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December 15, 2011

Evaluate Your Writing Progress and Make Resolutions!

Well, my lovely Duoliters (Duolitians? Duolettes? Duolitites?) it’s that time of year again. The dawn of a new year is nearly upon us, which brings with it the time honored tradition of New Year’s Resolutions.

In 2012, we want to make sure that among your goals for weight loss (this year will be different, really, that thigh master is coming out of the garage and it’s gonna be on like Donkey Kong!), financial security (no more impulse buys, that piggy bank is going to be brimming with gold by year’s end!) and spiritual growth (you will tune in less to the TV and more to the world around you!) we also want you to add some attainable goals for your writing development.

But wait! First we have to evaluate our 2011 goals.

If you’ve been keeping up with our monthly writing motivation newsletters this year or if you’ve taken our How NOT to Write a Book eCourse, you should already have set some writing goals for yourself in 2011. Before we can take a look ahead at 2012 (which we will do in a follow-up blog in January) we have to take an inventory of where you stand based on the results of 2011. So without further ado, let’s get to it.

1. The positives: What did you accomplish?

Every Duolit meeting begins on a positive note, which typically involves some sort of delicious, junky type food and equally junky discussion on celebrity gossip or news. Along the same lines, we want to begin your evaluation by taking a look at the positives of 2011 in terms of your writing goals. What were you able to achieve? Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? Create an outline for your book? Write a first draft? Edit a second draft? If you surpassed any of the marks you set for yourself in your writing, take a minute to stop and give yourself a big pat on the back. Finding the time and energy to take those steps ain’t easy, so your progress should be celebrated with glee.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Motivation, Writing Tagged With: , ,
November 7, 2011

3 NaNoWriMo-Inspired Lessons for Everyday Writing

We’re a little over a week into National Novel Writing Month now and the competition is in full swing. We’re glad to hear that so far everyone who’s done our NaNoWriMo check-in has yet to turn into a zombie and that you’re meeting your writing goals. Keep up the great work!

But what about those us who decided not to take a shot at the 50,000 word marathon this year? What can we learn from NaNoWriMo that can help us with our writing outside of the competition?

We’ve put together a quick list of three NaNoWriMo features that can turn us all into better writers:

1. The motivation of word count goals.

Fifty thousand words in 30 days is a huge chunk of writing that makes a lot of writers uncomfortable. But reasonable writing goals are an excellent means of staying focused and motivated to complete your work. Take a close look at your schedule and be really honest about the amount of time you can dedicate to writing (we know it’s not as much time as we’d like, but that’s life!) and how much you can realistically write in that time period. Duolit reader Susan Herman suggested using 750words.com to figure out your writing pace and set your goals accordingly (great idea, Susan!). Once you reach your set goal, reward yourself accordingly!

Read more about this subject in our eCourse, How NOT to Write a Book.

2. Write scenes, not stories.

When you are just starting your writing project, it’s easier to focus on scripting scenes instead of entire stories. The tie-ins and transitions can be worked in later. Just to generate your first manuscript to edit and manipulate, consider using this technique that a lot of NaNoWriMo competitors employ. Create an outline of the primary scenes that will unfold between your characters and focus on writing each scene. What’s the setting? What are the characters’ feelings about what’s happening in the scene? How does their body language reflect these feelings? You’ll be surprised how quickly you can generate a huge chunk of your book’s content.

3. Enjoy the encouragement of the writing community.

One of my favorite parts of NaNoWriMo is the camaraderie of the participants. It’s not about competing with each other, it’s about competing against time, distractions and impossibility to do something amazing. Everyone encourages each other, shares battle scars and celebrates every achievement. You’ll find if you engage with the writing community on Twitter and Facebook that this is just the nature of writers as a whole. That’s one of the things we’ve found with Duolit–there are thousands of writers out there and the internet has given us all a place to meet, get to know each other, and share our experiences. That friendship and encouragement goes a long way on the tough days when you need someone to say, “If I can do it, you can do it!”

We hope these tips can help you guys bring the best parts of NaNoWriMo into your daily writing lives, even if you’re not a part of the competition this year. Keep plugging away and your writing dreams will become a reality!

Later days,

– Shannon

Filed Under: NaNoWriMo, Writing Tagged With: , ,
September 12, 2011

6 Rules of Writing Research

In the interest of trying to keep things short this week (we’re really working on our wordiness around here) I’m going to keep the intro simple. Your writing process should always start with a little bit of research–some on your marketing and some on your actual subject matter. To help with the latter, we’ve put together six tips that will help you with your writing research.

1. Go beyond Google

A basic Google search can yield results in the millions, few of which may actually be related to your subject. There are other resources for Internet information that can give you better data from more reliable sources. If you’re in school, you can probably gain free access to the JSTOR database filled with millions of academic articles and reports on thousands of different subjects (without it you can still pay for individual articles which are usually $10 – $20 each). Other websites with valuable information include Ancestry.com (some databases are free, most are paid), Chamber of Commerce websites (free and almost every city has one), Google Scholar (free, but a lot of the articles are drawn from paid databases), Newspaper archives (usually free, depends on the paper) and the Library of Congress (free).Continue Reading

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With:
August 15, 2011

10 Proofreading Tips to Ensure Your Self-Published Works are Flawless [Guest Post]

The following is a guest post by Randall Davidson. 

Self-published works are not subjected to the watchful eyes of professional editors, leaving the job of proofreading in the hands of the writer. To create self-published works that look great and convey your ideas appropriately, follow these 10 proofreading tips from professional proofreaders:

  1. Allow some time to pass. If your self-imposed deadline allows, put the work aside for a few days or weeks before beginning the proofreading process.
  2. Simplify whenever possible. Look for complicated words that can be replaced with simpler ones. Also, look for long passages that can be broken down into multiple sentences or paragraphs.
  3. Format your text. Arrange the text as you will be publishing it. Then, look for problems with paragraphs breaking strangely across pages. Formatted text also looks different from plain text, so typos you missed before may show up.
  4. Have someone read the text to you. If it’s not too time consuming, have someone read the text to you. You will hear problems with word choice, transition issues, and other awkward phrases that aren’t apparent on paper.

Continue Reading

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Writing Tagged With: ,
July 18, 2011

Writing Inspiration: Find it in Your Summer Reading

On the beach, by the lake, or in your home, few things are more enjoyable on warm summer days than the comfort of a great read. From romance novels to classic tomes, our favorite books seem to awaken every summer and call to us from tote bags, dusty shelves and (as of late) the memory chips of our mobile devices.

But more than just an escape from the drone of daily life, a great book can also help you focus on your own writing project. We can take inspiration from other authors, their characters and their plot lines to refine our stories and get the fuel to power through our writing goals. How? Well, it’s all the skill of the choice. Here are a few guidelines for picking a great summer read that will lead to summer writing:

  • Read something with a similar voice and subject matter to your writing project. Reading John Steinbeck to get inspiration for a chick-lit novel is not recommended. You want a book that preferably speaks from the same POV (first person or third person) as your novel in same general style (commercial or literary fiction).Continue Reading
Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: , ,