Be Your Own Boss By Marie Wells Coutu

Marie Wells Coutu

If you’re serious about being a published author, you have to be your own boss.

I’m not talking about ditching your paying job in order to write full-time. Most people can’t do that.

What I am talking about is acting like the boss of yourself, then acting like your own employee. This is the time to tell yourself, “You are the boss of me.”

(Just so you know, I’m speaking to myself here.) To succeed in this business, you’d better treat it as a business. That means setting regular hours to write, establishing a marketing department and developing a marketing plan, being professional in your interactions on—and off--social media, and keeping good records for your accounting department.

Whether you’re “retired” from a paycheck-producing job (as I am), squeezing your writing career into your non-paying hours, balancing writing from home with being a stay-at-home parent, or something in-between, you need some ground rules.

1. As your own Boss, you expect your employee (You) to show up on time, every day (as determined by your business schedule). Do that.
2. Your working time at a job is “sacred.” Except for an occasional break for coffee, lunch, or to use the restroom, an employee should be working. For your business, You should be writing during those designated hours, except when you as the Boss temporarily assigns You to the editing or marketing or accounting department. But no matter the task, the Boss expects You to be working during working hours. So work, whatever that looks like today. (Hint: It probably doesn’t involve surfing the Internet or playing on Pinterest, unless it’s required research.)
3. You need to be accountable for your expenses as an employee, and the Boss should set the budget. You as the writer may want to buy every writing craft book or online course that comes along, but the Boss has the right and responsibility to make You justify each expense. And in a business, an employee needs to keep good records.
4. As the Boss, you should evaluate your employee’s performance and celebrate each accomplishment. It’s a motivational thing to celebrate the small successes, such as typing “The End” when you finish a manuscript, or getting a request for a “full” from an agent or publisher. Those celebrations can take the form of a few hours off or a treat. Just use good judgment. And regular evaluation of your employee’s progress—whether monthly, quarterly, or annually—will help to encourage You and provide guidance on how to improve.

So if you’ve been thinking of your writing as “just a hobby,” stop it. Become your own boss and hire You. Then act like an employee, and You’ll become a more productive and successful writer.

What keeps you serious about your writing?

About the Author

Thirsting for More
by Marie Wells Coutu

Marie Wells Coutu began making up stories soon after she began talking. Her most recent title, The Secret Heart, and its prequel, an e-book novelette titled The Divided Heart, are published by Write Integrity Press, along with the award-winning For Such a Moment and Thirsting for More. She and her husband divide their time between Iowa, near their two children and four grandchildren, and Florida, where it’s warm all winter. Marie is working on a historical novel set in western Kentucky, her home state.

Note: Marie’s second book, Thirsting for More, finalist in the 2016 Selah Awards, will be on sale for 99 cents, April 15-21 (Kindle version). Check her website, MarieWellsCoutu.com, for more information.

Thirsting For More
A modern-day version of the woman at the well.
The whole city of Charleston seems to be watching, waiting for the Northern transplant and new director of tourism, Victoria Russo, to either work a miracle or to stumble and fall. The change of geography is a chance for multi-divorced Victoria to start a new life. But she hadn't expected the cold reception and the deception she's experiencing. Hoping to gain acceptance, she tackles the renovation of a historic home but soon falls back into her old ways. Will Victoria find a way to change her world or will she return to the place where her past failures lurk around every turn?

Marie is a regular contributor to Seriously Write. For more posts by Marie, click here.

Show Me a Feeling (8 Tips for Writing Emotions) by Marie Wells Coutu

A consistent theme I’ve heard from contest judges and first readers is the lack of feeling in my characters.

Marie Wells Coutu

I’ve used The Emotion Thesaurus, body language books, and other resources in an effort to learn how to show what my character is feeling. But still, the heroine in my unpublished historical novel comes across as having little or no reaction to her father’s death.

The truth is (fictionally), she’s numb. But how do I convey that emotion—or lack of it—in writing? I’m open to suggestions.

Meanwhile, I am reviewing craft books and searching on Google for answers to writing emotions. Here’s some of what I’m learning and some good resources I’ve found:

1. We all know (unless you started writing yesterday) to “show, don’t tell.” In other words, don’t name the emotion (like, She was numb). “Emotion stated so directly is not particularly convincing, and it certainly doesn’t make the character feel alive to the reader. Details are convincing. Instead, describe [the character’s] demeanor. What does she see, think, feel, taste, or smell?” –Writers Digest University, http://resources.writersonlineworkshops.com/resources/showing-character-emotion/


2. Be creative but true to your character. “Choose physical, internal, and mental responses for your character that are fresh and not overused.” –Becca Puglisi, co-author of The Emotion Thesaurus and other Writer’s Guides, http://selfpublishingadvice.org/tips-on-effectively-conveying-character-emotion/


3. Don’t limit yourself to showing a bodily response. “Showing me your characters’ physical responses provokes no emotional response from me. …You haven’t made your reader feel anything. And that, my friends, is the point of fiction—to elicit an emotional response.” -C.S. Lakin, http://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/06/24/how-fiction-writers-can-show-emotions-in-their-characters-in-effective-ways/ See her example of how slowing down the scene, incorporating thoughts and actions, can have more impact than simply substituting a “clenched fist” for anger.


4. Don’t overdo it. Overusing physical responses without providing the character’s motivation and thoughts can lead to melodrama. Readers won’t connect with the emotion.


5. “Use external senses to reinforce an emotion. Heightened emotions can heighten the senses, so perceptions might be stronger.” - Janice Hardy presents: Five Ways to Describe Emotions Without Making Your Character Feel Too Self Aware on Romance University, http://romanceuniversity.org/2013/08/21/janice-hardy-presents-five-ways-to-describe-emotions-without-making-your-character-feel-too-self-aware/


6. Remember that “emotion is not one-dimensional. Emotions are complex and often mixed together.” – Ann Hood, Creating Character Emotions.


7. Learn to access your “emotion memory” and use your memories as the seed for the emotion of your character. For examples on how to do this, see Getting Into Character by Brandilyn Collins.


8. Use imagery and symbolism to incorporate what Susan May Warren calls the “soul-deep” layer—“one that makes us connect with the character, an almost spiritual connection…It’s the heart of showing.” – “Make ‘em Cry with a Metaphor,” http://learnhowtowriteanovel.com/blog/2008/08/21/make-em-cry-with-a-metaphor/

What recommendations do you have for learning how to show your characters’ feelings and involve your readers emotionally in your story? While I wait to hear from you, I’ll be crying on my keyboard as I try these ideas.

About the Author

Marie Wells Coutu began making up stories soon after she learned to talk. At age seven, she convinced neighborhood kids to perform a play she had written. After a career writing for newspapers, magazines, state and local governments, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, she returned to her first love—writing fiction—at the age of fifty-five. 

The Secret Heart
by Marie Wells Coutu

Her newest novel, The Secret Heart, released in February from Write Integrity Press. Loosely based on the lives of Bathsheba and David, The Secret Heart is the third book in the Mended Vessels series. A prequel novelette of the heroine’s journal called The Divided Heart is available for the Kindle. 

Books in the series are contemporary re-imaginings of the stories of biblical women, including Queen Esther and the woman at the well. 

Her debut novel, For Such a Moment, won the Books of Hope Contest. Thirsting for More, the second book in the series was a finalist in the 2016 Selah Awards Contest and a semi-finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards sponsored by Florida Writers Association. 

An unpublished historical novel has also placed in five contests. She and her husband divide their time between Florida and Iowa. You can find more about Marie and her novels on her Facebook page (Author Marie Wells Coutu), at her website (MarieWellsCoutu.com), or follow her on Twitter (@mwcoutu) or on  Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/.