Time’s up! Put your pencils down. NaNoWriMo is over. So let’s look back on the past month. Raise your hand if you participated this year. Hmmm. I didn’t. Maybe I should have … if I had participated, I would have missed out on: Continue reading “Writers Be Like: Phew, Is It December Yet?”
Tag: time management
You’re Going to Write What? – Part 4 – Making Time to Write
This is an ongoing series about BigAl’s first experience writing a book. Join him as he flies by the seat of his pants and figures things out as he goes. For a more complete explanation about the book and this series of posts, you can read the series introduction here.
It’s the end of September and this will be running sometime the first part of October. In this post that ran September 9th, I established what I had done in 2014: both an outline and a start on writing several sections. I’ve since added about 10,000 words. I can spin that into a good story or a bad one.
Continue reading “You’re Going to Write What? – Part 4 – Making Time to Write”
Writing: Stay the Course or Follow the Muse?
For the past nine months or so, I’ve been working on a book that almost refuses to flow. I love the story, get excited about the ideas floating around in my head, but every time I sit down to work on it, it’s like pulling teeth. I don’t know what it is that makes it difficult. I have much of the story line mapped out, I know the arc of the characters, I know how it all ends, but I feel like I have to almost literally drag the details out of my keyboard. Nine months and five chapters. Not a good pace.
Not that I care about my own pace. I have no deadlines, so if a book takes three months or twenty, it doesn’t matter so long as I get it done and I’m satisfied with it. However, I would really like it to be a bit easier than it has been.
But then, one day, the kernel of a new idea popped into my brain. Continue reading “Writing: Stay the Course or Follow the Muse?”
Four Tips to Beat the Summer Writing Doldrums
The sun is shining, the kids are out of school, people are on vacation, and you are … inside writing. Cue the scratch on the soundtrack. That doesn’t sound right, does it?
In summer time, many folks, me included, find it harder to hunker down and get the business of writing done. There’s the distraction of the weather. Sunny days tend to call you outside to the pool, to a hike, or even just a walk down the street. There are also barbecues, family vacations, and just a general laid-back attitude.
So, how does one overcome the distraction and sit down and get their writing life in order? Continue reading “Four Tips to Beat the Summer Writing Doldrums”