Guest Post: Setting Aside Writing Time

Time is a startlingly precious commodity, especially in a world that constantly tells us to keep going faster, faster, faster, to keep doing more, more, more. We all know how it goes: you skip one day of writing, one measly little day – perhaps you get home late from school, or perhaps you’re inundated with homework, or perhaps you’re just exhausted and you don’t feel like doing it tonight.

But it’s not like missing one day could hurt, right? You’ll get back into your carefully set routine tomorrow.

The thing is, tomorrow too often turns into the next day, which turns into next week, which only turns into someday. And someday might as well be a synonym for never.

Time is an awfully difficult thing to manage.

You’ve heard it before, but I’ll say it again: carving out a routine in your daily schedule is possibly the most important thing you can do for your writing. Here’s the catch, though: you can’t skip a day. Ever. It does not matter what happens. As a writer, it’s so important to guard your time ferociously, disregarding all distractions, through rain or shine or homework up to your ears.

As with all steadfast rules, though, there are some ways to make life easier for yourself. One of my absolute favourite techniques is to set a time for my writing. Every single day, 10 PM sharp, I’m at my desk, laptop open, notebook by my side, tea in hand. I write until 11 or until the ideas run out, whichever comes first – and then I’m done, finished, quota filled. It doesn’t matter how much I have to do: every day, no matter what, I’m at my desk at 10 PM.

Another great motivator is using a monthly calendar. Mine is sitting on my desk, and every single day once I’ve finished writing, there’s a big red cross that goes through that day. Soon enough I have a week of red crosses, and then two weeks, and then three weeks. Seeing those red crosses glaring up at me is a pretty good incentive to get my butt off the couch and to the desk, because honestly, do I really want to break the chain after so long? (Hint: no, I don’t. And you won’t either, no matter how good that episode of Friends is).

It gets easier. I promise. After a few months, your writing routine feels like an integral part of life. Missing even a day pretty much equates to sacrilege. If you have a daily word count, it becomes more and more natural to crank it out. If you’re like me and you just let the words ebb and flow, you start to notice a lot more flowing and a lot less ebbing.

Setting a hard-and-fast writing schedule is one of the best things you can do to not only increase your productivity levels, but also make sure tomorrow doesn’t fade out to someday. It’s not enough to just write when you have the time, because I can guarantee you that the time isn’t going to come. You’re the only one who can make it happen.

Topaz Winters is a teen author and singer/songwriter, currently in the process of publishing her first book, Frozen Hearts, and recording her as-yet untitled debut album. In her spare time she rides dragons, collects stardust, and eats copious amounts of cheesecake. You can find her wandering cyberspace at her blog or on Twitter.

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In this guest post on @brianawrites' blog, @topazwinters thinks you should set aside writing time. (Click to tweet)

Harry Potter and the Name Game (Guest Post for The Brazen Bibliophile)

Photo by Hung Chieh Tsai on Flickr

I was lucky enough to have the chance to participate in the Brazen Bibliophile's Potter Week! My post is all about the symbolism and inspiration behind some of the names in Harry Potter. Want to hear more? Check out the post here, and while you're at it, subscribe to Marissa's blog because she is THE BEST.

I enjoy guest posting so if you'd like to feature my writing on your blog, let's get in touch and work something out! :) I'd love to return the favor in any way I can. Maybe we could do a swap. It's a win-win situation.

You can contact me using the form on my blog or by shooting me a message on Facebook or Twitter.

Are you a Potterhead? Who are your favorite characters?

Guest Post from Danielle McAnn: The Power of the Pen

Or these days it would probably be a typewriter more accurately. Nonetheless, it has the same amount of power. We are all taught to read and write properly as children, in order to be able to communicate with each other better. Here’s why it’s worthwhile improving your writing skills. Writing is communication, and the better we can communicate, the better our friendships and relationships are. Writing is also entertainment, and to be able to entertain (through a play, a novel, a letter, a poem), is a powerful thing. Writing is also persuasion, and the better we can persuade, the more we can influence our lives and surroundings. Moreover, you will never have a job in which you don’t need to read or write even a little, so the better your literacy skills are, the more employable you will be. All of the very most accomplished people in the world (think Barack Obama and Oprah) are also people with great literacy, and excellent reading and writing skills.

Secondly, here’s how. Training companies like GAPS writing offer courses in writing and effective communication, and how to improve your writing skills. Here’s something a little more basic; you improve your writing skills by reading. All great writers read variously and prolifically. Language isn’t something you invent on your own, it’s a system that you adapt to your purposes. The better you understand it, the better you’ll be able to use it.

Danielle McAnn is a copywriter working with GAPS. A team composed of professional writers boasting considerable skill and experience in the media, government, commercial and human resources industries. We help business and organisations take their written communication to the next level by delivering clear and powerful content and making a significant difference in the perception and clarity of key messages. When Danielle's not writing content she enjoys swimming, shopping and taking her dogs for a walk.

Guest Post: Lamar Hull from Direct4TV

Writing tips for student athletes: Applying athletic principles to your writing

Being a college student athlete is tough. You've got to spend long hours practicing and, most importantly, you've got to learn to balance your time between school work and your sport. You may be set on continuing your sports career after college, but we all know sometimes things don't work out as planned, and that's why your college classwork is especially important. For a college athlete, building good writing skills can be nearly as vital as crafting your athletic ability.

Fortunately, learning writing skills isn't as hard as you may think – you can even apply some of the same principles from sports to your writing experience. Whether you're just trying to do well in school or you want to start writing your own novel, these tips can help make you a better writer.

Plan

Just like you'd plan goals for training, you can plan goals for schoolwork. Perhaps you could set a goal for a GPA you want to earn, a grade on a research paper or a word count for your personal writing. If you play on a team at school, you probably have set training and practice times. It's good to also plan out set times to do work and write every day. If you set time to devote to writing, you'll get in the groove of sitting down with your computer to write, and it will become a daily habit. And with more planning comes plenty of practice!

Practice daily

You've probably heard it a million times, but practicing is crucial for improvement. You wouldn't go a week without training, so don't go a week without writing. Try to write daily to better yourself and your skill. The more you write, the better you'll get – just like how running through more basketball or football drills can help you become a better player. Do you play a couple different sports? Try different types of writing, too. Become a well-rounded writer and athlete with plenty of practice!

Accept criticism and improve on it

No one is perfect, and you don't need to try to be. Improvement is a continual process, and you can't expect to magically become a better writer or athlete. You have to learn to take your criticism gracefully. Don't let things get you down – whether you don't play as well as you'd like in a big game or you don't get the high grade you wanted. It's important to keep trying and to work hard to keep getting better.

Even if you're not a student athlete, you can use these tips to improve your own writing skills. With some hard work, you can become a great writer, too!

Author: Lamar Hull is a former Davidson College student-athlete who loves to provide advice to college students and college graduates. Lamar currently writes for Direct4tv. You can follow Lamar @lamarhull20 and his youth basketball blog.

Guest Post: Molly Ford of Smart, Pretty, and Awkward!

I've been following Molly Ford's blog, Smart, Pretty, and Awkward, for over a year now. I've loved every minute of it. The concept of the blog is simple: each post contains three bits of advice on how to be smarter, prettier, and (less) awkward. Since the simple things in life are often the most captivating, it is no wonder that Molly Ford is as successful as she is. Recently, I set up a couple of interview questions for Molly to answer. She was gracious enough to oblige. Here's how it went:

1. In your guest post on The Future Buzz, you talk a little bit about starting a blog. What are some tips you can give about blogging?

Great question. My best advice that I often give is the Three Month Rule: blog for three months without telling anyone. This gives you time to find your voice in private and confirm that you really like blogging, and it also gives your readers a back log of posts to read and fall in love with for when you do start going public and promoting your blog.

I would emphasize the importance, especially in the beginning while you are growing your audience, of writing consistently. Everything else—the layout of the site, social media promotion, press outreach, etc. can come later.

2. In that same article, you say, "I honestly thought the blog would just be a flash in the pan, just something else I would try, but after a month or so I realized how much I was liking it and just kept writing." What about blogging appeals to you the most?

I think what appeals to me most about blogging is the ability to share something from my heart to an audience that I hope benefits from my writing. I never write a tip that I don’t do myself or wish I had done, so everything I write feels very personal. I like that.

3. Also in the Future Buzz post, you discuss coming up with the idea for SP&A. Where did you get such a unique blog concept?

I honestly wish I had a better answer for this! I knew I wanted to write an advice blog because I don’t want to put super-personal information online, and because I enjoy reading self-help books. Just focusing on “How to be Prettier,” with beauty/fashion tips, was my first thought, but that type of advice wasn’t enough to cover all the topics I was interested in, so I added How to be Smarter. Then I wanted a third topic so the site name would flow well, so I added How to be (less) Awkward to round out the set. I was originally planning for the third section to be called How to be Awkward and have the tips be tongue-in-check and the opposite of what to do, but adding in the (less) made more sense in the long run.

4. Each post on your blog contains three pieces of advice and an inspirational quote. How do you usually discover these items?

I write down ideas for tips all day long. I keep a super long chain of notes in my phone, as well as in a physical notebook I carry around in my bag. I also usually keep a running draft email in gmail of links I’d like to use.

For the quotes, I usually search around for a quote either by a specific author or about a specific topic. Since the quotes are usually the most last-minute thing I include in the post, they are usually the most up-to-the-minute personal: for example, if at that moment I’m feeling happy about a good date or reading a book that references Eleanor Roosevelt, the quote will either be about happiness or relationships, or by Eleanor Roosevelt.

5. After reading the SP&A Press page, it's clear you've developed a following. How has your Internet presence affected your life?

I think about this a lot. I think having an Internet presence has probably affected how new people interact with me, but not the people I’ve known forever. Everyone googles everyone before first dates or job interviews now, so new people probably relate to me differently based on what they have seen online, but not the friends or people I’ve met in real life first or had pre-blog.

6.Based on your blog, you must be a very dedicated individual. How do you stay motivated?

Probably my best tip for staying focused is: no fluff. It it doesn’t add value or make me happy, I don’t do it. There’s just not time.

Probably the best example of no fluff in my life is that I also don’t watch (hardly any) TV. I don’t even own a TV or Netflix account or anything. I know it’s not a popular opinion to say that you don’t watch television, but I really think that not having that in my life leaves me with more free time, which I try to then use wisely.

7. Your About page says that you live in New York City. What are your favorite and least favorite things about living in the Big Apple?

I will cross the four-year mark of living in New York City this year, and I think I love it more than when I first moved here, which is saying a lot because I cried from happiness on my move-in day post-college. New York City is everything, the good and the bad. And there is probably nothing I could say that would be terribly unique to my experience about living here: it’s wonderful, it’s cultured, it’s full of events, it’s expensive, it’s loud, I live in a shoebox. But to paraphrase an email I sent in 2009 to a friend justifying my decision to live in NYC, “I might have anxiety from living in New York, but I would have much worse anxiety about not living here.” New York City is just the place for me. But I also want to be careful about over-romancing NYC, though: it’s not for everyone.

But I would wish for everyone a place they love as much as I love New York. You have to find your New York.

8. Most of your quotes come from famous individuals. Who are your personal role models?

I love Becky Quick from Squawk Box, Bethenny Frankel, and especially Nora Ephron, who has always been my main role model. I also closely follow Sheryl Sandberg’s career and Lori Gottlieb’s writings.

9. It's also clear that you enjoy reading. What are some of your favorite books?

I read mostly non-fiction, with a focus on business, pop psychology, and narrative non-fiction (memoirs, etc). Nora Ephron’s books have probably had the biggest impact on my life in my college and post-college years, but Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers was also a huge influence to me when I read it. I saw Malcolm working in a coffee shop on the east side once, that was awesome. And of course I love Gretchen Rubin…

10. Finally, since you and I both enjoy The Happiness Project, what habits or practices have you created after reading Gretchen Rubin's book?

The Happiness Project was another total life-changing book for me, and I try not to use clichés like “life-changing” lightly. I just love the idea of small tweaks to make life better—that’s the sort of formula my blog is built around. One of my favorite quotes of the author’s, Gretchen Rubin, is that one of the Secrets to Adulthood is to “Be Gretchen.” I love that phrase: “Be Gretchen!”. She’s talking about it in the context of herself, obviously, but I love the idea of just doing you. There are many things I do that others probably would not enjoy, and vice versa. That’s okay. I just have to Be Molly. That’s really the only person that I can be realistically be 100% of the time anyway.

Molly Ford is such an inspiring woman. She's creative, kind, and self-reliant. As a role model and a person, I consider her to be someone worth admiring. If you've never read Smart, Pretty, and Awkward, go check it out right now. Thanks, Molly!