Find Your Writing Space - Tips for Authors

Everyone needs space to write. Personal preferences and styles are important in your decision of where you choose to write. Here are some things that have worked for me. If something sounds interesting, give it a try. If it doesn’t work with your style, try something else. The right answer is what works for you and makes you more creative and productive.

Your Writing Space

I write best in my office in front of my big window that looks out on the woods. I know that’s my work spot. Sometimes, I take edits outside on the deck for a change of scenery, but serious work gets done in the office. I think authors need to find a space of their own where they can keep their notes, rough drafts, and know that is the writing area.

Background Noise

I’ve had a day-gig for many years, and it is NEVER quiet. I’m used to background noise and interruptions. I can’t work in complete silence. I have to have music on. I usually listen to classical or jazz for writing. Pop and rock are reserved for research and editing. I’m an #80sGirl, so I always go back to retro classics, and the dogs and I often have dance-offs when I find I’ve been sitting too long.

Writers’ Retreats

I am not able to do writers’ retreats. They look like so much fun, but I need to be by myself to plot, write, and revise. I did go to a plotting party once, and it was helpful. Everyone brought something they were working on or wanted some ideas for. We had lots of food and shared ideas on everyone’s WIPS (work in progress).

Critique Groups

I also have a critique group that meets once a month and some amazing beta readers who provide feedback and ideas. Writing is a solitary effort, but you do need your crew from time to time. These folks help with me with overused words, plotholes (where the story just doesn’t work), and pesky typos.

Distractions

I am easily distracted. I will go search for something on the internet, and the next thing I know, I’m checking out Facebook or watching crazy dog videos. I have to make sure I stay focused when I’m trying to finish a draft. I mark where I need to look something up in my manuscript and go back to do the look ups later. If I find my mind wandering or I’m losing focus, I do try to take a quick break. A quick bit of exercise or stretching often helps.

Have a Routine

I try to write or edit daily, especially when I’m working on a book. I’m able to make progress, and the plot/characters are front and center. The longer I’m away from something, the more I have to play catch up before I can be productive again.

This is what works for me. If you see something you like, give it a try. Find the place and the schedule that works for you. Happy Writing!

What Are Your Writing Hang Ups? Tips for Authors

What causes you to get stuck in your writing process? Here are some of my foibles or quirks and the things I do to prevent or overcome them. Your writing style and process are personal. Try the tips that work for you. If something doesn’t work, then try something else. You need to figure out what is best for you and what makes you more productive.

I ALWAYS come in under my word count (sometimes by as much as 20K words). I type, “The End,” and I am nowhere near close to being done. I write cozy mysteries, so I’m usually aiming for the low 70,000-word range. I’m one of the few people that I know who actually gains words during the editing process. I do an outline for each book. I look at the word count of the other books in the series and the number of chapters to give myself an idea of how much I’ll need for the first draft. I use my first few rounds of self-edits to make sure there are enough clues and red herrings in the story.

I love the researching, planning, and writing parts of the process. The editing and revising parts seem more like work. I have to break the tasks up into smaller pieces. I get tired and bored, and distractions don’t help when you’re trying to concentrate on making updates. I listen to fun playlists of upbeat music to keep me going. I also reward myself with things I like to do if I hit my editing/revising goal. Sometimes, it’s 5-10 minutes on the internet. This helps me to stay focused, and I get a treat for doing my work.

My outline serves several purposes. One of my critique groups meets every month. We read 50 pages at a time from each author, and it’s easy to forget what happened in earlier chapter. The group has asked for a chapter summary of past reads, so I use my outline, and I don’t have to create anything new. I also use it to help me with the dreaded synopsis.

No matter how much I self-edit or read my manuscript, I don’t see some mistakes like overused words. I keep a list of my pet words and do a search and replace. Some of my key offenders are “just,” “that,” and “so.”

When I decided that I wanted to write mystery novels, I bought every writing book I could get my hands on. Then I found that I was doing a lot of reading about writing and not much writing. I cleaned off my shelf. I kept the books that were most helpful and donated the rest to the library. You just need to write and to hone your craft. Join a critique group, find a writing partner, or find a good editor. Writers need feedback along the way to improve their writing.

Journaling - How It Can Help Your Writing Life

I have been keeping a journal off and on since I received a small denim-covered diary with a lock and key in my stocking in 1975. That expanded over the teen and college years into multiple volumes annually. When I started writing, I found that I didn’t journal as much.

A few weeks into the pandemic, I had the thought that I probably should record some notes of what the plague and lock-down was like. It suddenly became a fancy notebook filled with dread and fear. So I stared a second pandemic journal, A Sudden Glory. This one is filled with stories about helpers and good deeds that I run across. Some are tiny little acts of kindness and others are on a larger scale. I decided if was keeping a record of all the doom and gloom, I needed to record some of the amazing things too.

The contents may never see the light of day, but I think a journal helps your writing life.

• It’s a chance for you to write about your thoughts and interests.

• It’s a place where you can just write without the worry of editing and rewrites.

• It’s where you can record thoughts and ideas. You never know when one will become part of a larger work.

• Journaling is a way to record your history and experiences for a future you.

• It helps you establish a regular writing routine.

• Journal entries help you work through conflicts and sort out ideas.

Journaling is a good way to capture a bit of your life, and it’s a precious time capsule when you go back and look at the contents later.

April 10 - Encourage a Young Writer Day - What's Your Advice?

April 10 is Encourage a Young Writer Day. I have so many teachers, librarians, a visiting poet, and a plethora of other writers to thank for all of their encouragement and advice through the years. Here’s my list for young writers. What would you add?

• Read everything that you can get your hands on. Read works in a variety of genres. Read books from all types of authors.

• Find time to write every day.

• Don’t give up. Writing, editing, and all the tasks that go along with it are work. It takes time, dedication, and perseverance.

• Writing is a business. Agents and publishers are looking for projects that they can sell.

• Criticism and critiques are part of the process. Learn what you can from feedback and strive to improve your craft.

• Rejection is also part of the process. It’s not fun. Cry, scream, eat chocolate, and then get back to your writing.

• Write what you love to read.

• Be professional.

What I Learned about Writing from Lean IT

Lean IT comes from the manufacturing world and is based on the Toyota Production System (TPS). Key values and processes have been added to the service and technology industries through the years. Recently, I took a class on how Lean improvements can be added to IT’s service delivery, and I realized that the key principles can be applied to the writing world, too.

1. Continual Improvement (in small steps) is one the key principles of Lean. Revising, editing, and critiques are ways that writers can improve their craft. It needs to be a continuous cycle.

2. Focusing on Long-term Goals helps deliver a solid product and involves continuous improvement. Writers need to focus on where they want to be and work toward this.

3. Quality, Delivery, and Costs are key to production. They’re important in the writing world, too. You need to balance your writing, time, and monetary outputs to reach your goals.

4. The Deming Cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act) is integral to the continuous improvement cycle. Writers plan, draft, review, and then finish/publish. The writing cycle needs to include all the elements for revising, editing, and proofreading to improve your writing process and your output.

5. The principles of Lean center around Customer Value. The output and delivery of the final work is always centered around the reader and his/her experience. The ultimate goals are to sell books and bring readers back for more.

6. Flow is a key component to the manufacturing process. You need to have the right parts at the right time to keep the process moving. I would argue that flow is key to the writing process too. You need to make time to write. It’s often good to write your first draft and then work on the revising and editing stages. Sometimes, writers get bogged down with the first draft if they edit as they write.

7. In the Lean world there are value-add, necessary non-value-add, and non-value-add activities. You want to optimize your value-add work (writing, editing, etc.) while minimizing the necessary non-value-add tasks (building your platform, maintaining your social media sites, keeping accounting records, paying taxes). You also want to look at your writing life and try to remove any non-value-add activities. (For me, I cut back considerably on TV and movie-watching.)

8. Lean philosophies also focus on cutting Waste which results in financial gain. Cutting out ineffective purchases (software, services, retyping handwritten pages, marketing efforts that don’t show results) can help you to focus your efforts on what does work.

9. Overall Performance focuses on delivery and the right skills and capabilities to do the job. As writers, we need to make sure that we are learning new things and honing our craft. Make sure to build in time for learning that doesn’t consume all of your writing time. When I started writing, I bought every how-to book on the craft that I could find. I spent so much time reading about writing that I wasn’t doing. I kept a few key books, donated the rest to my library, and started writing.

While the Lean methodology is primarily for manufacturing, it has been adapted and implemented in other industries. Many of the principles apply to the writing world, and they’re good reminders to constantly strive to improve and to reach one’s goals.

Your Writing Life Needs Some Spring Cleaning

Spring is here, and I love the warm weather. Everything is in bloom and new again. I also have the urge for spring cleaning. Here are some ideas to help get rid of the paper and electronic clutter in your writing life.

Electronic Files

• Go through your photos and save any that you really want to keep to the cloud or an external hard drive to free up space on your computer.

• Clean up your saved email, especially those with attachments. Make sure to empty your Sent and Trash files regularly.

• Archive any old document files.

• Open your cloud storage and delete anything that is outdated or no longer needed.

• Look at the apps on your phone. Remove any that you don’t use.

Your Marketing Materials

• Check out your biography and marketing materials. Make sure they are current.

• Make sure your website has the most current information about you and your books.

• Check your biography and your books on your social media sites.

• Does your headshot need refreshing?

Paper Files and Clutter

• It’s time to go through your files and purge what you don’t need.

• It’s time to file what hasn’t made it to the filing cabinet yet.

• Make sure that you file mileage and receipts for your writing expenses as you collect them. This will make it easier for tax time next year.

• Clean off your desk.

• Look at all the books you’ve collected over the year. Can any be donated or gifted?

What would you add to my list?

It's Time for Some Email Spring Cleaning

Email has been around since 1965, and the clutter and buildup seem to get worse every day. The volume seems to have snowballed. Here are some tips that help me contain the chaos.

• I’ve linked my email account to my phone. If I delete it on my mobile device, it deletes it, and I don’t have to look at it again on my PC. Just be careful not to delete something important.

• I leave anything that I need to remember or address in my inbox until I take care of it.

• Add new contacts to your list when you read the email. This helps from losing them when you delete the corresponding email.

• I create a series of folders in Outlook. Make sure not create them as subfolders under the Inbox file. I move anything that I want to keep here. This gets emails out of my Inbox. File sizes build up quickly with attachments, and this keeps my inbox size from maxing out.

• Remember to empty your “junk,” sent, and trash email folders regularly.

• Delete spam or scam emails that happen to slip by your filters. Don’t unsubscribe, reply, or click on any links. A click can often trigger the download of viruses or worms to infect your system.

• I have multiple email accounts. Some I use to subscribe to things I might be interested in. This reduces the number of ads, newsletters, and alerts in my primary email box.

Details Do Matter - Tips for Authors

Many times, you only get one shot at querying an agent or a publisher. Make sure you have done everything you possibly can to make your submission and correspondence as polished as they can be. Formatting problems make your work look unprofessional.

Emails/Query Forms

• Make sure all names and titles are spelled correctly.

• Verify that the email address is correct.

• Verify that the name on the query matches the person you’re sending it to.

• Keep a list of the agents/agencies you query, the date sent, and any response.

• Follow all submission requirements.

Manuscript

• Follow standard formatting rules.

• If not specified, use Times New Roman 12 point (black). Don’t use multiple fonts or fancy types or colors.

• Make sure you have a cover page.

• Margins need to be one inch on all sides.

• Put the page number and the author’s last name in the footer.

• You need a cover page with your title, word count, and contact information. The page numbering should start on the first page of your manuscript (not the cover page).

• Most agents/publishers want manuscripts that are formatted for an automatic tab indent for each new paragraph (instead of using the tab key each time or the space bar).

• Don’t use the return/enter key to move to the next page. Add a hard return (Usually Control + Enter).

• Use only one space after all punctuation.

• For American writers, end punction (commas and periods) go inside the quotation marks.

• Make sure your work has been edited and proofed before you submit it. Print it out and do one last check before you send it.

The little things do matter and show that you’ve invested the time to make your work the best it can be. If you have formatting issues with your word processor, there are lots of good how-to videos on YouTube or the Microsoft Help site for Word.