Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Disappointed with your writing? Change that, right now

My goal was to write 500 words every day: my DDT (Do, Don’t Think) acronym helped. I pasted it on sticky notes: on my computer monitor, car dashboard, fridge.

The biggest benefit? I discovered that writing every day made me feel a lot better than procrastinating.

These tips helped too.

1. Get over yourself: you can always improve on what you wrote LATER

Are you a perfectionist? Judging your writing kills it.

So does overthinking.

Write. Edit later.

Or don’t. You can always start a new project, and you should, if you’ve lost your inspiration for a project.

Read the full article.

 

Reading and writing: try a bullet journal

Ideas for study and reading notes

Studying? Try these ideas:

• Create a future log-style assignment calendar;
• Keep vital notes for classes in your daily log, then transfer them to a Collection;
• Use trackers as needed. You can create trackers for books read, study, assignments completed, your grades; it’s up to you.

Whether you’re studying or not, a bullet journal is the perfect place to track your reading.

You might track:

• Your ever-growing To Be Read pile;
• Quotations and notes;
• Any books you’ve borrowed;
• Books you’ve read, with a sentence or two about what you enjoyed, and what you didn’t…

Additional ideas.

 

Don't know where to start on a writing project?

Recently, in a chat about her novel, a fiction writing student said snappishly: “I wouldn’t procrastinate at all, if I could only get the beginning right.”

I could feel her pain. The first page of a novel matters, because you’re trying to find the voice of the book. You know it when you’ve got it, as Hilary Mantel did, with the first paragraphs of Wolf Hall.

Since the student was frustrated and ready to toss away several weeks of work, I suggested that instead of trying to write the first page, she start at the end: “Why not write the final page?”

It often pays to start at the end.

Read the article.

 

 

When you can't write

Whatever the reason for your writer’s block, try these strategies.

1. If a project is stressing you, work on something else

Writers often block when they’re trying to start or complete a major project like a book. If this sounds like you, take some time off.

Or write something else. Taking a coffee break, then working on something else will shake you out of a mental rut.

Tip: even if you’re not suffering from writer’s block, it’s a good idea to work on several projects concurrently, so that you can switch projects when you’re stuck.

Read the article.

 

Ideas for a bullet journal: get organized

One bullet journal or many?

Initially, I started with a single bullet journal:

I followed the BuJo system religiously for almost a year, trying to put my entire life into a bullet journal. It stopped working for me. I found it too distracting to have my day job, my personal stuff, and my novels, all in the same Leuchtturm A5 hardcover notebook. After racing through notebooks alarmingly quickly — when I got to two notebooks a month, I gave up. In the time I was copying Collections to new notebooks, I could have written a new chapter.

If you’re just starting out with the bullet journal system, I recommend using a single journal, until you realize that you need more.

Read the article here.

 

Improve all your writing: try this

By the way, enrollments for our new writing class are now open. When Writing Means Business: Write To Persuade, Inform And Sell grew out of the original “Write More” class.

If you find any form of writing a challenge, this class is for you.

Here’s the first question I asked in the poll: how has your enhanced productivity made a difference?

Most of the responses boiled down to one thing: they received—or discovered—more opportunities. Their lives changed in ways they could never have predicted.

A couple of the students were offered full-time marketing positions, for example. Several found new and better jobs. The freelancers built up their client list—and their waiting list. The authors published more.

Click for details.

 

New class: When Writing Means Business: Write To Persuade, Inform And Sell

The class helps you to write easily, naturally, and powerfully. 

The class will help:

• Anyone who needs to write as part of their job—writing skills will help you to climb the corporate ladder.

• A professional writer, who’s trying making a living from writing, or would like to. You might be a blogger, a new copywriter, or content creator, or an agency owner.

• Perhaps you’re an entrepreneur: you want to build a business focused on your creative skills.

• Maybe you’re building a startup. There’s a lot of writing involved in getting backers, writing business plans, and getting attention for a new business.

• Anyone who’s writing a book, whether fiction or nonfiction.

Learn more.

No time, no time: what if you could write anyway?

That got me thinking about my own writing process — and it helped me to change my process. I was in the habit of putting off writing, until I had at least an hour to devote to it. Over the past few months, finding that hour — even on a weekend — has been a hard challenge.

When I did manage to find an hour or two free, the thought of all that I had left to do on my current novel made me so tired that I decided to leave it. I couldn’t accomplish much in an hour — I couldn’t even reread what I’d written — so what was the point?

An easy writing process: 5o words

If you’ve been putting off writing too, until you have “more time”, here’s the process I decided on after our last meeting.

It’s simple: all I need to do is write 50 words a day.

That’s it. That’s the entire process, and I’ve been following it for just over two weeks. I’m thrilled.

Read the article.

 

Outlining and more: the perfect app for you

Get organized: a great outlining app helps you achieve your goals

However, finding the best outlining app for you and your work can be a challenge. We discussed outliners at a recent writers’ group meeting. One member is a minimalist: spreadsheets help her to get organized. Another uses mind maps.

My own favorite is tool is OmniOutliner for most organizational tasks, although I favor mind maps when I’m writing fiction.

Let’s look at some popular outlining apps to help you to become organized. Some have a free option; if you need more functions, these are provided in premium modes. If there’s no free mode, trial the app first, before you buy.

One of these apps may be just what you need to get your life on track. Although I’ve numbered these, it’s for convenience. They’re in no particular order.

Read the article.

 

Writing a novel: try using a bullet journal

1. Too busy to write? Spend five minutes with your bullet journal

On those days when there’s too much happening, and you don’t have time to write, spend a few minutes with your journal, reading through your topics.

If you suddenly find yourself writing, that’s OK. Keep going. You can transfer the material to Scrivener or Word tomorrow.

2. Try doing brain dumps, right in your bullet journal

I found this article, which suggested doing brain dumps — I thought it was a brilliant idea, and used the suggestion immediately. Brain dumps are an excellent way to build out your plot, and develop your characters.

A brain dump can also kickstart your writing on slow days.

Read the full article.

 

Stop wasting time with your writing: use Markdown

For freelancers, time is money: your money if you’re charging by the project, clients’ money if you charge by the hour. You need writing tools to easily switch text between formats.

One of my freelance writing students recently talked about the hassle of converting her content between HTML, MS Word, PDF etc for her clients.

“Are you using a Markdown editor?” I asked. One of the joys of Markdown editors is one-click conversions.

Essential writing tools: Markdown editors

“Markdown” is basically plain text, with minimal markup for formatting. Using an editor, you can convert your plain text to many other formats.

Here’s a simple overview of Markdown.

I write everything other than fiction in Markdown in the Ulysses editor (image below), because conversions are so simple.

Read the full article.

 

Fill blank notebooks: become more creative when you use them

Blank notebooks: stop feeling guilty, and use them

Looking for ways to use your blank notebooks?

Archer & Olive, who supply wonderful journals with thick pages (perfect for fountain pen aficionados), offer 50+ Ideas.

They include these clever ideas, for:

• Plein air: outdoor sketching and painting;
• Swatching pens, paints, and inks; and
• Brainstorming: one journal for your brainstorms and creative ideas.

Here are some tips members of our group suggested.

Read the full article: Blank Notebooks: 4 Tips To Make The Most Of Your Stationery Stash.

Writing Success: 3 Tips To Make It Easier

If you’ve ever asked: “Why is writing so hard?” chances are that you’re looking at writing as just one thing.

Writing isn’t just one thing. Many elements go into a successful writing career, and some of the elements have (shocker) nothing to do with writing.

Writers develop bad habits which become engrained. For example, content creation has become commodified. If you check the freelance marketplaces, the bids are low. Buyers are used to cheap content, which is fine, because it’s a huge, global marketplace…

BUT writers have become used to creating cheap content too, and this is harmful. Cheap, junk content sets you onto a hamster wheel of churning out content. You’re not to blame. We’re living in a junk content world.

Junk content is everywhere. Strive to improve your skills and target higher-paying clients. You’ll need to educate your clients, because content buyers are used to ultra-cheap content: show them the benefits of good content, targeted to their audience.

Junk content and other pitfalls aside, consider tracking your writing output.

Track your output and publishing (no matter what kind of “publishing” you do)

Try scheduling a daily and weekly review, and ask yourself: “What did I write today? How many words did I write this week?”

The benefits of writing faster:

• You’ll make more sales. Not only will you be able to take on more clients, but you’ll also be able to do more marketing for your writing services and products like books;
• You’ll be more creative when you’re more productive — ideas come when you’re writing;
• You’ll become more confident. Your confidence will attract more clients and will help you to make more sales; and finally…
• You’ll enjoy writing more. It will be fun, rather than a chore.

Let’s look at some tips to help you to become a successful writer.

1. Keep track, so you avoid the “busy, busy” trap

Set deadlines. Track your words every day.

Over the years, I’ve learned that if I don’t track my word counts carefully, whole days can go by when I’m “busy”, but accomplish nothing of importance.

2. Task list shenanigans: chunking is your friend

“Writing” isn’t one thing. It’s many things:

• Idea generation and development;
• Research for current projects and upcoming projects;
• Creating titles and other copywriting tasks;
• Drafting;
• Revision;
• Final editing;
• Publication in one form or another, whether you publish a book or a blog post, or send the final draft of a project to a client.

Chunk down each project into tasks.

If you add “write a book” as a task in your calendar, it seems intimidating. Small tasks, none of which take longer than 30 minutes, are much less intimidating:

• Brainstorm chapter titles;
• Write the outline of a scene;
• Check cover design;
• Revise Chapter 1, etc.

3. Take time: relax, and be patient with yourself

It’s impossible to be creative if you’re stressed.

Moreover, writing is an iterative process. You write something today, and expand on it tomorrow. Or you get a better idea tomorrow.

When writing seems difficult, it’s because you’re trying to do too many things at once, or you’ve missed steps in the process.

Chunk your projects. Take time and track your output.

You’ll be a success — and you’ll have fun with your writing too.

Self-Publishing Secrets: Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days

Want to sell more — easily? You can boost your Kindle sales FAST with our new program, Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days: Your Blueprint For Success.

The program’s powerful, practical, and tested. You’ll get results too. Use the strategy to increase your sales — you need a mix of long and short fiction to appeal to today’s readers.

How many novellas would you write if you could write a novella in seven days? Would your novellas boost your sales?

Break Your Procrastination Habit in Ten Minutes

The Ten Minute Rule

My simple tip is the Ten Minute Rule.

The Ten Minute Rule means that I have to set my timer and spend a full ten minutes on whatever task I’ve been procrastinating doing. And that’s it.

I don’t have to actually finish the task, and I don’t even have to accomplish a specific part of the task. I just have to work on some aspect of it for ten minutes.

via www.ourheritageofhealth.com

Sounds good to me. You can stand anything, no matter how horrible, for ten minutes. :-)

Impossible Task List? Here's How To Tame It

Every time I turn the page, I date the top of it with the current date. If something still hasn't been done after two pages, I cross it out and add it to the new page so that it doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

I only use the right-hand page for the to-do list. The left-hand page is kind of a stream of consciousness place. On the above photo it contains ideas for a Happiness Project I am participating in, the books I need some of my voice students to purchase, and what Sophia was supposed to practice on her violin that week.

via www.overstuffedlife.com

I started a "List" journal a few months ago. It works, especially since I keep it open on the kitchen counter with a mug of pens beside it.