Tested Writing Tips – Page 4 – Marie Alice Writes & Reads

Diary of a writing project. Day 62-63: Two writing tips put to the test

Word count goal this week: 55 000 words

Day 62
Word count goal so far: 36 289 words

I getting back on track, sort of, with the manuscript.

I’m almost ready to give up on my self-imposed deadline, but I’m afraid of what the consequences could be, both for my quivering will and my determined laziness.

Still, just to be out of the writing wroth I’ve been experiencing the past few weeks is utter bliss.

I used a Writing Tip I’ve always looked down upon before: writing in non-chronological order.

It works in this case because it’s a very linear story. At first, I outlined a ton of flaws-backs, but that was when the story was leaning more on the spooky side. Now, it’s more funny and light, more spooky cozy. No big tangled mystery. Just plain old fantasy-fantastique.
Therefore, it’s easier to jump around without feeling dizzy.

I really don’t know if I’m gonna use that tip/trick again, but for this project, it works well.

Day 63
Word count goal so far: 37 551 words

The famous writing sprint is a writing tip I always fail at, kind of.

I’m not a fast writer, as you may know by now if you’ve been kind enough to tag along is this crazy writer quest.
Even when I’m sprint writing, the results are rarely outstanding.

Best exemple would be today, where I sprint write for two hours in the morning (working from a home is awesome).
I ended up with a little more than 700 words. Better then all the writing session from last week combined, but a unimpressive word count nevertheless.

Worst thing is I really though I was over 1k words!

Anyway, I pushed through tonight and at long last, I almost reached my daily writing goal of 1 400 words. A first in many, many writing days.

I shall try the Writing sprint tomorrow again though. It’s good.
For one thing, it helps me focus solely on the characters and the story and the writing. It’s easier to find the good words when my attention is totally dedicated on writing.

Dear, dear writer friends, until next time !

Writing Tips: How to keep up with the writing routine during the Holidays?

How will I keep up and find time to write during the Holidays?
By being ruthless, mouhwahwahwah ! And by using some faithful Writing Tips, of course.

Since September, I got myself used to a nice little writing routine.
I write after kiddo is fast asleep, about four or five nights a week.
The day job may be exhausting sometimes, but I finally reached a point where I’m happy to go back to my stories each weeknight.

It was all good until I recently realized the Holidays were coming oh-so-fast again this year, I got a bit stress out.

Getting the presents, the gift wrapping, the food, food, more food to prep…

Continuer la lecture

Tested Writing Tip: Off with distractions!

I adapted this tip from a prolific indie author to my reality.
My adapted tip certainly seems a little, well, easy and not really worth to talk about. But again, it’s very useful, simple and attainable, the three things I’m looking for in a writing tip.
I’ve been using this one for several weeks now, and it’s a keeper. It was so easy to implement in my existing writing routine.

Off with distractions!

Here it is, so simple I actually never tough of it as an actual writing tip.

Get rid of distractions before writing.

No phone, no emails, no social media. And for the mama writers: no shopping for kids clothes between sentences. (Staying away from the cuteness is hard)
Clear whatever you can off that never ending to-do list of yours (another « ps » for the writer mama’s: it never hurt anybody to leave dishes sit in the dishwasher for a night, or pick up the toys in the morning; I pinky swear).
Once all the distractions are dealt with, it is so much easier to focus on the writing, and the writing only.

I say « tip adapted to my reality » because, in the first place, this writing tips goes way further. The indie author I got the tip from actually bans his loves one from coming in his office (a smart idea), which is not a possibility for this lower middle-class mother of a young kid.

Et voilà, my tested writing tip for today: getting rid of distractions to be able to focus more on writing.

Thanks for reading this post. Until next time!