Get Your Work Out – Others’ Advice

One of the issues we (and I mean me for sure, and you maybe) face as writers is trying to figure out how to get our work finished and what to do while we’re waiting to hear back. As I was thinking about it, I stumbled across all kinds of articles and posts online. I thought you might like to see some of them.

My friend Paula Roe has a great article on how to use Document Maps in Word. I learned something about this a long time ago and never used it. Looking at it now I’m thinking it seems like a perfect way to create and organize a novel.

Kylie Griffin, one of the members of my new family, Romance Writers of Australia, has three great posts on rejection letters and what you can learn from them (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). She tells us how we can read into the responses we get and improve our writing even with rejections.

I haven’t heard of Neil Cross, but I love his post On the Peculiar Torment of Writing Outlines. Whether you’re a plotter or a pantster, I think you’ll find something useful.

The Blood-Red Pencil blog has a great post listing more than a dozen resources for crime writers. Even if you don’t write crime fiction, you might be able to use information on guns or poison or police or other things in other kinds of stories.

The Writers Store has great articles from all kinds of writers and writing teachers. This week I read one on a new archetypal structure. It’s different, interesting, another way to look at stories, and the author explains how it differs from the Hero’s Journey.

I’m journaling about my writing habits and routines (or lack thereof) to see what I can learn about myself, to see how I can work with my strengths and not just against my weaknesses. I hope to make some interesting discoveries. If I do, I’ll share them with you.

Mark your calendar for Tuesday May 4 when Mona Hodgson joins us on her new book tour! Two Brides Too Many will be available at your favorite bookstore that day.

Finally, a reminder that May is Anti-Procrastination Month at Routines for Writers. I added the capitalization to underscore how important this is to Shonna and Steph and me! LOL! Next week we’ll talk about what we’re going to do to catch up, and how and why. We’d love to hear what you need to work on next month.