Writing in Spare Moments of Life
By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin
Sometimes I write in the cracks of life. I’ve been in publishing for a long time and have many things that I have to get written. There are follow-up calls and letters to potential Morgan James authors. I have meetings to schedule and paperwork to turn into my colleagues so authors can get considered and possibly get a publsihing contract. These details are only a few of the numerous ones I am handling day in and day out. Also each week I write an original article on The Writing Life.
Outside of writing that I need to get done, I also enjoy doing some other writing such as book reviews. I’ve written over 1,000 reviews on Amazon and enjoy supporting other writers with a review. It’s hard to fit this writing into my routine with the pressure of other writing. Where do I get it done? I write my reviews in the spare moments of life. It amounts to reading late at night (outside of my work) and marking some passages that I want to highlight then finding a few moments to write my review and post it. Like everything, even writing a short review takes time. Each of us have a finite supply of time. My question is are you writing in the spare moments of your life?
Maybe you have put mental walls or parameters on your writing time. For example, some have decided to write a chapter or a story or a book proposal or manuscrpt, they need a chunk of time to get that written. From my experience, this mental wall or restriction is a false one. I can write a short piece in the cracks of my life.
As I’ve explained in other articles, the books from publishers and authors pour into my mailbox throughout the week. I attempt to read as many of them as I can handle during my limited reading time. Then when I have a spare moment, I will write a review and often go back to it several times to make sure I like how it is written. Then I will post that review on Amazon and Goodreads. Sometimes I post it on some other sites as well. The Goodreads review always posts immediately but Amazon and others can take a few days before they post on the site.
When I see that one of my new reviews has posted, I will tell others through my social media connections along with a unique image of the book. In this simple way I can support and help other writers to tell others about their books. Several years ago I wrote another article about this process called Writing In the Cracks of Life. It’s another way with some different examples of how I handle this process of writing in spurts instead of a lengthy session. I hope it will give you some ideas for your own writing life.
Also I use the reminders feature on my phone so I don’t miss something. I freely admit to being human and every now and then something gets missed. Whenever this happens I give myself some grace which is something each of us need.
The process of consistently writing isn’t easy for anyone--even someone like me who has been doing it for a long time. The key is to keep sitting in your chair and moving your fingers on your keyboard--over and over. If you get a paragraph written, then eventually you will get a page written. When you get a page written eventually you can write a chapter and then a manuscript. Your persistence and consistency is a critical part of the process.
Have you put some mental restrictions on the length of time you need to do some writing? Or maybe it is another issue that prevents you from writing in the spare moments of your life. Let me know in the comments below.
Some of My Writing in Other Places
In these articles, I encourage you to write in other places. As a writer, you can consistently write in other places. I do not add this feature every month yet every month I am consistently publishing my writing on other sites. Here’s a few recent articles:
Tweetable:
Labels: Terry Whalin, The Writing Life, Writing in Spare Moments of Life
0 Comment:
Post a Comment
That's the writing life...
Back to the home page...