1. Trust . . . belief in reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
Learn to TRUST your inner self about your ability to write despite the detractors.
2. Respect . . . admiration for abilities, qualities, achievements.
RESPECT yourself for doing the best you can. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
3. Commitment . . . the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity.
Work at your craft on a regular basis; even if you just jot down notes, ideas.
4. Service / Not servitude or servant . . . helping or doing work, assistance or advice
You can give back to the writing community with good feedback and critique.
5. Influence . . . effect on character, development, behaviors, or the effect itself.
High control & little influence:
You have a great amount of control over your writing but cannot exert influence over others who may control things outside your scope (print/markets etc). Do what you can with the control.
High influence & little control:
You may have a great influence on the out of scope items but have no control to make the consumer buy and/or read. Look for ways to exert your influence. A writers’ club or youth group?
6. Development . . . the process of developing or being developed.
The more you write, the better you are. Take the critiques (good or bad) and learn.
Remember many “readers” are vindictive, and love to give bad review, because
they can, especially if anonymously.
7. Relationships . . . two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected.
Be genuine in your relationship with your readers. Yes, even the negative ones.
Might be an opportunity for you. (See Empower)
8. Listening . . . taking notice of, making an effort to hear, comply with instructions.
Reading your work. It always looks perfect. If you can, use the ‘playback’ function
on your word processor. You might be surprised on what you hear. (See Hearing)
9. Hearing . . . the ability to perceive sounds.
What does your ‘playback’ or having another person narrate your words feel like.
It’s a struggle to balance against what you are writing, and what you mean to say.
(See Listening)
10. Empower . . . authority or power, make stronger in confidence and rights.
You can empower yourself; write because you want to; write because it’s your job.
Remember those honest critiques. TRUST, RESPECT, SERVICE, INFLUENCE.
11. Care . . . attention, correctness, protection, or welfare, avoiding danger or risk.
Care for yourself. Rules and Norms. Relationship building. Don’t beat yourself
up. (See Empower). Follow your own advice!
12. Potential . . . demonstrating capacity, development, future, quality, ability.
Very few writer’s existence is based on the Latin “Scribo, Ergo Sum”. Recognize
that as a writer, you write because you have a story to tell, not because the sky is
falling. Write. Read other works and genres. EMPOWER yourself. Take critique
and all feedback to evaluate your own work. Give the same in return.
13. Print and Publish . . . produce books, transfer of text, images, or designs to paper.
prepare and issue a book, journal, for public sale, distribution.
Publish or Not to Publish, that is the question. No one can read your work if you
don’t get it to the public domain. Try the ‘free publishing spots’.
Printing is harder to accomplish due to the cost and quality. Make the best
decision on your return on investment. Are you writing, publishing, printing as a
hobby, or as your job. Many new authors opt for self-publishing. A note of
caution, watch the scams, do your homework.
14. Sequels . . . work that continues the story or develops the theme of an earlier one.
Keep a character list, and timeline, handy. Many commercial word processing
“assistants’ offer that capability. It WILL save you time and lower your
frustration level.
Funnies:
Snappy comebacks: Watch it . . . my writer voice is stronger than Sith ( or is that Shit ).
Careful, you could end up a character in my next novel
Found on a writer’s business card. Word Warrior
An author’s guide to introducing humour in the writing of words and phrases. A semi-useful narrative that compliments basic norms to alleviate the dry and distasteful discourse of the daily grind whereby the author regurgitates information to meet the intent of their publisher, printer, or agent, with no regard for content or the interest of the audience. An accompaniment to Epistmeoffology.©
No warranty, express or implied is offered by the author that guarantees interjection or input of a tidbit of humour into any launch meeting or presentation will be successful. The humorous input therefore is at the discretion of the presenter, who must decide the appropriateness of the content to suit the auditory receptors and synapses of the audience.
Hats
Overview
As described briefly in Epistmeoffology,© knowledge of what Hats represent depends on many variables, definitions and perspective known only to the individual. Perspective from 10,000 feet requires specific parameters, hence the size of the hat and the containment capacity of information change with the level of the corporate structure. ( You rank pretty low as a writer )
Similarly, the number of hats worn at any time by anyone changes without notice, consequently theoretical application cannot be guaranteed when a situation manifests.
Application
As the frequency of the interchangeability of the number of hats is variable, application must follow the Uncertainty Principle, and depends on the ability of the wearer (physically or virtually) to manage and wear the appropriate hat(s).
Armour
Overview
As described briefly in Epistmeoffology©, knowledge of what Armour represents depends on variations of definitions and perspective known only by the individual. Armour is based on the number of times the individual has felt the point of that virtual sharp stick or 10 foot pole, despite the suggestion of having that specific T-shirt. Therefore the amount and thickness of the armour and its ability to deflect or minimize intended harm change with the level of the corporate structure, and the access to a particular subset of cognition.
Similarly, the number of times armour is worn or removed at any time by anyone changes without notice, therefore theoretical application cannot be guaranteed when a situation manifests.
Application
As the frequency of the interchangeability of the number of armour subsets is variable, application must follow the Never Take It Off Principle, and depends on the ability of the wearer (physically or virtually) to manage their level of vulnerability capacity and wear the appropriate armour.
Definitions
To understand the definitions, Hats and Armour can be described as the reflex action concerned with the following questions:
1. What are the conditions whereby Hats & Armour are worn or removed?
2. What are the sources of Hats and Armour?
3. What are the structures and the extent of the reflex action?
As a non-scientific empirical study, Hats and Armour can help to understand the reflex action to situations.
Hat: the mental application of job descriptions, titles, or duties assigned directly or indirectly.
Armour: the physical, or the mental (virtual) application of barriers to harm, or annoyance.
Physical: the opposite or corollary of Virtual,
Virtual: an impression or vision in the mind’s eye, which cannot be touched.
Empirical: data that can be gathered, applied, reproduced, and validated by others.
10 foot pole: the mythical measurement appliance referred to in colloquial dialects to mean “I am staying away from it, or not going to touch it”
Humour in the Writer’s portfolio
In the narrative of your text, injection of humour might enliven a dull conversation, OR it might leave readers wondering why those particular words would be spoken by that individual.
Of course, if you are a humourist and writing jokes, then all bets are off.
Chances are, as a (choose your own hat) you might have experienced some anxiety when faced with such a task.
I don’t advise using humour at every opportunity. It’s easy to say that you don’t care what others think of your book content or humour. That attitude is a killer, and your next book might languish with plants, animals or inanimate objects populating the darkest corner of the ’obscure section’ of library shelves or bookstore ‘bargain bin’. Be yourself, you cannot be anyone else.
Acronyms and codes
Today’s communications are fast paced, full of shortcuts, acronyms and “club words” know only by a select few. Many have become dictionary words, while others remain the purview of texting, tweeting, email and so on. Even with technology accessible to just about everyone, we still continue to misuse, mispronounce, misspell, and twist phrases for the sake of brevity.
If you plan to use acronyms in your book(s), make sure your audience knows what the acronym means, or use a glossary of terms to help, AND does it fit the genre of your literary endeavor.
The Tikkle Trunk
What’s in yours?
Semel in anno licet insanire.
(Once a year, everyone is allowed to go crazy)
--
© Rob Adams (R. Bert Kenn)
2014 – 2023
“Si fallatis officium, quaestor infitias eat se quicquam scrire defactis vestries.
(If you fail, the secretary will disavow all knowledge of your activity)
Random Plot Thoughts
Hats, Armour, Bully-Pushover, Ruts, Performance,
Power/Accountability, Tradition, Practice, Team, Rules
If you explore plot thoughts and ideas; could you tweak yourself just a bit, to be a more productive?
Some of us prefer to hang around in the background, following the herd, not getting caught up in controversy or negotiations, simply because the stressors add to our already busy schedules.
There is no ‘cookbook’ solution to writing a best seller. We all work and play hard, some more than others, due to our background, training, experience and learned behaviours.
Obstacles present themselves at inopportune times, challenges appear and disappear, friends/colleagues move on. Every one of us has an innate ability to erect our personal armour, or wear the thinking hat, to deflect or retard the stressors, and still find time for writing.
The KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), of 50 questions across 10 domains, are about random ideas, for seasoned authors, journeypersons and newbies.
Try to implement some indicators into your work. You can mix quality and quantity in your daily conversations and interactions.
Remember, these ideas are real ideas, mixed with random thoughts and a bit of humour.