The more you get, the more you want by Sally Shupe

You know the feeling you get when you lose weight and then you want to lose more weight? Or, the more money you get, or the more bills you pay off, the more money you want, or the more bills you want to get paid? Or, the more miles you run, the more you want to run? (Oh, wait, is that one just me?) I’ve found the more you get, the more you want.

I’ve been trying to lose weight, like for a while now. I can’t find time to consistently run, what with cold weather, rain, snow, you name it. I don’t like running on a tread mill. I want to be outside, but there’s nowhere to run in my town. There are no sidewalks, school track, paved path, etc. However, I’ve been working consistently on watching what I eat. And you know what? I’ve lost a few pounds! Now, I want to lose more.

Consistency is key. No matter what you’re doing! If you run every day, it won’t be hard to get out there and run. Save money every day, it won’t be hard to save money. You’re working at it every day. Want to lose weight? Watch what you eat every day. Except those days you just have to have that tater skin and sour cream. (Oh, is that just me again?)

This is what I’ve discovered. A few add up. A few pounds add up to 10 pounds or more of weight loss. A few cents over time add up to dollars saved. A few miles add up to a 5K. A few words add up to paragraphs. See the connection? Lol. Most people can’t write a book in a day, just like you can’t jump off the couch and run a marathon. It takes dedication, consistency, building muscle.

You must dedicate time to write. If you don’t, anything and everything that comes around, will distract you and take you away from writing. If that load of laundry won’t stop calling your name, find a place outside of the home to write. (After you’ve made sure no one is held captive in the laundry. We want everyone to be safe!) Busy taking kids to practices? Use that time to write. Make meals ahead of time and use that cooking time to write. Get up a little early or stay up late and use that time to write.

You must be consistent in your writing. If you write on a schedule, whether that’s every day or a couple times a week or on weekends, you’ll find your writing time is more productive. You’ll remember where you left off in your story and won’t be spending a big junk of your time trying to figure out where you were, or rather where your characters were. Consistency will make writing become a habit. Every week plan ahead when you will write, and then stick to it. But give yourself grace when life happens and writing does get put on the back burner. Sometimes there are things that we must take care of.

Consistency and writing on a schedule build muscle. Just like running consistently builds muscle, so does writing. Writing consistently builds muscle to protect your writing time and increases your word output, so you have more to measure. When you lose weight, you add up how many pounds you’ve lost. When you save money, you count how much money you have. When you run miles, you add up how many you’ve run. When you write consistently and on a schedule, you will have a book to show for it! I dare you to try. Keep me posted on how you do. I’ll be cheering for you!

Sally Shupe lives in southwest Virginia with her husband, two grown kids, and a whole bunch of pets: five dogs, three cats, a rabbit, and birds at the birdfeeder (and the mandatory snowman when the snow cooperates). She writes contemporary Christian romance, with two completed manuscripts and others in progress. They are part of a series located in small town Virginia.

When Sally’s not writing or working full-time, she is a freelance editor for several authors who write fiction and nonfiction; students working on dissertation papers; a copy editor for Desert Breeze (now closed); a content editor for Prism (became part of Pelican); performs beta reading for various authors; publishes book reviews on her blog and with Valley Business FRONT’s monthly magazine; is a member of ACFW and ACFW Virginia; and loves genealogy, running, and crocheting.

Sally uses her love of words to write about God’s amazing love.

A Time for New by Susan Tuttle

Most people think of the New Year as the beginning of things, but for me that’s always been fall. September ushers in the start of a new school year and the return of scheduled time. As my children have grown, those schedules have become more hectic and my time gets squeezed tighter and tighter. So as we are coming out of the carefree days of summer and staring down the scheduled days of fall, what’s a writer to do?

For me I start with looking at my calendar and match it with my kiddos’ needs. As a homeschooling mom and also leader of our women’s ministry at church, I know my writing time is limited. Summer gave me the freedom to write whenever I wanted. Fall blows in and I know I won’t write unless I schedule the time. So I sit down and find pockets where I can research or write.

I have to return to meal planning and a large reliance on our crock pot. I don’t enjoy grocery shopping, so I have been known to shop online and pick up my groceries—a service I love and that saves a lot of time. (Side note: our store just began delivery too! I may try that out this year.) My kids are old enough to pitch in with laundry, so that is a saver as well. Once I find pockets, I do my best to protect them but also maintain a fluidity that understands our family needs can change on a dime.  If I do make it to my writing room, however, I tell the kids that they cannot disturb me unless it’s life or death. While their idea of life or death isn’t always the same as mine, it works most of the timeJ

What about you? How do you handle the switch from summer to fall?

Susan L. Tuttle lives in Michigan where she’s happily married to her best friend and is a homeschooling mom of three. She’s firmly convinced that letters were meant for words, not math, and loves stringing them together into stories that inspire, encourage, and grow women into who God created them to be. Romance, laughter, and cookies are three of her favorite things, though not always in that order. You can connect with Susan at her blog, Steps, Facebook, or Twitter.

Don't Let Summer Heat Cool Your Writing by Susan Tuttle

It’s SUMMER! We have slogged through the never-ending winter days, school craziness, and multiple rounds of various viruses—and we made it! The days are longer, warmer, and sunnier. They are meant to play in and savor. I love summer. Love it.

 

Problem is, while I’m all for summer laziness, it’s not so hot on my writing schedule. In fact, I find my writing schedule can cool slightly for the summer. And while taking a break is at times a necessity, writers need to keep their momentum going. Adjust your schedule if need-be, or pick different writing exercises, but find ways to still write. Maybe you pull out a notepad while on the beach and write a flash fiction piece. Or you sit on your deck in the early morning—take advantage of that extra sunlight—to start a novella. Perhaps you’re able to sleep in now so you stay up later at night to plug 100 new words on your newest WIP. Whatever it is, keep writing this summer!

 

So, how do you find ways to slip in writing during these wonderful summer months? I’d love to hear!

Susan L. Tuttle lives in Michigan where she’s happily married to her best friend and is a homeschooling mom of three. She’s firmly convinced that letters were meant for words, not math, and loves stringing them together into stories that inspire, encourage, and grow women into who God created them to be. Romance, laughter, and cookies are three of her favorite things, though not always in that order. You can connect with Susan at her blog, Steps, Facebook, or Twitter.

From Pantser to Plotter by Dora Hiers

Happy New Year!

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. If there's something in my personal life that needs to change, why wait? Why should my writing life be any different?

In September 2012, I resolved to evolve from pantser to plotter. For those of you unfamiliar with the terms: 

A pantser sits down in front of their laptop and starts typing, with only a few rough ideas for either characters or story floating around in their head. 

A plotter uses an outline and finds their rhythm by organizing their thoughts prior to any actual writing. 

Usually, a writer falls naturally into one category. Trying to do the opposite of what comes natural is like writing left-handed when you normally use your right. Early on, I tried both methods, but plotting frustrated me so much that I considered inflicting serious damage to my laptop.

But as I celebrated with writer friends over their multi-book contracts, I knew that I'd never be able to accomplish this if I couldn't learn to plot. A key component of the proposal is the synopsis. No synopsis=No proposal.

I started my transition by writing two proposals encompassing five books total, which meant writing books from a synopsis instead of the reverse. I’m thrilled to report that my first book is complete, and the second, roughly thirty percent. Woo-hoo!

Want to know how I transitioned from pantser to plotter? I'll share my secrets. :-)

Pray. 

Characters. I'm a visual person. I need pictures, so I started by finding my hero/heroine online and getting to know them. Then, I asked my character (whichever one you connect with first) these questions.

What do you want? (Goal)

Why do you want it? (Motivation)

Why can't you have it? (Conflict) 

Develop the story idea/premise. What terrible thing happened in my character's past to make them how they are today? Keep asking "what if?" until you come up with a story idea.

Write a few pages. Writing backstory helped me flesh out the characters more, so that I could go back and fill in some of the blanks. Just write a bit and let words flow. It's OK. You’ll delete them. The goal is for the story to reveal itself. You may need to tweak the premise after doing this.

Picture the story sequence in your head. Do what it takes to find your zone. Close your eyes. Throw in a CD. Let your dog walk you around the park. Record the chapter number, the date, point-of-view, and what you expect to happen in that chapter/scene. If you know how you want the book to end, you can skip down and work backward.

Implement a schedule. You must map out a timeline for the completion of your books. I’ll share more on this next week.

It’s your turn.

If you're a pantser, how do you write proposals?

Do you ever see yourself evolving into a plotter? Why or why not?