Five-Minute-A-Day Writing Plan

Writers Write

by

Valerie Allen

Writers write. This is a simple truth, but until you actually put words onto paper, you are not a writer.

You may think, ponder, read, study, research, interview, or discuss. Writers do all of these things. They are necessary, but not sufficient to be a writer. Writers must write.

It’s likely you do write every day, but each of these missives takes you in a different writing direction.

All writing does one thing: it forces you to put your thoughts into words. If you have a story to tell, fiction, non-fiction or in poetic form, you must transform your thoughts into words and then put them onto paper. When you do this, you are truly a writer.

Five-Minutes-A-Day Writing Plan

Are you willing to invest five minutes a day to achieve your writing goals? Establish your plan to write continuously for five minutes every day. Whether with pen and paper or keyboard and computer, set aside five minutes of uninterrupted writing time just for you.

Let your mind wander as your fingers do the writing. This is a time to ramble on and be creative—no editing allowed.

At first, you may rant about the laundry, an unfinished project, family issues, the price of gas, or the state of world. Keep writing. If words don’t come, doodle. Keep the pen to the paper or fingers to the keyboard. Stay physically connected to your writing.

Make lists of things to do, names of old friends, places you’ve lived, cars you’ve had, pets you’ve owned, foods you hate. Just keep writing. Describe things around you, write about a favorite place, tell about a person you love, an event you enjoyed, a time of introspection, a connection with your spiritual self. Keep writing.

As you do this daily five minutes of continuous writing, you’ll find relief from mundane and querulous day-to-day life events. The creative part of your brain will free your muse. You will truly be a writer.

# # #

Valerie Allen, psychologist, authors, playwright, and speaker, writes fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and children's books. She can be reached at VAllenWriter@cs.com or ValerieAllenWriter.com

-----
 Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The multi award-winning second edition of The Frugal Editor; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

Writer Asks "Why Google Plus?"

I often channel the woman I used to read avidly because I edited her columns to fit into available space for the Salt Lake Tribune where I used to be a staff writer.  The woman is Ann Landers, doyenne of the "Ask" columns. And most of my "Q and As a la Ann Landers" go into my SharingwithWriters newsletter. On occasion I share them in this blog, too.  This questions is a simple one--oft repeated by writers who are trying desperately to balance their writing time against online networking and marketing:

Question:

 Shirley Corder, an author friend in one of my Yahoogroups asked me, “Would someone please tell me why I should add Google Plus to my long list of social networks?”

 Answer:

 I get it that there needs to be a real reason to join another group.  I think one of the reasons most people are talking about Google Plus are the groups (hangouts) it offers--but What I like is that Google makes it really easy to post notices about our blog posts when/if we use Blogger (and maybe a few others) for our blogs. It also automatically includes images from the blog with the message you send.

 I also like that it lets you categorize your friends there so you don’t send messages to people who couldn’t care less. As an example, resources that may interest readers of my retail books, may not want links to a Web site that will help writers with craft. So, I am very careful to add people to an appropriate circle (or group).

 To make it less time consuming, I don’t actively search out new connections. When they contact me, I put them in a "circle" where I can best reach them with posts (or other things) I think they might be able to use. 

 My address is: https://plus.google.com/u/0/  And, yes, I'd love to hear from you if you are there.

 

By the way, I still read Q&A columns avidly, some of them written by people who learned the skill at Landers' knee. One learns a lot about life in them. (-:  If you want to read all of mine as they come out, you can subscribe to my SharingwithWriters newsletter by sending me an e-mail at HoJoNews@aol.com  and I'll do it for you. Please put SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

Do you know of any other reasons why Google Plus is is plus? Or not? Please share with a comment on this blog if you do.  

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . 

Writers Need Time Management about as Much as Anybody!

Usually a I reserve book reviews for my The New Book Review blog.

Unless they are reviews of books about writing or book promotion.

Or unless I think it is a book that can help writers with their careers.

Guess, that's part of the fun. Especially for those of us with journalism backgrounds where out editors called the shots. With blogs, we all get to do pretty much what we feel like doing. With our readers in mind, of course. (-:

Time Management In An Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day by Karen Leland and Keith Bailey is a book made for today’s hurly-burly work environment. Many writers--even those who work at home--find it challenging to avoid distraction, stay focused, use their time and energy to maximum benefit, and gain ground on important goals and outcomes. One study by the Families and Work Institute found that one-third of Americans are overworked and more than 50 percent of those surveyed say they are either doing too many tasks at the same time or are frequently interrupted during the workday – or both. In short, we are overloaded!

Time Management In An Instant helps the reader to overcome this feeling of overload and avoid the traps that lead to an unproductive relationship with time. It offers field-tested time habits and expert advice based on the latest research that will help the reader better manage, create and spend their time with more satisfaction and results.

Successful authors are often asked about their process. When do you write? How do you keep from being distracted. A question they often ask me is how I make time for both promotion and writing. These questions are all good but each of use is made of different stuff. What works for me or for Stephen King may not work for others. This book tackles the problem with essentials that you can apply to your individual situations.

Go for it!

Special Offer

When you buy a copy of Time Management In An Instant the week of July 20th and receive a free license to the Essential Email online course. To buy the book and claim your bonus, or just to buy the book go to: http://www.quality-service.com/timemanagementinaninstant Here is a little about Essential Email: While email is the most widely used communication tool for business, its remote nature - which eliminates tone of voice and body language - presents a huge potential for mischief, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation. This online program will help you go beyond basic email etiquette, to the proven principles and practices for gaining mastery and saving time over your electronic mail box.

Author Bios

Karen Leland and Keith Bailey are the bestselling authors of six books including Time Management In An Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day. The two authors are partners in Sterling Consulting Group; an international management consulting firm. They are the bestselling authors of six books, which have been translated into ten languages. Karen and Keith have worked with over 200,000 executives, managers and front line staff in companies throughout the world including: American Express, AT&T, Oracle, Microsoft, Xerox, Marriott Hotels, IBM, Lucent Technologies and UPS. They have been featured in dozens of newspapers including: The New York Times, Fortune, Entrepreneur, Newsweek and Time. They also have extensive on-air experience and have been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, Good Morning America and Oprah. Karen is a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers and has written for The San Francisco Chronicle, Sales and Marketing, Incentive, Women’s Day, Self and many others.

-----

This post is part of a blog tour brought to you by Book Promo 201 - Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr
Promotional Services - www.nikkileigh.com
WE Magazine - 101 Women Bloggers to Watch for 2009



-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.