Want To Be A Productive Writer?

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Would you consider yourself a productive writer?

I know I’m not! 😦

A productive writer has to tip the scales towards being selfish. OUCH! That hurts doesn’t it. Selfish? Moi? No way! Yep, I’m afraid its the only way you’re gunna up your word count. You need to discover all those things that prevent you from writing and try to figure out how you can turn your writing enemies into your writing allies 🙂

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Courtesy of kittisak/freedigitalphotos

In the first session of my Faber class we were asked to write down two lists. A list of our writing enemies (those things that stop us writing) and a list of our writing allies (those things that help us write). Here’s my list…

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It was all going well until my pen hovered over the paper when I thought about my blog. I still can’t make up my mind what side of the list it should go on lol 😉

So now I have to figure out exactly how I get all those things removed from my enemies list and the only thing I can think of is to move into a hotel with no WiFi connection. Not really a practical solution is it? 😉

I guess identifying the problem areas is a start. Knowledge is power right?

But the question remains….what side does my blog go on? Who are your allies and enemies?

ps…..tomorrows blog post will be a little later than usual as I’ll be at Faber 🙂

What Sacrifices Do Writers Have To Make To Succeed?

42 thoughts on “Want To Be A Productive Writer?”

  3. Hmm. Not sure where to rank the blog. My blog, it depends on the week. Sometimes I’m tempted to stop completely, but I’ve met so many cool writers that it’s difficult to get rid of that. Work can also be an enemy and an ally. If we’re slow, I can write at work, if we’re busy, I’m usually drained and don’t even want to turn on a computer.

    I didn’t have a difficult time with the “selfish” part :/ No kids to worry about and hubby is gone a few days a week. My biggest challenge is fitting life back in without feeling like I’m neglecting the writing. But since I have, I’ve noticed I can get quality work done in a short time. I’ve turned off the wi-fi, closed the bedroom door and just tapped away for an hour. Whether it turned out to be utter crap or not, at least I had something on the page to work with.

    Good luck finding the balance!

    PS – Taking a few hours to myself and doing a night time cemetery tour here in town. Can’t wait! Will probably end up working its way into a story 😉

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    • It’s hard isn’t it Melanie…..I get so much out of blogging, but, it does take up a lot of time.

      It’s blooming hard to fit writing around “life” isn’t it, or should that be fitting life around “writing”?

      Good luck honey! Yes, finding a happy balance is exactly what I need to do 🙂

      Ooooooo, now I’m intrigued!!!! I hope you’ll be blogging about it….sounds scary! Lol

      Xx

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  6. The internet and social media are the biggest barriers because they eat up too much time. The blog isn’t a barrier because to produce quality posts, a certain standard of writing is needed, and then some reflection etc.

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  7. I agree with the man when he says, Puh-rack-tiss!!!!

    Thank you Vikki, for reminding me about the list. I used to write out a ‘priority list’ when I worked full time. And, although I don’t have to spend eight hours a day doing a ‘day job’ anymore, I still have so many commitments that I don’t have enough time to write. Writing the list now! x

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    • Oh definitely Maddie!!!! Which is why I’m so set on doing my prompt a day! 🙂

      It’s funny isn’t it…because you don’t work you think you’ll have plenty of time to write, but your day just gets filled with other things *deep sigh*

      Good luck! I hope you’ll be blogging about it 😉

      Xx

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  8. This is such a good post, Vikki. I’m going to do this exercise too. I don’t really have many allies, other than time – I’m lucky to be able to work from home, and the indexing work is very quiet at the moments so I could, in theory, write until school-run time!

    Enemies, though … For me the biggest ones are distractions, and the biggest distraction is all the stuff you have to do to sell the book/s you’ve already written! That’s when blogging and social media aren’t things you can just cut off from, because if I don’t engage, I don’t find new readers.

    For what it’s worth, I think your blog should go on the allies side. But that’s just me being selfish and I look forward to your posts. (Don’t leave us!) x

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    • Thanks Jo 🙂 Good luck! Let me know how you get on with your list.

      Now that’s really interesting Jo, that you put time on your allie list. I don’t work (ie a 9-5 job out of the house) either, but I just don’t seem to have enough of it! Lol….I’m obviously doing something wrong!

      *slumps* it must be exhausting honey! I see you Twittering and FaceBooking, I don’t know how you do it! 😉

      Ha ha ha, awwwww, thank you 🙂 But as I said to Sydney above, I’m really your enemy as you should be writing not reading my blog 😉

      Xx

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  9. There was a point where I would’ve considered my blog an enemy, but I think that’s changed. Confidence can be an enemy of mine. That’s all I can think of really. I’m not sure how to move confidence to the friend column.

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  10. I’m not sure where I’d stick blogging. There is no easy answer to the enemies list, especially the top 2. It’s just the forever question of balancing things out the best you can and finding time to write.

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  11. I’m ambivalent about the blogging too. It is undoubtedly taking a lot of my available writing time time away from my fiction writing. But as one blog pointed out (sorry, can’t remember who), it is writing, so it’s good practice in that sense.

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  13. Hm, perhaps my freelance writing (I write for a job now lol) could be the enemy. It takes up a lot of time and energy for sure, but I live alone and I usually prefer to write at night so I get a lot done then.

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  17. Ooh, hard choice. If I had to give one up, Facebook, Twitter or Blogging… no sorry, I can’t answer that 😉

    What I do find helpful is having a smart phone. My Tweeting and Facebook activity are both done via my phone and can be done in any spare five minutes, so they don’t tend to impact on my writing time. That leave me with only blogging that I have to sit at my computer and do when I could be writing, but I do enjoy it so I’m not sure I’d think about giving it up.

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  18. It took quite some time for my family to understand my writing was not just something Mum did..now I am published they sort of get the picture. I do plug in earphones and disappear into my own world as much as I can but it is not easy. I’ll try the list!

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  19. I would say that your blog is defiantly a positive :). You always get a large amount of encouraging comments, that must give you such a boost to take that next step forward no matter what. I can never by sure if FB or Twitter are a good thing. They are brilliant for keeping you in touch, but the amount of time I spend on it is never a good thing lol.

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