Writer-In-Progress

I love infomercials. My personal belief is that it’s a genetic quirk. If you’ve met my parents, you’ll know exactly what I mean. If there’s something new, improved or promises to give you a better life in an unrealistically short period of time, my parents will try it. Some people call them suckers, I call them adventurists. (I’m just glad I didn’t end up with a leopard-print Snuggie this Christmas).

In all the hype over get rich, get skinny, get beautiful quick schemes, I thought I’d jump in the mix with an infomercial of sorts for writers. Don’t worry, I’m not pawning anything off on you. No promises of writing more and publishing more, no insider secrets guaranteed to earn you millions. Just a couple of points to move your thinking in a more holistic way toward being a better writer regardless of genre and level of writing experience.

But wait, there’s more!  If you act now, I’ll throw in a free post on Wednesday, too. How can you pass that up?

I think I’d better stop while I’m ahead. Besides, I just spilled my coffee. Where *is* that ShamWow?

5 Ways to Become a Better Writer in 24 Hours

Eliminate all whining, excuses and negativity

Life is too short and writing time is even shorter. When you continually bemoan your lack of a) published works b)money made from writing c) ability to finish a particular work d) time, energy, focus, …whatever it is you’re whining about, you immediately send your brain into negative mode. Negative mode is a time stealer and the real enemy to being a productive writer. Stop giving yourself excuses for not writing. Granted, real life loves wreaking havoc on your writing time (see below on how to plan for reality), but learn to simply accept setbacks and move on, not let them form like jagged ice crystals in your mind. When you let negative mode have its way with you, you preclude yourself from any type of writing success before you begin.

Forgive yourself

Life happens. Really. There are times we have grand plans to write, feel the urge to further our plot long into the night, have a second wind and the energy to do great things with our WIPs…then something pops up to derail our plans. It isn’t something strong enough to send us into negative mode, but it is strong enough to keep us from executing our writing goals for the moment. With that, we often subconsciously harbor guilt that we’re not paying enough attention to our writing when, in fact, simply through the act of deliberately planning to write we’re paying enough attention. When a stumbling block deters your moment, forgive yourself for the time you have to take from writing to focus on the real-world and forgive the time offender who took you away. Mindfully set your intention to get back to the writing as soon as humanly possible, then let the worry go. You’ll free up the feeling of guilt as well as freeing your mind to play with ideas from your WIP–a win/win on both accounts.

Show Up To the Page

I hear you–this is a no-brainer. But for some, this is the most difficult part of writing. At one time or another, some more than others, we set aside time in our days to write, to take time to focus our efforts on furthering our stories. But when the time comes to sit and write, a strange sort of fear paralyzes us into inaction. Personally, I’d often rather dust baseboards than start writing. I don’t know where to start or where to go, I feel apathy or frustration at my story. Whatever the reason, when you’ve set aside the time and have the ability, you MUST learn to face the page. For me, it takes the form of a journal where I do sit down and write, just not immediately on the WIP. I face the page of the journal and begin listing reasons why I can’t write or can’t begin. Within a few lines, I have strangely primed the pump for writing and immediately move over into the realm of working on my WIP again. Just like paying extra to have my infomercial purchases shipped faster, I have come to accept this resistance as a part of writing I don’t like but have to deal with–I may as well find a way that works to get me out of that mental fear.

Set a reasonable goal

This one takes time to do well. If you don’t learn to set reasonable, flexible goals, you won’t be going anywhere fast with your writing. We don’t want writing to take time. We want to crank out a story in a week, revise a manuscript in a weekend, sell 20 books each year and spend all the time we can immersed in creative thought. Sorry, but the world don’t work that way, sugar. Train yourself to be ultra-aware of the things going on around you so that you can set your goals accordingly. Know that at any time, you can reset your goals to honor your time and mesh with reality, but it takes practicality to do so. Setting goals too high will only lead to negative mode when you can’t meet them, and it spirals downward from there. Think of the smallest chunk of work you can do in the period of time you have, then set the goal and work upwards from there. Build for success.

Do what you CAN and don’t lament what you CAN’T

When one of our intentionally-set writing goals is rendered impossible to achieve by something we can’t control, it’s natural to feel a letdown, a loss of interest or just plain anger. Rather than letting negative mode have its way with your mind–by keeping you angry about what you can’t do because of something–retrain your thought processes to focus you energy and a new intention on what you CAN do. If you’ve got hopes of finishing the last 8 pages of a chapter but something unforeseen steals your time from you, think to what you can accomplish towards your original goal. If your writing time is completely vaporized, the best you can do is move on and look forward to a new day–but journal it first to release all that anger and frustration so you don’t carry it around and it doesn’t cloud your writing time tomorrow. If you’re lucky enough to have a chunk of time with which to work, say, 15 or more minutes, think backward from your original goal and break down the work into steps you could take in pieces of time–then go do the first, most logical piece. Maybe it’s just scratching down the outline of the end of your chapter or writing down the last paragraph. Maybe you know the end of the chapter well and can use the time to contemplate where to start the next chapter, or even back up a step and read over the first part of the chapter to keep your mind fresh. There’s a huge fallacy out there that we writers need enormous chunks of time in which to work. While that’s nice, it’s not practical. Learn, through practice, the ability to chunk your work to keep you moving forward on tasks you can complete when you might otherwise want to whine about what you can’t complete.

Becoming a better writer isn’t about having more and doing more. It’s about living more intentionally in the writing moments you do have. We can waste our lives away wishing for more writing time, but that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. Refocus your wanting more time into believing you already have enough of the time you need and silence that negative mind mode with action and progress toward your writing goals.

Do you have any tricks to share about when life deals you a lemon in terms of writing time and focus? How do you get your mind back into creative mode when something throws you for a loop? I’d love to hear it. Wait, let me find my Snuggie first…this is gonna be good stuff!

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• Filed in Writer's Life

I’ve only got a second here, but I need to ask…

I was just invited to submit an article on memoir/personal essay writing for an upcoming magazine…tres exciting, I know. But I am stumped on what to focus the article on. That’s why I called you

For you memoir/essay writers in the crowd, what questions burn the most in your mind as far as your craft? What area gives you the most difficulty? What are you struggling with? What would you like to know/learn more about? I’d love your suggestions to help me write an article that does what I love doing most: helping writers write.

Just leave your idea as a comment or, if you’re shy, email me privately. And pass this on if you’re not an essay/memoirist. I appreciate it!

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• Filed in Writer's Life, Writers!

I’ve been meaning to start a new type of post here at the WIP blog for some time and I think today’s the day

Each weekday, I’ll (try my best…no guarantees, no money back!) post one single writing tip. I’m hoping you like a wild grab-bag and range of tips. Everything from creativity to publishing to editors & agents, social media, the writing business and marketing…anything is fair game.

Today I’m still thinking of Bea Arthur’s passing and how sad the world will be without her. Here’s a creative WIP Tip for today:

Choose the most serious character in your WIP and write a scene where they tell or play a joke on another character in your story. Show your character’s internal sense of humor through their delivery.

I would absolutely LOVE to have you post examples of your results here if you like, but I know we’re all protective of our babies (words). You can bet I’ll give feedback…so give it a shot! Good writing takes time, so post whenever you finish…tomorrow, next week, next month…

Check back tomorrow for your next WIP tip to help your writing!

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• Filed in Writer's Life

My favorite idea for updating the blog is to bring you more articles & valuable information. Not that updates on my own writing life aren’t valuable (and it fits in a thimble!), but who has time today to read stuff they don’t get something out of?

I’m currently working on an article about writers & Twitter (you are Twittering, aren’t you? So much fun…) I’m hoping to get this one wrapped up tonight and share with you soon.

In the meantime, I found a really great article on the brainstorming process I know will interest writers, especially freelancers. Don’t be misled by the title–Mara’s content and ideas apply to any type of nonfiction, informational writing. And don’t let the fact that it’s on a site for copywriters fool you. As I’ve been trying to tell ya, good writing is good writing across genres.

Short, easily digestible and very intelligent post. You’ve gotta read this one for yourself!

SpeedBlogging: How to Write Better Posts in Less Time by Mara Rogers at Copyblogger.com

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• Filed in Sites for Writers

I went to a meeting this morning and the speaker presented an interesting thought (this was on the topic of losing weight, but I’m always thinking writing):

What if you did just 10% more in addition to what you’re already doing? How would that change your results?

Pretty easy in terms of weight loss. I walk an hour a day and do about 20 minutes of weightlifting a day, of some sort, so those numbers are simple.

But what about writing? If it were you, how would that translate? Here are some thoughts: (bear with me if the math is off. We all know I truly suck. I’m trying hard LOL)

–one additional query for each ten you send out
–ten additional minutes of brainstorming or writing for every hour that you spend
–five additional pages edited for every 50 (or however many you may edit at a time)
–one more reprint market approached for every ten

I kept it simple, mostly because to do percents, I have to keep the numbers small (lol), but I really am thinking of how 10% more (per day) spent on my writing would be the most well-spent. So many possibilities.

How about you? If you chose to give 10% more to your writing, where would you add it and why? I’d love to hear….

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• Filed in Writer's Life, Your Writing Career

I suppose if I were a good blogger, I’d have done this first…lol.

Stopped by Oprah’s site and found the text link to Martha’s article on regret:

Who’s Sorry Now? by Martha Beck

Page 2 has the particular section I mention below. See if it doesn’t make you think a bit differently about your character emotions….

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• Filed in Writing Resources, Your Writing Career

I like this short little article most for one simple line:

If I wrote every day how much better a writer would I be in…say, a year? How much more would I have learned?

Just spend a little time daydreaming about that one when you have a chance. In the meantime, check out the rest of Karen Kelley’s article, Write Every Day.

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• Filed in Writing Resources

Since it’s my blog, I get the right to curse, but I do it sparingly.

Today’s post, a smattering of wise advice for authors of all types, is damn good stuff. Do yourself a favor and read it before starting your next project.

Miscellany by Debbie Lee Wesselmann

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• Filed in Writing Resources

Getting emotion on the page is the key to engaging the reader from start to finish. Today, Lorraine shares a little about the how and why emotion makes a story come to life:

Tears in the Writer by Lorraine Heath

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• Filed in Writing Resources