A Word A Day?

I got to play model for Rhonda's photography!

I know a lot of writers have other fetishes they participate in, for some it's drawing (for me, it's trying to draw), others might have a love of old cars, bake, and some of you are photographers, or at least budding photographers. One challenge circling around for photographers is the A Photo A Day Challenge.

A good friend of mine has taken up this challenge and just started up her new blog:

http://aphotoaday-rhonda.blogspot.com/

Rhonda is very talented and skilled with digital media and is also passionate about photography. She's sharpening her skills by producing a photo every day. This got me thinking about all arts, and indeed interests. Surely by toiling at our craft EVERY day, we will build our skills. I've taken challenges before to produce 500 words per day and during NaNoWriMo there were no days off. This year I'm feeling a little squeezed with all the preparation I need to do to teach two new subjects at high school, but I should keep my ink nib dipped in some way daily. I'd love to say I'll edit for 30minutes everyday, but I hear it as a lie even as I think the words. So...

I've decided that as long as I do something literary everyday, I'll be happy. That's all, a minimum of one activity. I can read a book about the craft of writing (did that today), listen to a writer's podcast, edit my manuscript, write up a pitch-line (like I will tomorrow for the challenge at Erica and Christy), or make notes in my notebook (which I did today!). If I have a really bad brain-dead day? I'll just write one word in my notebook (but it better be a good one).

Are you taking up any new challenges?

The Writer's Notebook

My love affair with my notebook runs hot and cold. Sometimes I dive in and scribble away many times a day, then, for no particular reason, I put it down and struggle to motivate myself to pick it up at all. Today I'm using it to knock myself on the noggin and chastise myself into scribbling again.

After all, the notebook has featured as a writer's tool in about 20 of my blogposts, including my most popular post:

13 BEST RESOURCES FOR WRITERS

I also included using my notebook more as a New Year goal in:

7 TIPS FOR A WRITER'S YEAR

I have no excuses, there are plenty of notebooks lying around my house in all sorts of sizes, textures and designs. If anything, I think I have too many. I start new notebooks for each WIP (fair enough), I have a separate notebook to record how much writing I'm doing (little bit pointless at the moment), one for ideas and notes, one for dream journaling, one for writing courses, I have my iPhone app for when I'm out and about.... I could go on. I think it's easier to ignore your notebook when there's many. I'm scaling back. I'll still use my iPhone app when I've forgotten (gasp) to bring my notebook, but my idea-pad of choice is:

I love this notebook. I love the cream colour (the lined pages are also cream, that feels less mocking than blank white pages) and the way it's already a little battered. I'll just use headings to identify the different notes I'm taking: Ideas, Dialogue, Plots, Problems, etc. I let myself become distracted and now it's time to write again. What will I write? I think I'll start with my distractions, I might be able to grow something from these seeds.

I've been:

• Writing up Spanish worksheets for my language class (you can see them here)
• Having an icky lump removed from my head, which was gross, funny and cool. Gross, because the doctor showed it to me afterward (retch), funny, because halfway through he calls 'oh-oh!' and I think about how doctors (and pilots) should have a code word for 'oh-oh' - something like 'puppies', 'cause you don't panic when someone in charge calls 'puppies'. And it's cool, because the Yr7 & 8 boys at my school will love hearing my war tales and seeing the scar.
• Watching the new 'Sherlock' series on TV while reading the novels on my Kindle. Really like the show that brings Sherlock Holmes to the current day, but must admit it means crossing one 'new idea' off my list in my notebook (I'm very original, just a bit slow).
• Reading Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks. You'll notice my notebook has the optimistic number '1' in the top right corner, Agatha numbered all her notebooks. I hope mine head up in the hundreds.
• Biting my nails while my family and writing buddies read my finished manuscript, Dog Show Detective.

How's your writing goals going? Anyone else lagging? Can you turn your excuses into writing exercises or ideas?

Best Free Apps for Productive Writing

Fun, but NOT one of my Productive Writing App picks.

In my last post, I gave you 8 Ways to Prioritise Writing. I'm sticking with the productivity theme and in this post I'll share my top pick of free tools from iTunes to help you be more productive in your writing. You can search for all of these apps in your iTunes store, but some have links if you'd like to read more about them first.

iPhone/iPod/iPad Apps

1. Voice Recognition Software. Takes a while to set up and get used to, but now there are recording apps that will translate your voice to text. You could be writing your next novel while driving in the car (as long as you stay focused on the road), working out at the gym (as long as you wanted a lot of huffing and puffing in your story) or shopping for groceries (you're a writer now, it's too late to worry about looking weird). There are a few different programs in iTunes, but I've gone for Dragon Dictation.
2. Notebooks. Agatha Christie was famous for keeping all her notebooks with ideas, inspiration and plot plans. Writers know they should carry their notebook with them EVERYWHERE - but really, do you? I almost always forget to. But now I have My Writing Spot, and I use it all the time. You can even set a password, if you're worried about prying eyes reading your plot ideas.
3. Audiobooks. Need to learn more about the traditional structure of storytelling, or how to find your own style? There are many well known books on the craft of writing, now available as audiobooks. If you don't have the time to read through a non-fiction book, have your device read it to you.
4. To Do Lists. There's an art to writing a good To Do list, you need sub-categories and you need to keep it simple. If you're a list lover like me, you'll love Wunderlist Task Manager for your iPhone/iPod/iPad. No excuses now.
5. Mind-mapping. I first learned of clustering ideas for writing from an audio book (To Write is to Know - Gabriele Rico), it's a great tool whenever you feel a little lost or stuck. Now I can mind-map or cluster on my iPhone, but truthfully, this seems to work better for me on the iPad (more room to see your finished map). Try Total Recall.
6. Visual Prompts. Sometimes you'll see a sign, painting, magazine, etc that acts as a great inspiration for your current WIP and writing about it isn't enough. Now you can scan images with your iPhone! This app has many uses and I'm sure you'll come up with some new ones. With overwhelming numbers recommending this app, I present: CamScanner.
7. Headlines. Using newspaper headlines to get story ideas works well in my creative writing classes. I won't link because everyone has their own preference for papers, but you can download anything from The Australian to NY Times.

There's my picks - do you have any to add? (Facebook and Twitter are great social networking apps, but we all know now they do not get us putting more words to paper).

8 Ways to Prioritise Writing

I've been trying to stick to my writing goals for 2011 (which ironically include me writing less). The number one item on my list was to PRIORITISE (you can see the complete list in 7 Tips for a Writer's Year).

As much as I love writing scenes, the priority this year is for me to edit. Using many books and an online course to guide me, I completed my edits on Dog Show Detective. All I needed to do was type up the revised manuscript. Easy. You would think. I don't think procrastinating will be a new concept to any fellow writers/bloggers, but I made an art of it. Enough! This is the new 2011 productive me, so, last night I sat down and typed up the remaining five chapters. And now it is DONE! Feels good, I can now format the manuscript, and start sending it out.

There are many ways to prioritise your writing, here are some I found:

1. Lists. I love 'em. Keep them short and not an extensive overview of every task needed before you purchase your novel from a bookstore. Focus on the NOW. For me it was my Dog Show Detective manuscript. Next will be a list of steps for editing either Digging Up Death or The Costume Maker. This will make your goal seem more attainable and hopefully encourage you to hurry up and achieve it. If you struggle with keeping your lists short, then fine, write up a four page itinerary of all the writing tasks ahead of you - but then - you are only allowed to choose a MAXIMUM of 5 tasks for your to-do list. Yep, 5.
2. Allocate Time. My most productive times have been where I have a set time of 1-2hrs a day which is my 'writing time' I was not allowed to break for tea, snacks or go online during that time. It was time for WORK. I find this hard to keep up as work and family make changes. It's worth a try though.
3. Be Objective. If you were your boss, would you put up with all your time-wasting? I would have sacked my butt ages ago if I were paying me (ooh, maybe you could pay yourself an hourly rate, and that money is how much you have available for buying books?).
4. Schedule the Distractions. I'm going to try this one. I'll give my self set times of the day that I'm allowed to blog-hop, twitter, Facebook, etc. And I won't be allowed on any other time.
5. Prioritise by Urgencia (urgency - see, I'm learning Spanish). It's easy to think there are no deadlines for writing when no urges you. But you can set them. I need my manuscripts ready for a Children and YA Writers Conference I'll be attending later this year, so I can submit them to the attending publishers.
6. Prioritise by Passion. Maybe there's an unfinished manuscript calling to you while you work on your WIP. Maybe you've lost that loving feeling with your WIP. You could switch for a while, you may be more productive on the one with more appeal. Maybe make this a one time only pass though, or you might keep swapping every time your WIP drags.
7. Keep a Writing Journal. This is not your ideas notebook, but a journal to record what writing tasks you complete that day. It can be a motivator when you do well and a reminder when you get a few days of 'nothing'.
8. Use the Pomodoro Technique. This is an very efficient way of forcing productivity. Each project has the steps, planning, tracking, recording, processing and visualising. You work on each task for 25 minutes and then break for 3-5minutes. Then you move to the next task. There is no finishing early, you keep going until your timer sounds 25, and you can not keep working on the same task after 25 minutes. To find out more, you can check out:

http://freestylemind.com/pomodoro-technique/

or the Pomodoro Technique site for free downloads of worksheets and manuals:

http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

How do you get yourself productive? I know some writers can work on a dozen different projects, write at 3am - 5am or work around the clock until it's done, but sleep rings pretty high on my priority list too. Pinkachu agrees with me:

Nature writes conflict scenes

The white-peaked roof is where we bought ice-cream in December,

while visiting my dad.

As writers we try to come up with the strongest themes and story-lines. Add conflict. Create tension. But no matter how creative we are, nature always seems to create a bigger, scarier scene with all the conflict you could ever imagine. It always manages to surprise and frighten me.

I always thought floods were slow moving events. The water gradually rises until it blocks of roads or fills your house, wrecking your carpet. I never understood that it could rush through a town wiping out everything in its path without notice. I've been shocked by the destruction, but mostly by the loss of life. There have been some tragic stories, and some very heroic ones. I've heard of people managing to save lives, only to lose their own. Parents sacrificing their safety for their children. It's heart-wrenching and I don't think you could ever 'create' characters like this. I'm sad for the survivors and proud of them.

As my dad's place has no power (he's up on a hill, so his house is fine, but just down the street the shops are underwater), he's been spending his spare moments writing (good on ya' Dad). He's about to become very busy in his neighbouring towns with the clean-up.

There are a lot of people helping out at this time and I found a Facebook group of writers doing their bit:

Writers Auction 4 Queensland Flood Appeal 

I thought I'd post the link because they will be holding an auction filled with books, writing and editing services - so you might find some useful goodies there!

Do you think fiction can ever capture the level of conflict that nature can create or the characters that emerge from these tragedies?

Writing from bits of your brain

As I've been looking at right and left brain functions for writers, I dug up some information I'd found in an old post and wanted to share. Some writers claim to be creative and prefer to write without plots or plans, others like their lists and outlines, thinking themselves more analytical. Is it just in our heads that we are wired for either organisation or creativity? No (and yes).

Just as different parts of the brain are used for seeing as for hearing, we use different sections of our brain for fiction and non-fiction. We have to exercise both sides of the brain so one doesn’t get lazy. Would you like to know if you are more of a right brain thinker or a left brain thinker? Have a look at this website here and take the test. For me the dancer goes clockwise, my youngest daughter (Matilda) also sees it clockwise - we are righties. My husband and eldest daughter (Emily) see the figure go anti-clockwise - they are lefties. 

But you're not locked in. The trick is, if you stare at it long enough you can usually change the direction and therefore change the side of the brain you are using. If you wanted to harness the skills of both sides of your brain you can exercise the 'lazy' side.


How do you exercise the other half of your brain? Easy, try this:

Left side: Look at a picture of any animal. Then, quickly write as much as you know about that topic for 10 minutes straight. E.g: How much do you know about ducks? You may start off thinking you know very little, but as you write your mind will prompt memories of data. This is a good warm up to do before writing essays.

Right side: Look at a picture of a place or animal (not your own photos). Now write freely and imaginatively for 10 minutes about that picture, whatever it inspires.
E.G: If you have a picture of a cat, write what the cat is thinking and what it plans to get up to later.


None of us have a dormant side of the brain, but sometimes I think we rely heavily on the side we're already comfortable. It can be freeing for our writing to push ourselves outside of our usual box. What side of the brain do you lean towards? Or does yours switch back and forth constantly?

Want to find other ways to exercise your brain? Try this link:

Does Your Brain Need Exercise

Right and Left Sides of the Writer's Brain

I've been continuing through The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards and I've found the information on right side of brain vs left intriguing. I studied psychology for a while at Uni and have always found the brain fascinating, especially the placement of different functions.

In this book, Edwards examples special cases where the right side of the brain has been severed from the left (an operation performed to assist severe epilepsy). In such instances, there are exercises the test subject undertakes (naming objects in drawings, solving spacial problems, etc) where the left and right hand will push each other out of the way, so that the side of the brain that is best at that task can take over.

The exercise was interesting too. Perhaps you've seen this optical illusion before - is it a vase or two faces?

Edwards uses this picture in her exercise. You trace the side that suites which hand you draw with (if you are right-handed, you start with the face on the left, and vice-versa).

Here is an image you could start with, I found these at a great art site called Raisin Toast:

Right-hand drawers

Left-hand drawers

The rest is simple. You trace over the existing drawing, naming out loud the parts as you go (forehead, eyes, nose, top lip, bottom lip, chin, neck). Then draw over the straight line at the top and try to go down redrawing the mirror image on the other side, also naming the parts. You may find your brain gets confused with the names - this is your right side and left side arguing!

This exercise also works if you draw your own vase-face. Fiction writers are often creative people who tend to favour the right side of their brain, but the logical and organised left side is also essential to crafting a good story - so we need to exercise both sides! 

I'm up on my drawing, reading and notebook goals, but down on my typing up my manuscript goal - how are yours going?

Writers Drawing

Drawing was one thing I resolved to do more of in 2011 to help my writing (you can see my list of 7 Tips for a Writer's Year here). I'm a mediocre artist. I'm not being modest, I only push myself up to 'mediocre' because I've taken many sketching, watercolour, charcoal and other art classes (in 'life drawing' they sit you in a room with a naked stranger - did you know that, or was I the only one trying to pretend that I was totally comfortable and often hang out with naked people?).

I've finally begun the course book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. This book is aimed at beginner drawers, people who don't usually get artistic or writers trying to free up their imagination. 

So far, I've completed the first three pre-instruction drawing tasks, one of a self-potrait using a mirror, another of a person's face from memory and the last of my hand. All turned out a bit okay, but nothing to brag about or hang on the wall. There is a lot of information about how the brain works and how it relates to drawing, but if you'd prefer to just do the exercises, there is also the workbook:

I enjoyed the exercises and will continue some more drawing today. I may be able to use this in the classroom too (I'll be teaching Art and Spanish this year and have a LOT to learn). Of course, I had a little help with my sketching...

Christie's Classroom for Murder

Most of my fiction contains a murder - murder most foul. As a teen I loved going to the cinema to see Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot solve Agatha Christie's murders. So, when I was recently looking for an audiobook to keep me company on a long drive, I decided to revisit Christie and downloaded And Then There Were None.

Not all Christie mysteries are created equal, this thrilling story was the best I've come across. It surprised me (and that's not easy - there's not many plots I haven't already come across before). Right to the end I kept guessing the culprit, and then re-evaluating my conclusion when that suspect would turn up dead. It was suspense at its best and brightest.

Agatha Christie was shunned by my Feminist Literature lecturer at Uni. Why? Just not literary enough - she was likened to the Mills and Boons of mystery. So what? Sometimes I want a plot. Agatha gave good plot. Her stories are told simply and her writing style does not get in the way of the story. I think this was a big lesson for me - stop trying to prove you can write well and just get on with the story. Her novels are also so well planned, they'd have to be to carry the complicated lines of suspects, victims and red herrings. 

The next audiobook I listened to was The Crooked House and Christie was also masterful in her story-weaving with this one. You follow the clues and just can not guess the murderer, and yet, at the end, the culprit is the only logical choice. This is the way murder mysteries should be told.

I'm excited about rediscovering Christie and I've just downloaded her book about her story-writing for my Kindle:

Now I'm off to read and research!

7 Tips for a Writer's Year

We've entered a sparkly new year and with it we've come up with many resolutions, plans and ideas to become better writers, readers, marketers and people. Is it really all just hype? Once we first break our resolution, whether it be to write a daily word count, pursue new agents or eat more broccoli, are we doomed to lose interest and return to slackdom?

How do we keep momentum and become effective and productive writers? This is my list of ways to push myself with my goals for 2011:

1. Prioritise. I want to write more, but realistically that's the easy part because it's sexier and more fun than the writing tasks I need to do. I need to edit the many manuscripts I've written and start sending them out. I'll be spending the first half of this year sending out Dog Show Detective and editing The Costume Maker and Digging Up Death. Only then will I let myself continue writing The Warracknabeal Kids and new tales.
2. Write. I'll make daily notes into my ideas notebook. To keep sharpening my writing skills I will keep a notebook with ideas for plots, locations, scenes, dialogue and characters. I won't start any new stories yet, but I will fill this notebook with ideas for future stories.
3. Draw. When I was a kid I loved to draw, because I wasn't great at it, I gave up. I intend to draw and doodle more, for no greater goal than to enjoy it and free up my imagination. Drawing and free-writing are great ways to inspire creativity.
4. Learn. By taking my Kindle everywhere with me, there will be no excuse not to read more. I learn a lot from the fiction I read and I intend to read more non-fiction books on the art of writing as well. Of course I will share what I learn with my blog-readers :-)
5. Indulge. Last year I took on some writing/editing classes. This year time is tight as I need to learn Spanish and Art for the classes I'll be teaching at high-school. So, a little later in the year, I intend to take one writers' retreat and attend the Byron Bay Writer's Festival. 
6. Laugh. As always, I will continue to see the funny side of life - this always provides a good twisted way to approach scenes and characters.

Number 7? LOVE. That's pretty easy with this pretty little girl who has joined our home. Pinkachu has settled in well.