3 Ways You Can Set Yourself Up to Write

Write every day. That’s the advice that we are so often given but how do you squeeze writing in around your day-to-day activities? It doesn’t matter if you are dealing with children who are distance learning, working remotely yourself, or just dealing with day to day household tasks, it can be way too easy to put your writing off. You finally get a moment to write and . . .

Nothing. The words simply refuse to flow. Here are three things that you can do to help the words flow when you have time to write.

Have a Ritual. Setting up a writing ritual may sound strange but I’m here to tell you that it works. When I am doing a hard copy edit. I’m usually working on a deadline which means that I need to get it done now. What is my ritual? In the dining room, an area where I don't normally work, I set out my print manuscript, a pencil, a fresh cup of coffee, and a specific candle. Even on days my mind is scattered, when I smell that candle, I sit down and get to work. 

Have a Plan. Know what you are going to work on. Don’t wait for the Muse to come along and drop something in your lap. Instead, develop a plan. For some people, this plan can be really general. “Today, I am going to draft a picture book about bees.” For other people, it has to be a bit more specific. Not only do you need a project, you also need an outline.  Don't worry if what you need differs from project to project. For fiction picture books, I just need to know what manuscript I’m working on. For nonfiction picture books, I need an outline.

Stop in the Middle. Throughout July, I’ve been working on the same project, a cozy mystery tentatively titled Send in the Sopranos. I have written on this project each of the last 21 days. I’ve learned if I stop at the end of the scene it is hard for me to get started the next day.  I find myself waffling over where this new scene takes place and which characters are in.  If I stop in the middle of a scene? Then I can read the last few sentences and mentally drop back into the scene.  Soon the words are flowing.  Yes, some days this flow is a trickle but even that is something. 

Even if you can’t write every single day, these three techniques will help the words flow when you sit down to write. Yes, even the ritual, and I have a licorice-scented candle to prove it.

--SueBE

Sue Bradford Edwards' is the author of over 25 books for young readers.  To find out more about her writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey.

Sue is also the instructor for  Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults (next session begins  August 3, 2020) and Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults (next session begins August 3, 2020). 

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5 comments daily writing, writing prep, writing ritual, writing time

Friday Speak Out!: Taking Time to Write

by Amanda Crofutt

Balancing writing and my family has been something that I have struggled with since my first child. I now have three kids and two step kids. I think with time and practice it gets easier, but it is definitely something that is learned. I have written since I was a young teenager, writing was always an outlet for me. I am sure it is that way for many of us, but as I got older I discovered that I wanted to also inform people. I didn’t just want to put my emotions out there. Then at nineteen I had my first child, and I thought I would have to give it up. I loved him with all my heart, but at the same time I was a single parent struggling some days to find time to shower yet alone to write a quality essay of any length for anything, or anyone. As he got a little older I realized that as much as I loved my child I had left everything I had once loved behind for him. I had to start making time for me again. I had this Epiphany around the time he was almost a year old. I met my now husband around the same time, there is a lot that he helped me through but that is something that can be talked about some other time.

I realized that I needed to dedicate an hour to me a day, that was my magic number, as I call it anyway. The amount of time I spent doing something solely for me that made me feel good and happy and whole. I started by dedicating that time to writing, spending time at a lake, walking. As I did I realized what had been missing for a year was me, and my writing. I don’t know about most of you, but writing is how I make sense of the world around me. So to lose that most sacred part of me was almost like someone had cut out a large chunk of my heart. When I had my second child two years later I did not let up off of having one hour a day to myself, and now that I have five kids I still have one hour a day to do what I please, to write, to experience, to live life without thinking of being mom first and writer second.

The point of all of this is, find your magic number. It may be different than mine. It took me almost three weeks to figure out that it was an hour every day for me. It may be two hours every day for you. It may be an hour every other day. Find it, and then hold yourself to it until it is second nature. Take that time to take a walk so you can hear the birds, finish another chapter in your book. Maybe you just need an hour binge-watching your favorite show. We all get inspiration from different places, but find yours, take it and turn into something. You can’t do that without dedicated time to write. Here’s to your next piece.

* * *

My name is Amanda, I have been a writer since my early teen years. Now I am a mom of five with a full time job. I have been married for three years to a veteran, which comes with its own ups and downs. I have recently decided to take to publishing my work. Visit: https://amandacrofutt.wordpress.com/  

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
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2 comments Amanda Crofutt, daily writing, finding time to write, Friday Speak Out, juggling family and writing, making time to write, writing and parenting, writing schedule

Friday Speak Out!: Practice, Practice, Practice

by Michele MacKinnon

Back in April I started a four-week class which blended “low-impact art exercises” and writing about each exercise. The class description grabbed me: “Are you stuck?” “Yes,” I answered silently. When invited to write about my reasons for attending the class I scribbled “I feel I am starting a transition to something new, to something that allows me to experience joy more often.” Writing is a source of joy for me

I quit my corporate job in July. It’s October, and I am writing but not as often as I should. Competition has crowded out my writing time. Long-delayed lunches with friends, tending and tweaking the perennial gardens calling to me with their siren song of leaves and blooms and plants needing planting which I couldn’t resist bringing home, and all those recipes I finally tried which livened up the dinner menu over the last few months.

It’s time to get serious. I’ve given myself a stern talking-to. When my writing group met a few weeks ago I listed all the writing to-do’s I’ve meant to tackle for too long. Being a type A person, crossing items off this list will help motivate me. Practice will lead to improvements. It’s the same solution I repeated for building workplace skills when the question arose in multiple training sessions I led. My list covers a wide variety of writing topics also, which will help me narrow down my focus to the writing I enjoy most. Bouncing between memoir, gardening advice and travel tips is a spicy blend, but spicy blends are better suited to my cooking and may be slowing improvements to my writing abilities.

Now that I’ve confessed to the mess-in-a-dress approach I’ve been taking with writing, I need to come up with a plan, another common suggestion when asked for career advice at work. Even though my plan is simple I know I will struggle with sticking to it, and that’s why the practice, practice, practice is important. So what is my plan? I’m going to write every day. Even if it’s in 15 minute chunks I’m going to make the time. The light will stay on until I spend those 15 minutes and whatever words they produce are committed to the page.

There is a sense of deep satisfaction when I uncover a story, then write and re-write it until becomes a recipe I can make from memory. Back in the spring an art exercise prompted me to express my thoughts about writing and they’ve stayed in my mind throughout this busy summer.

Writing. Reading. Words. The right words to write. There is so much joy in writing the right words, to pulling them out of the air, placing them side by side, seeing if they fit. Writing is painting with words.

It’s time to do some painting.

* * *

Michele MacKinnon is a memoir writer and has been a member of the Candlewood Writer’s Workshop in Fairfield County, Connecticut since its inception.

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Leave a Comment daily writing, daily writing schedule, Friday Speak Out, Michele MacKinnon, writing practice

Friday Speak Out!: Fight Back Against Stalled Brain Syndrome (SBS)

by Terry Cobb

Stalled brain syndrome, or SBS, will kill a writer’s career. SBS occurs when a writer opens a new, blank document on her computer only to find her mind is just as blank as that new document. The harder she tries to think of a subject, a sentence, or even a single word, the more despair she feels. Instead of writing, she checks Facebook or watches YouTube cat videos. An opportunity to write, to publish, is wasted.

I had fallen victim to SBS too many times before I decided to fight back. I bought a dirt-cheap spiral notebook and divided it into two categories: Fiction and Non-Fiction. I wrote a story, article, or blog idea in one of those sections every day for the past year. At the end of 2014, I had created my own remedy for SBS, a notebook with 365 customized story ideas and prompts.

This is not a revolutionary idea. Throughout history, writers such as Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, and Virginia Wolf have kept notebooks. But why not just Google “daily writing prompts” and find a website to provide inspiration? Although that works for many writers, my brain remains stalled until I find a prompt that is customized to my interests and experiences.

By investing less than two minutes every day to write in my notebook, I created my own muse. My notes weren’t lengthy, just enough to let my imagination fly. For the fiction list, I jotted down snippets of conversation I’d heard in the grocery store, weird news I’d heard on the radio, and old wives’ tales my hair stylist loves to share. Childhood memories, gardening issues, and insights from Bible readings filled my non-fiction section. I soon discovered that my writing prompts didn’t stay locked in their respective sections, they jumped around and even multiplied. Many of the non-fiction prompts that I had planned to write as memoir pieces worked better as flash fiction or as scenes in my novel or both.

Beside many of my entries, I scribbled notations such as “blog” or “devotional” to make them easy to locate later. To an outsider, my notebook looks as messy as my desk (okay, not that messy) but that’s the beauty of it: personalization.

Now that I have over 365 writing ideas, have I stopped? No way. This notebook has provided inspiration for far too many published stories and articles for me to kick the habit. John Steinbeck, another notebook user, said, “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” I respectfully disagree, Mr. Steinbeck. Pretty soon you’ll have hundreds.

Stalled brain syndrome never stops stalking me. At least now when it threatens, I’m not a victim. I know how to fight back. When my mind goes blank, instead of opening Facebook, I open my notebook and scan its pages for writing ideas customized just for me. No more wasted opportunities to write. No more stalled brain.

* * *

Terry Cobb resides with her husband on a farm in north central Missouri where she writes short stories, devotionals, and novels. She also blogs about gardening, her other love and challenge, at www.whatsinyourgarden.wordpress.com.


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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Leave a Comment daily writing, Friday Speak Out, generating new ideas, notebooks, Terry Cobb

Updates from a NaNoWriMo Battlefield

Photo | EKHumphrey

This is the blog post where I admit that I’m still on the battlefield, but I have no plans for winning the battle. (I refuse to call myself defeated.) Two weeks ago I braved jumping into NaNoWriMo without a plan, a story outline, or a writing schedule. (Thank you for all the cheering after my November 1 post! I appreciated it!) Diving into NaNoWriMo was less pressure for me than in other years, but I knew it would still require a commitment of my time.

I wish I could claim that I haven’t been writing for the contest because of some other fantastic project. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. In this time, the biggest realization I’ve come to is that—writing or no writing—I’m not putting aside enough time for me.

For example, those times when I had a spare moment, my focus shifted from writing to helping my daughters clean their room during a crisis—a buyer contacted us to buy their beds we were replacing and we would do some repairs. Or I was diving into the launch of my email list free gift. (That excitement was lessened by some last-minute editorial changes that took time.) These were not the only things that became a bump in the road. Unfortunately, I’ve let individual bumps grow into a mountain that was between me and my writing.

For the next two weeks, I’m going to shift my focus. Obviously, I’m not going to finish a novel in the next fifteen days. But I know I want to finish it. What I can do is I can put a plan in place to at least get writing during this busy time. And these are tips that are applicable post-NaNoWriMo.

• Refrain from reading (too much). Don’t get me wrong, I love to read. Lately  I find that if I check my phone or email, I start clicking on links. Thirty minutes later, I’ve started reading the longest article in the history of the world. It’s a sign of my procrastination, which I need to curtail.
• Plan better. The bed fiasco sucked more time than necessary because I let it. I could have stepped back and allowed my kids more autonomy while I supervised. I thought by jumping in, I would get return to writing time. Instead, I was pulled deeper into my kids’ activities. (Totally worth it, mind you, but I still could have planned better!) This weekend, we are throwing a birthday party...and I've been planning!
• Better buddy contact. I needed to check in with my NaNoWriMo friends and give them support. I find having those writing conversations energizing, but I haven’t made time for them…yet!
• Shuffle writing time. I’m a morning writer, so I often tell myself I can’t write creatively later in the day. So, for the next two weeks, if I don’t write in the mornings, I vow to write during my lunch hour or before bed at night. I will be writing, no matter the time of day.

What have you been doing to reach your writing goals, NaNoWriMo or others? What have you had to rearrange or stop doing in order to make progress on your work-in-progress?

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her free guide, Harmonizing: Find and Communicate to Your Audience, helps health and wellness professionals communicate with their potential clients.

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2 comments achieving writing goals, daily writing, Elizabeth King Humphrey, NaNoWriMo, planning, work in progress

Friday Speak Out!: Have You Made Art Today?

by Mridu Khullar Relph

This week, I’ve been taking a long hard look at my career, what I want it to be, and whether I’m there yet. The questions haven’t been easy to answer.

I, like many other professional writers who have come before me have been very open and upfront about the role marketing plays in our careers. You’ll hear us say often that the writing business is 80% marketing, querying, putting your name out there, admin, and all the rest of it, and only 20% writing. And since the beginning of this year, I’ve been thinking about how much I detest that, how much I don’t want my career to be about querying and marketing, but about writing. I’m a writer, after all, and shouldn’t what I do in my day to day reflect that?

At the beginning of the year, many of us set a 1,000-word daily writing target, but let’s face it, most of us don’t reach anywhere near that. Because if we did, we’d all have written at least three books and three-dozen articles by the end of the year and I don’t know anyone who has that kind of productivity. Writers, we don’t always average 1,000 words a day over the course of the year. We’re lucky if we average 500.

Earlier this year, I decided that I wanted to change that. I wanted 80% of my time to be spent writing and the remaining 20% to go towards marketing or whatever else writers need to do these days to keep their names out there in front of editors and readers. I set a daily word count goal and then made sure that hitting it was the first thing I did each day, no matter what else was on my plate. I haven’t always succeeded. But I’ve tried. And I realized something, which is that in the past when I’ve been happy writing eight articles a month (averaging two a week, which is a fantastic goal for journalists), it’s only been about 8,000 words of actual words on paper. That’s not enough. I can do better. YOU can do better.

I talk in this post about creating a daily writing habit (http://www.theinternationalfreelancer.com/1000-words-a-day/), but I’ve found that my biggest motivator is a simple Excel sheet in which I chart my daily writing progress. I’ve found that the thought of getting a big red checkmark serves as excellent motivation for the schoolgirl in me to write something, anything, for the day. Words on the page. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? That’s what we do.

The reason I became a writer is that I enjoy the process of writing. I enjoy having created something from scratch. I live for the next high when that story, that article, that scene comes together in perfect harmony.

The marketing, the tweeting, the blogging, are extras. They have to be extras.

Writing has to come first, because that’s why you’re doing this, right?

* * *

Mridu Khullar Relph is an award-winning freelance journalist who has written for The New York Times, TIME, CNN, ABC News, and more. She runs The International Freelancer (http://www.TheInternationalFreelancer.com) and will happily share 21 of her best query letters with anyone who signs up for her free weekly newsletter.
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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!

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2 comments daily writing, Friday Speak Out, joy of writing, marketing, Mridu Khullar Relph, productivity, writing productivity

How To Improve Your Writing

I love connecting with writer friends through social media. They’re always passing along wonderful advice in the form of helpful links. So the other day, I came across a mention of agent Chip MacGregor and his blog post about how to improve your writing.

I clicked on the link. Because a. who doesn’t want to know how to improve her writing? And b. I have a soft spot for agent Chip MacGregor. Not because he met me at the first writer’s conference I ever attended and said, “Holy cow, Cathy! I must sign you up today!” That would’ve been swell, huh? But honestly, I’m just glad that when he met me, he did not say, “Holy cow, Cathy! You call this writing?”

I had brought my first ever (children’s) manuscript for critique to that conference, and I thought it was awesome. Chip did not exactly agree. He was kind, though, and offered a few ideas as to how I could improve the story. Basically, it came down to me needing a lot more writing practice.

Which brings me to my point today (and coincidentally, Chip MacGregor’s point, as well): If you really want to improve your writing, you have to write. You have to write a lot.

I don’t mean that you have to sit down and write 3,000 words (although that’s certainly impressive, so good for you if you do!). I mean that you have to write regularly. You have to practice writing, pretty much every day. And I’ll add that you have to write for an audience.

It’s helpful if you write in a daily journal. But if you write every day, knowing that someone else will read your words, you’ll write with more care. Your grammar will be just a bit better, your word choice a bit stronger, your structure a bit more cohesive. Your writing will improve, whether you’re sharing it with a critique group, a contest judge, or the blog readers who follow your posts.

This weekend, I’m attending the Rutgers One-on-One Conference, and I’m taking several of my children’s manuscripts with me. Including that same, though much improved, story I put in front of agent Chip MacGregor, lo those many years ago.

Holy cow, I’ve put a lot of writing practice into that manuscript. (And honestly, it really is awesome now!)

And P.S. Please come say hello if you're there, too!

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3 comments Cathy C. Hall, conference, daily writing, improve your writing, writing advice

Reigniting the Flame After a Writing Conference

I started the summer with good intentions. But somewhere along the hectic schedule, I got off kilter. My daily word count dropped. My creativity level plummeted. I could blame it on the heat wave. Or I could face reality and admit that I needed a spark to get my writing back on track.

That spark came when I saw a news blurb about a weekend writing conference sponsored by the Nebraska Writers Guild and since the location was only 90 miles down the highway, I decided to attend. It offered a handful of morning sessions and time to write. (Plus, it was free!)

Now that I've returned home with a bounty of fresh information and business cards, what do I do with this information? Store the cards for later perusal? Put away my notebook with pages of notes and ideas?

Nope. After the writing conference, it's important to make use of the information immediately. I've already typed the notes I scribbled. It's a good practice because it reinforces the main ideas and helpful hints offered by the presenters. When it's fresh in your mind, you'll put the information into practice. That should translate into more sales.

I'm also in the process of sending notes (yes, handwritten) to the writers and publishers I met and traded writing stories with. Such a varied group of writing interests! This personalized detail to attention will help networking efforts. Perhaps a collaboration or publishing contract will result from these introductions.

And most importantly, now that I'm home, it's time to plant rear end in chair and write. It's time to put inspiration into action.

The spark has reignited!

by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at http://luannschindler.com/. Graphic design by LuAnn Schindler

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3 comments daily writing, LuAnn Schindler, networking, using writing conference information, writing workshops

Technology: The Hiccup in the Road to Being Read

So, admittedly, I'm late posting this entry. It took my laptop a little longer than usual to warm up today.
For months, my writing has been steadily building, becoming more and more reliant on technology. I don't know about you, but I've come to rely on technology so much that my writing would be severely hampered without my computers.
I'm of the era that, although my college classmates had computers, I didn't see the need until I had my 100-page senior thesis to write. Remind me, how did they write long form without the computer? By the time I graduated, I fear I had forgotten. Plus, by then, I was dating a computer science graduate.
Bring on the technology revolution!
Until recently.
For the past several months, I've limped along with a laptop that seems to be running on its own leisurely time and pace. Generally, I wake up at 5 a.m., start my laptop, make and eat my breakfast and my tea before my technology is ready to go. My husband brought home a computer from work that no one was using. I now know why. While no one claims that it happened to them, with this computer, I've encountered more so-called "blue screens of death" than I care to remember. So many, that I've grown attracted to the bright blue and am thinking I should consider a color change to my walls to reflect my lack of fear.
Bring on the blue screens!
I can interview someone by telephone. I can take notes, make lists and doodle with my trusty pen and paper. I can write my stories and take notes long-hand. I can outline my novels on index cards. But all of it is for nothing if I can't get the information to the computer.
I know I can be creative without a computer. I just can't be as fast...or as wide read...or, ahem, paid, without using a computer.
I know that I can't do without e-mails for keeping in touch with friends, family and clients.
But for a few weekend mornings, I'd like to be able to make the decision (not have it made for me by my technology) to sit down to write. Fueled by my creativity and my pen and paper, some days I wish I could just write without thinking about Internet connections.
How about you? Do love technology so much that you're not able to write without it? Or do you look back, wistfully, wishing to tap into your creativity and share your writing with others without having to jump-start your laptop. I know I do.
Especially today.

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a creativity coach and writer living near the North Carolina coast.

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3 comments daily writing, Elizabeth King Humphrey, technology

Exercising the Write Muscles

I'm watching snow fall in Denver as I write this.
My family and I have been on a vacation of sorts for more than a week. I've been enjoying my childhood haunts and playing with my kids. I've had a chance to finish reading a novel and start another one. A client re-configured assignments, so I've had only e-mails to draw me near to the computer. No deadlines to interfere with my focus on fun.
While the play and fun has helped to revive some of my creativity, staying in a place that is not conducive for writing for more than a week has dulled my writing abilities.
I have always had an understanding about how important it is to write regularly, but because I write regularly, I rarely have had a chance to test that understanding.
Now I have.
My writing muscles feel sluggish. My brain feels slushy.
I'm enjoying my vacation, but writing this post is making me realize how I may have to start exercising my writing muscles before returning home.
Otherwise, I may need a to take a writing vacation once I'm back from my family vacation.

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer and creativity coach. When she is not on vacation, Elizabeth contributes to AOL's ParentDish, she blogs at The Write Elizabeth, delving into creativity in everyday places.

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3 comments Creativity, daily writing, daily writing schedule, Elizabeth King Humphrey