Writerly Advice - article 1

My disclaimer on advice:

I am a writer working on my craft. I am not published. My advice in itself is a work in process. If what I blog here doesn't work for you, I can't be held responsible.



With that said, my first article on advice is:

Get a room all your own.

Set up your office in the closet if you must. Whatever works for you - that's the key.

I've been slaving over my laptop for months now, wondering why my story wasn't working. This weekend I had several epiphanies. One is that I spent way too much time on the Internet. Unfortunately, I wasn't researching material for my MIP (masterpiece in progress :-)

Yesterday, I moved my laptop to the bonus room.

My husband's L.A. Dodger memorabilia is all over the walls. His Godfather poster has the gang staring me in the face. On the other side of the window, it's Star Wars. So far, neither is interrupting my creative process.

Never mind the fuse ball table is covered with a piece of plywood and layers of blankets. Don't worry about the fact that I've got the laptop propped up on another box so my posture won't suffer. What counts is I spent TWO HOURS THIS MORNING - working on my character analysis and journal. Then I reviewed my synopsis. I even secured a 16 word one liner...

What's that? You may be wondering?

Why it's step One in the Snowflake Method! See Randy Ingermanson's website for more info. I've heard so many writers rave about this technique. Since my old ways aren't working right now, I'm giving it a shot.

Except, Randy says 15 words is better.

Since I'm long winded, I'm going to keep my 16 for now and feel happy I've accomplished something.