Author: Robert Evenhouse

Novelist. Blogger. Founding Member of the Weaklings Writers Group & JOT Writers Conference. Loves Encouraging Writers and Reading Books.

On Hustling With Afterburners

On By Robert EvenhouseIn World of WritingLeave a comment

I have thousands of hopes for my writing. I would love publish a full length novel, become somewhat of a professional blogger, and even launch several websites to share some of my passions.

The problem with this is the silly old thing we call time. Or is it?

There are many nights I stay up late reading, or sometimes (like tonight), writing. Like many writers I cringe when people refer to my work as a hobby but if I am honest with myself, I treat it that way from time to time. I casually poke at a book or think of ideas for websites but never dive in. I try a consistent, dull trudge of activity but there are times when I feel a project requires more than a steady plod to get it off the ground and get some momentum.

Enter Jon Acuff and the term “hustle.” What does that mean exactly?

It means afterburners.Blastoff!

It means focusing less on sleeping and more on getting that website off the ground. There are times for a simple plod, yes. But there are also times to give a magnanimous shove, burning everything you have, in order to take whatever that thing is you have always wanted to do to the next level.

What is it that thing you’ve been wanting to do but have not dedicated yourself to it? Not just making it a discipline and a habit, but making it a passion and giving it all you have to get it going?

I’ll share more about my latest project later this week, but until then – exhaust yourself.

Cheers,

Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worldbuilding 101- Let’s Build a World Together

On By Robert EvenhouseIn Writing Tips9 Comments

One of the best parts about living in a city with several bookstores and publishers is that there are a lot of readers and writers. I was connected with a group that loved to write and from our writers group the Wealkings Jot – the free one night writer’s conference, complete with presenters and workshops – was born.

Jot 5 is Friday, March 13th from 7-11pm follow this link for details.

Every time this event comes around I am equally thankful and thrilled that we have such a vibrant community of writers in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I get incredibly charged up (nearly bursting with energy, literally) and my well of creativity is filled to the brim and over.

This Jot I will be leading a workshop on Worldbuilding.World Building

For those of you unfamiliar with the term worldbuilding, it’s exactly like it sounds – laying a foundation for a story.

Worldbuilding is about the climate not the weather. It’s about your character’s clothes and why they dress a certain way. It’s the reason your character has his or her job, or why they don’t have one. It’s the history, the accents, and how their community came to be. It is different from a setting as it is constantly interacting with the characters that are traversing your pages.

For some, this might sound like a horrible nerdy topic but it’s essential to any work of fiction. If you do not know about the age, values, and traditions which reach deeply into the people we are creating, we lose the richness. It’s about depth and this vastness is essential to writing believable stories.

I plan on a micro introduction to worldbuilding and then working together with those who attend my workshop to build a world from the bottom up. I’m sure I’ll write more about this as Jot 5 gets closer but until then please save the date.

Cheers,

Bob

Learning to Write Again

On By Robert EvenhouseIn The Writing Life3 Comments

I made an elementary writing mistake these past two months, one that many writers make from time to time. I was entirely drained after work (December and January are horribly demanding) and I didn’t feel inspired to write, so I didn’t. This lull led to suffocating self-doubt and a thousand questions.

I started to question my art and ability to write.

Then the questions left and a certainty filled me.

I am not good.

I cannot do this.

It’s over.

The absurd thing about all of this was that I doubted something I no longer practiced.

I’m an avid hockey fan and I know that when a player suffers a leg fracture or broken foot it can take months to get back to “game speed”. They’ve been off for a bit and need to undergo proper conditioning to attain “game speed” once again. In other words, they have to put in the work to get to a place where skating and playing the game feels natural.

Conditioning is the key word there. It means to break in. Ever run a 5K on a new pair of shoes? Ouch.

This is where I am at now. Learning to walk again. Learning the writing drive again.

Now comes the hard part. Now comes the march onward to becoming an everydayer.

There were times in the past when I could not stop myself from writing. The thrill of it filled me enough that I cast sleep aside and was lost in what I was doing. About the time I finished this post I felt that again. A small flicker of it anyway. A spark. Now I need to figure out how to give it more fuel.

That is what becoming great at anything is. Before you can be great, you must put in the work.

Let’s roll up our sleeves today.

Cheers,

Bob

Books I Read In 2014

On By Robert EvenhouseIn Uncategorized2 Comments

This past year, I fell well short of my goal to read 40 books in a year. That being said, I enjoyed some of the best books I’ve ever read.

My least favorite book this year was King Solomon’s Mines.

My favorite fictional character goes to Tiffany Aching for a third year in a row, Mr. Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series never seems to grow old.

A Moveable Feast was just that – delicious.

The best book I read this year was Unbroken. I am sure you were told by a friend to read it at to some point over the last few years and you need to listen to them. If not them then me. Please read it. I beg you.

If you don’t trust me just read one of the 15,000+ 5 star reviews on Amazon.com. I finished it a few weeks ago and I am not sure I can say it changed my life but it has changed its trajectory for now. I still cannot believe anyone lived that experience.

Thanks for reading, and please share any recommendations for 2015 in the comments section below. Thank you in advance.

Happy New Year.

Cheers,

Bob

  1. The Fourth Part of the World – Toby Lester
  2. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
  3. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
  4. The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
  5. The Giver – Lois Lowry
  6. Myths of the Norsemen – Roger Lancelyn Green
  7. 14 – Peter Clines
  8. Because of Winn Dixie – Kate Dicamillo
  9. The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
  10. The Great Divorce – C.S. Lewis
  11. King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard
  12. The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
  13. The Wintersmith – Terry Pratchett
  14. I Shall Wear Midnight – Terry Pratchett
  15. A Walk In the Woods – Bill Bryson
  16. The Adventures of Robin Hood – Roger Lancelyn Green
  17. Stardust – Neil Gaiman
  18. The Art of War for Writers – James Scott Bell
  19. A Moveable Feast – Earnest Hemingway
  20. 1491 New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus – Charles L. Mann
  21. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
  22. On the Wings of Eagles – Ken Follett
  23. Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand

Start Your New Year’s Resolution Today

On By Robert EvenhouseIn Writing TipsLeave a comment

Any goal of significance takes a lot of planning. It matters and therefore making it the best ____ means we must plan well, consider, honestly, how we might accomplish it day to day, and why we are doing it.

Now is the time when I begin to reflect on the past year.

Did I accomplish my goals? If so, cheers.Calendar

If not, why didn’t I complete a particular goal?

Usually it is because of three things.

  1. I failed to plan properly
  2. It was poorly executed
  3. In the end I realized it was not important.

Now is also the time when I begin planning for the next year. I don’t do well with halfhearted attempts at anything. They almost always result in failure. How about you, do you plan to run a 25K? Write a book? Travel to another country?

If you have goals don’t wait to begin the planning process until 2015. Plan right now. Gain some momentum and excitement about whatever it is you want to do so are ready to go when the calendar turns to the New Year.

Cheers,

Bob

 

The #1 Trick to Keep up with Your Blog

On By Robert EvenhouseIn BloggingLeave a comment

There is a poster than hangs in the bathroom at my in-laws house. It’s a comic of a man on the toilet. He looks dejected and stares longingly at the toilet paper dispenser. There is nothing left but a piece of circular cardboard. Written above him is the simple phrase – Plan Ahead.

Poor soul.

Though I struggle to keep the balance between my writing projects and my blog, I know that the surest way for me to keep blogging is to plan write ahead. The posts for this week were written nearly two weeks ago. I have the pressure to write to keep pace, but not the panic of a last minute cobbled-together post.

Need another reason to write ahead? Because life happens. You want to be consistent for your audience and at some point you will have a family crisis, a work crisis, or computer meltdown.

Until recently, I kept thinking – okay, my words for my book are in, now to a blog post for tomorrow. Many times this thought came at midnight after a long day which made me dread my blog and thus, no blog the next day.

Keep blogging (ahead) and connecting. It’s what keeps us writer’s sane.

Cheers,

Bob

Doing Not Comsuming

On By Robert EvenhouseIn The Writing LifeLeave a comment

Earlier this week I wrote about my televisional escapade when, I was spectacularly unsuccessful at chasing my dream of publication.

Part of me was okay with unplugging for a bit. This is the busiest time of the year for me at work. These next eight weeks make or break my sales year. Also, I work with two computer screens in my face for at least eight hours each day and I need to relax, right?

Yes and no. I need inspiration but I know the point when I have watched an unhealthy amount of television or not. The same can be said for eating or shopping. We know when we are merely consuming things and not doing things.

For me, there is nothing more I would rather do with my scant free time than write. It relaxes, fulfills, and challenges. When the television stays off the night moves slowly and there is even time for conversation, straightening up the house, reading a book, playing a game, and more writing. I find myself doing something and the stress of activity is soothing. I feel a sense of accomplishment, that I’ve spent my time well.

I despise mindlessness, where a week or days are used up and we wonder where our time has gone and what we did with it. I am thoroughly guilty of this. I hope that as the waves and currents of the Christmas and New Year holidays come that I live intentionally.

I want to be satisfied with what I’ve done, not looking back wistfully.

We only have one life.

Cheers,

Bob

Writing As Play

On By Robert EvenhouseIn The Writing Life2 Comments

The very first error I made with my novel was thinking it was a linear process. Write one scene and the next until finished. This may be true for the first draft, but not the rest of them.

Part of the fun of writing a novel is seeing what lay down the road of each possibility. What if the character didn’t follow when they should have? What if they were killed? How can this portion be even more gut wrenching? – and then writing that scene to see where it goes.

Many of these pieces will never be read by anyone but the author and may be considered by some to be wasted time and energy. Not I. This is part of the joy and play of writing.

As writers we must turn over every stone, make the road long and necessarily weary, before we can stand confidently on our finished book. Through the struggle I admit I lose some of the fun and playfulness. There should be joy and it is work. For me, they are intermingled and confused all too often.

Every now and again my kids remind me of this. They have so much joy in what they do where I take things too seriously. It is a refreshing reminder to pull my head out of the ground and see the sun. I love my children for this and so much more.

Cheers,

Bob

 

Not Making Plans Is Still Making Plans

On By Robert EvenhouseIn Writing Tips2 Comments

Last week I made no plans to write, I just knew I was going to do it.

You know what I did, don’t you?Television

I watched three NHL games, a documentary on Oak Island (seriously cool), and one on Native American giants. Of course I didn’t watch all of these in one sitting, but the fact is I didn’t make plans to write, so that is exactly what I did. I squandered my free time. It was out there in some nebulous, free flowing time slot which was never filled and I felt miserable for it.

If you’ve wanted to complete a project around your house and just have not gotten around to it, I am sure you can relate. If we don’t make plans, whatever it is we long to do or need to do won’t happen.

Today? I made a mental note. I was going to write before I went to bed. No matter how tired or mentally drained I was, it was going to happen and here we are.

This blog is nothing monumental, but it is. Commitment is one thing. Planning and following through on our commitments another.

If you are a writer and have not written this week, take a moment and schedule some time.

There. Now keep that appointment.

Cheers,

Bob