Lots of people talk about writing and being a writer. They dream about book signings and being famous, the photo on the back of the cover, the money. What few do is embrace what it takes to get there. The hard days/nights of work and the roller coaster of emotions that are inevitable. Even fewer actually sit down and write.
If you want to be one of this small group, ask yourself these three questions:
Studying is an eternal state of being for writers. It’s our lifeblood–how we hone our craft and add depth to our work. As Gary Paulson says, “If you want to be a good writer, you’ve got to read like a wolf eats.” I believe that applies to studying too.
There are many habits a writer should develop. These are just a few. Let’s call them my top 15.
This past year has been a tough one for everyone. The lockdowns have torn up our economy and caused many creatives to lose their livelihoods. Contracts dried up, assignments faltered, and paychecks disappeared. But there is hope.
Life as a freelancer has its challenges, now more than ever, which is why it helps to be creative in finding solutions. Now is not the time to stick to the usual.
Work is out there. Here are a dozen places to try to find it:
There are conversations in life that we expect. Ubiquitous questions we all encounter from “What’s your name?” to “Where are you from?” and “What do you do for a living?”
While, being a military brat, I struggle with the second question, it is that last question that gives me pause. What do I do? Do I cop to it or play it down? The first thing that pops in my brain is “What should I say?”
It’s a new year, finally, and, despite coming off a rocky year, there is room for hope and anticipation for the year ahead. This pandemic will pass and life will resume. It always does. Eventually.
Work will resume too. I know many of us (me included) took a beating last year, losing contracts, work, and facing grim prospects. But this too will change. All you need is patience and some preparation so you’re ready to grab opportunities as they appear. And they will appear. Trust me.
There is no question this has been a tough year for us all. The pandemic. The riots. The unrest. The economic uncertainty. The losses. There have been so many pressures and demands with little relief in sight.
Every year during the holiday season, I have offered up a list of gifts worthy of any writer on your holiday list, or for yourself, should you be the type to reward yourself with a treat at the end of the year. This year, with the tough times and pandemic, I have chosen a different route.
Last week, we talked about strategies to take on NaNoWriMo, now let’s get into specific strategies you can use to up that word count.
If you are one of many writers who have signed on to do this year’s NaNoWriMo, you are in luck. Here are my top tips for doing it right:
Next month is NaNoWriMo: the National Novel Writing Month. It’s a time when writers around the world hunker down to write 50 thousand words on a novel in a single month. It’s not a small endeavor. So why do it?
Here are my top seven benefits to you from choosing to join NaNoWriMo:
It doesn’t matter if we’re always at home now or not, it’s always hard to find time to write. There are too many distractions: paying work, family, home improvement projects, laundry, dishes, dinner, Netflix, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, piles of books. So many lovely excuses keeping you from the page. Heck, that blank page is often enough to prompt bouts of irrational cleaning. Anything instead of doing the work.
It’s not always about finding the time. It’s about creating the right mindset so you want to write and then carving out time to do just that.