Blog Challenge: Blog Post Ideas

Today I participated in my first Blog Challenge!  The challenge was posted on Professional Content Creation at http://professionalcontentcreation.com/blogging-challenge-blog-post-ideas#comment-6671

The idea of this challenge is to take five of your blog ideas and create five more post ideas out of each one.  So, I sat down and focused on my blogs that have had the highest traffic so far. Here is what I came up with.  How many can you come up with?

A few things Starving Writers shouldn’t pay for. . .	Sell a screenplay in a year	Muses:  Stephen King and Paul Reuben	Tease me, Stan Lee. . .	Beginning a television spec script
Economize on a writer’s budget	Getting your ideas focused:  brainstorming your screenplay	Muses:  William Shakespeare and Alan Rickman	Bringing Comic books heros to life	Writing a television spec script
Utilizing the internet to save postage and money	Writing the screenplay	Muses:  Michael Crichton and Stephen Speilberg	Why comic book and fantasy heros are so popular today	Revising a spec script
Social Media to reach a larger audience when on a shoe-string budget	Research for screenplay writers	Muses: Elie Wiesel and Roberto Benigni	Using your favorite comic book hero (or villain) as inspiration for your protagonist (or antagonist)	Selling a spec script
Promoting your book with no money	Creating characters who make an entrance on screen	Muses: Your family history	Creating a world	Collaborations on spec scripts
How to budget for a new novel	Producing your own screenplay from a writer’s perspective	Muses: Your own life story	Keeping to Science in Sci-fi	Producing your own television pilot- an easy guide for writers

Now the hard part will be to decide which idea to write first!  If you have a request, please post it.  I’d love to know what people want to learn about more.

And please check out my book Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8B

A Few Things Starving Writers Should Never Pay For

A few years ago, I had to rethink my budget.  When I got out of college, I got a full time teaching job that paid fairly well and had full medical and dental coverage attached.  I got into good habits and bad habits during that time.  The first thing I did was to save one of my monthly paychecks immediately.  They went into my bank account and when I hit a certain amount, I divvied up that money between savings, certificates of deposit, and U.S. savings bonds.   Of course I already had money automatically deducted from my checks to go into a 504 retirement fund.  Within a year I had saved enough money and was looking for a condo.

            The bad habits that I developed were as follows:  if I saw something small that interested me, I bought it without a thought.  CDs, books, DVDs, movie tickets, clothes.  Whatever.  I also spent money on classes and theater tickets whenever I wanted.  I considered those two things my “big ticket” items, but things I deserved that would better me as a person, an educator, a writer, and an actor.

            What happened afterward completely changed how I view money and how I view shopping in general.

            I lost my job and then I got sick.

            When I got sick, I couldn’t work for a while and due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not eligible for either unemployment or workman’s comp.  Within a year, I saw my savings dwindle to pay medical bills. 

            I went from being financially stable and looking to purchase a home of my own to being destitute within a year. 

            There was nothing I could do about my health except get myself better. By the time I healed, I was in a hole of close to $100,000 including money owed and money lost by unemployment.

            So, I seriously had to rethink what I was purchasing.  These are some of the things I stopped spending money on until I got my finances back in order.  I figured I’d share and hope it helps some of you out there. . .

What not to spend your money on ever if you are broke (or almost never). . .

 Books:  Now, I know this is hypocritical since I am a writer and I want people to buy my books, but here is something that you should not spend the money on if you don’t have it.  I can give the reason in one word:  Libraries.  There is no reason whatsoever to purchase a book when you can borrow it.  Many times you can even download it for free, not only from your library, but from from Amazon, I-tunes, or other Internet sites as well.  This is especially true for classic novels.  If the book is in the public domain, you can usually type in something like:  Free Name Your Title pdf and you’ll get a list of dozens of sites that will allow you to download a novel or play for free.  I made sure that my book Luke Aloysius: Bloodline was available to borrow on Kindle for all my fellow starving artists to enjoy.

Music:  Now, I know that there are CDs you may have to have because you know will listen to them everyday for the rest of your life, but in general, you can get most music for free.  I’m not talking about pirating (which is stealing, so don’t do it!), again I’m talking about libraries.  Whenever I stop at the library, I sift through the CD collection and take home five new CDs to listen to.  If I really want an album that isn’t in the library, I put it on reserve.  You can also download some free music legally from I-tunes.  They give away free music every week and now, with I-tunes radio, you can listen to any music you want to for free until you get sick of it.

DVDs:  For older movies, check Youtube first.  Type in Name Your Title Entire Film and see if it comes up.  If that doesn’t work:  Library.  The library should be your best friend for all types of media. 

Newspapers and magazines:  Library, library, library.  The only thing to note is that if you are looking for the paper to look through the classifieds, you may have to go to the resource desk to get the classifieds.  Some libraries have found that people will steal the classifieds (rude!), so they keep the classifieds behind the counter.  All you have to do is give them your library card to borrow that section.  When you’re finished and return the classifieds, they give you back your library card.  Just make sure you bring scrap paper to the library with you so you can write down the contact info of all the jobs you find.

Scrap and draft paper:  Usually anywhere you work, they are tossing out tons of copier paper everyday.  When I was teaching at one job, every time we printed out anything from either email or the Internet, it automatically printed out a cover page with your name on it.  I would squirrel away these cover pages in the bottom of my filing cabinet.  At the end of the year, there was a paper shortage for the last month of school.  No one was able to copy anything.  I went back to my stash of cover pages and used that to make copies of lessons for my students.  I still keep an ongoing stack of paper that is printed on one side to use for writing drafts.  It’s not only thrifty, but it saves trees as well!

 Grant and contest information:  There are many websites and services out there that will give you up to date grant and contest information for a monthly fee.  The heck with that.  You still have to do all the work, therefore:  library (do you see a trend here?)  Just tell the reference librarian what you need and she’ll give you a stack of books to look through.  All up to date.

Clothing:  You heard me right.  Of course this is dependent upon your needs.   If you need to purchase an interview suit, then you should do so, but try to do so by stacking coupons (mixing a store coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon and maybe even a store sale).  By stacking coupons, I got a $95 dress for $15- new for the season.  You can get free clothes in different ways.  First is by trading with a friend.  A lot of times we think we need new clothes, but we are just tired of them.  My cousin and my best friend always give me their unwanted clothes.  The clothes my cousin gives me are too small for me, but I give them to my neighbor, who is a widower and needs them.  I do keep shoes that my cousin sends my way because we are the same size shoe.  My best friend will send me clothes and I will send my unwanteds right back to her.  She divvies the stuff I give to her up with herself, her sister-in-law and her daughter. 

           Another way to get clothing for free is by utilizing your credit card points to get gift certificates to stores you love.  You can also get cash back with credit card points, but I find you get more money back by selecting a gift certificate instead.  I will stockpile these for when I really need something or to use toward buying gifts.  I once paid $5 for close to $100 in DVDs because I had gift cards, store cards, online coupons, and store coupons.  (Note:  you have to understand that some stores have a strict one-coupon-only policy.  In those stores I will stack my one coupon with a store sale.)

I    Videos, classes, meditation tapes:  Youtube.  I think Youtube is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  It is the one Internet app I use all day, every day.  Everyday I use Youtube to watch meditation tapes, to do research, to develop lesson plans, and to learn new things.  I have no less than 200 videos saved at any given moment waiting for me to watch them because I cannot possibly watch them all at once.  The really cool thing about Youtube is that if you create an account (Free!), the account links up what you watch to more related videos that you didn’t know about.  I found out about tons of Youtube channels that I use everyday because Youtube felt I might enjoy them.  Each day I will type in a search for meditation videos.  I usually put in Guided Meditation for Whatever Topic and hundreds will pop up.  There are meditations for manifesting goals, creating peace in your life, for letting go of stress, to save the oceans, you name it.  I also am using Youtube to learn new languages.  Because of Youtube, I now know several Italian children’s songs and I can say the entire Greek alphabet.  I am learning how to say the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic and I learned what in the world Enochian is (it’s the language of angels, apparently).  I use other videos to learn cooking techniques, recipes, teaching techniques, to gather background for literature I’m teaching. . .you name it, the sky’s the limit.

      Land lines:  Unless it’s part of your internet package and is cheaper that way, if you have a cell phone, you don’t need a land line.  Most people I know with cell phones never use their land lines.  It’s just a waste of money.

     High cell phone bills:  When I upgraded to a smart phone, I was disappointed to find that my monthly bills (which were supposed to remain the same) went up to $120 a month.  I was ready to trade back down and get a pay-as-you-go phone.  But, instead I called my cell phone carrier and talked with a customer service representative.  I found that I didn’t use most of my minutes or data each month.  The operator suggested that I take a lower plan which covered less minutes and data—minutes and data I never used anyway.  With one phone call, I cut my cell bill from $120 a month to $73 a month.  That’s $564 back in my pocket every year.  Not a bad piece of change.

     Coaches:  Youtube and the Internet.  Everyone from Tony Robbins to Bob Proctor to Rhonda Byrne to whoever have motivational and instructional clips posted for free.  They use it to widen their audience.  They have excellent, free, websites as well.

These are just a few of the expenses I learned to curb or eliminate.  If you can think of anything I didn’t mention yet, please post below.

As a side note, I’d like to also take a moment to send my prayers and love to Paris since recent tragedies.  I will continue to pray for peace for all of us and for an end to terrorism.  If you would like to read my take on what a true Martyr is, then please read my earlier blog entitled “Martyr Defined” at

http://sellwritersblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/martyr-defined.html

Also, please check out my new novel, Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Live in Peace. –Laurie xo

Muses: Stephen King and Paul Reubens

            Somedays I don’t feel like writing at all.  If pushed, I can always find something to write about if given a topic.  However, there are days when I don’t feel like finding a topic.  It’s pathetic, really.  I only have thousands of books here at home and hundreds on writing alone.  All it takes is opening up one book to a page, reading a little and writing in reaction to it.

            There are always, however, a thousand reasons for me not to start writing every day.  My most common excuse is that typing on the computer aggravates my back, neck, as well as some pre-arthritis garbage I have going on.  But, as like anything else, once you push through the wall, you keep going.  Today was one of those days again.  I am participating in Nanowrimo’s National Writing Month as I’ve done for the past three years.  I’ve been home most of the day as it is Teacher’s Convention weekend and all day long I’ve been avoiding typing up five pages of writing.  It shouldn’t be that hard;  twenty years ago I used to write 10-15 pages a day.  Most of it was garbage, but I still turned out a complete work every few months.  My filing cabinets are full of unsold work.  But now, with chronic pain and eight million things to distract me, it’s difficult for me to find the one to two hours I need to type five pages.  And when I hear that writers like Stephen King push out 20 pages a day, I just feel useless.

            But, that’s ridiculous thinking.  Nobody is Stephen King.  He makes $100,000,000 a book because of his ability to create fully flushed out, fascinating page-turners one after another.  (It’s important to note also that Stephen King has stated that he also has filing cabinets full of garbage at home.)

            What is important is that you write every day.  It doesn’t matter if it’s one page or one sentence.  Either way, if you are writing every day, by the end of the year you should have at least one finished literary work:  a novel, a screenplay, a stage play.

            The other day, I was scouring Youtube for interviews with Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman, I think that many people who grew up in the 80’s have a special love of Pee-Wee Herman.  He made us laugh at our own silliness.  Reubens just spent over a million dollars restoring all five seasons of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse in a brand new boxed set. After watching one interview with Paul Reubens, I was interested to learn more about this lovely soul. 

            One of the interviews I found was surprising to me.  Reubens was talking about writing.  He hates it!  He would rather do anything else but write.  In fact, he started Pee Wee’s Playhouse out of a state of panic.  He had been turned down to host Saturday Night Live and in his distress and worry of never working again, he came up with the idea of producing his own children’s show.  This was a perfect example of making lemonade out of lemons.  He produced the show and the rest was history.  He is now a world-wide branded name.

            When it came time to write the first Pee-Wee film, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Reubens had no idea how to write a screenplay.  So, he picked up a How To book by filmwriting master, Syd Fields, and literally worked his way through the book page by page to create Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.  He said he did such a good job following Syd’s format that now film schools study the screenplay.  He joked, “On page 30 I lose my bike and on page 60 I find it. . . “ 

            Anyone can write, including those who hate writing, and if you don’t know where to start, pick up a book.   If Reubens, who hates writing, can write a film that grossed $40,900,000, then what can you do when you LOVE to write?

            Here’s a couple of suggestions that I’ve used and taught to writing students of all ages.  The first is the What If? Response.  What you do is take a few moments scouring a book or Internet issues and ask yourself What If?  What if the key to ending worldwide terrorism was in the minds of children and we’re just not listening?  What if evil didn’t triumph over good in the film Chinatown - -  how would it end then?  What if Pee-Wee Herman had an evil twin?  All you do is ask the question and suddenly you have a story to tell.  It doesn’t matter that it’s based on something else – as you continue to write, it will take on a life of it’s own.  Eventually you will edit out the question you started writing with and end with something entirely new and different.

            Another good writing technique is called Loop Writing.  You time yourself for ten minutes or so and just write anything that comes to your head.   Ironically, this is the technique I used to start this blog.  After ten minutes, stop, underline what you think is either the main idea or most important thing you wrote and write for another ten minutes on that idea.  You can keep looping your writing every ten minutes or so if you like until you finally hit a rhythm.  Once you hit on the right topic, you won’t want to stop writing. 

            The third is to type  “Writing Topics”  or “Writing Ideas” into an Internet search and see what comes up to strike your interest.  If you feel like spending a couple of bucks, head to the book store (or try the library) and purchase a book or computer program designed to furnish you with writing topics or outlines.  You’ll be surprised how many things are out there.  And it doesn’t matter if 10,000 people start writing on the same topic, they will come up with 10,000 distinctly different stories.

            There are many, many more ways to get started in writing, but the utmost rule is Just Write.  If you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and just begin to write, then you’re halfway there!  Pull up your word processing program right now and get started!
        
            If you'd like to participate in November Novel Writing month, go to Nanowrimo.org and sign up.  It's free!
Please check out my new novel  Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Peace!