Have you found yourself in that writing desert where you feel all dried up and ready to just throw in the towel on that final draft? Well hopefully not...but if so here are five simple hacks that some of the most respected writers follow.
- When you sit down to write, set a goal for yourself; whether that goal is to have a specific word count by the end of your drafting or a specific page number. Set that goal and stick to it...if you can live by your own deadline then you certainly can become accustomed to meeting your deadline in a situation that demands it. This is key to the encouragement of growth in your writing if you are in a writing rut.
- Learn new ways to write faster or a quicker way of getting your ideas down before they flee you. Most all phones now have a voice recorder which comes in hand when you are on the go or in a situation where you just cannot get a hold on your pen. If you can write in longhand then I suggest trying that and it works wonders for your first draft.
- This seems to be something that every successful writer would recommend and that is taking a notebook with you everywhere you go and writing in five minute intervals and just truly writing whatever comes to mind. This will help you to hone your thoughts and eventually streamline all of your ideas.
- Try writing down 30 challenges on your calendar and commit to finish one challenge per day for the next 30 days. It can be anything from a writing prompt and a goal to write 2000+ words based on your prompt to simply writing down conversations you may have overheard throughout the day and your thoughts on that.
- REMOVE all distractions; if the television is distracting you then remove it, if you spend to much time then limit yourself to only 30 minutes a day, or less. Write down where your time goes and then whittle away those things you can live without, until you have enough time to devote that creative time to your manuscript.
