Prepare to Define Yourself: Dueling Authors

This author is driving me insane. I disagree with him, and I’m calling him out.

You can read his post here. He says we’re content creators—filling in reading spaces such as social media, blogs, speeches, podcasts. We’re not novelists, we’re creating entertainment for the masses.

I don’t like this guy.

The problem is, the writer is me.

Content Creator

He claimed we’re content creators. A writer focuses on entertainment values, formulas, bottom lines that result in numbers—readers and dollars—to build a resume.

Writing is a business. To this end, the business must grow. The writing, then, is a product and the product must sell. The call to action for the content creator, in the end, is to keep reading more of the content creator’s work.

The Artist

When a writer thinks of self as an artist first, the perspective changes. From self-promotion to human condition, the artist breaks from formula and studies with obsessed purpose the written word to create beauty.

As a content creator, I examine my past and see a gold mine. How did I make my dreams coming true? How did I overcome obstacles? Flashing quick stories and antidotes here and there makes for interesting reading. And it makes me look awesome.

Creating an artistic work resounds more deeply in people’s lives.

For example, I’ve seen my writing life in three stages, and they’re reflected in my western series.

Book One: West for the Black Hills. Philip Anderson wants to remain anonymous but is forced to step into the public eye to defend those he loves. In my life, I won $20,000 and a publishing contract. I can no longer sit on the couch and do whatever I wanted. I am an award-winning author, and I must act like one.

Book Two: Shadow of Devil’s Tower. Philip Anderson must take the next step in his life and become a leader in order to rescue the people he loves. In my life, it wasn’t enough just to write. I had to step up and lead.

Book Three: IN PROCESS. Philip Anderson will have to face his past, the past of others, and deal with injustice. No longer simply to lead, he must effect change in the world. While this book is still being written, it reflects my final stage from being a 100% introvert to comfortably standing in front of many and leading through example and direction.

Be the artist you were meant to be. Take the moments you are creating content and spend some time reflecting. Write deeply reflecting the human condition.

Be funny. Be deep. Be ironic. Be clever. Be bold. Be an artist.

Be funny. Be deep. Be ironic. Be clever. Be bold. How to be an artistic writer. #seriouslywrite #writerslife @petereleavell

prepare to Define Yourself: Dueling Authors. Content versus artistry. #seriouslywrite #writerslife @peterleavell

How to use your life to become art. #seriouslywrite #writerslife @peterleavell

Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com

Teamwork and the Writer by Peter Leavell

We like to think writing is a solitary, confined activity. However, with a toddler on one arm, someone talking in another ear, and a Cheshire cat on the keyboard tapping 45,835 pages of the letter ‘M,’ writing is hectic.

And then the teamwork begins.

Growing up, I was a runner. I loved the solitude of jogging South Dakota’s endless country roads, sometimes 10 or 15 miles. A skinny kid with speed, I did okay zooming past strong farmer boys in cross country and track.

My college life began in Iowa. If someone wants to jog in Iowa winters, they lengthen shoes so long they called it cross-country skiing. Meh. So, I was surprised to land on an intermural basketball team. Yay.

I was faster than everyone else. Every play, I dribbled past the first dude, weaved through the next two, spun around the tall defender, leapt high for a layup, and missed.

The coach, Donahue (name changed to protect Larry), was verbose and gentle. “Idiot. Don’t shoot,” he kindly explained. “Pass. Or I’ll stuff you in a snowbank.” He removed his fingers from around my neck.

I dribbled the ball past people, then threw it to someone else with the same shirt color who, while slower, knew how to get the round, bouncy thing through iron hoop that held a useless net thing. Yay. Points.

The Writer’s Life

When I received my first edits and rejections, many were as kind as Larry, and I felt some resentment. But I recalled lessons from Larry, er, Donahue. There are holes in my game. Like shooting. And as much as I think I’m the next Shakespeare, they helped me see problems in my writing. Like someone cried in every scene. Or people were forever brushing up against something. Or that I numbered the chapters all wrong.

I relied on feedback from contests. And then colleagues. Editors. Agents. And then finally teamed up with a traditional publisher who, I discovered, like team players. So, I was a team player. And still am. We can win if we work together.

Listen to those in the industry. They want to win as much as you. And I want you to win, too. Build and rely on a team, and you’ll find your work stronger than ever before.

Writing is teamwork. Anyone else who says differently is still trying to get published. #writerslife #seriouslywrite @peterleavell

How do I strengthen my writing? Create a team! Read more at— #writerslife #seriouslywrite @peterleavell

Teamwork and the Writer. Listen to those in the Industry. They want to win as much as you do. #writerslife #seriouslywrite @peterleavell

Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com

Marketing Burnout: The Freeway, Your Way by Peter Leavell

Marketing is a three-lane, high octane, fear-inducing freeway built of unforgiving concrete that has positioned many an author to crash and burn. Why does this happen and how can you keep from an unhappy accident and damaging your career, all the while maintaining a nuanced and original edge that brings attention to your work?

The Right Lane:

The far right is safe. The speed is sane and faster drivers pass on the left. When moving slowly, mistakes and choices are forgiving. The shoulder is wide in case of an emergency and exiting is freed from the need to change lanes at the last minute.

A right lane marketer is consistent and takes fewer chances, reposting material from other writers with proven ideas. Blogs are experiential—tangible issues from a known past. Signing books usually take place behind a table, and conferences are because they are asked to attend.

The Middle Lane:

The middle lane offers choice at a higher speed. Choices, however, might lead to an accident, and reaching the shoulder or exiting is more difficult than the right lane and far more noticeable.

The middle lane marketer takes chances. Some material is brought in from other authors while original material balances out the body of posts and blogs. A portion of marketing is experiential, while some posts are chancy and experimental. Sometimes it suits the middle laner to drift into one lane or the other, changing tactics as deemed necessary with an eye and energy to success and self-care.

Sitting in the middle lane sees other marketers drifting in and out of the lane as well, all jockeying for space, most working together while others competing for attention. Preemptive phone calls to book signings, applications to speak at conferences, and connecting with writers and readers are the constant priority.

The Left Lane:

Left lane drivers are a wild bunch who don’t care for speed limits, whipping around curves and feeling the thrill of the centrifugal pull. At these speeds, bumps send the vehicle into the air, landing with an agreeable bounce and testing the limits of physics. If someone doesn’t keep up with the pack, everyone is frustrated with the single driver who slows the rest down. Everyone notices when someone from the left lane exits, disrupting the other lanes.

96 MPH in a 55 MPH is the heartbeat of these drivers. One sneeze can result in a mighty crash.

The left lane marketer creates a platform around original ideas, pushing hard agendas and schemes and selling them anyway that comes to mind, at both conferences and online. This daily focus is never-ending, an obsession that pulls them forward day and night. From unplanned Facebook live moments to selling general fiction at a Christian Homeschool Conference, these high energy folks take chances.

Marketing Burnout:

What’s the best lane? The one you’re driving in. The one you’re comfortable with. The one that is manageable. Switching lanes trying to be something you are not leads to marketing burnout. You must market, you cannot exit. But all lanes work. Stay in your lane, change lanes when you must, and you will arrive at your destination.

Driving the marketing freeway in the fastest lane? Yes Please! @peterleavell #seriouslywrite

How do I avoid marketing burnout? @peterleavell #seriouslywrite

Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

My Passion for Writing Taught My Family Good Grammar by Peter Leavell

Boise is a biking paradise with 30 miles of paved trail along a tumbling mountain river, a tributary that gives the Idaho capital its christened name, City of Trees. I love jogging the path and listening to the birds and rushing water. Sometimes, I see deer and bald eagles within a few blocks of high rises and a football field with blue grass. People wave as they pass each other. I suppose the Greenbelt is one reason Boise is the fastest growing city in the nation. It’s amazing.

Yesterday, while I jogged along the river, a mom biked toward me, a trailer with child inside pulled behind. The joy on the mother’s face was as bright as the afternoon sun reflecting off the river.

It warmed my heart, seeing mother and child out for the afternoon. She slowed as she neared the zoo, the giraffe leaning over the palisade to say hello to people on the path.

Like the mother and child, as writers, we take those we love with us on our journey.

The mother’s ride was across smooth asphalt, but the trailer’s right wheel extended over the path onto the gravel shoulder.

We can’t always see how our journey is affecting the ones we love.

The trailer careened wildly side to side and up and down. Through the wire mesh, I saw the child flail helplessly.

Sometimes we think the journey of our writing career is hard on our families.

As the mother and child passed, I saw the baby was laughing and screaming with delight.

Even though we might feel guilty over the bumps and hurdles and time constraints of our writing career on our families, many times the journey teaches them:

—dream big, and dream together.
—daily discipline as a family, and as a family forgets to cook dinner, they dash about together making eggs and toast.
—the journey of a faraway goal is special, and obtainable.
—perseverance/work ethic can really put a crimp in their TV binge watching.
—how to handle emotional trauma.
—how not to handle emotional trauma.
—how to communicate with others, through writing.
—how to avoid strangers, through writing.
—how to keep a special writer’s mug safe by not washing it every day.
—grammar.
—don’t listen to the naysayers, for they know not what they speak of.
—experiences can be used for good or for bad: to make yourself a victim or to use in a blog.

What have you noticed your obsession with writing teaches others?

What my passion for writing teaches my family. @peterleavell #writerslife #seriouslywrite

'My passion for writing taught my family good grammar' and other life lessons for a writer. @peterleavell #writerslife #seriouslywrite

Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.