Tag: Writing tips

Categories
The Binge Writer

5 Tips on How to Write Faster (With Bonus)

Do you want to write 30K-40K+ words in a weekend? Do you want to write faster?

You can. Become a binge writer.

Binge writing is an impassioned writing session during an elongated time period. It can last from five hours to fifty hours. A binge writing session is uninterrupted—apart from limited sleep.

[bctt tweet=”Do you want to write faster? #1K1H #writer #novelist”]

Many writers spend years attempting to finish their stories, but they never do. Not for lack of desire, but for lack of follow-through. I know from firsthand experience that if I tried to write 2,000 words every day I’d fail. I already have, multiple times. But, if I set aside time to binge write, I can complete project after project.

It’s time for you to become a binge writer.

[bctt tweet=”It’s time for you to become a binge writer. #writer #writing #writingtips”]

The results will astound you. I bet an extra 40K words might help you finish the final few chapters or your novel, or help you create an entire series of chapter books. The uses are endless.

But if you never embark on your binge writing journey, you may never accomplish your writing goals in a realistic timeframe, unless you learn to write faster.

Here are some binge writing tips:

  1. Cram your brain.
    1. Fill your mind with pictures, ideas, and research on the topic you are writing about. If you are writing a novel set in Paris, inundate yourself with French music in your car, watch French foreign movies or documentaries, and visualize the world around you as Paris itself.
    2. If you are writing a non-fiction about training dogs, spend time with dogs. Train them, observe them, and watch movies with dogs as characters.
    3. Let your mind absorb the images, actions, and ideas that you want to flow effortlessly out of you and into your story or book.
  2. Schedule your binge session.
    1. Pick your time and place. Don’t let anyone infringe upon your session and don’t make plans close to the start and finish of your time. You’ll only be able to binge write, if you hold fast and firm to your timetable. So when your brother-in-law calls to invite you to dinner and board games, you say NO even though you really want to go. You make a date with yourself.
  3. Set the mood.
    1. Before your session download music that will stimulate the proper mood for your writing. Epic soundtracks for fantasy, love songs for romance, etc. Have them preloaded and ready to go.
    2. If you like the lighting low for romance or suspense. Get your candles ready.
    3. If you are writing a story in a bakery, plan to have fresh bread baking in your house. Or, if your story is set in a field of flowers have scented candles or oils to help create the right aroma and atmosphere.

    [bctt tweet=”It’s not called binge editing—It’s binge writing, so write. #write #writing #1K1H”]

Categories
The Efficiency Addict

Simple and Easy Password Tracking

Finding Your Passwords
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

In our techno-happy world, we frequently seek the latest gadgets or apps to make our lives easier. However, sometimes the best tools are items we already possess. We simply have to put them to work in a new way. Today we’re going look at an easy way to track your passwords with an old school device—The Address Book.

An address book is a wonderful tool for managing your passwords. It’s simple, inexpensive, and you can find one rather easily. However, before we move to the “how to” portion of this post, let’s tackle some frequently asked questions regarding this method:

Why wouldn’t I buy one of those password books they sell in the office supply stores?

  • They’re not alphabetical. If you have a lot of passwords, you may have to flip through the entire book before you find the one you need. That’s time wasted when you could be writing. Listing sites alphabetically is a huge benefit of using an address book as it helps you find entries quickly and easily.

Why wouldn’t I put my passwords in an electronic file or save it in an app?

  • Have you seen all the news articles about hackers lately? Everything from state tax returns to department store credit purchases have been attacked. Your safest place for a password is the one place a hacker can’t reach—the physical world.

Now, here’s how to put that address book to work:

  1. List your passwords by website name. Your Facebook password would be listed under F. Twitter would be T, and you can complete the rest.
  2. For each entry write:
    1. the website name
    2. your username or email (This is especially important if you maintain more than one email address.)
    3. your password
    4. any security question answers.
  3. ALWAYS write in pencil. At some point, you’ll have to change your password. If you write in pencil, you can just erase the old code and write a new one. This will keep your entries easy to read and make your password keeper last a long time.

Added Security Tip: If you’re concerned about someone reading your password book, put your passwords and security answers in code. A simple way to do this is to list part of the word and have the rest as dashes or Xs.

Example 1: If my answer to the security question of “Who is your favorite teacher?” is “Parker”, I could write P_ _ _ _ _. (P followed by 5 spaces.) As soon as I see the P, I’ll know which teacher I listed.

Example 2: If my password for Facebook is “zuLf12thirty”, I could write z _ L _ 12_ _ _ _ _ _. This is particularly helpful if you use a similar password for many sites but change a few letters in a specific pattern. If I see I’m using my zuL password, I know to change the letter after the capital L depending on the name of the website. For Facebook the letter becomes an f = zuLf12thirty. For Twitter the letter becomes a t – zuLt12thirty.

Final Tip: My favorite type of address book is one that’s meant for a 3-ring binder. If you don’t already have one, you can find them in the day planner section of most office supply stores. These come with A-Z tabs and blank address pages you can put in a notebook. This allows you to add pages when you need more room or remove a page if it’s gotten too messy and you want to start fresh.

Got this password thing covered? Good. Now get back to writing!

[bctt tweet=”Have you seen all the news articles about hackers lately? #writer #hacker” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”Put your passwords and security answers in code #writer @password” via=”no”]

Categories
The Ministry of Writing

Writing is Residual Ministry: It Lives On

photo by John Scalzi and made available for reuse.

I went to a meeting just to be nice to my friend, but I heard a phrase I have not forgotten.

In college, a friend started in Amway and thought that his fellow ministry students might actually have the money to join him. So as a broke, newly married college student, I listened to his spiel until he said, “RESIDUAL INCOME.” I have not experienced it, but the idea sounds amazing — to continue earning income long after the work has been done.

He told us we could pay the fee, set-up the website, and have a few conversations then — BOOM sit back and rake in the dough. Yeah, I know it’s not that simple, but you get the picture. You could expend effort once and continue getting paid, even when you’re off the clock or sleeping.

I don’t remember what he said after “residual income”, but I loved the idea.

I believe it’s not only a great business idea, but also a great concept for ministry. What if we could work hard once and then for days, months, years, decades, and even centuries there would be residual ministry? Even while we are sleeping our work could continue ministering to someone, and [bctt tweet=”even when our body is in the grave we could keep sharing the Gospel.”]

If there is such a ministry shouldn’t we invest our lives into it?

There is a residual ministry.

And you are doing it — it is writing.

You might struggle as I do. I know I am called to write, but I have a hard time hiding myself away in my Starbucks writing cave because there is “real” ministry that needs to take place. How can I hide away from the world when there are folks in this very coffee house that need to hear the Gospel?

How can I type away when there are hurting individuals that I could visit?

Ministry is about people therefore I need to be with people, but out of all I might do no ministry will keep ministering longer than my writing.

Moses had a successful ministry. He lead a couple million people out of slavery, established a nation, judged over daily affairs, taught the Law, and even organized the religious practices of Israel. But out of all he did, it’s his writings that have ministered the most.

The same could be said of Paul. He lead many people to the Lord, planted many churches, established doctrine, taught, but it is his writing that has continued to minister.

For Moses and for Paul their writing was residual ministry. The same is true for us.

Your writing ministry will live on. It will keep ministering even after you’re gone.

[bctt tweet=”If there is such a ministry shouldn’t we invest our lives into it? #writing #write” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”Your writing ministry will live on. #author #amwriting”]

Categories
A Little Red Ink

Character Motivation

Everybody wants something. Why do YOU want to write, for example?

Maybe you want to write a book for the story’s sake. A vociferous, misunderstood character started vying for your mental attention and enthralled you with his antics. He gets under your skin in all the right ways, and he’s an entertaining guy. You don’t want the world to miss out.

Maybe you like to challenge people. You’re on a metaphorical soapbox, and—rather than flat out preaching at the masses—allegory would be a better, wiser venue for your message. It’s time people question the status quo. Or act on their convictions. Your story will call them on that.

2D Joost

Or maybe you want to be rich and famous. You fancy yourself the next J.K. Rowling or Frank Peretti. (NOTE: If this is your motivation, you’re in the wrong field. There’s an easier road you should travel, somewhere.)

I know there are scads of other reasons people write. But the point is: something drives you.

Something’s got to drive your characters too.

Character motivation matters.

And I don’t mean only your main characters.  Would you want to watch a play—no matter the genre—where only the protagonist and the antagonist were played by humans? Everyone else was a cardboard cutout?

(NOTE: Even though there are no other humans pictured below, I am NOT saying The Doctor interacts with a bunch of emoticons-on-sticks. Far from it. I simply couldn’t resist using THESE particular cardboard cutouts when I spotted them.)

doctor cutout

Too often, I read books in which the cast may as well be made up of action figures. The MC wanders over near the smiling cut out when he needs encouragement and hangs out with the stereotypical thug when he feels dangerous. He can’t bum a cigarette, though, because there’s just the one. Permanently in Dude’s hand. You’d have to cut his hand off to get rid of that thing.

As Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. said,

every.

single.

character.

should want something—

even if all he wants is a glass of water.

Surround your main characters with a cast of characters who are also each desperate for something, determined to change something. To achieve something.

To defuse the bomb.

To hear their father say he’s proud of them.

To find the cure.

To get her to say Yes.

Give them motives and goals, and SHOW your readers what they’re after.

For truly multi-dimensional characters, give them motivations that might surprise the readers. Show a soft side or a deep-seated fear in the heart of the bad guy. Maybe you’ve got a selfless and thoughtful protag, but there’s one thing she absolutely cannot STAND. Show it to us.

[bctt tweet=”Surprise people. Add dimension to cardboard characters with motivation. #writing tips #ALittleRedInk”]

Okay, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Flat Out Love, by Jessica Park. If you’ve read this book, you know what I’m about to say. (If you haven’t…) There actually WAS a cardboard cut out character–an enthralling one, I might add–Flat Finn. Talk about a quirky cast, all flawed and winsome!

flat stanley

But what about other favorite books? Don’t you love reading a novel that makes you want a sequel—where your favorite minor character gets to play lead? Even if there’s NOT a sequel? I love dreaming about what could be.

How about Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings? History, politics, culture, and languages were all so well-developed that there could have been shelves full of books penned. I’d have adored Eowyn and Faramir’s story. Or more about Samwise. He gets my vote for the true hero.

Serena Chase’s Eyes of E’veria series? During The Ryn and The Remedy (her reimagining of “Snow White and Rose Red”) I wanted more of Cazien the pirate. Got him. She wrote The Seahorse Legacy and The Sunken Realm (summer of 2015), a phenomenal, gripping retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.”

Ronie Kendig’s Rapid Fire Fiction. This may be one of Ronie’s greatest areas of giftedness. She’s made me crave another SERIES. And then delivered. Twice.

Charity Tinnin’s Haunted. I empathized with the bad boy much more than I intended to, and his story is on the horizon. That’ll be an automatic pre-order for me.

Steven James’s Patrick Bowers Files. I loved every scene with Tessa or Ralph. I felt like I knew them.

Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. What about Angela? And I’d have loved a prequel about Brom.

All of these books left me wanting more. And got me to immediately follow the authors on Twitter and Facebook. Marketing genius, writers.

Writing genius.

Who is the most intriguing minor character YOU’VE read recently? What was it that got to you?

[bctt tweet=”What minor character makes you wish he’d gotten center stage? #amreading #amwriting”]

 

Thanks to Joost Assink, Richard Anderson, and Heather N. for the photos.

Portions of this content were previously posted at www.alittleredink.com