What Do You Do When You're Not Writing?

I think that's an important question to ask yourself.

I mean, are you spending hours in front of the television set or are you out there in the world gleaning new ideas for your next book?

Are you reading a good book and learning something? I find that reading within my genre as well as without it, helps my own writing improve.

Are you spending time with those you care about? Are you leaving the writing for awhile just to soak life in? I find that many of my experiences later turn into a book idea, a character idea, or even - a plot idea. So keep your eyes open and a pen and paper handy for notes.



Are you keeping an open mind? A positive attitude goes both ways. When you're positive you'll continue to be successful, and act upon those things that will bring you success, God will help you to be successful. If you're constantly focusing on what you consider your failures, instead of taking these moments to learn from and move on, you'll continually be stuck in your writing life - yes, even when you're not writing.

When it comes to life when you're not writing, you really are writing (so to speak) because you're researching and gathering whether you know it or not. What you gather says a lot about you and what you want in your life.

Writing or not.

STOP PROCRASTINATING! How to kick-boost your writing day

I don't know about you, but there are days I just want to turn the whole thing off; the insights, the research, the writing, the re-vision, the everything, and in it's place do nothing.

That's what I did last night in front of the television. Just soaked the television rays in and ate.

Now, you need to know that for the most part, I am a go-getter. I don't leave things until the last minute, and I don't spend my days avoiding what I should be doing anyway. But there are days when I've just had enough.

I had an individual tell me just today that she was already taking on too much and that she couldn't help me with a request I had given her. She said it was a smile.

And you know, I got it.

Better to speak your mind than to procrastinate, right?

Snow drifts in writing? You bet

When we procrastinate it may just be because we have too much on our plate. It may be that we don't want to do a particular thing, but that's not always the case. The trick is, is to look inside your own heart to see why you're in the avoidance mode.

Hate to edit? You may start a new project just because you don't want to tackle the one that needs editing, or you may just hate editing - period.

Hate to research? You may find yourself writing the book without doing it, guessing, if you will, instead of taking on the research head on.

Hate that first line? You may decide to start your book next week or next month because it's always so hard for you to get down.

Hate trying to find the time to write? You may have time to do the dishes, but may find yourself getting all moody about writing. Perhaps it's just a waste of time anyway; you'll never be published.

I'm sure you get my drift, no matter how high the snow drift is in your neck of the woods. But I also hope you take a look inside; decide today what you're going to change, and do it.

Just start. Hate to edit? Do it anyway. Reward yourself if need be; chocolate always works for me. Remind yourself that when it comes to research, you want your book to be as correct as possible, especially because there will come a day when someone reads it and sees the guess. Can't bring yourself to write that first line? Write chapter two first, then go back to chapter one. It works! And please, please find the time to write. No matter how many excuses we all make for not writing, we all have the same amount of hours in the day to do what we love.

Write.

Finding Your Voice

Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, once said:

"Find your voice and then inspire others to find their voice."



Photo by Danny Getz, courtesy of Flickr

Finding your voice takes more than checking underneath rocks or clam shells (check out my blog post from yesterday if you haven't already). Finding your voice takes work. In my  eyes, work comes in the following ways:

Research
Writing
Reading
Discovering

When I research for a book I am gleaning information that I may or may not use in my book; I usually gather more than I need. Can a person find their voice in research? I believe so. What they choose to research, and the direction their book takes them, tells an author much about what he/she should be writing about.

Writing is the best way I know of to find your voice. It takes writing and writing and writing before an author escapes the C.S. Lewis phraseology, or the long-winded, 'these words I looked up in my thesaurus so that I'd sound smarter' mentality.

Reading helps with voice, too. Consider when you've read something that really made a difference. Perhaps the phrase was written to tickle your funny bone or you begin to appreciate something small like nose hair or belly button lint.

Reading does wonders for your imagination that in turn helps you to develop your voice.

Photo by: emily.laurel504, courtesy of Flickr

Discovering comes in taking that class or attending that writer's conference. Here, you take in a lot, and for days after the conference you are sorting through notes and ideas that you want to incorporate into your work; a part of your voice.

Finding your voice doesn't happen overnight, and obviously it doesn't happen when looking under a rock, but your voice will come (and that's a promise) if you give it sunlight and plenty of feeding and experience.