This month’s Anodyne Coffee – MKE Creatives meetup featured a conversation with Liz Lincoln – a MKE writer with skills in penning romance, and children’s picture books! The morning’s conversation with her focused on how to stay inspired/stay focused on our work. Here are some notes and quotes from the talk!
-Liz has been writing romance since she was 9, and “people think it’s easy, but it’s really a hard industry to get into.”
-“I got my agent last Fall, got my first rejection from Random House last week – it’s kind of a big deal for me!”
-Her daughter’s over-used, under-washed, completely worn-out doll led to the “Zombie Baby Doll” children’s picture-book. Liz mentioned the unique challenge of telling a story in around 500 words.
-Liz sees great value in maintaining other pursuits and interests, as those can often lead to inspiration, and help “keep the well from drying up.” Rosie mentioned her affection for “Build-a-Kit” projects, and Paul mentioned workshopping in improv comedy, as interests that help keep each of them motivated.
-She also likes to make “soundtracks” for characters in her stories, and then listens to those before writing, to help her get in the mind-set of a particular character.
-Liz described her style of romance as “romance-suspense” – and that she enjoys it because “I get to kill people AND make people fall in love. It’s got everything!”
-Liz mentioned the value in a simple timer, for helping stay productive – it just forces you to produce >something<. This was similar to her feelings on first drafts – “it doesn’t have to be good, but it does have to get done!”
-She also has come to really enjoy social media for the people she’s met (me, and her agent) and the inspiration she’s found (two novellas were inspired from Twitter conversations).
-Many people mentioned particular apps they found helpful when spending lots of time on our computers: Stay Focused, Self-Control, Stretch-Clock, Focus At Will.
– Also, Pete Olsen, and Vance Dovenbarger, photographers from Madison, journeyed out to join us – check out their work! It was also very neat to have Kathryn Lavey, of Milwaukee Magazine join us for a chat – she’ll be the MKE Creatives presenter in March!
