Category Archives: Social Media Networking

June 9, 2011 · 4:16 pm

Has the pause button been pressed in your life?

Do you ever feel that someone has pressed the pause button on your life? Maybe you’ve pressed it yourself to have a breathing space. What do you do?

  1. Engage in frenetic activity to make it work again?

We are always striving to make things happen; to achieve success in our work or writing, to visit another fascinating place, to enjoy expanding our cultural and artistic experiences. We feel that it is due to our efforts that success, happiness or fulfilment in our lives is achieved, but is it?

Or do we

 

  1. Let go and if you have faith ‘let God’?

Now that’s easier said than done, whether you are a person of faith or not. It is a strong person that can feel their whole persona shed the burdens and just let fate take over. Scary!

                 That’s just how I feel at the moment. Paused. Not stopped, just on standby. Waiting. Sometimes not so patiently. It was interesting to read the blog ‘What’s your blogging rhythm?’ which asks the question ‘Have you lost yours?’

                Today I feel as if my blogging brain has been put on pause. I have a mountain of topics ready to tumble out of my thoughts and on to my screen but the timing isn’t right. My brain is like a tv on standby. It’s empty and quiet; waiting for the green button to be pressed once more.

                Once it’s been pressed, then it will be impossible to stop the flow of exciting new ideas and themes. Just thinking about them fills me with anticipation and pleasure, driving away the light headed emptiness.

 

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May 31, 2011 · 1:42 pm

Writers’ Time Management – I should be so lucky!

I have two precious days per week to write. I’m so lucky. Oh, just wait a minute – I can hear that the washing machine’s just finished. Be back in a mo………………

Hi again. Where was I? Oh yes. I like to start to write early. I spend some time getting my thoughts together, rereading my previous work and then I begin to let the words tumble out of my brain. This is pure novel writing or working on my current project and I like to leave any research until the afternoon. Oh, just a minute, there’s the post man………. Two bills to pay, nothing interesting. Now what was I saying?

How do writers cope with interruptions, the phone ringing, the washing to put out on the line, the floor that needs hoovering ……………all those things that just get in the way?

If I can try to find three clear hours to focus on my writing in the morning then I see myself as fortunate. It can be quite a selfish life. I used to visit friends in my holidays but now I just write. It’s addictive verging on an obsession. In order to cope with the frustrating demands of the day I’ve made myself a few ground rules and that seems to help me to remain focussed and less frustrated by my lack of progress:

  • I treat my writing like anyone working from home. It deserves no less than my undivided attention. 
  • I leave any research until the afternoon unless it requires a visit, when I give myself the time off wholeheartedly
  • I leave all social media networking until lunchtime or the afternoon when I catch up on Twitter, my blog and Facebook
  • If I have to put the washing out or do a mundane chore at home I think while I work, or better still leave it ’til later if I can get away with it
  • I am struggling with the last one; the desire to  be able to ignore bits on the carpet and leave the cleaner in the cupboard until another day, but i’m working on it!

That means leaving the post on the mat and sometimes not answering the phone. You see, there’s nothing worse than being in full flow, the scene coming to life in my head and the characters buzzing, when I answer the phone and it’s the bank trying to sell me a better deal in home insurance.

No offence meant to the poor person on the end of the line intended!

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May 23, 2011 · 5:04 pm

Is a blog writer really a writer?

The term ‘writer’ had blurred at the edges with new technology, so has the term ‘published writer’. All sorts of people are honing their skills in producing the written word by starting a blog in an area of their interest.

Because they are doing it for free, does it mean that they are no less ‘writers’?

The topics of these blogs are diverse to the extreme from Travel Logs, Gardening Tips, Thoughts of the Day, Religious Experiences, Writing, Fishing, Saving the Planet or just their little bit of it……… you name it; Someone out there is blogging about it.

A lady I know who, as it happens, was unsure whether she could call herself ‘a writer,’ has spent a year blogging about whatever enters her head. It is witty, poignant, thought provoking …… and she has gained up to 300 readers per post. Remarkable! ( Tales from Lewis Lodge    &      Everyday Life and Faith Rachel J Lewis)

Another lady I know has set up two blogs and a gallery sharing with us her amazing photos; snapshots of moments in life which she has captured whilst working on the small island of Dominica (A Day in the life of Dominica last post August 2010) and now more recently in Uganda (Ella Rhychlewski’s Portfolio & A Picture a Day -Uganda). Her following is now enormous, and her collection of photos and comments seem to encapsulate the essence of these far flung places; far flung to me, but not to those who live there.  My belief is that the populace could be flattered by her daily commitment to celebrate their everyday lives and scenes. She writes her posts in a batch, with timed daily publications so that it does not become a chore, and well deserves her following of over 1,000 readers on some days.

One day these two ladies will be snapped up by a journal  or some kind of publication and will be paid for what they do. Meanwhile, what a wonderful portfolio of evidence of their ability they are collecting for all the world to read.

Not only are both ladies successful writers in that so many people like to read or view their work that but they enjoy it and surely that’s what writing is all about?

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