We can choose to write for well-heeled corporate or government clients that pay well, and set our own hours. I can take a break whenever I want, to bother my cat, ponder email or play my mandolin.

To be a freelance writer is to embrace, well, freedom. Freedom can be a great, wonderful thing when work is plentiful and pay-rates are high or a horrifying drudge when editors won’t email you back, the mail’s late and the rent or mortgage is due.

Freelancing embodies many virtues we’ve come to admire from a distance, such as self-reliance and rugged individualism. On the flip side, those same virtues can easily congeal into stupefied lethargy and powerlessness.

I was going to compare freelance writing to tight-rope walking without a net (an act I’m guessing would be both exhilarating and terrifying to perform, requiring maximum concentration and effort). That seems a bit trite, however, if not totally obvious.

So I’ll use a different metaphor.

Being a freelance writer is like being a featured participant in a mountain bike race without the benefit of a sponsor or crew. If you’re skilled and lucky you might complete the course and enjoy prestige and prize money. Screw up and you’re pretty much doomed.

Still too trite?

Perhaps, but it will have to suffice because the cat is howling and I must go.

(Nate Hendley is the Toronto-based author of Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, available in paperback and on Kindle. He has also written several other works, primarily in the true-crime genre.)

Interviewed by Nate Hendley

Journalist and writer Heather Grace Stewart is the author of two non-fiction books for young people and several collections of poetry. Her latest poetry collection, Carry On Dancing was recently released by Winter Goose Publishing (http://www.wintergoosepublishing.com).

Her work is available at Amazon.com and on Kindle, Kobo, iBooks, Sony Reader and The Copia. You can visit Heather at http://heathergracestewart.com and http://facebook.com/heathergracestewart.

What motivates you to write? Is it the promise of money, fame, power, recognition, self-fulfillment or something else?

What motivates me to write is primarily the ability to share my world with others. I’m inspired by people and events, and often, I can’t help but write about them. It’s a natural instinct for me. I’m not just talking about my poetry; this works with my journalism career too. I started my career as a newspaper reporter, and even when I’d had a long day and not enough coffee, what motivated me to get that story down was usually the challenge of writing the best possible lede or headline for an otherwise dull piece.

Today, I write a regular column for an international magazine. I believe that everybody has a story and a life lesson or insight to share, and whether I share it through my magazine writing or my fiction, it’s really rewarding to be able to pass those stories on to others.

Do you have any “tricks of the trade” that help you kick-start the creative process?

Writing every day is key for me. I set aside the early morning hours to write—usually 8 a.m. to noon, and then I do marketing and other business.  Even if I don’t have a magazine deadline or a poetry collection in the works, I like to take photos to kick-start my creativity and I try to write in my journal every morning. [My journal writing] is often terrible. But I save all my writing and photography, and sometimes, when I go back days or weeks later to see what I’ve written, there’s a golden ticket in there.

What are your “de-motivators” (i.e. things that take away your drive to write or steer it to an unproductive place)? How do you cope with these de-motivators?

The internet is definitely my worst de-motivator. I’ve gone on there and later wondered what I’d actually done for the past two hours!  I try to avoid it first thing in the morning. Sometimes I will quickly put out a ‘morning’ type message on my social networks, but I try to only log on there at noon, unless I’ve written a short poem or taken a photo during my morning writing time and want to blog it or post it to Facebook. In general, I limit social networking to certain times of day.  I also don’t answer the phone (I have call display for emergencies) or check email until noon.

Do you have any role models who inspire you in your personal and professional life? What else inspires you?

I’m inspired by my young daughter, by nature, and by the people I love. As far as role models go, I’m in awe of poets Maya Angelou and Mary Oliver and I’m inspired by innovators like Steve Jobs and Dr. Seuss (whose work was rejected over 100 times by publishers) and many indie authors who have managed to get their work noticed despite the odds.

In your opinion, is talent overrated? Does society put too much emphasis on skill and not enough on will?

Is talent overrated? I don’t think so. I think if someone is motivated to work but churns out stuff that’s not their truth; if they aren’t writing what they know but instead trying to write what they think people will buy, then it doesn’t matter if they get up at 7 a.m. and write ‘til noon and never give up trying to find a publisher.

There is something to be said for that perfect balance of talent and heart and truth, and determination and motivation. I mean this for non-fiction writers too: if you aren’t doing it for yourself, to satisfy an innate curiosity or to try to make a small difference in the world, your reader won’t remember what you wrote five minutes after reading it. And that’s our goal, right? We want our words to stay with the readers for as long as possible.

(Nate Hendley is the Toronto-based author of Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, available in paperback and on Kindle. He has also written several other works, primarily in the true-crime genre.)