Blog Introduction – The Amazing Privilege of Creating
Posted on April 3, 2017
Welcome to the blog of LooseBinding Books. The name LooseBinding Books alludes to the dramatic shift taking place in the world of books at our current time in history. Traditional book “bindings” are being figuratively loosened and the pages inside zipped around the world in all kinds of digital ways . . . e-readers, smart phones, websites, social media platforms and ways yet-to-be-imagined.
The last great revolution to “the book” took place with the invention of the printing press. Up to that time, books were written out by hand, on paper, and bound together with a spine. The printing press dramatically changed all that. No longer hand-written, but typeset with ink and printing presses. What a revolution! The volume of books began to skyrocket.
And now another revolution is occurring. The rise of digital formats is ushering in the next innovation in the life of the book. While you can still find traditional books to satisfy your reading appetites, digital formats are growing at an incredible pace. E-books and e-readers are all around us. The net effect is illustrated in this picture below. And with it comes the inevitable . . .
Information Overload – The Theme of the Day
I love this image. A whirlpool of books. Surely there is a bottom down there somewhere, though it’s hard to see. This image reminds me of what it’s like to live in our day and time. Information is swirling all around us – expanding at an alarming rate.
By the end of 2016, these things are happening each and every day:
- 500 million tweets
- 5.75 billion Facebook “likes”
- 6 billion Google searches
As a human race, we are tweeting, liking, pinning, posting, and sharing like never before in our history. While information has never been more abundant, it’s also a bit overwhelming.
Do you every get lost in the maelstrom of information, wondering the next step you should take in the journey you’re on as a storyteller and writer? Actionable information is priceless.
So why add to the firehose of information?
It’s my goal to help you along your journey to become a better writer and to effectively communicate what it is you have to share with the world. I want to provide information you can act on to immediately apply to your writing craft.
This blog exists to assist writers in 3 main ways:
- The process of writing – to help you assess what makes good writing, why should you care about it as a writer and some tips and techniques for making your writing soar.
- The process of publishing – once you’ve got that manuscript done, or mostly done, what do you do with it? That’s what we’ll discuss in this section. Nowadays, unless you’re a fantastic writer and have developed a good following, most people take the self-publishing route. Publishers these days are not prone to take risks on new authors. Self-publishing is a great avenue to get your work in front of your audience and begin to build a following.
- The process of building an author platform – so you’ve sharpened your writing skills, you’ve got that manuscript written and published, how do you build up that reader base? I’d love to say that “once you write it, they will come.” But that’s just not how it works these days. You need to build an audience. For most authors it begins with the wonderful world of social media and then moves on to building an author website. In this section of articles, we’ll discuss both approaches, and many more.
So there is much to learn and it’s changing all the time. It is a process. But as you apply steady progress in a consistent direction, you’ll look back in a short while and realize you’ve come a very long way. I’d like to be there to cheer you on when that happens.
About me
My name is Grant and I’m the writer and designer of this space. So why am I allowed to talk to you about writing and how to do it well?
For the past 20+ years I’ve spent my life on the corporate side of the fence. I make my living with words, both spoken and written. In corporate life I’ve had a variety of roles: project manager, business analyst, I/T analyst, Process Designer, desktop publisher.
My writing efforts have centered around creating and editing:
- department newsletters
- company websites
- desktop publishing projects (brochures, marketing materials)
- contracts
- proposals
- software designs
- white papers
- procedures
And in that time, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to good writing.
Things Happen for a Reason
About a year ago, I went through a corporate layoff . . . along with about 70 of my colleagues. You know the drill. Happens a lot these days as corporations cut costs to stay competitive.
At about the same time, in an unrelated chain of events, I was helping an author friend of mine self-publish a book. The experience utilized many of the skills I’ve used on the job for so many years – Desktop Publishing, Project Management, I/T (have you tried setting up a website lately?), and lots of internet research. We published her book on time and very seriously under budget.
So I believe I have some things to share. And I’m using this blog as a venue to communicate helpful information that will give you tools and encouragement as a writer from someone who is in the process of doing it.
A little about me:
I am a Learner/Teacher
First and foremost, I’m a learner/teacher. Some of my most treasured memories are going to the library with my Mom to pick out a bunch of books to read for the week. What else but a book can transport you to worlds you’ve never seen? Being a learner is part of the DNA that makes up who I am. It’s at the core of how I approach life. I love to learn.
And I love to pass on what I’m learning. There is a real art to making a difficult concept understandable. I don’t always succeed. But that’s the goal.
I’m appreciating a new truth lately about this topic: the best learning is actionable, meaning this thing I just learned can actually accomplish something. There is a place for learning just for the sake of it – I can take action on it and make it do something. Effective learning needs to be focused.
I am a Curator
I love that word. According to Webster, it comes from the Latin word curare, meaning “to care” and its root cur finds its way into many of our English words:
- a cure is something that heals sickness, something that cares for someone’s health
- anything accurate has been carefully measured (watched over, cared for) to ensure it’s free from mistakes
- a curator is a person who cares for a collection of things (like in a museum)
I think this word perfectly fits what I’d like to do with this blog. I want to curate (watch over and care for) really, really good information and content to help you, encourage you and educate you about the possibilities that exist to put your stories into the hands of your readers.
Who am I writing for?
You might be an author of some of the books in the swirl above . . . if we look close enough we’d see your name on the spine. If so, I congratulate you. You’ve honed your writing craft to a proficient level and figured out how to get your creation out of your imagination, onto a computer screen, and finally into the hands of adoring fans. Congratulations!
But maybe your work in progress is still in a file folder on your desk, or a computer file that hasn’t been updated in weeks or months. I’d like to see you bring it to life.
I strongly believe all of us have a story to tell. It’s part of the amazing privilege of being alive. But telling it well takes some skill and practice.
When I say “story to tell”, I’m not just speaking to fiction writers. All of us have a set of life experiences, thoughts, dreams, emotions, perspectives, imagination that is ours and ours alone. As we tell those stories as only we can – whether in a fictional thriller, or a non-fictional ebook – something happens. Our lives are enriched in the telling and those who engage with your story are enriched.
It’s like a quote I remember hearing:
“A mind expanded by a new idea never again returns to its original shape.”
That’s why this new blog has come into being. I want to help you explore the possibility of getting your unique perspectives and stories, out of your head and into the hands of those who will benefit from what only you can share.
What are my goals for this blog?
First,
There is nothing quite like the process of creation to stir the human spirit.
To look upon a blank screen, a blank canvas, a blank music score, a blank wall and later come back to a manuscript, a painting, a composition, and a crisply painted living space is nothing short of breath-taking.
If our journey together inspires you to embrace a new appreciation for the creativity that exists within you, I will feel like the hours I’ve invested have been worth the price.
Second,
While I’ve written all my life, this process of throwing words on a blog is new to me. So I’d like to excel at this process of creating a pleasing and helpful reading experience for my readers. I’ll do my best to keep mistakes to a minimum, but I’ve learned an important lesson about them:
Mistakes are the rich soil (otherwise know as “manure”) from which our best creations sprout.
(that’s an original, you’re welcome to quote me on that).
Third,
Any blog that exists in isolation is doomed to fail — unless you’re the kind of author who just loves throwing your words out into the ether with no hopes of them touching a human soul. I’m not one of those authors.
I really look forward to sharing life with those of you who are willing to peel away your outside shell and expose who you really are, what makes you tick, what you’re thinking, what makes you feel. I can’t guarantee that it will happen. But it’s my hope.
So let’s get started . . . how can you get involved?
Please share your life experiences with me as I do the same with you. I’m excited to see how the LooseBinding Books community emerges and develops.
If there is a post you find valuable, tell me your thoughts. If your perspective is 180 degrees away from mine, please share that as well. How else can we grow if we only hear our own thoughts?
I plan to publish a post every Monday and Friday. Sometimes it will be original content I’ve written, other times it will be excellent content I’ve gleaned from others. The content will focus on:
- The process of writing
- The process of publishing
- The process of building an author platform
Please subscribe to my email list which will soon be appearing. You have my word that I won’t spam you or sell your email to the highest bidder. I hate getting spam as much as you do. I will produce an email newsletter twice a month that will provide industry news, book reviews, and interesting articles helpful for writers.
To contact me directly, my email address is grant@loosebindingbooks.com. Thanks for stopping by.
I look forward to getting to know you in the weeks and months ahead.
-Grant
Image credit: PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay