How To Stop Procrastinating While Writing

So today I thought I would talk about how I'm learning to manage my time better so that I'm able to put more time into my writing. This is a skill which you can learn how to be better at. For me, I've always written lists to get all my tasks done so that I don't procrastinate. Since starting to write though I'm finding it a bit of a struggle. I did my usual and made my list but it doesn't seem to be working.

Like every new writer, I work as well as doing my writing plus I have a family so being able to fit everything in is a struggle. This week I'm thinking that the days I don't work I will spend doing my writing and then the days I do work I'm thinking I will spend doing my promoting. I also have to learn more about promoting and how to go about it. So I will let you know if this new way will work for me.

This weeks calendar

I'm also planning to write the tasks down on a calendar and keep track to make sure I stay on track this week. So far I've only planned this week and I've only put in book writing work, nothing else. So I'm hoping this will work.

Next week I will update this post with how I went. How do you keep yourself from procrastinating and getting all your writing and tasks that are involved with writing?

Have a good weekend
Sharyn

How To Come Up With New Ideas

So when you start writing books how do you come up with story lines? Well for me hubby helped me with the first one and then I decided to write a second book in the series with Sam.

Once I started thinking about what I could write about I actually found it quite easy to come up with more stories. I would be writing away on my Sam story and then an idea would pop in my head so on the list it went.

I pop all my ideas in a notebook and sometimes I will add some detail to the idea if I find I want to include something in the story. Also I just add any idea that I get, I don't edit them. Some of the ideas wont work out as a book but I will take a look when I'm ready to write a new story.

So where do the ideas come from? Well for me I just started thinking about anything that interested me and whether it would be a good story for a child. I also thought about nature, went online in book stores to look at other children's books. Could I get an idea from someone else's story, did I have something more to say. Or did I want to take the idea and say it in another way, give my view point on the idea.

Could I come up with a story about Charlie our cat?

This is how I come up with other ideas. So how do you come up with your ideas for other books?

Once I'm ready to write a  new story I will then be asking my self questions about the idea that I have to come up with the story.

So What's It like To Be A New Author

So what's it like to be a new author? Well, it's a bit scary when you think too much about all the competition out there. Really it's best if you just forget about all that and just push through all that and just get on with the writing. Everything else is out of your control so it's best to just get on with it.

For me coming up with the first idea for a book was hard, actually knowing what I wanted to say in the book was a challenge. Thanks to my hubby as he started the ball rolling by giving me a piece of the title. "The Sad Little Mouse." From there, I was able to come up with "Sam The Sad Little Mouse." Then I had to think about what the story was going to be about. I decided that Sam would live in a woodland and he would have trouble making friends. I thought this was a good story to start with as some children can have difficulty in making friends. I hope that by parents reading this book too their young children that it will help with this problem.

So when it comes to actually writing my book I first write down ideas that I want to include in the story. I do this in a note book and I write it out in long hand. So the first thing I was thinking about was who was Sam going to meet along his way. You know, what characters did I want to have in my book. I also wanted to think about who would end up being his friend that he would make in the end. Once I had all these characters planned out and who would come where I then started writing the book. I then just had to come up with how they would meet and who would do what. Once that was all done I write out my book in document form so I can get it edited. Then it's just a matter of getting the book done for publishing. 

So that's how I go about my writing but not all writer's do it this way. It can be a solitary journey but I still think it's worth it as it's a joy to write books for children. So how do you write or are you thinking about writing. Let me know.

Sharyn

Writing My First Book

So today I wanted to share with you how I got started on writing my first book. To be honest it was actually my hubby that gave me the idea. We were chatting away and he started writing down "A sad little mouse." Well that got me started on my way with an idea for my first book.

I pulled out my note book and started writing. I came up with "Sam The Sad Little Mouse" and I decided to set it in a woodlands setting. I don't quite know why I set it there but it just seemed to be that way for the story I wanted to tell.

I also decided that because Sam was sad that the story would be based on him having trouble making friends. I wanted to write this story as it is a problem that some children face. I'm hoping that this book can help by showing that if you persist then you will find your friends in time.

I found with this being my first book it came slowly. I would write in my note book characters that I wanted to include in the story. Also I wrote most of this story in my note book, as I was writing in spits and spurts. If I had an idea into the note book it went. Once I had most of the story down I wrote it out into a document so it was ready to go for the next step in my book writing.

My story in my note book first

My story typed and it's been edited

So this was how my first book came about and I plan on adding to the series soon.

Sharyn