A Creative Space for Your Writing

When I’m not writing, teaching writing or editing other people’s writing, you’ll most likely find me watching HGTV (House and Garden TV).

I’m really not much of a do-it-yourselfer around the house but I get really, really inspired by all the wonderful decorative organizing ideas I see in magazines, on TV shows, and via blogs.

Creating a writing space is much like writing itself.

• Start with what you have.
• Expand what you have with what you know.
• Ask for help when you don’t know what to do next.
• Do a little here and a bit more there; small steps lead to great results.
• The end product will be something you’ll be proud to show off.

Do you have a special place where you write? Whether this weekend beckons you to write or to organize your creative writing space, here are some creative spaces to inspire you.

Home Office Inside a Closet
This home office example shows that you don’t need a lot of square footage for your creative writing space when you use beautiful accessories to create savvy storage.

Writer’s Nook In The Attic
Imagine you’re a writer who desires creative writing space away from the hustle and bustle of family noise. Have an unused alcove in the attic? Or any alcove? This creative writing space may inspire you.

A Real Dining Room Office Conversion
Are you a writer who cheats? I mean, not really cheat, cheat, but cheat yourself and your home of a proper dining room by using the dining table as your office? If that’s you, why not turn that dining room into a proper office like this gal did?

Entry Hallway Turned Office Space for A Writer
The key to this hallway add-on writer’s nook is high storage above. Even if you keep a messy desk, no one will know when the doors close to hide your work in process.

National Get Organized Week – 1st Week in October

National Get Organized Week is celebrated each year during the first full week of October–or at least it used to be.

Started by the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) in 1992, Get Organized (GO) Week “was created to focus on the benefits of getting organized and the tools and techniques necessary to achieve that goal. This week is an opportunity to streamline your life, create more time, lower your stress and increase your profit. Simplify your situation and make it more manageable by taking advantage of this time to get organized.”

Call me old school but I still like October as a time to clear the desk mess even though in 2005, NAPO moved National GO (Get Organized) Week to National GO (Get Organized) Month to January.

But hey, why not use October to set fresh goals to burn through to the end of the year? After all, October’s the beginning of the final quarter of the year so why not set in motion a final push to get things done?

Writers, let’s GO this week and use these tips for writers to clear the clutter and make a fresh start!

GO, right now. Grab a broom, a mop, and a dust bin (that’s old school talk for “trash can”). Roll up your sleeves, put on some rockin’ movin’ music and do this:

1. Take everything off your desk or writing table. That means everything.
2. Give your desk or writing table a really good clean–dust the top, the sides and bottom, then sweep or vacuum all around it.
3. Put back only the essential “hard” tools, such as your computer components, lamp, phone, etc.
4. Eliminate unnecessary clutter created by knickknacks and chotchkes. I’m all for little mementos too but place them on a shelf or windowsill, away from your desk surface, which should be reserved for your creative projects ONLY.
5. Turn your PILES into FILES. That means going through the piles of paper and organizing them into categories. Put LIKE with LIKE, and give the former PILE a FILE folder with a label.
6. Organize your files in a stand-up fashion, using a rack system. Your rack system might be file drawers.  Or, file boxes, tubs or totes.  Or, create a rack-type space between two strong book ends to hold the files in place. (I like to get creative and use “found objects” such as vases filled with sand or rocks to make decorative book ends.)
7. If possible, place your rack-type system away from the surface of your desk, perhaps on a credenza or within a filing drawer. That way, your desk is open for your writing, and thus, is more open to your creativity without the visual noise and clutter.

Look around your writing space now. What do you see? Remember, clutter drains your energy. It zaps your creativity too. If there’s more to do, continue the process of decluttering and organizing. Twenty minutes a day is all it takes.

Clean up and clear out stuck energy. Make good use of the “old” National GO Week to get a jumpstart on finishing the year out as a savvy, productive writer.

Now it’s your turn… what will YOU do this week to take advantage of our personal celebration of National GO Week?

Please post a comment below with your ideas.  Thanks!

How Struggle Makes Your Writing Better

Whether you’re writing fiction or creative non-fiction (memoir or essays) your story will benefit from the use of struggle as part of the dramatic tension.

There are three basic types of struggle:

1.  Man against self.

2.  Man against others.

3.  Man against nature.

What creates tension is man’s struggle against any or all of these elements.  A writer uses some of all three, but maybe not all three at the same time, except toward the end when your protagonist (or narrator in memoir) has to fight against all the evils in order to win.

The struggle in the early chapters ought to be more about the protagonist/narrator struggling against others. The struggle against others works best during the chapters where you’re introducing the other characters and identifying them as either friend or foe.

While the protagonist struggles with others, add in the protagonist’s/narrator’s struggle against self. For example, the protagonist/narrator might be trying to fall in love again after a serious breakup.  He questions every opportunity, worrying that he’ll fail again. His constant struggle with himself leads to bad decisions, worry, even disgust, that heightens the dramatic tension of your story.

Another example might be a protagonist, such as a detective, worrying if she still has it as a professional. Her worries cause her to make bad decisions, put herself in harm’s way, and lead her to self-doubt.

Worrying and self-doubt are especially useful when writing memoir to portray the type of dramatic tension that is characteristic in a real life struggle.

Throughout the beginning and middle chapters, the protagonist/narrator should be struggling primarily against self and others.

Then, include natural forces to add danger, to threaten the protagonist, or to aid the antagonist.  Imagine what specific elements of nature will do to heighten the dramatic tension of your story.

Show the protag actually struggling with nature.  Use the weather, for example, as a ticking clock.  Write so the protag reacts to the forces of nature by worrying, fretting, taking chances, doing dumb things to beat the weather or other natural elements.

To create a stunning page turner, use variations of struggle to ratchet up the stakes in either your fiction or memoir stories. Blend the elements of struggle against self, others, and nature and you’ll have a winning resolve at the end of your short story, fiction or memoir, or full-length book.

Writers: Reach Your Goals – Stop, Start, Keep Doing

Writers, are you aware of all the things that keep you from your goals?

What will you stop doing, start doing, keep doing during the next 30 days?

This is a question I ask my coaching clients at the end of every month.

If you’re not taking time periodically to evaluate how you spend your time, then you’re probably stuck on autopilot, doing the same things you did last week, last month, or even last year without thinking about them.

It’s not as simple as 1-2-3, what do you stop doing. I encourage you to go deeper than that and look at what you’re already doing really well. Often, you merely need to tweak a few things.

Month by month if you adopt this process, by this time next year you’ll be a new writer.

A simple assessment of your daily action habits includes:

1. What are you doing that wastes your time? What action habits do you routinely break, those tiny, big or small things that leave you disappointed at the end of the day for not achieving what you set out to do? Make a list – these will be behaviors you want to STOP doing.
2. What are the top 3 action habits you could implement this month, maybe even this week, that would help you be more productive, better trained, or more marketable? Make a list – these will be behaviors you want to START doing.
3. What 3 action habits are you already doing that you know benefit your writing life? Make a list – these will be behaviors you want to KEEP doing. (Be sure to give yourself credit for the many things YOU ARE already doing that lead you to your daily successes and writing goals.)

Take some time to reflect on all that you need to stop doing, start doing and keep doing at the end of every month.

Then download my free STOP-START-KEEP DOING TOOL << — (click the link) and fill in the blanks. Post your STOP-START-KEEP DOING TOOL where you see it every day.

Smart writers take time to assess what’s keeping them from their goals. Post a comment to tell us what you’ll STOP-START-KEEP DOING during next month too.

Before You Write, Declutter!

Have you ever noticed that clutter of any kind, whether physical, emotional, or mental, shouts out, “Hey, do me… don’t forget about… me… what about me?”

Clutter is stuck energy.  Clear your clutter and you will remove stagnant energy, free up space, and open up the channels to your creativity.

Clutter is defined as anything:

• unfinished
• unused
• unresolved
• tolerated
• disorganized

When we begin a weekly decluttering regimen, we begin to clear out the old and make room for the new.  We cast off old projects, broken promises, and forgotten sidetracks.  We get rid of what we’ve been tolerating.  We put order to chaos.  The simple act of clearing clutter can transform your life by releasing what is no longer needed.  You’ll generate renewed energy, allowing you to create space in your writing life for the things you want to achieve.

Decluttering is an organic, ever-evolving part of the prewriting component in the writing process.  Do IT!  Start right now.  For the next 20 minutes focus your attention on a small pile of stuff, a desk drawer, a file folder, a computer folder, a countertop.

Ask yourself these 3 decluttering questions:

1.  Does it lift my energy?

2.  Do I love it?

3.  Is it useful to me now?

If not, out it goes (to the trash, to recycling, to charity, to a good new home).

Writers: Declutter Here!

You’ve decided to declutter so where to begin?

DECLUTTERING TARGETS FOR WRITERS start here:

Practice clearing your clutter for just 20 minutes a day 3 times a week, and you will experience big shifts in your energy.

Begin here:

• old stuff – from previous projects and careers, any unfinished plans you no longer feel passionate about
• your computer files, clogged with old writings – clear them or use them
• files and notebooks of old writings
• a fat folder of stuff – old receipts you need to shred, for instance
• your desk or writing space
• clutter is also backlog or pending to do’s – collect theses pending items in one place and spend your 20 minute sessions getting closure on these items
• unreturned phone calls or open phone calls you need to make for appointments (doctor, dentist, tax man, bill resolution, etc.)
• anything that makes background noise, physically or metaphorically
• anything broken or tolerated – either fix it, get it fixed, or get rid of it
• household clutter – stuff you no longer use, wear, or need
• relationships that zap your energy
• organizations, meetings and dates you keep because they’re on the calendar

Clutter drains our energy.  It zaps our creativity.  Your declutter targets should be all about raising your vibration by increasing the flow of positive, unstuck energy.  Get things moving creatively right NOW.

DECLUTTER FOR 20 MINUTES 3 TIMES A WEEK.
(more if you have time to)

~  HOT TIP:

Get the family involved in the 20 minute decluttering exercise 3 times a week and you’ll feel a big release of stuck energy in large doses—it’s so freeing! ~ 

It’s Okay To Take A Break

Sometimes taking a break can make you more productive than ever.  Sometimes you don’t even recognize that you need a break but then you get these little life nudges that say, “Hey, stop! You’re pushing too fast!”

Do you ever get the feeling that “pushing” causes more resistance than if you were to gently pull your ideas forward?

Before I was a writing instructor and coach, early in my career days, I worked in an engineering environment where new ideas floated around all day long. Of course, just as in writing or any creative endeavor, ideas are easy; it’s what you do with the ideas that matter.

I noticed that engineers who took time out to get feedback from others gathered more ideas that created even more momentum for their projects. So when these guys (all men but 1 woman at the time) took a break, they weren’t slackers. They were feeding the forward momentum of their projects in a way that forcing or “pushing” would have never worked.

You might need a break if:

• you question if what you’re doing is working.
• you’re feeling depleted of fresh ideas.
• every day seems a struggle to get yourself writing again.
• you’re stuck with no idea for what’s next.
• you’ve stopped doing anything but feel guilty for doing nothing.

The antidote: Take a break to feed your forward momentum:

Day 1 – Have a “nothing day” where you leave your writing project completely alone.

Day 2 – Make a list of questions you have or things that bother you about your current project or writing process. It’s okay if this list is long and hairy and disorganized. Think of it as a brain dump of your frustrations.

Day 3 – Make another list of ALL potential solutions. Censor NOTHING. Everything counts!

Day 4 – Seek opinions of others. Share your concerns with a trusted writing friend, colleague, or professional, such as a writing coach. Brainstorm ideas together for possible next steps.

Day 5 – Sort through winning ideas and map out a calendarized next step plan for your writing.

Day 6 – Take another “nothing day” and truly make it an open day free of project anxiety.

Day 7 – Return to your writing project ready, relaxed and renewed by the fresh ideas that will pull you through to success!

{Please pass this writing tip along to others.}

STOP Procrastinating Tip #2 – Eat A Frog Every Morning!

.
.
.
STOP Procrastinating Tip #2:
Eat A Frog Every Morning!

Also known as The Worst First Technique, this tip works best to get the things you dread out of the way first thing in the morning.  I used to use this technique when I cold called prospects in my former business as a time management and organization consultant.  Here’s how it works:

.

1. Before you go to bed, write down the most dreaded task you face.
2. Tomorrow, right away, as soon as possible, do that dreaded task.  Go ahead!  Get it over with.  Just do it!

Application for Writers:  What are you putting off?  What’s the #1 thing that has your writing stalled?

Use The Worst 1st Technique to overcome procrastination.  Perhaps you need to make a call too.  Maybe you need to find a subject matter expert to interview.  Or perhaps you’ve been putting off editing a certain chapter.  Maybe it’s an article you need to finish.  Get it off your desk, be done with it so you can move on to something else.  The Worst 1st Technique helps writers overcome writers block too.

What is it that you’ve been putting off?

As unpalatable as it may seem, this technique really works. Why? Because when you do the worst first and get it out of the way, you not only clear your brain of clutter that snaggles your creativity, you also boost  your self-confidence that says “Yes, I can do this!”

Now isn’t that worth eating a frog first thing in the morning? Go ahead. Try it!

{Please pass this writing tip along to others.}

STOP Procrastinating Tip #1 – The Salami And Nibble Technique

.
.
.
STOP Procrastinating Tip #1:
The Salami and Nibble Theory

Have you ever had a project that you kept putting off because it just seemed overwhelming?  Were you put off because you didn’t know where to begin?  Did you start with one thing, but that lead to something else?  If so, you’re not alone.

Sometimes when you procrastinate, it’s because the project is just like a salami: huge, and long, and slimy. You know how it is when you buy a whole salami, how it has that white chalky stuff all over it?  Who would want to eat THAT!?!? Of course, no one would when it looks so huge, so long, and so slimy with that white chalky stuff all over it.

So what do you do? You take it, and you slice it, and you eat it one bite at a time.  When you chunk it down into smaller bite-sized pieces, the salami is so much more palatable, isn’t it?

Application for Writers: What are you putting off? What’s project is so huge and overwhelming, it has your writing stalled?

Take a look at what you’ve been putting off doing or writing.  Chances are you’re procrastinating because you can only see the hugeness of the project and not the many steps that will lead you to accomplishing your goal.  Use this technique to chunk the project down.

1. Take out a sheet of paper.
2. Make a list of tasks.
3. Make each tasks things you can accomplish in under 30 minutes.  The smaller the better. Go for tasks that are 5 to 10 minute to-do’s.  These tasks might look like this:
   • Dump draft first thoughts for Chapter 1 – go, no holds barred, no self-editing
   • Start a Table of Contents
   • Add 3 topic/titles to the Table of Contents tojumpstart this project
   • Make a manilla folder for each topic or chapter (or a binder with sections works well too since this is all part of the ‘chunking it down theory’)
   • Create a back history document for main character

   You get the idea of it, right?

4. Think of this chunked down list as your project menu. It is the container of your many chunks or slices.
5. If the tasks need a certain order, then go ahead and number them in order. But don’t worry too much about that. Trust that you have a set of steps that will get you closer to your goal.
6. Now, schedule at least 1 hour (2 hours is better if you’re a serious writer) every day to eat up that scrumptious project in those tinier bite-sized pieces.

One to two hours too much to ask?  Well, then just do one thing at a time: eat as many pieces as your schedule (aka stomach) will hold to overcome procrastination.

Enjoy the journey!

{Please pass this writing tip along to others.}

Why Do Writers Procrastinate?

.

Why Do Writer’s Procrastinate?
Or why does ANYONE  procrastinate, for that matter?

During the 1990′s I taught time management and organization workshops to overstressed, uber-hurried professionals in the Silicon Valley.  No matter what role they played in the corporate life, every one of them admitted to multiple things they put off and didn’t do.  They procrastinated everything from following up with clients, filing reports, sending emails, cleaning off their desks, even asking the boss for a raise.

Writers are no different.  We procrastinate for a number of reasons:

• Fear – of failure, success,  inadequacy, being good enough, being found out, being real
• Overload – common when there’s always, always more to do than time for
• Overwhelm – the task seems so HUGE, it’s daunting
• No deadline – working without a clear target
• Lack of a clear purpose – moving forward without enough information or instruction

Are any of these reasons familiar to you?  What are you putting off?  What reasons do you give to justify the delays?

During the next several days, I’ll be posting tips and techniques for overcoming procrastination. These techniques work; they really DO. I know because I use them myself and recommend them to my coaching clients and memoir writing students all the time.  Their successes prove that overcoming procrastination is possible.

Please leave a comment.  Tell me if you procrastinate and why.

Then, click on Blog for more How To Overcome Procrastination tips.

What Is A Short Story? ~ guest post by Geoff Hoff

What is a Short Story?

Short stories are a glorious art form.

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s start talking about them behind their back.  I’ve been asked on occasion what defines a short story, and what do all short stories have in common.  The answer to that second question may seem flippant, but it is heartfelt.  The only thing they all have in common is a beginning, middle and end.

To enhance that answer, short stories are so varied, you can approach them from so many angles, that is, quite literally, the only thing they have in common.  To go even more deeply, even the beginning, middle and end can look different in different stories.  Some of my favorite stories are experimental, nontraditional or “non-linear.”  The beginning can happen in the middle.  The ending can be so vague as to seem non-existent, or can swing back to the beginning.  Richard A. Lupoff’s 12:01 PM has several beginnings, including the end.  This is one of the things I love about short stories, about story telling in general, actually, that they can be so varied and unexpected.

What defines short stories also requires a flippant sounding answer: It is a story that is shorter than a novel or a novella.  How short is up to many different standards.  Some say anything less than 9,000 words.  Some say anything less than 20,000.  Some, less than 7,000.  Some even call a story shorter than 1,000 a “short short” but I think that’s making a distinction that is entirely too fine for any practical purpose besides academia, which isn’t usually very practical at all.

Ernest Hemmingway famously won a bet by creating a short story with only six words:  “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”  I shiver every time I read that one, and it always makes me think.

Most, but not all short stories have a limited number of characters.  Shirley Jackson’s wonderfully dark The Lottery, however, definitely a short story, has well over ten characters, most of them fairly well developed.  It does, of course, only have one location.  Most, but not all, short stories have a limited number of locations.  Kipling’s classic Man Who Would Be King has several, unless you consider all of India one location.  Some have defined short stories as those that have only one or a few conflicts in them, or a single plot.  Delany’s award-winning Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones has more complications and plot turns than some novels, although some call it a novelette, which, I suppose, is somewhere between a short story and a novella.

So what, exactly, is a short story?  That is up to the individual writer, reader, editor or publication to decide in their own, quirky, individual way.  I could be coy and say it doesn’t matter, just read them and get on with your day, but I’m much too polite to give such a response.

I like to think of them as more of a narrative sketch or study than a full painting or sculpture, more a bagatelle or caprice than a symphony or opera, more an annoying list of similes than a full-blown crazy-making analysis.  This is, of course, also insufficient.  The sketches of Dürer or Michelangelo are much more detailed and complete than the sculptures of Picasso or the paintings of Mondrian, so even my annoying similes don’t quite hit the mark.

Even so, thinking of short stories as more like sketches of events than novels (or even novellas) is as useful a distinction as any.  The characters and locations will be more sketches of people and place than would be necessary in a novel.  Communicating a central point or idea is more important than delving into specifics.

Now that we have cleared up the mystery, or, perhaps, laid more mud on it, I say go read one, then get on with your day.  Read two, they’re short.

==================================

Geoff Hoff is a best-selling author and also writes how-to writing guides.

With his writing partner, he will be giving an on-line course, “You Can Write a Short Story” that starts Thursday, January 14th.  http://www.TipsOnWriting.net/class

Apply the code WRITELIFE at checkout for $20 off the price of registration.

Learn more about the craft of writing from Geoff and his writing partner, Steve Mancini, at their Tips on Writing blog http://www.TipsOnWriting.net/blog

An Essential Book for Writers – How Stories Work

No doubt, every writing instructor has their favorite books to recommend. My own bookshelf of writing related books sags from the weight of books I love. Every one of them holds a significant message for the writer and her craft, but few capture a set of basics as well as Margaret Lucke’s basic how-to for creating compelling stories. Whether you’re new to writing, or a seasoned pro, whether you write novels, short stories, flash fiction or memoir, this one book packs the best of the basics in a slim volume of 160 pages.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

1.  Writing A Short Story–Getting Started

2.  Characters–How to Create People Who Live and Breathe On the Page

3.  Conflict–How to Devise A Story That Readers Won’t Want to Put Down

4.  Plot and Structure–How To Shape Your Story and Keep It Moving Forward

5.  Setting and Atmosphere–How To Bring Readers Into A Vivid Story World

6.  Narrative Voice–How To Develop Your Individual Voice As a Writer

Includes: extensive reading list, quick guide to submitting manuscripts for publication, how to format your manuscript

BUY IT!

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »