HR Writers Guild

I wish I could say I have a writing schedule. I dream of having a block of time where my life is quiet enough– and I have enough inspiration– to just write. For now, I write as I make copies at work, or when I’m supposed to be preparing pleadings. I write as I stir the macaroni and cheese and burn the biscuits. I’ve even written while I wait for the shower to warm up– and end up running out of hot water. 

These little snippets result in a paragraph here and a drabble there.  Somehow, through the years, I’ve managed to scrap together a novel. I love my characters, I love my plot. I just wish I could spend more time with them.

Procrastination.  That’s what  I do best. So in an effort to change my ways this year, I decided to enlist some help. The first step was to start with some one that I think of as a highly organized and deadline oriented writer. Even after the interview I’m still not sure how she does it.

Amy Laurel is a screenwriter in the Chicago area with a screenplay The Haan Blade in development. You can check out her progress at www.amylaurel.com.

Amy moved from a 9-5 job in sales and writing 3 pages a day to working full-time as a writer. After becoming the leisurely writer that she is today (meaning no day job pressures) she found that her writing increased from 3 pages a day to 15, and manages on average 30-50 pages.  In the beginning Amy found that an online class helped her get comfortable in the “I’m a writer” mentality. It was the first time that she had shown her written work to anyone other that her family “who had liked her work because they had to.”

The writing class gave her honest, no strings attached feedback. I think she was surprised that most people liked her work. But with that and the support of her family, she has successfully moved from her day job to writing full-time.

Despite the fact that Amy writes for a living, organization is still key and like those of us still slogging away at jobs-to-pay-the-bills, she has to remain as focused as the rest of us.

Organization

For those of us in the JTPTBs arena, she recommends carving out a set time EVERY DAY to write. Once the time is identified then set a realistic goal for that time. For example, while she was still doing that 9-5 job she would come home from work, change, then before doing anything else she would sit and write 3 pages.  There were no exceptions to the rule. Ok, sure life happens once in a while, but with the no exceptions rule, writing occurred more often than not.

So maybe you can’t write between work and dinner. Try setting aside an hour after the kids go to bed or prior to the kids getting up. Write on your lunch break. Set a realistic page goal. What ever the goal or the time, have one and stick to it.

Don’t worry about what comes out on the paper. Maybe you keep all 3 pages, maybe you only keep one sentence, but whatever comes out you’ll know that you won’t forget where you are going and the motivation to write more will inspire you for the next day.

Amy managed to write 3 pages a day (about 1 hour a day) for 2 years and finished 3 novellas with this structure.

Not sure where she found the patience, but then I didn’t ask that question.

Structure

Like everything in life, whether you’re writing around a day job or doing it full time, you must create a schedule. Just like being back in high school, define what you do hour by hour. You know, like 8-9 Breakfast. 9-11 Work on novel. 11-11:15 take a break. 11:15-1 do research for the novel. 1-2 lunch.

Well, you get the jist. Just set your times and go to work. There are days that will flow and other days that won’t. The trick is not to let yourself get sidetracked because of one bad day.

Story board your work. Now I thought this was a good idea if you’re a screenwriter, but she informed me that she does this with all her writing, to include novels. It helps her layout the time-line and see where possible problems will occur in the flow of things.

Walls use them to put things on: storyboards, character lists, white board with ideas, music play lists for a particular character, anything that will help you walk into your office, see your novel and get motivated.  Put it on the wall, that’s what they’re there for. If you know that your wall is a mint green, you shouldn’t. It should be white boards, sticky notes, and white paper with notes.

Writing Groups

I agree with Amy when she says: “Find a writing group.” Every writer should have a group. If nothing else, to know that you are not alone in how you feel or your struggles to become a successful writer.

Look for a group that meets your needs, has a solid structure, holds you accountable, and provides valid and helpful feedback in a consistent manner.

Amy and I each have our own writing groups. Hers works a little different than mine, as her group has writers in more than one location and focuses mainly on screenwriting. Mine is a locally based group where we meet face to face and focuses mainly on novels with some poetry thrown in.

PS: Can’t find a group, create one, that’s what I did.

Recommended References

There were several things that Amy recommended for motivational as well as industry related news.

She highly recommends 101 Habits of a Successful Screenwriter by Karl Iglesias.While this sounds like a screenwriters oriented book, she says, “Excellent writing habits for novelists and really, any kind of writer.”

Kathie Fong Yoneda helped me with my novella’s and I think it works for all writers from all walks. “She is Amazing!” Pitch & Presentation: Everything You Need to Know to Sell Your Script

Noah Lukeman of Lukeman Literary – “I am a huge fan of Noah Lukeman. He is very detailed about why things do and don’t work and is just brilliant. IMHO. ” She recommends his book The First Five Pages *A Writers Guide To Staying Out Of The Rejection Pile. This book is specifically for writers who are editing as a stalling/fear based form of not moving on. (Hint: In my writers group you know who you are.)

Noah also has a wonderful website where writers get to ask an industry leader/professional (and as a bonus a Lit Agent) where you can download several FREE e-books, each related to querying an agent etc. etc.

Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown is the other side of the coin. While Noah has been doing this a while, Nathan is “rather new.” So between the two agents you get a good perspective on the industry. He is very active on his blog and has a valuable list of resources to choose from.

Tips

Don’t edit as you go. Write, write, write, Get it on paper. It doesn’t have to be perfect out of the gate, but once you have a draft done most of the hard work is over. Edit only when needed and wait until you have the draft done, otherwise you’ll always be editing and will never get it done.

If stuck, press on. If you can’t figure out what comes next try: “…” (notice the highlight). Come back later and fill in the highlights, don’t let a stalled moment stop you from moving forward. You may not know what comes next, that’s ok, you will later.

Don’t let life side track you. If you want to write find a way. Despite several health issues over the last few months, including a botched wrist surgery that lead to nerve damage and painful shots to block the pain she found other ways to keep writing. When the keyboard became too painful she used the voice recorder on her phone and she tried several voice to text options (some even spoke Dragon). The point is, she could have simply waited for her hand to heal, but she didn’t. If you want to write, you can find the time and a way despite life’s little obstacles.

Motivation

I intentionally left this last, even though it probably would have flowed better earlier in the post. I wanted to leave you with, well, Motivation. Finish reading this so your blood’s pumping and the ideas flowing!

Amy Says: Goals, set some. Post them wherever you will see them A LOT. Looking at your goals on a daily basis will keep it fresh in your mind where you want to go and what you want to accomplish.

Treat Yourself

When you make your goal, whatever it may be, take time and treat yourself. Go get those new shoes or a huge sundae that you never have except when it’s 90 degrees outside. Pat yourself on the back, you did a good job, you met your goal for the day, the week, the month!

Get people involved with your writing, be it friends, family or a writing group or all the above. When you stall you will find a little push from a supportive member may be all you need. It’s the little applauses from others that will keep you going.

Now go open that Word doc and let it flow!

Drop us a comment and let us know how you keep motivated and/or organized.

Yup, I’ll be the first to admit it. I failed. Less a month into the new year, I have failed to meet my goals.

 

Two weeks ago, we had our first meeting of 2010. We went around the table and took turns at what we wanted to accomplish for the year with our writing. Some of our goals are ambitious, but all are obtainable.  Mine probably more so than some. 

So you may ask what my goals were for 2010. Well, that’s simple. I just wanted to finish a first draft done by the end of June. I figure to accomplish this I needed to write at least 3-5 pages a day.  

I could lie and say that I ‘m on track to meet my overall goal, but I can’t. I really have no excuse. I have made a schedule for my days, every morning as an attempt to see all my tasks for the day. Writing is on there, always at the end of the day. 

Well, truth be told, writing is on the schedule for most of the day. I mean, I do try to blog every day. I have lots of drafts for several blogs I own or ghost for. Somehow, with the research involved and the mental energy it takes to put together a well informed post always takes longer than you would expect. 

If I’m not drafting a post, I’m tweaking the back-end to bring traffic to our blogs. Amazingly there are pages upon pages about what works, what doesn’t, what to do, and what to put on the blog. I read other blogs and make comments and before I know it I’m lost in the blogosphere on one tangent after another. 

So why did I fail? I failed because I’m easily distracted, because I am not sticking to my schedule that I outlined every morning, because I’m not focused on my goals. 

To this end, I did manage to complete one major task today. I interviewed a fellow writer for this blog to be posted in the next couple of days. 

We discussed organization, motivation, and goals. I can’t wait to put the post together. While I saw a lot of similarities in our writing styles and our respective writing groups, I learned a lot about motivation and sticking with your goals, no matter what. 

With any inner gumption on my part, my next post will be, I DID NOT Fail! Oh, wait, that’ll be the post after next, I got the interview to put together first. 

Do you have problems writing or meeting your goals?  If so, how do you combat that? What works for you to get back into the groove?

Hello — I’m sooo glad that you could find us.  I hope the travel over here wasn’t too traumatic.  Moving sites can be difficult and I hope that we made it a smooth transition for you.

Well, how do you like our new look?  Pretty slick huh?  Feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think. Go on, take a moment and if you don’t like it, don’t worry, we’re writers and are used to criticisms.  Who knows, you give us a good suggestion and we might just take you up on it.

Check back often as we plan on expanding this site.

Improvements so Far
Book recommendations - we added this page so that you can see not only what we are reading, but why. We promise to always give you an honest opinion about the book.

HRWG Bookstore – we created this store so that you can easily and quickly link from a recommendation to Amazon. Go ahead, buy a book today. Then come back and let us know what you think about the book.

Events – we added an events calendar so that you can see what writer events are going on in Virginia. If you know of any and want to see it on the list, let us know and we’ll add it.  NOTE: The calendar only show 99 days into the future. So if you send us an event and don’t see it listed immediately, this is probably why.

Author Sites
Coming soon! We are currently setting up individual author sites so that you may see not only our current writing, but also find out more details about the books we are creating.

If we liken our status as writers to football, then I have just suited up. Somewhat of a college player, I have been out of the game for a while, only recently drafted in by Coach Cindy. I’ve taken a few good runs at the sleigh but now I am ready for the real thing. That doesn’t mean I am entirely confident.

That’s why Coach’s observation that writing is a long drive (as a team) toward an eventual touchdown (by an individual) rings true. Being part of this team means that when I fumble, the rest of the group huddles together and all is not lost. To score, step one is making goals–the crucial step two is sharing them. It doesn’t do me any good to think up a play on my own and take off, hoping that it works out. The rest of the team has to be in the know.

Therefore, in no particular order, here are ten of my goals for 2010:

• Figure out if my book will need to become two, or even three books
• Write at least every other day–try for ten pages a week at first
• Blog about my progress (even regress–then the group can help)
• Don’t stop and revise so much, so often
• Don’t get shy and avoid explaining my book when I’m asked about it
• Decide my target audience and keep them in mind
• Read more fantasy fiction (I’m on that one already–Karen Miller’s Godspeaker trilogy)
• Don’t guilt myself so hard for not getting it perfect the first time–just write my way there
• Decide on a new title
• Create an outline–this will help move the plot and avoid fluff that doesn’t advance it

Looking at these, I figure that at least SEVEN of these can be worked toward in the next two weeks! Which is amazing. Having several achievable short-term goals can really be a confidence-booster. Hopefully the new coach of the Washington Redskins will learn from the previous year and realize this winning strategy, too!