Beth Greenslade's Blog, page 118

Avoid These Common Editing Myths

The editing stage is a huge and crucial part of writing a book. In fact, some writers believe it is THE most important part. This is where you turn your dodgy first draft into a true work of art!

Everyone knows their first drafts aren’t perfect, let’s face it, often they are pretty dreadful. That’s why we should take great care to edit and improve our stories as much as we can.

Being a good editor takes practice. When you first start it is easy to fall into some common traps, and to believe the editing myths that can actually hinder rather than help your work.

Here are some common misconceptions about revising your work, and how to avoid them.

You should begin editing as soon as you have finished your first draft

Editing should be done only when you are actually happy with your story. The hard truth is when you have finished your first draft you’ll have to go back, tear the whole thing apart, change the structure, kill off some characters and basically start again. It’s only when you have done this a few times that you are really ready to get stuck into editing. Don’t just tweak here and there, really be brave, accept that it’s going to take time and make your manuscript the best it can be.

You shouldn’t mess it up

Don’t be scared of messing up your first draft. That’s why you wrote it. You might have a niggle that so and so scene isn’t right, or start to wonder whether a whole part of your plot is believable or necessary. It’s hard to get rid of massive parts of your book, but if you know doing so will make it better, then go for it. It might have a knock-on effect on other parts of your book, but so be it.

If someone criticises your book you should agree with them

Everyone has different opinions about literature, and often it can be down to personal taste as to whether you enjoy something or not. It’s super helpful to give initial drafts of your book to friends and colleagues for feedback, but you don’t have to take everything they say as gospel. Learn to understand the difference between notes and comments that are useful and constructive and pieces of advice that just come down to personal opinion. You then make informed decisions about what you take on board.

If someone criticises your book you should ignore them

At the same time, don’t simply ignore other people’s advice, especially when you have asked for it. Try not to be too sensitive about your book and really take time to listen to people’s feedback, go over their notes in detail and put yourself in the reader’s shoes. It can be very easy to get too attached to our own work and sensitive about it. Take a step back and try to be as objective as possible.

It has to be ‘perfect’ before it is done.

Lots of writers believe that they will never quite be able to get out of the editing stage, that however much they try to finish, they’ll always feel as though there is something more they can do. There are two ways to look at this. Of course, you will feel nervous and uncertain when you finally decide ‘enough is enough’ and it’s time to submit your manuscript to publishers and agents (or self-publishing depending on what’s right for you). However, you can’t hold onto it forever. Give yourself a deadline, and edit as thoroughly as you can. But once that deadline arrives simply know that you have done your best. Remember if you do get a publishing deal an editor will give you feedback on your work again, so it doesn’t have to be perfect, just as good as you can make it.

Next time you get to the editing stage of your work, make sure you don’t fall into these common traps. Avoiding them can mean editing becomes an enjoyable and exciting part of the writing process instead of something worrying and laborious!

What are your editing tips? Share them here!

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

The post Avoid These Common Editing Myths appeared first on Writer's Life.org.

How To Strengthen Your Online Presence

Nowadays it seems as though being a good writer simply isn’t enough. Not only is the competition to get your book published fiercer than ever, but there are also thousands of authors now going down the self-publishing route which means it’s tough to make yours stand out.

Having a great online presence is crucial for modern authors and this can be done in many ways. However, all of them involve consistently providing well-written, interesting and engaging content that appeals to their target audience and keeps them not only coming back for more but sharing that content, and therefore, in some ways, doing your marketing for you!

Building a great online presence rarely happens overnight. For most authors, it is a slow and sometimes tedious process and the growth happens slowly but surely. Spending time on this, however, can make all the difference when it comes to helping see your book’s sales soar.

So how do you strengthen your online presence? Here are some rules to follow:

Be selfless

Obviously, the whole point of dedicating time an effort to engaging with people online is so that you can build a following and tell them about all the cool, exciting, writing-related stuff you’re doing. The problem is, for the most part, they don’t care.

You need to consistently give them useful, interesting, entertaining content that has nothing to do with your book. Once they trust you to continue to provide this for them and have become unwavering followers of what you do online, only then should you talk about your work – and even then this should be infrequent and genuine.

Think of yourself as a shop assistant, if you push too hard your customer will just leave. If, however, you let them browse, and only approach them when you think you can genuinely help them (then back off if they refuse that help), they are far more likely to stay and buy something.

Get known for one particular thing

Think about your work, your genre and your talents. How can you bring all of these together to reach out to your target audience? Your ‘thing’ could be something really specific about fly fishing, or it could just be being sarcastic and funny. Think about what you can bring to the table that no on else is doing, do it with integrity and passion, and you’ll soon find more and more people spreading the word about you.

Have confidence

When you write, do so with authority, even if you don’t really believe you have any. If you come across as self-assured and knowledgeable you’ll attract a wider audience. Readers want to read content that is written with conviction – it’s not about people pleasing, it’s about presenting thoughts and ideas which make people sit up and take notice.

Be consistent

There is no point in writing one great piece, posting it online, working really hard to get as many people to see it as possible, and then going quiet for a few weeks. If you really want to strengthen your online presence you have to keep putting content out there, there is no respite – hard work is key.

Understand SEO

Learn how SEO works from a technical point of view. Get link backs from reputable and high authority websites, learn how to rank for certain keywords, write content that’s attention grabbing and shareable. If you can improve your SEO more people will be able to find you – and learn about your book.

Improving your online presence, just like many aspects of writing, takes time and persistence. But doing so really can help you to increase your readership and sell more books. So follow the tips above, keep working at it, and it could make all the difference!

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

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Why You’ve Started To Hate Writing (And What You Can Do About It)

No matter how much you enjoy writing, and how much you feel as though it is an integral part of who you are, there are going to be moments of frustration. You know, those moments where you decide you actually hate writing, and wonder why you ever bothered in the first place!

Becoming disheartened with your writing and starting to resent it is very normal. With most things in life we are taught if you work hard enough, you will reap the benefits. While this is true in some aspects of writing, it is an area where there are no guarantees. Sometimes staring at that blank page and realising you’ve just got nothing can be enough to send you over the edge. It’s not lack of passion, it’s not because you are procrastinating, it’s just that your brain appears to have decided to shut down for the day.

This is when you may very well start to wonder whether writing is indeed for you and begin to entertain thoughts of giving up altogether and pursuing the far more realistic ambition of being an astronaut or a cowgirl or something.

The truth is, however, that you probably don’t hate writing at all. You are just going through a creative drought, and there are lots of things you can do to get yourself out of it.

Let’s take a look at some of them:

You are not writing enough

If you don’t write regularly enough you are going to get rusty. The rustier you are the harder it will be to get going again. If you leave it too long you’ll find it almost impossible to get those creative cogs turning once more. The good news is that once you do get started, you just need to keep going back, every day, and doing a little more. Soon you’ll free yourself up again and find that writing comes far more naturally to you.

You are not doing your research

Most writing requires some research, regardless of the type of story it is. Make sure you do your research properly and really know what you are talking about before you sit down to write. It’s all too easy to get in a panic or a muddle if we don’t research properly, and then suddenly writing can feel overwhelming and just too hard. Don’t fall into this trap and always research properly before you begin, so when you do sit down to write, you can do so with confidence.

You haven’t written down your plot

Writing a thorough, detailed plot about your entire piece will help you have confidence that you can get to the end. Detailed chapter outlines will give you a guide so that you are never sitting down and thinking ‘I have no idea what happens next.’ Always do this before you start and then you’ll know that your story works, and be far more motivated to finish it.

You aren’t getting out there enough

Writers can quickly lose inspiration and their writing ‘oomph’ if they don’t get out there into the world and experience things. There is so much to see, and hear and be excited about. So don’t forget to live your life, open your eyes, prick up your ears and open yourself to all sorts of experiences. Being in love with life and tuned into all it has to offer will make better writers of us all.

So, next time you are faced with a blank page and can feel that bubble of frustration and self-loathing rise up in you, try not to panic. Think about what the real root cause could be, try the tips above and see if you can’t get going again a lot faster, and less painfully than you think!

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

The post Why You’ve Started To Hate Writing (And What You Can Do About It) appeared first on Writer's Life.org.

Why Writers Need To Stick Together

Writing can often feel like such a solitary pursuit. For the most part, writers are alone. Day in day out they sit at home, just them alone with their thoughts, and they have to simply get on with things. In fact, it’s easy to spend entire days without communicating with a fellow human being!

However, writing doesn’t have to be like this. It is, in fact, both important and useful to find fellow writers to connect with. There is so much value within the writing community, so perhaps it’s time for us writers to drag ourselves away from our computers, put ourselves out there, and try to connect with one another.

So why is it so crucial that writers should stick together?

They understand how you feel

You can talk to family and friends about your writing, and those closest to you will understand how important it is to you. However, only fellow writers can truly understand how painful it can feel to get rejected. How frustrating it can be to suffer writer’s block. How difficult and overwhelming it can be when trying to get published. Sharing your woes, your hopes, your dreams, and your fears with a tribe of people who really get it can be invaluable and can save a writers sanity too!

They can help you edit your work

Writers can help one another improve their writing. They know what to look out for when it comes to editing, they know the common traps that all writers can easily fall into. If you can find a community of writers who are willing to read and constructively criticise one another’s work, this kind of feedback can be invaluable.

They have contacts

From publishers to book cover designers, communicating with other writers opens you up to a whole network of people who can help to make your book brilliant. It is well worth getting to know other writers and helping one another out in this way. You never know, a writer who got their book cover designed because of a recommendation you made might go on to become a bestseller, and then be more than happy to help you promote your own work in order to return the favour!

They provide true support

If you make real connections and friendships with other writers their generosity can be rather overwhelming at times. Don’t go in with an agenda, but rather be genuine, ask questions and offer support. If you do you’ll be wonderfully surprised with what you get in return. Writers understand one another, they want to help and support one another, and there is always a feeling of ‘we’re in this together’ rather than ‘every man for himself.’

If you are willing to actively participate in the writing community you’ll not only find a huge number of wonderful, intelligent, helpful people to connect with, and who can help you with your work, you can also make real, lifelong friends in the process! So next time you are feeling alone and haven’t spoken you anyone but your cat in five days, why not reach out to your fellow writers? You’ll be so glad you did!

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

The post Why Writers Need To Stick Together appeared first on Writer's Life.org.

Be The Writer You Know You Can Be

Let’s face it, when it comes to writing most of us could do more! It’s all well and good coming up with excuses not to write, or why we aren’t making it a priority – but imagine if we did? Imagine if we spent all that time procrastinating actually writing, all that time doubting ourselves being positive and proactive? What a different it would make!

Be the writer you know you can be by doing the following things:

Take risks

Writing is all about experimenting. Don’t let yourself get into a writing slump, try different styles, genres and methods of writing. Be weird. Let your imagination run wild. Try things no one else has. The beauty of writing is there is no right or wrong way to do it so try anything and everything to see what works for you.

Believe in yourself

Writing is never going to be as wonderful and exciting and fulfilling as it can be if you keep being so hard on yourself all the time. Silence your inner critic, believe in yourself and your writing, have confidence. If you can’t even convince yourself you’ve got talent, why should anyone else believe you?

Be Disciplined

Write down your goals and stick to them. Wake up half an hour earlier and get in some more writing time. Stop procrastinating. The best and most productive writers are the ones who have self-discipline. Be strict with yourself. You’ll soon get into a writing routine and then you’ll be unstoppable!

Learn from your mistakes

Every writer makes mistakes and the more we write the more we’ll make. But making mistakes doesn’t matter as long as we can learn from them. Every time you finish writing something and before you write the next think about what went well and what went badly, and see how you can prevent yourself from making the same mistakes again.

Never give up

If you love writing, don’t ever stop. Always make time for it in your life and you’ll always feel grateful that you do.

Being the writer you know you can be is really about letting go of the things that are holding you back and being determined to persevere no matter what. If you can do that then you’ll keep writing, keep enjoying it and keep  learning from it too.

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

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Clever Ways To Market Yourself As An Author

Marketing, for many authors, is the worst part about self-publishing. When you first start writing your book, getting to the end feels like an impossible task, and once you do you feel elated and proud. Then you self-publish and realise if you want anyone more than a few of your friends and relatives to buy your book, this is where the hard work really begins.

In some ways, it’s fantastic to discover that there are a lot of different ways authors can try and market their books. However, if you are not particularly tech savvy, many of these can feel overwhelming, complicated and stressful.

However, without making a real effort you can’t expect to see those sales you deserve – you put all that time and effort into making your book as good as it could be, so don’t deny the world a chance to read it!

Here are some clever ways you can market yourself and your book.

Write a blog or get a newspaper column

The best way for people to discover you is by offering them useful free information that they want to read. Writing and promoting your author blog will help readers discover you. You could also try getting a regular column in your local newspaper (or a larger one!) and connect with a wide range of readers that way.

Teach a class

Offer to share your wisdom by teaching a creative writing class. This could be a one-off or a regular thing. If this sounds like too much time and effort then why not get in touch with local colleges and universities to see if they’d like you to come along and talk to the students instead? Make sure to bring copies of your book when you do.

Hold a reading

Contact your local library, bookstores or creative events venues and see if you can hold a reading and book signing there. Then make sure you advertise yours in every way possible. This might feel nerve-wracking, but if you have confidence in your work you’ll do great!

Get some merchandise

Creating merchandise such as bookmarks is super cheap and can really help you spread the word about your book – you could ask local bookstores or libraries if you could leave them there for free. Make sure you have information about your book and a QR code linking to where people can buy it too!

Host an event

Where there is wine, people will come. If you are having trouble finding somewhere that wants you to come along and talk about your book, take matters into your own hands and host a gathering (or several) and invite people along. Try to collaborate with other creatives such as poets and artists and invite as many influential people as you can.

Connect with the local community.

There are lots of ways you can do this. Donate books to your library or local charities, sponsor a community event, talk to local bookshops about hosting an event, check out local festivals and see if you could get involved in some way while also promoting your work.

Publish a press release.

Sind a press release to every relevant journalist and publication you can think of. Newspapers always need content so while you might not achieve a 100% success rate, you could well see your book being advertised in some prominent publications. If you get that far, why not get back in touch and see if they would be willing to do an interview with you or write a review?

Get more mileage from your book

Have you ever thought about turning your book into a play, or a film? Why not give it a go? You never know, you could see your book being performed on stage or in the cinema!

Marketing yourself as an author is no easy task. Just make a plan, stay organised and do everything you can to get your book out there and visible to as many people as possible. Acknowledging you have done your very best to make your book a success will feel so much more satisfying than knowing you could have done more – regardless of how many books you sell.

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

The post Clever Ways To Market Yourself As An Author appeared first on Writer's Life.org.

Are You Sabotaging Your Own Writing?

Becoming a successful writer depends on so many things. Hard work, determination, perseverance, creativity and sometimes just happening to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right kind of book!

However, many writers can try their best to do all of the above, and yet still feel as though they are getting nowhere. While we all know that no one can simply magic a book publishing deal out of thin air, unless you are truly positive about your writing and truly open to the idea of being a successful writer, it could be that you are in fact sabotaging your chances of getting there.

So how do you know if you are self-sabotaging your writing career, and what can you do to put a stop to it?

Here are some things to look out for.

All inspiration has gone

You used to sit down and write freely, excitedly and feel full of ideas just waiting to burst onto the page. Now every time you try to start working you feel as though you don’t have anything to say.

All writers go through times where they feel creatively blocked. It’s about how they deal with it that counts. While it is all too easy to put your writing aside and hope that next time you try you’ll suddenly find that inspiration again, instead it is better to just grit your teeth and work through it. Force yourself to write, and keep forcing yourself until it starts to feel easier again. If you keeping waiting for that lightbulb moment to appear you could be waiting a very long time.

Writing becomes a bore and a chore, nothing more

Does writing make you feel stressed and anxious? When you write does it feel laboured, and boring? Do you keep getting distracted or procrastinating? Do you see writing as a chore, akin to cleaning the fridge, you know you should do it, but you can’t be bothered and you can probably leave it for another week…and maybe another.

Writing should be fun and enjoyable. If it isn’t, then really, regardless of whether we become best selling authors or never publish anything at all, what is the point? We should do what we love, not go through life torturing ourselves. Try to figure out what is causing you to feel this way. Try to pinpoint when you first started feeling like this. Did you get to a certain point in your book and then start to find it too tough? Did you suffer a rejection and now feel too scared to try again? Often when we fight against writing there is an underlying reason, and once we identify and address it we feel so much freer,  positive and can continue writing once more.

Your inner critic has taken over

If you have become so self-critical you can barely write a paragraph without sobbing in despair then you need to step back and get a hold of yourself.

No writer writes brilliantly all the time. In fact, most of us write pretty badly initially. Give yourself a break, allow yourself to be a bad writer and stop censoring yourself. Also, try to think more positively about your writing. What your doing is pretty awesome,  so focus on achieving your goal and how great you will feel when you do. Don’t let anything or anyone stop you – particularly not yourself.

You can’t stop editing

The editing phase is crucial to any books success, so it is important that we take our time and do a thorough job.

However, it is all too easy to get stuck in the editing phase and find it almost impossible to stop. By doing so we not only run the risk of over-editing and getting to the point where we are actually sabotaging our own work and making it worse, but also if we don’t have a point where we say ‘enough is enough – I have done my best’ then we never move on to the next stage.

You give up too soon

Rejection is a bummer – we all know that. However, we also all know that all writers get rejected, even the ones who are now mega-rich and famous.

Don’t let a little rejection stop you. In fact, don’t let a lot of rejection stop you. If you love to write then just keep writing, you never know when your big break will be.

You over complicate everything

Writing is wonderful, but when we start to think about all the other things we have to do such as editing, contacting agents and publishers, writing a synopsis, writing proposal letters, self-publishing, cover designing, marketing, social media and keeping track of our finances it all feels hugely overwhelming.

This is why many authors finish their books and then just sort of stop. They might send their manuscript to a few agents or publishers, they might self-publish and get it up on Amazon, but then they simply leave it there.

The submission/self-publishing stage can feel stressful and complicated but you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t try everything possible to make a success out of your book. Create a plan, work out all the steps, have goals and then methodically work your way through them. Being organised and breaking things down so you know exactly what you have to do and when you have to do it will make everything feel much more manageable.

Are you sabotaging your own writing? If you follow these steps and you’ll soon be back on track!

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

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Become A Better Editor And Shape Up Your Novel

Editing a novel is almost an important as writing it in the first place. For (if we are being honest with ourselves) we all know that our first drafts aren’t very good. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but if we don’t learn how to edit them, how can we expect to make them any better?

First drafts are likely to be full of spelling and grammatical mistakes, overwritten, underdeveloped, full of unnecessary scenes, have continuity errors, and in general probably make us want to cringe a little bit (or a lot) when we read back over them.

We can all become better editors, and since March is National Editing Month, it’s a great time to try and brush up on our editing skills and really make a difference to our work!

Here are some simple but effective editing tips that every writer should keep in mind.

Remain objective

If you are too involved with your work you will find it almost impossible to let go of paragraphs, scenes, even characters that you know, deep down, don’t do anything to further your story. Try to remain as objective as possible and if something doesn’t sit right then take it out, or change it to make it better.

Know your weaknesses

Do you know you aren’t the best speller in the world? Do you tend to be overly descriptive? Do you rush through dialogue? Whatever your writing weaknesses are, make sure you identify them and when you begin to edit you can keep a particular lookout for where you might have fallen into these bad habits. I, for example, use the word ‘seemed’ far too much in my first drafts,  so every time I come to edit I do a search for ‘seemed’ and find a different way of getting my characters thoughts and feelings across.

If you’re bored, they’ll be bored

If you find your eyes glazing when you reach certain chapters or you are skim-reading your own work its a good idea to pay attention! If you are a little bored it can be easy to jump to the next exciting bit of your book – you know it’s about to get real interesting after all. Your readers, however, don’t. They will, therefore, be far less forgiving if a chapter sticks out as a little dull. Don’t run the risk of losing your reader’s interest – make every chapter count.

Keep the reader in mind

Ultimately, if you want your book to be a success you need to sell it. So when you edit, try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes. What expectations do they have? What will surprise them? Excite them? Have them desperate to find out what happens next? You want your book to be one where your readers can’t help but squeeze in ‘just one more chapter’ even though it’s wayyyyy past their bedtime. If it’s not doing that think about what you can do to make it so.

Know when enough is enough

It’s so tempting to remain in the editing stage and never leave. The problem with this is not only that you end up never moving forward with your work, you run the risk of actually doing more harm than good. If you over edit you could end up changing your story so much that you almost end up re-writing the whole thing, without actually making it better. Know when you’ve done your best and then stop, and just let it go.

Get additional help

Read books or take a class about how to edit your book. Go on a spelling and grammar course. Ask friends and relatives to read your book to help spot mistakes and, if you can, get a professional editor to take a look at the final draft. Don’t feel as though you have to do it all yourself – there are plenty of people who can help you make your book the best it can be.

For many writers, editing can feel like a difficult and stressful process. However, if you remain focused, and follow these simple tips it may well become easier than you think!

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

The post Become A Better Editor And Shape Up Your Novel appeared first on Writer's Life.org.

Write Every Day And Become A Better, Happier Writer!

Write Every Day And Become A Better, Happier Writer!

There are plenty of writers who don’t write every day, and by no means does it make you a ‘bad writer’ if you don’t.

Many writers only write once a week, or even less, but still manage to finish their work, achieve their goals and generally feel satisfied with their writing life.

No, there is no need to write every day at all.

However, imagine if you did.

Writing daily may not be possible for everyone. But for the majority of us there is space in the day to squeeze in some writing time, and if you can, it will have a positive impact on your life and your writing career.

Practice makes perfect

Writing every day will help you hone your writing skills. Even taking as little as 10 minutes ever day to practice your writing can make a huge difference. You find that your writing flows better, your inner critic is more easily silenced and you make better progress with whatever you are working on. Because you can pick up right where you left off, you’ll spend less time going over previous pages trying to remember exactly what is going on – so your time will actually be spent more productively too.

Do it to relax and unload the stresses of the day

If you leave it too long between each writing session it can be all too easy for the pressure to mount and when you do get a chance to sit down and write, nothing comes to mind. When you write every day you can simply start where you left off, or if you are having a day where you don’t feel creative, just write about what you did, or try free writing. Because you know you always have tomorrow to get back to it, it doesn’t matter if you don’t bring your writing A game every time.

Writing when you don’t put pressure on yourself can be very therapeutic. You can write a journal every day where you can note down things that you’ve done or thought about, things that have upset or angered you, and things that made you feel happy, thankful and inspired. But remember that writing creatively can be just as helpful when putting things in perspective, venting frustrations or simply helping you to unwind and let go of the day.

You’ll get that ‘writing high’ every day

I don’t know about you, but I always feel brilliant after I write. Even if I know I haven’t produced my best work, I still feel as though I am that little bit closer to achieving my goals, and that I can give myself a well-deserved pat on the back. Who wouldn’t want to feel this way every day?

Different types of daily writing.

Remember, if you do decide to give writing daily a go, you don’t have to just concentrate on one thing. See what works for you.

Write a Journal – you could write a daily journal to process your thoughts and emotions.

Try goal setting – you could use the time to write down your goals and work out how to achieve them.

Brainstorming – you could simply have a brainstorming session every day to help you come up with new ideas for projects, flesh out old ones, and feel creatively inspired.

Do some writing exercises – you could decide to try a different writing exercise each day to improve your skills.

So, regardless of what kind of writer you are, or perhaps even if you don’t consider yourself to be a writer at all, trying to write daily can really bring great benefits – why not start today?

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

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Simple Tips To Stay Focused On Your Writing

Writers have to be lots of things; organised, thick-skinned, creative, and determined, to name but a few. However, one skill that sticks out far beyond the rest is having the ability to focus.

Do you ever sit down to write, absentmindedly type a few sentences then stop, and stare out of the window for the next ten minutes?

Do you find yourself starting to work then suddenly remembering you need to hang the laundry out or run the shop to buy some milk?

Do you find that you can’t quite ever get into your writing flow because you have to read another text message, take another phone call or reply to another email that pings up infront of you?

All of these are common distractions a writer faces each and every time they sit down to write. A focused writer, however, knows how to combat them, or, better still, stop them from happening in the first place.

Here are some simple tips to stay focused on your writing.

Turn off your phone and email notifications

Turn your phone off completely and put it in another room. Unless your job requires you to be contactable 24/7 then your writing time needs to be as calm and distraction free as possible. It’s all too easy to ‘quickly’ check your phone, but before you know it you’re in an hour long text chat with your mum. Make life easier for yourself and turn it off until you are done. The same goes for email and any other annoying notifications that are likely to flash up or sound as you work. You’ll be surprised how much more you get done without these little distractions.

Create the perfect writing zone

Understanding when and where you best write is crucial if you want to stay focused. It might take a bit of trial and error to get this right. You may have had visions of looking artistic in a cafe but soon find that the noise distracts you and there is only so much coffee you are willing to pay for before you start getting evils from the barista. You might like to sit businesslike at a desk, or lazily stretched out on your bed. You might like to listen to music or have perfect silence, you might enjoy sitting in your garden, or going to the local library or even hiring out an office space. Finding a place where you feel focused and ready to write can make all the difference.

Tell your nearest and dearest

It’s going to be hard to focus if people keep distracting you every five minutes so it’s important to stress to those who might that your writing time is important and a time where you shouldn’t be disturbed. If your friends and family know how much your writing means to you, they’ll respect your wishes and leave you in peace unless absolutely necessary!

Relax and enjoy it

Sometimes you can get yourself so worked up about your writing it can be difficult to concentrate. If your inner critic is stopping you from focusing try to silence it. Take some deep breaths, clear your mind and allow yourself to write freely – if you are enjoying it you will remain attentive and feel so much more in the zone.

Get to the root cause

If you have done all of the above and you still can’t focus on your writing, it might be time to dig a little deeper. Are you being honest with yourself about how you feel about your work? Are you scared of really trying and letting yourself down? Perhaps you are just at a difficult part of your story in which case you need to figure out how to get over it. Perhaps, and while this may be hard to accept, your story just doesn’t interest you, in which case you probably need to go back to the drawing board and start again.

Remaining focused on your writing isn’t always easy. However, the more you practice at it, and the stricter and more self-disciplined you are, the better you will become. Staying focused will make you a more proficient and productive writer, so it is well worth working out what distractions you have, and how to keep your attention focused on your writing.

Do you have any tips on how to concentrate? Share them here!

Bethany Cadman -author of ‘Doctor Vanilla’s Sunflowers’

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