What's in your package?

Do you have:

• business cards
• stationery
• brochure
• media kit
• website
• professional clothes and
• an office?

Plus, of course, your work itself. All organized in clips, articles, or the books themselves (depending on which medium you use).

Do you have a package?

Of course, we all have a package to present to the world. But, have you done much with yours? Have you put effort into making it professional and available?

You can have a home office. Something simple, organized and some kind of oasis where you keep clutter to a minimum and your writing time separate from your business time. Yes, you do need some time for the business of writing.

Business cards and stationery are part of an office set up. They don't cost an entire arm and a leg. You know you can go for good paper stock and save bucks on less fruity fonts. Just keep it simple and very easy to read.

Business cards and stationery can be mini-brochures. Space is strictly limited (especially on cards) but you can give out the basics: name, address, website, email, phone number, a logo or illustration from something you have done, office/ contact hours, sales or prizes worth bragging about, your upcoming project, quote from a great review, professional degrees or memberships in professional organizations, the name of your business and the year you started. Eliminate some and add others depending on your niche and your special talents and ambitions. But, on the business card you really want to keep it to a minimum - it's a card, not a book. Save your long winded guns for the brochure itself.

Of course the website is a brochure too. I'll save that for the next WordCraft newsletter.

"Do you want to be the statue or the bird?" Frances Weaver

Have you really worked on networking? Really gotten serious about your contacts and your contact's contacts? Who do they know that you don't know, yet.

Think of the six degrees of separation theory. It's not who you know right now that counts but who you could get to know through your cousin Pat's hair dresser. You might have a connection to a big wig editor at Harlequin and not even know it. You won't know either, until you start networking.

Plus you can always build your network. Join relevant or related groups to whatever your area of writing is. If you write fiction find authors groups and readers groups too. If you write about squirrels join groups that go on nature walks. Not only do you have sources of information and inspiration but you have future buyers and readers too!

Be careful to keep things organized. Don't lose an important name or number or email address. Keep a contact notebook handy. Keep two even! Have one for your purse or pocket and another for your car. Wherever you would be able to get them when you need them. This is why backpacks and whopper-sized purses are really great. In spite of the teasing of your family and friends. What do they know? Are they writers of greatness?!

If you are an intrepid writer, wanting to get your feet wet, see your name in lights... well, not lights exactly. Anyway, if you would like to see something of your work added to BackWash, whether it be in a newsletter or a community, just send a note to the moderators of the community or the writer or the newsletter. Bribery is not required. Don't let them tell you otherwise.

"What's ahead of me and what's behind me are nothing compared to what's inside me." Jean Shapiro

I especially love this quote. I don't know who Jean Shapiro is, but she had this right!

Count your words online: http://www.wordcounter.com/

Here is a writing exercise I just came across:

The Rain Storm:

Compose up to 50 words that help readers truly experience traveling through a severe rain storm.

Writing about anything with a limit of 50 words is challenging. So here's a good test for your wordage. Have fun.

"I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live." -Francoise Sagan

"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." - Robert Heinlein

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal." - T.S. Eliot

"Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be read once." - Cyril Connolly

"Thus, in a real sense, I am constantly writing autobiography, but I have to turn it into fiction in order to give it credibility." - Katherine Paterson

"All those writers who write about their childhood! Gentle God, if I wrote about mine you wouldn't sit in the same room as me." -Dorothy Parker

"When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad things you did do—that's a memoir." -Will Rogers

"Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man." - Sir Francis Bacon

"The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything." - Walter Bagehot

Go read About Weblogs at: http://weblogs.about.com/ The latest from Shai who writes Creative WeBloGrrl in Motion at BackWash - http://www.backwash.com/content.php?id=366

What is a journal for if you can't mess around with it? Sometimes I add something here and think... people will think I'm a dork or... people will be tired of reading about dragons... Well, so what?

This is my place to mess up at will, and I will, frequently and intentionally. You are forewarned. I might even spell things wrong and not look it up to fix it.

So there.

What is a journal for if you can't mess around with it? Sometimes I add something here and think... people will think I'm a dork or... people will be tired of reading about dragons... Well, so what?

This is my place to mess up at will, and I will, frequently and intentionally. You are forewarned. I might even spell things wrong and not look it up to fix it.

So there.