Several years ago, as I was struggling to find my place in the writing world, my neighbor found out I was writing. She told me, “I’ve always wanted to write a children’s book.”

“There’s no time like the present. Start writing,” I said.

She had all the same excuses I had. Her kids were still home and taking up a lot of her time. She helped out in their orchard and did the books for the farm. I encouraged her to start writing a little every day.

The next time I saw her she said, “I’m writing a book.” She was so pleased, and I was happy for her. She did everything right. She joined a critique group, and worked hard on her books, writing and rewriting them. She was patient and when someone would suggest a change in her manuscript, she would painstakingly go through it. Because she didn’t like to drive, I drove her to Eugene so she could use the college library for research. (This was before Google!)

Even though I wrote mysteries and she wrote children’s adventure books, we loved talking about writing together. I read some of her early work and encouraged her to keep writing. She was such a good writer. I knew she’d make it someday and her books would be out in the world for children to enjoy and learn from.

I don’t know how many manuscripts she finished, but she worked hard on one and when it was done, she asked me to read it. Her critique group had read it and liked it, but she wanted another set of eyes on it before she started shopping it around.  I was happy to and blown away by how professional it was. It was polished, and I couldn’t wait to tell her how much I enjoyed it and that I felt it was ready to be sent out to agents or publishers.

I remember going to her house that day. She sat in her recliner looking like she always did. I had no premonition of what she was about to tell me. After we talked a bit, I told her I thought her book was great. There were a couple of little things I thought she could change, but I knew it was ready for publication.

She smiled at me. “Lana, I just found out I have cancer.”

My heart sank. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. But you can beat it. And while you’re recovering, you can work on getting this book to agents. I’ll help you all I can.”

“No,” she said, still smiling at me, “You don’t understand. They gave me six weeks.”

I’m sure in that instant my heart stopped beating for a moment. I couldn’t accept it. I had no words to say to her. I just kept repeating, “I’m so sorry,” over and over. Then she said, “I really thought I’d have twenty more years to write.” She had just turned sixty.

I hugged her and asked what I could do for her, and she shook her head. “There’s nothing anyone can do.” I told her I’d be back to see her and if she needed anything to let me know. I said all the things you say during times like that. Things that make you feel better when you know there really isn’t anything you can do.

Then I went home and cried.

A few days later, I went back to check on her. Her husband and daughter were outside, and I asked if I could see her. Her husband got tears in his eyes and her daughter said, “Mom passed this morning.”

I couldn’t believe it. This bright, beautiful woman who had so much potential, who’d worked so hard to put her work out there for others to enjoy had passed before she had time to get her book out to the world. I know if she had lived, she would’ve had many books out by now.

My own journey has taken several more years. I didn’t take my own advice very well until I reached a certain age and thought, “I’ve got to get these books out there!”  If I could leave you with anything, it’s that there is no time like the present. If you want to write, you have to start. You have to make it a priority. Because no one knows how long they may have.

And one of the great things about writing is that there is no mandatory retirement age. You can write as long as you want. You can write one very long book—think War and Peace or Gone with the Wind—or many shorter books. But you won’t have any written if you don’t start writing now.

Go! Why are you still here reading this? Go work on your book!

            As a freelance journalist, writing to deadline is as natural as breathing. When editors assign a story, they provide three essential pieces of information: topic, word count, and delivery date. Miss your deadline and kiss the possibility of a second assignment goodbye.

            This is not about editors flexing their weight. It’s about the reality of publishing. In the days before online everything, a story that didn’t arrive on time meant publications had a gaping hole in their magazine or newspaper. Gaping holes are filled when editors rush around like mad, cursing the name of the writer who missed their deadline.

            When I started to do more fiction writing than reporting, I found deadlines are often self-imposed. I will finish my first chapter by the end of the week. I will write a thousand words of my short story every day for four days. I will edit the story by Monday. I also found self-imposed deadlines are often more wishful thinking than etched in stone.

I missed the rigor of deadlines I didn’t dream up. Then I discovered anthologies. Genre writing is rife with anthologies – and anthologies have deadlines. They also often have themes, the journalistic equivalent of topic. The path ahead is paved for you. Here’s what we’d like you to write about. Here’s when you have to get it to us.

I wrote my first mystery short story, “Swan Song,” in 2021 in response to a call from the Crime Writers of Canada. To celebrate its fortieth anniversary, the national association planned to publish an anthology, Cold Canadian Crime. There was a theme (“cold” in the broadest sense of the word). There was a deadline. Count me in.

Since then, I have written fourteen more short stories. Most of them have been published, mostly in anthologies. A few have been reprinted in anthologies. At least one has been reprinted in several anthologies.

One of my recent anthology short stories is called “Maladaptive Anonymous.” In the story, the main character calls this group, somewhat disparagingly, Daydreamers Anonymous. The anthology, which will be out June 18^th, is entitled: Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers. Just as editors expect you to meet your deadline (or miss out on the opportunity), they also expect you to stick to the topic. You have lots of room to play, but the boundaries are there.

While every anthology editor has their own process, the process is usually rigorous. And appreciated. Judy Penz Sheluk, who edited Midnight Schemers, had three rounds of readers and after the first and third round we were provided with feedback – and helpful suggestions for improvements. There were also at least three rounds of proofreading. At some point, you think this is overkill until in the final proof you discover your main character has titled their head. In the published version, their head is now tilted.

 As a short story writer, anthologies bring me back to familiar ground. I am given three essential pieces of information: topic, word count, and delivery date. This helps me to focus on a theme – and to go to wonderful and wacky places with plots I might otherwise not uncover and characters I might otherwise not create. And I go there by deadline.

by Janis Patterson

Don’t get me wrong – I love blogging. It’s wonderful to be able to chat with readers and fans and people who get lost on the internet. What I don’t like is schedules. Each time I check my calendar – and every blog and everything else I do is ruthlessly noted on my calendar – I swear this time I will get my next blog done well in time, pre-schedule it and the announcement to be sent in a timely manner and have no worries or last minute rushes.

Then Life happens. You know what I mean. All the writing gurus say that if you are a writer (or want to be a writer) writing should always come before anything other than dangerous illness or death. Well, that makes a good talking point for writing teachers to use to encourage you, but in practical life it’s not much good. Things come up that you didn’t expect. Things that are not life-threatening, but which really do need to be handled. Then there’s laundry, and cooking, and cleaning, and marketing, and…

And your time for writing gets shorter and shorter.

Now there are those who say writing is not done just at the keyboard, that no matter what your hands are doing your brain can still be plotting, so that time spent at the keyboard is really just transcribing. While that is true to a point, it can also be dangerous. Once I was driving from Dallas to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. While I drove I tried to work out a really knotty plotting problem on my work in progress. When I finally had it worked out I had no idea of where I was. Turns out it was Missouri, and I had a lot of backtracking to do. So one does need to be careful when using this technique.
Back to blogs. Blogs are short. Blogs are fairly localized in focus – in my case, a subject that can be wrangled by hook or by crook to the world of writing. The only trouble is, you have to have a reasonably cogent premise, or something informative, or at least interesting to say. Otherwise all you’re doing is stringing words in a line and hoping they say something at least minimally interesting.

Like this post. Well, negative examples can be a teaching tool too!

Before I go I must share that my new anthology (shared with the fabulous Sandy Steen, Penny Richards and James Gaskin) releases on June 14th and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. It’s called The July Fourth Murders and features four different wars and four murders on the Fourth of July, written by four authors. My part is World War One. It’s a nifty book! Go take a look.