There is a famous quote: “If you take one day off writing, your muse will take off the next three.” In other words, it will take you three days (after skipping writing) for you to get back into the flow of your writing project. Even taking one full day off will cost you in focus. […]
habits
A Writerholic’s Many Faces
Did you know that, contrary to popular belief, workaholics (and the sub-group writer-holics) don’t work all the time? In fact the term can describe “any person who is driven to do too much, whether that person works sixty hours a week or runs around like a chicken with its head cut off…Some work addicts appear […]
Pulling Weeds and Planting Flowers
Writers are good at pulling up weeds, but they sometimes forget to keep going and plant flowers in the dirt. After you pull weeds, don’t forget to plant flowers. Many writers in December and January talked about their goals for the new year. Many are working hard to break habits that keep them from their […]
Getting the Writing Done: Crunch Times
I have several deadlines to meet by the end of this month, including finishing an outlined NaNoWriMo novel. Crunch time! I reviewed my past “crunch time” behaviors, many of which set me back instead of moving me forward. (e.g. I often gave up eating healthy meals and grabbed caffeine-laden soft drinks and chocolate to get […]
Writer Imaging (Part 3)
(First read “Writer Imaging” Part 1 and Part 2.) Here are the final attributes of a happy writing life… 4. Staying focused on the positive. View your writing life as a series of opportunities and growth experiences, even though some experiences (like rejection slips) may involve pain. Daily there are good things to focus on […]
Writing Boundaries: Thinking Like a Nine-to-Fiver
Time pressure and interruptions–they’re always with us. Right? To a certain extent, yes. I have several appointments coming up that will take three hours out of several different days and a couple of favors I didn’t have the nerve to say “no” to. I was bemoaning the chunk of work time that would be deducted […]
Writing Strategy: Acting AS IF
(First re-read the last post: New Twist on the Thought-Feeling-Behavior Writing Cycle.) After three very busy weeks (two new grandbabies, lots of travel, a conference, two work-for-hire deadlines), I was finally able to sit down for a lengthy time yesterday and write on my novel. Or so I thought. I sat down all right, but once […]
Chop! Chop! Writing in 20-Minute Slices
Thirty years ago I read an article that said writing was like eating a salami. You’d choke if you tried to swallow the whole thing at once. Slice by slice, though, it was easy. Life has been hectic lately, with few large chunks of time to work. So I went back to creating 20-minute tasks […]
Your Writing: Who's in Charge? (Part 3)
(First read Mental Boundaries: Who’s in Charge Part 1 and Emotional Boundaries: Who’s in Charge? Part 2.) By now, you’ve changed your thoughts and your attitudes. However, in the final analysis, taking charge of your writing life comes down to taking action. Are you actually writing? Have you developed the Seven Habits of a Highly […]
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Writers
“In writing, habit seems to be a much stronger force than either willpower or inspiration.” ~~John Steinbeck. For several years, I’ve had a list of “The Seven Essential Habits of a Working Writer” scribbled on a scrap of paper and pinned to my bulletin board. I had copied the list from a book by author […]