I absolutely love writing on my site and love the word press community!
I’ve been informed that today it is my 7 Year Anniversary…
This is such a huge achievement. I never thought when I made my site all alone in my bedroom that it would still be running today. I never thought I’d have even this many followers or supporters either. Things have been so dramatic and changed a lot of the last several years.
So fellow bloggers, here’s my emotional tribute to you all! Keep on writing and enjoying life.
I hope I have another several years writing on here. Cheers.
You’ve nailed a concept, plot, character or dilemma and formed a vision of a beautiful story in your mind. You have it planned, or perhaps are waiting to unleash it without planning anything. I want you to finish your story and enjoy the process. From my own writing I’ve found five essential writing tips that will considerably improve your story writing skills!
BE OPEN TO CHANGE – Just because you’ve planned a story it does not mean you cannot change the plot, characters or direction. Being open to change is really the number 1 tip you must take on board when creating fiction! Always be open to change, and feel free to change your story or the elements. Nothing is worse than being stuck in a chapter confused as to where to take the story because your planning hasn’t worked out, or the story simply went another way!
REVIEW YOUR CHARACTERS AND EVENTS REGULARLY – Be sure that you have understood your characters and what happens to them to make sure that inconsistencies don’t exist; such as Jane with blonde hair turning into a red headed man called John. Don’t be afraid of taking time to comb through a chapter for these little cracks in story either, it may save you the confusing editing process where you discover someone has grown several feet or has managed to teleport across country with no explanation whatsoever.
HAVE THE END GOAL IN MIND – Always, when writing, be in review of your ultimate end goals or climax. Are you working toward that? Are you getting side tracked and possibly creating a completely different story? If you have a clear end goal – which comes from good planning – then you will write your plot, characters and story in that direction. Sure you might improvise elements of the story or a chapter or two away from the central plot, but at the end of the day distraction shows you lack direction in your own story. I should know.
WRITE FOR YOURSELF – Ideally always. Many writers and published authors will say write to the market or for a particular audience, but this will cause you to quickly lose your honesty and soul. You’ll find it harder. Write the story how you want, for you. Worry about the opinion of others later.
EDIT YOUR STORY MULTIPLE TIMES – This will give you the chance to do multiple rewrites if needed, to comb out mistakes and such and to actually review your own story in full. After a first initial draft you should aim to go through to do the initial rewriting followed by a copy edit of the manuscript. You can pay an editor to do this for you, and then work with their suggestions. Reviewing and editing allows you sometimes to take a great story and make it shine like gold. It really can make the difference, allowing you to smooth out sentences and such for easier reading. You might find you delete a lot too. Ideally you’d go through two to three times minimum.*
*A point on the editing; writers tend to go for a developmental edit followed by the line edit, followed by a spelling and punctuation check last. After that they get a proof read.* This is by no means something you have to pay for. You can do all of it yourself, and plenty of resources exist to find beta-readers etc. that can help the process considerably.
Thank you for reading this short, important post. I’d love to hear if you have any tips you’d share yourself. Of course one unwritten rule is that you should have fun. So create the story and enjoy writing it!
It’s a frosty -2 this morning with plenty of cold winds coming in to. Reminds me of a typical winter day! I really do hope it snows properly this year.
Since last night I’ve been thinking about my reading, more specifically the page count. I don’t usually count the pages I read – but I used to – and since becoming re-aware of my habits I decided I would.
Let me explain. Last week I was enthralled by Angels and Demons by Dan Brown and had read 50+ pages in one sitting. This was good, as usually I’d read little more than 30 pages (at a guess). So my average had increased. yet with another historical fiction book I only managed maybe 2 – 3 pages at a time, each day. I want to read more of that one in each sitting by the way!
I then realised my reading time had improved significantly. Taking the 50 pages I’d read over the course of one sitting, which at the time was around 2 hours 30 minutes, I knew that this was an improvement. I’m usually a slow reader. Anyway my eyes were following the words more easily and pages were turning quicker. The process felt less strained and more enjoyable and I found myself not wanting to put the book down. This could also be due to the fact it’s interesting.
I hear people say they can’t focus enough to read; but I say this, you can read if you practice. Yes, practice reading by reading. By the time you’ve read ten pages I guarantee you will find it easier. But I say that lightly, you need to do it daily to see an improvement in concentration. Reading things you enjoy can be of significant help as you won’t feel forced to pull yourself through a difficult chapter.
Let me introduce the 10 Page a Day Challenge
It’s easy and effective. You’ll find that at the end of the week doing the 10 pages a day – and hopefully a lot more – that your reading concentration and focus has improved ten fold. You’ll be able to navigate large chunks of text in minutes.
Who’s this for?
Ideally those who struggle with reading, those who find it hard to enjoy books or those who don’t read in general. I recommend choosing a good thick book targeted for your age, that way your more likely to meet the wide range of vocabulary expected in other books of the same genre.
I read every day and find the benefits are above and beyond what people expect. It’s winter soon and you’ll be grateful to be in bed under the warm blanket with a book, or even beside a warm fireplace. It’s great for tackling a huge social issue – loneliness – and can (I believe) be super awesome at making you feel better.
So there you go! A 10 Page a Day Challenge and it doesn’t matter if you read more. Read to your hearts delight. I am sure I have some reading to do … by for now!
I had the chance to talk to an aspiring writer. She took the time to talk about her writing and her WordPress story a little. I was glad to meet her. She goes by the name LevBossBabe.
Hi there! I am a beginning writer from the Bay Area. I write during downtime at my job. I have no books out yet, but that is the dream! Currently, I am writing a satirical, fictional blog called Lev: Boss Babe. It is a comedy that plays on start-up culture and office hierarchies. I reflect often on the drama that comes when we realize how much time we spend working and what that does to how we see ourselves and how we see others. You can find it at Princessmushroom.com.
What are your favourite books?
I am a huge sci-fi nerd even though I am not writing anything related to the genre: I love Neil Gaiman, the Game of Thrones series, Harry Potter, Dune. I love productivity books like Atomic Habits, Getting Things Done, and The Life-Changing Joy of Tidying Up. I am currently reading Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.
When did you know you wanted to be an author?
There was never a time where I didn’t want to be a writer. As a child, I was a precocious reader, starting with A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
What is your favourite part of the writing process? What is your least favourite and how do you get through it?
I love those chapters that I just seem to spit out without effort. Dialogue is important to my stories, especially inner dialogue as I jump between perspectives.
Sometimes, it can take a month to write a chapter because nothing seems good enough. I keep it pushing during those times—I made a promise to write at least 20 minutes a day, and I keep it pushing even when I feel I am putting out crap!
What is your writing routine?
I am fortunate in that I have a lot of downtime at work. I write at least 20 minutes a day, but I don’t hold back when I get into a flow state and can write for hours! Professionally, I am an administrator, so I am used to creating systems for work. I do the same with my writing: I have “funnels” for chapters, characters, and the plot in general.
How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?
I categorize goals and create weekly goals within those categories aka Getting Things Done by David Allen. I always bring my kit: my notebook, laptop, calendar, paper container (not a binder!), and fancy pens wherever I go. I try to gamify all my tasks and goals to make them as satisfying as possible to complete. Finally, I am a HUGE list-maker and reflect on my goals once or twice a month to see where I can grow.
What inspires you? How do you beat writers block?
To be honest, I feel that without writing and storytelling, my life is meaningless. I don’t enjoy working and don’t care about having a career. Even if I was the last person on the world, I would write: it gives purpose to my pain and accentuates delight.
How do you keep consistent/write a lot?
See 6. I have a journal where I reflect on my habits everyday. I found that 20 minutes works for me: If flow is going to happen, it will happen in that timeframe. Also, I am incredibly blessed to have a pretty slow and flexible job with a short commute.
Also, I have learned to accept bad writing days for what they are—temporary. On those days, I write on the backs of envelopes or scraps of paper just to get something out. I only require at least 20 minutes a day, so if nothing comes out after that time frame, I don’t torture myself. Self-kindness goes a long way on bad brain days!
Does anyone read or edit your work before publication? If so, how did you find them?
My boyfriend I am always up to making writing friends!
Can we have a sneaky look at your future plans?
Yes! I plan on developing the backgrounds and plots of the co-workers in the office! There is also a huge drama unfolding in the company… the only hint that I will provide is that it is inspired by true and recent controversies in Silicon Valley.
Finally, what advice would you give to other writers?
I have only 5 subscribers so far so I am not sure I would be considered an inspiration. Maybe one day! 😊 But I can’t imagine spending my free time doing anything else, and I treasure my small and humble beginning right now. I look forward to building a community of people who just love a good story.
Welcome to Psychedelic Wizard, and thank you for taking the time to check out todays post on increasing traffic to your blog.
Creating relevant content – We have reviewed briefly the importance of creating interesting posts with passion. However, the content itself needs to be relevant to what people want to read. If your site focuses on specific areas, like poetry, creating relevant content can be as easy as changing the type of poetry that you post. Relevant content may include recent changes in news, lifestyle content or similar. Whatever the topic, relevance and engagement are significant factors to increasing traffic.
Guest blogging – You might have been blogging solo for some time and if that is the case, to further promote a blog, consider inviting a guest post. Guest blogging can double or even triple your website traffic, because when that guest posts to your site, it attracts their followers or usual visitors to your site. On top of this, they will likely share the post on their site, which will again increase your sites exposure. If traffic is important to you, consider a guest post once in a while, or maybe consider other ways to invite guests to your blog.
Social media promotion – WordPress allows you to connect social media sites like twitter. You can then write a post on WordPress and it will automatically post it to the social media website. You can also do it the other way round, so anything you post on twitter will be seen on your site as a feed. This is a great way to increase traffic to your site. Other platforms such as YouTube could prove useful if you have a site with a lot of video content.
That is 3 great ways to consider promoting your website or blog further. Remember, a passion should not become a full time occupation unless you think you will still enjoy it, as work and play are very different things. Just as an artist might paint for a pastime, as soon as they decide to become a full time painter as a job, they might find very little joy in it anymore.
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