Whitney Cason's Blog, page 5

What’s Your Routine?

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I wrote in a previous post about the importance in making time to write.  In this post, I want to pose the following question: 

Do you have a writing routine, and if so, what is it? 

Is there a certain day you like to write, or a certain time? 

While I have been taking more time to write, I have also been working on solidifying a concrete routine and schedule for writing, with respect to alternating between writing content for my blogs and my books.  

So far, I alternate days and evenings that I dedicate time towards writing for a couple hours or researching content for my blogs each week.  On the weekends, I spend more time finishing up blog posts and publishing them.  

Right now, the schedule is still a little sporadic and unorganized, but I plan on buying a planner to get me through the next half of the year and keep me on track to publishing and maintaining a schedule for blogging. 

So let me know what your routine is.  Is it very organized, or is it still a little chaotic like mine?  What works best for you as a writer?

To Those who Support the Creative in Your Tribe

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I saw this picture in Instagram and posts like this always speaks volumes to me. Although I’m not an artist who lives solely off my art, I am an artist who wants to one day quit their 9-5 job and have a professional career in the writing and publishing field.  There are several creatives who take the leap and decide that they will live off their craft, start their business based off their creative venture, etc. and they need the support. 

The best thing you can do, SUPPORT. Buy from them, support their venture and help fuel their dreams.  We will eat, don’t worry. 

Summer ’17 Reads

My Goodreads question turned into a quick blog post on what my Sumer 2017 reading list is going to look like this year.  I decided to mix a little old with new; pick some books I’ve had on the shelf for a while, along with some books I just received recently.  Here’s what I came up with: 

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Queen Sugar 

The Hate U Give

 The Blackbirds  

Gone Girl Trilogy

They’re in no particular order; I’m just going to pick up one and start reading, with the exception of the trilogy of course, lol. I’m also a human, so I know this list my overflow into Fall ’17 and I’m ok with that as well. But these are the books that I anxiously want to begin, and some that I’ve been needing to start but just haven’t had the time. I figured the summer time is the best time to get some much needed downtime to do so.  I know that I need to have a starting point; without a starting point I’ll never get through this growing list of “to-be read” books on my shelf, and I’m sure that I’ll even add books to this list if by some miraculous feat I get the opportunity to finish all of these books throughout the summer (here’s hoping). Hopefully, you all stay tuned and see what I have in store for you all on my summer reading journey! 

What’s on your list to be read this summer? Let me know!!! 

Procrastination is a Bitch

The title is pretty self explanatory, so there’s no need for some fancy introduction; I’m just going to hop right in. 

I have been working on making better efforts to making time to write.  There was a good couple of months when I just could not find the time to get the words on the paper.  Now that I’m working on carving out the time, the harder parts comes in; actually wrapping my mind around developing words…

Procrastination sucks, and it’s also not an enjoyable experience for a writer.  

I’m not perfect by any means; I make excuses, I complain, I do everything in my power to escape the task at hand, then get mad when I don’t meet my intended goal. Accountability sucks and so does procrastination, but they both go hand-in-hand. 

In some of the very moments I could be writing, I spend most of that time scrolling through social media.  As much as I say I don’t have time to read, I can’t name about three things I could give up doing to substitute for reading before I go to bed (one of them being ‘doing absolutely nothing on the couch’). 

I say this because we all need to be kicked; we need to talk about ourselves and say “get your ass up and write, because you have deadlines and people want to see your work!” So I’m telling myself that this week, and hoping someone else is pulling themselves out of a procrastinating pile of crap and holding themselves accountable. 

Happy writing everyone ☺️.

There’s Always Time

Lately I’ve been feeling frustrated behind the fact that I’ve had no real time to sit down and write endless hours and hours of words down towards my next two books (i say both simultaneously because they both seem to flow into each other).  So much of work and my personal life have felt a bit time consuming and I haven’t felt like there was a lot of time to really do a lot of writing; and when I could get to my laptop, I could barely get any words down on the screen; which would only leave me even more frustrated that I didn’t have but so much time and couldn’t get that much content out.  Also, my health has somewhat taken a bit of a priority and sometimes it eliminates me from having the energy to want to sit in front of a laptop screen and type, so I have been forgoing my writing time for naps and rest.

At one point, I had one of the most gut-wrenching thoughts; I wondered if I should just quit while I was ahead.  I wouldn’t necessarily get rid of the content I wrote (now that’s just crazy talk), but just let go of the notion that there was enough drive in me to write right now and table my publishing in 2017 dream for another time.  I’ve been feeling like there wasn’t enough time in the day for me to write like I truly would like to and that would only push me further and further into a hole of deadlines and eventually, I would be too far gone.  I felt hopeless, thinking there wasn’t enough hours in the day to spend on my books, because I was so busy doing things that were more important, like the things that were required of me to be a functioning adult and live to keep my lights on (lol).

Eventually, I had to sit myself down and remind myself of one critical thing: there’s always time if you make it.  You have to make the time for what you want, no matter how little. Even if it’s only on weekends, and you may want more; you have to take what you can get, be excited about it and love it for what it is. Even if I can only write for an hour before the sun rises on weekdays before any of my real work happens, I have to make the most of that time.  Sometimes life doesn’t award you the opportunity to spend endless hours doing something you love to do more than anything else on this planet, but you have to compromise.  Like most things we love in life, we have to make sacrifices and concessions for what we love.

So to those who moments when I think I don’t have any time at all to write, I have to remind myself; there’s always time.  Even the smallest amount of time is MY time, and I have to make it count for something.

Sneak Peek: How it Really Went Down

In honor of my book’s one year anniversary, I present to the world the introduction to my e-book titled How it Really Went Down!  Check out how Liyah plans on telling her side of how things went down between her, Chante and Trey!

 

Introduction:

When you have known someone almost your entire life, you find it hard to believe that in an instant, they can be your worst enemy.  Never in a million years did I think that Chante and I would become this way.

Chante and I were more than best friends; we were sisters.  She always said “blood couldn’t make us any closer” and she was right.  Chante was my right hand and I was her left.  We were there for each other throughout all of life’s good times and bad; there was nothing we wouldn’t do for each other.

So, I’m sure you all are wondering how the hell we ended up in this predicament.  I ask myself the question every day.  I still don’t know how I could have stolen her man from her if we were so close.  Mutual friends ask me all the time, “Why did you break the code?” and “she should have whooped your ass”, and I agree.   That day we got into our fight, I’ll admit, I deserved every piece of that ass whoopin’; pregnant or not.  I was so furious with her and the fact that she could just throw something away like that, that I felt like being a spiteful bitch and throwing it in her face that I took her man, AND made a baby with him.

I never wanted to fall in love with Trey, but I did; enough for me to even have his child, no less.  I know it sounds completely petty, ridiculous and cliché, but it is what it is.  I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t want it to happen, but Chante practically gave him away.  I just so happened to be the one he ran to.  It was never a plan for me to take my best friend’s man, but here we are; her without Trey, and me with him, his son and standing side-by-side with him while he continues his success and I develop my own.  We have become the power couple to beat in Miami, and I am loving every minute of life with him; but this isn’t about my successful life with him now, this is my testament to how we got to where we are.

So, like I said, I’m sure everyone is wondering how it all went down, and how we ended up at this point in our lives.  I’m sure you all know Chante’s side of the story, but there’s always three sides to every story; her side, my side and the truth.  I’m here to give you my side AND the truth.

Let me tell y’all how it really went down.

 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, PWF!!!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of my published novel, Playing with Fire!! 

I wrote a dedication post about this day on my personal blog, (check it out here!), but today I wanted to give you all a treat. You ready? 

For today through April 28, you can purchase an AUTOGRAPHED copy of my novel, Playing with Fire, for only 9.75!!! This is a 25% off deal going on starting today!!!! 

Click on the Shop link NOW, to purchase your copy!! 

A Writer’s Hiatus

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to pop in and say I will be taking a mini beak from blogging to get some hardcore writing done.  I’ll be returning to you guys shortly!

Keep writing!!

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The Balance: Life vs. Creativity

Lately, my balance of adult life and being a creative has been off; I have spent way more time being stressed out from being an adult, and less time planning out my writing, which ironically relieves stress!  There have been so many things that have happened since the beginning of 2017, that my entire energy and focus has been off.  As a result of this, my writing has been very sporadic and I’ve had little to no motivation to get it done.

I had to suck that up though, because the world is waiting for the sequel to #PWF and it won’t write itself.  I have been trying to find different quotes and things to keep on the forefront to remind myself that although I have responsibilities and a regular 9-5 job, I have to also remember that in order to achieve my ultimate dream (to be a successful owner of my own publishing company), I have to keep the grind alive.  If you need help getting through the struggle of working while being a creative mastermind, here are some steps to try and get your through the process:

Keep a journal/notebook on you at all times: you never know when that award-winning idea might strike or an idea for a scene might hit you.  If it’s in the middle of your workday, it’s not a crime to pull out your notebook, jot down some notes, then get right back to work.
Take advantage of your 2 15’s and a lunch: if you get breaks and lunches during your day, USE THEM! While you’re eating, look up some ideas, pull out your notebook or type out a couple notes for that next chapter of your book. I use the Evernote app along with having a notebook and it’s perfect for me, so when I have an idea for a scene or even a potential story plot, I drop it right in Evernote, and also write it in my notebook.  I also use this to write down notes pertaining to expanding my publishing dreams and things I need to research.
Schedule time for your projects after 5: If you are able to, put in some non-negotiable time after you get off work to work on your creative projects.  Even if it cannot be right after you get off (because of parenting , household responsibilities or just adult life in general), make sure you have at least 30 minutes of personal time to work on the things you are passionate about.  Make that time a critical point in your day, so you will never miss it.

Hopefully, these tips, and so many others will help you navigate between #AdultLife and #CreativeLife, and help you be able to make time for your writing or other creative goals.

-wc

 

How to Correctly Punctuate Dialogue for Novels

Because sometimes we all forget. Great piece to use as a reference when writing!

Writers After Dark

Writing dialogue is messy. Am I right?

It has so many rules, it makes me wish I’d gone with my original plan in life. I’d intended to become an all-in-one supermodel-psychologist/part-time medical researcher. What? I thought I wanted to save people, discover things, and change the world wearing a tiara and killer heels. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I just wanted to sit on my couch drinking coffee and writing all day while wearing no pants.

Plus, apparently my status as a supermodel got cut short (no pun intended) by my lack of height. And love of cake. Also, had I continued studying psychology, I’d have been forced to stop listening to the voices in my head . . . and that was SO not cool. The thing was . . . I didn’t know how to properly punctuate any of my internal…

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