Set a goal

I’ve been using 750words to encourage me to write daily.

Whether it’s work on my novel, a blog post, or simply journaling, I enjoy keeping the writing habit, and I find that it makes me a lot more productive overall. However you do it, set yourself a goal to write every day. If this is something you struggle with, then I’d suggest not allowing any days off for a while, until the habit is fully formed. (30 days to form a new habit).

I’d also suggest making the goal easily achievable. Mine is to do 750 words, and that’s something that’s very easy to accomplish. I’ve tried setting higher word count goals, and it can be a bit discouraging to try and fail to reach those.

Make it a priority

Make your writing time important. If your spouse or family is supportive, then enlist their help in making sure you meet your goal.

A simple way to do this is to get your writing time in as early as possible, before other things take your time. Many people like writing first thing in the morning, but that doesn’t work for me. Our dog is diabetic, so mornings are devoted to taking care of her before heading out to work. I get my writing time in right after dinner, before I tackle laundry, housework, or settle in to rest, read or watch television.

It’s also helpful to me to set a specific time each day to write. That just reinforces the habit that you’re trying to develop. Think of all the other things you do every day just because “it’s time to do it,” and work on making writing one of those things.

Make it productive

Nothing discourages me more than sitting down for my writing time and struggling the whole way through it. I feel that I’ve let myself down, and wasted my precious time, when I don’t get anything accomplished.

To combat this, I allow myself to have more than one project ongoing. That way, if I feel bogged down in one (or just not in the mood to work on it), then I can work on another and still feel that I’ve done something worthwhile. I also fall back on journaling as well, knowing that it’s a good outlet for me and a good place to toss writing ideas around.

Currently, I have a novel underway, three blogs, as well as the journal. I can always find something that I’m in the mood to write about.

I also do some simple, common-sense things to ensure that my writing time is as productive as it can be. I turn off the television and other distractions. I let my family know that I’m busy writing and to try not to interrupt me.

Another trick I use is one that I’ve seen others mention as well. When I’m working on a longer project, I stop at a spot where I know what will happen next. That saves me from spending my writing time on planning or struggling to come up with something to write about.

I also keep some notes on blog ideas so that I can grab one of those and begin working. If you pay attention to keywords in your blog posts, then do the keyword research ahead of time too and note what keywords you’ll want to use in that post.

It can be hard to find time to write, especially when holding down a day job, taking care of family, etc. No matter how busy I get, I feel better when I’ve taken the time to write. I hope these tips help you make better use of your own writing time.

Have any tips of your own? Please list them in the comments.

750words.com

Sign up, and commit to doing 750 words per day (hence the site name). I think the site is best suited for brainstorming, freewriting, and similar writing exercises. Here are a few neat features that make it a useful creative writing tool.

1. It automatically saves your work and tracks your word count.
2. It keeps metadata on your writing, which can give you a little feedback on the tone and word usage. For example, my descriptions so far tend to be centered around touch and sight, but not much on hearing.
3. It tracks your score and your “streak,” how many days you’ve made your 750 word goal.
4. It tracks metadata. I use this to track entries my my characters. I find writing in their voice useful in finding out who they are and what they want. To do that, enter the label (in my case the character name) in all caps followed by a colon.

The site is really easy to use, and it’s pretty useful as writing tools go. It also has the benefit of being pretty fun, so you’ll enjoy going back every day to get those 750 words!

Too many things to focus on

I tended to divide my focus too much last year. Fiction. Multiple blogs. Articles. Freelance projects. Marketing. Social networking. It all meant that I just didn’t have quite enough time for anything, and never enough time to do it all well.

This year I’m going to limit myself. Fiction and the blogs are going to be my focus this year. I don’t plan on doing any freelance projects or articles. I also plan on limiting my use of social networking.

Focus for the blog

I think the blog has reflected my general lack of focus. I’d like to try to do some repeat themes like Grammar Monday, Fiction Tuesday, etc.

I’ll be spending some time over the next week going through logs and determining what posts get the most traffic, the most comments and the most shares on social networks. I’ll use that to develop a list of types of posts and subject to focus on this year.

What do you want?

What types of posts would you like to see here? What do you enjoy most, find the most useful? Is there a type of post you’d like me to not do any more of?

I’d love to get your feedback as I’m planning for the new year.

Which got me to wondering, what exactly does he mean by “story architecture,” and how does a writer know she has one?

I did some digging on his site and found this page, where he does a ten part series on story structure. Here are the 4 parts he uses, but I’ll leave it to you to head over to his site to read through the whole series.

1. Set up: Establish the stakes
2. Response: React to the problem
3. Attack: Main character begins to fix things
4. Resolution

Channel 101 also has an interesting article about story structure. If you’re familiar with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, then some of Dan Harmon’s stuff will sound familiar to you. Dan says there are eight steps you need to cover. I like this description best because his descriptions are great, yet succinct. Definitely head over and read these now; I’ll wait.

1. You
2. Need
3. Go
4. Search
5. Find
6. Take
7. Return
8. Change

You might be more comfortable with the three act structure, described here.

1. Setup
2. Confrontation
3. Resolution

I’m sure you’re picking up on the theme here. Whether you know the whole layout before you start writing, or if you write it and then rework it later, your story will probably follow this basic pattern.

1. Setup: Introduce the character and setup the situation
2. Conflict: The character has a problem, tries to fix things, often makes matters worse, and eventually gets it right. Or not.
3. Resolution: Wrap up loose ends, answer lingering questions, etc.

Of course, if you’re writing something that’s non-traditional, then your story might not follow this, and that’s cool too. Write what you want. As long as it works, do it, I say.

E Publishing Reality
If you’re trying to get published, one of the best things I think you can do is read what published authors have to say about how they “made it.” Go to Genreality.net. Subscribe. Now.

On Avoiding Writing
This is a funny take on what writers do instead of write. Wow, that would never be me. Ahem.

10 Overused Words in Writing
This one is probably best for bloggers, article writers, non-fiction writers in general.

Hook Your Readers with Tension
This is a good article for fiction writers. Tension is what keeps readers reading.

5 Tips for Blogging Around the World
O.K., so most of us probably won’t get the chance to travel the world and blog, but it’s fun to read about it anyway. Also so great tips for bloggers on the go.

5 Killer Ways to Improve your Writing
ProBlogger is a long-time favorite of mine. Definitely worth an RSS subscription.

Common Errors in English
Is it affect or effect? Insure and Ensure? Back when I taught English, this type of instruction was often what students appreciated most.

Tools for Writers
Small presses and literary magazines where you can submit.

10 Tips for Writing Horror
Ten tongue-in-(rotting)cheek tips for horror writers. I like #7, if there’s a boring part in your story, “fill it with zombies and set it on fire.”

Remember, subscribe to my RSS feed.
And follow me on twitter.

Neil Bartlett presents A Beginners Guide To Writing For Profit | Pro Article posted at ProArticle. This is a nice, tips-oriented article for the person new to online writing and blogging.

Jim DeSantis presents An Easy Way For Newbies To Get Articles! posted at Internet Marketing at On Line Tribune. He focuses on finding cheap/free content and reworking it for your site. He has some good ideas, but take care. I’ve seen bloggers get called out for some of these techniques.

I picked up a good plotting book the other weekend, Plot and Structure by James Bell. I’m about half-way through it, and it gives some good tips on plotting, managing sub-plots, crafting good beginnings, etc. I’ll write up something a little more in-depth once I’ve finished it.

I also picked up a copy of Writing the Breakout Novel, but I haven’t done anything except browse the table of contents.

In the comments, list your favorite writing-related books.

Please leave a comment on this post with your link and a brief summary of what it covers. Don’t worry if there’s not already a category covering it; as long as it’s writing, publishing, or blogging related, I’m interested.

And while you’re here, don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed so you don’t miss any updates.

If you prefer, Direct Message me on twitter with your link. Follow me here. If you follow me, I’ll follow you back.

You can always friend me on StumbleUpon as well. I’ll friend you back, and please feel free to use SU to send me links in the future. When friending me, please mention that you found me through this post so I’ll know who you are.

And please spread the word, the more the merrier!

Edited to Add:

I also posted this as a blog carnival. If you came here via the carnival, then feel free to submit your post that way as well. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone sends along.

Are you on Twitter? You can follow me here. I just crossed the 100 followers threshold, so I’m pretty excited about that.

What is twitter?

Twitter is a social networking site that allows you to post updates in 140 character blips. Think IM plus social networking, and you’ve more or less got it. With twitter, it’s perfectly acceptable to follow complete strangers while that’s frowned on by other sites.

Ideas for using twitter

I use twitter to post updates for some of my blog posts. It’s also a nice way to jump in to interesting conversations that I run across, and that’s more acceptable on twitter since the conversations are public.

One thing that I don’t see talked about as much with twitter is the value of just following. It’s a great way to get ideas about a topic, see what people are talking about, etc. I’ve gotten good results asking for responses on twitter, so it’s another option besides the traditional blog poll.

I can see other potential uses for twitter. I can see it as an interesting medium for poetry or even ultra short stories. I’m hoping that as more people use it and experiment, other interesting uses will come out.

So, how do you get people to follow you on twitter?

First, go to Twitter search and look for people with interests similar to yours and follow some of them. You’ll start getting their updates in your friends list. Chances are, some of them will follow you in return.

Ask for followers on your blog. That seems so obvious, but it’s all to easy to forget to do the simple things. You might want to put a “follow me” button somewhere on your site, but I’ve had good results writing a quick post just asking people to follow. In fact, I just gained about 15 followers in the last week by doing that and asking for followers on a forum I frequent.

Ask for followers on forums you’re a member of. First though, be sure it’s okay to do so and within the community guidelines. Even if it is, be sure it’s acceptable in the culture of the forum you’re on as well. Otherwise, you could end up doing yourself more harm than good.

You’d be surprised, but explaining what you want and just asking works wonders. I wanted to cross the 100 followers threshold, and I did by simply asking.  So, I’m asking again. I’ve got 102 followers right now, and I’m curious how long it might take to reach 200. Care to help me get there?

writing, blogging, blog, fiction, novel, book, freelance