Greetings, TLN'ers!!!
Hope your week has treated you kindly. If it's been one big chaotic mess after another, well, you've clicked on over to the perfect place to get revived!!
It's no secret how busy I've been getting things ready for the baby and all my Christmas preparations. Focusing my time and dwindling energy on these areas has put a cramp in my writing. (Ah, rats!)
I figured I couldn't be the only one running around like a crazy person trying to get everything done . . . yesterday! SO, when the date arrived to have the fantastic SANDRA SOOKOO on my blog, I knew without a doubt what topic I wanted her to touch upon.
Sandi is a writer I aspire to follow. I admire her tenacity and her work ethic. Reading her Facebook posts never fail to encourage me to get with the program.
If you've been faced with a lagging resolve, TODAY is your day! Let Sandi get you pumped up and ready to get that WIP whipped!!
Grab a cup of egg nog (man, that sounds good!) and get ready to be inspired!!
Writing through distractions
It’s holiday season and we’re all busy baking cookies, Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, traveling hither and yon as well as doing so many other things, we can barely remember our own names half the time. So, if you’re a writer, how do you fit in time to work on your craft?
It’s all a matter of setting aside an hour every day and telling your loving family that you need “you” time and you’re not to be disturbed. The kids will be fine watching a movie. The husband will be good to go if he has to entertain himself for awhile. No one is going to care if you’ve gotten the household chores done. If you are a serious writer, the only way you’ll reach your publishing goals is to sit down and work on it every day (or almost every day). No one is going to do it for you. Think of it this way. If you don’t write, those contracts aren’t going to come. Waiting in line to pick up the kiddos at school is also a great time to write longhand. I’ll bet if you take a look at your schedule, you’ll find other opportunities too.
Whether it be in the early morning hours before the household rises or late at night once you finally get everyone into bed, I strongly encourage you to make these quiet times your time. Even if you strive for 500 words each day, they add up quickly. Remind yourself that writing is a job and it you want to make a go of being a professional writer, then you need to dedicate time to it. Writing is work so treat it as such! And, sometimes it also helps to outline out your chapters or at least get an idea of where you want to go so if you keep getting interrupted, once you come back to, you’ll not lose your way.
Don’t worry about the rules. Don’t get hung up on what folks say you should write or how you should do it. If the subject matter interests you and you have a passion for it, then write it! The best stories are the ones the writer believes in 100 percent. The key is to get that story down. You can finesse the words later.
That’s kind of how I see it. I hope you got some inspiration from this post. I’m always happy to give out advice—it’s free!
As a treat, here’s a blurb for one of my upcoming Christmas releases. It’s a historical/paranormal mix and will release sometime this month with Liquid Silver Books (http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com ).
Christmas in 1899 starts as a joyless affair. Bethany Cundiff has hit a rough patch of life. While caring for her young niece and nephew, she’s evicted from her residence and fired from her job ten days before Christmas. To make matters worse, a gentleman who desires her company for the holiday, and has the money to back up the promise, propositions her for sex.
Blake Wenchal is a disenchanted elf that’s been banished from the Northern Realm and Santa’s court because he’s lost the spirit of compassion and charity. Lonely from years spent by himself, he’s thrown off balance when Bethany accepts his ill-advised offer of paid bed mate—except she arrives on his doorstep with children in tow.
Neither one counted on the power of love, acceptance and the miracle of family to make the holiday unforgettable.
I'd like to thank Sandi for being here today. She's enjoying some much earned vacation time in Magic Kingdom and I sure do wish I was trekking around the happiest place on earth, too. LOL Of course, my gait would be more of a waddle than a walk. *wink wink* If you'd like to learn more about the awesome Sandra Sookoo, please head on over to her website!! www.sandrasookoo.com
As an example of how cool Sandra truly is--she's giving away a $5.00 Starbucks GiftCard to one lucky commenter!! See?! I told ya she rocks!! :)
THANK YOU, TLN'ers!! Here's hoping your week is vastly productive and Monday finds you leaps and bounds ahead of your writing goals! Despite this weekend being my daughter's 5th bday party and my RWA Chapter's Christmas shin-dig, I'm planning on plugging away at the old keyboard every chance I get. :) Toddle-loo and see you next week!
Hope your week has treated you kindly. If it's been one big chaotic mess after another, well, you've clicked on over to the perfect place to get revived!!
It's no secret how busy I've been getting things ready for the baby and all my Christmas preparations. Focusing my time and dwindling energy on these areas has put a cramp in my writing. (Ah, rats!)
I figured I couldn't be the only one running around like a crazy person trying to get everything done . . . yesterday! SO, when the date arrived to have the fantastic SANDRA SOOKOO on my blog, I knew without a doubt what topic I wanted her to touch upon.
Sandi is a writer I aspire to follow. I admire her tenacity and her work ethic. Reading her Facebook posts never fail to encourage me to get with the program.
If you've been faced with a lagging resolve, TODAY is your day! Let Sandi get you pumped up and ready to get that WIP whipped!!
Grab a cup of egg nog (man, that sounds good!) and get ready to be inspired!!
Writing through distractions
It’s holiday season and we’re all busy baking cookies, Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, traveling hither and yon as well as doing so many other things, we can barely remember our own names half the time. So, if you’re a writer, how do you fit in time to work on your craft?
It’s all a matter of setting aside an hour every day and telling your loving family that you need “you” time and you’re not to be disturbed. The kids will be fine watching a movie. The husband will be good to go if he has to entertain himself for awhile. No one is going to care if you’ve gotten the household chores done. If you are a serious writer, the only way you’ll reach your publishing goals is to sit down and work on it every day (or almost every day). No one is going to do it for you. Think of it this way. If you don’t write, those contracts aren’t going to come. Waiting in line to pick up the kiddos at school is also a great time to write longhand. I’ll bet if you take a look at your schedule, you’ll find other opportunities too.
Whether it be in the early morning hours before the household rises or late at night once you finally get everyone into bed, I strongly encourage you to make these quiet times your time. Even if you strive for 500 words each day, they add up quickly. Remind yourself that writing is a job and it you want to make a go of being a professional writer, then you need to dedicate time to it. Writing is work so treat it as such! And, sometimes it also helps to outline out your chapters or at least get an idea of where you want to go so if you keep getting interrupted, once you come back to, you’ll not lose your way.
Don’t worry about the rules. Don’t get hung up on what folks say you should write or how you should do it. If the subject matter interests you and you have a passion for it, then write it! The best stories are the ones the writer believes in 100 percent. The key is to get that story down. You can finesse the words later.
That’s kind of how I see it. I hope you got some inspiration from this post. I’m always happy to give out advice—it’s free!
As a treat, here’s a blurb for one of my upcoming Christmas releases. It’s a historical/paranormal mix and will release sometime this month with Liquid Silver Books (http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com ).
Christmas in 1899 starts as a joyless affair. Bethany Cundiff has hit a rough patch of life. While caring for her young niece and nephew, she’s evicted from her residence and fired from her job ten days before Christmas. To make matters worse, a gentleman who desires her company for the holiday, and has the money to back up the promise, propositions her for sex.
Blake Wenchal is a disenchanted elf that’s been banished from the Northern Realm and Santa’s court because he’s lost the spirit of compassion and charity. Lonely from years spent by himself, he’s thrown off balance when Bethany accepts his ill-advised offer of paid bed mate—except she arrives on his doorstep with children in tow.
Neither one counted on the power of love, acceptance and the miracle of family to make the holiday unforgettable.
I'd like to thank Sandi for being here today. She's enjoying some much earned vacation time in Magic Kingdom and I sure do wish I was trekking around the happiest place on earth, too. LOL Of course, my gait would be more of a waddle than a walk. *wink wink* If you'd like to learn more about the awesome Sandra Sookoo, please head on over to her website!! www.sandrasookoo.com
As an example of how cool Sandra truly is--she's giving away a $5.00 Starbucks GiftCard to one lucky commenter!! See?! I told ya she rocks!! :)
THANK YOU, TLN'ers!! Here's hoping your week is vastly productive and Monday finds you leaps and bounds ahead of your writing goals! Despite this weekend being my daughter's 5th bday party and my RWA Chapter's Christmas shin-dig, I'm planning on plugging away at the old keyboard every chance I get. :) Toddle-loo and see you next week!
4 comments:
Sandra, I'm happy to hear someone talk about writing in long-hand when away from home. I'm convinced we can train ourselves to write anywhere, anytime. I used to write long-hand during my lunch break at work. (I'm now retired.)
Professional athletes must be able to block out thousands of screaming fans, bad weather, extreme pressure, and still make the shot/hit/catch. I think there's a learning curve to writing surrounded by distraction, or being able to get into the story when you only have fifteen minutes while you sit in a waiting room/wait in line. But it's something that can be learned. The more you do it, and see that you can write without quiet, special music, etc., the easier it gets. When you write every day your brain stays in the story and characters. Your brain is thinking about the story throughout the day.
I'm happy to hear someone who advocates "just do it!" Sheri
This is great advice. Find those little minutes in the day where you can get a couple sentences or a page down. I often take pages with me to the doctor or the dentist. What else is there to do in the waiting room?
Thanks so much ladies! Since both of you were my only commenters, I'm giving you both a $5.00 Starbucks giftcard. Email me your mailing address at sandra.sookoo@comcast.net and I'll get that out to you!
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