Naomi Hawkins-Rowe
Summer is a tricky season for maintaining habits. I’m not sure if it the warm weather or the incurable desire to head to the beach (even though it’s nowhere near where I currently live), but all I want to do is hunker down with the pile of books on my nightstand and read. Kevin Wilson’s a Perfect Little World is calling my name.
I must resist. Continue reading
Posted in Naomi's Posts
Tagged goals, setting goals, time management, writing habits, writing routines
Stacey Kite
Last month, during our Write by Midnight challenge, a friend recommended a writing app to me. I’d always been skeptical of those kind of writing tools. (Come on, either you write or you don’t; how could an app make you more efficient?) But, on a whim, I gave it a try.
To my surprise, it was a lot of fun. And because it was fun, it gave me a little extra writing motivation—for a few days. Then I got frustrated with the app. The problem was it didn’t do the things I thought it should do. Continue reading
Megan Norris Jones
As an optimist, I assume the best about my writing. Of course I’m writing (almost) every day. Of course my manuscript is coming along beautifully. I’ll be finished in a couple of months.
When I completed WriteOwls’ Write by Midnight in February, the most useful tool in the whole month was the daily writing log. And it’s because I’m an optimist.
When I actually recorded my daily writing progress, I could no longer simply assume the best. If I didn’t write one day, that day had a big blank line beside it. And that objective record forced me to be realistic instead of just optimistic about my writing. Continue reading
Posted in Megan's Posts
Tagged goals, revision, setting goals, writing, writing habits, writing resources, writing tips
Stacey Kite
I’m one of those people who continually says, “If I could just get organized.” Over the years, it’s become my mantra. When I say it, my husband simply smiles. (Kind of like I smile when he comes home from a round of golf and says, “I finally figured out what’s wrong with my swing.”)
But a side benefit of doing the Write by Midnight challenge is that I have been more organized this month. I came up with a realistic writing schedule—one that I think I can actually maintain. Continue reading
WriteOwls
We’re halfway through Write by Midnight. Are you halfway to reaching your monthly writing goals? If so, congratulations! Give yourself a reward and keep it up!
If not, there’s still plenty of time to up your output. Creating a new habit can be tough, and you should expect a bit of floundering in the beginning. Reasses your process and schedule to find what’s working and what’s not, and use that information to adjust for the second half of Write by Midnight.
And don’t forget to reward yourself for the successes you have had. If you’re writing more now than you were before Feb. 1, that’s progress. If your average daily word count has gone up in the last two weeks, that’s progress.
Writing a novel is a long-haul game; celebrate every success you have—especially all of the little ones.
Posted in Administrator, Write by Midnight
Tagged goals, writing habits, writing tips