From Kate’s Writing Crate…
The
Writer’s Crate is celebrating its third anniversary. I’ve written another 52
posts—well 54 if I count an updated post and a blog alert to read Kristen
Lamb’s posts on her WarriorWriters blog. (After seven years, she was ranked as
the #12 best writing blog by Writer’s
Digest earlier this year so I highly recommend her posts.)
Since this blog is all about encouraging writing, I also highly recommend
starting your own blog. Deadlines keep you writing. Set a goal to write posts
for a year. See where all that writing takes you. Plus it’s creative and fun!
You may only be read by
friends and family at first, but if you stick to it and your writing style and
topics are good your audience will increase. Kristen Lamb went two years before
one post got more than 50 readers. Now she has tens of thousands. She also started
a series of online writing workshops with other authors to encourage her readers
to become authors. Kristen published her third book this year.
The key to my blog success
is planning posts and writing them in advance. I have a running list of all the
posts I have written so I don’t repeat myself as well as ideas for the next few
months. Usually, I write my posts and schedule them for publication three weeks
or more in advance. This way, if I get sick or have an unexpected crisis, the
blog goes on without any stress on my part.
As new ideas come to mind, I
slot them into my schedule. Sometimes they are seasonal so I may not write them
for months. Sometimes I write them when the ideas are fresh and save the
completed posts until the appropriate time. Sometimes ideas are timely so I
reorganize the publishing dates to fit it in earlier—all good problems to have
since a new idea is required weekly!
I also find writing posts in
batches helps. Once I’m in the writing groove, it’s easier to keep going. This
makes my running list of future posts indispensable. I don’t have to think up
new ideas on the fly although sometimes I do. I can just look at my list,
choose a topic, and start writing.
The subconscious is an
amazing tool for writers. It’s always working—inspiration by day while writing,
doing chores, taking a shower, etc. and in dreams at night. Any idea I’ve added
to my list has been bubbling in the back of my mind so when I start to write I
have something to say. It feels a bit magical when words come pouring out.
If you want to be a writer,
just write. Fill a spiral notebook a month as recommended by Natalie Goldberg
in Writing Down the Bones. Read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield to
overcome resistance. Start you own Personal Writing Class as I recommended in
my post on 6/1/15.
Whatever inspires you,
follow your dream and write!
Thanks for reading The
Writer’s Crate. Here’s to the next 52 posts!
No comments:
Post a Comment