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| Marie Wells Coutu |
I’m an information junkie, especially about writing, research, or marketing.
Between e-newsletters, blogs, websites, webinars, books, and conferences, I’m drowning in information that I don’t have time to read or absorb, much less implement. I have too many saved emails, too many tabs open on my browser, shelves full of books, print-outs and clippings of articles.
I see or hear of a resource about effective social media, launching a book, or writing great query letters, and I save it with every intention of reviewing the information “later”—at the end of the day, after taxes are done, or when my current WIP is finished. And it becomes one more item on my “list” of things to do that I never get to.
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| 3 Tips from an Information Hoarder |
Now any normal person would not write this post without having conquered this disorder. But we writers are not “normal,” are we? Instead, at the risk of adding to your collection, I’m going to give three suggestions. One of these I am already doing and plan to continue, but the other two are new commitments.
If you have the same problem, we can resolve together to try these ideas. If you’ve already found a solution, please share your tips in the comments!
Here is how I plan to improve this situation:
- Share the most important information I find with my writing/accountability partner. (Shout-out to Angie Arndt!) We meet on Skype once a week, and we are working through The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell. We also share tips from other resources we come across. This way, we learn from each other and know which resources are worth our time to review for ourselves.
- Actually create a Writing Improvement Notebook, as Jim Bell recommends in Chapter 12 of The Art of War for Writers. Angie and I have talked about this, but now I am going to actually do it. (There, I’ve made a public commitment, so I’d better get busy.)
- Take a 15-minute break in the middle of my writing day (lunch time is good) to read one saved blog or article. Pick one actionable suggestion and add it to my To Do list. If the item I read is worth saving, move it to Evernote or add it to my notebook.
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| About the Author |
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| Thirsting for More by Marie Wells Coutu |
Marie Wells Coutu began telling stories soon after she learned to talk. At age seven, she convinced neighborhood kids to perform a play she had written. She wrote her first book, “I Came from Venus,” in eighth grade, but studied journalism in college. After a career writing for newspapers, magazines, governments, and nonprofits, she returned to her first love—writing fiction—at the age of fifty-five. Her debut novel, For Such a Moment, won the Books of Hope Contest. Thirsting for More, the second book in the Mended Vessels series, released in April 2015. Books in the series are contemporary re-imaginings of the stories of biblical women, including Esther and the woman at the well. Marie retired after 15 years with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and she and her husband now divide their time between Florida and Iowa.
Thirsting for More
Northern transplant Victoria Russo moves to the charming southern city of Charleston, South Carolina, from cold Connecticut, hoping to renovate her career, her life, and an old house. Instead, she faces animosity, betrayal, and calamity. Will she repeat the pitfalls of her past mistakes, or find the freedom and restoration she seeks?
Northern transplant Victoria Russo moves to the charming southern city of Charleston, South Carolina, from cold Connecticut, hoping to renovate her career, her life, and an old house. Instead, she faces animosity, betrayal, and calamity. Will she repeat the pitfalls of her past mistakes, or find the freedom and restoration she seeks?
