What Stage Are You At in Your Writing Process?
Whether you’re writing a short piece or a full-length book, knowing the answer to this question - and what it means for your writing – is crucial. Most of the below advice is aimed at people writing something book-length, but can also be used by people writing essays or other short pieces.
How to Find Time to Write
I’ve been really enjoying my Zoom “write ins.” Since I’m the host, no matter what, I have to show up and start the meeting at 8:00 every Monday through Friday. It clarifies my morning: everything I need to do before I start writing has to be done by 8:00. And I have an hour set aside. Somehow it’s easier to not get distracted when I’m in the meeting, even though our cameras and mics are off. Some days it’s just me, and that’s okay. I’m there, and I’m fulfilling a commitment to myself to show up.
This weekend was a different story.
Setting Your Schedule – Motivation & Accountability for 2022
This week I started something new. I wanted more accountability for my writing time, since by the end of last year it seemed that whatever time I set aside for writing got taken up by something else. Another task or project always crept in, and it was easier to do that than sit down to write.
So this week, I decided to make myself publicly accountable.
New Year Planning Part II - Prepare Your Time, Your Space, and Your Mind for Success
Did you work on your overall writing goals for 2022 last week? Hopefully you’ve given it some thought, because this week we’re going to tackle what it will take to ensure sure you succeed. To do this, we’ll think about five areas:
New Year Planning Part I – What Are Your Writing Goals?
I know, right about now, you’re probably like, can I just finish this year and then worry about next year? And you can – of course you can. You can (and should) do your planning throughout the year, in fact, recalibrating your goals as needed. What you think will work next year right now, may need some tweaks as you go.
But now is the perfect time to take stock, assess what you did this year, and plan for next.
My Annual List of Gifts for Writers, 2021 Edition
Here we go! This is a list of some of the most fun and/or useful stuff I’ve found this year. Hopefully it will inspire some gift ideas – for a writer in your life, or for yourself!
Breaking Through Blocks Part III: The Revision Process
So far in this series, we’ve looked at Strategies You Can Use to Break Through Blocks Any Time and Strategies for Starting and Finishing a First Draft.
But as any good writer knows, the magic is not in the writing, but the rewriting. You have a draft? Great! Now the real work begins.
Breaking Through Writer’s Block, Part II: Starting (and Finishing!) Your First Draft
Last week I discussed the fact that so-called “blocks” can take many forms, and come at any stage of writing. They have different root causes, many based in fear and uncertainty. Since our minds shy away from discomfort, we find it easier, in some ways, to simply not write – until the pain of not writing becomes great enough to propel us into action for a little while, at least.
Breaking Through Writer’s Block Part I: Strategies for Any Stage
Writers can feel blocked at any stage of a writing project:
Before you even start, you can feel paralyzed about where to begin, or even what to write.
In the middle, you can feel blocked over how it’s going, or what to write next.
At the end of the first draft (or the tenth) when revision looms, you may feel overwhelmed with the daunting task ahead to make your book something people will actually want to read.
For the rest of November, I’m going to focus on block-busting.
7 Lessons for Writers from Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings
I just finished re-reading this book, the first in The Lymond Chronicles, a series of historical novels about, loosely speaking, the adventures of an extraordinary young Scottish nobleman, Francis Crawford of Lymond, in 16th-century Europe. I started my Lymond journey at age fourteen, when I foraged The Game of Kings from a used bookstore somewhere in Georgia while traveling with my father.
It’s National Book Month! What Are the Books that “Made” You as a Writer?
This week, write down at least ten of your favorite books of all time. Then think about why you love them. Don’t just list books you’ve enjoyed as an adult. Reach back into childhood and think about the books that influenced you, that made you want to become a writer.
Let’s Do the Mash! Genre Mashups and How they Can Work for You
It’s that season again, where monsters start to take up space in stores, on porches - and in our imaginations. But did you ever realize that, like Dr. Frankenstein, we can keep putting our writing monsters together out of various parts all year?
How to Prepare for Pitch Wars
Q: What is Pitch Wars?
A: It’s a short-term (about 3 months) mentorship program for writers of Middle-grade, YA, and adult fiction. It only opens for a brief period in the early fall. This year, it opens for submissions 9/26/21 and closes 9/30/21. If you are accepted, a mentor-writer will work with you for the 3 months leading up to an Agent Showcase, where you can have your work seen by agents actively looking for manuscripts.
Want to Write More? Walk More!
Today I took a long walk in one of my favorite local places, Breakheart Reservation in Saugus. It has two small lakes, and miles of trails - paved loops that are easy for fast walks, and lots of wooded trails along the river and over the ridge, and around the lakes. I still haven’t explored them all.
Distraction or Discipline: Which Do You Choose?
I follow Brendon Burchard on Instagram and Twitter (@BrendonBurchard). He’s a coach in the inspirational/productivity space and he gives good doses of loving but firm advice. A couple of his recent quotes struck me in particular, since they hit hard at a daily struggle I and many writers and creators go through:
What to Do When It’s Too Hot to Write
Lately we’ve had a respite from the heat here on the East Coast – but the Southwest is still baking, as are other parts of the country. And I’m sure we will have plenty of days ahead when it’s so hot my brain feels like it’s melting and my will to do anything evaporates and I flop on the couch like a fish on dry land (although with our humidity, it will feel anything but dry).
During these “dog days” of summer, it can be hard to find any writing motivation, and even well-established routines are hard to maintain. Sometimes summer is a great time to get big chunks of writing done, but sometimes it becomes even harder to squeeze it in around vacations and upended schedules.
I Failed at My Last Writing Retreat
This holiday weekend, I had big plans for my writing. I was going to do a writing retreat, with the goal of adding 10,000 words to my manuscript in progress. Not that daunting, really, since I had 4 days to make it happen: 2500 words a day. More than I’m used to, but not by an outrageous amount.