Finding Time to Write Without Quitting Your Day Job

“Time stays long enough for those who use it.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

Are you struggling to find time to write?  Most writers I know have a “day job”, family, friends and lots of commitments.  They write around the corners of their lives.  Without the luxury to write full time, it is easy to get off track and run out of steam on a project.  So how do we squeeze more writing time into our life?  It requires getting organized, establishing routines and a willingness to say no.

You can increase your productivity by getting organized.  If it takes you ten minutes to figure out which is your last draft, you’ve lost valuable writing time.  A great organizational tool if you are working on a novel is the program Scrivener.  I think Scrivener’s biggest advantage is its simplicity in moving and tracking text.  Scrivener costs about $40 and they offer a 30 day free trial, so you can check it out for yourself.

Find a set time each week to write.  Schedule it into your calendar and make sure to keep this personal appointment.   There is a direct relationship between keeping this date with yourself and how much you value your writing life.  Next, look for an additional place to squeeze in the work of writing, maybe you can read, write or people watch on your lunch hour.  Do you see your character in the man behind the counter at the pannini shop?  Just adding 15 minutes a day to your writing time can catapult your writing forward.

When you want more time for your writing, it’s time to work your “no muscle”. Before you agree to be on that committee or take on a new project, take a deep breath and think about it.  Is this something you need to do?  Is it taking you away from writing or your other priorities?  What would happen if you said no?   One way to strengthen you your “no muscle” is with your phone.  Do you answer it when writing?  Just think of the time you can add to your writing minutes if you ignore your phone.

If squeezing more writing time into your life feels overwhelming, try just one of the above strategies for 21 days and you’ll be amazed in the difference it can make.  Do you have a creative strategy for eeking out extra writing time?  I’d love to hear your ideas.

Mary Jo Guglielmo is writer and intuitive life strategist.  If you want to push your writing dream forward, join her 4 week Big Dream Challenge. 

For more information check out  www.donorth.biz
or folllow her at:
http://theadvantagepoint.wordpress.com
http://www.helpingchidrencope.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/do_north
http://facebook.com/DoNorth.biz

What Do You Want to Write About?

Last month, my blog post was titled: Do You Want to Be a Writer? http://www.writersonthemove.com/2012/01/do-you-want-to-be-writer.html This month, I will make a few suggestions of what you could write about.

Where do ideas for writing come from? Newspapers, photographs, and your childhood are a few examples of what you could use for inspiration. If you are suffering from writers block, perhaps the following will help.

Classified ads - Try reading the help wanted and for sale ads. Are there any interesting jobs being advertised that might make a good short story? What do people want to buy? What are people selling? Can you write a story or book about why someone might be selling their personal belongings? Let your imagination explore what might happen.

I remember reading an ad from someone who was selling 1970’s teen magazines. I wondered which teen idols the seller liked from that era. Did she use her own money to buy the magazines or did she beg her mother to buy them for her at the grocery store? Did she meet any of her idols at a concert? Was she in the audience of a TV show her idols appeared on?

Advice columnists – “Dear Abby” is a very well-known advice column, published in newspapers all over the United States. This column contains a myriad of topics to explore. Take a problem that a reader needs help with and flesh out a story of what could happen to someone as the months and years go by. Was the conflict resolved satisfactorily? Did any of the parties move to a new city or state, start a family, get a new job?

A photo, print or painting - Pick a photo, print or painting and write a story about what you see. What are the people doing? Where are they? What might happen later in the day or next week? Did they go on a vacation, go out to dinner, or get married? Where could the photo been taken? Is the print or painting of a particular place or could it be anywhere? Think of the possibilities!

Your childhood - I’m taking another class. Currently, I’m writing about my childhood. At first, I thought this was going to be difficult, but the more I write, the more I remember. I’m also including links to websites to help my readers (my classmates) better understand what I am talking about, since I am writing about a world that existed decades ago.

You can probably think of other examples of where to get ideas on writing. Take a notebook and jot down a topic at the top of each page or just make a list. Start with the above suggestions and then add your own. When you have problems thinking of where to go with your writing next, refer to your notebook and maybe the creative process will begin to flow again.

Debbie A. Byrne has a B.S. in Mass Communication with a minor in History. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and is currently working on her first children’s book.

Getting Into Your Characters' Skins

How do we avoid creating cardboard characters, so that they become real people? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just "become them" for a short time.

According to some articles I've read, all animals shed their skin, some faster than others. We humans evidently shed 1,5 million skin cells an hour, giving us a new skin surface about once every 28 days. Snakes, tarantulas, stick insects and some lizards are in more of a hurry. They climb out the old skin and walk / slither away, leaving the skin intact.

Wouldn't that be such a great gift for us as writers? Yet we can learn to do this to a degree. We can step out of our own skin and into the skin of our character. We can then talk like them, think like them and feel their emotions. The secret is to really know our characters

Take a moment and think: How much effort do you put into your conversation with your spouse, your children, your next door neighbour? Do you give any thought to the words you choose? Do you stop to wonder when you should take a breath? Do you agonise over your correct choice of words and phrases? No, you just talk. Right?

So the key to writing good dialogue is to stop trying. Stop trying to figure out what your character would say. Rather concentrate on getting to know your characters so well that you can slip into their skins. Become them. Feel their emotions. Then you will react to situations as they see them. The words they say will be natural. And when you move onto another character? As long as you really know your characters, all you need to do is to change skins, and you'll change your voice. It's that easy.

If you spend enough time getting to know your characters, you may even experience one of those exciting (and frustrating) moments when your character refuses to do what you want them to do. Or they do something you hadn't planned, causing you to change the script! Why? Because they have become real characters.

This doesn't only apply to human characters.

I once wrote a story about a time when my young dog ate poison and had to be rushed to the veterinary surgeon in the middle of the night. I described how she reacted and looked—as I saw the situation. I was pleased with the story and submitted it to first one magazine then another. Several rejections later, I read advice similar to what I've given here. I needed to try and see the whole evening's drama as if I were Sheba, our fun-loving Alsation pup. I had to look at the ordeal through her eyes, feeling what she experienced.

I stopped describing how I thought she felt. I imagined myself to be her. I looked at the events from her point of view. I began to see the confusion in "my" mind at the reactions of my human family when they tried to make me vomit. I felt the distress when they allowed a stranger to poke me with needles, then gave me away. (We had to leave her overnight on a drip at the animal hospital.)

As I typed out the new version of the story, I fought back tears. Although I still wrote the story from my human point of view, I now felt the heartache of Sheba. I was her, as her owner turned and walked away, leaving her with this horrid stranger who had stuck needles into her and made her violently sick. What had she done to upset her owner so much that she'd give her away? Would she ever see her owner again?

As I typed, the emotions came from within and influenced my writing. The difference was exciting. A few days later, I submitted it to Chicken Soup for the Soul:  My Dog's Life, and it was accepted. All because I slipped into Sheba's skin for a few hours.

How about you? What suggestions do you have for making your characters come alive?

SHIRLEY CORDER lives in South Africa with her husband Rob, a hyperactive budgie called Sparky, and an ever expanding family of tropical fish. Hundreds of her inspirational and life-enrichment articles have been published internationally. She is contributing author to nine books to date and her book, Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer is due to be released in America by Revell Publishers in October.  You can contact Shirley through her writing website, her Rise and Soar site for encouraging those on the cancer journey, or follow her on Twitter. 

Journaling

Do you begin the day journaling before you begin writing? Is there some other ritual you perform before writing?

By doing so is one way to get the gunk out of your head and clear your mind for the writing at hand.

In addition, just getting the words down, then editing later is one way to create your story.

While journaling, interview your characters to make them real in your mind and learn more about them. If they are real to you and you know them well, so will you reader, and the reader will develop empathy for them as well as their life and trials in your story.

Empathy for characters in literature is what matters most for the read to become involved and having an experience with the story rather than just reading something to kill time.

As an author, we write for ourselves first, than we hope others will read us and get something from what we write. If we don’t write for ourselves first, then we are little less the writing whores, and writing for nothing more than the few bucks we can make.

As authors, we should stand for the craft and something in which we value what we do. Writing should not just be about making some money, but we should writing something to engage the read for the period of time they spend with us in our book, article, or any copy we write.

Before writing for the day, or whenever you write, journaling is a great way to clear your mind of the stuff that is rolling around from life and prepare yourself for the writing job at hand.

You should also have your ducks lined up for the writing task at hand and a clear direction to advance the storyline. Can the writing change along the way? Possibly, but that is what editing is for, to check the finder points, and make the story stronger in the editing of the words on the page.

Robert Medak
Freelance Writer/Editor/Reviewer/Marketer
http://rjmedak.wordpress.com

The Writing Dream

Following the writing dream sounds so simple. However, there are certain things that have to happen as you are following those dreams and all of that can be very overwhelming.  Did any of you think that all you had to do was write from your heart and a writing career would unfold?  

In my very younger days, yes I believed that if I wrote from my heart there would be a publisher who would scoop up those words and make my name a household brand in the world of children’s books. Oh how wrong I was. First of all, no one liked my words without changing many of them and sometimes changing the entire idea. And so my journey began.

The thing about writing and writing dreams is that it takes work, hard work. There is the work of learning the craft, that in and of itself can take years.  Then after learning the basics of the writing craft, there is a continuing education aspect that every writer must remember so never to loose site of honing the craft. I am finding new learning experiences with every assignment.

While learning the craft and writing material that may never find a publisher, most writers work at another job to pay the bills. While a writer must continue to write because it is in their heart, most must continue to learn new skills to keep their day job and a constant paycheck. Few are wealthy enough in the beginning to never have to balance the writing life with the paying job.

Add family to the picture and now a writer is balancing writing, working full time, and having a family together with following the dream. As a writer succeeds in this writing world, then enters marketing, speaking, promoting, blogging, and paying assignments on to the plate of the writer with a dream still not quite fullfilled.

My question for myself and other successful writers is this. How do you balance all of these aspects of working towards the writing dream without feeling overwhelmed and discouraged? How many write for paying assignments that they don’t enjoy simply to pay the bills while still trying to carve out time to write from the heart?  

The answer for most is to stay focused, stay organized, make lists, don’t take on more than you know you can do, and to keep writing. Writing from the heart is my motto on my blog, and a common thread for writers everywhere. Writing from the heart is what feeds the soul of the writer. And in the end isn’t that what is important?

Designing Customized Facebook Fan Pages Webinar

Writers on the Move took a workshop break in February, but we have a great webinar scheduled for March 12th. Due to popular demand, Maggie Ball is presenting a workshop on creating a FB fan page for book promotion and other promotional needs.

Here are the details:

Title: Designing Customized Facebook Fan Pages
Date: March 12, 2012
Time: 7PM, EST USA
Cost: Free
Format: PowerPoint Webinar
Handout: Pending

This webinar will not be recorded, so if you're interested you'll have to attend the live presentation.

DESCRIPTION:

Facebook is by far the top social networking site. Yes, it’s a fun way to stay in touch with all your old friends and extended family, but it’s also a fantastic way for businesses to connect with customers. For authors, it’s a particularly powerful tool, not only for encouraging sales, but for allowing your readers to interact with one another. Does your Facebook page stand out? Is it professional? A call to action for visitors? Are you attracting ‘likes?’ Creating your own custom Facebook fan page is easier than you think. Black Cow author Magdalena Ball provides the lowdown on how to create your own exciting, customised fan pages that change when visitors become fans. We’ll cover templates and self-made options, how to add multiple tabs, the best way to convert visitors to readers, and more, showing you exactly how you can make your own page as exciting as your books.

As this session will be done during the promotional tour for Black Cow, attendees are encouraged to visit Magdalena’s fan page at http://www.facebook.com/MagalenaBallAuthor and like it, as a pre-attendance exercise, as this page will be the basis for the demonstrations and familiarity will help ensure that all attendees are starting from a similar point of awareness.

For full details go to:
http://www.writersonthemove.com/p/writers-on-move-workshop.html

Or register with Maggie right now at:
maggieball@compulsivereader.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Until next time,

Karen Cioffi
Award Winning Author, Ghostwriter, Freelance Writer, Editor, Marketer

Karen’s Books Page:
http://www.karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com/p/karens-books.html

Karen Cioffi Writing and Marketing
http://WritersOnTheMove.com
DKV Writing 4 U
http://KarenCioffi.com (children’s author site)

A Setting to Remember

I love an unforgettable setting. Whether I'm experiencing it, writing it or even reading about one, a good setting can create an unforgettable image that will stay with me long after. The challenge is how to write a great setting? First of all, like all great writing, it's a must to remember to use your five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and probably most important for setting, smell.

Setting is everything that places your reader: you need to let your reader know when the action is occurring - time of day, time of year, and era. That's not all, your reader also needs to know where in the world, or out of this world, your scene is taking place? Finally, also consider the weather as part of your setting.

Just like everything in your writing, your setting must serve a purpose. The setting either needs to work with your plot, work to create your character, or both.

"One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it," Chekhov famously said. In my novel, Rocky's Mountains, the characters are camping in the forest. When a tornado rips through the valley, they are left trapped. 

"We crawled along the edge of the rock face with branches and limbs whipping above us. Frequently Rocky would stop and I could tell he was searching for a way up and out of our tree-tunnel. The world clawed at our clothes and everything smelled of Christmas and death—pine trees and mold. Some of the needles stabbed at me, poked into my skin and were left to hang there—no time to pull them out. We struggled through mud and water. . ." Later they see trees scattered like "toothpicks" and taste blood from their injuries.

Setting can also be used to create a character. Alma's restaurant in Rocky's Mountains is a small Wyoming diner, named after the owner's greatest love - his horse. 

"A cowbell clanged as I opened the door of Alma’s café and the intoxicating aroma of old-fashioned grilled hamburgers, homemade French fries and coffee surrounded me. According to the engraved sign over the door, the dive served food and spirits. From the stuffed two headed calf sitting high on a shelf, to the brands burned into the wood plank tables, the diner practically exuded the essence of the old west." 

After your first introduction you learn of the smell of the green stuff that comes in on the boots of the ranchers and it reminds you who frequents the place. You hear the gruffness of the owner's voice as he asks for your order. You see him spit tobacco. You know the characters belong.  

When creating a setting, work to define the space and place in such a way that your reader knows why it's mentioned.

Exercise: write about a room, restaurant, outdoor area or other place you know well. Now rewrite the setting creating an atmosphere of romance or mystery. Finally, take two completely different characters and put each of them in the space. How does each of these changes affect your setting? Give your reader not just a great story, but also a place to remember.

_____________________________

D. Jean Quarles is a writer of Women's Fiction. She loves to tell stories of personal growth – where success has nothing to do with money or fame, but of living life to the fullest. She is the author of Rocky's Mountains, Fire in the Hole and, Perception, her latest book dealing with the subject of death and the afterlife. The Mermaid, an award winning short story was published in the anthology, Tales from a Sweltering City. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and business coach. In her free time . . . ha! ha! ha! Anyway, you can find more about D. Jean Quarles, her writing and her books at her website at www.djeanquarles.com

Her novels are available in electronic format here, or print format here. 

You can also follower her at www.djeanquarles.blogspot.com or on Facebook

Or you can just contact her at d.jeanquarles@yahoo.com