Blogging for Writers

Finding My Writing Groove - It's a Baroque Thing

 

Photo by James Lin via Stock.xchng

Two hours of solitude. A comfy chair, outlet and mocha at Starbucks. Gifts I didn't want to putz away online. (I'd already putzed a bit.) Time to write. Something. Anything. 

Not the time to do volunteer work on the computer, as I've done a few other times this week. Not because I'm so altruistic, but because I was running from writing. 

While trying to make myself eek out even a 300 word crappy draft, I knew I needed some music. Since U2 is my favorite, I started with them on Pandora, sprinkling in some Depeche Mode, New Order and The Cure. Nope. Listen to words while trying to write words doesn't work for me. 

On to Alex Bugnon. Nah. 

Next up, Vivaldi. The Four Seasons always inspire me. (Not you, Frankie.) Finally, I found my soundtrack. 

Antonio and his counterparts are apparently what I need to get me writing. Sorry, Bono, your music is a constant in my life, but not for writing. Depeche Mode and New Order - great for dancing, working out & housework, not so much for writing. Mr. Bugnon, you help me relax but you don't help me write. 

Bach's Brandenbrug Concerto and Tocaata and Fugue are perfect. (Though the Fugue does make me pause. Fugue-itaboutit.) Throw in a few piano nocturnes, maybe George Winston for some contempoary piano. 

Then I discovered the browser windows, with Pandora in a separate one, need to be minimized and resized so I can easily  like, dislike or skip tracks. Ahhh...my writing sweet spot. 

This points toward the importance of writing as a habit. If I know what works for me and find what it takes to create a Pavloving response of wriing (hopefully not salivating), I'm setting myself up to succeed.

Next step, figure out if I can squirt out bits of drafts at home, with the laptop open on the bar, in between the rest of my life. 

Do you have any rituals, conditions or wacky idiosyncrasies that help you write?

Writing Tip of the Day

Wait for it ... wait for it ... ready for profuse profundity? Ready to revolutionize your writing?

For only $19.84 I'll share my secret. Ok, since you're a devoted reader I'll slash the price to $0.0. 

This one tip will change your life. Guaranteed. Or your money back. 

Here it is:  

TURN OFF YOUR TV!!!!!!!

(I had that epiphnay while reflecting on the natural consequences of my actions. I leave the details to you or you can fill in the blank with your own. Duh.) 

 

Breaking AP Style News: Email not E-mail

"Language evolves.Today we change AP style from e-mail to email, no hyphen. Our editors will announce it at #ACES2011 today." @APStylebook via Twitter. 

This is a first for me - seeing an AP style change announced. I happened to catch it in the Top Tweets section of Twitter on my way to check a college mascot's twitter feed (@ButlerBlue2). Cool social media moment. 

Also, I had noticed myself this week wanting to use email, not e-mail, a little connection with the editorial Zeitgeist? Hubby says he never uses a hyphen. Does that make him more in tune or less detail oriented? Wonder what most people use? 

Advice for Writing - 8 Takes

Hearing from other writers can encourage you. Mary Demuth has compiled some advice from her network and shares it to kick off Writers Week at her site. Via her post we get advice for writing from a freelance editor, novelists, a ministry leader, bloggers, greeting card writer and a literary agent.

After reading this, I was reminded to simply write. I'm also thinking about how to incorporate 300 words per day. What would that look like?  

Hope the information is helpful.

(Hey, I just wrote 80 words.)

 

What 10 Years of Blogging Has Taught Heather Armstrong

Fired from her job because of her blog in 2002, Armstrong has written deeply, personally and with a big, strong community about matters ranging from religion to mental health to family. Her blog saw more than 4 million pageviews last month. A year ago she landed a gig with Home and Garden TV.

Armstrong made a very personal post on her blog yesterday about its 10th anniversary. The post has received more than 4,600 comments. The following are excerpts of what she said to me by phone.

On what it felt like to start blogging:"I'd made websites for other people for years and I knew what it was like to launch them. I felt like even though a couple dozen people were going to read it, like I was publishing my own little home made magazine. I was talking about music, and television and dating. I remember feeling invigorated by it, writing and designing it. I sent it to 12 friends and said if you guys want to keep up with me, this is how you can.

via www.readwriteweb.com

10 years blogging is long time. I'm not sure what the "book years" equivalent of that is, but blogging consistently for 10 years is not easy.