Hey y’all, just a quick note to apologize that I’ve taken a short hiatus without notice. I’ll be back really soon, I promise! I just got caught up launching my own WRITING BUSINESS.
If you’re seriously curious, then let me know, and I’ll fill you in on the details later (or, you can check out my “Hire Shari” tab). 
Regardless, I’ll be back with more craziness soon! Just hang tight.
Thanks, y’all!
Them: “Shari, you’re so weird.”
Me: “Yea, well … at least I’m not normal.”
And the phrase that I’ve been hearing my whole FREAKIN’ life. I finally realized that I prefer weird. Weird is better. At least it’s not normal.
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Welcome to my new crazy blog, loyal followers! Where nothing is off-limits, and randomness is the doctrine. Yes, this is me, my quirky world straight from my weird mind. I hope you’re brave enough to stick around … and if you like what you see, share my posts with your friends.
If you’re reading this on email, please click through to my blog and visit the new layout. Check out the new “about” page, and tell me what you think (I’m really, really curious).
I still plan to write about writing. It just won’t be a constant thing. Instead, get ready for:
So starting after this post, get ready for the new stuff. Get ready for the weirdness. Because I’m SO GLAD I’m not normal.
I can’t take credit for this; I saw it in a PR Daily article, “The 7 traits of great writers.” But what I read was absolutely ingenious.
Specifically, number two on the list:
2. You collect words.
Great writers collect words with the intent of using them later. I keep a running list of my favorite words in the notes feature on my cell phone.
Like seriously, how brilliant is that? Think about this for a moment. How many times have you read an article or short story, or heard a newscast, or listened to a friend … when you thought, “Wow, that’s a really great word.”
However, by the time you sit down to type your next masterpiece, the word has slipped from your mind.
Yet, developing a running list of these words—I can only imagine how much more lively, more engaging, this would make our writing.
Why don’t YOU help get this started? Comment and list your favorite 2-3 words. Let’s start a list right here!
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Special note: I am currently in the process of revamping the feel of my blog. I am awaiting a few things before launching a completely new platform, so this may still take a couple of more weeks. I’ll announce the new version after it’s officially launched. However, if you begin seeing small changes here or there, you’ll know why.
So … did you know Amazon offers a way to publish your blog to the Kindle? If you didn’t, I’m telling you right now. I just published mine!
[Check out Shari Lopatin: Rogue Writer on Kindle!]
I mean, GUYS, this is seriously cool. This means that anyone with one of these nifty little e-readers can absorb the life-altering words of your blog directly from their Kindles. They can read it like an e-book!
If your interest is piqued, here is a list of pros and cons I discovered regarding taking the plunge:
I’ll tell you in a few months, as my blog just published to the Kindle this Monday. However, my personal take is, “YES.”
I chose to take the plunge because it cost me nothing. Zip. Zero. And while this venture may not exactly pay my mortgage, I’m not doing it for the money. I’m doing it for the exposure.
Be aware that Amazon will ask for your bank account information. This will be used to electronically pay you each month for your blog’s subscriptions.
And when you’re done, head over and see mine. It costs $0.99/month. I must admit, I’m very proud!
WILL YOU GIVE THIS A TRY? I want to hear your thoughts! Would you pay $0.99/month to read a blog on your Kindle? Will you consider publishing your blog to the Kindle? Do you think this additional platform is a good idea? Why or why not?
As a writer, this is perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT question you need to ask yourself.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post entitled, “The Novel Dilemma: Story No Longer Relevant … Now What?” Many of you commented with empathetic remarks or great advice (thank you!). And now, I’m happy to report that I found the answer to my own question.
I am re-working my original plot line, but keeping the same two characters. I arrived, however, at this final conclusion by asking myself the question:
Am I being true to my writing?Really, the props in this epiphany go to my boyfriend, Oscar—who, over chicken wings at Native New Yorker one night, said to me (as I complained how I can’t write anything great), “You’re stuck on your book, because you’re not being true to your writing.”
Whoa.
Just think about that for a moment—being true to your writing. What does that mean? Oscar spelled it out for me, plain and simple: “Shari, you’re trying to write about a girl who grew up without a father. But you never lost your father. So you can’t really understand what your character is going through.”
BINGO.
He then went on. “But you know what it feels like to be Jewish and in a relationship with someone who harbors anti-Semitic feelings.”
Are you seeing where I’m going with this yet?
It suddenly dawned on me that I was trying to be TOO CREATIVE with my writing. I was trying to write about things that I thought were exotic or conflicted, but that I didn’t really understand. I was trying to be J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald … all at the same time.
But I just had to be Shari Lopatin. And write about what Shari knows … with some exaggeration.
Suddenly, the book won’t stop flowing from my fingertips. I wrote 10 pages in two days. And I’m going like a train on fire. In addition, those who have read my first few (new) chapters said the story is MUCH more intriguing, now. Who would’ve thought?
Maybe you should do as I did. Take a hard look at your plot lines, and your themes. Are you being true to yourself, to what you know, and what you understand?
What happens if you discover your novel-in-progress is no longer relevant? Do you let it go and start a new project, or re-work your story and characters?
I ask because I’VE hit such a dilemma, and I’m turning to you for answers. I may be an experienced article-writer, journalist, and copywriter … but the world of novels is new to me.
I began writing my work-in-progress about two years ago. It initially began as a way to vent certain life frustrations. I never took it seriously, because my “serious writing” was devoted to my journalism.
Yet, a year into sporadically writing this book, I began looking at my creative writing differently. I began getting SERIOUS. I stopped reading just for fun, and found myself re-reading certain classics and breaking them down, like my old high school days of AP English. I started this blog (Rogue Writer), and began reading other blogs of published authors willing to share a tip or two.
That’s when I realized just how much I still had to learn … at least when it came to creative writing.
I’m stuck because, after two years of self-improvement and hardcore fictional short story writing, I realized my novel is no longer relevant. I can now stare at my work with a critical eye, and I realized it may not measure up. However, I’ve grown so close to my characters (I know that sounds kinda schizophrenic, but I’m sure you can relate), that I couldn’t imagine letting them go.
Their needs, their hopes are just too dang important.
Plus, what about all that time I’d dedicated to writing the current chapters? To brooding over the ins-and-outs of the characters’ quirks? The daydreaming of my novel becoming the next THE HELP or HUNGER GAMES, minus the trilogy?
Those are really the only two solutions I could muster.
Since many of you are serious writers (some published), maybe you could offer some advice. What would you do in my situation? Or perhaps … have you already dealt with this novel dilemma?
I got one for you! Are you ready? Are you READY?
Literary magazines … but not your traditional story submissions. How does this work? I’m so glad you asked. Continue reading
Two weekends ago, I spent my Saturday and Sunday in Washington, D.C. (for the first time—yeah!) at the 7th Annual Military Blogging Conference … and an interesting subject arose during one of the panels.
Are blogs dying?
And therefore, subsequently, is the future of sustaining an online presence moving the way of social engagement on Facebook pages and Twitter feeds only?
I found this to be fascinating, because several “old school” military bloggers, who’d been around since 2004/05, mentioned they’d noticed their readership vastly deteriorating. However, some younger bloggers talked about how their Facebook engagement was growing, the conversation therefore moving away from their blog to social networks.
OK, so here’s what I think: Blogs are not dying (they better not be, or else what the freak am I doing here?). Their methods of drawing website traffic are merely evolving.
Is this a bad thing? Well, that depends on YOU. How resistant are you to accepting change and implementing it? From my personal, as well as professional experience, it appears blogs are not becoming obsolete; however, it’s completely pointless to maintain one if you’re not on Facebook, or Twitter, or both.
I’ve built a readership using my blog. It’s a way for me to write and find readers. I’ve even gained a few freelance jobs through this blog (God bless it!). However, if I relied on my blog solely, would I have reached success?
Definitely not.
I relied, and still do rely, on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and other bloggers to drive traffic to my site. Without the “social platform,” my blog would not—and could not—survive.
Perhaps the bloggers at the conference had a point. Blogs, in their older forms, are dying. They are no longer the go-to hubs for conversation. Maybe it’s time to think of blogs in a different light. Let your social pages drive conversation, and let those conversations drive traffic to your blog, where visitors can delve deeper into subjects or ideas. Best of all, they can learn more about YOU.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Are you seeing less traffic to your blog? Are blogs, in their original forms, dying?
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All the “weirdos,” all the “stupids,” all the “oddballs.” I’m proud to walk among you, because my uniqueness is what makes my writing stand out.
Were you ever bullied as a kid? Forced to give up your milk money? Endured long hours of whispers or sly smirks, followed by giggles behind your back? Continue reading
This is what my boyfriend recently yelled at me. And ever since, I’ve screamed those same words over and over into my head.
To force myself to stop obsessing over everyone else who’s been (super) successful, and why I’m not there yet.
We’re writers, right? So for the love of GOD—just do some dang writing already! And stop worrying about “making it.”
You know those cool, collected writers with 500,000 Twitter followers? Who’ve been published in The New Yorker and the Boston Review, all while running a blog that everyone drools over (didn’t you read Entertainment Weekly’s review on it last week)? They always seem to sport those geeky/chic wired glasses with a quirky beret.
Yea, I want to be that writer.
And since I’m not, I’ve spent time reading their success stories. And then I analyze: When did they start their blog? How did they word their entries? Who are their connections? How long did it take them? The list goes on and on, my friends …
But in the midst of this obsessing, I’m missing one key component. I’m not writing.
Perhaps understanding how the “big ones” made it can help the rest of us begging to just lick the bone. However, trying to craft our success strategy around their journey is only to our detriment.
As my boyfriend pointed out, I’m wasting all my energy on analyzing and planning. Meanwhile, I have no finished products to promote to an agent or editor, since I’m not writing.
Over the past week, I’ve finally forced myself to stop reading what everyone else is doing, and just start doing sh!t myself. And you know what? Stuff’s gettin’ done … finally.
Do you ever struggle with this curse of success obsession? If so, how do you overcome and just get back to your own writing again?
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