Tuesday, January 1, 2008
January 2008 archive
My words-to-date.
Yeah, I’d hoped for 32K but hey, this gets me back on track (according to my Word Tracker by Kresley Cole–a fun little excel application that keeps me motivated) toward the deadline. I’m only 2K from where I need to be, and now I’m headed in to watch Illinois and USC (come on, Big 10, even if Illinois had the ref throw the game against my Buckeyes, I get tired of hearing the Big 10 bashing every year after the bowl games…)and create worksheets for my first 7 chapters. Maybe I’ll get 1k more words….even if not, I just wanna get those worksheets DONE….
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Two Skills I’ve Learned…
I’ve learned a lot about myself as writer over the month and a half (or so) I’ve been working on this book.
I have discovered that I’m much more prolific, proficient and efficient at the actual writing when I have a detailed outline to follow.
I’ve discovered I can write just fine with a football or basketball game on TV in the background but cannot do a single page if Law & Order is on.
I’m discovering that the more I have to do during the day in terms of work or appointments or meetings, I often have higher word-per-day outputs than days when I have no structure (interesting!).
And I’ve found two amazingly useful tools to use when writing a massive draft (280 page book, for one) to help keep me organized and heads-up: Word’s Document Map and a separate Word document for all the worksheets and samples I’m including in my book.
I’ve played with Document Map before (the little paper-with-a-magnifying-glass icon on your Word toolbar) with one or two of my novels. If you use headers for chapters, Doc Map is a phenomenally easy, fast way to get to places you need to go in your document without having to scroll through 140 pages. It puts a “map” on the left side of your window that makes finding your place as easy as clicking.
And the separate worksheet document…genius. Just started it here in Chapter 8 because I needed to simply list all the things I’m promising in this chapter (HR & hiring) to the reader so I go back and create them. Set up a document using Doc Map with all the chapters and just type the title of the worksheet below the proper chapter, highlight that baby and make it a Heading 2. AWesome. Too bad I didn’t think about that for chapters 1-7…ah well…live, write and learn…
Back to the nonfiction. Today’s goal is to hit 32,000 words…halfway to 65K…or close enough that I can sleep in tomorrow!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
January 1: How to Create Terrific Writing Goals–And Achieve Them
What a great way to start the new year…with an article containing excellent advice on how to set and achieve your writing goals.
Katey Coffing, Ph.D and life coach for women writers, gives solid insight into how to set the goals that will make your career. While you’re there, check out her other articles, resources and the fun, interactive Free Goals Report.
Happy Goal Setting,
Beth
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Two Roads Diverged in a Wood and I….
….I brought them together in one blog.
One of my goals for the new year was to integrate my two favorite blogs…hence the reason for this post.
Some of you are (former) regular readers of my Fountain Pen Inc blog, where I (attempted) to post daily resources on the web for writers of all genres. I totally love that blog and all the nice emails I got from readers. There are SOOOooooo many resources out there….
And some of you are my Writer-In-Progress readers. For you guys, you’ll notice a few changes around the blog, but nothing drastic (..like the time I went blonde once in the 8th grade, no need to EVER worry about that again)…. In fact, I’m hoping you’ll like the changes.
Just so you (all) know, my resource postings will be added each day & the header will be the date. The regular WIP blog postings will have ..well, whatever my feeble mind comes up with as an appropriate title. Hopefully you’ll read ‘em all and won’t know the difference….
And, if you ever have any resources you think would be great to share with writers, email it to me & I’ll post it & give you credit. How’s that work?
It's pretty simple, really. I'm a writer who loves writing about writing, and sharing all the tricks of the trade with other writers. And when I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing. I have a hunch you know what I mean :)