Maybe you’ve heard this saying before, “Practice makes perfect.” Often we think of this quote as referring to an athlete or a musician—but what about a writer? What roles does practice play in the development of the craft of writing?

The truth is: everything.

Practice has everything to do with honing the craft of being a writer. It is only through repetition and—get ready for it—actually writing, that a person aspiring to grow as a writer can ultimately improve their gifts.

Imagine an athlete, or even a musician, who only shows up for the competition or the performance, without putting in the hard hours of training and practice. How successful will they be in the quest to become what they’ve dreamed of being? Sadly, there are many people who are in love with the idea of writing, but when it comes to the actual blood and sweat of writing, few are found.

If you are serious about being a writer, then take this to heart—practice makes perfect. To that end, here are just a few ideas to begin to prime the pump in regards to finding outlets for the development of your craft:

Start a Blog. What once used to be the domain of eclectic narcissism has now become a viable outlet for writers. One of the benefits of starting a blog is the discipline it creates for writing. Namely, once you have one, you have a need to fill it with content. Starting a blog also allows you to opportunity to work with “new material,” often receiving almost instant feedback in the form of reader comments. Writing for a blog also offers practice in keeping things concise and focused, as well as an opportunity to learn about self-editing your own material—all skills desirable in the writing world.

Find Places to Submit Articles. A quick survey of the web could turn up dozens of websites and online journals that are open to submissions. Many authors have worked cold submissions into featured articles and even a regular column. Take some time to begin to explore matches for your writing content and style. Contact the editor and ask about the submission process. Some websites and online journals have a page that outlines submission requirements and how to submit articles for consideration.

Investigate Local Media Outlets. Local newspapers or community magazines are constantly looking for new voices and fresh perspectives. Do a quick Google search for the local media outlets near you. Send an email to the managing editor inquiring about writing possibilities. Much like websites and online journals, they will most likely ask for a writing resume and a sample of your work. Be sure to have these ready beforehand, if at all possible.

Hopefully this just begins the process of finding ways to put your writing skills into practice. There are a myriad more avenues out there awaiting to be explored!

Good luck!

// Mike DeVries

Our authors are diverse in background, age, and experience–we like to highlight them to prove that, with enough fortitude and dedication, anyone can write a book and make it as good as it can possibly be.

If you’re a beer-lover, more likely than not, you’ve tried and perhaps enjoyed a bottle of Shiner Bock. Turns out, that beer is made in a little place called Shiner, Texas. And, as in any small town in Texas, the only other thing more important than beer (and guns) is football.

Meet author, Marshall Bishop, MD–the family doctor for the good folks of Shiner. He had a little football novel percolating in him for years until he finally wrote it down. Then he called us up to help him publish what became The Coach Who Didn’t Want to Win.

Part Friday Night Lights, part spiritual allegory, all Texas–Dr. Bishop has worked very hard and diligently on his novel and it has finally become a physical artifact that he and Texans everywhere can be proud of. Because as everyone knows…you don’t mess with Texas.

How did you start writing?
I was teaching a course at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Columbia, SC on my understanding of Catholic Christology entitled “Scratching the Surface of Christian Transformation.” While Episcopalians or more broadly Anglicans may have repudiated a number of pieces of Catholic doctrine and church structure, they never repudiated the Catholic understanding of who Jesus was. It seemed to me worth the effort to figure out what that understanding was and to teach it to others. In the process, someone suggested that I write out a text that followed the outline of the course. That eventually became the unpublished manuscript entitled, Into the Perfect Likeness. I found that I really enjoyed trying to put into words the very subtle and not-so-subtle aspects of who Jesus was when he was walking around here with us and how much of that he offers us in our own earthly sojourn.

How did the idea for The Quiz come about?

During the development of the course, I had put together a set of very basic questions about Jesus to stimulate our thinking. As some point I had lunch with my pastor, Fletcher Montgomery, at which I asked him if he would be willing to answer the questions and send me his answers. He, without any hesitation, agreed. What I found was a set of answers that delighted me, confounded me and frustrated me all at the same time. I decided to as others: an Episcopal bishop, an Eastern Orthodox Priest, a Presbyterian minister, a Lutheran professor of Christology to name a few. I thought, “This is fascinating! The answers are all over the board.” Not only were the answers quite different but I found that they were an excellent barometer of one’s set of beliefs about Jesus. I finally decided to “cold call” a couple of Catholic professors of Christology in respected Catholic seminaries. It was like someone had choked down the shotgun pattern. I had finally gotten as set of relatively consistent answers. Hmm! Now we were getting somewhere. Not that the answers were “correct” in any global or eternal sense, but they were at least consistent.
What was the most rewarding part of writing the book?

As I said, Jesus and our understanding of the Incarnation are wondrously challenging, not only to understand, but also to put into words. The process of finding metaphors for some of the most difficult concepts is really where I live. On the Meyers Briggs scale, I am a raving flaming “intuitor”—I love thinking about abstract things and trying to capture their essence with some accessible metaphor. Sometimes I sit back and chuckle at the whole creative process and the realization of just what a precious gift it all is—a gift from God, if I may be so bold. I get a real kick out of NOT taking credit for any of the good stuff and, of course, taking full credit for the shoddy stuff.

What was the most challenging?

I think the realization that good writing is hard work. After rewrite after rewrite on my own and then after being confronted with the amazing questions and insights from my editor, Mike, I am starting to see that good writing (not that I have achieved it yet) is like writing music—there is a rhythm and musical phrases—there are crescendos and decrescendos—Allegros and Adagios. One only sees this when one reads the piece to someone else out loud, but they are there lurking behind the paragraphs and sentences and phrases and words. If I could get better at “seeing” with this kind of musical eye, I think I would get better at this.

What do you hope people will take away from The Quiz?

The Quiz is about the most fundamental aspects of Jesus when he was here. Could he leap tall buildings at a single bound or couldn’t he, and does the answer matter? First I would hope that folks would understand that it does matter—that who we think he was informs who we think we are. If we are somehow to find the highest and best that this life has to offer, we are challenged to find out who Jesus was. When he said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” he could just as well be saying, “The way of life is truth, watch me.” If our understanding of Jesus is vague and fuzzy, then our understanding of the way to life probably is equally vague and fuzzy.

What advice would you offer to those who are thinking about writing?

Just do it! The only way we will ever know if it comes naturally and fulfills one of our deepest yearnings to express ourselves is to pick something and write about it. Some sing, some run, some play tennis and some of us find our deepest satisfaction (in addition, of course, to singing and running and playing tennis) in writing—and ultimately reading something we have written and thinking, as the head of my chemistry department at Sewanee said about my comprehensive exam, “Mr. Fletcher, this is not too bad.”

What was the best piece of writing advice you ever received?

You know, I have just recently put my writing out for review by others. The first comment was that my writing was “very dense.” I took that to mean that I moved from one idea to another without any padding—without any cartilage—the bones of my ideas were grinding on one another. As I responded to Mike’s comments and suggestions, I hope I have learned to place ideas in some better context that gives them more meaning and to expand on them to give them even more meaning. I am still trying to find the right rhythm, pitches and melodic lines.

If you were to ask Ethan Bryan to describe himself, you might hear something like this. He might say that he’s a storyteller, a musician, a husband, or maybe he might say something about his two girls. But there’s one thing I can assure you’d hear. He’s a baseball fan—even more than that—a lifelong Kansas City Royals fan.

“I played catch with Frank White once—also with Joe Randa and Justin Verlander,”—but that’s another story for another time. He is a huge fan of current Royals star Alex Gordon—as well as the likes of Dan Quisenberry and Kevin Seitzer. If you were to ask him about his own baseball prowess, without a hesitation you’d hear, “I have warning track power and a definite threat to steal bases on a passed ball.”

But get him to talk about his latest writing project, and you’re in for a treat. Ethan’s newest release, Run Home and Take a Bow, is due out in April and chronicles his year of following the 2011 Kansas City Royals—through the eyes of a fan.

After winning a contest for writing a new anthem for the Kansas City Royals, Ethan was given two tickets to twenty different games for the 2011 season. Beginning his journey on Opening Day and ending it on the final day of the season, Ethan devotes a chapter to each of the twenty games he attended. Along the way, he shares thoughts on the games, baseball, life, and faith.

“I remember reading a quote from the great Buck O’Neil. He said, ‘Baseball is good for the kids.  Teaches them all the lessons.’  It got me thinking. We intuitively see the life lessons about teamwork and practice—but what about lessons pertaining to faith? Can baseball teach us about faith as well?”

With the book in the production phase, Ethan has turned his sights to other avenues in order to share his stories. Recently, Ethan was asked to contribute to the fan-driven Kansas City Royals blog, Kings of Kauffman, as a resident staff writer. With his characteristic humor, Ethan shares stories of the intersection of baseball and life.

“Baseball is the language of my soul.”

Be on the lookout in April for Ethan’s latest release, Run Home and Take a Bow. But in the meantime, be sure to swing by Kings of Kauffman to read up on Ethan’s latest musings.

To show you that you, yes YOU, can write and publish your book, we have decided to highlight an author a month. They are diverse in background, age, and experience and prove that, with enough fortitude and dedication, anyone can write a book and make it as good as it can possibly be.

Meet Lexee Booshay. A self-made woman who wrote a memoir about surviving a childhood filled with drugs, abuse, death, adoption gone wrong, evil family, and, ultimately, spiritual growth and redemption that slowly dawned on her life in an unusual way.

Her book, Pray to Aliens, is a fast-paced narrative that unfolds her story in a way that would make filmmaker Terry Gilliam proud. It is brutally honest and deeply compassionate…still, Lexee is a pseudonym to protect the author from some of the people she writes about who are still looking for her.

Lexee is an entrepreneur with a strong marketing background, and she’s been very busy building her business. But her story grabbed hold of her and wouldn’t let go until she wrote it down. So she took three months off, sequestered herself in a remote cabin in the Rocky Mountains, and wrote and wrote and cried and wrote some more. About a year later, her story forced her to go back into seclusion to finish what is now the first of two books.

Then she started her search for a publishing partner. Person-to-person connection was vital to her, and after many failed attempts to meet with other large self-publishing companies, she finally called me up and we met for coffee. It was clear from the start that we would work well together, so she hired us to produce Pray to Aliens.

I’ve completed the first line edit of book one, and I’m here to tell you that I have never read a story like it. We’re going to release it later this spring, and I can’t wait to introduce you to it. In the meantime, you can get some tastes at her blog Pray to Aliens and you can follow her on Facebook and Twitter. As we work on the book, one thing you’ll notice is that the voice she’s been using in these sites will change to match the one she uses in her book…which is an important thing to remember whether you are using your own voice, writing under a pseudonym, or posting as a fictitious character–make sure your voice is consistent across all the platforms you are using to spread your content around.

Stay tuned for more from Lexee!

The process of publishing can seem like a big black box that your Word document goes into and a finished book comes out of. It can be mysterious and a bit daunting. So we’ve decided to give you a peek into current projects we’re working on so you can see what publishing is really like.

Remember, these are books in progress, so any images you see or samples you read will not be the finished product–the covers may change, more editing and proofreading may need to be done. But we hope it’s helpful for you.

One of the books we’ve really enjoyed working on is by author Colonel V. Doner, someone you’ve probably heard us talking about before. We’re currently working on a cover for the Advanced Reading Copy–a not-final version of the book that is sent out for endorsements and reviews. We worked with Colonel to decide how willing we were to (most likely) offend the periphery of our target audience. Do we tone down the title with a “safe” cover image? Or do we go “the full monty”?

What would you do? You’ll see what we decided soon.

We’re through most of the editing process and I am working on the interior design right now, after which the book will be sent to a professional indexer. Yes, there are people who specialize in creating indexes. In fact, there is a national society of indexers. If you want an index in your book, trust me–you don’t want to try to do it yourself.

Interior design is so important to the reading experience and yet it’s something most people take for granted. It’s something I take the time to do right because it can make or break a book. So, below is a peek into how the design is coming along so far. There’s more that needs to be done with it, of course, but I’m pleased with how it’s turning out.

If you want to get a bird’s eye view of the entire process, start here.

As more and more authors choose the control and profit margin of self-publishing, one of the first questions they, or perhaps other more financially-oriented friends, will ask is, “How much does it cost and how the heck am I going to pay for it?”

Depending on the length of the book, and to really do it right, a book generally costs between $5000 and $8000 to edit, design, and get out into the distribution channels. That can be quite a chunk of change for some people, but many authors are finding creative ways to surmount that barrier, having fun and building their audience at the same time.

One way that is gaining a lot of attention lately is raising money on Kickstarter. Samizdat author Ethan Bryan put together an attractive and fun initiative that is a good example. Whether or not your project gets funded depends of course on your ability to activate your network to send in enough support. The catch with Kickstarter is that if you don’t raise your goal in the amount of time you set, you don’t get to keep any of it. IndieGoGo, on the other hand, is a site that let’s you keep whatever money you were able to raise, but this method lacks the urgency that typically motivates people to give.

Whether you are interested in either Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, the good folks at Mediabistro put together a few tips that one of their editors, Devon Glenn, discovered. You might want to consider them:

Five Tips for Using Kickstarter to Fund Your Publishing Project

1. Confine your project to the word limit–choose description carefully but give readers a clear visualization of what you are doing.

2. Glenn used a number of free online tools to create her author video. Aviary music creation and audio tools to record herself singing a four-part opera piece, SoundCloud to upload the music track, and the Prelinger Archives for public domain video footage.

3.  Create interesting rewards for your sponsors. Glenn will give donors a copy of her book, name characters after some of her donors, and send a postcard from a ghost to some of her donors.

4. Choose your fundraising amount carefully. Glenn chose $1,500 because it would be enough to get the project off the ground without setting an impossible fundraising goal.

5. Use Twitter, Facebook, blogs, email, and your whole network to spread the word–this is a great chance to show your friends and family what you are working on.

No matter who you are, no matter how many published manuscripts you have, everyone needs their material edited and sharpened. Here are a few tricks of the trade when it comes to editing your own material.

Find Another Set of Eyes: I was talking with one of our Samizdat authors today and he made an interesting observation. “I’m amazed. I went over the manuscript six times before sending it to you and with one read you found more areas to sharpen than I did.” The reality is that no matter how hard an author works on refining a manuscript, allowing fresh eyes to read through it can always sharpen it more. Find someone you trust to read what you’ve written, especially someone who is new to the project. Allow them to ask questions—ask them to be brutally honest about the manuscript. What you will find is that a fresh pair of eyes will see issues of logic and narrative development more readily than someone who has lived the with manuscript for a longer period of time.

Edit in Phases: The truth of the matter is that editing takes time. It is not something to be rushed. Good editors know that a manuscript is going to need several passes. One pass at a manuscript cannot address every issue that arises in the editorial process. While it may seem easier to edit a manuscript for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and content development all at one time—good editing happens in phases. Edit one thing at a time. You might want to make the first pass the time you look at the big picture, addressing the content development. Does the piece flow properly? Does it lead the reader along smoothly? Does it draw the reader into the story? Subsequent passes should address areas like grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Spell Checking Made Easy: In regards to spell checking a document, one of the first realizations is the “spell-checker” on your word processing program cannot always be trusted. While it may catch some of the major issues, correctly spelled but grammatically wrong or misplaced words slip past. The best way to spell-check a document is to look at every word, working from the back of the document and working forward, and from bottom to top. This keeps you spell-checking individual words out of their context. Spellchecking in sentences can often “trick” the mind into seeing what is not there.

Pace Yourself: Editing a manuscript is not a race to an imaginary finish line. Good editors know their personal pacing and often edit in short chunks of time, not for long periods. When I am editing a manuscript, I rarely spend more than four hours at a time. This allows me to get into a good rhythm, while making sure I avoid getting fatigued while editing. Editing is different than merely reading for pleasure, as your mind is more active and more engaged. This heightened engagement with a manuscript makes the reading process very different from pleasure reading.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat: It’s a fallacy to believe that once you have finished editing a portion of a manuscript, that bit is finished. Good editing does not completely edit a manuscript only once—it revisits the process multiple times. This allows for the most smooth and “clean” document possible. Not only does an editor often visit the same section of a book multiple times, they often do it on multiple days, allowing for the portion being edited to sit and resonate with the reader for a period of time. In addition, it is not unheard of to revisit an earlier portion of the book after editing a later section.

Editing Resources: And finally, no one knows everything there is about proper usage and grammar. All good editors have certain go-to references when they need help. Here are a few reference works that every writer should have on their shelf:
The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Fowler, H. W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Garner, Bryan A. Garner’s Modern American Usage, 3d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1994.
Strunk, William and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York: Longman, 1999.
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.

Happy writing (and editing)!

// Mike DeVries

Oftentimes the best book ideas are the ones that catch you by surprise. They are a blend of passion and insight, brought together in a single idea.

Take Ethan Bryan’s book, Run Home & Take a Bow, for example.

After winning a contest for writing a new anthem for the Kansas City Royals, this lifelong Royals fan was given two tickets to twenty different games for the 2011 season. Beginning his journey on Opening Day, Ethan had no idea how these twenty games would change his life. Almost a year later, Ethan has just put the finishing touches on a memoir chronicling his year following the Kansas City Royals.

How did the idea for “Run Home & Take a Bow” come about?
On Opening Day 2011, my dad and I got to the stadium almost three hours before game time. There was a video special of Bob Costas interviewing George Brett playing on the mega-jumbo-HD-tron, and while we were watching the video and hoping for a batting practice ball, I felt a whisper say, “Write these stories.” At first, I tried to ignore it. After the game was over, we went out to dinner and ran into a boy I had coached in t-ball. I heard the voice a second time. The very next day I sat down and wrote the Opening Day story.

What was the best part of writing the book?
I loved this project. I loved going to the games with family and friends. I loved creating space to reflect and remember what happened at the game and how it helped me catch a glimpse of God’s Great Story. As the season continued, I got nervous that there might not be a story at each game, or that, somehow, I’d miss it. What truly amazed me was how different each game really was. Even though the stories all centered on the game of baseball, there were so many different lessons learned.

What do you hope people will take away from the book?
The book is a kind of a memoir, really. My hope is that as people read my story, they will be encouraged in their own faith journey. I hope that as people read these stories they would consider what creative ways God is trying to whisper to their hearts as well.

What advice would you offer to those who are thinking about writing?
One of my writing mentors is author Robert Benson. His advice to me was to write 600 new words a day. There are days when I write more than that, but for day after day after day writing, I find that 600 words is a solid amount. The world is desperate for good stories—stories that draw our hearts towards hope and beauty, grace and love. If you’ve got a story in you, write.

What are your five best Royals-related baseball memories?
5. Winning the contest for writing a new Royals’ anthem.
4. Playing catch with Frank White, and having that story published in a journal.
3. The stories of this season, sharing them with the people I love.
2. Meeting one of my childhood heroes for this project—Kevin Seitzer.
1. The 1985 World Series (of course).

What do you think about the Royals this upcoming season?
There has never been a better time to be a Royals fan.

If you’d like to hear more about Ethan’s project and how you can be involved, visit Ethan’s Kickstarter campaign, Run Home & Take a Bow.

Contact: Kathleen M. Campbell, Campbell Public Relations, LLC; 719-540-6022; kcampbell@thecompletesolution.com

DENVER, Dec. 8, 2011 /Standard Newswire/ – Republicans vs. Democrats; liberals vs. conservatives; OWS vs. the Tea Party — with all the news showing us how divided our society has become, is there anything we can do to reclaim our sense of community?

Caleb Seeling, Executive Publisher and founder of The Samizdat Group says the answer is a resounding “yes” and is leading the way. He has implemented a model of corporate philanthropy where authors and readers support partner organizations that are dedicated to promoting literacy and the arts.

“The Samizdat Group is a publishing company rooted in building community by fostering relationships — publisher with authors, authors with each other, authors with their readers, and all of us with the communities we call home,” says Seeling.

“The Samizdat Group will donate 10% of all book sales from its two divisions, Samizdat Creative and Conundrum Press, to organizations with which we’ve developed a working relationship, and our customers will be able to indicate which organization receives the donation from their purchase.”

Some of the organizations currently working with The Samizdat Group are Lighthouse Writers Workshop and their Young Writers Program,Urban Peak, Ballet Nouveau Colorado’s Elementary School Partnerships, and Flobots.org.  Mr. Seeling says they are seeking others to add to this list.

“What a wonderful publishing model. It is a true intermingling of art and community where both are enriched,” says Robert McBrearty, one of the participating authors. “I’m delighted to support such a program.” Robert McBrearty is the award-winning author of the new release from Conundrum Press, Let the Birds Drink in Peace, a collection of delightful short stories.

Ballet Nouveau Colorado, a Denver based arts education and community outreach organization, is one of the literacy and arts partners benefiting from the Samizdat Group program. (bncdance.com/about/mission)

“This is the kind of exciting project that can change the world,” says Ballet Nouveau Colorado’s School Director, Julia Wilkinson Manley. “Collaboration is one of BNC’s primary tenets and we are so excited to have an outlet through which to work with more of Denver’s incredible organizations dedicated to literacy and the arts.”

The Denver hip-hop collective, Flobots, is another partner with The Samizdat Group.  This organization connects underserved youth across Metro Denver with music and empowerment education. Some of the Flobots partners include Denver Public Schools, the Mayor’s Office of Education and Children, Denver Children’s Home, and a network of residential treatment centers for youth. (www.flobots.org)

“In this economy, it will take a community of businesses, individuals, and non-profits to connect young people to all the gifts the arts can bring,” says Laura Bond, Flobots Director of Programs. “We applaud The Samzidat Group on this creative and collaborative campaign to support a wide range of artistic experiences for youth.”

“Great periods of creativity in the arts have always come about because of exactly the kinds of partnerships Caleb Seeling is building between Samizdat and other groups,” adds David Rothman, original founder and publisher of Conundrum Press, a division recently acquired by The Samizdat Group.

“It’s exciting to work with Caleb as we seek to inject as many beautiful words as possible directly into the collective brain of the great people residing in the Rocky Mountain region,” he continues. “Caleb Seeling has extensive experience in the publishing business and has excellent taste. He understands how to build an audience, which is crucial to the success of every great artistic endeavor.”

Rothman is the co-founder of the Crested Butte Music Festival, the current Director of the Poetry Concentration in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado.  Rothman is also a Colorado Book Award finalist in poetry.

“‘Samizdat’ is a Russian word for the illegal, subversive literature published in the Soviet Union that got you sent to the Gulag for writing, reading, and distributing,” Seeling remarks. “It perfectly captures what we are up to, breaking all the publishing rules established decades ago, to bring about a more organic and vibrant way of publishing books and doing business.”

For more information and to find out how your organization can become a partner-beneficiary, please contact Caleb Seeling atcaleb@samizdatgroup.com.

To have your purchase benefit one of our partner organizations, go tostore.samizdatgroup.com and simply choose which organization you would like to receive your donation and it will be sent automatically when you pay for your order.

The Samizdat Group is an independent publishing company with two divisions, Samizdat Creative and Conundrum Press. Samizdat Creative combines the control and profit margin of self-publishing with the editorial, design, distribution, and marketing strategy of “traditional” publishing. Conundrum Press publishes poetry, literature, and creative non-fiction using a more traditional publishing model, deliberate in the quest to serve our authors and their communities. Our focus is to encourage artistic collaboration in the nine-state Rocky Mountain region. The goal is to contribute to the emergence of Denver and the Rocky Mountain region as a major cultural hub, like New York or Los Angeles, while protecting the unique flavor of the West by celebrating what makes the Rocky Mountain region so distinctive and appealing.

ATTN MEDIA: To schedule an interview with Caleb Seeling contact Kathleen M. Campbell, Campbell Public Relations, LLC; 719-540-6022;kcampbell@thecompletesolution.com