It all started when I stepped on the scale ( I know, you're thinking that was a mistake right there!). Well, that annoying scale showed me a number which I am not fond of so I decided to shoot for a different number (a smaller number, obviously). So I began walking. But it quickly became obvious that many days it was either write or walk. I already had limited writing time and I was going to cut into that for walking?!So I figured out a way to do both. Unlike most people I don't listen to music when I walk so I decided to write while I walk. Well, talk. I bought a voice recorder that is about the size of an mp3 player for around $25 and now, as I walk I talk. Sometimes it's just ideas but more often I re-read something I've been working on before I head out. Then I "write" changes or new paragraphs as I walk. Yes, I look like I'm talking to myself but the neighbors already know I'm a little crazy!
I've found it's a great way to work on dialogue. After all, when you're actually saying the words aloud it's easy to hear what doesn't sound natural.
Of course there is a little huffing and puffing on the recordings (especially on the hills) and I do have to transcribe everything to my computer but it's better than not writing at all. Plus I lost 4 pounds!
Do you have any tricks for squeezing extra writing time into your life?
Jodi Webb is a blog tour organizer for WOW-Women on Writing and would love to hear about your book and promotional needs at jodi@wow-womenonwriting.com. Right now she's looking for June dates for a tour of Michelle Dim-St. Pierre's Pinnacle Lust. She blogs about books at Words by Webb and Building Bookshelves.
5 comments:
Jodi--You're killing two birds with one stone. How sharp of you!
Congratulations on the 4-pound loss (we all know it goes on so easily and is a bear to lose) AND for the writing progress. Keep on adding to your word count and losing on the scale.
By the way, the thing I had to do to "verify" I was not a robot was to select the pictures of sandwiches in the collage of photos they offered.
Reading about losing weight and then having to look at pictures of sandwiches and cheesecake? How funny!
That's fantastic, Jodi! I do the same thing when I'm driving. I use the microphone app on my phone and set it to speaker. Thankfully I only "write" article ideas so there's not too much transcribing…otherwise I might I might go crazy trying to skip over all the curse words. (LA traffic is the worst!)
And congrats on losing four pounds! :)
@Sioux ~ I keep getting the one where I have to choose pictures of soup. Maybe they're trying to tell me something. LOL
Jodi: I love this idea! :) Thanks for sharing how you are getting both done.
Congrats, Jodi! Walking is also a great way to clear out the cobwebs.
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