WELCOME TO THE JIREVERSE

One of the best things you can do to improve your writing is to look at other people’s work. Offering to edit other people’s stories will open you up to your own mistakes, other styles, and make you more mindful of what a reader’s reaction is likely to be.

When something looks wrong in someone else’s text, it’s a lot easier to spot.

I personally have a set of blinders up on my own writing. I don’t always see what’s missing or how a phrase is jumbled rather than clear. But sometimes I spot something wrong in someone else’s draft and that becomes something to look out for in my own.

One of my favorite mantras to remind myself in times when I can’t write is a quote I’ll attribute to Bill Pace. Whether or not he said it first, I don’t know. But for 12 plus years I’ve heard his voice in my head when I remind myself:

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US AND THEM, IS THEY’RE DOING IT.

Keep that in mind when you get down or are procrastinating. Whether it’s about seeing someone else’s success or wanting to have accomplished something but haven’t yet. You have to do it. If you want it, do it.

Stop talking about it. Do it.

Stuck at your keyboard for almost an hour, and you know what you want to write, should write, have to write, but nothing is coming?

The easiest thing to do is get up and get active. Get your brain going by taking a walk outside, or if weather won’t permit, trying tidying something. Something where your mind can wander (not watching TV or surfing the internet).

But set a time to get back to work. Whether you need a timer or just plan to walk a set distance.

Alternatively, setting up a good writing routine is key to any longform writing–like a novel. On occasion, I’ve started writing sessions with a walk around the block first.

I spend this time rehashing what has happened, what will happen, and try to think of the first words that’ll launch me into my writing session.

On days where I plan to write all day, I’ll schedule keyboard time. Every 20-30 minutes of typing, I’ll get up and do something. Whether it’s walking the trash out to the can, fixing hot tea, or walking to the mailbox.

Taking breaks is important.

I’ve always found that just trying to write everything I could all at once always exhausts me and makes it harder to sit down and write the next time.

Plus, you never know when you’ll see something on your walk that’d make a good bit for your story.