Five Ways to Schedule Your Writing Time in 2015

This is the first of a fifteen post series, entitled "15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015."

Good Morning, pretty people! Get yourselves a cup of coffee and prepare for some valuable, writer lessons. It's the first Monday of the new year, and with that, the beginning of my first blog series called, "15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015." With several guest posts from my much cooler friends, we're going to write ourselves into awesomeness this year. Ready for it? Hooray!

I always start of the new year with a million good wishes, plans and strategies. Some of them stick, while some of them do not. Last year, I made this writing calendar, which turned out to be good in theory, but a bit difficult to keep up with consistently. However, I made a few concrete resolutions that I not only kept, but exceeded.

This year, I plan to publish my book. I couldn't have reached this point without a dedicated, conscious commitment to writing daily. There are a few ways to go about doing this. Let's walk through them together, shall we?

1. Set Time of Day

I can make this statement with utmost certainty: I will never be the type of writer who wakes up before work to get my writing time in for the day. It's just not going to happen. For some writers, scheduling a portion of the morning is a lifesaver. Recently, I've been writing on my lunch break, which has been a great strategy. For the most part, I'm a nighttime, before bed writer. Figuring out the best time of day for your writing schedule is essential to maintaining a consistent writing routine. (That sounded kind of fancy and high-horsey, but you get the gist.)

For me, it's easier to put myself to bed thirty minutes earlier than to pull myself out of it in the morning. It all comes down to what works for you.

2. Word Count Goal 

I've spoken about the magic of word sprinting before, and I've mentioned Jeff Goins' My 500 Words program. Word count seems to be the easiest way to measure your writing. Personally, I aimed for more than 500 words a day, but Jeff's program was a great way to ease into the process. I try to pen at least 1,000 words, because I know I'll end up trashing about half of them. (Did you realize how many words get cut in the book-making process? It's like alphabet soup over here, y'all.)

There are a few options for you: a weekly word goal, that lends itself to some flexibility. I'd say about 5,000 words a week at minimum. A daily word count goal is also a good thing to shoot for, but can be a bit more difficult to manage.

3. A Page a Day 

I'm not going to lie. This is about the bare minimum for writer people. A page is approximately 250 words double-spaced or 500 single-spaced. This is basically a journal entry. However, it's a good way to kickstart your routine, and also an opportunity to practice your longhand. (I happen to be a big believer in writing on paper.)

If you write a page a day, you could have a novel in a year. And chances are, when you get started writing, a page just won't be enough. You writer machine, you.

4. Time Increments (an hour, etc.) 

"I'm going to sit here and write for an hour and I'm not leaving this chair until I do." This kind of writer is a habitual person, and most likely pairs this with strategy #1. Kudos to you, my timely friend. This strategy works as long as you hold yourself accountable. The problem I find is that structuring your writing time around, well, time itself can make your word count fluctuate. Try your best to not squander your first thirty minutes staring at a blank screen.

I suggest pairing this strategy with the sprinting technique. "I will sit here and write as fast as I can for thirty minutes" is usually a much more effective method.

5. Deadlines 

Still with me? Did your forehead just fall on the keyboard? Deadlines are not a negative thing. They're simply a means to an end. "I plan to write three chapters in the next week and a half." It's an incredibly effective way to hold yourself accountable, especially if you tack on some kind of reward or consequence to it. "I will write 2,000 words by next Tuesday or I will have to go a week without coffee."

Yikes.

If that doesn't scare you, involve a friend. Have someone that expects your pages/chapters/words by that date, even if they're not actually going to read it. You feel a lot more pressure when there's someone waiting on the other side.

Discussion Time: How do you plan to make the most of your writing time in 2015? What's your favorite way to schedule your writing time?

How I Kept My New Year's Resolutions in 2014

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Hello, happy holidayers. It's almost 2015, which means about now, you're making a million promises to yourself. "I will lose 15902 pounds." "I will make my bed every morning." "I will finally figure out how to use the garbage disposal." Hats off to you, my friends. There are so many posts out there about how to keep your resolutions next year, but I thought it might be helpful to show you how I kept my resolutions this year. Say goodbye to 2014 with me, won't you?

On January 6th of last year, I wrote this post and made a handy dandy resolution guide for myself. Let's see how I did, shall we?

2014 Goals

1. Edit. Edit. Edit More. When I first wrote this, it was in regards to my first manuscript. Now that I've finished These are the Moments, the full editing process is under way. I've completed my first read-through, and now it's on to implementing the second draft edits. Mission Accomplished. 
2. Create an E-Newsletter. Hooray! The Blots & Plots Newsletter is a real thing. Currently, I'm at about 112 subscribers. Not too shabby, huh? This year, I intend to utilize this even more, tailoring it to your wants/needs/requests. Mission accomplished. 
3. Go Outside. Explore. Travel. This is less writing-focused, but certainly feeds into the inspiration for writing. In the beginning of this year, I moved to Houston, Texas. I attended a Writer's Conference in Austin, and a Blog Conference in Galveston. There could definitely be more exploring and traveling, but overall, I'm happy with this. Mission accomplished. 
4. Build a Blog Audience. As we speak, I'm at 2,464 followers on Twitter. I've started an Instagram, had a successful following on Pinterest and have a very interactive space on this blog of mine. I've made incredible friends through this space, and I'm grateful to anyone who visits me here. I can't wait to see where all of this goes. Mission accomplished. 
5. Finish. That. Novel. (Excuse me while I jump for joy.) Check and check. Mission accomplished.

Bonus Achievements

1. Empty Bookshelf Challenge. On my Goodreads page, I made a goal to read 40 books this year. So far, I've read 37. (I'm pretty positive this will hit at least 38 by the end of the year.) This was a completely random number I pulled out of the sky, so I'm pretty happy with this result. Mission almost accomplished. 
2. Oh yeah, I'm a published author. At a later date, there will be a complete post about this, but for now, just know that my short story, "Carry Urns & Stowaways" was recently published in an Australian anthology called Kindling, by the wonderful people at Writer's Edit. This was an amazing journey, and I'm thrilled to be even just a small part of it. Mission super accomplished. 

A Special Note/Words of Un-Wisdom

If I could give you one piece of advice on New Year's Resolutions, it would be this: don't waste your time making lofty, unmanageable goals. When it comes to hitting milestones, make lists of things that you're bound to make happen. I knew I would write a book. I knew I would pursue this blog. It was only a matter of time/dedication/tons of coffee. There's something amazing about wanting to climb mountains and bike across the country and be Cheryl Strayed. But I'm not going to live that kind of life (anytime soon, at least). You have to set goals that you can see yourself reaching.

P.S. Thank you for being amazing this year.

P.P.S. That was only un-wisdom because I like putting "un" in front of words. A Very Merry Un-New Year's Eve to you.

TATM is done! (Almost) (Mostly)

Dear friends,

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet, as it's bed time and I need to bring myself back down to Earth. Today I finished writing my book. That's right, it's all there in print, pretty and pink and… wait what? Let's talk emotions. When I realized last night that I only had one scene left to write, the last scene, I realized I still wasn't completely sure how I wanted it to end. That scared me, of course. So I went to sleep and hoped on every last hope that I could figure out what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it.

This morning I woke up with a little bit clearer of a vision. A fuzzy, looking-at-it-through-a-bubble kind of image. And then I did everything possible today to put off the whole last scene that just felt so big and heavy. I even cleaned. I know. Be shocked. And finally, I sat down and wrote the scene I've been avoiding since like… the beginning of this whole adventure. And it flowed. Word after word, it just started to piece together for me, and when I wrote the last word — which is "wait" by the way, but subject to change — I thought, did I just write a book? 

And I did. Which is kind of awesome in that it's my first book. But also, I'm aware that others have written book after book before me, so I've got a long road ahead of me. Anyway. I finished writing a book today, and the editing will come tomorrow, so I feel kind of pins-and-needles-ish and I want to hug all of you and drink some kind of pink drink together. While wearing pink. (God, I really shouldn't write these posts while half-asleep.)

Now allow me to be a little sentimental. Big thank you to everyone who reads this blog and has followed through this crazy (bound to be crazier soon) book journey with me. All of your tweets, comments and thoughts really mean a lot to me, and I'm just so happy to be part of this amazing community. You are the best. And now, a video:

A Lesson in Editing and A #TATM Update

This one goes out to all you post-NaNoers. And everyone else knee-deep in the thick of their own rambling, misspelled words. Last week, I talked a little bit about how I just recently merged my dual timelines, and now I'm all, "Holy Heck, this looks like a book." When I made this merge, I realized there were a few filler scenes that I needed to finish writing, before I could print out the dang thing and get a good look at it. I'm happy to say that I only have two more filler scenes + the final scene (which I am shaking in my boots just thinking about) until I can move forward with what I consider to be my second draft editing.

When people say that writing is hard work, I think they really mean editing is hard work. Dear Lord, is it tough. My second draft of These are the Moments is a mix of edited and non-edited chapters, that I am fully prepared to hack into with my pink pen (red's too creepy) once all of the writing is done, done, done. I have a strategy, I promise you. First step, write the book: check. Second step: merge the timelines: check. And for my editing plan? Well, it goes a little something like this (ten points if you caught that Aaron Carter reference):

An In-Depth Read-Through

This is what writer people like to call "macro edits." Big picture stuff. My first read-through isn't going to be a hey, I think you missed a comma there kind of reading. It's going to be a you gave that girl two different last names and a what happened to the cat kind of editing. Here's what to look for in this stage:

• Subplots: Do they each have enough "screen time," so to speak? Are they evolving? Is there a resolution? For example, my main character, Wendy, and her relationship with her sister Claudia is an integral subplot. They begin the novel a little distant, their age difference acting as a kind of barrier, and by the end, well…. you'll see.
• Themes: What's your story trying to say? And more importantly, how well is it communicating that message? I'm not a huge believer in the bold, HEY THIS IS THE THEME method. I think stories affect everyone in different ways. Example: one theme of TATM is the idea of growing up and dealing with that post-college phase of your life. This is communicated through her living at home again, getting used to a full-time job and trying to be self-sufficient. In the end, Wendy has to realize that she's an adult now. But it takes a while to get to that point!
• Transitions: This one is doubly important for me, as I'm basically making two stories fit to one. But in general, is your story fitting together? Can readers follow your zigs and zags? My story covers ten years of livin' so it's especially important for me to keep readers grounded in when things are happening. The last thing you want is for a reader to get confused. They'll most likely give up.

Keep notes from your first reading. In a notebook or in the margins of your print-out. Whatever you feel most comfortable with!

Review and Edit

Wow, what a whirlwind, huh? Okay, now's the part where you go back and check out all the crazy notes you made. Then make the changes. This might involve big edits, like reworking full scenes, or minor edits like cutting sentences or paragraphs. On the first round, try to focus on the big issues first, and then trickle your way down to the baby fixes. With TATM, I don't anticipate too many total scene reworkings. I conquered a good deal of that when I transferred my scenes from paper to computer.

Was that so bad? Yeah, it was. I'm not gonna lie to you. But guess what! It gets easier… I think. The next step is another read-through, with a narrower focus. Look for things like hey I use the word "look" a heck of a lot and okay, I need to vary those sentences a bit. Actually, now that I think about it, this step might be even tougher than the first. I tend to drive myself crazy over this kind of thing, over thinking it, when I should just leave well alone. Hey Jenny, nobody cares how many times you used the word blue. They just don't. Keep a little perspective, I'd say. After this round of edits, make the changes. Read, Edit, Repeat. More and more focused with each cycle. You get it.

END NOTE: This has nothing to do with anything in this post, but I'm currently reading a fantastic set of e-books on self-publishing, called The Indie Author Power Pack: How To Write, Publish, & Market Your Book. I highly recommend!

What's your best advice on the editing process? No, really. Help a sister out.