Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Why Fix Procrastination? It May Enhance Your Creativity

But before we get to discussing apps, consider this. Maybe you’re too hard on yourself. For creative workers, procrastination—and even laziness—may have hidden benefits. Perhaps you should allow yourself to procrastinate sometimes; it may well enhance your creativity.

Should you try to fix procrastination for good?

Procrastination may be a good thing.

From Why procrastination can help fuel creativity:

Agatha Christie reported that ideas for her crime stories often came while washing up or having a bath. “I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention,” she wrote in her autobiography. “Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness.”

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Writing Fiction: Pitfalls And Tips For Naming Your Characters

The cousin went home and did searches on her character names. To her horror, she found that the antagonist (a nasty villain) in her latest cozy mystery shared a name with a real, and prominent, person in the the town in which she’d set the novel.

Unwittingly, she’d created too many similarities between the real person and the fictional character. She changed the name immediately, as well as the names of several businesses—and she set the novel in a fictional town as well.

Do you use Google to research names? Google (or any other search engine) can help you to avoid embarrassment at the least, and legal nastiness at worst.

Writing fiction: your most useful resource when naming characters

Google is your friend when you’re naming characters, businesses, and places. Always check out your characters’ names in Google before you publish.

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Write A Novel: 5-Minute Writing Tips

Discover your novel, word by word, and idea by idea

Whether you have too many ideas, or no ideas at all, you’ll discover your novel word by word, and idea by idea, just as every novelist does.

We talked about the difference between story and plot in this article:

Story is what happens. Plot on the other hand, is cause and effect. Unlike real life, in fiction there are always reasons for actions and events; it’s your job as an author to identify them.

Story comes first.

It’s unlikely that a complete story will come to you instantly. Mostly stories come bit by bit; those little bits often don’t make much sense. Trust your creative self.

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Achieve Your Goals: Review This Year And Plan For An Amazing 2022

Your goals show you where you want to go—they’re a useful aide-memoire for your busy life, because life always gets in the way. No matter how many wishes you make, or how determined you are, life messes things up.

Indeed, as soon as you set a goal and start working towards it, you’ll strike obstacles. (Try the WOOP process when this happens.)

No matter what 2021 was like for you, take a few minutes to review the year:

• What worked out for you? Make a list.
• Can you recall a disaster? Write a brief description. If you haven’t taken steps to avert a similar disaster, consider doing that.
• Your primary achievement: what fills your heart with pride?
• Your biggest wish for 2022: write it down.

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Your Writing Income In 2022: Here’s How To Boost It Fast

The killer freelance mistake: thinking that asking once is enough

If you hate marketing your freelance business, chances are you’re thinking that asking for a gig once is enough.

Put yourself in your client’s position. (This applies to past, current and prospective clients.) Your client is busy, above all. He may or may not see your message. If he sees it, he thinks: “I’ll get in touch later.”

Then you’re forgotten.

Create a follow-up workflow for clients and colleagues and act on it. (There’s a sample workflow below.)

Want to boost your writing income? You need a workflow to help you to follow up

I keep my follow-up strategies in Trello, because I can see what I need to do at a glance.

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Get Motivated: Are You Ready For 2022?

Several writers admitted they’d neglected to set goals. Although I set goals, I changed them often. At work, many projects either changed, or clients were forced to cancel them.

Something that worked for me this year: building new habits, especially giving myself fewer choices in order to avoid decision fatigue:

Instead of standing at my wardrobe each morning wondering what to wear, I made a list of clothes for the week on Sunday afternoon.

I made meal plans too. This turned out to be a great decision. Not only did our family’s diet improve because we ordered fewer takeaway meals, I saved money and time by buying in bulk. I finally got my pantry organized the way I want it.

via peneloperedmont.com

Make Writing Easy: Leverage Your Brain’s Default Mode Network

From The Creative Brain is Wired Differently:

The default mode network… is involved in memory and mental simulation, so the theory is that it plays an important role in processes like mind-wandering, imagination, and spontaneous thinking.

This is amazing news. When you stop struggling, your brain idles. However, it’s anything but idle… It defaults into a creative-thinking process which uses memory and imagination.

Nice. But how does this help you to make writing easy?

Want to make writing easy? Stop trying so hard

Most writers struggle too hard to write well.

With my writing students, my favorite comment tends to be: “you’re over-thinking this.” When students let themselves go, and write, not only do they write well, but writing is easy for them.

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Writing Process: Develop Confidence And Improve Your Writing

Would confidence help you to:

• Write more, more often?
• Approach more clients if you’re a freelancer?
• Treat your writing as a business?
• KNOW how to develop plans which work for you and your writing business?
• Be happier?

As a writing mentor and coach, I often work with writers with amazing talent. I’m envious of their ability. Then, I’m depressed, because many of my best students lack confidence… That lack is a career-killer.

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