Get off-line and Get a life

If there's one thing that annoys me every time I walk along a street, it's people walking towards me while staring at their phones. They're not even looking where they're going, and they have no idea I'm even there. So I wait until they're within a few steps of walking straight into me, and I yell," Look out!"

It's funny to see how much they jump, but it's also annoying that they are so inconsiderate (and stupid). 

A few days ago, I was in the food court at a local shopping mall, and there was a young woman at the next table, staring constantly at her phone. She wouldn't take her eyes off it for even a second. Sadly, she had her young daughter with her, who was desperately trying to get her mother's attention, even standing by her side, hugging her arm, and talking to her. But the woman ignored the child completely. It was as though she'd forgotten she even had a child. It was sad to watch.

But it's not just phones that people are addicted to. It's tablets and computers as well. This technology, originally designed to save us time, now seems to take up all our time. If we let it.

The truth is that phones, tablets and computers are mostly used as a distraction, because while we're "busy" online, we ignore everything else. And I'm not much different from most people. Once I start searching online, I can easily get lost down a rabbit hole and end up looking at things not even remotely connected to what I was originally searching for.

To stop myself from doing this (because it can happen often), I began doing what I call a Digital Detox. When I want to look at social media, I do a timed session for 25 minutes maximum. I've set 25-minute screen allowances on my phone and computer settings. I also take breaks from social media and news for a week or two at a time, because these sites can end up being depressing.

Entrepreneur Derek Sivers says he is now offline 23 hours a day, which he says improves his productivity as well as his mental clarity. https://sive.rs/off23 

I've also recently read about the benefits of being offline for most of the day, and I agree with them all, including Reclaiming Time, Mindfulness, Enhanced Physical Health, Increased Productivity and Focus, and Stronger Relationships.

I now spend most of my time disconnected from the internet, and it feels good. I sleep better, I can think more clearly, I'm (a little) less anxious, and I have more time every day.

I'm also much more creative when my mind is free to think. There may be a lot of ideas that can be found online, but they're not good ones, so I don't need to look up everything.

At the moment, I'm experimenting with only being online 2 hours a day max. A one-hour block of time in the morning and a one-hour block in the afternoon. And no internet whatsoever in the evening.

Being so limited with my online time not only keeps me focused while I'm online, but also keeps me focused when I'm offline because I can't look for answers, so it makes me think for myself more.

And I find I make better decisions.

Prioritise or Die

Do you know what your priorities are?

Does what you say you want correspond with what you do on a regular basis? 

If it doesn't, then you may feel as though you "die" a little inside every time you don't do what you always say you want to do. Or you may feel like you "die" a little inside every time you feel bad for not doing what you really want to do.

Author and self-help guru James Arthur Ray says you can tell what your priorities are by looking at the five things you do the most every day. 

For instance, you may say that writing is important to you, yet you do little or no writing, yet spend five hours a day watching TV or playing computer games, so clearly those things are your priorities. Or you might spend more time on social media than on putting pen to paper.

I believe that sometimes the hardest person to be honest with is ourselves.

So how about you? What is it that you really want to be spending time doing every day? Being completely honest with yourself is the only way to truly understand what you want out of life. Be true to yourself, not to what you think others want you to do.

Knowing what you want means first knowing what interests you, because if you have no interest in what you do, you won't do it.

And don't forget that priorities can and do change. When my kids were young, they were my main priority. Now that they're adults and can look after themselves, they're much further down the list.

These days, my list of priorities looks more like this:

My Home – I always take care of where I live.

My marriage – My husband, Dean, and I spend most of our time together.

My Writing – I write almost every day, sometimes for a short while, other days for hours.

My Health – I get plenty of exercise, and all my meals are home-cooked. Eating out and takeaways hold little to no interest for me.

My Crafts – I'm always productive, and even when I'm just watching TV, I'm knitting or sewing or doing something else at the same time. Home cooking is also my hobby.

These are the five things I spend my time on daily. 

They are my priorities, and each interests me greatly.

Mission Critical For Life
Start Living Life On Your Terms By Pursuing Your True Life Mission
https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html 

An Extra Benefit From a Daily Writing Schedule

 No doubt you're aware that I've been talking a lot lately about having a daily writing schedule and sticking to it.

Schedules are great because you don't have to wonder when you'll sit down to write, since it's already there in your schedule.

But there's also another reason why having a schedule is important.

A schedule lets you know when you can shut down for the day.

It's one thing to know when to start writing. It's another thing to know when to stop.

I know that I can get a lot of writing done in just two hours a day. But sometimes when I'm in the flow, I can write for hours.

Some days, I sit down and write thousands of words in my two allotted hours. On other days, I'm restless, so I don't write as much. But that's OK as long as I sit at my writing desk for the full two hours without distractions, because being forced to sit there gives me time to think, and that's when ideas come. 

Thinking creatively is also working, even if I look like I'm staring into space doing nothing.

Being creative is a lot more than getting words down on paper (although that IS the goal), it's about giving ourselves time to think.

And to also know when to stop working.

And scheduling just two hours a day means I know when to start, how long to keep going, and when I can stop if I want to.

But I don't always want to.

Stop Procrastinating 
And Take Back Control Of Your Life

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/sp.html

83 Free-to-Enter Writing Contests in March 2026

If you enjoy entering writing contests, you'll like this.

This is an amazing list of writing contests that are free to enter, and all have deadlines next month, so you might have to be quick to enter some of them.

There are more than six dozen free writing contests on this list for short fiction, novels, poetry, creative nonfiction, nonfiction, and plays. 

The prizes range from $100,000 to publication. And don't forget, it costs nothing to enter.

Some of these contests have age, geographical, and other restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.

Start writing today, and good luck.

https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/2026/02/76-writing-contests-in-march-2026-no.html

Work Like The Duffers

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for Netflix for one month so I could re-watch the first 4 seasons of Stranger Things and then watch the final 5ᵗʰ season, which had just finished airing on TV.

It was quite the binge-fest, which was good because Stranger Things is one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Luckily, there was also a follow-up 2- hour documentary called" One More Adventure" which was all about the making of season 5, and it was fascinating to watch.

Stranger Things was created, written and produced by the Duffer brothers, Matt and Ross. The brothers were extremely hands-on in every aspect of making Stranger Things.

One of the many things I found interesting in the documentary was that they had stand-ins for every main actor, and they would run through every scene repeatedly with the look-alike stand-ins, going over and over every small detail until they got it perfect. Then they'd bring in the main actors and show them the footage of exactly what they had to do, where they had to stand and which direction they wanted them to look in. And thanks to all the previous work with the stand-ins, the crew had all the lighting and camera angles prepared.

As I watched it, I thought about what a great idea it was to do all the preparation beforehand because sometimes they realised that what they'd written in the script didn't work in actual execution, so they had to change things on the go.

And I realised that it's the same when I outline a book before writing it. I begin with my ideas (script) and then flesh them out into an outline. And this is where I find out if something is missing, or the order of things doesn't make sense, or if there's something that I've left out.

When I'm writing a short story, it's fun to 'pants' it without an outline, and even if it goes wrong, I don't have to go back far to fix it.

But when I'm working on a book, it's a project that's too big for errors, and I don't want to get it wrong or leave something out.

I prefer to work like the Duffers on big projects and get everything in place before the final 'take.'

Not only is it helpful, but it makes the actual writing a lot more fun.

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

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

My 2026 Writing Plans Update

A couple of weeks ago, I told you that I had plans for what I would be doing this year, and that I’d let you know how it was going.

I got my ideas for my 12-month plans from a book I read called “The 12 Week Year.”

The book is about having 12-month goals and breaking them down to 12-week goals for a shorter deadline.

At first it seemed impossible because it means reducing what you do in one month down to one week, and reducing what you plan to do in one week down to one day.

The first thing that came to my mind was that most people don’t even make New Year plans that way (and I’m just as guilty). People have goals of what they want to achieve over the next twelve months, but they don’t break them down into the steps they need to take on a monthly/weekly basis. They just say that they’re going to do something, then go at it like fury for a few weeks (or less) and then forget about it. Or they say all year that they’re going to do it, but they don’t start until they realise that December isn’t all that far away anymore.

In contrast, The 12-Week Year tells you to write down your goal, or goals, and then work out a timeline for how you are going to achieve it.

So, for instance, you might say that you want to lose weight. You set a target of losing 12 kilos, which means that you need to lose one kilo every month. But if you break it down into 12 weeks instead of 12 months, it means you need to lose a kilo a week, because a month becomes a week.

Losing a kilo a month would be easy because all you’d have to do is cut back on desserts, drink less alcohol and maybe drink more water instead of sugary drinks.

But losing that much weight in a week would mean more changes. So you might also reduce your portion size at meal times, change what you eat to reduce fat in your diet, and maybe go for a walk every day. Those are the things that I would do.

You might also have a goal to write a 100,000-word novel in 12 months, which would mean writing around 400 words a day, five days a week, for 50 weeks, plus 2 weeks to proof and edit.

But when you reduce it to just 12 weeks, it means writing 10,000 words a week for 10 weeks, plus 2 weeks for proofing and editing. And when you break it down even further, writing 10,000words a week and working 5 days a week means writing 2,000 words a day.

The question then is, are both these things doable at the same time?

The answer is yes, absolutely, they are.

I made two 12-week plans. One to lose weight and one to write a novel.

I wrote out my plan by the month, week and day, and while it seemed like a lot, it’s extremely doable. And both are so good for me in many ways. By changing my diet, I’m eating less and eating better, and my meals are smaller and mostly grains and vegetables. I’ve cut out snacking in the evenings and started eating fruit instead of sugary snacks and desserts. I’ve also cut back to drinking almost zero sugary soft drinks, and I’ve been drinking soda water with a slice of lime in it instead, and herbal teas. Not only is all this helping me to lose weight and stick to my weekly weight-loss goal, but I feel better, I don’t feel full all the time (which was awful), and I’m saving money.

Sticking to my daily writing meant creating a schedule and sticking to it, which I’ve done with only one or two slip-ups. Writing regularly every day on my novel is mentally good for me too because I get lost in what I’m writing, which is always a nice break for my crazy monkey mind, and the short deadline of only 12 weeks helps me to stay on track and on target.

The 12 Week Year is a book I’d recommend for anyone who wants to achieve more than they’ve ever done before. And because goals are achieved in just 12 weeks, it can be repeated three more times in a year, so you can quadruple your output.

Not only that, but at the end of each 12 weeks, there’s a week off to rest and plan your next 12-week goals, because there are 4 x 13-week periods in a year, so that means 12 weeks of focused work, then one week off, and then repeat.

I find that tight deadlines are easier to stick to because they don’t leave room for procrastination or wasting time with distractions.

It says in the book that successful people don’t achieve more because they know more, but because they execute better than their competition.

I’m finding that consistent execution substantially increases my results, not because I’m working harder, but because I’m focusing on the activities that matter the most. The tight 12-week deadline is helping me to work faster and with more focus, and helps me maintain a sense of urgency to get things done.

Working this way felt (a lot) uncomfortable at first because it’s not how I usually work, but I figured that nothing great is ever achieved by staying in our comfort zones.

And best of all, I’m ahead of schedule on my novel and on my weight loss (not that I have much weight to lose). Writing a book isn’t a huge task, but I have a definite deadline, and I also have other writing projects to complete simultaneously. So far, I’m managing it all.

I’m thinking of this as a 12-Week Challenge. And I do enjoy a challenge. I’ve also devised a few household tasks to complete within the 12 weeks, so it’s been ‘game on’ for the last few weeks.

But as I’d gotten completely out of whack with my writing over the last few months, this 12 Week Year was exactly what I needed to get me going again.

And I’m loving it.

Achieving More Without Goals

"Writers don't need more goals, they need better habits."

~ Patty Robinson

I'm always looking for ways to get more done, but I also don't want to work longer or harder. In my search for answers, one thing I did learn was not to plan any goals.

Don’t get me wrong, goals are great, and I always have plenty of them. Currently, my goals are to lose 6 kilos (approx 14lb or 1 stone) in 12 weeks (which I began 6 weeks ago and I’m 3.1kg down, so I’m on track), to finish my latest novel in the next 6 weeks, and to finish making curtains and roman blinds for our new house in the next 6 weeks.

All these things are doable because I'm not pushing myself too hard to reach these goals. And the reason I'm not pushing too hard is that I planned a process to follow to reach my goals. This means that once I know the process, I no longer need to remember the goal.

Goals are great because they provide direction for where I want to be. But I don't plan the goals. I plan a short-term process to get there because a short-term process leads to long-term results.

I don't think about my goal to write a book, I plan to write every day.

I don't think about my goal to lose 6kg, I'm following a 1,000-calorie, high-fibre diet every day, with a weekly weight loss of 0.5 kilos.

 I don’t think about my goal to have the curtains and blinds finished in 6 weeks. I worked out the steps involved in working on them each week, and now I’m following the steps.

Once I have my processes mapped out, all I need to know is what I'm doing each day or week, so it's easy to follow, and it’s way less stressful than trying to aim straight at the goals. I forget about the goals and just concentrate on what I have to do each day.

I find that keeping things simple by focusing on a daily process means I can enjoy the present moment. I don’t have to think about my goal. I just have to follow my daily processes and hit my weekly targets. 

One of the important things about working this way is that my goals are short-term, so I don’t have to dedicate the rest of my life to them. I just think of what I want to do, give myself a doable deadline, plan out the steps to get there, then live in the moment and work my way through the steps, week by week, day by day, for the time allotted.

And with my processes in place, I know that what I’m doing each day and week means that my curtains and blinds will soon be finished and hanging at the windows, I’ll be 6 kilos lighter by the end of next month, and my book will be written and ready for publishing.

And my daily writing habit is something that will continue long after the book is written.

 

Making Writing Plans Over the Christmas Holidays

As the famous ex-Beetle, John Lennon, once sang, “So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun.”

This is now the time of year when we reflect on what we've achieved, or not, over the last 12 months, and make plans for what we're going to achieve in the next 12 months.

But that's not true, is it? It’s not what we do. It’s only what we THINK we do.

We don't PLAN what we're going to do. We only SAY what we're going to do, with no actual “plan” to make it happen.

But what if you did have a plan? A month-by-month, week-by-week, day-by-day plan for everything you want to achieve, whether it's saving money, losing weight, or doing more writing, or all three?

The best way to plan something, especially a long-term plan, is to write it down.

Write down what you want to achieve and then create a timeline of what you need to do every month, then every week and every day, to get there.

For the plan to work, your goals need to be specific. So, for example, using the previous three goals mentioned, you'd have to say exactly how much money you want to have in savings, exactly how much weight you want to lose, and how many words you want to write and what you'll be writing.

Then you need to figure out exactly how you're going to do it all.

I've been working on my plan over the last couple of weeks, and I found it unexpectedly enlightening as to how to actually execute what I want to do.

And the most amazing (and positive) thing was that when I broke it all down into smaller monthly, weekly and daily goals, it's not as big as I thought it was when I was looking at it as a 12-month goal.

For instance, if I wanted to write half a million words in a year, that breaks down to only an hour a day of writing. And if I wanted to save $10,000, I would only have to cut back my spending by $192 a week, which is achievable through simple things like careful grocery spending, making fewer car trips, and avoiding purchases that are only wants and not needs. But these are not my goals, but just an example.

With my actual plan already in place (and I've already started working on my plan), I know that I'll achieve my goals because I’m working on them daily, but I won't tell you what they are yet, because I don't want to jinx it. But knowing what I have to do in the short-term (monthly/weekly/daily) makes the plan remarkably easy to follow. And leaves no room for excuses.

But for now, I will tell you that by following my plan, I’ll be eating better and writing a hell of a lot more.

Click the link below to see where I got my ideas from, and read more about how to create a plan for your own 12-month goals.

The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months

Audio book:

https://amzn.to/4rFPOh0

Paperback:

https://amzn.to/4iB78Qi

My Muse Went on Vacation Without Me (An Update on My Writing)

I have a confession to make, but you’ve probably already noticed the problem.

My confession is that over the last few weeks/months, I’ve become really slack about keeping up with my writing. I haven’t even blogged here for over a month.

Naturally, I have plenty of excuses.

First off, you may remember that Dean and I spent weeks renovating our new house. During that time, we had issues with the tradies not doing the kitchen and bathroom correctly.  After the completion, we spent weeks arguing with them to get them to come back and fix what they did wrong, and to remove items from the final bill for the things that they charged incorrectly.

And if that wasn’t enough, when we left the rental house we were living in during the renovations, we struggled for three months to have our security bond returned to us. We finally had to issue a complaint with the Queensland Ombudsman, and guess what? We received the money a day later. 

And during this time, I also had a painful left arm that left me unable to do much. It turned out that I had several pinched nerves in my neck. I had injections to fix it, and now (so far) I’m back to normal physically, and the stress over the constant emails, form filling, phone calls, and letters has ceased now too.

So all in all, the last three months have had their challenges, including the weather, which is hot and humid, and we’ve had plenty of storms (summer here is in December, January & February).

But now I feel like my life is back to normal with no more fights over money, no stress, and no physical pain. So you should be hearing more from me from now on, and I’ll be back in my writing chair every day.

One good thing is that during this time of turbulence, I’ve sold many books. My most recent statement came a few days ago, and I’m assuming the large increase in book sales is due to the time of year.

But I wouldn’t have sold a lot of books if I hadn’t written them all. And now that it will soon be the New Year, it’s time to make plans for how much writing I’ll be doing in the next twelve months.

I’ve been reading about writing plans (and planning for other things in life too) and how to make a 12-month plan not only doable, but also how to stay on track and on target all year. 

I’ve already made my plan and got started on it, because I thought, Why wait? 

And soon I’ll tell you how it’s working, how much I’ve achieved and how you can do it too.

My Writing Failures 2025

  

 It's November, so we're heading towards the end of the year.

    Last January I had great hopes for all that I was going to achieve with my writing, but I've had a few failures as well as a few wins.

    So let's unpack it and see what happened.

    I planned to write and publish 3 novels. I only managed two. I was also going to write and publish more blog posts and articles, and a few ebooks, but I haven't managed all that either. Why?

    Well, late last year, we had to sell our home and move into a rental house until we could find a house to buy.

    Then in December, we'd booked a one-month holiday in a house in the country, thinking it was a place to relax and get plenty of writing done. Instead, we fled from there after only 9 days because the place was a filthy tip and the garden was so overgrown it wasn't usable. Plus, there was a rooster on the property that woke us up at first light every morning with its loud crowing.

    We then spent the next few months house hunting, which was so time-consuming.

    Eventually, we found a house, but we had to spend 2 months renovating it, which meant spending 12 hours a day working on the new house, plus taking one day off a week to do  "normal" things like cooking, shopping, cleaning and laundry. As you can imagine, we were exhausted.

    But even though we moved in two months ago, the work on the new house isn't over. I've spent every weekend making curtains, and I have 2 roman blinds to make too. I’ve also been doing some cleaning on the outside of the house.

    Plus, we've had to adapt to living in a new suburb, which includes finding our way around locally, settling into a new routine in our new home and getting to know our new neighbours.

    Thankfully, our lives are becoming more normal again now, and I've even organised the cupboards so that I know where everything is. And there were all the other disruptions, like attending dozens of open homes, eating up all our chilled and frozen food to empty the fridge freezer before it was moved, all the trips to the DIY store to keep restocking the building materials we needed, choosing and organising flooring and carpets to be fitted, and organising the removalists. Then we had to go back to the rental property to do a final clean and mow the lawn.

    We also had 'fun' things to do, like dealing with lawyers and all the forms to fill out, pages and pages of legal jargon to read through, and other legalities of buying a new home.

    As you can imagine, all this was not only time-consuming but also an extreme distraction to my life and my writing routine. But I did write and publish 2 novels, and sold many books too. So despite my low achievements, I still had an income, and I have a beautiful house to live in.

    The good news is that I'm never moving again-NEVER!

    Even if the house falls down or this turns out to be the worst neighbourhood ever-

    I'm going nowhere.

    The Big Question

    The question now, though, is what am I going to change to make next year more successful?

    Right now, I don’t know, but what I do know is that it won’t be disrupted by moving or house hunting or 12-hour days doing house renovations, so I know that I’ll get so much more writing done than I did this year.

    But I am going to give it a lot of thought between now and the end of the year. I’ve already started making a few plans, but I have several more weeks to finalise exactly what I  want to be working on next year.

    I do know one thing for sure about what I’m going to be doing.

    I’m going to stay home and write most of the time.

    It's my mission, after all.

 MISSION CRITICAL FOR LIFE

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html

Is Being Straight and White a Disadvantage for a Freelance Writer?

I never give much thought to people being of different races. Racism holds no interest to me. We are all just people. I never give much thought to gay people either. It matters not to me who someone sleeps with.

 But it seems that being straight and white may be a disadvantage when it comes to publishing and freelance writing. And I’ll explain why.

I’m always on the lookout for high-paying freelance writing opportunities. And more and more I’ve been coming across submission guidelines that say things like “We like to publish authors from diverse backgrounds.” And that got me wondering what exactly that means?

Just this week I came across an interesting freelance open submission window that said the company was, "committed to uplifting voices from all walks of life. We actively welcome submissions from writers of every race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, religion, and cultural background. This includes — but is not limited to — BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled/neurodivergent writers, immigrant authors, and those from historically marginalized or underrepresented communities.” Does this mean they have a preference for submissions from a gay person over a straight person? Or a young person over an older person? Or a black person over a white person?

A few months ago, a writer named Aaron Barry, experimented with his submissions. He first tried submitting his work in his own identity, a straight white man, and only had modest success. He then began submitting his work under several different “marginal” identities and had great success. His work was even published in acclaimed literary journals.

And, most importantly, he admits that the work he submitted (and was successful with) was just nonsensical gibberish.

For instance, one of his poems included gibberish like “voodoo prak tik casta oyal drip drip.” Another poem, that he titled Shakespeare’s Cmslt, opens with: “To ?️ or not to ?️ William Shakespeare’s ??? little cmslt ???: that is the question.”

The website that published the article about Aaron’s experiment said that it was interesting that “few questioned the authenticity of the work, until the author’s race and gender were revealed.”

Many other publications have commented on Aaron’s experiment as to whether publishers who claim to be “inclusive” by wanting to promote so-called marginal writers, do value a writer’s identity much more than their work. And do writers from “underrepresented” categories get preferential treatment over straight, white writers? They conclude that they don’t think so. But they don’t know.

Personally, I don’t submit to publications that say they are “committed to” or  “actively welcome” submissions from certain groups of writers. I believe that my work should be judged on merit and not on who I sleep with or the colour of my skin or whether or not I’m physically or mentally disabled, or my religion. I prefer to keep politics out of the art of writing.

But you can be the judge of your own work.

And if you think this is all controversial, well, you’re probably right.

But I have never understood why a publisher needs to know the colour of my skin, or my partner preferences, or my religion. None of that has anything to do with my writing and whether or not it’s suitable for their publication.

Unless, of course, the publication is aimed at a certain group of people. 

But the publications I'm talking about, are not.

Free Ebooks

All these ebooks are free to download straight to your computer. 

PDF or ePub.

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/free-ebooks.html

Ideas Just Keep on Coming

Sometimes it's a problem if you want to write, but you just have no idea what to write about.

I find that using prompts is the easiest way to get started. I use online word generators to get three nouns, and then I start writing, even though I have no idea where I'm going. All I know is that I have to use all three words in the first paragraph, and then it all somehow flows from there, and ideas just keep coming.

That's how I wrote my latest novel, Jackolantern. I wanted to write a short story, so I used a random word generator to get my three nouns, and one of them was the word pumpkin.

As I started to write, ideas started popping up like crazy, and when I finished the short story, I realised that it would make a great book. So I set to work on an extensive outline and added loads more creepy action until I had a brilliant outline for a novel.

And because the whole story is centred around a pumpkin, I called it Jackolantern.

The obvious problem with the story being about a pumpkin is that it's an inanimate object, so it can't move or do anything

But when it keeps appearing on the main character's front porch, he naturally thinks that someone is putting it there to annoy him because he hates Halloween. Eventually he wonders if the pumpkin is alive because no matter how many times, or no matter in how many different ways he gets rid of it, it keeps coming back, and its face is looking furious.

I had fun writing this story and inventing so many ways for him to destroy the pumpkin, only to find it back on his porch again, looking more battered and more angry than before.

 At first he is annoyed by it, but eventually, he's frightened of it and feels like he's losing his mind. Then he discovers what is really happening and he’s terrified.

This was definitely one of my favourite stories to write because the ideas just kept coming and coming.

Plus, Halloween is a dark and scary time, which is why there are so many horror stories and horror movies about it.

And, as I discovered, it's fun to write about.

 Jackolantern

Campfire Stories Book Two

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/jackolantern.html

It's OK to Hate. It Makes Great Horror Stories

I think all horror stories are based on a dislike of something.

I always used to admonish my kids if they said they hated something (or someone). I'd say," Don't say hate. It's a strong word." I always think that the word 'hate' is dark and threatening.

But boy does it make a great horror story. 

In Stephen King's The Shining, the main character hated being an alcoholic and was looking for a place to escape to avoid alcohol.

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the main character hated the belief that only God could create humans and tried to make one himself. 

In Iain Reid's psychological horror novel, I'm Thinking of Ending Things (which was made into a Netflix movie in 2020), the main character, Jake, hates his regret-filled and lonely life, so he invents a new one in his mind and plays it out.

In my latest book, Jackolantern, I can easily relate to the main character's hate of Halloween because I dislike all the made-up celebrations that are forced upon us, including Christmas. Most of them are based on fake reasons anyway. 

For instance, take Valentine's Day. It’s originally based on a Christian feast day honouring a martyr named Saint Valentine. 

Or Mother's Day. It originally meant the Mother Church and was a day that families could get together and visit the church where they were baptised or their local church. Hence the term 'Mothering Sunday' because Sunday is the day that Christians attend church.

The modern version of Mother's Day also spawned Father's Day and then Grandparents Day, meaning people have to buy more and more gifts.

All holiday celebrations are now geared towards commercialism and have lost their traditional meaning, including Halloween.

So I can relate 100% with my main character who hates Halloween and doesn't want to have anything to do with it, and is annoyed when he keeps finding a carved pumpkin on his front porch. 

I know that I'm not the only one who doesn't like Halloween. There are millions of others. 

The big problem with Halloween, as opposed to all the other occasions, is that kids going door to door trick-or-treating gives people no privacy in their own homes and little chance to avoid something they want no part of.

On the plus side, this misery that is inflicted on those who dislike Halloween is done by people in scary masks and costumes, which makes for a great horror story.

And my Jackolantern Halloween horror story is unique.

Jackolantern

Campfire Stories Book Two

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/jackolantern.html

Why Jackolantern Isn't Misspelled

My latest novel, Jackolantern, was published last month. I enjoyed writing it and was pleased with the cover design and how the book looked.

But when my daughter saw it, she looked at the cover and said, " You've spelled Jackolantern wrong."

That was it. No congratulations, the book looks great, just a brief comment about what she thought was a wrongly spelled word. Of course, she was wrong. I hadn't misspelt anything-especially not my novel's title. Why? Because it's my book, so I can spell anything anyway I want.

The story is about a jackolantern, but all the way through the book I refer to it as" the pumpkin; '' so the spelling of the title is irrelevant.

Jackolantern is the story of a man who hates Halloween. One day he arrives home from work to find a carved pumpkin on his front porch. He thinks one of his neighbours put it there as a sick joke because they all know he doesn't like Halloween, and he always sneers at their Halloween decorations in their gardens.

He throws the pumpkin in the bin, but it keeps returning, and each time it looks angrier.. He soon realises it's not a joke. The reason the pumpkin keeps returning is much more sinister and evil.

And that, in a nutshell, is the story of my book, Jackolantern, and the freedom of writing fiction gives me the freedom to spell words anyway I please.

And, the way I see it, spelling something differently makes my title. stand out and might intrigue more readers.

Because, as the saying goes, why fit in when you can stand out?

It's not too late to grab a copy of Jackolantern before Halloween. Or buy a copy anytime.

Because a Jackolantern is for life, not just for Halloween.

Jackolantern

Campfire Stories Book Two

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/jackolantern.html 

How To Stay Motivated and Write More

Sitting alone in a room and writing for hours can sometimes feel hard, because being a writer is so different to how others earn a living.

Writers don't have to get up at a certain time and don't even have to leave the house to travel to work. We just sit and write, which is why it sometimes feels hard, and why motivation can sometimes feel like it's lacking.

So, what is motivation, and how can you have more of it?

The word 'motivate' has the word 'motive' built right into it, which is why you need a good reason to do what you're doing.

I find that sometimes I lack motivation to write because I have no set deadline to finish what I'm working on, and no one will know if I've done my writing or not. That's why I always schedule my time so that I can sit down at a designated time and start writing.

Naturally, it's not as easy as it sounds, and many different things get in my way and try and stop me.

Just the other day, I promised myself that I'd sit down and write at 9 a.m. But I got distracted reading an article, and when I looked up, it was way past 9 o’clock, and I was angry at myself for getting distracted. But clearly, having a writing schedule doesn't always work.

It can be that the lack of motivation comes from a goal not being important enough to stick to. 

I found that the best way to stay motivated is to have a clear goal of what I want to achieve, and then I map out a plan of how I'm going to achieve it. Then all I need to do is stick to my plan. But the goal has to be important, otherwise, why would I care? These are the 3 things I need to stay motivated:

- A goal that's worth reaching 

- An action plan to get me there 

- A deadline

I think that the most important of these is a deadline. And this doesn't just apply to writing. 

As an example, when we were recently refurbishing the house we have now moved into, we knew what we wanted to do, but we didn't give ourselves a deadline. After a few weeks, we were sitting discussing what we still had to do and how long we thought it would take. We wanted to get out of the house we were renting as soon as we could because it was costing us nearly $600 a week to live there.

So we set a deadline for the end of the month, ev
en though the timing was a bit tight. 

Then we gave notice on our rental property, organised a removal company, organised the flooring and carpets to be installed 2 days before that, then we told the tradies who were putting in a new bathroom and kitchen that they had to be done before the new flooring went in. Not only did this deadline make us work faster (and longer hours at 12 hours a day), but it also mustered the tradies who were mostly not even turning up every day. Without a deadline, it might have dragged on for weeks.

And it's the same with my writing. If I have a deadline to meet, I get the work done no matter what. And I also need a goal and a plan to get there.

Once I know what I have to do, I have to make sure I stick to it the best I can. Every time I have a plan of what I want to do, life has an ugly habit of throwing as many obstacles in my way as it can, which often makes me want to quit.

But then I think to myself that the time is going to pass anyway. The only question is, how am I going to use it?

With the right motivation, I know I can achieve anything.

Why are Writers not like Other People?

One of the baffling things that I find about being a writer is that no one respects what I do. And it gets worse than that. Sometimes I don't seem to respect what I do either.

Let me explain what I mean by both these things.

People don't respect what I do for a living at all, which is probably because they don't understand what I do on a day-to-day basis. Non-writers don't seem to understand how writers work, which is probably because we sit alone for hours and don't talk to anyone.

If I went to an office every day and spent most of the day writing and typing, they'd understand. But because I sit alone at home and do that instead, it seems incomprehensible to most people.

Writers are never seen as noble as the man who comes to fix your oven, or a person who works on a construction site, or even the people who work in the cabins on a construction site.

Nope. If we don't physically go out to work every day, no one seems to respect what we do.

I find it strange because these same people will read a great book and admire the author, yet if they saw the author writing at home, they'd say it doesn't look like real work.

So how do you get respect from those you know for what you do?

You don't. It's impossible to convince others that you’re a hard worker and that what you do has merit if you're a writer working from home. Those you know you won't respect or understand what you do.

But they don't have to, so don't share.

It doesn't matter what anyone thinks about you being a writer. I’ve been earning all my income from my writing for over 20 years, and my friends and family still don't want to talk about it with me. Even if I bring it up, they change the subject.

My latest novel, Jackolantern, was published four weeks ago, in time for Halloween. It's selling steadily, and I even pre-sold quite a few copies before the publishing date because people were eager to read it. But my friends and family don't even know I wrote it, let alone that it's published and plenty of people are buying it ready for Halloween.

And they'll probably never know. So let them not know.

I enjoy what I do,

And that's really all that matters.

Mission Critical For Life

Start Living Life On Your Terms By Pursuing Your True Life Mission

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html

Writing Freely and Hypnotically: Put Your Readers in a Writing 'Trance'

One of my favourite books on writing is Dr Joe Vitale’s "Hypnotic Writing." It's good because it's full of so much useful informa­tion. It's also good because it's written "hypnotically", so once I start reading, I can't stop.

And that is exactly what hypnotic writing is. It's written in such a way that the reader can't stop reading, which is exactly what we want from our writing, isn't it? We want our readers to be drawn quickly and deeply into what we have to say. 

And hypnotic writing is actually easy to do.

In the book, the author says that we have two Inner Writers, so inside all of us we have two inner selves.

Self One is the critic.

Self two is the master writer. 

Self one is a critic who picks on everything we write, so this is the one to ignore (easier said than done).

Self Two is a master writer. The author says, “When you allow the Master Writer to write freely and not be impeded by Writer One, the critic, you can do your most extraordinary writing. This is usually called 'free writing' and it's fun.

3 Steps to Free Writing

Step One. Set a goal of not only what you want to write, but also what you want

to achieve from it:

A sale? 

A Sign up? 

A drama? 

A comedy?

Step Two. Start writing and stay in the moment. Ignore Self One, the critic, and don't let him into your head.

Working this way is what Stephen King calls" the writer's trance." This trance is only possible if you can write without interruption from your inner critic.

Step Three. Trust what you're writing, whether you think it's good or bad. Just allow Self Two, the master writer, to come through completely, and you're writing will be great. If it’s not, it's because you allowed Self One to guide you.

Self Two, the master writer, will always come through if you give him complete freedom to do so.

Just plan what you want to write, then release Self Two. Trust him no matter what, and he will come through for you. 

I believe this 100% because my best writing is when I'm free writing.

" There is no great writing, only great rewriting."

    ~ EB white.

Write first and edit later. 

Hypnotic writing helps in the editing stage when you make improvements and make it all perfect so that your writing really works for you. You may even need to tidy up only a few sentences.

If you haven't tried it before, do it right now. Plan and then free write for just ten minutes. Release your creative master writer and silence your inner critic.

Just keep writing and see how hypnotic your writing really can be.

Hypnotic Writing: How to Seduce and Persuade Customers with Only Your Words
https://amzn.to/3ID9dO3

Doing The Math of Daily Word Counts

I was reading an online discussion recently between a group of so-called writers about how difficult it is to find time to write.

I called them 'so-called' writers because they all blamed a lack of time every day for their lack of writing. Hence, the term 'so-called.'

Not having enough time to write is a common grievance for many writers who want to write more, but they say there aren't enough hours in a day.

I say that's nonsense. Twenty-four hours a day is more than enough time to write.

Back when National Novel Writing Month was a thing, most people found it difficult to write a 50,000-word novel in a month.

I tried it two years in a row (a long time ago) and it's how I wrote my first novel, Playing For Real, which is still selling today.

Being my first novel, it was a bit of a shock to write so many words in such a short time, but my novel worked out to over 70,000 words. To be able to finish the first draft in a month, I had a detailed outline ready so that all I had to do was write, write, write

I also broke down the math of how many words I needed to write every day, and the following is the math of the daily word count to write a novel in a month.

It's well-known that many writers only write for 2 hours a day. So I figured on aiming for that.

Most writers average writing 1,000 words an hour, so 2 hours of writing is 2,000 words a day. For me, that was 10 A4 pages of writing.

- 2,000 words a day for 30 days is 60,000 words

- 2,000 words a day for 20 days ( 5 days a week for 4 weeks = weekends off) is 40,000 words

So I figured that if I wrote my novel in 2 hours a day for 20 days, it wouldn't add up to 50,000 words. But I'd probably write faster as I went along, so even if I didn't write on the weekends (I had a job and family obligations back then), I could still make the 50,000-word goal.

And I managed to write 20,000 words more than the expected 50,000. 

Now I'm not saying that everyone can write 50,000 words every month, but everyone can try. And as we know from experience, whatever we do regularly and consistently becomes faster and easier. 

And it's the same with writing. Working just 2 hours a day means you could start producing between 50k and 100k words a month. You may not be able to write that much every month, but imagine how great it will feel during the months that you do.

The math says it's possible, so all you (and I) need to do is make it happen.

The 12 Month Writing Challenge
Write and Publish 12 Books in a Year
https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/12MTH.html 

Copying Other Writers

 I’ve always loved to read about how other writers work. Not how they write, but how they structure their time. I can’t even say why this subject fascinates me, but it always does.

I used to subscribe to a UK writing magazine (I think it was called ‘Writing Magazine’), and it had an ongoing series called “My Writing Day.”

The series was interviews with successful writers about their lives and how they structured their writing time.

Some writers wrote every day, while others wrote in writing sprints for a day or two or a week or more, and they talked about what time of day they wrote and where they wrote. I always found it so interesting.

But I did notice that the way they described their lives sounded somewhat simple and predictable, making it easy to fit in plenty of time to write.

My life always seems somewhat chaotic with unexpected things happening all the time, no matter how much I try to plan and schedule my days.

But I do learn a lot by reading about how other writers work. One thing I did learn was to not try and be like any of them. We all have to do things our own way.

What else I’ve learned over time is:

- Not to try and force things to happen, just let them happen, and they will. 

- To know how I feel about things in my life. 

- To only do things that are fun.

Fun doesn’t mean only leisure activities. It can be renovating a house, working in the garden, or even cleaning the car. I love the satisfaction I get from working on big projects, so it makes them fun to do.

And this carries over into my writing. I only want to write things I love to write about. This makes it fun, keeps up my enthusiasm to do it, and makes my writing more authentic.

If you pay attention to what you love doing, it’s easy to love your life, be your authentic self, and enjoy what you do.

Mission Critical For Life

The 10 timeless lessons in this little book will help you to go from social awkward to extremely confident and help you gain more acceptance, more peace of mind and more money than you ever thought possible.

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html

When Life Gets in the Way: My Writing Slump During a Big Move

I haven't written here for several weeks now. But it's not just here on my blog. I haven't done any writing at all for the last few weeks.

As I said recently, Dean and I have been refurbishing a house ready for moving in.

Naturally, as with everything in life, it took longer than expected. It was compounded by the problem of the company supplying our new kitchen and bathroom being weeks behind schedule, plus they made many mistakes that they had to come and correct, like the oven being installed crookedly, one kitchen cupboard door hanging down off its hinges, and installing the wrong kitchen sink tap. But in the end, we managed to move in, after spending twelve-hour days here doing most of the work ourselves.

It was so exhausting getting up early every morning and going to the new house to work straight after breakfast, and not getting home till well after dark. We'd then have showers, have dinner, then fall into bed late, only to get up and do it all again the next day.

So that is why I've been unable to write. Too physically exhausted and feeling brain-dead by the end of the day. But now we've moved in and after two weeks( exactly) we've unpacked everything, shopped for groceries(food stocks were pretty depleted) and regained full use of our aching limbs. Our arms and legs were stiffening up every night from all the physical labour.

One positive thing about being so busy every day was that it gave me plenty of time to think. And I thought about everything:

• My health
• My diet
• My income
• The books I want to write
• Marketing to sell more books
• My blog and how to improve it
• My websites and additions to make
• How to make social media work for me
• Doing more freelance submissions
• Doing more sewing, knitting, and crocheting
• My best hours for writing
• How to schedule my working days better
• And a whole lot more.

I also thought a lot about how much I dislike painting walls and skirting boards, how much I wished that so-called 'professional' cabinet makers could install a kitchen and bathroom correctly, and how much I wanted my normal life back.

Yesterday we took a well-deserved day off and went to the beach. We had lunch in a park, and then I sat and wrote out plans in my notebook for all the things I thought about while we were fixing and decorating our new house. As I sat and wrote, I realised just how much 

I'd missed writing, and I wondered why it was so. Is writing simply something I like to do, or is it an addiction?

I figured that it's not an addiction otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go without doing it for nearly two months.

And it's more than something I just enjoy doing because I can't imagine my life without writing being a part of it.

I think that being a writer is my mission in life. It's a part of who I am. It's not a job I do, it's what I have to do, and I can't imagine retiring from it when I get to old-age pension age.

I guess I'm Mission Critical For Life when it comes to writing. And that's a great way to be.

And if you're interested, here are a couple of before-and-after shots inside our new house.

Old Hallway

New Hallway

Old Living Room

New Living Room