A quick post before I get fitted for a tux for a friends wedding. Something that Im going to have to get away from is editing each chapter as I finish it. As I near 20,000 words I find myself lost in the first chapter, editing, and reediting the opening lines. Today I spent the better part of my morning doing just this.
As a developing writer, I must force myself to avoid going back to work on things. There will be plenty of time for all of that when I'm finished with the first draft.
Oh, also one thing I might point out for anyone who's looking into this world of writing. Check out the book "On Writing" by Stephen King. Its packed with a lot of information and from a viewpoint that we all can relate too. Someone who's just trying to make it in life as a author and what he had to go though in life to make it. It was a real eye opener for me.
Trevor Shelby is a aspiring author. He is cataloging his experiences on what he has gone through in order to write and publish his first book. Trevor does not have a Agent yet and is currently working on his first horror novel. Trevor Shelby has a Degree in Criminal Justice, has working in mental hospitals and in the Jail systems in Oklahoma.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Where I go to write (For now)
You know there are times that I find it very hard to
sit down and write on my novel. I find
that I get distracted very easy and this was something that was very bothersome
to me. So about a month ago, I sat down
to write and I found me playing with my bird Marty while he was out of his
cage. Now don’t take this as I’m not
serious about my writing, because I am.
But there’s a good chance that I got a very short attention span. This is something that I’ve dealt with for
most of my life. I get distracted very easily
and I can find myself way off target when I’m going to get things done. So I did what every normal person does… I
Googled my problem.
It quickly became apparent that I am not the only person
with this problem. Like me there are
others out there searching for answers.
I found several suggestions that were helpful and some not so. One suggestion that I found is what has
helped me the most It comes down to
this, if you think that your problem is that your distracted easily or too
often then you need to sit down and address your situation and what you are
doing in order to get your book done. No
matter the subject is, if you are like me and have a short attention span you
must take the distractions out of the equation.
For me I had to get away from the TV, games, Ipad, and Facebook.
To accomplish this I come up with a game plan. I like in Oklahoma City and near where I live
there is a Library a few miles from my home and while the kiddos are in school,
I started going there to write. This works
for me because the Moore Public Library is nice, quiet and has several comforts
that I can enjoy while I’m writing. For instance,
At home I tend to write on my laptop while in bed and although you might think
that this would be comfortable but I get terrible back aches from sitting in an
odd position for hours at a time. But at
this library, they have wonderful armchairs that are very comfortable! I can write all day (Backache free) if I have
the time and if I go in the mornings there are very few people there to distract
me.
The Moore Public Library.
Another thing I tend to do is turn off the Wi-Fi on
my computer while I write. I find that my
mind won’t drift off to things that would normally distract me like Facebook or
the news. I know that it’s simple to
just turn the Wi-Fi back on but if I’m in the right mindset, I won’t do
anything but focus on the task at hand. This
has helped me tremendously, even though the library had Wi-Fi, I don’t use
it. If I need to research for my book or
look a fact up, I tend to use my smart phone so that I don’t get too distracted.
The only problem I face now is that I want to get
work done on the book while I’m at home in the evenings or on the weekends. I find that it’s not easy to do when the kids
are always distracting me. I love them
to death and I do enjoy that I get to spend all of my free time with them; I
just need to figure out a balance so that they know that I’m working, even on
the weekends. Also we have a TV in just
about every room and it’s very easy to turn it on and forget all about the work
I planned on getting done.
But that’s a problem I’m working on now. If you have any suggestions, don’t be afraid
to leave a comment, who knows, it could help me tremendously in growing as a
writer!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Becoming a Blogger
Although I always told myself that I would never be a "Blogger", here I am blogging away. I wanted some way to document my writing progress and the the many things that I will be considering along the way. I also hope to use this experience to make myself a better author, by building on the knowledge of those who have walked this path.
There is a little learning curve to blogging and the blogger.com website but I feel that I can overcome those obstacles.
I hope everyone following will enjoy the adventure and perhaps learn something from my experiences.
Enjoy!
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