Don’t Wait For Your Muse. Just Write.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The hardest part of writing for most writers, is starting. The physical act of walking to our writing chair and sitting down seems like the last thing we want to do some days.

What stops us is fear. We’re scared because we don’t know what to write.

When I’m in the middle of writing a book, and I have a good outline to work from, I’m enthusiastic to sit down and get to work every day. But when I have articles to write, or I have to start mapping out a large writing project, then I’m a lot more reluctant to write.

Horror writer, Stephen King, said that he sits down and writes at the same time every day regardless of how he’s feeling. No matter what, he propels his backside to his writing chair and starts writing straight away.

He says that many would-be and amateur writers believe that they can’t start writing if their muse isn’t there. He also says not to wait for your muse because it won’t turn up for work until you do.

And I’ve noticed that this is how successful writers work. They don’t wait for inspiration to strike or for their muse to show up. They just sit down and start writing.

Novelist, Dean Wesley Smith, takes it a step further. When he sits down to write every day, or should I more correctly say every night because he only works in the evenings, not only does he not wait for his muse to strike, he also has no idea what he’s going to write until he sits down.

He writes by a method he calls “Writing into the dark” where he only knows the bare bones of what he’s going to write. In his book, “Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline” (https://amzn.to/3EKs1Vl) he says that when he starts a new novel, all he has in his head is a character, their mood, and a setting. With only those three things he starts writing his first page and from there the ideas flow as he writes. It really is fascinating to read about his thought process.

If you want to sit down and write but don’t know where to start, do a search online for a random word generator, pick 3 words and write for 5 minutes. I’m always amazed at how much I can write in 5 minutes without knowing anything except the 3 words, which I have to use in the first paragraph. It turns out that I can write ⅔ of a page.

Free writing works for both fiction and non-fiction and they are both a lot of fun and it helps to get you into the writing ‘zone’ quickly. 

For non-fiction, choose a random subject and write a list of 10 question you could ask about it. Done well, those 10 questions could become chapter titles for your next book. :)

But however you do it, when you need to write, sit down and do it.

Don’t wait for your muse. It won’t turn up for work until you do.

And most importantly, enjoy writing.

TAKE THE MONTHLY WRITING CHALLENGE

And Write More in 4 Months Than You Ever Have Before

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS1.html

Stop Dreaming and Start Writing

If You Can’t Teach Yourself, You’re a Liability

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Time and time again, people email me for the smallest reasons, usually because they either don’t know how to look something up on the internet themselves, or they just simply can’t be bothered.

Over the past 20+ years, I’ve learned a lot about writing, publishing, coding, and how to earn all my income from my writing. And not once did I email someone and ask them how to do it.

And I honestly believe, that if you are so helpless, that in this age of information you can’t teach yourself what you need to know, then you are your own biggest liability.

Most things are simple to learn and can be learned from the internet. Even if it’s something that looks complicated (like coding), once you start learning, it becomes much clearer and you find that it’s not as complicated as you first thought.

Other things are simple and it only takes a few minutes of searching online to find what  you need.

But if people need to teach you simple things, you’ll always be a liability to yourself.

One of my popular books, Living the Laptop Lifestyle (https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/LLS.html) was written from all the knowledge I gained myself about how to create a website and earn a living online. This book is popular because it makes it quick and easy for anyone to have an online writing business.

And this is one of many books and courses available online that anyone can download without having to ask for help from someone else.

In fact, everything you need to know is available online in one way or another. And much of it is free.

But if you can’t find what you need yourself, you’ll never be successful.

Do whatever it takes to become a successful writer. 

Just don’t expect others to do the work for you.

“If you can’t help yourself, you’re a liability.”

~ Justin Welsh

If you need more help go to https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books.html and find what you need to help you move forward.

Why Aren't I Writing? And What I'm Doing About It

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

At the beginning of this year, 2022, I stated that I was going to write and publish a book a month.

I was all hyped and ready back in December 2021, sure that I could fulfill my mission. I had it all planned so what could go wrong?

Life, is what could go wrong.

It's not that I haven't written any books. I've written and published 4 books so far with another almost finished.

My writing plan began to unravel early when, at the beginning of the year, without knowing it was even going to happen, I moved home. 

I originally had no intention of moving, but then property prices skyrocketed, and we stumbled upon a better place to live. So we took advantage of the price increases, put our place on the market, sold it in 3 weeks, and moved. And as we all know, moving can suck your life away in the time spent to organise it all, do the actual move, and then settle into our new place and find our way around the new neighbourhood.

Also a few family issues came up that I had to deal with.

But that's still no excuse for not getting my writing done. I keep telling myself that if I had to go out to work (which I'm SO GRATEFUL that I don't have to) I wouldn't be using all these things as an excuse not to go to work. I'd deal with them and still get to work on time every day.

The problem with working at home, is that I'm at home, so I constantly get distracted. But again, that's no excuse not to get my writing done.

Another thing that happened is that I downloaded a fascinating eBook called "Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline," by one of my favourite authors on writing, Dean Wesley Smith. https://amzn.to/3EKs1Vl.

I usually always write with an extensive outline, but after reading his book I decided to try writing without one. DWS said that all you need to know before you start writing, is what genre you're writing in, and have a character and a setting in mind, and then start writing.

I began with one short story and then moved on to do more. At first it felt really strange to not have an outline and to not know what I was going to write until I wrote it.

But do you know what? It's fun. I've been writing quite a few short horror stories with no outline and no idea of what's going to happen in the story until I start writing. Not only is it fun, but it also makes me write fast because I can't afford to stop writing in case I lose the flow of ideas.

I'm not sure if I'd write a whole novel this way, but it sure is fun doing it with short stories. It also taught me that horror stories are my favourite to write. 

Who knows where this will lead me, but I'm having a ball doing it. I should have known that I'd enjoy it because I always love doing those 5-minute writing exercises, where you're given 3 words and you write for 5 minutes without stopping AND use those 3 words in the opening paragraph.

If you want to try it yourself, download your own copy of "Writing into the Dark" and give it a go.

But I digress. I was talking about why I haven't written as many books as I planned to.

The good news is that I'm planning to get back on track. No, I'm GOING to get back on track. I have a new plan and I'm going to work it.

At the same time, I'll still be uploading articles to my website and posts to this blog, and sending out my monthly writing newsletter, which will be hitting my subscribers' inboxes next week. So, if you're not a subscriber, now would be the perfect time to sign up, plus you'll receive a free eBook to help you write more and earn more.

On another positive note, my latest book, "How To Have More Money Now, Even If You’re Struggling To Pay The Rent" is already selling well. Read more about it and grab yourself a copy at https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/hthmm.html.

And you should see another book from me soon.

Here's hoping you're getting plenty of your own writing done.

Always Have Money So You're Free To Write

Photo by Katie Harp on Unsplash

One problem that many writers face is not having enough money to live on while they build their writing career.

Being a writer means being in it for the long haul. You won't get rich overnight. Instead you have to keep writing while your portfolio and your income build up over time.

Living in times of financial feast and famine is also common because you never know how much you're going to earn each month. It all depends on book sales, website income, freelance income, and how much writing you do.

I've been fortunate because money is something that I've never run out of, no matter how low my income has been over the years. No matter how little I have, I've always had enough money to live on.

I look at money differently to most people. When asked about how I always seem to have plenty of money, I try and explain it, but most people just don't get it.

That's why I wrote a book that explains it all.

"How to Have More Money Now, Even If You're Struggling to Pay the Rent." 

This is my latest book and it explains it all.

It's a journey of learning and understanding about money so that even years ago, as a divorced, single parent on welfare, money wasn't an issue. In fact, when I met my now husband, I was on holiday in Europe.

Many have asked me how I did it. How was I living on welfare yet holidaying abroad?

It was easy and my book explains it all, including how I managed to have more money in just one week.

So like the title says, even if you're struggling to pay your rent, you can have more money right now.

If you think you're broke, think again. Download a copy of my book to find out what I did and how you can do it too.

All it took was the ability to look at money differently.

If that all sounds too cryptic, click the link below to go over to Amazon and have a sneak peak using the "look inside" free feature and you'll see just how easy it is to have more money now.

https://amzn.to/3T5Ydt9