If you’re finding it difficult to maintain your daily writing habit in this time of enforced family togetherness, take some time each day for 15, 10 or even just 5 minutes to do a writing sprint. Don’t worry about making the prose beautiful; simply get words on the page. Then, before you go to bed, no matter what time that is, jot down how you did and what your writing goal is for the next day.
This month, we encourage you to identify three to five mentor texts that you can use to improve your writing. A mentor text is a book written in the same genre as your story, targets the same audience or explores comparable themes. It can also be set in the same time period as your work-in-progress or feature characters that face similar conflicts. Spend the next weeks reading through your mentor texts to study how other writers crafted dialogue, navigated between scenes or ramped up drama. As you read, make notes of the things you liked. Share with us the texts you chose and what you discovered. Then, be on the lookout for future posts here that dig deeper into how to get the most out your mentor texts.
Posted in Administrator, Practical Prompts
Tagged book recommendations, mentor text, practical prompt, reading, writing life, writing tips
During the COVID-19 pandemic, are you drawn to or turned off by books that take place during a pandemic? If you’re drawn to them, what are some you’ve been reading?
Posted in Administrator, Insomniacs Anonymous
Tagged book recommendations, COVID-19, pandemic, reading, writing life
Laura Ayo
If you’re like me, you’re seeking positivity anywhere you can find it these days. Thankfully, the writing community is one of the most encouraging support systems I’ve ever encountered, and they have not disappointed when it comes to offering humor, inspiration, reality checks and a much-needed distraction during the uncertainty accompanying a global pandemic. Continue reading
Posted in Laura's Posts
Tagged author motivation, COVID, Everywhere Book Fest, pandemic, SCBWI, writing life, writing tips
As we enter another month of social distancing amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve all made adjustments to how, when, where or even whether we’re writing. Perhaps you find yourselves with more time on your hands and you’ve been able to do more writing than ever before. Or, maybe your once free moments to work on your manuscript have been replaced with juggling work-from-home responsibilities while homeschooling your children. So how do you keep up a writing routine during such an uncertain time?
Our previous recommendations of how to track where you spend your time are worth revisiting as you figure out your new normal. Then, once you have a better idea of when you can carve out some time to write, you can set up a new schedule with goals that are realistic for your new circumstances. Keep in mind that even your best intentions will have to be flexible, but having a guide for how to manage your writing during this difficult time will help you stay the course.
