Do You Need Your Own Writing Space?
/
Teal table with a laptop, pink flowers and gold paperclips.
Canva.com
In your career, you will discover all kinds of writers. Each of us have our own superstitions and ways of doing things. One that surprises me from time to time is the two sides of having a dedicated writing space.
When I started writing, I had a dedicated space. It was small. Ok, it was tiny. But it was mine. After shutting the door, I went to work. I loved my space. I put writing quotes around the desk and had a pile of to be read books by authors I admired.
I only wrote in this space. Nowhere else. All the magic was behind the flimsy particle board door. There was a trail of muse glitter that stayed in the room. The muse went nowhere else.
Not that I only thought about my stories in that space. Ideas came to me all over the place. I cannot tell you how many epiphanies I’ve had in the bread aisle of the grocery store. But any actual writing was done at that desk.
Laptop, a phone with the time, magazines and a glass vase of pink, lavender and cream flowers.
Photo by Jess Bailey Designs: https://www.pexels.com/photo/macbook-air-flower-bouquet-and-magazines-on-white-table-839443/
Stephen King has always has a place he goes to write. Neil Gaiman has a writing shack where he works. Brandon Sanderson has his space. There are many authors who like having their own room. Since I want to be as good at writing as they are, they're great examples.
At a writer’s conference many moons ago, Suzanne Brockmann was speaking as the keynote. I remember her saying that she writes every day wherever she was. Later in the weekend, I saw her writing by the pool as she soaked in some vitamin D. Changed my writing forever.
Consistent bestsellers write every day. As much as I wish that wasn’t true, there is no getting around it. Your story needs you to be fresh and creative. It’s hard to do that when you’re trying to remember what you were writing about two weeks ago.
Are you always at home? Every day? That might not be a fair question with the pandemic still about. But I think you get the point. Sometimes you’re on vacation, or visiting family and friends, sick in bed or at a weekend writer’s conference. You still have to write.
Today, it’s easier than ever to take your book with you wherever you go. Most of the major writing software out there syncs between an app, or an online interface to their servers. I have Scrivener for my tablet. Not gotten a ton of use out of it in the last few years, but I can if I want to.
Not to get off track, but I’m a night writer. I’ve been a night owl my whole life. My father is an early riser. We had terrific screaming matches at five am while I was in high school.
My point being, I like to write when everyone else is asleep. I don’t have to wait for the night. Two NaNoWriMo's ago I wrote between three and five in the afternoon. But I’m on at night. No interruptions. Just sweet quiet and snores.
I do my night writing in bed. Etsy has several sellers who make lap desk things. I ordered one from England that is a thick piece of wood with groves for both a phone and my tablet. It has some ventilation and a small mouse pad area. I love it. Best present I’ve ever given myself.
On it, I usually have my laptop, phone, planner, scene cards and a pencil case. It’s my personal command center. The puppy has tried to chew on the corners. She tried to electrocute herself the other day by gnawing on an electric cord. I’d rather have her chew on my table.
Keyboard, fancy pens, a white alarm clack and a pink and cream flower.
Photo by Katie Harp: https://www.pexels.com/photo/dawn-leaf-keyboard-time-7361322/
Sometimes I write downstairs. Especially during holidays when I want to see all the decorations. The Christmas tree being my favorite. I’ve got a laptop, and it goes where I need it to.
I’ve got a room that is mine with an enormous desk and all kinds of things I think I can’t live without. The room has never given off writer vibes. More of my art things than writing. But it’s mine and I could write in there if I wanted to.
Since my phone is never away from me, I’ve used Dabble on the go. The software syncs back and forth fast. Some days I squeeze out words one sentence at a time. If I’m sitting in a doctor’s office, I can work on a scene.
I’ve taken my iPad with a keyboard with me on vacation. Ended up using it more than I thought I would. Now I take the laptop.
There are several things I like to do to clear my space for writing. I grab my pens, scene card ring and the book’s small notebook. I lay them out beside me. A simple meditation helps get me in the right frame of mind. It doesn’t matter where I’m at. Hotel, restaurant, coffee shop, mall, in the passenger seat of the car and everywhere else. Writing is going to happen in the space I’ve been given.
There are so many excuses for not writing. Don’t let having your own writing space be one that keeps you playing small. Let your muse out to play and see where the writing takes you.
I Thought My First Quarter of the Writing Year Burned to Ash
/
Canva
The first quarter of twenty twenty-two disappeared with me flaying myself for not getting anything done. Similar to other Americans, I suffer from "must be busy and productive" syndrome. Busy, busy, busy. You’ve got to cram in as much as you can.
There wasn’t much happening around here writing wise. No, let's be more honest about that. Zero fiction writing happened in the first quarter. NONE. It hurts to even type that.
When I sat down to evaluate my yearly goals and adjust the second quarter goals, I discovered even when I’m not on point, I still get some things done. This hit me in the face like Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.
Photo by Eunice Lui: https://www.pexels.com/photo/blurry-photo-of-a-neon-signage-4151043/
Let's look at the numbers.
The three projects I wanted to complete in The First Quarter:
1. Get more followers on Instagram.
2. Finish Killing me. Has twenty thousand to go.
3. Finish Rescue me. Has nineteen thousand to go.
I got more Instagram followers. Not as many as I wished for, but forward we go. All quarter long, I was consistent in my messaging and in my posting. I use Plann to schedule and edit photos. While I’m getting better at it, I’m not aggressive. Maybe that’s the introvert in me.
Nothing got done of Goal two or Goal Three. NOTHING.
What did I get done? Here are few things I marked off from my annual goal list?
I blogged every Wednesday. I think there was a time I missed. Maybe two. But I’m happy with where I’m at with this goal for quarter two.
I took another Canva class and completed a Pacing Class I’d signed up for last year. Down to four more classes I need to take to make my goal of six classes this year. For the next six months, I’m taking a self branding class. It includes social media, graphics, substack, newsletters, articles and such. It’s packed. Looking forward to it.
I cleaned my Dropbox. Couldn’t believe I would ever get through that. I spent fifteen minutes a day moving files around. Glad to have this off the list. Now I need a better system for book folders.
I’ve been active in the four writing groups I’m a member of. Am I really using the groups or just paying them money? If I’m not engaged, then I need to cut my losses.
Photo by energepic.com: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-pointing-on-the-screen-of-a-laptop-313691/
Listen, I’m happy I got stuff done even though I didn’t know I was doing it, but if I didn’t write goals down, I wouldn’t have anything to compare my first quarter to. Having the list of projects every quarter helps me. And while I admit to burying my head in the sand occasionally, knowing really is better than not knowing.
Having things written means I remember most things I want to get done. Sometimes I ignore them. The voices in my mind have been quiet while I read other books, work on health goals, and try to be a better human. We can’t get everything done at once. This quarter I worked on other things.
There are some problems I'm not sure how to fix, though. Am I stuck in my plot black moments and that’s why I’m not able to finish two books in a row? How can I keep the pace of last year’s writing when I’m committed to other things this year? Do I play with the amount of words I write at a time?
I’ve not been brave enough to write next quarters goals. Right now, I plan to get through this week and percolate over the weekend on the next three months.
Where are you at with your writing? Are you getting words on the page?
It's Ok to Not Be Ok as a Writer
/
Canva.com
Most of the time, I'm confident about my work. Maybe eighty-five percent of the time. Then there are moments that make me doubt why I even get up in the morning.
Brandon Sanderson is already brilliant. His teaching videos on YouTube have been inspiring some of my world building.
Today he announced he has written four extra novels (and a possible graphic novel) while in COVID-19 quarantine.
Yes. He did. In case you’re not familiar with him, he writes long books. Robert Jordan did too. And Brandon finished The Wheel of Time series out after the author's death. He’s talented as hell and a nice person.
But did he have to write four extra books on top of his already full release schedule?
I closed my eyes after reading about his announcement and subsequent Kickstarter. I’m writing this on Tuesday at 8pm. The Kickstarter sits at 11.6 million dollars. Watch his announcement video for all the details.
My point is he writes like a machine. Excellent writing. Stuff that keeps fans craving any book he writes.
You want to know the most common trait of bestselling authors? They write regularly. Many write daily. It’s a job and a pleasure most of the time. Whether a book hits the lists can be guess work for an author. But if you’ve got incredible output, you rake in the rewards. I’m not just talking about money.
Consistency is the number one lesson. Period. If you don’t practice writing, your writing will never improve. You must want it enough to write when it’s a tough story that has you frustrated. Or when you’ve got a headache or want a mental health day.
But full-time writers are writing all the time, even if words aren't dribbling out through their fingers. They’re IN their stories. Those writers that do in person research weave in the little stories from the surrounding setting into the tapestry of their books.
Photo by Kostiantyn Stupak from Pexels
I don’t always get words down. There are excuses. Of course there are. But I’m doing something writing related every single day I draw breath.
Today I was playing tug with the puppy when I realized my hero couldn’t act very heroic at this point in the story. It’s one of his flaws. We all have them. The idea of how to resolve this struck me when the puppy threw the toy at my head. Bam.
But I sure didn’t write five extra stories in 2020 and 2021. That’s on me.
He’s calling the books his secret. When I heard about his secret, my head drooped like a sedated horse. Awake but not aware. In my mind, I could hear things. “You just don’t want it enough.” Or “You need to be more professional and get product ready to go.” There were some darker ones where I wondered if I should even show up to the keyboard today.
That’s on me. That’s my head space. That’s something I’m going to have to resolve soon.
I reframed and repented with a few seconds. In my head, I opened a garbage can and let all the muck squish its way out of my mind. What he did is fantastic. I want to do that. But do I really? There is always that lingering doubt nibbling away at anything broadcasting with joy.
No. I don’t have that kind of time. Oh, we all have the same twenty-four hours. And I spend considerable time consuming instead of creating. Could I do what he did? I’m not sure I could even if I buckled down.
Here’s what I know. Where I’m at today doesn’t leave room for that kind of output. I have written more in the last couple of years than ever before in my life. But I’m not that kind of writer right now.
You know what's awesome. I can cheer him on and not pile unneeded goo all over my brain. When I celebrate with other people, the world opens up for me. Love for others opens more doors than being a jealous jerk ever will.
Please watch the video. It’s fun and also a love letter to fans and other writers. I can’t wait to read the first book.
What do you think of his secret projects? Are you looking forward to the extra stories?
The Mysteries of a Writer's Instagram
/
My email has been full of how to harness social media for the upcoming year. It’s exhausting. I delete the emails before I even open them. Does anyone need more stress right now? Hell no.
Before I confuse anyone, let’s be clear about the fact I’m still learning. I’ll show you what I do when I remember to do it. Got to be honest in saying, I try to be consistent. But I miss sometimes. I’m human.
All the calls to engage and connect with readers on various platforms scares the pants off me. Strangers in my private space aren’t a warm fuzzy. If I had to pick one to learn, I would go with the more visual medium.
Instagram is my speed. I love dogs. That’s what hooked me. They offered beautiful and funny dogs. Sucked me right up. Immediately I started collecting beagle dogs in my feed. Next, I started taking pictures of my two. Nice people who loved animals and had fun. No brainer.
I still have that beagle feed. It’s my space for taking things down a notch. But, I knew I wanted to do more.
I had some art friends who were doing only art pictures in their feeds, so I opened a new account and started posting arty type things. There was nothing wrong with that, but I didn’t feel the same happy with the new feed. Plus, I had an inkling I might be missing something.
While I was percolating about what to do social media, I caught a live eight-week course On Instagram for Writers. It was so good. I will not reteach that class. That’s not my skill, but you can go over to Ninja Writers and look into what they offer. I think they have a $10.00 workshop on getting started on Instagram.
Photo by energepic.com from Pexels
As part of the course, we were asked to look for examples of other writers on the platform. Try it yourself. Think about your niche and do a search. Might be a spoiler, but I’ll say results are abysmal. I’m in love with alien romance at the moment. The search turned up two of the authors I enjoy. Cynthia Sax and Evangeline Anderson. Later, I found Grace Goodwin.
None of them have very many followers. Right around 2k for all of them. Most of them only post once per day. Grace Goodwin’s feed is a sales ad. Not much to connect with but her books. Cynthia Sax is about the same. She posts captions about her life. It’s a stab at being more personal.
Four or five months ago Evangeline Anderson started hitting Instagram hard. She’s been branding more. Making these posts with video. Her face in a split screen and the other side is some hunky man candy. Nothing like a hottie with no shirt and low rider jeans to spice up your day. This is also on brand. She writes sexy books. She has been very consistent. Plus, fun. There are some sales ads, but you don’t mind because there is another post with a hot man. I’ve not asked her what she’s doing. I’ve wondered if she hired a social media manager. Whatever got her here, she has the most followers of the three writers. You see her face, then you make a connection, and you buy her books, then you come back for more.
The number one advice I could give writers is to be more than a sales ad. Be as open as you want to be, but be real. It’s fine to push your books, but there needs to be more to engage with.
Here are some practical things I’ve learned from various classes:
Make a business account. If you already have an Instagram account, you can change your account type in the settings.
Be consistent. People expect content from you at regular intervals. Some writers only push Instagram when they have a sale or a new book. You can do better than that.
Start with photos. There are other things to do on Instagram, but first take photos.
Learn to leverage hashtags. There are several places you can learn from. Ubersuggest is the most straightforward. Dig around over there and see what you can figure out.
After you’ve conquered photos, you can lean into Stories. These are short burst videos that disappear after 24 hours. You can play with how you look, what you have to say and lighting, video and such. I’m not comfortable with them being about me. I love having them be about one of my dogs.
Reels are Instagram’s attempt to keep people from being on Tiktok all the time. They created a place for short videos. I’ve got to confess. There’ve been days when I lose an hour or two watching doggy reels. It’s one of the first things I do in the morning. I need a giggle or an aww to start my day. Then I watch it before I fall asleep. A good laugh before bed.
Create a visually pleasing grid. This has been hard for me. Getting a consistent color or coordinating colors isn’t something I'm good at. I’ll need to work on that.
That’s some broad strokes for anyone who hasn’t played around on Instagram.
Let’s talk about what I’m doing over there right now. Three days a week. M, W, F, I post beagle photos. Funny or just a sleepy puppy and such. On Tu, and Th, I post first lines from books I’ve read. It has been a challenge to get traction for first lines. What hasn’t helped is the dearth of good writer content on Instagram. I’m not sure if I want to post blog announcements. That’s a future thing I’ll need to ponder.
Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile from Pexels
Last, you need a scheduler. There are gazillions. I recommend Later, Plann (what I use) and Hootsuite. I schedule a week out. That’s my brain speed, but I know some who set up an entire month of content in one big go. Maybe that’s faster. I’ll have to try it sometime. A scheduler also lets me look at my grid outside of Instagram. I still struggle, but it's helpful.
Once you’ve been around Instagram a minute, you can start trying to gain more followers. I’ve tried a few things, but I’m don't want to spend all day on Instagram. Well, I do, but I want to be watching dog videos. One of the best places I can send you is over to this guy. The $1.80 is a strategy many use to grow their accounts. I will warn you, it’s tedious as hell.
I want to throw one more author in here. Sarra Cannon. Her Instagram is gorgeous. Her branding is on point. She does photos, videos, carousels, and stories. Her feed is about her and her writing and her books. It’s delicious. She doesn’t write in my niche, but I don’t care. She’s engaging with readers and gathering a huge following.
I’m sure I’ve not covered everything even in this long a post. Social media changes every day. New features, new ways to reach people and new ideas for how to grow your audience.
Being human may be the biggest takeaway from all of this talk of social media and the weighing and judging of other people’s lives. We’re all just trying to figure it out. Be gentle and kind. It’s free and spreads good vibes.
I’d love to hear how others are leveraging Instagram. If this article helped you, let me know so I can keep making this type of content in my regular rotation.
P.S. Everyone is hailing Pinterest as the next big thing for authors. Yeah, I’m going to need a class on that.
I'm in a local newspaper article!
/
Severna Park resident Valerie Stewart (purple shirt) and other area writers met at Severna Park Library on November 30 to discuss the works they created during National Novel Writing Month. Photo Credit: Judy Tacyn
Local Residents Celebrate National Novel Writing Month
by: Judy Tacyn
Are you ready to write a novel in just one month? Local writers recently took the annual National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge to finish a novel in just 30 days, and they shared their adventures and works at the Severna Park Library on November 30.
The goal of NaNoWriMo isn’t necessarily to publish a novel. The objective is to get ideas out, let creativity flourish, meet people locally or virtually who are also in the sprint to finish their story, and most importantly, have fun.
Writers may research, develop outlines, draft notecards and build characters, but they may not craft a sentence until November 1. Then, the race is on to complete 50,000 words by November 30.
Authors get started on the NaNoWriMo website (www.nanowrimo.org), where they create a profile, enter working titles, collect badges for meeting milestones and track progress. Supportive online forums provide an opportunity to ask questions, request feedback and trade characters. Around the country, in-person “write ins,” like those held weekly at the Severna Park Library, allowed writing time, idea- and plot-sharing, and commiseration.
Severna Park resident Valerie Stewart has participated in NaNoWriMo since 2007. This year, Stewart’s fantasy novel focused on telepathy and the search for a perfect world.
Her goals were to be as creative as possible and to finish rather than publish. The first person to read Stewart’s works is a childhood friend who receives the manuscripts as Christmas gifts. Stewart’s novels are proudly displayed on the shelves of her friend’s library. The two friends share feedback and discuss possible revisions.
Janet Frank of Pasadena also wrote a fantasy novel. Frank’s books are set in modern day, but with a twist, “like maybe a dragon,” hints Frank. In Frank’s world, people must surrender their memories to their god; however, one character remembers something that he shouldn’t. Joining forces with an unlikely ally, the lead character then searches for missing memories.
First-time novelist Kimberly Butler of Annapolis finished her romance novel with only hours to spare. “Many nights turned into early mornings [in November],” shared Butler. Butler’s first novel, “It’s a Christmas Miracle,” is a romance tale. Butler’s protagonist is a recently widowed military wife, pregnant with her deceased husband’s child, who finds love again with another serviceman.
The NaNoWriMo community in Severna Park was launched three years ago by Katie Zaworny, a NaNoWriMo novelist and librarian in the Glen Burnie branch. Along with Rebecca Hass, a fellow NaNoWriMo novelist and programming and outreach manager for the Anne Arundel County Public Library system, the novelists are a passionate group. Local and virtual support systems were invaluable to Butler’s first venture into novel writing.
“The NaNoWriMo writers are simply amazing,” Butler proclaimed. “Whether in person or via the forums, the group was tremendously supportive.” Butler was deemed a “winner” by finishing her novel at 4:00am on Monday, November 30, just under the deadline. “I don’t know that I would have had the motivation and inspiration to finish in just 30 days without this group,” she said.
NaNoWriMo was founded by Chris Baty in 1999. The event started with just 21 participants and six “winners” (writers who complete 50,000 words in a single month), to 42,000 participants in 2014, nearly 6,000 of them winners.
In addition to National Novel Writing Month in November, NaNoWriMo’s programs also include Camp NaNoWriMo, the Young Writers Program, Come Write In and the “Now What?” months. To learn more about National Novel Writing Month, visit www.nanowrimo.org.
The December, January and February issue of “Happenings!” is now available at local libraries and online at www.aacpl.net/events. For more information on your local library’s programming, contact Rebecca Hass at rhass@aacpl.net or 410-222-7371. To learn more about the local NaNoWriMo group, contact Katie Zaworny at glenburnielibrary@aacpl.net or call 410-222-6270.
- See more at: http://www.severnaparkvoice.com/arts-entertainment/local-residents-celebrate-national-novel-writing-month-0#sthash.tW9EPeTK.dpuf
