I am Mysti Guymon.  I am a mother to two boys, both high needs.  My time is limited throughout the day and most often I can be found writing the old-school way, early in the morning or far too late at night.  I tend to capitalize “my time” when I should be sleeping.  Maintaining early mornings and late nights can make for some pretty exhausting days, but in the end I’m still able to maintain my passion for writing.

Writing takes many different forms in our lives.  Most recently, I’ve had the grand experience of creating invitations.  Grammar, word selection and placement are important faucets when creating invitations.  Most events in our lives are quite casual.  This event, my wedding, took a much more formal stance.

The basic etiquette of wedding invitations:

• Utilize the full name of bride and groom.  If space is an issue, omitting the middle name is acceptable.
• British spelling of favor (favour) and honor (honour) is recommended.
• Spell out all words including the hour, date and year.  Saint (St.) and Mount (Mt.) are the only two abbreviations accepted.
• In names containing numerals (third) utilize roman numerals (III).
• For ceremonies taking place in a house of worship, you will “request the honour of your presence” whereas a garden wedding you will “request the pleasure of your company.”

If you are looking at creating your own invitations for a wedding down the road, a few key points to keep in mind:

• Are you issuing the invitations as a couple?
• Are you the parent of the bride issuing invitations?
• Are you the parent of the groom issuing invitations?
• Is the wedding of the garden variety?
• Would the couple be wed in a church?

Each question brings with it a different choice of invitation styles.  The first and increasingly popular scenario, is couples issuing wedding invitations themselves.  In this situation, the Bride and Groom’s full names will print at the top.  All pertinent information will follow in sequence of date, time, place.  The address of the location will always print at the bottom of the invitation.

Should the bride’s parents issue the invitation, it would read:

Mr. and Mrs. (Brides Father’s Name)

Request the honour of your presence

at the marriage of their daughter (Bride’s full name)

and (Groom’s full name)

on (Month, Date, Year)

at (full time)

Location Name

Location Address

Should the groom’s parents issue the invitation, it would read:

(Bride’s full name)

and (Groom’s full name)

request the honour of your presence

at their marriage

on (Month, Date, Year)

at (full time)

Location Name

Location Address

There are many more issues that could arise when creating invitations.  Some circumstances to consider are a widowed parent, divorced and remarried parents, divorced and one remarried parent issuing the invitations.  As we didn’t have to contend with those situations, you might want to check Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette for suggestions.

As always, writing can be fun, invigorating and inspiring.  Somewhere midst the grandeur comes grammar.  Invitations are no different, even for a writer!

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Greetings, Salutations and Wedding Invitation Etiquette

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Even better is your opportunity win! Leave a comment on any of MaAnna’s blog stops for a chance to win one of two free Just the FAQs eClasses. To find out more about MaAnna’s Virtual Blog Tour including a list of her scheduled blog stops click here.

Also in July I’ll review, “Can I Change Your Mind?“, a fantastic book on the craft and art of persuasive writing by Lindsay Camp and the book I won at Writing The Cyber Highway, “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing” by Mignon Fogarty.

What else would you like to see at WRA this month?

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MaAnna Stephenson Visits WRA In July

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Now on WRA, each individual post highlights the author with their name, bio, gravatar, and website link in the sidebar. Each post also has a by-line that links to the website listed in the author’s user profile.

Want to get involved in our collaborative blogging project? It’s very easy to get started!

1. First, Register Your Account.

You’ll see the Wordpress meta options in the footer of every page on Writer’s Round-About. WRA has always allowed users to register on the blog as subscribers and we will continue to do that. You can also use the links in the footer to log into your account at any time.

2. Fill In Your Profile Details.

Just registering your account is not quite enough to earn your promotion from subscriber to contributor. Next, you need to fill in your first, last, and display name, a website URL, and a short bio. Your bio can include one other link (such as a link to your contact details) and up to three paragraphs.

3. Contact me!

Once you’re happy with the details in your profile contact me either directly via email or with the contact form and let me know you would like to be a contributor. I’ll confirm your details and quickly preview your writing before deciding to promote you to contributor.

4. Write your content.

Once you’ve been accepted, write your content. You can save as many articles as you like in your drafts. Once you are happy with a post, set it for review. I will then review your post, add any SEO or HTML tweaks to maximize it’s web effectiveness, and schedule the content to autopost.

Unfortunately, not everyone will be promoted to contributor. Writer’s Round-About has always been, first and foremost, about what readers want. I believe our readers deserve quality and I will only accept skilled writers as contributors. We want to maintain the standard of excellence for which WRA has become know and respected.

Please also remember that Writer’s Round-About is a niche blog. We have a relatively broad niche that includes all writing genres and skill, web specific content and writing, work-at-home or freelancing, and web design and technology. We do not have a category for cats (unless you can find a way to tie the topic to writing like I did with the Dog Train Your Writing Skills series) or politics.

Beyond those two specific ‘rules’ I like to give writers a great deal of freedom. Take chances and experiment. Do what works for you. Explore your experiences and harvest from the compost of your life, your successes, your failures, and those of the people around you.

Finally, feel free to contact me at any time for any reason. I am always happy to help fellow writers, hear about special events, answer any questions you might have, review writing related products, and meet new friends in our industry.

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Write at WRA: Our Collaborative Blogging Project

If you’ve already read the collaborative blogging post you’ll know that I’ve been thinking about transforming Writer’s Round-About into a collaborative blog project, but before I make any significant changes I need your feedback.

Now is your chance to guide the direction of Writer’s Round-About so that we’re giving you exactly what you want.

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Why do you visit Writer’s Round-About?

I know I’m not the only one because I’m subscribed to a few blogs myself that are sporadically updated. Some of my favorite writers have fantastic blogs but, they’re busy writing the copy that pays. Time is not infinite and sometimes our personal projects get lost in the pipeline of priorities.

Have you got a blog like that? Why? Have you ever considered doing away with your blog and joining other writers in a collaborative blogging project?

Recently I started thinking about transforming Writer’s Round-About into just such a project. Fellow writer’s would be invited to post as it suits them. They would each have their own author page, a full bio, and sidebar blurb with photo and every time they post they get a link to their portfolio website. So they get the promotion of blogging without the pressure of having to update regularly.

Another advantage is the power to reach a larger audience. Writer’s Round-About already has a solid subscriber base and fairly significant traffic. In fact, the support of my existing readers is why I feel so guilty only updating once a week. What if we could bring readers new content more frequently? What if your content could reach an ever increasing readership?

What do you think? Would you be interested in a project like this? As a WRA reader would you like to see posts from a collection of talented freelance writers? As a writer would you like to put aside your solo blog, the guilt of not having a posting schedule, and the loneliness of blogging into emptiness?

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Have you considered collaborative blogging?

George Singleton has a fantastic little pep-talk, number 16, in his book, Pep Talks, Warnings & Screeds:

If it is true that the audience members applaud as a maestro takes the stage, or when an actor emerges from the wings, because they wish to rid the venue from spirits and demons, then please make sure that you never enter your writing space while clapping. In fiction writing, it may be best to have as many specters and demons perched in the rafters as possible.

What do you think George meant?

How Can Our Demons Help Us?

Demons, inner or otherwise, gain power through fear and intimidation. Their ability to scare creates emotional and sometimes physical reactions. Sometimes, fear hinders us, freezing us in place, but fear is also a natural and positive response.

Fear can cause an adrenaline release. Adrenaline lets us move faster, think faster, act faster. It speeds our responses, heightens our senses, and energizes our endorphins. By embracing the fear these demons create we can bring emotion onto the page and we are more likely to feel the emotion coming off the page as we write. It helps us develop the right tone and depth and gives us a positive boost in motivation and momentum.

Our demons also force us to be cautious. To examine options, evaluate choices. While this may be more hindrance than help in the first stages of writing, welcoming our demons in the editing stage is a must. It is their voice that helps us meticulously comb our manuscript for errors and inconsistencies.

Other Demons To Consider

Our inner demons are not the only ones who play a role in our writing. These demons are a creation of the mind. They are our brains way of compartmentalizing our fears and insecurities. Our ability to create inner demons is a sign of fertile imagination and creativity. These demons are not the only ones who accompany us during the writing process.

Your protagonists must have demons of their own. They can be real or imagined, inner demons, or physical demons. Readers tend to associate best with well-rounded, balanced, characters. Characters need to have flaws and weaknesses. They need to have room to grow. It is normal for characters to face fears of their own.

More literally they also have the demonic aspects of their mirror, the antagonist. The antagonist has demons also, and can be the dark element of the story, a demon in his own right.

Can you see the demons and specters that haunt the rafters of your writing place? What influence do they have on your work? How do they help you? Answer these questions in the comments!

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Pep Talk No. 16 – Welcoming Your Demons

The truth is, fear of the blank page is common. I suffer it every day to varied extent and fellow writers have suffered it since the dawn of the written word. Perhaps that dawn was delayed by the fear too!

How do YOU conquer your fear of the blank page?

Just Do It!

In the end, one tried and true method seems to be the only one that works every single time, “Just Do It!” Unfortunately, the theory is as usual, easier than the practice. It is one thing to say, “Just start writing…” and another to quell the beast within long enough to put a word on the page, any word at all. What’s worse is that each word feels tortured, ripped from the gut and splattered in all its messy gore onto the formerly pristine perfection of a blank page.

Writing is messy. The demon within begs us to be neat, orderly, tidy. Backspace! Delete it! Scratch it out! We beat him down, and beat him down again, “Not now!” His screams make us more uneasy but we’ve been told that by facing the page it gets easier to face again and again. We subdue the demon, vowing to call on him when his time comes. He has a purpose, later…

Meanwhile, we scrawl in blood on the page, drip by crimson drip, because putting something on the page is the way to get back to breathing. Putting something, anything, on the page is a way to loosen the knot in our stomach, the tingle in our fingers, the stutter on the tip of our tongue. Still, the words feel awkward, stupid, clumsy…

Today, I wanted to write. My heart aches from being locked away from the words but even with my deepest passions calling me to the page I quiver, anxiety’s baited breath against my throat. I stare at the blank page as words fall upon it and wonder, “WHEN!?! When will this get easier?”

And, with over ten years experience it dawns on me, “It won’t.”

Choosing to be a writer is an act of desperation. No one would choose this life of inner agony, heightened emotions, and tremulous turmoil if they could live their life another way. I find comfort in the fact that sometimes, sometimes fear gives way to a soul-encompassing joy. Sometimes, writing is like breathing. Sometimes, it is bliss, it is harmony. Sometimes…

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Fear and the Blank Page

Integrity

When I die I’d like to stand over my Akashic Records and read about a life lived with integrity. As a writer, ‘truth’ is sacred and complex. As a fiction writer it is a thousand times more so. Every novelist knows that the best novels are held together with firm bindings of truth. But integrity is important in all aspects of life, not just fiction writing. Living a life of integrity is about facing down who you really are and being that person despite potential defamation, discrimination, or segregation.

When others remember the person I was they’ll say, “I knew her, because she never pretended to be anything but herself.”

Creativity

I live in my Idea Waterfall. It is here the very essence of life surrounds me, flows through me. That essence? Creativity. Without creativity all that is or ever was would never have been. Every accomplishment mankind has achieved came first, through creativity. To create!

As a writer creativity is my lifeblood. Without it I am nothing more than a husk of the person I want to be.

Passion

The ultimate life is lived with passion. Without passion we follow the masses, clock in and out, sleep, eat, and function but do not live. I think, because I am Bipolar, I’m more conscious of the influence passion has on my life. Passion is more powerful than the deepest of lows, it is a tether in the peaking highs. What I feel passionate about is a ground, a center, constantly bringing me back when I’ve wandered from the course. Being passionate about writing steers me back here when anxiety, depression, or pain draw me away from the page.

Passion is a driving force, embrace it.

Nurturing

As a mother, I know what it is to nurture a child. As a writer, to nurture the story, the characters. As a human being I choose to nurture the hopes and dreams of those around me. One of the things I love most about freelancing is having the opportunity to guide other writers. Some hire me as a mentor or editor and it is a blessing to watch their skill grow, their confidence glisten, their writing mature. Other writers are simply friends, we nurture the talent within each other and harness each others strength to achieve, to succeed.

We cherish and nurture the seed within each other.

Charity

I believe in giving more than I have. It doesn’t make much sense on the surface, but I reflect on my life in any moment and feel abundant. I have so much. I have two beautiful children, a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs, and all that we need to live happy, healthy lives. I have love, and hope, and with those two things alone the future burns bright and clear. I live an abundant life and I give freely because there is great need in the world.

Reflect on your life and see your own abundance. Do not be afraid that giving of yourself or all you own makes you less, it makes you more.

Fantasy

I suppose the final word of my memoir would be fantasy. For, with all of the above, I give this as my greatest gift to the world, and cherish it most dearly as the world’s greatest gift to me. I choose to write fantasy because it gives us ultimate freedom. Fantasy has no structure, no restriction, and needs no source. All that you imagine, is, or will be. Creativity has no reign in the world of fantasy, and living in that world, heart and mind, even for a moment, is like breathing under the sea or touching a star; impossible, magical.

Fantasy charged with creativity makes anything possible.

What are your six words?

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Rebecca: A Memoir – In Six Words

And the winner is… drumroll please!

Kimberlee Ferrell

Congratulations, Kimberlee! If you drop me an email with a postal address and I’ll get the book in the mail first thing Monday.

It’s great to be able to give away prizes and I’m looking forward to giving away more in the future. What do you like best about the contests you enter online? Do you like ones that are simple, your comment equals your entry with a randomly drawn winner? Or would you like to enter contests where you are judged on the quality of your entry? What makes a contest one you want to enter?

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And the winner is…

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Q: What is a platform?
CK: Long story short: Your platform communicates your expertise to others, and it works all the time so you don’t have to. Your platform includes your Web presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach, the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve published, and any other means you currently have for making your name and your future books known to a viable readership. If others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for a specific audience or both, then that is your platform.

A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. “Get Known” explains in plain English, without buzzwords, how any writer can stand out from the crowd of other writers and get the book deal. The book clears an easy-to-follow path through a formerly confusing forest of ideas so any writer can do the necessary platform development they need to do.

Q: Why is platform development important for writers today?
CK: Learning about and working on a solid platform plan gives writers an edge. Agents and editors have known this for years and have been looking for platform-strong writers and getting them book deals. But from the writer’s point-of-view, there has not been enough information on platform development to help unprepared writers put their best platform forward.

Now suddenly, there is a flood of information on platform, not all necessarily comprehensive, useful or well organized for folks who don’t have a platform yet. Writers can promote themselves in a gradual, grounded manner without feeling like they are selling out. I do it, I teach other writers to do it, I write about it on an ongoing basis, and I encourage all writers to heed the trend. And hopefully, I communicate how in a practical, step-by-step manner that can serve any writer. Because ultimately, before you actively begin promoting yourself, platform development is an inside job requiring concentration, thoughtfulness and a consideration of personal values.

Q: How did you come to write Get Known Before the Book Deal?
CK: I already had a lot of momentum going when I got the deal for a very specific audience. I wrote a column on the topic for the Willamette Writer’s newsletter. Then I started speaking on platform. When I gave my presentation, “Get Known Before the Book Deal”, at the Writer’s Digest/BEA Writer’s Conference in May 2007, Phil Sexton, one of my publisher’s sales guys, saw it and suggested making the concept into a book. Coincidentally, I was trying to come up with an idea for my second book at that time and had just struck out with what I thought were my three best ideas. My editor, Jane Friedman agreed with Phil. That was two votes from people sitting on the pub board. They converted the others with the help of my proposal, and Get Known got the green light.

Q: Why was a book on platform development needed?
CK: Writers often underestimate how important platform is and they often don’t leverage the platform they already have enough. At every conference I presented, I took polls and found that about 50 percent of attendees expressed a desire for a clearer understanding of platform. Some were completely in the dark about it, even though they were attending a conference in hopes of landing a book deal. Since book deals are granted based largely on the impressiveness of a writer’s platform, I noticed a communication gap that needed to be addressed.

My intention was that Get Known would be the book every writer would want to read before attending a writer’s conference, and that it would increase any writer’s chances of landing a book deal whether they pitched in-person or by query. As I wrote the book, I saw online how this type of information was being offered as “insider secrets” at outrageous prices. No one should have to pay thousands of dollars for the information they can find in my book for the price of a paperback! Seriously. You can even ask your library to order it and read it for free.

Q: What is the key idea behind Get Known Before the Book Deal?
CK: Getting known doesn’t take a lot of money, but it does take an in-depth understanding of platform, and then the investment of time, skills and consistent effort to build one. Marketing experience and technological expertise are also not necessary. I show how to avoid the biggest time and money-waster, which is not understanding who your platform is for and why – and hopefully save writers from the confusion and inertia that can result from either information overload or not taking the big picture into account before they jump into writing for traditional publication.

Often writers with weak platforms are over-confident that they can impress agents and editors, while others with decent platforms are under-confident or aren’t stressing their platform-strength enough. Writers have to wear so many hats these days, we can use all the help we can get. Platform development is a muscle, and the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Anyone can do it, but most don’t or won’t because they either don’t understand what is being asked for, or they haven’t overcome their own resistance to the idea. Get Known offers a concrete plan that can help any writer make gains in the rapidly changing and increasingly competitive publishing landscape.

Q: What is the structure of the book and why did you choose it?
CK: Writer Mama was written in small, easy-to-digest chunks so busy new moms could stick it in a diaper bag and read it in the nooks and crannies of the day. Get Known is a bit more prosaic, especially in the early chapters. Most of the platform books already out there were only for authors, not writers or aspiring authors. To make platform evolution easy to comprehend, I had to dial the concepts back to the beginning and talk about what it’s like to try and find your place in the world as an author way before you’ve signed a contract, even before you’ve written a book proposal. No one had done that before in a book for writers. I felt writers needed a context in which to chart a course towards platform development that would not be completely overwhelming.

Introducing platform concepts to writers gives them the key information they need to succeed at pitching an agent either via query or in-person, making this a good book for a writer to read before writing a book proposal. Get Known has three sections: section one is mostly stories and cautionary tales, section two has a lot of to-do lists any writer should be able to use, and section three is how to articulate your platform clearly and concisely so you won’t waste a single minute wondering if you are on the right track.

Q: At the front of Get Known, you discuss four phases of the authoring process. What are they?

CK: First comes the platform development and building phase. Second comes the book proposal development phase (or if you are writing fiction, the book-writing phase). Third, comes the actual writing of the book (for fiction writers this is likely the re-writing of the book). And finally, once the book is published, comes the book marketing and promoting phase.

Many first-time authors scramble once they get a book deal if they haven’t done a thorough job on the platform development phase. Writers who already have a platform have influence with a fan base, and they can leverage that influence no matter what kind of book they write. Writing a book is a lot easier if you are not struggling to find readers for the book at the same time. Again, agents and editors have known this for a long time.

Q: What are some common platform mistakes writers make?
CK: Here are a few:

• They don’t spend time clarifying who they are to others.
• They don’t zoom in specifically on what they offer.
• They confuse socializing with platform development.
• They think about themselves too much and their audience not enough.
• They don’t precisely articulate all they offer so others get it immediately.
• They don’t create a plan before they jump online.
• They undervalue the platform they already have.
• They are overconfident and think they have a solid platform when they have only made a beginning.
• They become exhausted from trying to figure out platform as they go.
• They pay for “insider secrets” instead of trusting their own instincts.
• They blog like crazy for six months and then look at their bank accounts and abandon the process as going nowhere.

I’ll stop there. Suffice it to say that many writers promise publishers they have the ability to make readers seek out and purchase their book. But when it comes time to demonstrate this ability, they can’t deliver.

My mission is to empower writers to be 100 percent responsible for their writing career success and stop looking to others to do their promotional work for them. Get Known shows writers of every stripe how to become the writer who can not only land a book deal, but also influence future readers to plunk down ten or twenty bucks to purchase their book. It all starts with a little preparation and planning. The rest unfolds from there.

Q: Couldn’t any author have written this book? Why you?

CK: I have built a career over the past decade empowering writers. I’ve developed and built my own platform as a writing-for-traditional-publication specialist, and I’ve worked with others as a writing and platform-development instructor. Many of the people I’ve been working with are landing book deals and while the other hundred-or-so writers I work with a year are developing their skills, I notice patterns of behavior—what leads to success, where writers get stuck, and how I can be helpful in these rapidly changing times in the industry.

I’ve witnessed too many writers, who were off to a great start, hopping online and quickly becoming very lost. I started to write about platform in Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, but I quickly noticed that more details on platform development were desperately needed. My platform is based on helping others. I have a vested interest in seeing the people I work with—and those who read my book—succeed. Writers are my tribe.

Christina Katz is the author of Get Known Before the Book Deal: Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform (Writer’s Digest Books). She started her platform “for fun” seven years ago and ended up on “Good Morning America.” Christina teaches e-courses on platform development and writing nonfiction for publication. Her students are published in national magazines and land agents and book deals.

Christina has been encouraging reluctant platform builders via her e-zines for five years, has written hundreds of articles for national, regional, and online publications, and is a monthly columnist for the Willamette Writer. A popular speaker at writing conferences, writing programs, libraries, and bookstores, she hosts the Northwest Author Series in Wilsonville, Oregon. She is also the author of Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids (Writer’s Digest Books).

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Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform