I suspect every writer out there has had issues with time management at one point or another. I’m certainly not immune to the problem although, up to now, it has only been an occasional trouble. I’ve always done my writing in between family, job, scout leader duties, soccer coach duties, church obligations and various fundraiser activities. Somehow, despite being busy, I was always able to get the writing done. Granted, some days I had to settle for 500 words instead of 2,000 but I was still making progress. That changed on the 14th of November; I was laid off from my job. Suddenly I had ALL this free time to devote to writing. Except I’m struggling to get it done […]
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NanoWriMo 2008 Was a Success
For those of you who have been following me, you know that the past couple weeks have been tough. The biggest event (although not the only one) was the loss of my job via company-wide lay-off. Not surprisingly, there were days when I didn’t feel like writing (or doing much of anything for that matter). Still, I knew I had to get my 50,000 words written for NanoWriMo just like I knew that writing would be therapeutic. So I continued to write. Not everyday and some days I didn’t come close to my 2,500 word-per-day goal, but I kept moving forward. While I was writing I was also reaching out to my network of friends to try and get leads on […]
Read moreNanoWriMo – The Mid-Month Update
I’m happy to say I’m better than half-way through my NanoNovel. This has proven to be a very good thing since I haven’t felt like writing much the past few days. You see, I was laid off from my job last Friday and I’m still reeling from the blow. The layoff wasn’t entirely unexpected; I had heard rumblings that it might be coming as early as August. Still, you never really think it will happen to you, do you? I know I didn’t. It’s not all doom and gloom; I got a bit of severance and the job market here is still very strong AND I have a pretty good stock of experience and skills to draw from. Even so, […]
Read moreThe Writer’s Life – The Value of Critique Groups
Critique Groups, Reading Groups, First Readers… whatever you want to call them, they are worth their weight in gold. I’m coming to the whole “Crit Group” thing a bit late. I’ve already written four books of various lengths and genres without ever partaking in any organized reader/feedback/critique group. So why am I doing it now? Well, despite having the books written, they remain unpublished. Is that because they aren’t good or is it because I simply haven’t found the right combination of Publisher + timing + luck? Maybe it’s a bit of both. Whenever I find myself asking questions like that I know I have to find the answer and fast. I can ask my family and friends what they […]
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