My Writing Plans for 2022

So now it’s the end of 2021 and tomorrow is the first day of 2022.

I don’t know about you but I’ve got my writing plans in place for the next 12 months.

One thing I had to do was not only list everything I wanted to write, but also allot the time to do it. It’s no good saying what I want to do if I have no idea how I’m going to find the time.

So I did a plan of everything I want to write, and it includes books, ebooks, articles, blog posts and emails (amongst other things). I wanted to make sure I included everything so that nothing gets left out and I have enough time to do it all.

But it will still be a challenge with all that life throws up at us. Whenever I have a lot to do, the universe always throws up roadblocks and trip hazards.

But I’m determined to not let anything stop me completing my writing plan for 2022.

You can read it in it’s entirety at:

https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2021/writing-plans-2022.html

Writing When I Really Don’t Feel Like Writing

 

Image courtesy of mohamed_hassan. Pixabay

It’s funny isn’t it that although writers say they enjoy writing, they often resist doing it. And I’m no different. Sometimes I think a pile of ironing looks more appealing than sitting down and writing.

So what is it? What makes us not want to write?

The truth is that resistance to writing is no different to the resistance we sometimes feel to other things. And it’s not the actual thing we have to do that’s the problem, it’s just the act of starting that seems hard.

Last week, Dean and I had plans for a day out We were really looking forward to it. But when the day arrived, we started to ask each other if we still wanted to go and maybe we could just stay home and sit by the pool, have a swim, and then go back up to our apartment, have lunch and watch a movie.

And while that would have been okay to stay home and relax, we eventually said no. We’d planned a day out so we were going. So we packed up and headed out.

And do you know what? We had such a great time. It turned out so much better than we originally thought.

So we can even feel resistance to fun things we want to do, as well as resistance to doing chores we don’t feel in the mood to do.

To make it easier to write when I don’t feel like it, I just sit down and look in my diary to see what I had planned, or I re-read what I’ve written the previous day, or type up some handwritten work. I start with something simple, and then it’s easy to keep going.

Sometimes I buy an ebook or a course or something else that intrigues me, that will give me direction, and makes me enthusiastic to write.

Next time you feel resistance to writing, do whatever it takes to get back into the writing zone fast. And don’t be afraid to invest in your writing future.

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/LLS.html

Working On My 2022 Writing Goals

It’s now so close to the end of 2021 and I still haven’t finished sorting out my writing goals for next year.

But I have been looking at all the things I do in a day/week/month, including sleeping, eating, and time with family. And all this certainly takes up most of my time.

I looked at my list and thought that many people work 40 hours a week and still do all this stuff so where am I going wrong, because according to my calculations, I only have 13 hours of writing time a week. That’s less than most people’s part-time working hours.

I gave it more thought and realised that no matter how I try and divide my time, every day is different. Some days I only write for a couple of hours, and other days I write all day. It seems to depend on how much I have to do and what mood I’m in.

And when I worked it out, I sit and write far more than 13 hours a week. But if that’s so, then how do I still fit in all the other stuff?

And even more confusing, if I now live in a small apartment so that I don’ have a lot to do then how come I have so much to do?

My poor little monkey mind could not figure this out. I’m no math genius, but these numbers just aren’t adding up.

So instead, I’m going to take a run at it from a different angle and look at what I actually do every day, hour by hour, and how much time it takes me. But I’m sure I already know, because it’s what I do every day. Now I’m really confused.

I’ve also been looking at what I want to write, and I already have so many ideas already, probably more than I can do in a year.

Or maybe I should push myself to do it all anyway? I’ll let you know how it goes.

I hope your writing plans are coming together too, and that 2022 will be your most profitable writing year ever.

30+ Freelance Writing Markets to Keep You Busy Over Christmas

If you're anything like me, you find holiday times great for getting more writing done. Everything is closed so there is nothing to do but stay home and write (or go to the park, or the beach, or anywhere else outdoors to write if it's hot where you are, like it is where I live).

So here is a list of over 30 freelance writing markets that you can use for inspiration, writing practice, or to actually submit to and earn money.

Some of these markets pay up to $600 so it's worth taking a look through them.

Enjoy.

Eerie River Publishing

Looking for short, dark, nightmare-inducing horror stories with the theme of 'earth' for upcoming anthology.

Submission open Feb 1 2022

Word count: 1,500 - 7,000 words 

Payment: 1 cent cad per word

No reprints

Closing Date: Feb 28 2022

One submission per author per quarter

Other upcoming themes: Fire, Air, Water.

https://www.eerieriverpublishing.com/open-submission

22 Publications on Religion and Spirituality

A list of nearly two dozen religious and spiritual publications that pay freelance writers.

List includes websites, literary journals and magazines, paying up to $500 for freelance pieces.

https://thewritelife.com/faith-based-publications-that-pay/

10 Fiction Markets

List of high-paying fiction markets with open submission windows.

Payment: $70 to $600 for Short Stories

https://www.freedomwithwriting.com/freedom/uncategorized/10-fiction-markets-paying-70-to-600-for-short-stories/

After Dinner Conversation Magazine

Philosophy Ethics Short Stories

Any genre, and from any perspective. But it must spur discussions and require the reader to expand their mind.

Word Count: 

Children’s Stories:  Under 1,500 words

Young Adult:  Under 3,500 words

Adult:  1,500-7,500 words

Payment: 1cent/word. $30 Max

https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/submissions

How My Own Advice Saved Me

 In my life, I’m quite the minimalist and live my life differently to most people. And what I love about my life, is that I’m not needy of money or company or social interaction.

I’m quite content to stay at home and write, and avoid socialising. Just recently some acquaintances were insisting that my husband and I go out for a meal with them and we REALLY didn’t want to. He’s  like me when it comes to socialising. Thankfully we managed to dissuade them without hurting their feelings.

I’m also quite the stockpiler when it comes to food. I buy things when they’re on special at the supermarket if it’s something we normally eat, or something we use like washing powder. I also keep a financial fund of 2-years income stashed away and never touched unless there’s an emergency like I’m too injured or ill to work, or there’s some other emergency that goes on for a while.

I used to think that I’d never need to touch that money because I couldn’t imagine a time when I’d need it, but it still gives me peace of mind to know it’s there.

But in 2020, when this whole “pandemic” situation happened and is still happening, my stockpile meant that I didn’t have to worry about “lockdowns” because we already had enough supplies to last (including toilet paper) so we didn’t even need to shop for weeks.

And I’m still hearing stories about people losing their jobs and wondering how to survive without their income. And I knew that if they’d had a stockpile and a financial fund in place, and a mission to go home to (like my writing mission),they’d be able to weather whatever happened.

I wrote all about these things in my book, Mission Critical For Life : How to Start Living Life on Your Own Terms.

If only more people had read it.

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCFL.html

A 10-Hour Writing Day

I previously told you about how I’d been re-reading one of my favourite books on productivity called, How to Have a 48 Hour Day, and in this book it says to work 10 hours a day, which I began to do.

I get up at 6am every day, even weekends, so from 6am to 4pm I make sure I’m productive - not busy.

At first I thought it would be difficult, but it isn’t at all. Some days I have to juggle things around, so if I decide to go to the beach for a couple of hours (I live at the coast) I make up the time later on, or I take some reading material that I want to catch up on, or take a notebook and do some writing or brainstorming.

Before I began the 10-hour day experiment, I was a quitter. As soon as something seemed too hard or too tedious, I’d quit. But now, I take a short 5 minute break and then carry on, no matter how much I feel like I don’t want to keep doing what I’m doing.

And the surprising thing is, once I sit down and get back to writing, it’s not that hard at all to keep going. It also works for other chores around the house, even cleaning the car isn’t hard once I add it to my daily to-do list, and then do it no matter what.

This is great for getting more writing done and for everything else I do.  It’s like having a deadline. I can’t stop working so it forces me to get as much done as I can. When I’m writing I force myself to stay in my chair, and soon I’m back in the ‘zone’ and getting plenty done. And it’s such a great feeling.

I also limit my online time to 30 minutes during my 10 hours, and use my writing computer for most of the time and only switch computers later to upload things.

10-hour days are actually easy to do and surprisingly fun.

https://amzn.to/2YbtGyw

4 Books Written in 3 Months

 It’s no secret that all writers look for ways to write more and earn more. And this time of year is when we’re all planning how much we can challenge ourselves in the New Year.

And as I’ve been telling everyone, I’ve been spending plenty of time reading about other writers’ plans for 2022. It’s always interesting to see what others are doing as well as collecting inspiration and ideas for myself.

And while I was re-reading my favourite time management book last week (How to Have a 48 Hour Day), which is so insightful as well as being entertaining as hell, the author, Don Aslett, talked about how he once wrote 4 books in 3 months.

What struck me about his achievement, was that at the time , he was vacationing at his holiday home and during the 3 months he was there, he also cut back over 100 feet of what he calls ‘the jungle’ (it’s a large property), laid several concrete steps, erected 100 feet of fencing, as well as catching up with other jobs like cleaning tools, weeding, and planting trees.

AND he still had time to write 4 books.

Inspiring?

Yes.

Makes me jealous?

Absolutely.

But it does spur me on to REALLY challenge myself next year to see not only how I can write more, but how to get more done in other areas of my life too.

Perhaps I can start having my own 48 hour days.

I’ll let you know when I finish my planning and hopefully it will inspire you to write more and earn more too.

https://amzn.to/2YbtGyw

Go Big Or Go Home. Write One Million Words a Year

I’ve been reading a lot of articles and blog posts lately about goals that writers have and how much writing they plan to do in the next year. And it’s all fascinating reading, not to mention inspiring and motivating.

But there was one blog post in particular that really caught my attention. It was written by prolific fiction author, Dean Wesley Smith. He talked about his goal to write 2.2 million words in 2022.

 https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/my-2022-challenge/.  

My flabber was ghasted when I read that. This is such a huge challenge he’s set for himself.

In a previous post, he’d talked in-depth about pulp writing speed which is how pulp writers used to earn their living years ago what was then called pulp fiction, because they were only paid by word count so they had to write at super speeds to be able to write for a living.

https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/pulp-speed-brought-forward-again/

In this blog post, he goes through six different pulp writing speeds, and the slowest one (Pulp Speed One) is 1 million words a year, and while that may sound like a lot, it breaks down like this:

Writing 3,000 words a day, is 84,000 words a month (26 days), which adds up to just over 1 million words a year. And if you can write 1,000 words an hour (which isn’t hard), 3,000 words a day is easy.

This all got me thinking about how much more I can write in a year if I really tried. 

To be realistic, I’ll have to divide my time and include everything I do, not just writing, but also sleeping, travelling, eating, cleaning, personal hygiene, family, TV, and everything else besides.

Plus I need to look at what writing I plan to do in the next 12 months, including books, ebooks, free reports, blog posts, articles, and freelance assignments.

Will I make it to one million words a year?

Who knows.

But I’m going to having great fun trying.

https://amzn.to/2YbtGyw 

The Simple Way to Make Every Day Productive

We all want to have productive days, don’t we? But what usually happens is that we get out of bed in the morning full of enthusiasm for all the things we’re going to accomplish, but somehow the time slips away and we realise we got nothing done.

Yet there are other days when we bounce out of bed and zip through everything we have to do and end the day feeling great about how much we got done.

So what’s the difference between those two days? What is it that makes some days more productive than others?

The ‘secret’ to having a productive day is really no secret at all.

I’ve recently been re-reading my favourite book on productivity, called, “How to have a 48 Hour Day” by Don Aslett. This man is king of getting things done and his book is such an entertaining read, and so useful that I’ve read it several times.

One of the things he says you should do, and it’s something he has alway done himself, is to have 10-hour days. This means having 10 productive hours every day. Not 10 ‘busy’ hours. The time must be spent productively, whether it means working, shopping (for essentials), gardening, cleaning, writing, or anything else that needs to be done. 

The author himself often works 16 hours a day. He even talks about when he wrote a book in 4 days because it was raining and he couldn’t do the gardening that he’d planned to do. Wow! Can you imagine being such an over-achiever? And he loves every minute of it and says that hard work is the cure for all of life’s ills. He says it’s no accident that those who are high achievers are seldom ill. They don’t have time to stop for anything.

He says to aim to stay productive 10 hours a day. Commit to it and always have a list of different jobs/tasks to do so you can switch if necessary or if you’re not in the mood.

And 10 hours a day of productivity is life-changing.

I used to be one of life’s quitters and would give up on something if it got too hard or seemed too tedious. But not any more. I became a 10-hours-a day-person after reading this book the first time, and it really changed my life for the better. And the best thing about it is that it was actually easy to do. It wasn’t difficult at all. I even enjoyed it.

And the changes are instant.

Try it for yourself. Just one week of 10-hour days is transforming.

Make it your New Year’s resolution. 

Download a copy of the book and start changing your life.

https://amzn.to/2YbtGyw 

4 Horror Writing Markets and a Free Writing Competition

 Here are a few writing markets for you just to keep the creative juices flowing and possibly earn you some much needed writing income.

One of the markets is for a children's short story, so if you haven't written for this age range before, it might make it interesting for you.

Enjoy and happy writing.

Dark Moments Flash Horror
Black Hare Press are looking fo short horror stories on the theme, Circus.
Word Count: EXACTLY 100 words.
Deadline: 31st December 2021
Payment: 4cents (US)/word via Paypal
https://www.blackharepress.com/submissions/ 

Children's Alien Scary Stories
Raven & Drake open to submissions of stories on the theme: Alien
Reader age range is 10+
Word count: up to 3,000 words
Looking for scary but fun stories with a happy ending.
Payment: Digital copies of the anthology. 
No cash payment as it's a new market, but I'm including it because it's an interesting market (10+ age range) and can open up to new possibilities because chidlren can be raging fans once they find an author they like.
https://www.ravenanddrakepublishing.co.uk/seriescalls 

A Coming of Age Horror Anthology
Nowhere Fast pays homage to the well-loved theme, Coming of Age, and then adds a horror element. 
Did you ever just wish you could have made The Goonies a little gorier? That ET was actually evil?
Make your twist on these classics.
Any work featuring the actual characters from these movies will be rejected. 
Word Count: 3000-5000 Words 
Deadline: October 28 2022
Payment: 6cents/word plus one hard copy.
https://www.clashbooks.com/clash/2021/10/29/nowhere-fast

 
Counting Bodies Like Sheep
Short stories wanted for extreme horror anthology.
Fast-paced gory stories with the perfect blend of Extreme Horror + Splatterpunk + Dar Humor elements.
Word count: up to 3,000 max
Payment: 3cents/word plus one paperback copy.
Deadline: Sumissions open on 1st January 2022
Close 1st March 2022
http://theevilcookie.com/open-calls/ 

Free Short Story Competition
Curiosity Killed the Cat
Short story about a new discovery, invention, or insight that seems wonderful and glamorous on the outside, but which is truly insidious beneath the surface, or which goes terribly awry. Think 'Frankenstein.'
Word Count:1800-2200 words
Deadline: January 4th, 2022
Prize: $50 first place 
https://www.rainfictionpod.com/contests/writing-contest-3curiosity-killed-the-cat

Write 50,000 Words a Month, Every Month

It’s now December (Yikes! Already?). Last month was November and as all writers know, it was also NaNoWriMo, a month when thousands all over the world take up the challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in a month.

And of those thousands, some make it and some don’t. But of those who make it, it does prove that it’s possible to write 50,000 words a month.

But what if you could write 50,000 words every month? I don’t mean that you should write a novel every 30 days, but what if the 50,000 words a month meant all your writing including articles, blog posts, emails, freelance submissions and all the other writing you do every month, including book writing?

Can you imagine how great it would be and how much money you could earn from your writing if you could write fifty thousands words a month, every month?

And while that may seem like a daunting amount, when you break it down, it’s only 1,667 words a day, which is only one article or short story.

Keeping up a writing schedule like this can have a huge increase in your income. 

And if you’re thinking that writing this much every month is too much, let me tell you that the really successful writers produce much more than this every month, usually double or triple this amount. Writing over 100k words every month might sound like a lot of work, but these writers don’t find it hard at all. In fact they love what they do which is probably why they’re so prolific.

So if you love to write, take the 50K a month challenge and see the difference it makes. 

Start with The Monthly Challenge Writing Series - 4 ebooks that guide you through 4 months of writing and earning money.

Are you up for the challenge?

Book 1 - Quick Cash Freelance Writing
https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCWS1.html

Book 2 - Build a Lucrative Niche Website - In A Month
https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCWS2.html

Book 3 - Fast & Profitable Article Writing
https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCWS3.html

Book 4 - The One Month Author: How to Write a Book Faster & Better

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCWS4.html