Courtesy of cartoonstock.com

Remember all the times you wished for a day off, when you had a block of time to write?  Today is the day!  If, like me, you’re snowed in by the Blizzard of 2011, there is no excuse to not write.  You can’t run to the store/post office/library/school.  Housework can wait.  Turn off the updates of the Egypt situation.  Turn off (or ignore) the internet and get your butt in a chair and type/write on your current story.

Write for twenty minutes.  That’s all I ask.  Set a timer and put your head down and write.  Don’t reread the last thing you wrote.  Don’t worry if it’s not perfect grammatically.  Just write.  I can guarantee that at the end of twenty minutes, you’ll want to continue.

Yesterday, on my daily walk around my workplace (15 minutes, 1700 steps) I saw a sign that said “I’m in the groove, please approach me via my window.”  Get in your groove.  Push through that plot point that’s been worrying you.  Believe me, your subconscious knows the answer.  After all, it created it in the first place.

“What about the kids?” you ask.  Are you telling me you can’t find something for them to do for a half hour or so?  You’re a writer.  Use your creativity.  Let them write their own story.  Put in a movie.  Or make a batch of homemade play dough and let their creativity go to town.  Here’s the recipe my mom used to make for us:

Salt Playdough

Materials:

• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup flour plus additional flour
• Saucepan

Directions

1. Mix salt, water, and flour in saucepan and cook over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat when mixture is thick and rubbery.
3. As the mixture cools, knead in enough flour to make the dough workable.

With shopping days winding down, you’re probably wondering what to buy the writer in your life. Here are some ideas sure to delight.
* Office supplies.  Writers are geeks when it comes to office supplies.  Pens, notebooks, fancy paperclips, gizmos of all shapes and sizes.  Not all of our writing is on a computer.  Sometimes, we like to curl up in a quiet place with a easy rolling pen and a legal pad.

* A gift subscription to an online photo store such as www.photos.com or www.istock.com.  A writer should promote their work via a blog, and blogs are more readable and interesting with photos.

* A small thesaurus.  I own one that fits in the palm of my hand.  I throw it into my suitcase while traveling and it’s readily available for those times when I do curl up in a quiet place.

* A gift certificate.  Think beyond your local bookstore.   iTunes.  A spa.  A great restaurant.  We all need a little pampering.

* A USB flashdrive.  I’ve heard too many horror stories of pages, scenes and entire works lost to a house fire or computer crash.  A flashdrive is an easy, portable sense of security.

* A Kindle or Nook or other ereader.  We’re readers, as well.  Condensing dozens of books into a few ounces?  What could be more priceless?

* Something to drink.  Tea. Wine. A Starbucks card.  Find out if your writer is in the Pepsi or Coke camp and buy accordingly.

* A copy of The Princess Bride.  Best book/movie ever.  Really.

Blessings,

Cheryl

We all have moments of self-doubt when we think our words are crap, our story is a tragedy and what were we thinking? Joanna Penn of www.thecreativepenn.com offers some words of wisdom for those moments.
I’d like to add two caveats:
1) find a writing partner or critique group. Make sure it’s not someone who sugarcoats the truth.
2) the first draft is a vomit draft. Throw up all over the page and clean it up later. Give yourself permission to be bad. Lock away your inner editor and write like mad.

Take care,
Cheryl