Writing Quickly Helps With Focus

I talk often about writing quickly.

And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, writing quickly does not mean writing badly. It’s just the opposite.

I find that when I sit down to write and put my timer on before I start, it helps me to get straight down to work and not procrastinate, because I don’t have time to waste. I only have 25 minutes to get as much written as I can before the alarm goes off and I have to stop for 5 minutes.

And while I’m writing against the clock it also helps me to stay focused and ignore distractions.

And the more I do it, the better I get.

It’s just like anything in life.

It’s better to practice good habits instead of bad or lazy habits.

Once I sit down and start writing it’s so easy to keep going.

Just try using a timer and see for yourself.

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Can You Write a Book a Month?

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http://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2016/book-a-month.html

Thrown Out Of My Own Home Office

I write mostly at home.

I also write mostly in my home office.

But now my husband has given up his job and has taken over the office.

He trades on the stock market and now runs the financial side of my business for me so that I can get on with more writing.

It's great that he's helping me, but I have had to find somewhere else to sit and write on cold days (It's only just turned Spring where I live but the temperatures aren't great yet).

So I've set up camp in the annex room at home.

This is a big room that sits separately behind the house.

I don't have a desk in here and instead sit on a small pink chair at a small folding table.

And I sit in front of the patio door to get as much light as I can because the walls are dark in here.

Eventually this room will be renovated and get freshly painted walls, built in desks and a comfortable, big, office chair.

But for now I have to make do.

I will also go out and write at the library and in the park when it gets warmer and less windy.

I just have to keep telling myself that I am a professional and so I can write anywhere.

But I find that once I start writing I forget where I am anyway.

Lucky for me.

Why I Fire My Email Subscribers

I love having a list of subscribers that I can keep in touch with.

But sometimes I have to fire them and unsubscribe them from my list. And if they're really persistent and try to re-subscribe, I block them too.

But why would I do this? Isn't having thousands of subscribers the way that writers make money?

Yes...but...

Using an email marketing service isn't cheap. And I get charged for how many subscribers I have.

So to protect myself and keep costs down, I sometimes (regrettably) have to fire subscribers.

And below are 3 types of subscribers that I fire.

1. Bad Customers. These are people who buy my products but don't even know how to download them, so they repeatedly email me about it, and not in a polite way either. Sometimes they send several abusive emails in less than an hour, while I'm asleep (different time zones). 

2. Too Friendly. Sometimes I get subscribers who think they're my friend and every time they receive an email or blog post, they reply to it as though I sent them a personal message, and they tell me all their private family business. They also get annoyed if I don't become email buddies with them.

3. Clickless. Now and again I check my email stats and look at anyone who hasn't clicked on a link in one of my emails in over a year. This usually happens because the someone is deleting all my emails unread, or they're not interested in anything I provide a link to, not even the free ebooks, audios and other freebies. Either way, they don't want my emails so I unsubscribe them.

But like I said earlier, I love having subscribers that I can keep in touch with, but it comes at a high price and I don't want to pay for verbal abuse, email pen pals I don't want or those who have no interest in hearing from me.

Thankfully, 99.9% of my subscribers are decent intelligent, hard-working writers.

And THEY are why I don't mind paying a yearly fee to my email service provider.

And if you have an email list and some of the people on it don't really want to hear from you, but for whatever reason they don't unsubscribe, don't be afraid to remove them from your list. Because not doing so is costly.

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