How to Find Time to Write this Season

The holidays are upon us and I know what you’re thinking: “How on earth am I going to get any writing done between now and the end of the year?”

There’s shopping, holiday parties (hosting and attending) and events, and various distractions that seem to only happen in November and December. Here’s a secret. We have lots of pockets of time throughout the day when we could be writing. Use them.

 Here are five places to find time to write during the busy holiday season.

1. While Waiting. Whether you are waiting to meet someone, for an appointment. Or in line, take out a notebook or start writing down your thoughts on your mobile device. 
2. In Transit. Voice to text technology has gotten so much better (anyone reading remember when you had to train your voice recognition software?). Verbalize your ideas while en route, just make sure you don’t get over-enthusiastic or distracted. 
3. During Exercise. Why not also use record your thoughts while working out? Your mind is clear, so you’ll probably come up with some fantastic ideas. 
4. Get Up Early. Set your alarm to go off 15 to 30 minutes early, and get in some writing before you start your day. Yes, you can also stay up late.
5. Swap Time. We all need downtime, but just swap just one television episode or 15 minutes of social media time for writing time every other day. When you see your progress, it will be worth it. 

And here are five things to write when only you have a short period of time:

1. Journal.. Are you happy? Overwhelmed? Frustrated? Amused by something you just saw? Write it down. Gather your emotions and observations, and write them down as fuel for future projects. 
2. Ideas. Similar to journaling, keep a dedicated notebook or computer document for all ideas to use in future writing projects. They don’t even have to be complete thoughts, a list of ideas will serve the same purpose. This is the perfect distraction while waiting in long lines at checkout. 
3. Blog Post Draft. Perhaps you will not have a complete, ready to go blog post in 15 minutes, but you can certainly write a draft. And then rewrite it on your next 15 minute block of time.
4. A Pitch. Write a query for a book, article, story, screenplay. 
5. Your Work in Progress. A few minutes here and there on your work in progress will add up. Granted, more time is better. But even if you add words to your non-fiction book, novel, or screenplay for a few minutes a day, it will stay on top of mind and continue to progress.
6. Bonus: Edit. Anything. 

Don’t let the busy holiday season keep you  from writing. Use those pockets of time to move forward and keep you happily distracted from the craziness of the season.

* * *

Debra Eckerling is a writer, editor and project catalyst, as well as founder of Guided Goals and Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group. 

She is the host of the Guided Goals Podcast and author of Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages. 

She is an editor at Social Media Examiner and a speaker/moderator on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

Twubs, Magic for Hashtags and Authors

Judging from questions I get in my e-mail box, many people don’t understand hashtags or are just plain annoyed by them.

 Yep, they get over used. They can become part of an understandable sentence but shouldn’t intrude or take over. Aside from being irritating, though, they can be a real promotion plus because of a relatively new Web site, www.Twubs.com! If there are any keywords that would point to some of your own branding, you can use www.Twubs.com to “own” them. There you will get a page of your own including an opportunity to put your banner on the page, sort of like making a profile page. It's also a little like registering your hashtag or copyrighting your hashtag!. And it’s free.

So far some of mine look like this: #SharingwithWriters (which collected tweets I post about my #SharingwithWritings newsletter and this blog and the broader concept of when I want to share with writers). Another is #CarolynHowardJohnson (my name), #TheFrugalBookPromoter (one of my books in my HowToDoItFrugally series of books that connotes a lot of what I do), #TheFrugalEditor (for posts resourcing this second book in that same series).  

I also have some registered hashtags that are more general like #GreatBookReviews and #MovieReviews. I use the latter most often, I think, because I try to do 140 character Twitter reviews that include things we writers can learn from the particular movie I’m reviewing--and I see most movies that come out including indies.

Mindy Philips Lawrence, who does the regular “Itty Bitty” column for my #SharingwithWriters newsletter could get an #IttyBitty hashtag and then include my @FrugalBookPromo in the tweets she does about her column to prompt me to retweet to my 20,000 plus followers. You can do the same thing! 

Once a hashtag is registered, this site (Twubs.com) picks up anyone who uses your registered hashtag and puts it in the stream on that page!  There are tons of ways you can network with the info that gets collected on your Twubs page, too. Neat, huh? 

And anyone can use them in their tweets and elsewhere to expand the exposure of your social networking efforts. 

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers including The Frugal Book Promoter (http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo) and The Frugal Editor (http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor).  Learn more about all her books from nonfiction on retailing to poetry at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.  

Tropes In Literature #1: Mr. Exposition and Captain Obvious

Tropes are common themes, plot elements, or literary devices so popular they've often become cliché.  Some people hate them.  Some editors will throw your manuscript in the trash the moment they see a trope they're tired of.  Others will reject it because it doesn't follow a popular pattern.   People like Terry Pratchett make an art of purposely employing too many tropes, to hilarious effect.  The thing is, clichés become clichés for a reason:  we LOVE certain story elements, and don't mind if we see them over and over again.  Entire genres are built on well established tropes that readers not only tolerate, but expect.

Tropes:  Use Them or Not?

My opinion:  be aware of the tropes of your genre, then go ahead and use the ones you like, the ones that serve your story, but play around with them.  Make them your own.  It's true that, when you boil everything down, there aren't a whole lot of truly unique stories.  It's the way you tell it that makes it unique.   

I'll be featuring individual devices and plot elements here in my Literature Tropes series, but if you want to get lost for an hour or two, visit tvtropes.org, where you'll discover all sorts of familiar tropes with clever names like "Dark Lord on Life Support" or "Conveniently an Orphan."

Mr. Exposition  

This trope involves a character who exists only to explain a plot element, an important scientific or magical law, an aspect of a foreign culture, etc. to the protagonist.  Often it's actually for the benefit of the reader, not the protagonist, who should know it already.  Think of all those TV detectives explaining forensic procedures to each other.  I call this "exposition in dialogue," and it's awkward if all characters in the conversation already know everything they're saying, yet they say it anyway.  As a writer, you should think of a more natural way to get the information across to your reader.  If you want some specific alternatives, read my post on Exposition in Dialogue.  Employing Mr. Exposition occasionally—for information the characters really don't know—can be useful and efficient.  And if it's ingrained enough in the character's personality, it can really work.  Think of Star Trek's Data or the immortal Sherlock Holmes.

Captain Obvious

We've all had visits from Captain Obvious in our real lives.  In writing, he's that character who says something that not just the characters but the reader should also clearly know.

Example:

You can sometimes make brilliant use this for emphasis, or with a sarcastic character, but be careful otherwise. 

Captain Obvious also likes to repeat in dialogue what has already been narrated.  Picture a vividly written scene where two people are tied to the tracks and blinded by the light of the oncoming train.  Then one character says, "Hey, there's an oncoming train!"  This may be perfect for comic effect, but avoid it if it's not meant to be funny.

Be Aware

Remember, tropes aren't necessarily good or bad.  It's how you use them.  Being aware of some of the most common ones will help you make conscious decisions about using them, twisting them…or cutting them.

Melinda Brasher currently teaches English as a second language in the beautiful Czech Republic.  She loves the sound of glaciers calving and the smell of old books.  Her travel articles and short fiction appear in Go Nomad, International Living, Electric Spec, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and others.  For an e-book collection of some of her favorite published pieces, check out Leaving Home.  For something a little more medieval, read her YA fantasy novel, Far-Knowing. Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com.

NANOWRIMO 2015 word count as of today, November 3:  6307 words

Evaluate Where You Are with Zig Ziglar

If you don't know where you are, you'll have a hard time finding directions to get you where you want to go. . . to where you should be . . .  to where you need to be.

This five minute video gives an interesting look at evaluating where you are. And, heading toward the end of the year, it seems like a good time to take a step back and take a look.

A great marketer, Zig Ziglar, had lots and lots of business and life wisdom that I'll hopefully occasionally share with you via YouTube videos. This one is Evaluate Where You Are:






MORE ON WRITING AND MARKETING

Blogging and Google Rankings – Do You Really Want to Use That Content?
Author-Reader Engagement: How to Serve Your Audience
A Book Title That Sells

Talking about evaluating where you are, how's your blogging going? Are you getting visitors to your site? How about building your authority? What about sales?

Become a Power-Blogger and Content Writer in Just 4 Weeks
More Visibility, More Authority, More Sales

This interactive e-class through WOW! Women on Writing will teach you to write super-charged (optimized) blog posts / articles and content that will be reader and SEO friendly, shareable, engaging, and will increase conversion. It’s a must for authors, writers, and home businesses.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.

The Value of a Good Editor

There is an Appropriate Hat for every Story
Photo by Linda Wilson

One of my writing pet peaves is that authors often get credit that their partnership with their editor(s) is due. Perhaps, if you wade through the "Acknowledgements," you might appreciate the number of people it takes for the author to arrive at the finished/polished product. I confess, I read the
"Acknowledgements," but really, how many readers can be relied on to do that?

Preaching to the choir a bit here, but, we writers know how valuable an editor's opinion is, from pros to critique groups, family and friends; and for children's stories, kids. Others' ideas and opinions open up worlds that may not have been considered. One of my instructors once told me one doesn't write a book, one re-writes a book.

Start by Changing Hats
It is crucial to keep your writer's hat on to revise as much as possible before asking someone else to read your work. If you're a beginner, you may need more advise than a more experienced writer. I know I did and still do. So, if what you offer is the best you can do, after running through your own checklist(s), then be satisfied with that. An editor once told me that I am going to "make it." You know why? No matter how much she finds that needs revision, I'm grateful for her insights and always work to improve by considering her advice. The writers who never give up, she says, are the ones who succeed. For it is well known (to quote the lovely phrase read often in Alexander McCall Smith's books), the best way to learn to write is to: Write!

When it's time to don your editor's hat, run through a checklist to make sure you've covered as many bases as possible. Start with a standard list and add to it as you become more experienced. My list has blossomed into a folder and encompasses the three types of writing I've focused on so far: articles, short stories and now, children's novels.

Basic checklist for a children's story
Make sure your story has:

• an intriguing title
• a beginning, middle and end
• each paragraph that contains a beginning, middle and end
• a beginning and end that compliment each other. A common way to view this is that your story has come full circle; your ending circles back to the beginning
• a story arc: the action builds to a climax and ends quickly
• an intriguing story problem
• a main character who grows and changes by the end
• REAL CONFLICT, which is the basis of a good story
• action that is not predictable
• age-appropriate names and content that is appropriate
• everything explained clearly
• "kid friendliness"--cut "adult" words and references

A Peek at Editor Know-How
Back in the day (in the '90s), I dipped a toe as a correspondent for our local newspaper. My very first published article, now framed and resting on my wall, suffered losing my beautiful, well-thought-out title to a drastic editor-knows-best change. After that, my poignant summaries and heartfelt endings in many articles suffered the last and sometimes multiple paragraph cuts at the end, for lack of space. Most painful, was the cut in pay (pay, you say? Yes, those were the days when newspaper correspondents got paid) I suffered at the lens of my husband, whose accompanying photograph made one-third more than my article. It's how I grew my first layer of skin. The bonus: I learned to enjoy editors' economy of words. I wouldn't call our exchanges conversations, exactly, but in the editors' rushed and few words, I understood what was expected of me; and learned to skip-the-chit-chat, easy with even a glimpse at the volume of paper on my editors' desks.

Today, it is doubtful that any local publication can pay its writers (hopefully some do), but writing for them for free still gives writers the benefit of working with an editor (and getting published). Just for fun, here is a short list of some of the ways editors have helped my pieces and stories see print

(albeit, not without some degree of pain):

• For one of my short stories the editor cut off my ending and ended the story "early"--inwardly a move I didn't like; but I held my tongue and once published, I saw the wisdom. Lesson: it's best to be agreeable with your editor unless her change, in your opinion, compromises your story's intregity. In my case, her idea improved the story a great deal.
• In another story, the same editor asked me to add an ending and suggested what she'd like to see. It took me about two minutes to add the ending she suggested. She emailed me right back and was delighted with what I had done, and amazed that the change came so quickly. I chalked the speed of my reaction up to a rapport we had established and her expertise at knowing how to take my story where it needed to go.
• For an article I researched and interviewed over many months time, my editor loved the piece, but the competition at the magazine was so fierce that she had to fight to get my article published. The outcome is one of my proudest pieces, to date.
• Saved the best for last: one prominent children's magazine bought three of my articles, paid me, and yet hasn't published one of them so far. It was great to get paid, but I'd really rather see the articles in print. Go figure!

Next month: Critique Group Do's and Don'ts


 

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has

published over 100 articles for adults and children and six short

stories for children. Recently, she completed Joyce Sweeney's

online fiction and picture book courses. She is currently

working on several projects for children. Follow

Linda on Facebook.

Deliberate Practice and the Writer

woodleywonderworks / Foter / CC BY

If you want to be the very best writer you can be, if you want to master your writing craft,  it is going to take practice and you will have to do it deliberately. 

If you have not heard of deliberate practice, it's a thing! 

John Hayes, a cognitive psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University, spent many years researching talented individuals like Mozart and Picasso to understand how they became masters of their craft. He discovered a common thread - it took them 10 years! Further research found this was true of other notable people, as well.

Time was not the only key, but "deliberate practice" - a theory identified through the research of Swedish psychologist, Dr. K. Anders Ericsson - involving consistent and deliberate work to improve performance.  This concept believes innate talent isn't the indicator of success, but practicing methods for improved performance.

Some do not agree with this theory in its entirety, believing that talent does play a part, but I think we can glean some solid information.

Deliberate practice may be common with musicians, athletes, and painters. But how can it apply to writing?  Writer/Editor Chris Jones says this: 

The concept of deliberate practice demands that you acquire new writing skills or strengthen weaker ones while building on the existing foundation you've already established.

It is making time to consistently and deliberately practice, resulting in improvement and mastery.  Jones suggests identifying your top 2 or 3 areas of weakness  and setting aside 30 minutes a day on focusing to make those areas stronger.

Author and writing teacher Barbara Braig suggests writing down the skills you are good at. Next, list the areas which you know need improvement. If you need to write more complex sentences, learn about sentence structure and practice writing sentences with more than one clause. If your characters are not believable, read excerpts from your favorite author. List those things the author does to make the story good. Ask yourself how many of those things you can do and how many you need to learn.

My first published article had to be written in Chicago style. Do you know the difference between Chicago and AP? I didn't. If I'm going to continue to write articles, I need to practice writing in both of those styles until it becomes second nature. 

The key is to schedule time regularly for practice. It will be work. You will be stretched. You might even get bored. Yet, the results are in and it is enough to motivate and inspire - whether you are just starting out or you are a seasoned writer. 

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After raising and homeschooling her 8 children and teaching art classes for 10 years, Kathy has found time to pursue freelance writing. She enjoys writing magazine articles and more recently had her story, "One of a Kind", published in The Kids' Ark. You can find her passion to bring encouragement and hope to people of all ages at 

When It Hurts - http://kathleenmoulton.com

Three Energizing Tips for Writers

Image courtesy of Aleksa D at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Summer holidays feel far away. The golden Autumn days and Thanksgiving serve as a reminder that Christmas is ahead and then the angst sets in. So much to do, so little time. You just have to think that and you can feel the energy draining from your body.

Boost Energy by Doing Something New

Forget all the past projects gathering dust in the far corners of your computer. What would you really like to do?

• Try a new course. It doesn't have to cost. Sign up for Sarah Arrow's 30 Day Bogging Challenge  to increase your visibility and get daily emails with tips and advice on improving your blog. Or try Sue Fleckenstein's 30 Day PLR challenge which I found through downloading her free e-book on using your plr. 
• Do something else entirely. Start a new website. Learn to dance the salsa. Think of something you enjoyed as a child. Do it again, Have fun.

Boost Energy by Writing Something New

• Experiment. Have fun. Write short Christmas stories you can publish on Kindle. Choose a new genre. Turn writing time into play time. 
• Look for new markets and new submission guidelines. Try for higher paying markets. What's the worst they can do? Say no. Just keep trying till you find out what works.
• Writing for cash? Try ghostwriting e-books for local firms, memoirs for elderly grandparents to leave to their family, use up all that plr you always meant to do something with.

Boost Energy with Exercise

• Bet you're tired of hearing that one. But it works. A quick walk works. Three ten minute walks equal one of thirty minutes. But if you've been deskbound for too long, even one small walk can be a struggle.
• Start slowly. If you do too much at once, you can set yourself back by weeks. Have a look at these one minute videos. They worked for me--Sciatica gone--Hurrah. They are coming out weekly from now until the New Year on my new Energy blog.
• Dance, sing, enjoy life. Have fun. Then write about it.

And once you're feeling brighter...

• Prioritize your goals. Follow Debra Eckerling's advice on goal setting to achieve at least one completed project before the New Year.

Anne Duguid Knol

A local and national journalist in the U.K., Anne is now a fiction editor for award-winning American and Canadian publishers. As a new author, she shares writing tips and insights at Author Support : http://www.authorsupport.net .

Energized Writer: http://www.energizedwriter.com is her new blog which aims to keep writers healthy of not wealthy although they spend hours seated behind computers.

Her Halloween novella, ShriekWeek is published by The Wild Rose Press and is also included in the Hauntings in the Garden anthology. (Volume Two)

Time she wrote something else...