I don't know about you, but I'm creatively drained.
I enjoy getting content out through my blog and I love working on my different works in progress, and it's not like I haven't written a lot recently. I was a guest blogger on the professional writing department's blog, along with writing for my own. I wrote a new devotion and worked on a couple book reviews, updated my website, not to mention I wrote a complete manuscript over the summer. That's a lot. So why am I having a creative block? If you're hitting the same wall, the first thing you need to do is figure out why you're not particularly motivated. Now, for me, I know it's a combination of a few things:
Now that we have a general idea of what's getting in the way, we can tackle the problem. For me, that's going to be difficult. Anxiety is a big part of my life, and while I know how to cope with it, it can still bog me down. That's where music playlists based off my different manuscripts come in handy, or just taking a break from the story I'm trying to work on for a few days. This might be the key for you, too. There's nothing wrong with a break from the craft. You're the one in control of your writing schedule. Use that to your advantage. I know this is a little different from the last few posts I've written. It's been a topic I've wanted to talk about for a while, and I'm glad I did. Now that I know why I'm having trouble with writing, I can fix it. Honestly, a few days away from writing might be good for me. I hope this is helpful to you, too, or the process I went through, at least. Creative block isn't fun for anyone, but remember you'll pull through eventually. Keep writing!
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You know the saying, "Image is everything?" Well, whoever coined the term has a point.
Having a sound platform is important, especially if you're a writer starting out. What's a platform? To put it in simpler terms, it's your social media presence, website, and whatever else you use to say, "Hey, look what I do!" It's a crucial thing to have and maintain in the publishing world, but it can also be fun. I have some tips on social media and website building that I want to share to help you strengthen your platform or start building it.
Building and maintaining your platform isn't as hard as it sounds. You just need to take one thing at a time. And you don't have to have all the things mentioned. For someone who's starting out, focus on building your website and either having a professional Facebook page or launching your Twitter account. I hope you all enjoyed and that this information on building your platform helped! If you want me to dig deeper into the importance of some of these social media platforms, what a website should have, or something that isn't mentioned, let me know. I want to answer your questions and cover things I might have missed. The most important thing to remember is to have fun with it. This is one of the fun parts of being a writer in my opinion, and connecting with people through social media is great for building a connection with your future fans and people who could help you out down the road. It's an important step you don't want to miss out on. Until next time. - L.P. I've been in quarantine for the full two weeks now. I'm done! I'm free! I can go places and do things, but I technically can't because I can't drive. Beside the point. But, now that I'm out and have gone through the struggle that is isolation (yes, even introverts can spend too much time alone), I have some general advice from my time at home.
If you find yourself in quarantine and needing encouragement or something positive to focus on (besides your end date), I hope the advice and ideas provided will help you out. I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't think it helped. Do you have any tips for quarantine you want to share? Write them in the comments below! Until next time, friends! One thing that's been beaten into me at Taylor is deadlines are everything. You meet the deadline, you become your publisher's best friend. You miss it, you mess up the publishing chain, which could result in you missing your print date. And no one wants to miss their print date.
Well, I wanted to send my proposal back to the agent I talked about last week by yesterday. I scheduled it out, every fine detail, so that I could get it back in a timely manner. Well, I didn't account for school. And the fact I'm currently in quarantine. Needless to say, I didn't make my deadline. Don't worry: it was a deadline I set for myself. I'm the only person screwed over for missing it. But it still stinks. I feel like I can't hold myself accountable to get things done in a timely fashion. If it's homework or if I'm doing something for someone else, 99% of the time, I get it done on time. (Even with minor procrastination.) But when it comes to me, I can't hold a deadline. Something I've started doing is scheduling out what writing or editing I need to get done by using something called a Gantt chart. While I was taking engineering courses during high school, we talked about Gantt charts, and how engineers use them to schedule out their projects so they don't fall behind. Everything they need to accomplish is on the chart, whether it's a big job or something as simple as creating that chart in the first place. They're helpful, and normally effective. So, I stole that concept and started applying it to my writing. Currently, I have three different charts going: my book proposal (which I extended the deadline to the thirteenth so I can finish editing), editing and re-writing the rest of the first book in the Dynasty River mystery series (finishing by 10/15), and finishing the second draft of book two (finishing by 10/14). Somewhere down the road, I'll be adding re-writing book three and editing book four. I'm not saying I'm going to follow the chart perfectly. I'm human, and also a full-time college student. But I'm training myself for the real world. I even gave myself buffer days in case I really get behind, or really need a break. Scheduling is something that's never going away, so I might as well get a head start on it now. If this is something you want to learn more about or want to see an example of, I'm willing to put together a YouTube video showing how to create a Gantt chart. I find them helpful, and I want to provide other writers with scheduling systems that work. Let me know if that's something that would interest you! Happy Writing! |
L.P. MetzgerJust a girl with a dream, but you already knew that. Archives
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