5 Ways to Create Your Own Writing Space

This is post #8 in a fifteen post series, entitled “15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015,” 

posting on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday of January.

I write this post from my bed, a cup of tea on my nightstand and a Delta Rae song playing on Spotify. I'm distracted, if I'm completely honest. I keep checking my Twitter and Pinterest, and I'm having a hard time avoiding Netflix. As a blogger and a novelist, finding the perfect writing space can make or break my productivity.

When you make time to write, you need to use it wisely. For me, I won't get nearly enough done at home than at a coffee shop, unless I trick my brain into the writing mode. Maybe you are one of those people who can write in pajamas. Maybe you are the kind of person who needs to be in full-on work clothes. To keep my writing in check, I've devised five ways to create your own writing space:

Eliminate Distractions

I've spoken about this topic several times, mostly involving social media. Let's take it a step further, shall we? When you make the decision to write, eliminate all possible distractions. Writing time should not be interrupted by laundry or cleaning. (See that? I just gave you permission not to clean. You're welcome.)

If you're tempted to turn on the television, switch rooms. If the shuffling of people in coffee shops keeps you from getting work done, stay at home. This is a tweetable moment:

[Tweet "Learn your distraction triggers and avoid the heck out of 'em. @blotsandplots #writetip"]

Get Comfortable, But Not Too Comfortable

If you're writing from your couch and you find yourself slinking into the cushions, get out now. You're on your way to nap town. Quick, get moving! You don't want to be uncomfortable when writing, because that can fall into the distraction category, but you also don't want to be overly adjusted. Imagine yourself sitting at a school desk. Avoid slouching, and sit up straight. Tell yourself that you mean business. 

Silence or No Silence

Personally, I'm a writer who likes to make playlists, but if you create your writing space music-free, that's cool, too. When I'm writing from home, I still use my headphones, because it helps me to click into the moment. If you're a no-noise writer, prepare for this. Maybe try writing at your local library if your apartment/house is too loud. Try some fancy noise-cancelling headphones for fun. Whatever suits you, make sure to prepare for this ahead of time. Have your playlist ready or your sound-proof room all set. 

Coffee/Tea/Water/Hydrate, Okay?

I am the rare, all-of-the-above person. Depending on the day, I drink either coffee or tea, and I always have a bottle of water handy. For long bouts of writing, I make sure to have these ready from the start. Nothing kills productivity like needing to stop mid-scene to grab a sip of water. Try drinking your coffee or tea out of a thermos. This keeps it warmer longer and prevents unnecessary trips to the kitchen. Also, pace yourself, people. Bathroom breaks are distractions, too. Pick your poison and fill up ahead of time. 

Consider a Well-Lit Room

Honestly, I'm a night writer, as I've mentioned before in this post on scheduling your writing time. On the weekends when I have more time, I spend most of my Sunday writing or editing at the coffee shop. For me, when daytime writing, I like to be in a place with plenty of natural lighting. Natural lighting wakes you up and tells you that it's time to work. If you're writing from home, try opening the blinds and writing by a window. If you're really an overachiever, you can even try writing outside.

Discussion Time: How do you create your own writing space? What elements are essential for your best writing productivity?

Novel Advice: What to Do When the Story Isn't Working

the above photo is a modified adaptation of this work

This is post #7 in a fifteen post series, entitled “15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015,” 

posting on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday of January.

This is a guest post, brought to you by the lovely Ashley R. Carlson. Read her other guest post here. Enjoy!

I published my debut novel, “The Charismatics,” in December of 2014, and it was a whirlwind six months leading up to the release (read about my process here and how I felt after the release here). So now that things have died down a little, I began to work on something new, because that’s what every successful indie author says to do, right? RIGHT.

Whenever you finish a piece of work, get started on something new. Side note: Don’t spend weeks or even months trying to market the thing. Let your readers do that for you. Just produce more great work and get your name and work in readers’ hands. (I do have a couple of speaking events coming up that will involve “The Charismatics,” and possibly an event at an indie bookstore, but those were in the works before release. Other than that I haven’t written guest posts for it, nor paid for advertising. I’d rather write some new material to sell).

So that was my plan, to begin working on another novella in a completely different genre than my novel (contemporary adult vs. YA steampunk fantasy) because 1) I wanted a break from fantasy and 2) I wanted to push myself with a new genre.

A few things happened when I started working on the first draft of my novella, “Misery and Marlene,” a few weeks ago, and I noticed how nice it was to be writing a first draft again (the freedom! The inexplicably wild naked-and-running freedom of pantsing a first draft of something again!). I also noticed how for some reason, it wasn’t happening very easily for me.

That’s right. I was having a hard time with various facets of “Misery and Marlene.” Firstly, it was a genre I’d never written in before, and didn’t even really know much about: contemporary. No dragons, no magic, no secret governmental plots (all awesome things in my previous novel). Nope. This story had cell phones and a girl who worked at a bar and lived in Missouri but called it “Misery” because she hated it and the whole thing just wasn’t very … inspiring. It was all sort of bland to me, and you want to know why?

Because it felt a little too much like my own life.

A single woman in a dead-end job with huge dreams she doesn’t know will come to fruition or not. Yep, I had inadvertently begun a memoir, hidden under the ruse of fiction. I also noticed that I was used first person present, which is the tense I’ve used in both my short story (“Cruel”) and my novel.

So because I wasn’t feeling the itch to sit down and tap these keys into words of the story, I decided to try some things before scrapping it entirely.

1) I changed tenses and narrative. As mentioned, it was previously a first person present tense story, which seems to be my “go to” narrative style. I like it because 1) it’s personal (you’re in the character’s head, hearing their thoughts and experiencing their experiences) and 2) it’s “in the moment.” “The Hunger Games” series is written in first person present tense, and I think it lends to the intensity and fear of the situations. Both my short story and novel are high-action, tense stories with female protagonists, so it worked for them as well. But this? This contemporary novella about a sad girl in a sad place with a sad life?

It was all just sounding a bit too whiny, a bit too mundane in first person narrative. So I changed it to third person past tense a few days ago. But how?

2) I started over. Yep. I ignored the 10,000 words I’d begun (though I didn’t delete them completely) and began a new manuscript, with the differing tense. I noticed a difference right away; this story was no longer a silly diary of a bored girl. It was deeper than that. It was tragic. I could literally smell the tragedy off the main character, off her family members, off the little town in Missouri itself. Disappointment. Broken dreams. Compromises. Dysfunction. The words were flying into my head and onto the page, and I was looking at things from an entirely new angle. The other good thing was this:

3) I used the previous information for the new version. I had 10k words of good material to direct me with this new draft—characters and their names, places, events. Now, obviously this is what an outline would tell me, if I did those. But even for those of you who outline like crazy, I bet sometimes you get started on a story and it just doesn’t work, for some fundamental reason. That doesn’t mean you get rid of the entire idea—it could still be a great one. You just need to tweak, examine another way. And if you still feel like there’s passion there, that it’s a story your heart aches to tell, than keep at it.

Just remember that if the idea has grown stale in your mind, scrap it completely and start something new. Always, always start something new. You’re a writer, after all—the stories are there in your mind and at your fingertips, just waiting to be placed upon the page.

Ashley R. Carlson grew up wanting a talking animal friend and superpowers, and when that didn’t happen, she decided to write them into existence. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with four (non-talking) pets and one overactive imagination. Follow Ashley R. Carlson’s writing at www.ashleyrcarlson.com or find her on Twitter @AshleyRCarlson1. Her novel, “The Charismatics” has debuted to rave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and can be found here.

How to Storyboard Your Novel on Pinterest

Feeling the inspirational lull? Today, we're going to talk about how to storyboard your novel on Pinterest. As part of our Writerly series, it's important to talk about how to visualize your novel with all of its characters and elements. The more creative you are with it, the more you get out of it. 

Pre-Pinterest, I used inspiration boards to channel my creative energy, which was basically a collage of pictures, colors and accents that made up my novel in image form.

With Pinterest, we have much more flexibility. Much like making a novel soundtrack, it allows you to see your story in a new light. Ready to make your own? Here are a few ideas of which pins to use + pins I used to storyboard my own novel, These Are the Moments:

Character Pins

Having trouble picturing your characters? Pinterest has your back! There are some amazing resources on Pinterest to help you find the picture-perfect images of your characters. For instance, my friend Kristen of She's Novel has great boards specifically for character inspiration.

Setting Pins

Now that we have our characters, we need to set them in a space of their own. Whether they're in a post-apocalyptic world or right there in your backyard, it helps to picture your characters in their natural habitats. Let's bring them to life, okay? To find settings of your own, check out Mandy Wallace's Pinterest page.

Quote Pins

We're writers, so we love the heck out of words. Maybe you need dialogue inspiration. Maybe you need motivation. Maybe you just need words to make you feel something. Whatever the case, it's time to start quote collecting, my friends.

Inspiration Pins

If you're having trouble getting your story started, maybe you need a bit of inspiration. Patterns, florals, whatever evokes emotion in you is fair game! If you're looking for more pins like these, be sure to check out my boards on Pinterest.

Discussion Time: Do you storyboard your novel(s) on Pinterest? What are your favorite ways to spark your inspiration?

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Be Your Best Self: A Writer's Perspective on Identity

This is the #4 in a fifteen post series, entitled "15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015," posting on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday of January.

I hope you're reading this from your bed, a cup of coffee on your bedside table, and sleep still in your eyes. (Gross.) Because it's Sunday, I invite you to do zero productive things. You've earned it. But if you feel  inclined to read this post while you lounge, well, who am I to stop you? Today, we're taking a writing break, and talking about you, the writer. 

We hear about author platforms all the time. Be available to your audience, but not too in their face. Be on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, but don't stretch yourself too thin. We get so caught up in checking off our lists that we forget to just be ourselves. Some of my favorite writers — John Green, Rainbow Rowell, Ransom Riggs — are my favorite not only because of what they've written, but because of who they are. To clarify: writing is not a popularity contest. But having a personality can only work in your favor. A few thoughts on how to be your best self:

Act, Don't Simply React

If someone has taken the time to tweet you or comment on your blog, by all means, answer them. Manners, man. But don't wait around for that. The Internet is a dialogue between you and readers, as well as you and other writers. Schedule a little time in your day to explore. Look at other people's blogs, scan your Twitter feed and respond to people you follow, search your Instagram and find new friends. You are not a Queen waiting on your subjects. You are a person. They are people. Be a part of the conversation, not as a strategy, but because you are genuinely interested in the lives around you. 

Be Open About Your Failures

We don't admire the people we admire because they are cyborg perfectionists. Failures are an inevitable part of life, and they don't make you a failure. People love an underdog and respond to real, live people. If I were a picture perfect Barbie doll, telling you about how I've mastered the publishing world with my wit and charms, you would hate me. This is 2015, people.

Celebrate what makes you different. There are so many times when I'm sitting inside on a Saturday night, thinking, "I'm 23. Shouldn't I be at a bar or something?" But then I remember my goals and that I don't have to be everything at once. That's a pretty awesome feeling. Speaking of honesty, my friend Ashley R. Carlson does it best. Hop over to her blog and fall in love.

Be Your Best Self, Not Someone Else's

How many times have you caught yourself trying to be a copy cat? "Well, John Green uses tumblr, so I should too." "Tahara Mafi started a lifestyle blog, so I should definitely do that as well." "Hugh Howey was such a successful self-publisher, so I'm going to self-publish too." Here's an important truth for you: what works for one person, does not work for all. The book world is evolving every single day. If you try to write based off of trends or market yourself in the latest fad, then you're setting yourself up for a loss.

Find your own voice. It's actually pretty simple. All you have to do is be yourself. (Yes, this is cliché. Doesn't mean it's not true.) This is to your own advantage: if people love you, they'll want to support you, meaning they will buy your work. Being who you are can only help you, and isn't it so much easier? Stop trying so hard. Just wear your onesie and let your hair down.

Discussion Time: Let's get to know each other: Tell me about yourself! In what ways are you practicing your best self? How do you embrace your identity?

How to Find Your Ideal Reader

This is the #3 in a fifteen post series, entitled "15 Days to Writerly Awesome in 2015," 

posting on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday of January.

Friday's here, and we've made it to the third post in the quest for Writerly Awesomeness. So far, you've learned how to schedule your writing time and how to be your own critic. Today, we're talking about our readers, because aren't they so pretty? (P.S. I just spent the last twenty minutes blog-stalking my potential readers. I love them already.)

When you're writing your story, who do you picture reading it beside you? Not literally beside you, because that would be weird, so let's think metaphorically. Is your reader a girl or a boy? Does she/he like ponies or scuba diving or political activeness? Which of your characters is this person rooting for? Your ideal reader is a representation of your audience, and serves as a tool for your writing. Here's how to find your ideal reader:

Why You Should Visualize Your Ideal Reader

I'm a people-pleaser. For me, I want everyone to love what I write, like me as a person and have an overall good impression of everything I do. Is this possible? Absolutely not and that's okay. Without an ideal reader in mind, you're left trying to please everyone, and that's unrealistic. Ideal readers are your cheerleaders. They're the ones that read all of your blog posts, wait anxiously for your next tweet and will read your receipts if you let them. (Tip: don't let them read your receipts.)

For my blog, my ideal reader is in fact, a reader; although, most of my posts are geared towards writers. I try to make my posts approachable and fun, so that they'll appeal towards non-writers as well. Informative and entertaining: that's my goal. For my book's ideal reader, you can read the second post in this series. Try writing a list of qualities your ideal reader might possess. What about your writing appeals to him/her?

How to Find Your Ideal Reader

Be specific. Know what your reader will like about your work, and what they won't. An ideal reader can be a constructed idea as well as an actual person. Let's say your ideal reader is your mother. Maybe you think she's ideal because she's going to love your writing no matter what because she's your mom and you're just so awesome. Wrong. Here's a better example: my mother is my ideal reader because she likes romances, but not harlequin, historical novels. She doesn't like cheesy one-liners, so she'll call me out if she sees them in my writing.

See?

Your ideal writer isn't someone who is going to praise your every waking thought. Your ideal reader is supportive, but also constructive. A cheerleader, but also that guy on the sidelines who makes all of the plays and gets really mad when they fail. (A coach? A what?) I digress.

When it comes to finding your perfect reader, you need to imagine someone who shares the vision of your story, but also has his/her opinions. Experiment with multiple readers, but be wary of casting too many. Let your friends read your book, and see who provides you with the best feedback.

DISCUSSION TIME: Who is your ideal reader? Do you find this as an effective tool in the writing process?