I remember when I was younger, I had these massive dreams about who I was going to be and what I was going to achieve. For years I knew I was going to university, I knew that that was what I was going to do but what I was going to do when I got there was a complete mystery.
In my ideal world, I dreamt about being a writer, then a doctor, then back to a writer. At one point I wanted to be a lawyer. I even wanted to be a paramedic at one point (that became almost realistic as I was going to take human biology in sixth form but my School didn’t do Human Biology on it’s own they just did normal Biology). I also wanted to be Marine Biologist – don’t ask me why I think I liked the idea of being able to swim lots!
Then I ended up back at a writer and it keeps coming back. I keep attempting to write short stories and stuff like that – I’ve done NaNoWriMo two years in a row and both times failed! I get to about 3000 words and have no further to go with my story. The characters fall into a black hole or something and I can’t get them out. I guess blog writing is my way of getting my writing out there but I’ve still not written a proper story. Then again I have a thirst for knowledge so many I should be writing Non-Fiction rather than Fiction.
Instead of following my dreams, I graduated from university and needed a job. I ended up a customer service rep for a safe company and read as much as I can during my lunch breaks and after work. Hopefully some day writing will be a full time occupation but for now it’s just a hobby then again its part time I think.
To a certain degree I struggle, I know what I want to say in my head but then when I get my pen to paper or my fingers to the keys, the ideas just fly away. I constantly have a notebook in my bag so that I can scribble the ideas down but it just doesn’t happen as easy as I think it should.
Maybe for now I’ll be a blogger or an online journal-ist.
This post was written by Pam from Reflections from a Neurotic Writer. She suggested that we occasionally provide writing tips. If you’re interested in contributing a writing tip, email twentysomethingwriters[at]gmail[dot]com.
Schedule time for writing. I know this is a hard one. But if it is not in a scheduled time then we tend to push it off to the side and just forget about it. Or find something else to do during that small amount of free time. I find if I do not schedule a 15 minutes of writing here or 30 minutes there, that I never get around to it. It doesn’t have to be two three hours, but only little chunks. That way you get some writing done and feel like it hasn’t taken over your whole day. So make a schedule of your week, put in all the times you work, have school, need to clean the house, have other activities, or anything else. Then mark in when you want to write and have time. Don’t sacrifice your family time or your job. Perhaps during lunch, you could eat and write, or instead of watching television after dinner, maybe write. You have to make the schedule. But at some point, writing is going to have to be more important than something to make it into your schedule. It’s the only way you will get any progress and get the project finished.
Tell people about your schedule. Let your family, friends, neighbors, classmates, or whoever know what your schedule is, and that you are unavailable at those times. If you have to go to your computer and lock the door behind for an hour, then so be it. As long as everyone knows that you are not to be disturbed at all, except for emergencies. That time is as if you are work. Eventually it will become part your routine.
Keep to your Schedule. This is the hardest thing to do, especially when little things come up and you figure you can just reschedule. However, when you reschedule once it becomes easier and easier to move all of the other times. You need to be firm and determine if it something that can be done later (emergences are a different matter), then finish your time and take care of the task or issue. If you start to deviate from your schedule others will think that all of your scheduled time is expendable and think that you can be bothered during it. Stay strong and defend your schedule. When it is your writing time, write and push everything else out of your head. You will thank yourself later for it.
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Random- *Find a quote on the page to be your album title. You may have to refresh the page once if there are not quotes on your random page**
As much as I would love to take credit for this awesome prompt, I can’t. This prompt is from John @ Phampants. He already did this, so if you need a little example or inspiration, you can see his response here.
*This is a writing prompt. Remember, post about it on your blog, link back here, then post the URL in the comments so we can check out your album! Encourage your blog readers to participate, and post their albums over here too. Let’s get our own little top-selling album chart here!
**Originally step 2 linked to a page that was broken, and when fixed, it sent everyone to the same page for quotes, and that would be no fun! So, to avoid confusion, I provided a new link – by Katie@10:11 AM EST.
This post was written by Megan and originally published on her blog Somewhat Voluble.
There was a time in my life when I wanted to do nothing but write. And so I did. I wrote until the ink emptied from my pen or until my eyes burned from staring at the computer screen for hours. It wasn’t necessarily by choice either. I wrote because I had to. I had to feel my words flood from whatever existed beneath the dark curls upon my head. Writing became my oxygen. Writing frivolously, I was able to write about my biggest fears or goals or what I expected to happen next. And then it stopped.
I don’t know exactly what happened. Maybe it was when life took over; I began to lose track of my fingertips. My ability to write beautiful words vanished, and I felt as if an important part of me had been ripped away, yet I could not gain it back. The world continued to tick by, slowly, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. My breathing became steadier, unlike when I wrote. When I wrote, I felt as if I couldn’t type quick enough to catch the spilling words. I became so unnervingly normal. I became silent. Mute. Another face in the crowd.
It’s almost as if I’ve been asleep since that moment in time. I’ve been flowing through a never-ending nightmare where words continue to drown. And now here I am. Awake. Shaken from what could have been the end. There is a chance for change; a chance for renewal. Maybe this is the beginning. Maybe this is just another hopeless attempt. However, I am ready. I’m ready to catch my breath. I am ready to have my words back.
What do you do when you just can’t write? How do you inspire yourself?
Please discuss your responses to this question in the comments. Note: you can respond directly to other comments by clicking the “Reply” link in the bottom right corner of each comment.
Please note: We are currently in need (okay, we’re always in need) of discussion questions like this. Send your suggestions to twentysomethingwriters[at]gmail[dot]com.
A few weeks ago, we asked you about your favorite books. One of our participants, John from Phampants, made a video on this same topic, and here it is. “In your pants” is a Vlog Brothers reference (click here to catch up with that).
My best writing is not my first draft or my second draft. Usually my best writing is a third or fourth draft. I write and re-write and then re-write some more.
Rewriting is a habit I’ve had to adapt since entering journalism school. When working on tight deadlines you don’t always have time to re-write your work several times. Sometimes, you don’t have time to re-write it at all. I’ve been working on getting out a good draft the first time around, but it’s been a slow process.
Here’s how my writing usually goes:
First draft: I sit down and write/type. I don’t worry too much about grammar or spelling or word count, I just get it all out on the page.
Second draft: I correct all the spelling and grammar mistakes and tighten up the story by taking out unnecessary words and fixing sentence structures so it sounds better or makes more sense.
Third draft and beyond: After the second draft is finished, I usually like to leave the piece alone overnight. This gives me a chance to forget about it and come back to it with fresh eyes. Usually I will find new mistakes or have new ideas to add in.
That’s how I write. That’s how I’ve always wrote. It’s even how I write my blogs. I usually type up a blog post a day or two in advance using a Microsoft Word document. The day I post the blog I make anywhere from little to huge changes before publishing the final draft.
Now that I’m learning to work with tighter deadlines I’m learning how to adapt my writing so I don’t have to leave it overnight, I can write a piece and submit it in the same day. Here are some tips I got from one of my classes:
Walk away: Even if I don’t have time to leave it overnight, I will always walk away from my piece for at least 10 minutes before finalizing it. Grab some coffee, go to the washroom, do some different homework, whatever.
Change format: This is the most helpful tip I’ve learned. I used to do all my editing on the computer, but now I print out a copy of my work and edit it by hand, I catch things that I don’t see when I’m staring at the computer screen. (Note: I don’t do this with blogs because that would waste too much paper, but I do it with school assignments).
Talk about the piece: I discuss what I’m working on with classmates or my boyfriend; it helps me think about the ideas in a different way.
Experiment: If something isn’t feeling right about the piece I’ll copy and paste it into a new document and experiment with different endings and leads.
Rethink every sentence and paragraph: I try to read the piece like an editor would, looking at each sentence and paragraph separately to suss out errors.
Do you guy’s rewrite your work or just go with the first draft? What about your blogs? Does anybody else have any rewriting tips?
“You are beautiful, no matter what you think.”
“Life isn’t the same without you in it.”
“It was me who stole your Star Wars wallet. Seriously, you’re 30, grow up.”
“I shouldn’t be, but I’m in love with you.”
“You’re probably the worst kisser on the face of the earth.”
“I saw you today at the Gas Station, and you looked incredible pumping gas.”
We all have something we want to say to someone. Maybe it’s someone in your life now. Or, maybe it is something you wish you said to someone who is no longer in your life. It could even be Mr./Ms. Random Person that you saw in the local coffee shop today. What do you want to say that you were never able to?You can leave the person(s) identity anonymous, if you’d like. Feel free to feature more than one person. Do it in letter form or any form you prefer. Show us that creativity! *This is a Writing Prompt, so remember, blog about the topic, link back here, and then post the URL to your blog post in the comments, so we can all come visit and read your response.
This piece was written by Nicole Antoinette from More is Better. It is an excerpt from Lipstick and the Events that Followed.
Sophie had an alter ego named Kiki who wore pink wigs and liked to flirt with disaster. The months leading up to their death were more like a fragmented sequence of movie clips than real life. It started with red lipstick.
“Come on Sophie, come here, just let me put it on you,” Lily laughed.
“You’re nuts, that lipstick is way too dark, I’m going to look ridiculous! I never wear colors like that!” Sophie pulled away from her best friend and studied herself in the mirror. Pressing her lips together, she tried to imagine being one of those girls who wore fake eyelashes and had big, pouty red lips. Absolutely not, she thought. But Lily persisted.
“It’s a 1920s themed party, you have to look classic and smolderingly hot, and what better way is there to do that than by having red lips? Did Marilyn Monroe teach us nothing?”
She could always rely on Lily to use Marilyn Monroe as a means of persuasion. Sophie had a thing for certain celebrities, not really a crush, but not really not a crush either. Marilyn was one of them, James Dean was another; Sophie loved all things dramatic and classic, anything with a history, especially an illicit history, fascinated her. That was why she was drawn to New York City in the first place, because she liked how everything seemed to be a combination of history and crazy. She felt confident that something remarkable or something insane could happen at any minute, and this fueled a desperate, dizzy part of herself that she had never been able to fully satisfy before leaving Vermont.
