1. Commit
to ten minutes or ten paragraphs. Heck, if all you dare commit to is ten words.
Commit to them.
Try
to get to your computer or desk ten minutes earlier. Do something small and doable. Add a quick
detail to a character sketch, read a poem and consider edits or infuse with
some new words, such as words found in a magazine, in an ad, in the paper that
morning. Clean your desk of unnecessary stuff and file what you need. Ten
minutes is easy. Anyone can do something for ten minutes. My best thing to do
is start typing: a quote I found, a prompt I’d like to use. Just start typing.
For me it’s like a warm-up. Once I start typing, I go on to my daily writing,
gangbusters.
Just tell yourself you’ll work for ten minutes.
Always, always I do more, but if you don’t, at least you got ten minutes in. A
lot can happen in ten minutes. Keep upping the time you commit to.
2. Use
one day a week to plan the next week’s writing. Monday, character sketches,
Tuesday an outline or a general direction you want to write toward. (I’m a firm
believer that if you’re headed in the right direction, all you have to do is
start.), Wednesday, research. You get the idea. Get organized. Make a plan, however
rough, it gets your mind started and on what you want it to be on before you
even sit down to work.
3. Remember
to take a break every hour and move, get a drink, stretch. Try to walk every
working day. Being healthy as possible keeps the mind alert and function at its
best.
A lot of plot problems or character issues
seem to work out as I take my daily walk. Outside is best. Nature feeds
creativity.
Take care of yourself. Keep happy. All of
that helps the writing.
4. Think
positive and do it anyway you can. Read inspirational stuff whenever and wherever
you find it. I find great stuff I can apply to my writing in the business
section or health section of the newspaper or magazines, but I seek it out
everywhere. And because I seek it, I find it. Buy a book of quotes, buy a book
on a better life. The Oprah Magazine publishes one favorite of mine: Words That
Matter, Everyday Truths to Guide and Inspire.
You can control how you think and if you
struggle to do so, get help where you can. Read a page or two every day from
something that inspires you, uplifts you. Direct your thinking in the way you want it to
go. Be challenged, be inspired, learn for those who have found success. Seek
mentors in every part of your life. You really don’t have to met your best
mentor in person. You can just read them, listen to them, watch them.
5. Don’t
be satisfied with New Years’ Resolutions. Make resolutions for a new day or a
new week. Make small, doable changes. Reflect on how you can improve, then set
your mind, to it. Don’t take on more. Take on focused and better. None of us is
going to stick with more. We have all we can do now. Better, simpler, focused? These
are things anyone can do. I can do.
