I like social media. More specifically, I love Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter in that order. Unfortunately, it interferes with my ability to write more. Each day, I start out with good intentions. I try to tackle my list but before I know it, I have to get dinner ready and nothing has been accomplished. I was forced…
Chances are, if you are serious about a career in writing, you have more than one project to work on at a time. You might even be at different stages with each project. Perhaps you are working on edits and revisions of your novel as well as planning the outline of another. You could also…
Sometimes the twenty four hours in a day is not enough time to get it all done, especially if you’re trying to write a novel and you do not have the luxury of a big block of time every day to get it done. When Stephen King was asked how he wrote, he replied: “One…
For some time I only measured my word count when writing a piece of a specific length, or taking part in a challenge such as National Novel Writing Month or Book-in-a-Week. Recently, I have begun to explore how measuring word count on a day-to-day basis encourages me to write more and better. There are many…
Establishing Boundaries During Writing Hours Everything is all set: laptop booted up, pen and paper at hand and a cup of coffee that is still hot. You have been waiting for this “free” time to get all those words out of your head and onto the paper. With hands poised above the keyboard, you take a…
Writers are often told that writing every day is the best way to stay productive and keep developing as a writer. But, for me, it is a discipline I have always struggled with. When a writing challenge begins, I find it easier to stay motivated as I see other writers’ daily updates flowing in. But,…
I struggle with my commitment to writing. When I worked as a journalist it was easier. I would walk through my day on the look out for good stories, for juicy tidbits, for possible leads, gather all those pieces and head to my desk for some mad writing. As a fiction writer, the habit of…
Greetings from Florida We arrived in Florida in mid-July. The weather was unbearably hot and humid–mid-90’s and within 48 hours of our arrival, everything went pear shaped. First, the job my husband was promised and that we traveled three thousand miles for, evaporated faster than butter in a hot frying pan. Second, the apartment we…