Today, make your characters come alive.
Within reason, of course. The neighbors are starting to talk.
Tag Archives: advice
Writers Horoscope–Day 2
You have two problems. That stratified clutter pile is calling your name. And you haven’t finished your chapter. Seismic activity will solve the first problem. For that matter, the second one, as well. Pay close attention to plot twists during your evacuation.
5 Twitter Gems
Developing a powerful #writing habit buff.ly/2ra5I7g w/ @Honoree
“Be ruthless about protecting writing days…”
http://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2014/8/6/be-ruthless-about-protecting-writing-days.html
7 Free Windows Apps for Exploring Your Creative Side muo.co/2taPMAL
Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over time they discover that routine is a better friend than inspiration.
–RALPH KEYES
Has your stream of creative ideas dried up? Here’s the Answer! hubs.ly/H07C6xZ0
Defining Your Fears [a TED talk]
Tim Ferriss, self-proclaimed human guinea pig, suggests we define our fears.
For creatives everywhere, I would think.
More takeaways from Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work
Opening comment: I hope readers gain even half the value as I do from writing this down freehand and rehashing/posting it.
But feel free to throw money, coffee, good pastries, or an ‘I adopted a shelter pet!’ certificate my way. [I’m a pretty simple guy, really.]
So, more takeaways from one of my daily go-to books for changing/reinforcing my thinking: Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work: **
Become a Documentarian of What You Do.
“Whether you share it or not, documenting and recording
your process as you go alon
g has its own rewards. You’ll start to see the work you’re doing more clearly and feel like you’re making progress.” [It’s what I’m trying to do at jrmays.com.]
Be an Amateur
“Because they have little to lose, amateurs are willing to try anything and share the results. They take chances, experiment, and follow their whims.” [I have a poster on my wall: If not now, when? Works for me.]
“The world is changing at such a rapid rate, it’s turning us all into amateurs. Even for professionals, the best way to flourish is to retain an amateur’s spirit and embrace uncertainty and the unknown.”
Read Obituaries.
“Reading about people who are dead now and did things with their lives makes me want to get up and do something decent with mine.” [In his case, be a good dad and husband, create, curate, and share art and experience.]
He continues, “Take inspiration from the people who muddled through life before you–they all started out as amateurs, and they got where they were going by making do with what they were given and having the guts to put themselves out there. Follow their example.”
** Not aiming for anything –no commission, no pats on the back, no genuflections–other than to share good work by others.
The 90-Day Rewrite–My Takeaways
My takeaways from The 90-Day Rewrite by Alan Watt, also author of The 90-Day Novel
- The instructional heart of the book consists of his 90 ‘letters’ to the reader/rewriter. This approach evoked a more conversational tone to each ‘day’.
- Watt gives ‘rewriters’ a short ruminating or writing assignment that reinforces that day’s letter.
Some examples:
Day 46: Today–Write for five minutes beginning with ‘My story is about…’. Surprise yourself and be willing to write the forbidden.
Day 57: Today–Where you choose to reveal information can alter the pace and meaning of your story. Are your story’s revelations placed as effectively as possible?
- I like Watt’s Week 1 prescription of creating a new outline.
“If it seems strange to simply be re-outlining something that we have already written, that is not what we are doing. Rather, we are allowing ourselves to imagine the most compelling version of our story, which may contain large swaths of existing material, but also material yet to be written.”
- Quote from Day 69 letter: “Ultimately, the decision [on how to divide the novel–chapters, sections, etc.] is an intuitive one. Each story has its own unique way of being read.”
Dating Advice–late for your date?
another page from the book…
If this is the front door greeting, you can pretty much assume you’re a little late to arrive…
Curation from my Rocketbook outpost
15-Minute Intervals of Work
Today I’m using the 15-minute work intervals approach.
I’m in the middle of my 15-minute blog posting interval. Kind of obvious, I guess…
- Posted author comments to jrmays.com .
- And now this post…I have a minute left. [Confession–I ran overtime on this. Still, it does get me focused to generate and finish.]
Other 15-minute work intervals completed today:
- Job search cover letter revisions
- Review of editor’s comments on a piece of fiction. She and I connected through Reedsy. She’s right on the mark. Money well-spent. I have a lot of work to do on this project.
- Check in with authormarketingclub.com [Video on exploding your word count with dictation software]
- Generated list of activities for an ebook I’m writing
- First 200 words at-a-sitting [turned out to be 280, handwritten]
- Read James Altucher’s What to Do When You’re Rejected . Good food for thought.
- 200 words at-a-sitting [session 2] on my Chromebook. Turned out to be 550 words. Writing via keyboard never ‘feels’ as good to me as writing in a notebook, but it’s darned sure more productive.
***
My 15-minute email-check interval: Good to impose a limit here.
Listening to Steep Canyon Rangers [a group often often accompanied by banjoist/funny guy Steve Martin]
Bought The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau. Currently $1.99.
A blogger ‘liked’ my post yesterday so I followed a link to that person’s work.
http://bit.ly/2raHB6y [Gardening4Gains]
Here was my comment to the post:
One resonating line: Do you let life control you or do you take the reins? Your point about exercise as privilege vs. chore really hit home. I stared at the 10 cubic yards of soil to shovel, wheelbarrow into backyard from front driveway and thought, “yick.” Then I remembered two friends who have had/will have surgery for back and neck stuff and thought, “Geez, T, what a weaselly wimp you are for groaning at the thought of good honest mindless grunt work.”
***
Still with the email session…
–Memorable line from Seth Godin’s daily email:
What if we take the responsibility instead of waiting for it to be offered?
–Unsubscribed from Hilton Honors Club. [Can’t say as I remember signing up for that one. I sure as heck don’t quality as a titanium club member or whatever their special designation is.
Am up to 65 unsubscribes. It feels like there might be 10 more around the corner…
Thanks for reading!
—
Dating advice, continued…
from my book-in-progress. New working title: Dating Wisdom–Yeah, Riiight.
Word Inventions 