I woke up this morning with the thought that “Writing is the Essence of Self-Actualization.” If you are familiar with Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs Pyramid, you’ll know that Self-Actualization is on the top of his pyramid. The pryamid begins with biological needs at the bottom, then moves up to safety needs, then up to love/belongingness needs, then up to esteem needs and then finally self-actualization needs.

After I was fully awake, I reviewed his pyramid and I think writing is actually fullfilling both “esteem” needs and “self-actualization” needs. Esteem needs are defined as achievement, status, responsibility, reputation and self-actualization needs are defined as personal growth and fulfillment.

Here’s why I was pondering this concept: according to the American Association of Publishers, 83% of Americans have thought about writing a book and we know that each year millions of people actually do write a book. Despite the large numbers of books being written each year, we also hear reports of fewer and fewer people reading books. We also know that writing a book is easy compared to finding readers to buy books.

So if it is so hard to make a buck as an author, why do so many people write? Maslow’s pyramid gives us the answer. What better way to fulfill your esteem and self-actualization needs than to write a book. Many authors we work with get discouraged at how hard it is to make a living as an author. When I hear this, I think inside how successful the author is to have simply written a book. (I never say this outloud as authors would probably think I’m flattering them) Writing a book is a significant achievement regardless of how many copies an author sells.

Now think about this. If writing a book fills the esteem/self-actualization needs, what needs does selling books fulfill? Well, first of all, selling books fulfills the belongingness/love need. What better way to feel the love than by having people read your book and tell you they loved it? Selling books also fills the safety and biological needs because if you can sell books, you may create a nice income-producing asset that will put food on your table.

To conclude, writing fulfills the two highest needs on the Maslow pyramid while selling books fulfills the three lower needs. If you have written a book, you have accomplished something millions of other people only dream of doing. That is a major achievement.

Joe is a relatively new member to Authors On The Net and he asked me to visit his blog at http://commonsense-wisdom.blogspot.com/. I wanted to share Joe’s blog with the community for two reasons. The first reason is I like what Joe is doing with his blog, i.e. tracking his conversations with his muse. I read three posts before I realized I needed to go back to work. The second reason is that Joe’s posts show he is working hard on his marketing plan.

So many authors we work with simply do not take the time to think about their plan and Joe’s conversations show how important it is to make a plan. His blog post also shows that making a plan is not that difficult and I’m glad Joe has been able to get some guidance from Authors On The Net as that what the association is here for.

Joe has done some other things right as well. He has picked a theme and each post focuses on his theme. He also weaves some nice links in his posts very naturally. His conversational style lets him do this easily. In any case, I thought I’d share and if you have a minute you might pop over and see what Joe is doing.

I just picked up the following article by Kareen Ross. Kareen also runs a forum at www.authorsonthenet.com about book cover design. If your ambition is to get Barnes & Noble to sell your book, then designing your book like the other books in your genre and using a professional designer is worth every penny you’ll spend. Your title and your book cover are two of your most important marketing tools. Here’s Kareen’s article: Read the rest of this entry »

When writing a book, and submitting it to a publisher it is important to give your manuscript a professional look. The best way I’ve found to do that is by using styles.

Some people will tell you that MS Word is not the best program to use for a book manuscript, but it is the program most users have on their computer, and Word is a format accepted by most publishers. Publishers have their own typesetters and use book set up programs they like best. Since Word is easy to use and has a lot of good features for writers, I’ll share some tips about using styles in Word. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever wondered how to make those symbols we need to create words we’ve borrowed from other languages, like résumé? Yvonne Perry, freelance writer and owner of Write On! Creative Writing Services based in Nashville, Tennessee, teaches us how to make these marks. Sign in to Authors On The Net (registration is free) and go to the “Write Your Book” section and click on Writer’s Tips.

Yvonne and her team of ghostwriters service clients all over the globe by offering quality writing on a variety of topics at an affordable price. If you need a brochure, web text, business document, resume, bio, article or book, visit http://www.yvonneperry.net.

ONLINE WORKSHOP–WORDSMITH CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP—Finding the Words in the Writer and the Writer in the Words.

Improvisational writing exercises & one submission for in-depth critique of work prepared for that purpose. Eight weeks; BEGINS EVERY THURSDAY; cost $110.

Format: I would send you a writing prompt/exercise. You would send me your piece over the weekend and I would give you gentle feedback—what was effective, what was memorable, to encourage the generation of new work and new ideas, hone various writing skills, and offer a place for your work to be heard. You would also have the opportunity during the eight weeks, to send in up to 15 pages of something you have worked on that you would like to bring to the next level. I would give it a thorough critique with separate written notes and editing suggestions.

Participant Comments:

“I like the edits you make and the notes…..they pull my scattered mind “together” and this is a piece I’ll come back to. Thank you, thank you.”

“I think this is a fantastic exercise because, for me, in fiction in particular, I am always astonished at the ways a writer can choose to reveal the essence of a character. Fantastic exercise.”

Facilitated by Lisa Marguerite Mora published poetry and prose in (Rattle, ONTHEBUS, Literary Mama, Common Ties, among others); freelance editor at Barrington Editorial; Assistant Fiction Editor at 42opus a Magazine of the Literary Arts; Greater Los Angeles Writers Society Executive Board, Secretary; Nominated Associate Member of PEN; UCLA Bachelors English-Creative Writing Emphasis. Lisa also offers a live version of this workshop at the Electric Lodge in Venice California. (Eight weeks/ $220. Next workshop begins mid-March.)

Barrington Editorial Services
Lisa Marguerite Mora
Editor, Proofreader, Published Writer
Assistant Fiction Editor 42opus Literary Magazine
www.barringtoneditorial.com
lisa@barringtoneditorial.com

Editing for many types of documents & manuscripts
Manuscript Evaluation ~ Creative Writing Workshops

“…good writing is tense like a tuned string, and never slack.”
–Philip Pullman