I usually write in the same place, my study, at the same time, in the early mornings, every day. But today I'm going to try writing at a coffee shop down the street.
Sometimes I try a different place, to see if there might be someplace better. I haven't found anyplace better yet. My study usually works out best, but I'm a different person every day, so who knows. Occasionally I surprise myself.
Where do you usually write?
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Don't Only Write
When you write, work on one project at a time. Keep a list of the other brilliant ideas that occur to you on paper in a drawer. Write a couple of lines to remind yourself later what you were thinking about.
But don't spend all you time on your book. Work for a set period of time each day, 15 minutes, an hour, two hours, from 4-6 PM, after the kids are in bed, before work, whatever. But do other stuff you enjoy too. You'll be a happier person and a better writer and your work will be better, too. It can work things out when you're not thinking about it.
All work and no play make Jack a mighty dull boy!
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
But don't spend all you time on your book. Work for a set period of time each day, 15 minutes, an hour, two hours, from 4-6 PM, after the kids are in bed, before work, whatever. But do other stuff you enjoy too. You'll be a happier person and a better writer and your work will be better, too. It can work things out when you're not thinking about it.
All work and no play make Jack a mighty dull boy!
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Work One Project at a Time
Remember this: WOPAAT. Work on one project at a time.
If you're like me, story ideas come to me all the time. Not always good story ideas, but ideas. I get maybe 3 in one day. I can think them up at will, just think to myself, "What if...".
Resist the urge to start them all. Keep a list of titles, i.e. "A bass player kills somebody and stores his body in his hard case," in your drawer.
When you get your current project done and out there, then go back to other projects.
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
If you're like me, story ideas come to me all the time. Not always good story ideas, but ideas. I get maybe 3 in one day. I can think them up at will, just think to myself, "What if...".
Resist the urge to start them all. Keep a list of titles, i.e. "A bass player kills somebody and stores his body in his hard case," in your drawer.
When you get your current project done and out there, then go back to other projects.
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I Write My First Draft In One Blast
I always write the first draft in a blast. I have the story in my head. I've thought about the characters, story, intro, ending, and it's going to be the greatest thing ever written. Like opening day of the Phillies' season.
So I sit down and begin to write. I hate it. It's terrible. I can't stand it. I want to go back and change it.
I don't.
Even if I think it's the absolutely worst thing ever written, I keep on writing. Only when I'm done do I go back and work on it.
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
So I sit down and begin to write. I hate it. It's terrible. I can't stand it. I want to go back and change it.
I don't.
Even if I think it's the absolutely worst thing ever written, I keep on writing. Only when I'm done do I go back and work on it.
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Gauge Your Passion
When I was choosing a dissertation topic back in the early 1970s, my graduate school advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told me, whatever I decided to write on, to make sure I had sufficient passion to carry me through the project.
The dissertation would entail a difficult journey of 5-7 years of exciting, but challenging and difficult work. I had to know I had the goods to carry me through.
He was right.
Now I read something by Sunil Robert in Chuck Sambuchino's blog that advises writers to stay passionate: "Depending on your project time lines, you need the passion and patience of a marathon runner to keep you going."
Good advice.
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
The dissertation would entail a difficult journey of 5-7 years of exciting, but challenging and difficult work. I had to know I had the goods to carry me through.
He was right.
Now I read something by Sunil Robert in Chuck Sambuchino's blog that advises writers to stay passionate: "Depending on your project time lines, you need the passion and patience of a marathon runner to keep you going."
Good advice.
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Being a Writer is Not Being an Author
Being a writer is not the same as being an author. Being a writer means you are writing. Being an author means that someone has decided to publish what you have written or what you've paid someone to write for you.
The first can be done by anyone with something to write about, something to write with, and something to write on.
The second, well...
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
The first can be done by anyone with something to write about, something to write with, and something to write on.
The second, well...
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Understand Your Motives for Writing
Understand why you write. Do you write to see your name in lights? Do you write to get rich? Do you write to touch other people's lives? Do you write because you must?
Maybe it's enough for now just to write, for whatever reason. But sooner or later you should try to understand what you're doing because it will affect what you do with what you have written.
If you want to get rich, and you don't publish anything, how is that possible?
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Maybe it's enough for now just to write, for whatever reason. But sooner or later you should try to understand what you're doing because it will affect what you do with what you have written.
If you want to get rich, and you don't publish anything, how is that possible?
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Invite the unexpected into your life.
To be a writer, invite the unexpected into your life. If you always go to the same coffee shop to write, go to a different coffee shop sometimes. If you always go somewhere the same way, go a different way sometimes.
Join different networking groups where you will meet people you normally wouldn't. Sign up with a temporary help company where you get put in different situations. Drive a cab where you meet different people.
If you sit in your room and write all day, every day, and you will grow stale, and your writing will rot. It's the unexpected that gives birth to fiction.
Consider Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. He's a doctor from Indiapolis, played by Jimmy Stewart. He and his wife, a singer played by (surprise) Doris Day, are in a bazaar one morning and see a man stabbed in the back. Stewart rushes forward to help the man who whispers something in his ear. That kick-starts the action. Other things are going on, of course.
If Jimmy and Doris hadn't been in the bazaar that day, no story really.
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Join different networking groups where you will meet people you normally wouldn't. Sign up with a temporary help company where you get put in different situations. Drive a cab where you meet different people.
If you sit in your room and write all day, every day, and you will grow stale, and your writing will rot. It's the unexpected that gives birth to fiction.
Consider Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. He's a doctor from Indiapolis, played by Jimmy Stewart. He and his wife, a singer played by (surprise) Doris Day, are in a bazaar one morning and see a man stabbed in the back. Stewart rushes forward to help the man who whispers something in his ear. That kick-starts the action. Other things are going on, of course.
If Jimmy and Doris hadn't been in the bazaar that day, no story really.
My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?
Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.
Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
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