Do These 7 Things and You’ll Be Writing Like a Pro by the End of Summer
With the warmer weather rolling in, sometimes it’s hard to stay focused on your writing. Summer brings more events, outdoor activities, and other fun occasions - especially this year!
Through it all, it’s important to find techniques to center yourself and refocus on your writing. We’ve collected some secrets to help you stay on task and be writing like a pro by the end of summer.
Write Like a Pro with These 7 Secrets
Create a separate notebook/Word Doc for each new project.
Before I start writing, I make sure to have a notebook or, if I’m working on my computer, an open document prepared for my current project. Otherwise, everything becomes a jumbled mess and when I need to find something in my notes, it ends up taking way longer than necessary to find.
If you don’t have multiple notebooks, not a problem! Just separate your projects using tabs. Whatever works to keep you organized. It’s all about making your life easier. Writing is enough work as it is, there’s no reason to make the process more complicated.
If you start by keeping your notes, charts, outlines, etc. in one place, you’ll be thanking yourself when you need to go back to those pieces in the middle of a writing session! It’ll help you stay in the flow. If you need help on what to include in a writing notebook, read this!
Create a writing space.
Personally, this can be my bed, desk, or comfy chair. It helps if your writing place is the same every time, because your mind knows you’re going to write.
For example, when I set myself up at my desk, I know I mean business - serious writing is about to happen. If I’m in bed when I’m writing, I’m more likely to take a nap, read a book, or watch TV. None of these options are available to me at my desk.
Need help setting up your ideal writing space? Sign up for our free Organize Your Book course! (By the way, good writing can occur anywhere you have ideas. In the course, we talk about how you can make a writing space just about anywhere, though - from a spare bedroom to a closet, or even a corner of your studio apartment.)
Get comfortable in your writing space.
Making sure you’re physically comfortable while writing is helpful, especially when writing for long stretches.
There’s nothing worse than having to readjust your body every few minutes when trying to keep up with the flow of your thoughts. Or having to stop altogether to go get a pair of socks or something.
Create a comfortable space that will make sure you can settle in for the entire writing session without winding up with a sore neck or back. Comfy pillows and blankets are great, and an outfit that doesn’t distract you.
Ladies especially, you know the ones: the shirts that always ride up, the pants that always slide down or squeeze where you don’t want them to - avoid all of it for your writing sessions!
Find music you can write to/with.
Not everyone can write to music, but if you can, it’s really helpful to keep yourself in the writing zone. I tend to listen to Hans Zimmer radio on Pandora or 2Cellos on Spotify. Both are instrumental stations. Lyrics can sometimes be distracting when I’m trying to focus on coming up with my own words.
On occasion, though, lyrical music helps when you’re trying to set the tone for your writing if you listen to music that matches that tone. For instance, listening to sad music when writing a grieving character, or romantic music when writing more intimate scenes. These specific types of music can get your mind thinking about things in a different way than your average “everyday” mindset.
Whatever music inspires you, queue it up and let it play!
Ditch all distractions.
If you don’t need your phone, put it across the room or out of reach - and stay off social media! If you know you will end up online shopping or laughing at the latest video from your favorite YouTuber, turn off your internet on your computer (or only allow yourself to have one tab for your writing).
I sometimes find myself scrolling through TikTok when I hit a snag in my writing, and an hour later I realize I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. We want to avoid that!
It’s a small inconvenience that will help deter you from easily accessing those distractions. If your phone is the culprit, you can use an app called Forest to help keep you on track.
Books, TV, or anything in the general vicinity that takes your attention away from writing can also be distracting. Sometimes, they’re unavoidable, especially if you have kids or pets. But, do your best to eliminate the distractions that aren’t a priority to ensure you’re maximizing the time you’re in the writing zone.
Have fun with your writing.
There’s a ton of planning and outlining that goes into writing, that sometimes you need to step away and just have some fun! If you want to write a particular scene but you haven’t reached that point in your book yet, skip ahead. You don’t need to write linearly (straight through the plot like you’d read in a finished book), write what excites you in the moment.
When you write this way - with what excites you - you won’t grow bored. If you’re constantly forcing yourself to write in order of events instead of skipping around to the scenes that you actually want to write at the time, then you may grow to resent your writing.
Don’t hype/freak yourself out. Just put your words on the page and don’t worry about whether they’re good. That’s something you can worry about later, if you find that you don’t like what you wrote.
Editing takes care of the silly mistakes and plot holes you overlooked when writing. Worrying about perfection is what keeps you from writing and actually having fun while you’re doing it.
Start Writing… Now!
Don’t wait for a “better” time. Now is the perfect time to start. No matter how much time, whether a few minutes or a few hours, you can put into your writing: just do it! (Thanks for that, Nike.)
Any progress is progress - steps in the right direction. You change your mind and completely rewrite your story later if you want, but at least you have a foundation.
My challenge to you is to utilize these 7 secrets with your latest writing project.
Is summer a less productive time for you? Have you tried any of these strategies? Do you have anything that gets you in the writing zone? I’d love to hear about your experiences and recommendations! Find me on social media or drop a comment below.
Let’s chat because you, my friend, are on your way to great writing.