It’s been a long time since I felt relaxed enough to spend my time writing on my personal projects. I’m reading for me with minimal distraction, as testing for my 2nd grade class is done. Grades are recorded. So for a little while, my weekends and evenings are part my own.

I say part my own because there will be times (like today) when I will spend a few hours on organizing work for the students, visiting the library, recording last grades. And, my church and family responsibilities have a portion of my time. The balance is my free time, to spend wildly if I choose.

My Big Plans. There is my short story I’m writing which I’m working to finish; a non-fiction book a friend wrote that I’ll finish reading tonight; and more to read in my book study book (Kingdom without Borders) that I will be reading from, shortly.

organization skills put to the test

Monday I start my second job, my day job. It will take up the bulk of my days leaving me only travel time to get to my afternoon job. I’m compelled to be very organized, certainly more than I have been lately. It will be a welcome challenge, as I look forward to applying my skills to getting everything done.

Things seem to be well in hand for work with the children. But the work of fun is another story. For a few months now I’ve been writing successfully using yWriter software. I’ve managed to nearly finish two stories — they’ll likely be done the end of this month. Reading is manageable in bursts most often. But I set aside time daily now to read a little. So, it’s all coming together.

nanowrimo – am i in or no?

Even with my fine organizational skills, the cool software, and a story idea in the wings, I’m not sure it will be enough to get through NaNoWriMo. I’ve tried a few times, but never seem to get through before I let the rest of my life take over. Prior to November, I get all excited and pumped up with anticipation only to fizzle out in the middle (or even earlier).

This year, I likely won’t commit until the last week of October. And that’s really okay since I’m fleshing out a story plot in a grid (I read about that practice somewhere and I like it). Once the plot written and saved, I can use it whenever — next month or next year.

If I participate in NaNoWriMo this November, I’ll likely keep my progress updated at Shari’s Telling Stories. You can visit me there, to see my progress – or lack of. Either way, I’ll be reading around the web to see all the writer camaraderie.

Are you writing a novel this year for NaNoWriMo? Do you know about National Novel Writing Month? Find out about the project here, http://www.nanowrimo.org/, then decide if you want to put your writing acumen to the challenge of 50K words in 30 days.

Not long ago, I was trying to determine what to do next with my blog. I wanted to improve it. I decided to start with my categories, subcategories and tags lists since they were all over the place. The critical one was the categories list. It grew so fast to say that my blog was growing slowly.  And, while I was having fun, my blog was supposed to serve a purpose. It needed some direction, focus, and I thought a makeover of my lists might add the structure I sought.

Whether or not your blog has a specific purpose, you will find that this organization will do a lot for you and your readers. After all, structure clears up the focus and that can be liberating. So, I got busy freeing myself.

Setting up Your Blog Outline

The goal: develop lists that enhance the purpose of the blog. I went through categories first, deleting, revising and even adding a couple. When I was done, I had gone from 27 to 11 categories, and no subcategories for now. I’m not forcing myself to keep only these categories forever. I’ll just be growing my list more deliberately rather than haphazardly. Figure out what works for your blog. Here’s what I work with:

• Categories should include big topics related to your blog’s purpose
• Each category should be able to have multiple posts
• If you can’t see more than one post for a topic, you may want to consider demoting that topic to a tag
• Add new categories carefully: consider how adding each topic will impact your readers’ navigation
• Subcategories are the next smaller heading in the outline, falling between categories and tags.
• Tags are the most specific label of each blog. Where you may have easily 1 category and subcategory for each post, you can have several tags

If I wanted to write a post about a specific writing genre, I might make it a subcategory of writing, and tag it depending on the details of the post.
So, following the pattern “Category=>subcategory—>tags”,
“Poetry=>learning—>resources, classes, programs, mentors” could be a list.

Why Clear Categories, Subcategories and Tags Help

• Carefully organizing the blog structure and outline forces you to get clear on your purpose
• Being clear on your blog’s purpose can actually help you to focus and generate new post ideas
• A clearer outline is helpful for visitors to know what they can expect to find on your blog
• Easily searchable blogs improve the likelihood that readers will return
• Categories, subcategories and tags make an efficient way to search your blog
• Because tags are used in various categories, they offer a degree of cross-referencing

Updating was Easy

I spent the bulk of time on this project in planning. Deciding what would be useful categories and tags, and to delete the subcategories. Then, deciding what rule I would follow. Right now, I use one category per post and posts can have multiple tags.

The WordPress quick edit feature saved me through editing the categories, subcategories and tags.

1. Edited lists on paper
2. Input the category and subcategory changes on the categories page
3. Then in the posts list page, using the nifty quick edit feature, visited each post that needed changes and updated each post’s category and tags

Now my site is outlined more clearly and it’s more focused for me too. It works differently for different types of sites. It’s worked a little differently for Telling Stories, my creative writing blog, but it still helped. Remember, even though your site may seem to expand on its own, you are in control.

And, while I’ve got a handle on the theory, mine is definitely a work in progress. So please feel free to share your tips and insights below.

If you think your blog is growing far afield of your original intent, take a close look at it. Start with a review of your categories, subcategories and tags. Revising these areas may give you a fresh focus. If you’re new to blogging, even if your blog covers any and everything, growing your outline deliberately and with consideration of your focus will help you to not feel overwhelmed.

There’s so much to write about! How to choose? Where to begin? Where to continue?

These are questions that I have every now and again, especially after being away from my own writing for a while. Sometimes, even before the research for a topic, you need to read to discover what you want to write about.

When I write posts, my goal is to deliver a relaxed and informative post. So, I write about what is interesting and important to me. When nothing’s popping into my head, I search out my inspiration. To plot my course, I read with writing in mind. Following are some of the things I read to decide my topic.

1. Reading blogs I know will give me inspiration. I visit some of my favorite sites, (check out my Blogroll), to read and hear the voices that speak that speak through their stories and insights. Good writing gets me going and makes me want to participate.
2. Blogs and other sources for poetry. Sometimes I’ll take a collection off my shelf and pick a poem. Sometimes I’ll read an old familiar poem that touches me. Sometimes, I’ll pick a new one to explore, to lose myself inside of. It doesn’t have to be profound, classical, or popular. It has to be something that speaks to you. Try reading several to wake your brain and get away from conventional thought routines. See if it doesn’t spark your creativity.
3. Sites that are peripherally related to writing. Health blogs have contributed to my content. Youtube videos and other entertainment sites. When I’m watching something it will spark an idea that brings me to the page, like Black in America 2. Try searching something that interests you, NCIS, Bones, Phil Collins, JK Rowling, see what others are writing about them.
4. Google has a wonderful alert notification system that you can sign up for. You simply pick the subjects that you want to be kept up on, and the frequency of notification. The Google bots will find and forward websites and Google blogs that meet the search criteria that you input. New sites to explore are regularly sent to me.
5. Writing websites like Helium an article promoting and soliciting site, and eZine and Viewpoints a review site. These sites have articles based on topics that people are interested in and have requested. Visit them and see what writers are interested in, and what their being asked to write on.
6. My personal journal. I forage through my old journals. I discover things I can’t believe I once thought; ideas that I’d forgotten about; phrases that once caught my ear; and sometimes a voice that I hardly recognize.
7. Review past blog posts. You probably know this one, but it bears repeating. Reviewing past posts helps you to be connected and have some continuity throughout your posts.  You can expound on an old post. It’s even possible to revise an idea completely as your stance may have changed.

These are my hunting grounds, the places I turn to for my next topics to write on. These places help get me back on track after days or weeks away. Like anything, they work best when you approach your search for ideas with an open mind.  And I hope you come by for my next post in which I’ll be discussing getting organized to help your blogging.

There are many more places from which draw writing topics. Tell me some of the reading you do to reveal your next writing topics.

Okay, everything is in place. Your computer is on in the right program, your glass of water is cool, and your fingers are all warmed up. What’s the first thing you think of?

If the first thing that crosses your mind, is the endpoint, then you might be missing the good parts of work. The best way to do a job is to focus on the process of doing it. When I sit down with a project, I think about how I’m going to do my best work.

How Do I get Focused?

One of the biggest things that you can do to help your focus is to work in a job you really like. It can help your focus immeasurably, to have to be mentally present with work that you enjoy. And laying that aside, here are some practices I’ve put in place to be more focused.

• Meditate – There are many good variations on meditation. For work I simply need to give my thoughts space, and then turn down their volume
• Write in your journal – Writing in the mornings, lets my thoughts out by recording them on paper, making it easier for me to understand what they’re saying to me and to quiet them
• Get proper rest – to be alert. You know, a sluggish mind is less able to remain focused
• Get proper nourishment – hunger pangs don’t last forever but they can pull your attention
• Be prepared to work – having all your tools at hand means you don’t have to search for basics
• Make room for work thoughts – keep something handy so that when you have thoughts that demand airing, write them down and promise to return to them later

What are the Benefits of Good Focus?

First, what is focus? For our purpose, focus is the dedicated concentration on a particular assignment. It is achieved when you’re mentally present with your work, and these are some of the benefits you can expect:

• You can actually attract related thoughts
• You’re generally working more efficiently
• You may discover good parts about jobs you don’t like
• Better work improves your confidence
• You get to enjoy doing your work as you move through tasks smoothly and in a relaxed manner

A Caveat

It sounds good right? Easy? If you’re anything like me, that’s a lot of work. It takes serious effort to quiet my thoughts at times. In the evenings when I can’t shut off the work I want to get done, it cuts into my rest time. There’s balance to be achieved for this to work.

And you may fall out of balance from time to time—I do. There’s my plan, and then there’s my life—sometimes they clash. Be ready to return to your practice, how ever you set it up, and begin again. It does get easier.

How do you get and remain focused, and get present, in the moment, with your work? What happens when you’re working on a project that you don’t care for? Do you have a plan to stay focused to the end?

What magic do good writers possess?

Do you ever wonder how the great ones do it? Even the not-so-great manage to get published. The magic is in the practices they implement. Successful writers have written about their habits, practices, and rituals that get them through the work of writing.

In my reading on the subject, these 4 practices come up again and again. From using them, I know that they work. And they’re transferable, so anyone can make use of them.

You don’t need to have had straight A’s in language, throughout your academic career. Neither is it necessary that you be a particularly gifted writer. It helps to know how to write, though. That’s important and interesting, too, because even gifted writers can fail when they don’t use these 4 practices.

These practices can put some relative ease into your work of writing, as well as help to improve the skills you have. And, isn’t that always  a bonus.

How can I improve my writing skills?

1. You need to write daily. Don’t make excuses; just do it. Write daily, all the way through your first drafts. Remember, too, no editing in drafts. Just get it written.

Daily writing is on-the-job training that can make or break your rhythm. Many successful writers who write about their process share this interesting experience: Characters, plots and settings, in fact, all aspects of your work can and often do change as you write. If you don’t write daily, the idea can leave altogether.

So, not only will your skills lag, but not writing daily can cost you the flow of your piece. And sometimes that flow cannot be recovered as it was originally conceived. You need to find some hours (or at least 30 minutes) when you can sit in your space and record your daily thoughts.

2. You need to know where and when you’re going to work. A big part of being able to write daily is having a place to write. Your writing place is where you work daily without being uprooted once you start. After a while, getting to this place will eventually signal an automatic brain switch to writing mode.

3. You need to read widely. What do you get from reading everything—aside from possible eye strain? Reading various materials helps to inform your intellect, perspective and knowledge base. Beyond that, you get exposed to different written voices.

Also, language is fluid, dynamic, evolving. Good writing is a matter of knowing what traditional and current trends audiences will bear. Read in your genre and all through it, writings from the past and current times. Read outside your genre: poetry to magazine ads, all are important.

• Read for pleasure
• Read with a discriminating eye

It’s important to know what writing works for you, and why it does.

4. You need to pay attention to others. Writing is a very insular activity to say that it’s so much informed by socialization. Conversations, arguments, and silent interactions, all matter. Consider these few conversation questions:

• What about strangers’ conversations initially draws you in? It may just be that you could hear them.
• What keeps you interested? What do you notice? Accents. Lisps. Names.
• In each participants rhetoric, do you notice that one drops many names?
• Does one dominate the conversation, with the other(s) interjecting only acknowledgment when they can?
• Does any one seem greatly disinterested in the conversation? How can you tell?
• When you read dialogue, do you balk or does it flow for you?
• Imagine you’re part of the conversation. What would you add that they didn’t say? What would you say differently or not at all?

Does it matter what you’re writing?

Even if you’re writing a science fiction novel with no humans involved, you need to develop the personalities of your characters. Even if there is no verbal conversation, there is some sort of exchange in a community even if only a community of one.

In Cast Away, the island scenes worked because the writer and director knew how to convey sentiments to which the audience could relate.

No matter the genre, your mission is to engage your audience. Your choice of words is what gets your audience invested in the outcome of your characters, as well as what happens along the way. How you say things will determine if your readers read all the way through your book or flip to the end.

And if you do it well, they may even come back for your next novel, article, essay, or commentary, to see what you have in store for them.

When do I start these practices?

Don’t wait until you have everything down to a science. Get going and don’t stop until you have your first draft, be it a novel, short story, essay, play, poem, post, biography, editorial, or historical record.

Plan your schedule. Follow it. If it doesn’t work out, you can make adjustments to time, location, whatever you find doesn’t work for you. But keep writing—just do it. Everything can fall off from time to time, the location, even the schedule, and your reading materials, but keep writing daily.

You may want to read:

at least take notes, by Shari Lynne Smothers
“So, you want to be a writer? Here’s How” by Allegra Goodman [http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/08/11/so_you_want_to_be_a_writer_heres_how/]
Deb Ng, by Allena Tapia
Nike’s “Just Do It” Advertising Campaign, from Center for Applied Research
Freelance Writing Jobs, Deb Ng’s blog
3 Sure-Fire Steps for Beating the Boring Content Bules, by Sonia Simone at Copyblogger.com
The Effects of Writing Practice, by Judy Reeves

I enjoy being a copywriter. It’s something I always wanted to do. Basically, I get to translate data into usable content. When I’m not writing, I’m researching, getting ready for the next assignment. And since my topics are varied within the company’s focus, it is a big plus that I’m interested in reading broadly. And because I am curious, researching a topic is an adventure and not a chore. Because the internet is the greatest encyclopedia of all time, bringing the entire connected world to me, I am never at a loss for information and second through fifth opinions if I need that.

Being a good writer is key to staying afloat. Being a better reader is what puts you ahead of the game. I said better reader, not faster. Speed is always good but it’s not the main focus. Never substitute speed for accuracy and comprehension if you want to survive in the writing world.

I have three fundamental guidelines that I try to follow:

1. Be thorough in your research, as time permits
   • If you don’t have time to research many, go to the sources you trust and be clear about what you read
2. When you’re surfing researching, bookmark your top picks—and be picky
   • Just because you know the blogger, doesn’t mean you’ll get the best material. Have a discriminating eye because your steady audience will
3. Never submit your work without reading it through
   • Try, always, to give yourself the time it takes for a complete read-through. It’s worth a small delay to proofread.

These are three guides that serve me well as I work my word magic. I think they will help you too as you develop your portfolio, do your job, or do a friend a favor.

You have things that keep you on track, I’m sure; if you have the time, I invite you to share.