my writing journey
well, she's making friends. remembering their names. working on keeping that beautiful smile on. i love watching her at the end of the day on the playground or at home as she enters into an imaginative world with her imaginative friends. she seems really relaxed with "them" and she doesn't have to be concerned with language or focus or presentation. she's doing just fine! i'm in two worlds as well. the marketing side of a book proposal and the adventurous side of developing characters and plot. i am having to work really hard at the marketing side, but love it when i can just sit down with my characters and enter their world. one requires lots of stretching and research and focus. the other {for now, until i must edit} is SO MUCH FUN!
so here's where i'm starting and here's what i'm using...
- i'm attending mount hermon writer's conference in april 2017. scary excited. but like i said in my previous post, starting something is scary, but starting gets me somewhere-and i've got somewhere i want to be!
- i'm using mary demuth's fiction proposal template. mary has written both fiction and non-fiction books. plus it's a passion of hers to help writers. i've used this template before and am using it again! bonus...she'll be at the writer's conference!
- lara casey's goal setting. i'm new to lara's creativity and resources, but have found her power sheets helpful as i hone in on my gifts and passions and how to make them count. her "tending list" helps me keep what matters most right before me and "focus on little by little progress, not perfection." that's fresh news!
- mandy santos' friendship is a gentle wind behind me on this journey. we live within an hour of each other and have much in common. {adoption, church planting and writing to name a few} mandy is my resource for good reads and encouragement. we're rooming together at the writer's conference and i'm prepared to bring my pom-poms to cheer her on! every writer needs a writing friend.
- clocking hours. if this were a paying job by the hour, i'd be clocking hours. several writers have challenged me to calendar my writing hours and to clock them, knowing i have a deadline and work to do. as a stay-at-home mom when kids only go to school for 6 hours a day and they'd prefer not to run errands with me after school, my hours are limited {like everyone else's!} clocking hours keep me focused and forced to make this a priority. another method i use to maximize my time is the pomodoro effect {thanks to mary demuth}. i write about it here.
- fiction-writers-mentors.com is a website i landed on in the grocery store line. yes, i'm having to choose research/learning over checking social media in every line these days! tracy culleton has categories that help me along as i develop characters and plot. i'm finding it super helpful.
- michael hyatt's blog and book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. read the book a while ago as i was rebuilding my blog and use it as a reference often when i'm not loaning the book out! Michael Hyatt has a leadership podcast and e-books and webinars that are not just for writers. he is a best-selling author and former ceo and chairman of thomas nelson publishers.
there are more resources that i'm leaving out and i'll do my best to post them here along this journey. but for now, i'm gathering my tools into a binder along with my laptop because ben and i are off on an #onlyGod adventure. if you want to follow along, find me on instagram as shaunapilgreen. i'll definitely post this God story soon! but until then...
writers, what do you use that's helpful?
friends, where do you find encouragement as you do scary, vulnerable, faith-driven things with the life God has given you?