Open Book | TIPS FOR THE ASPIRING WRITER
Stuff I Promised
You should always keep your promises. I heard it as a kid and when I went to sales training in my late 20′s, it was the mantra of customer service. So, I am keeping my promise. Last week I promised to put together my time line to keep me from getting distracted and stay focused. In [...]
How to Get Focused When You are Woefully Undisciplined
When you think that almost everyone you know can write, you would think that it would be easy to find someone who shares similar writing goals. For me, this hasn’t been easy. I have found people with whom I’ve had exchanges over the years, but either the person has loses interest, gets discouraged, or our evaluative skills differ [...]
Five Good Sources for Starting Your Writing Business
When someone gives me websites to visit, I tend to cringe because either the list is way too long and well, it seems more like a chore on my to-do list. One suggestion I can handle, if I remember. But much more than that, I get distracted. However, here are five great sources for getting ideas [...]
What a Good Writing Class Can Do for You (Part 3)
In the last two posts I covered the pros and cons of writing classes vs writing groups. The big question: Is it worth it? The answer is: Yes. I’ve had enough positive experiences, including what I learned from the one college professor whose syllabus was basically an analysis of the chapter of his book, [...]
Pros and Cons of Writing Groups and Writing Classes(Part 2)
Okay, I haven’t written in a couple of days. I tripped on a metal doorstop and my face hit the open metal door. Yes, I have been sporting the Angelina Jolie look the past few days. In the chart below I summarized the differences between a writing class vs. a writing group If you question whether to [...]
Pros and Cons of Writing Groups and Writing Classes (Part 1)
Nervous and excited about joining a writing group or class? You should be. Unlike math or the hard sciences, where there is only the right and the wrong answer, writing is personal. Science and math rests on reason and facts. When we write, we pour some parts of ourselves in the experience. Our deepest thoughts [...]
Where Does Your Time Go?
If you haven’t yet blocked out what you do during the day, especially a week, you are in for a real eye opener. You think you know where your time goes, but in reality, you only have some vague notion how you spend your time. Below I have blocked out my next week. I used [...]
One Way to Make Novel Writing a Career
Figuring out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) posed may position you to achieve your goal sooner, better or easier. This is because now you are able to clearly assess where you are and take a more clear cut action plan to get you your results. Okay, I know what you are thinking. Why [...]
The Confession of a Self Saboteur
I am procrastinating again. My goal is to write a short story by May 1…well, finish the rough draft at least. Not a tall order when you consider that the outline is sketched out and the characters are already moving around in my head. However, I have yet to get beyond “Let me put in [...]
Top Ten Strategies to Focus on Writing
I have to admit that I’m a veteran when it comes to putting my family, my job, my responsibilities before writing. I am the type of person who needs at least two hours to write. I need to get my thoughts organized, remember who is doing what with whom and why in my stories. As [...]
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