Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda

This blog is dedicated to the secret agents who make my life a better place – one butt kick at a time.

Have you ever stopped by the supermarket to buy a loaf of bread, and walked out with something a bit different--like a fifty-inch, wide screen, plasma TV instead?

You've just encountered the power of TEMPTATION.

Let's face it. We're weak at times and a new pair of Jimmy Choos are going to make us feel oh so much better. This momentary lapse of strength can easily filter into our everyday writing life as well.

It's a great day out and (for some of us located in the U.S.) spring is just around the corner. Man, look at those weeds popping up in your flower beds! The mud from last week's rain is still on the walk. Better get out there and clean it up—the writing can wait until later.

WHOA! Time to face down the temptations like the town marshal and win the battle. But how?

Recognize the weakness. Go on…fess up. What makes you weak? Is it the thought of pulling your hair out while working on that synopsis? Perhaps the need for perfection on your rough draft? Maybe you've got the freaken I don't wanna's.

What tempts me, doesn't tempt my critique partners. I could let the house go for the rest of my life without the slightest desire to vacuum again. But I know of someone that prefers her home in order before a single word is written. She and I are just wired differently.

Diversionary Tactics. It's been said that temptation is fueled by emotion, not reason. When the temptation to go off track whispers in your ear, you'll need to divert your attention back to where it belongs—your writing. Even if that means you do some ironing.

Yup, you heard me right. Scrubbing, sweeping, folding laundry—it's all mindless work. BUT we can do these things and deepen our character's POV, work on a plot, or create worlds while our dryer hums and iron sizzles.

Don't become BFFs with your hazard. Don't snuggle up with the very thing that blocks your path. If you're tempted to answer your email every time the inbox chimes, then don't spend hours with the program open on your desktop. Better yet – have a specified time allotted for email replies, set your timer, and stay within that boundary.

If scampering around Facebook is your weakness, then don't log on! The same goes for surfing the blogsites. Stuff those non-productive things away for later. Building your platform and remaining active for your audience is a necessary part of a writer's life. Schedule that block so it doesn't interfere with your writing time.

Time doing one thing is time away from another—and your goal.

Accountability partners. I can't stress enough the importance of a good crit group or circle of friends to keep you on track. You become accountable for your word count and encourage others as well. Make a pact with one or more people. Set a weekly word count goal and agree to strive for that number. Set parameters with your time to reach your goals.

Is that a want, or a need? Needs are the basic necessities of life. Wants are more like wishes. You need to get the laundry done and fill the fridge. You want to go blog hopping and break your old comment record. Don't allow others to set your agenda.

Kicking temptation aside is hard work and so rewarding. It takes tenacity, commitment and, for some, a reliable timer.

Let's talk about WHAT TEMPTS YOU?

Where to Go Next?

If you’re on the road to publication and land a contract, the resulting flurry to promote your name can be a time-sucking black hole. As a new published author of a short story by Books to Go Now, I’m definitely feeling the pressure to network and socialize--a thing that can grate against my personality as an introvert. I find my time for writing has disappeared, and even when I do have a moment, the drive is gone. It’s like I can only do one thing successfully--write or promote.

Now I’m sure this is merely new author fatigue, and once the newness wears off, I’ll be fine. But what to do until then?

Well, while I’ll still promote my short story, I’m going to step back and tackle my WIP. To tell the truth, my WIP might also be scaring me off from writing. I’m heartily sick of the story, but that’s another whole kettle of fish.

So what’s my recipe to overcoming this slump?

•Keep writing and critiquing

•Promote, network, but keep it in perspective

•Stop wasting time staring into space--a favored procrastination tactic of mine

Well, that’s all, folks. I have to get back to my writing--and, oh yes, my promotion. In fact, what kind of new pubbed author would I be if I didn’t stick a little blurb around here somewhere?

Blurb from Captive:

Emma finds herself far removed from her 21st century world and at the mercy of someone who shouldn't even exist. Even though her infuriating Elvin captor, Cian, is mysterious and sexy, she determines to keep herself aloof and return home. This soon all changes as he wages a seductive war on her defenses that challenges everything she's believed about love and life.

For Cian passion and rage intermingle as he alternately toys with her and submits to his fascination for this woman who, by her very humanity, should be an object of repulsion.

Can they put aside their differences and share a love that's stronger than time and prejudice?

Buy link:
http://bookstogonow.com/captive.html

Image: Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

No Time to Write?

What? No time to write??
Waking up this morning, you had every intention in the bright new day of writing after work. You've made notes throughout the afternoon and the prospect of pounding them out on your keyboard kept you motivated to trudge on.

Then life happened: Your spouse can't pick up the kids, a co-worker left early handing you their share of the load, your boss asks if the latest project he gave you yesterday is finished. Heartburn warms up and your head pounds. Something has to give way as reality sets in. You determine, as usual, that something is your writing time.

Any of this sound familiar? Welcome to life! Whether you write for hobby and relaxation, or goals and achievement, all of us at one time or another face the challenge of creating time to sit and write. How can we create a schedule when so many other things take priority?

I'm going to offer ten simple ideas that will help squeeze writing into your crazy schedules. (if you have time saving ideas, please share them!)

1. Plan quick and easy dinners. Crock-pots are an absolute must for the time saver! Throw in all the ingredients turn it on low and come home to an aroma filled home that will provide an immediate dinner. On days off or non-writing nights, make extra food that can freeze for use later in the week.

2. Adhere to a writing schedule. Treat your writing time like you would a doctor's appointment. For example, say you plan to write every evening from 7 PM – 10 PM. Letting your friends and family know that time is off-limits will help you commit to a specified writing schedule. They'll know you're available before or after, but either way they'll take your writing time as serious as you do.

3. Plan. Safeguard your precious writing time:

a) Keep your idea journal next to you and write them all in one place, so you don't go searching for that napkin from lunch you scribbled on.

b) Always keep your writing space and accessories easily accessible. Don't waste your precious scheduled time digging around for a needed file. Try to keep it all in one place.

c) Establish a routine so everything surrounding your writing time is streamlined and efficient.

4. Days off. If you have to miss a few days from writing, don't beat yourself up about it and get discouraged. Use the time to your advantage by planning a more intense writing session. Then instead of feeling bad about not writing, you can feel good knowing that you made the best of a less than ideal situation.

5. Make writing a priority. When you leave your writing time as an option for time usage, you'll rarely find time to write. If you don't let your family, friends, and fellow employees know that your writing time is a priorty, they won't treat it as one—and won't hesitate to infringe upon it.

6. Your daily schedule. To free up time to write, wake up an hour earlier. Use that time to get a jump on your daily chores, or head into work early to get ahead of the game. If you're a morning person, write! The advantages include a calm sense of being before the family starts the AM jitterbug; reduced exterior noises (cars, lawnmowers, etc.); and the satisfaction of knowing you've done your writing no matter what else comes into your day.

7. Negotiate with family and friends. Trade favors for writing time! Tell your spouse if he'll watch the kids for a few hours three days a week, you'll take over on the weekends so he can play golf or hang with the boys. Tell friends you'll watch their kids for a few hours over the weekend, if they'll watch yours one night after work.

8. Get help. Since your objective is to find time blocks for writing—which translates into hours—think about what takes those blocks away from your day, then wrangle a way for someone else to handle them. For instance, bring your lunch to work every day, and apply the money you save toward hiring a twice monthly house cleaning service. If you're a stay at home mom with little kids, hire a "mother's helper" (a 12 to 15 year old) for a few hours. They cost less than a regular sitter and you'll be there just in case of a meltdown.

9. Get help, part 2. Scrutinize chores to see what could be eliminated or handled on a less regular basis. Such as: Have your kids vacuum and dust so you can sit and write!

10. Writing time is quality time. There's a limited time to write, so minimize those gab sessions on instant messaging and Facebook. Make the decision to catch up on email later. All that socializing eats up your valuable time. And we writers have our priorities!

What are some of the issues you face, and what advice can you offer others?

Managing your time

Writing can be an all-consuming activity. If you're like most writers, you find an idea or scene or character that really grips you, and you can't wait to start writing.

I started writing my first novel in this mindset. I just couldn't wait to get going. I read on the internet and decided to do an Excel worksheet that would break my story up into scenes. But when I started to actually type it out, I thought, "Oh, this is marvelous! I could go in so many directions here! Who cares about the scene-by-scene thing - I wrote it, and I can ignore it if I want! Yeah, not such a great idea.

What happened was that by the time I was done with the monster of a novel, it was a mess of characters, plots and subplots. I knew whom I wanted the heroine and the hero to be, but I got so caught up in the lives of the other characters that I wanted to give them all "full" stories, too. So everyone ended up telling their own story, my heroine was in there shouting to receive attention in the mix, and my poor hero didn't get very much attention at all.

So, you might be asking yourself, what exactly is the point here? Well, ladies (and gentlemen), here is the biggest tip I can ever give you: once you have a idea of where you want your story go, who the main characters and secondary characters are (see my previous post about character charts), PLOT OUT EVERY SCENE. I'm not shouting, I promise, but I really do want to get your attention. Put down each major scene, from the beginning to the end. When you're writing, you might decide to change minor things, or move a scene to another part of the story, but don't completely diverge from your original outline.

Currently, I have my second novel plotted out into scenes. The novel is being told by two different characters, so it can get confusing. So what I did was, I wrote down the scenes that each character would have, as the story progresses. I outlined each character with a different color, so I could see at once who was going to do what. Just a small word of caution: don't jumble your points of view because you could really, really confuse your reader. In my case, each character gets a chapter or two to tell her story, and then it switches to the other character. In other words, my readers will have a chance to really immerse themselves in each character's vastly different lives.

My second novel has been going fantastically well so far. I'm about 1/3 of the way done, and it's progressing much faster, and much less confusingly than my first novel. I can already tell this one will be a lot easier to edit.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any tips on how to organize your book before you start typing it out.

Adriana