Lynn | The Family History Writing Studio

What’s Your Message?What’s Your Message?

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

How you tell your story depends on what is important to you.

How you write it, the message you wish it to leave with your reader is your unique decision as the author of your family history story. How you frame this story compared to how I would frame the same story is what sets us apart. It’s what you as the writer; the artist brings to the story and the page.

There are three concepts you can consider when it comes to shaping the message of your family history story.

As you begin to develop your family history story plot, get to know your ancestors as characters. Consider plotting their conflict and obstacles on a story map so that you will start to see beyond just the structure of your story. You acquire some ideas, thoughts and messages that will help you to develop your story and offer a deeper meaning for your reader.

While it’s important to understand the story question, and the theme behind your story it’s also important to comprehend why you are writing this story. Why are you willing to take time away from another area of your life to develop this story? What is it you want to say and why? Where is this story coming from inside you? If you understand the answers to those questions not only will you have a stronger story, you’ll find the discipline to stay focused and complete your story.

Keep revisiting and refining the theme and the dramatic question until you know the point, the message you are trying to make. Bear in mind, you may not recognize this right away, but as you write your first draft and even through your revisions you’ll begin to see the message of your family history story.

Let’s look at each of these three important concepts.

Theme

The theme is the first concept you’ll look to in relaying a message in your family history story. We touched on it briefly when we discussed focus and the 6-word family history. The theme is what you are trying to say about your family history, a particular ancestor or family unit. It may reflect your perspective on life, humanity, the world, or whatever is important to you. It is the message you want to convey to your readers.

Story Question

The story question is the question the reader wants answered. How are you going to resolve this question for the reader? What is the dilemma, the challenge the ancestor wants to have resolved. How is the ancestor’s problem going to be resolved? The question you choose to spotlight and subsequently answer is again one of those unique choices you get to make as the author. One of those choices you make about what you want to focus on in your family history story and the larger message you are delivering to the reader. Consider the story question you have chosen and why you have chosen it.

Your Story Motivation

Your story motivation is not to be confused with your ancestor’s motivation. Rather we are considering what is motivating you, the author to write this story. Where is your story coming from? Consider why is this story important to you? What are you trying to say? Why did you choose this particular ancestor, this particular story? What was your motivation to tell this story? Why does it resonate with you? By taking a few minutes to address your motivation, you’ll help to understand both the story question and theme that you wish to convey to your reader.

By considering theme, the story question, and the motivations behind your decisions and subsequently their relationship to one another, you place yourself on the path to developing a stronger, in-depth and resonating story for your readers. You not only build a story but you deliver a message to your reader that will stay long after the last page.

How to Write a SceneHow to Write a Scene

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

We think in scenes all the time.

Take a moment, remember a childhood memory or last week’s business meeting or playing with your children last night, or the family dinner on Sunday evening. These scenes play out like little movies in your head. There are characters, and in a place, a time, and something is happening, conversations are had. As the writer, you are the director re-creating the moments of your ancestor’s life in words, like a movie, vivid, colourful, playing out for the reader on the page.

All scenes contain various elements that contribute to making the scene alive and vibrant for the reader. Let’s break a scene down to see what makes it so special.

The Elements of a Good Scene

Time – The reader should be thrust into a specific time and day, so the reader is immediately oriented with the time frame of the scene. If you don’t your reader is quickly confused and lost.

Setting – Again, much like time you also want to familiarize your reader quickly into the place of your scene. In order for the reader to see the scene play out they need to understand the surroundings and be able to place your ancestor within their surroundings.

Action – Something happens in the scene that propels the plotline forward. Your scenes must have action; they must bring about conflict.

Dialogue – Someone speaks. Dialogue can reveal plot, the conflicts but also helps us understand our ancestor’s character.

Vivid Description- In order for your reader, to see the scene play out like a movie it must have very specific and detailed description.

Imagery – To bring the scene to life, the writer must use all their senses, touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing. However, don’t overload your scene. As the writer, you must decide what you want to bring through in your writing. Don’t pile up your writing with description and imagery and let the reader try to figure it out.

POV- The reader needs to have a clear understanding of who is speaking.

Figurative Language- Similes and metaphors are often used to help create visual images for the reader. It helps to create images for the reader, to make your writing more memorable.

Beginning, Middle and End – Just like our story each scene needs a beginning, middle and end. The end needs to propel us on in the story to the next scene. The beginning draws us in, the middle gives us the guts of the scene, the conflict, the end offers a resolution or not but offers up tension that propels the reader on to the next scene.

Purpose – A scene must serve the story. It must somehow be relevant to the goal of your ancestor. If it does not serve the goal of your ancestor, it has no reason to be in the story.

You want your scenes to be entertaining. This is another one of those moments when you will have to tap into the creative side of your brain. You have to breathe some spirit into a scene. How do we do that? Again this comes from practice and time and by reading the works of other great authors and learning from them, recognize how they craft scenes and practice writing scenes of your own.

Coming in September!

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Make Your Scenes Pop!Make Your Scenes Pop!

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

Do your stories pop?

Do they engage your reader and give them a vision in their mind through the words you’ve strung together on the page. As writers, our goal is to create clear and detailed images through the use of descriptive language. If you’re not using descriptive writing in your family history stories then you are missing an opportunity to show rather than tell. Descriptive writing adds texture, colour and dimension to our stories. It is how we make reading a sensory experience for our readers.

My favourite quote that helps to illustrate showing in scenes remains:

“DON’T TELL ME THE MOON IS SHINING; SHOW ME THE GLINT OF LIGHT ON BROKEN GLASS.”

ANTON CHEKHOV

As we discussed in How to Write a Scene, detailed description, imagery and figurative language are components of a scene that we heavily rely on to make a scene vivid and in full colour for the reader. Today’s post pulls together a few tips to help you improve your use of description in writing your scenes.

Use all of your senses.

As we mentioned in How to Write a Scene using your senses is an essential ingredient of descriptive writing. Using the senses of touch, taste, hearing, seeing and smelling are all equally important in bringing your ancestor’s experience to life on the page. We often tend only to use sight, but employing a combination of senses gives your reader a much deeper experience.

Avoid Clichés

Clichés are words or expressions that have been overused. They may have been original at one time but through overuse they have become clichés. Be aware of them and find fresh and original ways to describe your story. Some examples of clichés include dead as a doornail, smart as a whip, sweet as sugar. You get the idea.

Use a Thesaurus

Try to avoid using the same words in a sentence, paragraph or, if it is an uncommon word, in the story, unless the word is used for effect. This applies to standard words and less common words. Use a thesaurus to find alternative words that convey the same meaning. (I used the word “word” eight times – did you notice?)

Use Personification, Similes, and Metaphors

Personifications, similes, and metaphors can add sensuous references vividly, explain things, express emotion and entertain your reader. They add richness to your writing and show an image in a vibrant way through example rather than tell directly. They should replace, enhance or define adjectives like, beautiful, sweet, picturesque and others. We’ve all learned about similes and metaphors in school. Perhaps, it’s time for a refresher course, and a little practice to help you see just how important it can be in writing your family history stories.

Let’s take a look at each with examples from the memoir Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

Personification

Personification adds human personality traits to inanimate objects.

“Finally, we entered hill country, climbing higher and deeper into the Appalachian Mountains, stopping from time to time to let the Oldsmobile catch its breath.”

Simile

A simile ties two things together using the words ‘as’ or ‘like.’

“ It was like sewing meat. It was sewing meat.” Mr. Walls gets beat up and asks for Jeannette to sew up a gash on his arm.

Metaphor

Metaphors are figurative comparisons that describe one thing by directly assigning it the traits of another, so one idea is understood in terms of the other.

Rex says Maureen “is a sick puppy, the runt of the litter, who should have been drowned at birth”

This statement expresses how Rex feels Maureen is weak and dependent, and the rest of the family has to provide for her.

Don’t Over Do it!

Beginning writers tend to lack confidence in writing description in those early days, but once they gain an understanding of description, they can then go too far and overdo it. As I mentioned in writing a scene, too much detail can completely overtake a story and it bears repeating again. Once we get the handle on description and detail we tend to find a reason to think more is better. It is not. As the artist of this work you must make decisions about which descriptions and details serve the story best, the feeling you want to portray on the page. Description should enhance your characters and their world, not overwhelm it.

Putting Words in their MouthsPutting Words in their Mouths

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

We now know that dialogue is an important element to good scene writing.

However, it doesn’t remove our apprehension about using it in our family history stories. It becomes a scary proposition for family historians and often stops many from writing scenes because they don’t want to put words in their ancestor’s mouths. Instead, they settle for dry narrative summary rather than writing an engaging story built on scene and summary.

Dialogue for family historians falls into two camps, which I will refer to as recalled conversations and re-created conversations. First let me start by saying, how you handle dialogue in your family history is a personal decision. Some nonfiction writers believe in no fabrication, while others believe you can put words in your character’s mouth within guidelines. There seems to be a broad range of interpretations on the subject.

Recalled Conversations

My definition of a recalled conversation is when the person or persons were present for the discussion but do not recall the exact words that were exchanged. This could be you writing a memoir or interviewing a relative recalling a conversation. Here’s a few guidelines for recalled conversations.

You are not expected to remember verbatim what was said, but instead convey the essence of the discussion. If your grandmother is recalling a conversation to you, it is not expected that she would remember the exact words that transpired. However, through your interview she would remember the conversation to the best of her knowledge, capturing the tone and essence of the exchange.
If you are privy to a conversation, don’t transcribe the conversations word for word. Separate out the important parts. What part is memorable and reveals character and is relevant to the story?
Conversations do not need to be complete sentences, nor does it need to contain every verbal tic a person might say. You know all those ands, umms and buts, we insert into our vocabulary. The reader does not need to read these.
Also don’t forget to include setting and body language, which help add to the characterizations behind the words.

Re-Created Conversations

My definition of a re-created dialogue applies to those discussions that took place well in the past, and no one who was present is alive to interview. You may wish to re-create this conversation but here are a few guidelines I follow.

1. Turn to your research to re-create dialogue. I believe you can re-create dialogue that is based on your research and can be summarized and hypothesized base on your ancestor’s actions. I’ve covered the possible resources for re-creating dialogue in a previous post, Re-Creating Dialogue and in Authentic Ancestors.

2. Remain faithful to the essence of what the character would have said and the nature of the conversation.

3. Be honest with the readers, acknowledge when you are re-creating dialogue and when you are recalling.

I’ll also include a link here for those of you who are just learning to write dialogue, 7 Tips to Formatting Dialogue.

I’ve grabbed a couple of books from by bookshelf to offer examples of how other authors have handled the situation.

For example in the memoir , The StovePipe by Bonnie Virag, in her author’s notes she addresses the topic:

I set forth each incident as I remember it, occasionally relying on my sisters to fill in some of the gaps – bearing in mind that each of us saw through a different set of eyes and may have perceived things differently. Some of the dialogue I remember clearly and recount verbatim. Where memory fails me, I created dialogue based on the way my sisters expressed themselves. The rest is as accurate as I can make it. It is the story of my life, and I have tried to be true to my thoughts and memories.

Another example,

Jeannette Walls, Author of Half-Broke Horses

In telling my grandmother’s story, I never aspired to that sort of historical accuracy. I saw the book more in the vein of oral history, a retelling of stories handed down by my family through the years, and undertaken with the storyteller’s traditional liberties. ….she goes on to say

I don’t have the words from Lily herself, and since I have also drawn on my imagination to fill in details that are hazy or missing- and I ‘ve changed a few names to protect people’s privacy – the only honest thing to do is call the book a novel.

Regardless of whether you are recalling dialogue or recreating dialogue the important thing to remember is to be honest with the reader.

Lee Gutkind, creative nonfiction teacher and author of You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, expresses his thoughts and I’ll end with his words

“The idea is to replicate the conversation vividly and to mirror memory and speculation with trust and good judgement.”

Enriching Your Story with HistoryEnriching Your Story with History

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

In the Getting Ready to Write and Authentic Ancestors workbooks, I mentioned historical timelines and their importance in organizing your research and writing your ancestor’s stories. Not only is it important to map your ancestor’s life on a timeline, but also to map world, regional and local history. It’s necessary to consider what was happening in the world around your ancestors and it’s relationship to their life.

I want to spend a few minutes today discussing how we can use historical events to enrich your stories.

Historical events can provide both a background and a setting for your story. However, while these events can add a lot of colour and depth to your story, it’s important to not just insert a historical event in your ancestor’s narrative only because it happened during their life. It’s important to look at how those events may have impacted your ancestor’s life, actions, and reactions. While some events will be easy to include due to your ancestor’s direct relationship to an event, do not discount an event because it did not happen directly to them. It may be happening in the background and influencing their life.

These historical events can happen before, after or during the story. It may be something from the past that sets in motion a current event in your story. Historical events can add richness to your story and can place your ancestor’s life and story within the context of the world. It can also help to establish the tone of your story for your reader. By linking your ancestor’s story to something happening or that has happened, this event may impact them or people around them. It’s important to consider how the event may change their feelings, attitudes, culture, or society.

These historical events may strengthen your story ideas and feed your ancestor’s stories. Perhaps your ancestor’s story will be a political or social statement about abortion, adoption, slavery, corruption in politics or the environment to name but a few. You can look to historical events to help you build your story ideas and theme.

An excellent resource for looking at events in a variety of categories is The Timetables of History by Bernard Grun. This book is organized into seven categories, history and politics, literature and theatre, religion, philosophy and learning, visual arts, music, science, technology and growth, and daily life. It spans from 5000BC up to 1991 and is organized on a year by year basis.

I’ve also provided you with a small chart below for you to download and use if looking at the historical events of your ancestor’s life and analyzing them for the impact on their lives. Completing this chart might help you to shape your story with regards to plot, theme, and your story question.

Don’t limit yourself to just the large world events. Regional and local historical events must also be considered. We often think wars and national tragedies when discussing historical events. However, a local storm that causes devastation to area crops or local politics may play a significant role in your ancestor’s life and decisions.

Historical events provide context and richness to your story, and it places our ancestor in the world making them more real and believable to your reader.

Here’s the timeline with a couple of examples filled in.

Timeline Table

Timeline Table – blank

Turning Back TimeTurning Back Time

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

When compiling a family history story, writers often get tripped up by time. They start writing and quickly find themselves time traveling and before you know it the flashback has become the story, or the present story has been taken over by the backstory.

Backstory and flashbacks are both used in writing to convey an event before the present story. However, backstory and flashbacks are often confused. Both should be used in your family history with caution. Let’s take a look at each so we can understand how they each play a different yet important role in telling a family history story.

Backstory is the story before the story. It is the accumulation of earlier events and accounts of your ancestor’s past that transpired before the current story events. It is the baggage, the effects of these events that your ancestor carries with them into your story and motivates them in the present action. Backstory is at the root of your ancestor’s personality and motivation. Remember that motivation we talked about in Goals, Motivations, and Stakes. It is the reason for the events happening in the present story. Backstory is conveyed through exposition and is everything that happened in your ancestor’s world prior to the point you open that world to your readers. However, backstory is not the place to unload your ancestor’s history. It’s not a place to dump all your research, but the place to reveal your ancestor’s motivations that stem from their past and drives the storyline.

Flashback is a tool writers use to give the reader a window into the ancestor’s past. It is employed by the writer to bring the past into the present usually through a scene. Family history writers often misuse flashbacks in conveying their story. They tend to use flashbacks as the story. However, flashbacks are not the story but a tool to help add another layer to the story, an opportunity for the character to recall a memory that is relevant to something happening in the current story. Flashbacks should not compete with the current story, or become the current story but enhance it. Flashbacks are also not backstory but can be used to deliver backstory. They are similar in that they allow writers to interrupt the current story to add an explanation or answer a question.

When to Choose Flashback over Backstory

Choose a flashback when you wish to evoke an emotional response to an event that happened before your story line.

Choose a flashback when you want to convey a detailed picture of the past.

Choose a flashback when a scene is needed rather than more long narrative summary.

Choose a flashback when you need to break up the pacing.

Choose a flashback when the reader has to remember this information because it’s important to the rest of the story.

Choose a flashback when you want to tell another story, another part of your ancestor’s life.

If you want to know how to write flashbacks effectively in your family history story, read this post for some suggestions.

Posted in: Writing A Scene

Starting at the EndStarting at the End

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

All stories must end in a different place from where they began.

Family history stories are no different. They are not obligated to stop at the conclusion of a life, or with a happily ever after. They end when your ancestor has achieved something in their life that has brought about change and growth, hopefully, both internally and externally.

As we’ve discussed earlier on in this month, stories are about conflict, a complication. We’ve looked at identifying that conflict and how our ancestors have overcome obstacles on their path to their goal.

The third act of our story focuses on the climax and the resolution. The climax being that final conflict that will ultimately resolve your ancestor’s problem and bring about a resolution. The resolution is the point in your ancestor’s life when they achieve what they set out accomplish, whether that is to own land or emigrate or acquire a prominent position or be free, etc. The resolution is the prize, the reward at the end of the journey.

For some family history writers, this may be very clear and apparent at the start. However, some of you may be struggling to find that resolution, to identify your plot line from the conflict to a resolution, to identify the prize in your ancestor’s journey. This may be presenting a problem because not all conflicts in a person’s life have resolutions. Perhaps you’ve chosen a conflict with no clear resolution.Therefore, you may have better luck in developing a strong story line by identifying the resolution first and working backwards.

Identifying the Resolution

Look at your ancestor’s life as a whole, make a list of the achievements they accomplished in their life. Consider the following questions.

How big is the success? The bigger the success, the more significant the efforts, the more powerful the story.
Remember anything your ancestor does on purpose will most definitely have a motivation behind it, for example, your ancestor receives a diploma, acquires land, obtains a prominent position, sets sail for a new land, becomes a military officer. These are all goals that require purposeful action on their part, pressed upon by some motivation. What motivated the action to the accomplishment?
There is often complications on the road to the accomplishment. Did the accomplishment come through way of a struggle?
Did the resolution/accomplishment grow out of your ancestor’s own actions?

Keeping the above thoughts in mind choose an achievement/resolution that you feel meets the above criteria.

Linking the Resolution to the Conflict

Once you identify the resolution and the conflict in your ancestor’s life, linked them together. Look for the actionable steps your ancestor took working back from the resolution to the conflict. Each of these actionable events are the obstacles. These are events in which your ancestor either does something or something is done to him in pursuit of the achievement. Identify those and you’ve identified the obstacles he overcame on his path. Connect your resolution through these obstacles to the initial conflict. You’ve just identified the plot of your story from the end to the beginning.

If you’re struggling to find the end of your story perhaps it’s because your conflict doesn’t have a resolution. If your struggling to find your storyline then look to your ancestor’s achievements in their life and work backwards.

The Writer’s NotebookThe Writer’s Notebook

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

The writer’s notebook, it’s not a diary or a journal but a valuable tool to help you develop your writing skills. It’s a place to be a writer.

A writer’s notebook can help you develop your writing skills through a variety of ways.

A writer’s notebook will help you to pay attention to the world around you. By recording events, ideas, dialogue, people that you come across in your day, you become more aware of your surroundings, the setting, how people interact. In your notebook capture what moves you in the day. Perhaps it was a conversation you overheard, or person you saw, or something in nature that caught your attention. Write it down, explore what it means to you. Practice transforming what you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste during your day in to words on the page.

A writer’s notebook will help you develop ideas. Your book is a place to capture seed ideas. Whether they are ideas for stories or scenes or even if you’re not sure what you plan to do with them. It’s a place to nurture ideas, keep them safe until you’ve ready to explore them further.

A writer’s notebook can help you develop your creative writing skills. Practice scene writing, dialogue and descriptive writing. Heard a conversation, recreate it in words on the page, what did they say, how did they say it. It can teach you to listen. It can teach you to be aware to details.

A writer’s notebook can help you to expand your vocabulary. Record favourite words, unusual words you hear in your day, or a new word you’ve recently learned.

A writer’s notebook is a place to explore your memories bring them out of your head and onto the page.

A writer’s notebook is a place to map a story, draw a plot line, sketch a setting, or draw a character, maybe an ancestor?

Spend 10-15 minutes a day free writing in your writer’s notebook. Carry it with you throughout the day. It will help you to develop your voice and your sense of self as a writer.

Don’t restrict your entries to family history thoughts and ideas. Our ancestors lived in the real world. They interacted with the world around them. Observing your world today can help you add tremendous detail to your stories and help you to learn the tools of character, setting, dialogue and description enhancing your creative writing skills.

Here are a few prompts to help you get your notebook started.

A gesture, word or phrase you found interesting
A conversation you overheard
An interesting person who you met or observed
A person from your past, you want to remember
A description of a photograph
What you see outside the window
Surroundings you may have passed in your daily travels
A quote you heard today
A dish or meal that you made or ate, note its characteristics using all your senses or just one.

One thing is certain, to become a better writer; you must be an observer of the world and you must practice writing. Starting a writer’s notebook is an opportunity to incorporate both into your daily routine.

5 Reasons You Should Be Writing Your Family History5 Reasons You Should Be Writing Your Family History

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

Family historians are often contemplating what they will do with the copious amounts of research they have accumulated over the years. No question, writing stories is often the end goal. However, by the time most genealogists begin thinking about writing they are completely overwhelmed by the size of the task. Too many times I’ve heard the words…”maybe some day.”

If this sounds like you then consider joining me in The Family History Writing Challenge, we can overcome this obstacle and all the other excuses that are preventing you from beginning.

There’s never going to be the perfect time.

There will always be obstacles. Life will get in the way and waiting for the perfect time will never happen. The Family History Writing Challenge will help you to structure writing to be a regular part of your life.

You can wait for the perfect time, when there are no distractions. But, let’s be honest that will never occur. However, by investing in as little as 15 minutes a day or by setting a daily word count, like 500 words a day you can meet your goals. Can you find 15 minutes in your schedule? I’m certain you can.

2. There is so much to learn from the journey.

Often family historians are reluctant to make the transition because they don’t consider themselves writers. No one is born a writer. Writing is a process, a learned skill that improves with practice. By diving in, you learn the habits and the environment that is conducive to helping you write, along with the necessary skills.

You learn to write family history by writing. (Tweet this!)

Often family historians are reluctant to make the transition because they don’t consider themselves writers. No one is born a writer. Writing is a process, a learned skill that improves with practice. By diving in, you learn the habits and the environment that is conducive to helping you write, along with the necessary skills.

Regardless of whether it is creative nonfiction that we cover in The Challenge or another genre you care to write about, you can’t learn, understand and perfect these skills without practicing them…that means writing.

You can research and write at the same time.

Taking up the task of writing your family history doesn’t mean your research comes to an end. Throw out that excuse because we all know that your research will never be done, and you can’t wait until it is to start. There are many great stories waiting within your research right now. Start with one ancestor, one story, start small and simple.
Schedule your research and writing as two separate tasks. When you write a story you’ll find opportunities when perhaps a little more research is required. That’s great. Make a note and keep writing. During your designated research time, turn to your list. Don’t allow your research and writing time to cross.

You want to write engaging stories.

The Family History Writing Challenge focuses on the tools of creative nonfiction. Turn your dry narratives into engaging stories that your family wants to read. The Daily Dose newsletter is delivered to your inbox for 28 days through the month of February. You’ll learn characterization, plotting, showing and telling, turning facts into scenes and description and detail. You’ll discover all the elements which make an entertaining nonfiction narrative.

5. You can find growth in a short amount of time.

In the 28-days of The Challenge, you’ll find your focus. You’ll make writing a priority in your life, and the knowledge and inspiration you’ll learn during our month together will result in a growth experience in a short amount of time. We also have expert authors joining us to add their depth of knowledge. If you venture into the Writer’s Forum, you’ll also learn to give and receive critique and elevate your writing to a new level.

Start getting organized to write your stories with our Getting Ready to Write workbook. Perfect for the first time writer who just doesn’t know where to start and needs some guidance in identifying the kind of story they want to write, setting up a workflow and creating sustainable writing habits.

Finding Time to WriteFinding Time to Write

March 8, 2015 0 Comments

Finding Time to Write

We all struggle to find a few minutes in our day to write. Here are a few tip to aid you in identifying opportunities in your day to make writing a priority.

Keep a Journal. For one week keep a notepad jotting down everything you do in the day, all tasks, household chores, work, lunch, making dinner, checking email, watching TV. Record all tasks, large and small for one week. This exercise will help you be conscious of how you currently spend your time. You might me surprised.

Identify the time stealers on your list. I’m sure there are plenty. These are items that you’re doing far too frequently with little to show for it. Are you aware how many times you check social media in a day and for how long?

Create a Plan to Minimize Your Time Stealers

Sleep. I don’t consider sleep a time stealer. However, I’ve always been envious of those who get through life on a minimal amount of sleep. No question the best way to add time to your day is to wake earlier and go to bed later. I have to be realistic, I don’t function on 5 hours of sleep nor can I make the jump from 8 hours of sleep to 7 or even 6 hours of sleep in one effort. I have been trying to wake earlier. Writing in the morning works best for me, but I also need my sleep. Every couple of weeks, I adjust my alarm clock 15 minutes earlier slowly adjusting my wake time and extending my day and writing time by a few more minutes.

Turn off the TV. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been involved in several writing groups and classes and one common characteristic I have found among writers who are getting the work done…they don’t watch TV. Many writers have sworn off television or limit their TV time, instead they spend time with the more productive and rewarding task of writing.

Limit social media and email. Don’t constantly check your email and Facebook and Twitter accounts. Social media is a huge distraction. Identify times in your day when you engage in social media and email and stick to it, set a timer if you have to and shut it down when the timer goes off. When you sit down to write, create a distraction-free zone, no TV, no email, no social media while you are writing.

Set targets. The more you write, the more you write. That’s not a miss-print. When you first start it might take you 45 minutes to write 500 words, but as you progress you’ll be able to crank out 1000 words in 45 minutes becoming more efficient and productive. Set yourself a target, stick to the plan and give yourself a good 30 days to find a groove making writing a new habit in your life. Here’s what I liked to do in the early days, when I needed a few minutes of distraction-free writing. I turned off all social media, and phones. I set my timer (a kitchen egg timer-for 30 minutes) and I began to write. Even if the telephone rang, I did not stop to answer it. It’s about choosing to make writing a priority! When the timer goes off, I took a 5 minute break, got a drink, stretched, and maybe checked who called. I set the timer and repeated. I used this process regularly when I started writing. I can now write in 5-6 hour stretches in the right conditions with little more than a few breaks and shutting out all distractions. I accomplished a lot using this method. If you have kids it’s also a cue to them, when the timer goes off mommy is available. I don’t use the timer too often anymore, your needs will change as you begin to develop good habits and it will all become natural. Consider the egg timer to find your distraction-free writing time. Despite whether you use time or a word count as your measurement for daily writing, set a target to help keep you on track and measure your daily success.

Be Proud. Let your family know it’s time to write, that means declaring your intention to them and offering up cues when you mean business. That might mean closing the door to your office, or hanging a sign but without their support you’re fighting an uphill battle. Share your goal and enlist their support. If your family has an awareness of your goals, they are less likely to intrude on your writing time.

Carry your writing with you. I always have my writing with me; it may not be my entire project on my laptop on Scrivener. However, there is always a yellow legal pad on my kitchen counter to capture those thoughts when I’m making dinner. I keep a notebook in my purse and on my smartphone, again readily available to write at a moment’s notice. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t get into some heavy writing in the middle of the doctor’s office but I do on occasion get an idea, a word or a sentence that comes to me out of nowhere. I always have something available to capture it. I know myself and that thought will vanish in seconds if I don’t write it down.

Don’t cheat. Like a diet, it’s a slippery slope if you’ve committed to writing six days a week and suddenly you’re convincing yourself you don’t need to write today…or tomorrow. Before you know it, a week has passed without a written word. I also know that we are human and sometimes life just gets in the way. Don’t beat yourself up but get right back on schedule.

Schedule Your Writing Time. Seems like a frivolous task, marking your calendar with your daily writing time. However, writing is a mental game. You must treat writing as a concern in your life, and adding it to your daily schedule, making it a priority alongside all the other tasks you must accomplish in your day is important to keeping it front and center. If it’s not important enough to mark it on your calendar, it’s easily overlooked and soon will take a backseat to anyone of your other tasks.