When the S**t Won’t Stop Hitting the Fan

The kind of life I prefer is one without hassles and problems, easy-breezy and cruisey,  and that is how I always try and live. I don’t go out drinking, don’t do drugs, and in fact, I don’t like socialising and avoid it at all costs. And I don’t like having people in my home, especially overnight guests. My food is plain, not fancy.

Yet lately it’s been one difficult situation after another, and this has been going on for over a year. Even something simple like taking an item back to a store because it was faulty turned into having to go to mediation, a local tribunal hearing (which we won but weren’t paid), and then we had to lodge the matter with the magistrate court and began enforcement proceedings against the store owner, when he suddenly had a change of heart and paid us. He also had to pay our costs too so it ended costing him a lot. But how did something so simple like a store refund take months to sort out?

But this is only one example of how things have gone bad repeatedly. We also suffered a sudden death in the family, had other family issues going on, and because of reasons beyond our control we now have to move from the apartment where we live, which again it’s another legal battle over something that should have been an easy fix.

STRESS!

Naturally, dealing with all this has taken it’s toll on me. I feel physically and mentally exhausted, not to mention the hours/days/weeks I’ve spent filling out forms, writing out statements, visiting with our lawyer, sending emails back and forth… it all takes so much time and is exhausting.

To have the time to concentrate on all this, I’ve had to cut back on some things, one of which is my writing. I’ve also started napping a lot, which I think is just to block it all out, but it’s a habit I’m overcoming because I don’t want to sleep my life away.

But, through it all, I’ve also been giving a lot of thought as to the direction I want my writing to take.

I used to write a lot about blogging, marketing, copywriting, and other areas in that same vein of making money from writing, because these are things I’m good at. But then I started to change direction (because I was listening to too many so-called writing ‘experts’) and tried to go more towards subjects about how to write.

With hindsight, I’m annoyed with my own stupidity, because I don’t enjoy writing about how to write. I used to assume that anyone reading my stuff already knew how to write. They just want to earn more and be successful with it. I’ve also taken to doing more fiction writing (again, from listening to too many writing ‘gurus’).

I’ve been wondering for a while now why I’m writing less and less. I used to be actively writing every day but for a while now I’ve been knuckle-dragging my way to my computer and my notebooks every morning. And for a long time now I’ve had no idea why. I even thought that maybe it was an age thing and that the older I get (over 60 now, yikes!) the less I feel like writing. I also thought it might be with all the stuff going on in my life.

After giving it plenty of thought, or at least trying to, but my crazy monkey-mind often struggles to concentrate on one thing at a time, I realised my reluctance is because I’m not enjoying the writing I’m doing. It’s not horrible, it’s just not as much fun so my incentive has been waning. 

The thing is, we’re all different, so what’s good for one person isn’t good for all. How boring would life be if we were all the same? So if one person thrives on writing stories while others love to write non-fiction, that’s okay. It’s the same with my writing. I can’t please everyone because everyone wants different things.

I also used to write in different niches and had several different websites and blogs, and I gave that all away. When the industry changed, I thought I had to change with it. But I don’t. I can do whatever I want. If I’d kept all my websites they’d probably still be doing well.

Over the years I’ve ‘ummed and ahhhed' over whether to keep doing my monthly newsletter. I’ve even stopped and started it up again a few times. But now I’ve decided to let it go once and for all because, although it was an entertaining and informative read, it took a lot of time to put together, not many people were clicking on any of the links, and when I did the math, the time spent wasn’t worth the small income gained.

So I’m going back to what I do best and hopefully it will help a lot of people like it always used to do.

I’ll still write the novels I have planned, but I won’t make fiction writing the main focus of my business any more.

I’ve also organised a writing schedule for myself and it’s the best one ever, because I get more done without needing more time. Super productivity. And being productive makes me happy.

My plan also includes getting back to regular article writing and blogging so you should be hearing more from me soon. And the plan also includes writing useable, interesting and entertaining content.

Maybe I should heed the advice of Eleanor Roosevelt who said:

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

Trying Hard to Get My Emails Set Up

Since I started posting here again regularly, I’ve been trying to automate my emails so that every blog post is emailed to you automatically.

You’d think that in this technological age it would be easy to do. Right? Wrong.

Technology is great when it works, but when it doesn’t it can suck your life away.

Over the last few weeks I’ve spent hours trying to automate my blog posts. I thought it would be easy but it turned out I’ve had to dive into the code to format my blog posts for emailing and to get them to ‘send.’

I know that nothing is ever perfect, but I’m not a coding expert, and I don’t understand PHP which is the type of code that is used to automate the formatting of emails.

I wanted my blog posts to look the same in an email as they do on my blog, but it turned out to be a lot more difficult than I thought.

I’ve spent so much time on my email provider’s website changing code, working with tech support, going though all the documents in their online knowledge base, and trying to sort the issue.

I even wondered if I’d missed a simple fix so I went though it all from the beginning again but I couldn’t find anything that I’d done wrong.

At the moment, I finally think I’ve got it sorted because I don’t want to waste any more time on this, nor do I want to spend my valuable time having to manually set up and email every blog post I write.

But I guess that dealing with issues such as this, is all part of being a writer.

People think that working as a full-time writer is nothing more than sitting down and writing words on a page every day. They don’t see how much work goes into that.

But even so, it’s much more than just writing. It’s spending time doing marketing, writing articles, making book covers, doing blog posts, freelance work, social media marketing, editing, formatting, publishing, coming up with ideas, file curating, reading, learning, and a whole bunch more.

I find that I need a system of working to keep me on track and to make sure I don’t miss any step along the way. Just something as simple as misplacing a file or document on my computer can set me back an hour or more while I look for it.

Plus I also have a personal life which means that I’m usually busy all the time.

So it annoys me when I have to waste so much time trying to do something like automate my emails which, ironically, is supposed to free up my time.

And after all that, I hope these blog posts (and emails) are helping you to write more and earn more.

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”

~ Louis Pasteur

I Forgot to Tell You About This Mackarb Story

Usually, when I write a book, I’m good at marketing it because marketing can often be more important than writing the book in the first place.

But for some reason, and I can’t for the life of me remember why, I didn’t market my latest book at all. I did have it listed on the home page of my website as being available in 2024, but that was the only mention of it online until it went live on the publishing site at the end of March.

So when I received the sales report a few weeks later, I was surprised at how well it was selling. I thought that maybe it was just the sort of horror novel that people are eager to read.

It’s called Mackarb, “A story so frightening that it cannot be told around a campfire near the woods, or worse, in the woods.”

So in an effort to actually start marketing this new novel, here are 3 things you might find interesting about it:

1. It’s the first in a series of 3 horror novels that are collectively called, Campfire Stories. Although it’s a set of 3, each novel is completely independent from the other books.


2. The cover image of scary eyes in the woods (see below), is a photo that I took from my balcony. I looked up at the trees one afternoon, and saw that the orange sunset was shining through like two evil eyes, so I quickly snapped a photo. Photoshop was used to highlight the ‘eyes’ and darken the sky and remove a couple of unwanted things in the foreground (like a telegraph pole), but the photo is mostly as the original. As I was writing Mackarb, I remembered the photo and used it for the cover.


3. Mackarb is the name of the town where the story is set, hence the different spelling of the word, macabre. It took me a while to come up with the name because it’s an important element of the story. It wouldn’t have seemed as sinister if I’d given it a happy name.

My next book in the series is called Jackolantern, and as you can probably guess, will be available for Halloween.

The third book is called Magenta and is about a woman who is engrossed in a novel she’d reading, then realises she’s trapped in it and can’t get out. I used a lot of imagination and creativity to write this one.

Anyway, if you’re interested in this series, Mackarb is available to buy or download from any book store.

Or you can borrow a copy from a library. If your library doesn’t have a copy, fill out a request form for them to purchase a copy.

And then relax and have a good read.

You can find out more about Mackarb here:

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

Great News! I'm Back

I haven't blogged here in a while but the great news is that I will be doing so again, starting right now.

The reason I stopped blogging was because I had taken on too much with writing books, blogging, writing articles for my website, freelance writing, and putting together my writing newsletter every month. 

It was not only a lot of writing, but it meant my mind was jumping from one writing project to the next and trying to remember what I had to do, what I hadn't done, and what to do next. And in between all that I was trying to have a life.

So in the end I let the blog go. And you might be wondering what changed my mind?

Well, I've just finished working on a whole new revamp of my website, and the new site won't have any more articles. Instead, I'll be posting all my articles here on the blog. The links to the old articles are still active but, going forward, all new articles will be here.

You can check out the new-look website at https://ruthiswriting.com. 

Also, I'm no longer going to be compiling and sending out my writing newsletter every month. The reasons for this are several, but mostly because it takes a long time to get all the information together and because it doesn't generate many clicks (interest) from readers. Don't get me wrong, subscribers are clicking on the links in the newsletter (writing news items, free offers, writing markets, etc), but not enough to make it worthwhile, so I can only assume that the information isn't as useful as it could be.

So, long story short, I've decided to ditch the newsletters and spend the time blogging, doing more freelance writing and writing books.

One popular part of the newsletter, it seems, was my opening editorial where I talked about what I'd been doing each month. I even suspect that it's the main reason that people were reading the newsletter, so I decided that it would be just as easy to put the information up here on my blog.

But you don't have to remember to come here to read it. If you're already one of my subscribers,  you'll now automatically receive updates to my blog so that every time I post here, you'll get an email about it, just as you probably received an email about this blog post. If you did, then it's working.

And if you want to know what I've been up to lately, well it's been quite a bit of dog sitting (for friends and neighbours, not for money) as well as writing and working on the new Ruth Is Writing website which is now online.

It's also been extremely hot and humid weather here in Queensland Australia. Most days it's been too hot to go out and we've been running the air-conditioning a lot more than I like too because it's so expensive and I prefer to keep the windows open and have fresh air, especially here on the coast where we often get a good breeze, although the breeze these days is hot and uncomfortable.

But as of 1st March, we are now officially in autumn. I just wish someone would tell the humidity that. But the day time temperatures have dropped a degree or two and the humidity is slowly abating. And because of all the heat, everyone has been coming down with flu-like illnesses. Thankfully, Dean and I are quite healthy, we eat well, get plenty of exercise, and are not on any prescription medications, so the virus going around touched us but it was just a sore throat and a bit of a blocked nose, while everyone around us having been dropping like flies.

So what am I working on right now?

I'm currently working on a horror novel which is the first one in a series of three. They will be three separate novels, not a trilogy. They just all have a horror theme.

Now I'm going to get back to working on my novel, and working on a short horror story about clowns that I'm currently working on.

And it's time for you to stop reading and start writing too.

How I use Siri to Read eBooks and Articles

Image by Felix Lichtenfeld from Pixabay

I love listening to audios when I’m busy doing other things (like household chores or cleaning the car).

In fact, if I’ve got something that I’m eager to listen to, I’ll find ‘busy’ chores to do because I must be doing something while I listen. I can’t just sit and do nothing so I figure I may as well get plenty of chores done while I’m listening.

I rarely buy, or mostly never buy, audio books, but I do borrow them from the library.

I also listen to podcasts too. 

I have the Listnr app on my iPhone which, as well as having my favourite radio station on it, Buddha Hits, it also has some interesting podcasts on things like true crime.

I also have the UK’s BBC app that has many great radio plays and audio series.

But when it comes to books, I prefer to buy eBooks and if I want to have them read to me while I’m doing other things, I use Siri to read them.

I discovered how to do it a few years ago, and I’ve been listening to eBooks this way ever since.

All I do is open an eBook on my iPhone (usually in my Kindle app) to the current page I’m reading.

I then put two fingers at the very top of the screen and quickly swipe down.

Siri’s audio controls immediately open and she starts reading from the top of the page and continues reading until I press pause.

Siri can also read long articles online if I tap the “Reader View” icon in the URL address bar at the top of the page and then swipe my two fingers down again.

It’s so quick and easy to do and means I can ‘read’ eBooks while I’m busy doing other things.

Read Something That Will Change Your Life

I write books designed to change your life.

From novels that will tug at your heart strings, instill fear and get your heart pounding, to educational books that can help you earn more money, and life-altering self-help books.

All will leave you thinking differently and some will even help you change the way you live and enable you to start living the life of your dreams.

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books.html

The Perfect Gift To Give

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

I’m not one for gift giving.

I don’t give many gifts and I never accept any either.

Many years ago, I used to be part of the gift-giving hoard, but then one day I wised up and cut Christmas out of my life. It was one of the best things I did.

I still bought gifts for my own children, but not for anyone else. And I didn’t put up decorations, send cards, or attend any obligated get-togethers.

I just said, “I don’t do Christmas.”

It made the holiday period so much easier. It was a huge relief.

I always call Christmas my day off. It’s a day when I do absolutely nothing. I just do whatever I want. I don’t even cook.

Eventually, I cut out birthday gift-giving to adults. It’s always so difficult to choose things for other people, and I rarely received something I wanted, so I stopped giving gifts to adults.

It was also something I’ve never regretted doing.

The only people I still buy birthday gifts for are my grandchildren, but even they know that once they turn 18, they’re cut off.

But all through my time of giving gifts to everyone, and even now that it’s only the grandkids, my go-to gifts are always books.

I find that if you give someone a book, they’ll eventually read it. So it’s never wasted.

Books are good because they’re educational as well as entertaining. Even a novel can teach us things we didn’t know while entertaining us at the same time.

When the kids were young, I bought them sticker books, colouring books, puzzle books, and Dr Seuss Books. I bought them toys as well, but they always received books too.

For adults I buy novels, if I know the types of things they like, and I usually do because I ask people what types of books they read. I reckon you can tell a lot about a person by looking at the types of books they read.

And I know I’m not the only person who buys books as gifts. My book sales always go up around Christmas time, especially print books.

My most popular book around this time of year is “How Ton Quit Smoking Without Giving Up Cigarettes.” That tells me that there are a lot of unhappy smokers out there.

So if you’re struggling with what to buy someone, give them a book. You won’t regret it and either will they.

How To Quit Smoking

Without Giving Up Cigarettes

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

My Hassle With Staff At Office Works

Image by bookdragon from Pixabay

A couple of years ago, I bought a PDF eBook and I wanted a printed copy.  

The eBook came with printing permissions, so I uploaded it to Office Works, set up how I wanted it printing and binding, paid the cost, and waited for an email to tell me when it was printed and ready to pick up, which came through the next day.

Easy.

A few weeks later, I had another PDF eBook I wanted to print, so I set it up on the Office Works website again.

The next day I received a call from a woman who said she was a manager at my local Office Works store, and she said my eBook couldn’t be printed because it was copyrighted to the Author.

I explained that the eBook had permission for printing, and I asked her if she’d looked at the permissions of the eBook.

She said it didn’t matter what the permissions were, they couldn’t print it.

It was clear that she had no idea about copyright or printing permissions.

I tried to explain it to her, but she insisted that because of copyright, only I could print it, not them, but if I came to the store and printed it, they would put a cover on it and bind it for me.

So, I said, “So you’re saying that the only difference between you printing it and me printing it, is who pushes the start button on the printer?”

She was silent for a few seconds, then said, “Yes. That’s exactly what copyright means.”

I said, “How do you know? You’re not a copyright expert. You’re a shop assistant.”

With that, she hung up. I contacted Office Works online and asked for a refund.

I no longer use them for my large-volume printing needs. It seemed ridiculous that one person at the company, who clearly knew nothing about copyright, could dictate who pushes the start button on the printing machine.

The whole conversation with her, plus my time spent setting up the print job, getting a refund, and getting it printed elsewhere, was a waste of my time. I usually protect my time because, as a writer, it’s extremely important to me. My wasted time with Office Works could have been spent writing a chapter of a book or a few online articles.

Which is why I prefer working alone.

Many people feel that being a writer is like subjecting yourself to a life of solitary confinement.

But I disagree.

Being a writer does mean spending a lot of time alone, and spending hours every day speaking to no-one, but that’s the way I prefer it.

Being a writer is my mission in life, which is why I’m always happy to go home and work on my writing mission.

And I don’t have to let others into my writing time.

Except when I have to deal with ignorant staff at Office Works.

Mission Critical For Life

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

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

Writing and Moving

Image by Nina Garman from Pixabay 

Last March (2021, over a year ago) I moved from a house up a mountain to an apartment at the coast. Although I liked having a garden at our old place and growing fruit and vegetables, I wanted to live in somewhere with less to do so that I could write more. 

Unfortunately, while I do like living in an apartment (here in Australia, called a unit), I don’t like the complex where I am so I’m moving again next week.

What I don’t like about living here is that for some reason I don’t like sitting in the study. We use the spare bedroom as an office but for some unknown reason I can’t settle in there, so I don’t sit at my desk any more. Even right now I’m sat on the couch in the living room.

I did think I could sit on the balcony and write instead, but it’s East-facing and has the sun on it most of the morning so it’s too hot and burning.

There are also over 150 apartments here with over 90 more currently being built (6 buildings altogether) so it’s noisy here through the day time with so many people around, plus all the construction going on here at the moment (from 6.30am to 6.30pm six days a week) is not conducive to my writing either.

There are also ongoing problems with the caretakers who are not doing their jobs, so the common areas (car parks, pool areas, corridors, etc) are looking pretty icky, in fact it’s getting quite disgusting.

As you can imagine, I’m fed up with everything here and so is Dean, so we’ve sold up and we’re shipping out.

Next week we’ll start moving our possessions box by box over to our new place and then the removalists can move our furniture a few days later.

This is going to be a huge disruption, but it won’t stop me writing. No doubt it will slow me down though.

In the meantime we’re busy sorting out electric and internet accounts, mail redirection, and eating up all the food in the fridge freezer before we switch it off for a couple of days before we move it. If nothing else, it will be entertaining. Though it’s all somewhat stressful.

Also, my book, the 12 Month Writing Challenge, which was only available as a PDF, is now available as a print book and an eBook and both are available from online bookstores.

Grab yourself a copy now.

Happy reading and writing.

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/12MTH.html

The Never-Fail Way To Write More Books

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

As you already know (because I've been telling you so much), I'm on a mission this year to write 12 books in 12 months.

It's April now and I didn't publish a book last month, but that doesn't mean I haven't been writing. On the contrary, I've been extremely busy behind the scenes.

I've written a new novel, which I'm really pleased with, plus I had a ton of fun writing it.

I enjoyed writing it so much that whenever I was working on it, I kept forgetting the time and so it was always a lot later than I thought by the time I looked up.

In fact, a lot of the time, I was so caught up in the story I was writing, I also forgot about reality and had to keep reminding myself what day it was, what time it was, and whether I was supposed to be somewhere else or not. And I really didn't like being pulled out of the story, but life kept interrupting me.

But my new novel is finished so I'm now waiting for the cover, and a couple of other things, and then it can be published.

Not only that, but I'm already working on my next book which is a book for writers that will help you increase your writing and publishing speed and efficiency which will not only help you to increase your writing income, but will help you have a ton more fun doing it.

Just watch this space.

In the meantime, take a look at my most recent (and extremely popular) book for writers and self publishers: 

Self Publish Worldwide.

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

Writing Plans And Keeping On Track

Photo by Chad Peltola on Unsplash

As you know my plan this year is to write a book a month.

We’re now into February and I’ve written and published my first book and I’m now working on my second which means I’m writing to schedule, but I want to do better. I want this year to be my most productive.

To that end, I downloaded and read the book ‘How To Write Pulp Fiction’ by James Scott Bell, to find out how the pulp fiction writers wrote over a million words a year. It was an insightful and fascinating read. 

Now I’m reading ‘Wake Up and Live’ by Dorothea Brande which is all about a formula for success that is extremely simple (and has been there all the time but you just couldn’t see it) that can alter every aspect, attitude, and relation of your life, including writing, and it can help to make your writing flow and fast so that you can write more than you ever thought possible.

And all it takes is a shift in attitude and perspective that releases your energy for writing as well as improving every aspect of your life.

This too is a fascinating book. I’m only partway through reading it but already it’s opened my eyes to how wrongly I look at things, and how, without me even realising what is happening, it’s causing me to fail, and doubt myself.

This book was written in the 1930’s but it’s still relevant today. It’s available from the kindle store for as little as 99c. https://amzn.to/3gs6WU4 

I hope your writing plans for 2022 are on track too. But if they’re not, there’s still time to download your own copy of the 12 Month Writing Challenge: Write and Publish 12 Books In a Year.

For a short while you can still get a copy for only $9.99 using the discount code “12mthpromo”. The usual price is $24.99.

So don’t miss out.

https://ruthiswriting/books/12MTH.html 

P.S. The 12 Month Writing Challenge also comes with a free copy of the One Month Author

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

Do I Want to Protest Against Climate Change? Nope.

These days there are millions of people jumping on the Climate Change (formerly known as Global Warming) bandwagon and protesting in droves.

I've never been to one of these protests, nor will I ever because I'm busy doing my part to help the planet already, and I've been doing it for years.

YEARS!

- I don't support factory farming (it's one of the biggest polluters and don't get me started on cruelty)

- I eat mostly organic (non-organic is also a huge polluter)

- I drive very little and have a small car

- I always find ways to cut my electricity use (for cost as well as environmental reasons)

- I live frugally

- I try to live by the 5Rs of a zero-waste lifestyle  (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot)

- I only use environmental, sustainable household products

- I produce a low-to-no amount of garbage every day

- I recycle everything I can

- I refuse to buy overly packaged products

... and the list goes on.

I don't follow fads or jump on passing bandwagons. I live purposefully and kindly while I try to help the planet and animals. It's just something I've always done for as long as I can remember.  

It's actually really easy to be respectful of our planet and be kind and compassionate to animals. It also inspires others to do the same.

I'm also always busy writing, and in my book 'Mission Critical For Life' I lay out 10 easy-to-follow steps for finding and living your own life mission and you'll see how it can also help you to do your bit to help the planet at the same time, without having to drive to the nearest protest. But feel free to do so if that's what floats your boat.

Being Mission Critical For Life can help save you, your sanity, the planet, and everyone around you. 

While helping you live a stress-free, purposeful life on your own terms.

Mission Critical For Life

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

Can Being a Writer Improve Your Love Life?

 I've been working as a writer for over 20 years now and it has changed my life in so many ways because it's so different to any other job I've ever had.

But can it improve your love life?

I believe it can and I'll tell you why.

Years ago I was dating a man who never supported my longing to be a writer. In fact, he could be downright sarcastic and rude.

So I dumped him because I wanted to write and I knew his stinky attitude would only hold me back.

I began a writing course and starting writing and submitting my work and I began to earn money from the few acceptances I got.

During this time I met and married my husband who was extremely supportive of everything I did.

We've grown together over the past 20+ years since we met. He's now retired (early) and works with me as I keep writing and publishing. He takes care of the financial side of things, correspondence, all our accounts, and looks after my websites.

And we couldn't be happier.

So yeah, being a writer can improve your love life because it needs a supporting and loving partner who understands and can live with us creative types who have a lifelong writing mission

Find out how you can do it too in my easy to read book:

Mission Critical For Life

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

Can't Be A People-Pleaser and A Writer

 Sometimes we're all guilty of being people-pleasers, as in always being there for others, not letting people down, and always being a happy friend who's always available.

But being like this is never a good thing. And no one respects a people-pleaser. People-pleasers don't even respect themselves.

And you can't please everyone so no matter what you do you'll always end up disappointing someone and feeling guilty about it.

The problem gets even worse when you're a writer because you'll feel guilty about not be available to others every time you lock yourself away to get some writing done.

This is why writing can feel selfish. I hate to use the term "me time" but that is what you have to do, and that is what it has to feel like, because writing has to be done during time away from other people.

And I always find that other people don't respect my writing or the time that I have to spend away from them to get it done.

When I first began writing, it bothered me a lot that others disrespected what I do or thought it selfish that I was always spending time alone to write instead of being with them.

But what I eventually had to do, and what I still do now is make my writing my mission and just go do that, because while people will let me down or smother me in obligations, my writing is always there for me.

No matter what else is going on in my life, I can always shut myself away and get my writing done and forget about everything else for a while.

And being alone to write is always relaxing.

I love my writing mission and so should you.

MISSION CRITICAL FOR LIFE

Start Living Life On Your Terms 

By Pursuing Your True Life Mission

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

Why I Don’t Enter Writing Competitions

It can be every writer’s dream to win a writing competition and I even know one writer who once won an insignificant competition and then called herself “an award winning writer.” Haha.

Don’t get me wrong, winning a writing competition, or any competition, is a great feeling, and even when I’ve won something really small, I’m still happy to have won.

The problem with most writing competitions though, is that they cost money to enter, and I’ve known writers who spend hundreds every year to enter these comps without winning a thing or even getting on the short list.

And it can be demoralising.

The trouble is, you see, that there are usually thousands of entrants so chances of winning are slim, plus it depends who the judges are and their reading preference.

So this is why I don’t enter writing competitions. 

I’d rather use the money to buy a lottery ticket then at least if I don’t win, it’s just the luck of the draw and not because someone who’s probably never even been a writer or has never achieved anything great from their writing, has judged my work as not good enough in their opinion.

I do, however, love submitting work to paying markets because it’s free, I get paid if accepted, and rejections simply mean it wasn’t right for the market (which I’ve sometimes been told).

AND I’m free to submit my work elsewhere. Which I usually do.

But you do what’s best for you.

Living The Laptop Lifestyle
How To Start & Grow A Profitable Online Business So You Can Quit Your Job
https://ruthiswriting.com/books/LLS.html

Recent Writing Machinations And Closing My Publishing Business

Today I've added a new article to my website with the same title as this post.

It's all about how I'm changing how I work and why I've also closed by publishing business.

I think I've streamlined how I operate by closing the business which took up a lot of time and a lot of money to keep it running.

Originally, when I started the publishing company my aim was to publish books written by other authors as well as publishing my own. But what I found was that I didn't want to publish books. I wanted to write them.

It didn't take long for it to occur to me that I'm a writer, not a publisher. I mean, yes it was OK to have a company that I could use to publish the books that I wrote, but I didn't want to sit every day reading other people's books and judge whether or not I thought they were good enough to publish. 

Also, so many people sent me garbage to read. They seemed to think that their writing didn't have to be good to be published. One would-be author, after I sent him a polite rejection email saying that his writing was of a poor standard, actually emailed back and said that his writing didn't have to be good and it was an editor's job to correct and polish his work. 

Wow. Just wow.

Anyway, there's a lot more in my article which explains what I'm up to, the changes I'm making and why PLUS there are even a couple of photos of a possum, and when you read the article you'll see why the possum is also forcing me to make changes to the way I work. And if he wasn't so ridiculously cute, I'd swot his little behind and send him on his merry way, instead of allowing him to interrupt my writing time.

You can click the link below to read the article now.

Enjoy.

https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2020/recent-machinations.html

What Authors Can Learn From the Incredible Story Behind the Movie THE ELEPHANT MAN

Today I've uploaded a fascinating article to my writing site, about the history of the remarkably humble story of how the movie script for The Elephant Man made it to the big screen. And it wasn't with a trumpet fanfare or anything like it. It happened quietly and became a hit movie.

And you can read all about it in this remarkable article by book publicist, Scott Lorenz who works with authors of all kinds, from CEOs to self published writers, to get maximum publicity for their work.

This article shows you just how easy it can be to get your story, novel or script onto the big screen.

And if you're interested in getting your idea (not a whole book, but just an idea in your head) for a movie, television show or reality TV show, produced, you can read about how to do it at Pitch a Script For a movie, TV show or reality TV show.

Use the link below to read the article now:

https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2020/elephant-man-script.html

Why I Stopped Writing - And What I'm Doing About It

If you’ve been following me online (or you’re a subscriber), you’ll no doubt have noticed that I haven’t been writing much lately, and this lack of written words has gone on for several weeks now.

I wrote about it in an article at https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2020/Lockdown.html.

But now I’m firmly back in my writing chair and I have already planned out and started to write again.

I had thought that with all this ‘isolation’ stuff going on that it would be a great opportunity to get loads of writing done. That was my original plan.

And yet it soon all went pear-shaped on me. Before I realised it, I was so involved in doing other things (and you won’t believe WHAT things).

I think the problem was that I already spend most of my time at home writing with occasional visits to the pub for a glass of beer at the end of the day, or lunch out at the coast, or something else similar.

Then suddenly it all seemed different because I couldn’t go to the pub and sit and have a drink in the beer garden or go and have lunch at the coast, or have lunch out anywhere for that matter.

They even stopped my beloved rugby league that I love to watch. I’d already been up north in March to go to a live match, but that was the one and only weekend crowds were allowed and after the following weekend, they banned the players from the stadiums too. (sad face)

So that made it really different for me and so I had to find other forms of entertainment, and boy did I ever.

But now I’ve settled back down and I’m writing again.

Not only that, but I have lots of things planned so keep an eye out for it all.

It will be coming to an inbox near you soon.

Sign up for updates and receive a free ebook for writers.
https://ruthiswriting.com

How to Make Your Writing Ludicrously Spectacular

Today I have for you a real information-packed video by writer and marketer, Ann Handley.

It's all about writing, researching and making more money from your writing.

The video is just over an hour long and there is so much great information in it that you'll want to take notes.

I hope it really helps you.

Just click the video below and enjoy.

How I Found Myself Accidentally Prepared For the Coronavirus Panic

I know that this Coronavirus Crisis took everyone by surprise, and it certainly did me. It wasn't the virus itself, but how people reacted by panic buying and hoarding.

I read recently that when a crisis happens like a bush fire or a flood or a blackout, people react by doing what they need to do like buying bottled water, torches and batteries.

But this virus has made people panic-buy anything and everything because they don't know what to do.

There's no perfect way to react to a crisis.

My own situation hasn't been so dire simply because of how I already live my life.

Firstly, I don't need to self-isolate because I do that most of the time anyway. I'm a writer so I spend most of my time at home writing. So being home alone is my natural (and preferred) way to live.

Secondly, I didn't need to panic-buy because I keep a month's worth of groceries and other household items stored all the time. I have enough toilet paper, food, dry goods (beans, lentils, dried fruit, dried vegetables, etc) cleaning materials, bathroom supplies and other things that I normally buy at the grocery store, to last up to a month. Whenever I shop I rotate what's in my store cupboard so that my food supply is always fresh.

So when everyone started to panic-buy, I didn't have to worry because I already have my store of food and household items waiting all the time in case I get ill or injured and can't shop. Most people thought I was a bit eccentric, but who's laughing now?

And lastly, I always keep at least a years' worth of income in a savings account just in case of financial famine, so I know that if the worst happened and I couldn't work (write), I can survive for at least 12 months without income, or more if I'm frugal, which I usually am. And having this financial safety net would be SO helpful to anyone who can't go to work now because of the Coronavirus outbreak.

And these things I talk about in my latest book, Mission Critical For Life. This book (which is proving really popular) is all about finding and having your own mission, something that you can go home to and work on so that you can close the door and forget the rest of the world for a while. I also go into detail about the importance of being self-sufficient and having AT LEAST a year's worth of income saved.

If you'd already read my book and followed the advice, staying home wouldn't be a problem because you'd have enough money to survive and your mission to work on so that you can close your door for weeks/months and not have to worry.

If you haven't got your own copy of Mission Critical for Life, now would be the perfect time to buy the hardback book or download the ebook instantly.

You owe it to yourself to make sure that no matter what happens, you'll be Mission Critical For Life.

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