Writers Unbound

Tips to Keep Yourself Writing This Summer

• You must have a basic plan for your week, which translates into a basic plan for each day. Use a calendar/ planner, something online or in your pocket or on your desk. Get something you’re comfortable with that will work with your lifestyle. If you are very mobile, a tablet PC, Blackberry, or small planner you can put in your purse or pocket might be most helpful. I prefer the larger weekly planner with 8×11 pages, so I have plenty of room to write in my appointments, errands, household tasks, and article deadlines, submissions, and project work.
• Have a master list of your ongoing projects. Use the master list to break each project down into the tasks needed to accomplish it, so you know where to start and how to schedule.
• Write in appointments for yourself on your planner. Mark specific times for accomplishing the different parts of each project. Treat these times seriously, as if you were meeting with a client.
• Don’t forget about time needed for research, both off line and online. If you write nonfiction, research is essential, and you will often need primary sources which can mean a trip to the library. If you blog, you need time to find relevant links, graphics, and related articles. If you write fiction, you need time to research your time period, setting, language.
• Schedule in progress reports, for yourself and/or for your clients, for longer projects. Do this by using your master list with its breakdown of the project into smaller tasks. From those tasks, set up milestones with specific deadlines. “By June 30, I will finish research and write a complete outline, introduction, and two pages of text.”
• Take some time off to clear your brain. Focus while you work, then take a break. Every 60 to 90 minutes, get up from your chair, walk outside for five minutes, drink some water, stretch, call a friend, do some jumping jacks, lie on the couch and close your eyes (set a timer if you do that), listen to music, eat an apple. Pick something relaxing and different from what you’ve been doing, i.e., no writing, reading, or computer. Your eyes and your brain need a rest from words.
• Take in lots of information, related and unrelated to any projects you are working on. Set up a Reader for your newsfeeds and blogs, and give yourself 20 to 30 minutes every day to scroll through, read, and comment. Don’t let it get out of hand, and weed out the information sources that don’t provide anything interesting. Read books: poetry, fiction, nonfiction. Even five or ten pages a day helps your brain stretch and grow. Talk to people who aren’t like you and listen to what they say. Ask questions about other people’s professions, hobbies, political views, home life, philosophies.
• Schedule time to just jot down notes, follow up on ideas, develop ideas, brainstorm - don’t pressure yourself to produce “writing” during this time. Planning and researching and outlining makes writing a whole lot easier. This applies to work you are doing for clients as well as work you are doing for yourself. The blank page is your worst enemy. Come to it armed with a stack of notes, pages of research, brainstorming bubbles, quotations, pictures that inspire you. You may not use any of it in your writing, but its presence in your mind and in the room will make you sharper.

Trade Journals

A few resources and possibilities.

• A great article about writing for trade journals here at Writer Gazette. (Note that the links at the bottom of the article are outdated.)
• Another great article with lots of tips here at Writer’s Apprentice. If you’ve never considered writing for trade journals, or you’re wondering what a trade journal is, read at least one of those articles.

A couple of trade magazines worth checking into -

• HomeCare Magazine, for at home medical supplies, home care equipment. Check the About page and Contact page. There is nothing specific about submissions on the HomeCare Magazine website, but I’ve found that often the trade magazines don’t put up Writer’s Guidelines or Submission info on their websites. Their websites are usually directed toward the readers of the magazines, the industry professionals. They are not sites the average consumer (or freelance writer) would stumble over in search of something fun to read or something profitable to write about. So you’ll have to take some initiative, read through some articles, gather ideas and information, and make a query. Could well be worth your time.
• MeetingsNet home page houses several different trade magazines related to the conference, hospitality, and business meeting industry. It will be best to browse and find the correct contact information for the specific magazine you want to query.
• Lots of opportunity possible here at Expert Business Source. Topics include e-business, sales and marketing, insurance, work life, and human resources. The group has a strong online presence with blogs, newsletters, and archives. The About page directs those interested to contact the editorial team.
• Home Accents Today provides an editorial calendar (a .pdf file).

Give your best and make it a good day.