Ten Great 2012 Resolutions and Other Writerly Activities to Stimulate Your Writing Life
1. Find more creative ways to counteract procrastination including physical pain, if necessary. German method: Slap yourself…but not too hard or you won’t be able to read what you just wrote down.
2. Reward ourselves for writing well. Get a massage, a glass of wine or other libation, and a loving lick from the dog or cat. WE earned it!
3. Write in rebellion to generate surprise writing. Type anything in a hurry not worrying about spelling, thought, ideas, or even coherence. Then, just print it out. Circle the words that form or almost form and use them for something. Voila. Should be good for something. Second thought – get the cat to do it. Furry good words.
4. Put sticky notes with wise words, reminders, inspiring phrases from literary greats, all over the computer screen edge and in other places of the house, including the fridge door and coffeemaker. They will all fall off but the simple act of putting them there draws us closer to the act of writing. Bending over and picking up the drifting sticky notes is great exercise, too! On second thought… Get the cat to do it.
5. Find great lines out of books from favorite, ancient, and/or dead writers and type them up, print them out, and post them on the wall. When feeling inadequate, throw darts at the darn thing. Better yet, copy the lines and change them a lot. A lot, a lot. They’re yours, now, heh-heh-heh.
6. WE will finish our novel this year and get it out to an agent before 2013 arrives. So…how will WE do this?
Typing really works. That thing we do with our fingers. We shouldn’t worry about thinking. Just sit down and type and let automatic conversation just pour out into the document. Or let’s try the Sony Dragon program and talk the entire novel into the microphone of the computer. It will type it up for us. WE are going to finish our novels this year. Plus, it would help if you would call or email me and nag, dare, or order me around. Let’s get bossy with each other. What else are writer friends for?
7. Back up all writers’ files so we don’t lose anything. Also back up emails and save attachments.
Charles Herndon recommends the downloadable, free for awhile, viceversa program, which will back files up to an external drive and after that is done, will recognize new files, and back them up, for a very short process!
8. Find a way to make the writing space inviting. Get a massager for the chair, or get your cat and get her to stay there with you, purring away at your feet or in your lap. Better yet, get the cat to write for you while you pet him/her. Dogs won’t do that but they’ll keep your feet warm while you fire away at the keyboard.
9. Write rave reviews about your book even though it isn’t out yet. Put them somewhere in a drawer and sneak a peak at them. Everyone needs a cheering section!
10. LEARN WORD thoroughly. Write something coherent in your blog. Update Facebook regularly with something cool to read about. Update your NING page and blog. Make your web page look cool. Direct traffic over to it this year by putting up articles and information that people love to read about.
LAST ONE! NUMBER 11.
THINK ABOUT STUFF. TALK ABOUT STUFF. READ ABOUT STUFF. THEN….WRITE ABOUT STUFF. STUFF WILL HAPPEN. YOUR STUFF WILL HAPPEN. OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF HAPPENS. RECORD THE STUFF. YOU’LLNEED A PLACETO PUT ALL YOUR STUFF WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT. DON’T LOSE YOUR STUFF. WRITE MORE STUFF AFTER THAT. READ GEORGE CARLIN’STREATISEONSTUFF. TELL THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE STUFFY TO STUFF THEMSELVES. WITH THEIR OWN STUFF, OF COURSE. THEN, GO ON TO NEW STUFF.