Pirate writers? Oh yeah!

Today I have a special guest post for you all. Some of you may recognize the author, it's Jean Lauzier from Under the Trolls Bridge. I love what she has to say here and hope you all enjoy.

10 Lessons for Writers from a Pirate.
　
1. Get a Parrot - For writers, the parrot is a mentor. Mentors can speed up your trip along the voyage to publication. They'll teach you things it would take years for you to learn on your own. And while the proper mentor may be hard to find...they will definitely be worth the work.

2. Consider the Eye Patch - Writers must see things differently than non-writers. We pay attention to what's going on around us and sometimes we write it down to use later. Things that seem normal or of no consequence to others trigger story ideas and excite the writer's soul.

3. Funky Pirate Wear & Eye Liner - Just as pirates don't conform, neither do writers. Our characters become our best friends and meeting a word count goal is cause for celebration.

4. Any Weather, Any Time - A pirate's ship and crew can handle any weather. So can writers. We take the good days with the bad or the acceptance letters right along with the rejection letters.

5. Live Die by the Team - For a pirate, his crew is family and very important. Well, writers need a "team" too. Not only do we need a supportive "home" team, we need critique partners and readers. We need editors and agents. Then we need promo people.

6. Tricorn hat - Don't you just love the tricorn hat? Writers will wear the many different hats of our characters. We become our characters, we learn their jobs to get the details right. A writer has a varied barrel of knowledge to draw upon...and if we don't know, we'll find someone who does or take a class to learn our self.

7. Peg Leg - The peg leg represents our limits. These may be lack of formal education or shoulder vultures. But we continue to strive toward our writing goals. We don't let self-doubt stand in our way.

8. Hook - Got to have a hook! Not only do we have to hook our readers, we have to hook the agents and editors. Here's where the team will come in handy...they'll help you polish that hook until it shines!

9. Treasure - For the writer, the Treasure is having others read our words and be touched by them. We'll do just about anything to get that treasure too. All day sessions at the computer, up half the night arguing with our characters about the plot lines... Nothing is too difficult as we make our way toward the treasure.

10. They just arrrrrrr! - Pirates don't have to be told they are pirates. They know they are. Same thing with writers. We just know we are meant to write. We have a passion that burns within us...a passion that insists we write. And so we do!

Inspired by: http://bit.ly/cBoyQM

Jean Lauzier writes mystery and fantasy for the most part though she plays in other genres just for fun. You can find her short stories at www.mystericale.com and www.goldenvisionsmagazine.biz though she'd been published at several other places that no longer exist. At the moment, she's working on her novel Dragons of Jade which will be released sometime this fall. She invites everyone to stop by her blog at http://underthetrollsbridge.blogspot.com