An Open Book

Photo by Henry Diltz

We all have busy lives outside of our writing and if you are truly, a writer you will make writing a priority. This is something I think we all struggle with especially when we are first starting. By the time your day is done your mind is blown and not always in the zone of writing. You know what I mean, when the words flow onto the page and struggle is not even on the planet. Here are some tips to get yourself writing and in the zone!

Be persistent. Pick a time that you will have a quiet hour. Start with that. Make it the same time every day. Take your weekends off or if you have a fulltime job leave them in but take one day or night off a week. As I have said in previous blogs, I am a night owl and find creative writing easier to do when the house is silent. However, I know many writers that love the early morning hours. So, pick your time and stick to it. Trust me when you get in the swing of it, and an hour will fly by and you will be adding time to your project.

Before your fingers touch the keyboard, read the last paragraph you wrote and then meditate on it. Take 5 minutes and breathe. Close your eyes. Stop the flow of Life Talk in your head and Become Silent. Put your mind into the story. Be in your scene see it, smell it, hear it, use all your senses if you can and if not use your dominate sense. If you want more information on dominate sense discovery I will be happy to write about it. Take a deep breath and write. Let it flow, the creative process is not the place to edit, analyze or judge. Most Novels are created in funny little chunks that may or may not be linear. You can always cut it later. One idea will lead to another! The simple act of putting your mind there will start those creative juices flowing.

Put on inspirational music and create the mood. Light a candle or burn incense. When I was writing “The Mark of a Druid” I played lots of Celtic music. While writing “Truth Slithers” I have been listening to gospel. Who Knew!

I have a friend who likes to walk before writing. The act of expelling physical energy will release endorphins that will make you feel good. And clearing your head by walking couldn’t hurt.

Join a good writers group. I like the online forum listed in the blog roll. There is a very diverse group of people and it is secure. I may never have finished my first novel if not for the encouragement and technical help I received with this awesome bunch of folks.

Keep Writing!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

I have found that weekly blogs are more up my alley than daily so check back once a week to see what is new.

As a writer, I find that there are such moments of doubt and then moments of clarity that I must be in a zone to write and editing is done in a much more conscious state. At least you hope you are conscious when your editing I know I do. The mind sees what it wants, what it believes it is has ready put on the page. So here are some tips I have used that really help in finding those crazy little nits that pop up in the written word.

1. Read the work aloud. Sometimes if you read it aloud even to yourself, you will catch things that would have been easily missed previously.
2. Print your work. While reading touch each word with a pen so your brain sees each one.
3. Give a friend or writing group a chance to look at your work so they can catch what you have missed or not thought of. There is a link on the blog rolls of this page to the online writes group I use most regularly. They are a great group of people who are all about helping and not about beating you up and they are from all over the world.
4. Hang upside down and read so you get a new perspective.
5. Don’t rely on just your spell check to catch you errors. Not a one of them is full proof.
6. Make a list of the thing you consistently do wrong in your writing. For me there and their, where and were are a couple of examples.
7. Use a great online dictionary. I like http://www.wordsmyth.net/home.php but there are a ton of them out there you can use free.
8. Walk away for a while a day is better than a few minutes and a few weeks is even better if you have the time. When you come back, you will have a fresh out look and may be able to make it flow better.

Keep writing I know I will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter