While Nine-Thrive focuses on freelancers in general, writing is probably the most common freelance work and probably a good source of contributive income. I haven't tried it so I don't know for sure.
Anyway, check her latest post for some great tips on increasing the "stickiness" of New Year's Resolutions and I'll be back tomorrow with the next topic.
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
New Year's Resolutions--Trimming
What's the one, sure, no-fail way to lose weight? Burn less calories than you take in.
The burning's not that much of a problem for me these days. I like to run and swim and play frisbee. But food is just so tasty and social and easy, I love cooking.
So the hardest--and most effective--thing for me is cutting unnecessary calories. That second bowl of cereal, that extra cup of juice, or--god forbid--M&Ms left out in candy jars. Before I eat something, I really have to stop and evaluate not only what I'm eating but why. If I need a quick snack to hold me through accounting, that's fine, here's an apple, but if the cookie in the cafeteria is calling my name just because it's sitting out there and I'm not really hungry, I need to turn around and run the other way.
Words are just like calories. You need a certain amount to be healthy, to build up plot and realistic characters. But too much and your readers start getting turned off and if you're not writing for readers, then what are you doing?
I know I’ve talked about this a lot, but I truly believe that being concise is something a writer must be in control of and it's my biggest obstacle. They might start out slowly--an adverb here, a series of adjectives there--and I might pout, "They're just so good! Surely one wouldn't hurt..." That's how it starts. Nix it.
So how many is really too many? JA Konrath says to eliminate everything that doesn’t move the plot forward. That's easier said than done when they’re your words and you’ve really come to like them, whether they’ve still got their shiny new gloss, or have become as old and familiar as Grandma’s afghan. But really, you don’t need to describe your main character from head to toe, or their life history or the exact floor plan of their house. I will always come into your story with connotations for girl, retired, home. Sparse, unique details are all that’s needed to shape the impressions the I started with into the images you want me to see. Too much information brings the pace of your writing to a screeching halt as I struggle to hold all these details into my mind at once.
Sidetracking is equally distracting. Just as it’s difficult to focus on a lecture when two people behind you are having a separate conversation, unnecessary information interrupts the flow and causes me to lose track of what's important, and muddles my understanding of the story.
As I've admitted, It's difficult for me to do my own editing. If I have to sit and labor over whether to keep a phrase, I generally keep it because that's easier. And the next time I read through the piece I sit and fidget over the same words again. So I suggest cutting out any and all questionable words, saving them somewhere else or saving the document under a different filename and going to sleep. Wait until the next day, then read over your chopped piece. See if those details are necessary for the story or were just necessary for you to write it.
Or try what I do and delete the words completely, wait, and try to write them again. I promise you won't completely forget your story overnight, and the writing will almost always be more condensed the second or third or howevermany times around.
Next up: scheduling
The burning's not that much of a problem for me these days. I like to run and swim and play frisbee. But food is just so tasty and social and easy, I love cooking.
So the hardest--and most effective--thing for me is cutting unnecessary calories. That second bowl of cereal, that extra cup of juice, or--god forbid--M&Ms left out in candy jars. Before I eat something, I really have to stop and evaluate not only what I'm eating but why. If I need a quick snack to hold me through accounting, that's fine, here's an apple, but if the cookie in the cafeteria is calling my name just because it's sitting out there and I'm not really hungry, I need to turn around and run the other way.
Words are just like calories. You need a certain amount to be healthy, to build up plot and realistic characters. But too much and your readers start getting turned off and if you're not writing for readers, then what are you doing?
I know I’ve talked about this a lot, but I truly believe that being concise is something a writer must be in control of and it's my biggest obstacle. They might start out slowly--an adverb here, a series of adjectives there--and I might pout, "They're just so good! Surely one wouldn't hurt..." That's how it starts. Nix it.
So how many is really too many? JA Konrath says to eliminate everything that doesn’t move the plot forward. That's easier said than done when they’re your words and you’ve really come to like them, whether they’ve still got their shiny new gloss, or have become as old and familiar as Grandma’s afghan. But really, you don’t need to describe your main character from head to toe, or their life history or the exact floor plan of their house. I will always come into your story with connotations for girl, retired, home. Sparse, unique details are all that’s needed to shape the impressions the I started with into the images you want me to see. Too much information brings the pace of your writing to a screeching halt as I struggle to hold all these details into my mind at once.
Sidetracking is equally distracting. Just as it’s difficult to focus on a lecture when two people behind you are having a separate conversation, unnecessary information interrupts the flow and causes me to lose track of what's important, and muddles my understanding of the story.
As I've admitted, It's difficult for me to do my own editing. If I have to sit and labor over whether to keep a phrase, I generally keep it because that's easier. And the next time I read through the piece I sit and fidget over the same words again. So I suggest cutting out any and all questionable words, saving them somewhere else or saving the document under a different filename and going to sleep. Wait until the next day, then read over your chopped piece. See if those details are necessary for the story or were just necessary for you to write it.
Or try what I do and delete the words completely, wait, and try to write them again. I promise you won't completely forget your story overnight, and the writing will almost always be more condensed the second or third or howevermany times around.
Next up: scheduling
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
New Year's Resolutions--An Introduction
If you can't tell by the sudden influx of advertising for exercise machines and diet plans, probably the most common New Year's resolution is to lose weight. While I didn't put it on my list of writing resolutions, it's on my personal list.
I've got a little more incentive than most people. I've got an ultimate frisbee team expecting me to haul my ass up and down a football field but I did more working--and eating--over the break than I did working out. Also, I'd like to look a little more trim at AWP next month.
So over the past week of last-minute sprints and lifting, I've been thinking about the correlations between getting my body in better shape--and getting my writing in better shape.
We don't have practice this week and I don't have to turn in any work for nonfiction workshop until a week from today, so I'll take this time to document my training--not in minutes on the treadmill or in the lap pool--but in these traditional techniques work for my writing.
First up: Trimming
I've got a little more incentive than most people. I've got an ultimate frisbee team expecting me to haul my ass up and down a football field but I did more working--and eating--over the break than I did working out. Also, I'd like to look a little more trim at AWP next month.
So over the past week of last-minute sprints and lifting, I've been thinking about the correlations between getting my body in better shape--and getting my writing in better shape.
We don't have practice this week and I don't have to turn in any work for nonfiction workshop until a week from today, so I'll take this time to document my training--not in minutes on the treadmill or in the lap pool--but in these traditional techniques work for my writing.
First up: Trimming
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
New Year's Resolutions
The always-edifying JA Konrath listed his growing list of resolutions, prompting me to edit it for my personal list. I'm more of a short-term-goal person, meaning I generally make a huge list of things to accomplish in too little time, get as many of them done as I can, and sweep the others under the rug for the next list...and the next...That's probably why I like his 2006 list best. They're specific and are more about developing good habits than one-time goals (notice words like "every" "always" "refuse"). The others are more like the inspirational bits at the end of chain emails. Pertinent, and helpful on occasion, but without any tangible direction.
My 2009 resolutions for:
Writing:
My 2009 resolutions for:
Writing:
- I will set aside time to write on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
- I will write more in longhand to get the benefits of the creative process unique to a hand moving across paper.
- I will do more timed writing exercises for the same reason.
- I will always have one story in submission, and one in revision.
- I will finish all the stories that are unfinished, or in the middle of drafts.
- I will back up all of my work with the dependability of Rain Man.
Reading
- I will subscribe to some of the magazines I submit to.
- I will read the magazines I submit to.
- I will continue to mix my reading list with contemporary works, banned novels and recommended short stories.
- I will seek out work that is not in my usual reading list, including nonfiction, experimental and - possibly - poetry.
Professional
- I will attend AWP (blizzard or not) and introduce myself to agents, editors and other writers.
- I will expand my presence on the net, including learning html
- I will learn more about/practice writing book reviews
It's up to you invisible people to keep me honest on this, you hear?
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