Tag: Writers Life

How to get in the Writing Zone

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We all have those times when we want to write but for some reason just can’t. Whether it’s from sheer exhaustion at the end of the day, some form of writer’s block or you simply have too many distractions preventing you from getting words down on the page; it can be a very frustrating situation to be in. 

Especially when working towards a deadline. 

A deadline can be self-assigned, such as when working towards a personal goal, aka writing a novel. It can be submission-based, such as a competition, or it can be work-related, as with commissions, client-based projects, or (hurray) by a publisher. 

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Revisiting The 5am Club

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In my 2018 post entitled Just Start – Waking up for Success! I spoke about how I was attempting to change my daily routine by waking up earlier and ensuring I spent the time on those things most important to me (i.e. novel writing, dearest dreams of the heart, etc.) prior to the demands of the day sweeping what precious little time I had away via the petitions of others people’s whims, i.e. the daily job.

It’s currently 5:08 am as I type this draft and I cannot help but reflect that a lot has changed since I wrote that post. Not only have we moved, but I’ve since packed in working the 9-5 with writing on the side and have taken my freelancing business full time; offering services such as article writing, beta reading, copy editing, and of course my pièce de résistance, being an authors assistant. My health and well being have vastly improved and with every new day, I am a few steps closer to achieving my goal of becoming a published author (I’m not counting ghost-writing and pen names).Read More »

A Change of Pace

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As writers, it is very easy to get into a routine when tackling larger projects such as re-accruing assignments and novels. In fact, it is one of the smartest things we can do – to train our subconscious minds to work on command and thus prevent the detractions that are inevitable when working from home.

And yet, whilst home offices and writing routines are a Godsend for our productivity, they can also become somewhat stale over a long period of time. It’s inevitable really. Eventually, all of us need to re-schedule a meeting with our muse and shake things up a bit so as to get out of a slump or take away the eventual boredom of living every day like the last.

This recently happened to me. Read More »

Why I Use Grammarly

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I recently wrote a post about my experiences with a teacher in High School who seemed hell-bent on giving me bad advice regarding my dream of being a writer. I must say I have been blown away by the private messages I have since received from my readers, many of which have also been from teachers, saying how much you all believe in my decision to power through the criticism and go for gold. Can I just say a huge thank you to everyone who has written to me, as your encouragement means more to me then I can ever put into words!

But this was not why I wrote the post. As heartfelt and wondrous as your comments are (and believe me, I am truly grateful!) my aim with The teacher that told me ‘no’!  was to inspire others by my story. There seems to be a common stigma in our world that writers have to be linguistic and grammatical geniuses and always know exactly where every comma goes. And it simply isn’t true. As much as I have found negative responses to my dyslexia, I have also found that people are more likely to ask me how to spell something because I am a writer.Read More »

The teacher that told me ‘no’!

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I’d like to think I am not the sort of person to hold a grudge but even I must confess to not always being a saint about this. In fact, there is a grudge I have been holding on to – for over 16 years now…

But in many ways, this grudge is a good thing. It has fuelled me through hard times and given me enough determination to overcome obstacles and fight the battle for my dreams.

Back when I was just 12 years old I used to take support classes for my dyslexia. Now here’s the confession no writer ever wants to make – my thirteenth birthday was coming up and I still could not read or write!Read More »

Winning

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With all the daily bustle and grind we put ourselves through; the thankless tasks, the hardships no one else sees, the constant nagging feeling of having something else to do…it can be hard to focus when life gets busy or rush. But when we have an overwhelmingly long list of tasks and commitments, we must also remember to take a little time to stop and celebrate the wins in life.

Admit it! How often do you throw your hands up in the air, jump up and down and scream at the top of your lungs ‘I got the kids to bed on time!‘. Probably never. And though this might be partly due to not wanting to wake said children up again, its because you probably also think it’s not an accomplishment worth shouting about. And I’m here to tell you it is!Read More »

Just Start – Waking up for Success!

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Have you ever really achieved your full potential? Are there things in your life that, if you only had more time, then you would blow them out of the water? Things like exercising, writing your blog, reading more self-help books, meditating….the list goes on.

I have always been one of those people that fall into the trap of ‘Not enough time’ and I think a lot of people suffer from this concept too nowadays. We all seem to be so ‘busy’ doing things, working daily grind, catching up on social media, cleaning the house; whilst having these dreams and ambitions that continuously go unfulfilled.

After all, it takes so much energy just to survive the average work day. There are just so many demands on our time that when we even think about adding in the morning work out or trying to schedule in a daily novel writing session, we feel a cold sweat and self-doubt edging in. There is so much to do! I don’t want to overwork myself. It can wait until tomorrow! I’ll feel like it tomorrow… Read More »

Peeling Back The Glamour – Things Nonwriters Never Think About

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When I first told people I wanted to be a writer I received one of two reactions. The first was The Scoffer – ‘why on earth would you want to do that?’ The second, the Misconstrued Enabler – ‘of course, you want to be a writer, it’s easy and you get to wear pajamas all day!’

Of course, as writers, we know that both of these responses are ridiculous, wrong and based on uneducated naivety. Having said that, before we leap to our own defenses we must also acknowledge that some of what they say is true.Read More »