Wednesday 19 February 2020

This Simple Change Doubled My Writing Output

They say that the only reason we work 8 hours a day at our job is because they give us 8 hours to do our work. But the truth is that most people could get their work done it half the time, but because we’re given 8 hours, we stretch it out to fit the time.

And it’s the same with writing.

It’s no good telling yourself that you have to sit and write for 8 hours a day if you don’t need to.

Why sit at your computer all day when you could be doing other things?

If you spend more time than you need sitting in front of your computer every day, you’ll just waste time surfing the internet and checking your Facebook account.

I suffered from this lack of productivity problem for a long time.

Then I read a really interesting book called 2,000 to 10,000: How to write better, write faster and write more of what you love.

And the way the author went from writing 2,000 words a day to 10,000 was easy. She went out to do it.

So I did the same. I’d often worked away from home before but never all the time.

And what I always found was that while I was somewhere else I wasn’t distracted by anything.

Most of the time when I write away from home, I have no internet connection, which is a good thing.

Even if I’m working somewhere that’s noisy it doesn’t matter. As long as I don’t have anyone wanting my attention, I can just get on with my writing.

And because I look so busy, even people who know me don’t interrupt me, which I’m always glad about because it can really disrupt my flow of concentration.

I can work in the library or at a local park. Sometimes I drive to a nearby lookout because I’m unlikely to run into friends there, and it has covered picnic tables and a toilet block. Perfect!

Even if it rains while I’m out I’ll just sit in my car and write. That too is a good place for uninterrupted writing time.

I find that if I only stay out for 2 hours, I can write up to 7,000 words. That’s double what I get done when I’m at home.

So if you’re not getting as much writing done as you need, try working somewhere else.

You won’t believe what a difference it makes until you try it.

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How to Earn $100k+/Year Writing For the Internet -
The Wealthy Writer
https://ruthiswriting.com/links/wealthywriter.html


Wednesday 5 February 2020

Make Writing So Easy And Fun You Can't Wait To Do It Every Day

I was watching a video of a talk being given by one of my favorite writers, Dean Wesley Smith and in it he said one thing that not only really resonated with me, but it's something that most writers don't do.

And I wondered, why not?

What he said is that writing must be fun to do.

And this is so important that I'll tell you again...

Writing must be fun to do.

If you find that writing is a chore and you always procrastinate because you don't want to do it, it's because it's not fun for you.

There are so many different ways to earn money writing, but just because it's possible to do, it doesn't mean it's the right thing for you to do.

You need to be doing the kind of writing that is fun for you.

Another problem that holds writers back is that they worry too much about their writing being perfect, or not publishing something until they can get the perfect cover or the perfect formatting.

My advice is to just forget about it.

No one is perfect and if you wait till you think your work is perfect you'll never submit it or publish it.

I began writing when I didn't really know what I was doing but I just knew that if I was doing SOMETHING I was moving forward. And it worked. What I was doing wasn't perfect, but I was outworking most other writers so I was making progress and making money.

It was Ray Bradbury who said (and I paraphrase) that if you have a year to write, you're better off writing 52 short stories than try and write one whole novel because it's almost impossible to write 52 bad stories. He said that writing one story a week for a year is great practice so you'll get better as you keep writing.

He also said he has had a sign above his typewriter for over 25 years that says "Don't think!"

So if you want to write more and earn more, my advice is:

Stress less, write more and have fun.


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



Tuesday 4 February 2020

How To Avoid the Horrible Mistake Other People Make With Writing Goals

"When your goals inspire you, when you believe and act on them, you will accomplish them."
~ Jim Rohn

I love the above quote by Jim Rohn, who was an American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker. He believed in the power of goal setting.

And I also believe that setting goals is motivational and it always helps me to work through and finish my writing projects.

The problem though is that most writers make the mistake of setting the WRONG goals.

What do I mean by wrong?

They set goals that are unappealing to themselves, or they set goals that seem unachievable. And when that happens, writing doesn't happen.

You see in order to achieve your writing goals they need to be inspiring and motivating, otherwise you won't even make a start.

If you have writing goals that you always think about but never, ever start, ask yourself if it's really something that you want to do? Because often (and I've been guilty of this myself), we set goals for accomplishing things we think we SHOULD do, rather than things we want to do.

So when it comes to writing, what is that you REALLY want to do? What are your writing dreams and writing goals? What is is that you want to sit down and write about every day?

And whatever you decide, make sure it's something that is fun for you to do. Something that you really would enjoy and that you look forward to doing it every day.


Mission Critical For Life
https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html



Wednesday 29 January 2020

An Introduction to Screenwriting - Free Online Course

If you've ever wanted to learn about screenwriting, this free online course will interest you.

The University of East Anglia’s School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing (in the UK) have built this course with instructors and recent alumni from their famed course in Creative Writing.

The University of East Anglia is an internationally renowned university providing top quality academic, social and cultural facilities to over 15,000 students from over 100 countries around the globe.

This online course explores the key concepts and fundamental principles involved in the process of screenwriting.

Explore key issues in the practice of creating screenplays.
  • Explain the basic principles of the screenwriting process
  • Identify the essentials of the screenplay format
  • Discuss the construction of a professional script
  • Design a story 'pitch'
There are no formal requirements for this course, just an interest in screenwriting.

What topics will you cover?
  • Basic characteristics of a screen story
  • Development of a basic storyline
  • Story structures including The Three Act Structure and alternate story structures
  • Characters and developing character outlines
  • The construction of scenes including the role of dialogue and character voice
  • The workflow for writing a first draft of a feature film screenplay
  • The process for screenplay formatting
  • Writing – and finishing – a first draft
At the time of writing, this course was open for registration and immediate start.

Find out more and register now using the link below: