Every once in a while you get an idea for a big goal that you want to accomplish. This idea will loom in the back of your mind, and although you truly want to accomplish it, it always seems to stay a “future goal.” It’s a big task, and as such it’s too overwhelming to start. Consequently, it lingers above you, just out of reach — but always present enough to remind you how you still need to do it.

I’m thinking about this because I have an upcoming deadline for something that’s really important to me. I’m applying to a creative writing MFA program, and I need to write about 80 pages of a manuscript to submit as part of the application. It’s an overwhelming project that’s hanging over my head, that I just can’t seem to jump up and grab.

For larger goals like this, it’s helpful for me to view the big goal as a bunch of smaller goals. Put another way, in order to accomplish something big, I need to break it down.

Naturally, I can’t write 80 pages of fiction in one shot. Still, when I think about the task at hand, I can’t help but imagine the end goal: A stack of paper ready to be mailed. A perfectly written manuscript totaling 80 pages.

Approaching it in this manner intimidates me. I get stressed out. I think about how disappointed I’ll be if I don’t succeed, and I start to worry about how the deadline is fast approaching. Trying to attack the goal head on like this is a waste of time, because nothing gets accomplished. I worry, become afraid, and run away from the task to do something else entirely.

It’s better to break your big goals down into smaller ones. Finish small, daily goals that will ultimately contribute to the end goal. This way, you’re constantly moving forward.

If I view my manuscript as a slowly building progression over time, it becomes much more manageable. For instance, if I can write an average of three pages a day for every day in October, then I’ll exceed my page requirement by November. Since the University accepts applications November 1 through January 3, finishing my first draft ahead of the deadline will give me the flexibility to re-write, make cuts, and even send my drafted manuscript to other people for review. Once I’ve consolidated everyone’s suggestions and produced a “final” copy, I’ll be ready to submit it.

Granted, there is no guarantee that I will be accepted into the program I’m interested in, but if I don’t succeed at submitting a finished application then I will have no chance at all. Furthermore, I can’t put all of my hopes into this single school — I’ll be needing to other MFA programs as well, in case my first choice doesn’t come through.

All of this will come later, though. The primary objective right now is to get the hard part finished: Write the manuscript. It’s the first step towards my goal of becoming a published author, whether I attend an MFA program or not. Simply put, if I want to be a writer, then I must write.

My point is that your big, seemingly-impossible goals will always seem out of reach until you break them down. If your goal is to own a house, but you’re not getting any closer to that goal, it’s because you’re not taking the smaller steps necessary to get there. You need to save for a down-payment, but instead of saving your money, you’re inflating your spending to the point where you’re constantly broke. I know so many people who get really excited about successfully landing a promotion, finding a better job, or getting a pay raise — but instead of paying down debt with their added income they simply buy more stuff. I want to slap them and shake them out of it: You’re doing it wrong!

Start smaller. Try saving $100 in 30 days. If you can do that successfully, try doing it for an entire year. You’ll save over $1000.

Saving money really is that simple — but don’t confuse “simple” with “easy.” Just remember that you MUST be able to successfully save $100 before you can save enough for a house. It’s stupid to think otherwise, and if you never realize the necessity of starting small, then your big goals will always remain out of reach.

Don’t allow your big goals to stay out of reach forever. Take small steps and climb up to meet them gradually. This will work, regardless of what your big goals are.

Maybe you want to learn to play a difficult piece of music. Maybe you want a better job. Maybe you want to plant a garden. Maybe you want to flip a house. Whatever you’re dreaming of doing, to truly get it done you must take action!

Start small, be consistent, and follow through. As long as you’re consciously working towards your goals — big or small — you will conquer them.

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It began with a simple idea: You unexpectedly time-travel to 1985. You have no way back, ever. What do you do?

The key word here is “unexpectedly.” You did not prepare for this, so you have no winning lottery numbers or sports almanac. Using only your memory, knowledge and skills, how do you benefit from this?

What started out as a thought experiment turned into something much bigger. I was imagining what could be the start of a new story concept, but as always, I was hung up on how everything played out for the character involved. I turned to the Internet for help.

AskReddit is an online community where you can post thought-provoking questions, and people will reply with answers. The more interesting the question, the more popular it becomes, and the more replies you receive.

The popularity of the question is determined by the community’s voting system. If readers like the question, they’ll vote it “up” — and if readers don’t like it, they’ll vote it “down.” The combined total of these “upvotes” and “downvotes” gives your question a score, which will determine where it appears on the website. Questions with a higher score are more visible.

I posted my time-travel question to AskReddit, and waited for responses to come back. I was hoping that someone’s answer would trigger a great plot idea I hadn’t thought of yet.

At first, people’s answers fell in line with my initial thoughts. You’re in 1985 with knowledge of future events. You invest in Microsoft, Google, and Apple. You bet big on the Super Bowl outcomes that you remember. You make startlingly accurate predictions about world events, and maybe even try to prevent the attacks on 9/11.

Most of these answers are missing the mark. You have no money or identity in 1985. You can’t just buy stocks and expect to immediately profit from them. The question of “What would you do?” doesn’t only refer to how you might benefit financially — it suggests how you now have the opportunity to start a new life, maybe befriend your parents when they were younger, or even give your younger self some personal advice from someone who’s “been there.”

By this point, people were asking additional questions for clarification of the rules. “Do you arrive in 1985 naked, like the Terminator? Or do you take everything you’re wearing with you?” — “Can you change things? If you meet your parents and prevent them from conceiving, do you still exist?” — “If you wait 26 years and meet 2011 for a second time, are you sent back again? Are you stuck in an infinite loop?”

My question was gaining popularity, so I clarified the time-travel rules:

1. Your current clothes and any belongings on your person come with you.
2. It is possible to change things as a result of your actions, HOWEVER you’re in an alternate timeline/universe, so nothing you change affects the fact that in 2011 you are unexpectedly sent back to 1985 (You cannot prevent your own existence).
3. After being sent back to 1985, if you reach 2011 a second time after 26 years, you do not get sent back to 1985 again (No infinite loop).

So if you have any money in your wallet, it would be viewed as counterfeit in 1985. Your bank cards are similarly useless, as they all refer to accounts that don’t exist yet. Your I.D. indicates that you either haven’t been born yet, or that you’re much younger than you look.

People started to understand what I was getting at. New suggestions included going to the nearest hospital and faking amnesia. This is something I hadn’t thought of, and has potential. Many people explained how they’d go to their family for help, which is a reasonable reaction to the situation. Someone suggested they’d steal their father’s identity, because their physical appearance closely matches their dad’s.

Then one guy came along and blew everyone else’s reply out of the water:

Well, let’s suppose that I am walking home from work on a normal day and boom, I open my apartment door to find out it is 1985.

First comes confusion as I wonder why my apartment looks different. Hopefully no one is home. Hopefully something will trigger a sense of the ’80s, a magazine or household product. The TV will be old as hell but look new. I turn it on. It is around 6 pm, so I am watching the news and there is an earthquake in Mexico City and maybe something about Tipper Gore. I have $20 in my pocket and a wallet full of useless cards that would appear fake to authorities, not to mention no identity.

Sorry past apartment renters, but I gotta rob you. I search the apartment for anything I can take in my over-the-shoulder and maybe make some cash. I’m out the door.

It’s 1985. I am 11 years old in St. Louis. But 37 year-old me has a bag full of stolen goods in Chicago and is a block and half from my grandmother’s house. Will my grandmother recognize the 11 year old in the 37 year-old me? Is my youngest uncle currently around the corner at The Bubble having a drink? How can I get to St. Louis?

It’s September 19th and in a few weeks the Royals will escape defeat at the hands of the Cardinals with some bullshit call in Game 6. Also, the Bears will win the Super Bowl. Aside from the stolen goods, I have an Andriod LG phone, a 5-year old iPod nano and earphones, and a USB drive with personal and business files in a format that probably hasn’t been invented yet.

Credit goes to Reddit User: Hornswaggle

I told Hornswaggle that this read like the opening to a novel. I loved it, and “upvoted” his reply. Within the next 24 hours, it snowballed out of control.

People demanded more. “Dear god please don’t stop writing!” — “I would totally read this if you wrote a full length book about it!” — “Where can I buy your novel?”

As Hornswaggle continued his story, it only drew more people in:

At this point, I’ve got to get to St. Louis. What will that take in 1985? I can’t fly without ID, can I? I am trusting that my parents will somehow know that I am, in fact, their time-traveling son. I am trusting that parental feeling. But will my grandmother? What if she doesn’t… has she moved to Florida yet? I think back to a photo of me on the family station wagon with my sisters visiting my grandmother in Fort Myers, FL. How old was I? I look taller than 11 and I remember wearing a Led Zeppelin T, so probably older than 11. I think she is still in Granville. I’m going there, but first let’s get rid of these stolen goods. I don’t know how long I will be in this neighborhood, so I can’t find a pawn shop around here. I have some watches, jewelry, and 36 more dollars. I have two gold coins from 1976 and an antique Mickey Mouse watch with moving hands. I should go downtown, the L train is right here and I have 6 dollars in ones. I remember seeing older looking marquees for jewelers downtown, north of the Mag Mile. I walk to the Bryn Mawr stop. Thankfully, someone else is getting tokens from this machine I’ve never seen before, so I mimic her actions and get as many tokens as $6 will get me. I have a transit pass in my wallet, but it won’t work until 1999 or so.

Things are crazy as hell on what would later be named the Red Line and I am tempted to get out my iPod, but I will need all the power it has to maybe sell it or demonstrate its use to someone capable.

Walton and Delaware downtown are littered with jewelers and antique dealers. I sell 8 pieces of jewelry at 6 shops to avoid arousing suspicion and to get a better price, hoping I don’t look like anything but someone who recently lost his grandmother and these are the pieces we can part with.

It is 7:27 pm and I now have $467. I consider avoiding my grandmother altogether. I go over to State and Chestnut, the current “Viagra Triangle”, and have a beer. While I am at the bar I hear a laugh I recognize. I look over and see my boss. My boss is an awesome gal, 51 in 2011 but 25 in 1985. 2011 us had recently returned from a two week business trip though Hong Kong and Guangdong province.

That’s when it hits me. If I get lucky, I can use the tech in my bag to get a job manufacturing this shit in China, maybe start my own tech hardware company. Hell, even though the items in my possession are basically useless hard drives with programming in languages yet to be invented, the hard drive, USB, and touch-screen tech are invaluable technological head-starts.

First things, first:

Bang my 25-year old boss (she meets her current 2011 husband in 3 months!),

Get to St. Louis.

First things first.

Hornswaggle was creating “Flash Fiction,” a kind of writing style where a story is produced quickly and on-the-fly by the demands of social media. He had thousands of people’s attention, all of them constantly refreshing the page and begging him to keep writing. “PLEASE, do go on! I want more of this story can you please write a book and message me where I can buy it. I want a book about this whole story.”

As Hornswaggle continued to write more installments, people offered their assistance to help him along. They edited his grammar. They offered to host his developing story on their website. They bought him a premium Reddit account. Chicago locals offered to buy him drinks. One guy even created a cover art mock-up for Hornswaggle’s book-in-progress:

An entire community was created in support of Hornswaggle’s developing story, and he already has over a thousand followers. You can read the continuation of the story as it unfolds at http://www.reddit.com/r/1985sweet1985

What I’ve learned from this is that an idea is only an idea. If you take that idea and run with it, though, you’ve got a story. With good writing and a good “hook,” a simple idea can turn into something big faster than you’d expect.

In short, there is no substitute for captivating writing. The reaction to Hornswaggle’s story is proof of that.

Thank you, Hornswaggle, for adding something interesting to my life this week. You are an excellent writer and an inspiration to aspiring authors like myself. I hope to write something as compelling and engrossing as your piece in the near future, and pray that one day I’ll meet the man behind the username. Perhaps at your first book-signing?

Cheers, good luck, and Godspeed.

External Links:

• Original AskReddit Thread
• r/1985sweet1985 – the community created for ongoing story installments

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I have this vision of my perfect life. Everything’s quiet. Everything’s paid for and taken care of. I do only what I want to do. So what do I want to do?

I want to write stories. I want to get up every morning and have no other obligations besides returning to my novel to pick up where I left off yesterday.

I’m not there yet. I worry about how to pay for things. I don’t have a bunch of books that I’ve already written that have earned me a good living. I do, however, have a lot of story ideas.

Also, I have a plan for making this perfect life possible. I don’t know if it will work out as I intend it to, but I’m trying. Or at least I think that I’m trying.

I need to write more. Every day I tell myself how “Now’s the time to rule your passion. Write something today.” In spite of this, I seem to spend more time talking about the idea of writing than actually writing. Writing this out makes me realize that I am, in fact, talking about writing right now.

I want to be a writer, and there’s only one way to do it: One word at a time, one word after another. Keep it up for long enough and you’ll write an entire book.

Why can’t I seem to do this? I have this plan to apply to a prestigious creative writing program, but I can’t even finish the piece I need to use as part of my application. Why do I suck at organizing my thoughts?

Maybe I’m doing it wrong. When I get an idea for a story, it hits like lightning and I get a rush of excitement. Nothing else matters. I need something to write on, NOW!

I’ll get up out of bed and start tearing apart my office in the dark until I find a pen and paper. I’ll refuse to turn on any lights, terrified that waiting for my eyes to adjust from the darkness will take just long enough for my newest “great idea” to be lost. I’ll scribble out the idea in the glow of my bathroom’s night-light. I’ll return to bed, relieved that my idea is safe; confident that I’ll be writing my book first thing tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow comes, but instead of writing the story I’m working on something else. Months later I revisit the scribbled idea and have a lot of trouble reading my notes. Even worse, I hardly understand what my story was supposed to be about:

guy re meeting up w/ friends from college he is supposedly really smart got 4.0 like all his friends and ex girlfriend now that he’s older he can’t figure out WTF to do w/ his life dating an attractive bimbo hangs around w/ her cause makes him feel smart working a shitty job doesn’t admit it to his smarter friends regrouping w/ old pals to make a film feels envious of their accomplishments always asking Q’s opens with awkward phone call 8:00 of silence recognizes ex gf’s mom but she doesn’t recognize him google’s phone number to find out ex gf 4.0 dual major graduated in 01 means got undergrad degrees in 2 years 4.0 later find out she did academic overload and latched into studies to get away from main character after a broken heart. likes pushing his buttons, somewhat awkward, still admits she has crush on him, he doesn’t feel comfortable around her. too smart for him, inferior. film is being created at the college, animation of music video senior project. duct tape marks placement on escalators and rails like they have in airports for film effect looks like multiple people twins appearing in same shot all doing different things different paths in life (drawing of stick figures on airport people-mover) one friend is successful at computer application, rich and bored and brilliant. ex gf is not necessarily wealthy but is doing exactly what she wants to be doing w/ her life and is therefore extremely happy. quotes to mention within conversation “do you feel embarrassed to tell people you got a 4.0 in college? you don’t regret getting all straight As? I think employer might view me as some impossible to hire perfectionist. ever hear about the suggestion that you are the average of the five people you hang out with the most? if you find that you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re probably hanging out in the wrong room”

I have a bunch of these “would-be stories” that have never developed into anything meaningful. They appear randomly, and consume my whole attention for a fleeting moment, and then die the next day.

My writer friends have asked me, “Well, what’s the story about? What happens?” They talk about their own strategies for creating stories, many of which start with a simple outline.

Outlines. The bane of my existence, or my hidden arch-nemesis? I can’t write them, because if I start to try to write out a general synopsis or overview, I am forcing myself to realize the truth: I don’t know what my stories are about.

I try the Stephen King approach to story-telling:

• Put an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation.
• Use common sense to determine the character’s actions.
• See how things play out.

This strategy has never worked for me, as I still have no finished story to show for it — and yet I can’t seem to even try and write any other way.

I’m not Stephen King. I really want to be, but I’m not. I need to figure out my own strategy that works, and exercise more creative self-discipline.

I tell myself it shouldn’t be this hard, and if I truly want it, then I’ll do this — but with each passing day that I fail to continue writing an ongoing story, I worry more and more that I might not make it. The deadline is always approaching and I need to stop messing around.

Truth is, I need an outline. I need direction. I need to conquer this simple task in order to proceed. Just something quick and dirty, so that my storyline is relatively planned, to give me an idea of where my story is going. Having that, and knowing where it’s going to end, could be the simple detail that leads me to a successful story — and hopefully take me one step closer to the perfect life I’m aiming for.

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I used to watch people play piano and think “I wish I could do that.” I used to classify playing piano as a renowned “visible talent” unlike any that I possessed myself. All of my talents — computers, writing, whatever — were invisible. Nobody could see what I was good at the way that everyone saw musicians.

I lived with these thoughts for a long time. Still, I had a strange attraction to the piano. I can’t quite explain it, but I’m not the only person who has this fascination: If you place a piano somewhere and leave it unattended, people can’t help but go to it and press its keys.

Time would pass and I’d keep being reminded of this attraction. “I wish I could play piano, I wish I could play piano,” I’d think. And then I’d watch someone play something awesome and be disappointed how I never got the opportunity to play when I was a child. I’d start feeling envious about the opportunities that the musician must have had in order to know how to do what they do, and feel irritated how I’d never get to have those same opportunities.

Eventually I stopped wishing, and started doing.

In 2005 I got my first keyboard: A “Miracle Piano System” that interfaced with a computer. It would connect to my PC through the parallel port, and sync up the notes I was playing with the Miracle Piano Learning Software. It taught you music by indicating which piano keys were the correct notes to play. I learned a few Christmas songs this way, all of them extremely simple.

In 2007 I took my first real, in-person lesson. I met a woman who called herself “Piano Jane” after seeing her ad on Craigslist. She sat me down at her dust-covered piano in her smoky home. She tried to have me play the notes corresponding to the sheet music she picked out for me, but since I never learned to read sheet music before I was all thumbs. She kept trying to cram musical theory into my head as I sat there, anxious to play but failing at it. She’d constantly be asking “Is that clear?” I’d nod and she’d laugh, saying “Clear as mud?” I felt like I was throwing my money away so I quit.

In 2009 I felt the urge to try again. I traded up my instrument, replacing my 59-key Miracle Piano System keyboard with crackling speakers for a lightly-used 88-key Yamaha DGX-500 Portable Grand. I found a local instructor who taught piano using the “Simply Music” method. I’d describe it as a method for learning songs quickly, by skipping the theory and focusing instead on key fingering and memorization. The analogy for Simply Music is that you learn to speak before you learn to read — so the same can apply to music: learn to play before you learn to read sheet music. I learned many different songs this way, all of them about 30 seconds long.

In 2011 I had moved away from my Simply Music instructor, and needed to find a different local instructor. It had been many years in pursuit of this piano-playing goal, and I finally accepted the fact that I would never be able to learn everything that I wanted to play without learning to read music. The idea of having to memorize everything individually, instead of investing the effort to learn the language seemed like a shortcut. Maybe I was skipping ahead so I could play songs faster, but really I was only hurting my progress.

I found a new instructor through a website called TakeLessons.com. I’m not sure if all of their instructors are as helpful as mine is, but in six months I’ve gone from barely being able to read music at all, to practically sight-reading pieces the first time I’m seeing them. When I first signed up, the website asked me to name three songs that I wanted to learn. I chose “Moonlight Sonata,” “Come Sail Away,” and “Lady Madonna.” I remember thinking that all of those songs seemed impossible to me at the time.

It’s been only half a year and I’ve already mastered all three songs. Lady Madonna was the last of the three, and I love its Jazzy feel:

For me, long-term goals like this have always been the most challenging. You want to start off running, but you need to learn how to crawl, and then how to walk, before you can build up to a run. Although I’m not a master pianist, I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished. I like looking back on my older videos so that I can really witness my progress.

We all start as beginners when we try learning something new. Sometimes we give up too easily. Sometimes we give up, but the passion inside of us makes us try again after the fact. It’s never too late to do something you’re interested in doing. So long as you’re interested, and have the drive and determination, you can succeed at everything.

Eventually, I’d like to build a repertoire of songs that add up to about 30-45 minutes. Then I’d like to go play them in public. My motivation for doing this is actually repayment for the generosity of another piano player. When Cassie was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, I spent a lot of time in the hospital with her. She’d frequently fall asleep, and instead of just watching her I’d wander the halls of Beaumont, worrying.

I’d buy a cup of coffee, sit down on a chair in the lobby, and watch people come and go. I’d wonder how long it’d be before she’d wake up and call me to ask where I was. I’d wonder what day it was, and how many hours I’d spent there at her side never knowing what tomorrow would bring. I’d drive 30 minutes home around midnight, turn the TV on, and fall asleep on the sofa — always afraid of getting sad if I dared to sleep in the bed without her. I’d wake up basically restless, go to work, go to the hospital once I got off and repeat it all over again.

My entire time there was a big blur, 9 months of sleeplessness and worrying. What helped me get through it, was how every Monday evening a man would come play the piano in the lobby. I was so grateful for that, if and only if he was distracting me for a short while, allowing me to think about something other than cancer. Thanks a lot for that, it really helped.

I never talked to him. I should have. Instead I’d just watch him lock up the piano, return the key to the women at the lobby desk and say “See you next week.” The sign on the piano said “Played by volunteers,” and eventually I’ll be back there, ask for the key myself, and return the favor. I’ve already got three songs, totaling over 15 minutes. In another six months, I should be ready.

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The first time I met Caitlen Rubino-Bradway was inside of a bookstore on the Ocean City boardwalk. She was a friend of a friend, and we talked casually about writing. Years later I found out she grew up to be a published author, so I was anxious to talk to her about how she did it. Please enjoy my interview with Caitlen below.

Welcome, Caitlen! For the benefit of those who don’t already know you, will you please give us a 5-second description of yourself and your profession?

I’m a writer in the morning, and an office assistant/junior agent/nanny in the afternoon. My mother and I published a novel in 2009, Lady Vernon and Her Daughter, and we have a short story in the up-coming collection Jane Austen Made Me Do It. My first solo novel, a middle-grade fantasy, is due out April 2012. My editor has not yet told me what the title’s going to be.

Why writing? What attracted you to the craft?

A mix of competition and superiority. My mom wrote several mystery novels when I was in high school, and a friend and I decided we could do that. Couldn’t be that hard, right? And then I just kept on doing it.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since high school, so eleven-ish years.

Would you agree that writing for a living is a difficult road?

Do you mean writing for a living, as in financially supporting yourself? Because, yes, that is difficult. First, the writing itself is difficult, and draining, and exhilarating. And then it’s difficult because it just takes so much time. Time to actually write, and then find an agent, and get published. Time to build and audience and get to the point where you can support yourself. Most of all, it takes time to develop your writing style.

I see. So what were your experiences that led you to get published, and get you where you are today?

I have to say, the best and most helpful experiences are the internships and jobs I’ve held in the publishing industry. I’ve known that I’ve wanted to write for a while, and ever since I started writing, I’ve known I wanted to get published. The work experience really taught me that publishing is a business, and how that business works. If I want to write as a job, then I have to treat it that way and know that others – my agent, editor, etc – will expect me to treat it that way.

Knowing what you know now, is there anything that you’d do differently if you were to do it again? Put another way, do you have any advice for aspiring writers wanting to do what you do?

I don’t know that I’d do anything differently, because I expected writing to be hard, and I like where I am. Also, writing is such a personal thing that everybody has to find their own way. As for advice for aspiring writers, I basically have three things. First, write the stories that you want to read, stories that you find interesting. Second, if you want to be taken seriously, you have to take your writing seriously. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, though. And, third, remember that publishing is a business.

Great advice! I especially like your suggestion to write stories that you want to read. Personally, I’ve started several stories that I am initially excited about, but over time I lose interest in my own story. I laugh to myself, thinking “Why would anyone else read my stories if even I’m not interested in them?”

I am so with you on that, and we all have those moments of ‘oh, god, what am I writing, no one is going to want to read this!’ Especially since writing is something you have to do all on your own — you have to be your own cheerleader and drill sergeant. But if you’re interested in the story you’re telling — if you love the characters and the dialogue and can’t wait to write what happens next — that’s going to come across on the page.

Speaking of unfinished stories, many say the hardest thing about being a writer is overcoming writer’s block, where you must force yourself to write even when you don’t want to. Can you tell me about your writing process? What strategies do you use for writing often?

My writing process starts with a pretty detailed outline. Some people like outlines, some don’t — I find it works for me because it helps me sort the story out in my head, even if I don’t stick to it. And I usually don’t.

I also don’t write in chronological order. Again, this works for some people, and not so much for others. My mom cannot move onto Scene C before she’s settled Scenes A and B. I like to write whatever I’m most interested in at that moment. It could be the first chapter, or the ending, or the climax, or some random scene where everyone’s getting pizza. I find this helps me avoid writer’s block for the most part, and those scenes add up pretty quickly.

As for writing often, I…get up and write often. Unfortunately, it is that simple. I’ve got myself on a routine, which helps, and I’ve found a cafe where I like to write and I can focus. But writing is like a muscle — the more you exercise it, the easier it is to do heavy lifting.

What is your favorite book/author?

Terry Pratchett. He is so completely awesome, I can’t handle it. The way he puts words together is just amazing. I have to say, the Tiffany Aching series is close to my heart, but my absolute favorite book, hands down, is Going Postal.

Would you say your favorites influence your own writing? Do you have other sources of inspiration?

I always have other sources of inspiration. I don’t consider myself a creative person, so much as a long-winded editor. I get a lot of my ideas by reading or watching something, and getting frustrated because they told the story wrong, so now I must do it correctly.

That’s hilarious! I’m sure that all of us draw inspiration from other stories, but hearing you describe it as someone else “telling the story wrong” is too funny.

In addition to the favorites you already mentioned, do you have any “must reads” for anyone looking to strengthen their writing muscle? What essential text do you consider to be your writer’s manifesto?

I don’t really read a lot of writing-how-to books. I really enjoyed Stephen King’s On Writing, but the parts about his writing career stuck with me more than his advice. I will read a lot of books in the particular genre I’m writing in — middle grade fantasies when I was working on my To Be Published, and oh so many Austen sequels when mom and I were writing Lady Vernon. Reading the genre, especially if the book has some sort of connection to what I’m working on, keeps my mind in the game and I get a lot of ideas.

So, would you say your official title is author? Can you describe a typical day in the life of one?

Sure, author sounds good. A typical day for me starts bright and early, when I head over to my favorite cafe to clock a couple hours of writing. It has strong coffee and no wifi, two things which are very important for me to focus. Afterwards it’s time to head over to the small literary agency I work at, before my boss’s kids get out of school and I head out with one of them for a playdate or after-school sport. If it’s a quiet playdate and I’m under a time crunch, I might get another hour or so of writing in, but by the evening I’m mostly done creatively. I have to make sure I don’t write too late — when I get tired, I get anxious and start thinking up stupid, sweeping plot changes.

What do you consider your proudest achievement in life?

Getting published. It’s what I’ve always wanted.

I can only imagine what it must have felt like. Can you describe the first time you held a copy of your book?

It was awesome, but in a quiet way. Throughout the publishing process you see so many different copies of your book, you get a little used to the ‘oh, here’s another version.’ But seeing Lady Vernon in the bookstore was surreal.

What is your favorite word? Least favorite?

I really like the word ‘indigo.’ It sounds like the color. I tend not to gravitate towards individual words, but more combinations of. Good phrases or lines are what catch my attention. As for least favorite, that would be ‘rejection.’

So what’s next for Caitlen Rubino-Bradway?

My mom and I have a short story in an upcoming anthology (Jane Austen Made Me Do It, Oct 11). I’m also working on a young adult contemporary sci-fi, and hopefully there’ll be a sequel to the children’s fantasy.

Excellent. I’m looking forward to reading your works. Do you have any final words of advice for aspiring writers today? And where can we find out more about you or read your stories?

I’d say, writing is hard, more so because it’s so solitary. And you’re going to have days when everything stinks, and the words aren’t coming, and none of your characters are behaving, and every sentence is like pulling teeth. But everybody has those days. Tomorrow can only get better.

You can get Lady Vernon and Her Daughter at Amazon, and Jane Austen Made Me Do It will be available online and in bookstores on October 11th. My children’s fantasy will be out in April 2012, and, trust me, I will be telling everyone where they can get a copy.

Caitlen lives and works in New York City — mostly in coffee shops but rarely in Starbucks cause it’s so hard to get a table.

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