My Week: Every Day Different #MFRWAuthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge

mfrw blog challenge badge

I wish I could say that I’m one of those highly disciplined writers who maintain a daily schedule of x hours of writing before doing anything else, but for me every day of the week is different, and not necessarily like the same day was the previous week. Sigh.

Our interconnected world has made it more difficult than ever for people to concentrate. It’s like everyone is ADD now, just trying to keep up with everyday life plus social media. When it is time to write, I have to power down the cell phone and disconnect from the Internet to get anything done.

I won’t go into all the reasons why I don’t have a regular schedule, but I do have several days of the week that are “running around” days, which means I have an hour or two max in the morning before I leave (if that) and I may not get home until 2-3PM or even later. Some authors try to cram all of their shopping and appointments into those two run around days, but I never seem to manage to fit it all in. And if a friend wants to go to lunch… well, I’m unlikely to say no. So sometimes I write in the morning and sometimes in the late afternoon. By evening I’m too brain dead to do much of anything.

busy woman at her desk

Some days I wish I had more than two hands!
© jayfish

If I’m lucky, my niece Patty and I find time in the evening to drive to the beach overlook to watch the sun set. Watching the waves move in and out relaxes me after a busy day. We’ve had some really pretty ones lately, like this one from last week. My new Nexus 5X takes pretty good pictures!

Pacific Ocean sunset

I do need to start carving out bigger blocks of time for writing. Wish me luck.

How about you? Do you have a set schedule?

Linda

As always, use the linky list below to find more posts in the #MFRWAuthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge.

Telling Stories #MFRWAuthor #Blog Challenge #amwriting

mfrw blog challenge badge

This week’s prompt in the #MFRWauthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge is Why I Write. That’s a good question and I don’t know that I have a good answer.

Mostly it’s because I’m a book junkie and have been since childhood. I fell in love with the written word and the power of story as a child and the magic never wanes. I love to read books and I love to tell stories. In my opinion, writers of popular fiction (romance, mystery, fantasy, etc.) are storytellers rather than writers. You can write a non-fiction book or article and provide useful, interesting, factual information, but when you write a piece of fiction, you are telling a story. And I love telling stories.

Wired For Story coverI’ve been slowly working my way through Lisa Cron’s book, Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence and taking the time to mark relevant passages and ponder what she said. The important takeaway is that scientists now know that the human brain is wired for story. It’s how we learn.

Besides finding that fact fascinating, I also find myself awed by the power of storytelling. In light of this revelation, I think it’s more important than ever for fiction writers to “get it right”. For instance, readers expect to learn a little history when they pick up a historical novel. I try to do my best to convey the period as accurately as possible, while not dwelling on the more unpleasant aspects of times past. Like the smelly horse dung in the street and the lack of sanitation, etc. You get the drift. But I also try to stay true to actual historical facts. It’s a balancing act, and the things that trip us up are the ones we didn’t think we had to look up.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Linda

As always, click on the linky list below to find out why other romance authors write.

Save

Save

Use the Rafflecopter below to sign up for my upcoming newsletter and for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway