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Top 10 Things You Can Ask Yourself If You’re Looking For Extra Time To Write by Katharine Grubb, 10 Minute Novelist
Ever since I decided to find 10 minute increments here and there to write, I’ve viewed the time in my day differently. Now, I compare wasted time to a designer coffee that I might buy daily without thinking about it. I’d like to suggest that in the area of time management, conscientious writers need to consider the latte factor. I did not coin the term Latte Factor. It was, however coined by financial guru David Bach. In his book, The Automatic Millionaire, Bach claims that consumers spend little bits of money here an there, say, buying daily designer drinks. He claims, and rightfully I think, that these little bits add up. Wise consumers…
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Making Your Author Platform Work for You — A Guest Post by Rachelle M. N. Shaw
By Rachelle M. N. Shaw In such a highly competitive world of publishing, it’s no surprise that author platforms have taken center stage and become the foundation for any writer’s success. But who has time to keep up with all the Tweets, Pins, and Instagram posts needed to do so? The truth is, successful authors don’t. They pick the top few social media sites that fit their style and their audience, and they roll with it. What an Author Platform Should Do Provide original content fitting of your audience through a well-designed blog or website Become a place where you regularly engage with your followers; this doesn’t mean you sit…
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Practical Ways To Find Extra 10 Minutes To Make Your Dreams Come True
I get asked often what my Twitter handle, @10MinNovelist means. If I’m feeling generous, I say, “it means I have to write in the smallest bits of time that I can.” If I’m feeling a bit snarky, I say, “it means I have five children who like to eat and have clean clothes.” I call myself @10MinNovelist because I’ve decided my writing dreams were worth finding time for. I think it’s possible for the busiest of people to carve out a little time daily to do something they love — it just takes vision, creative use of time and space, and discipline, but it can be done. Want to join…
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How To Write In 10 Minute Increments The Messy Way
My timer and I have a love/hate relationship. Ever since I started calling myself the 10 Minute Writer, back in 2006, I’ve realized that either I’m racing against the timer, or the timer haunts me for my lack of skill and speed. During the first minute, it’s like priming the pump, I just write words, any kind of words. During the second minute I may think of a metaphor and I get it down quickly. The third minute could be a silly stretch of the metaphor (I always want to stretch my metaphors as far as they can go). And my fourth minute is the second guessing of that metaphor…
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Top Ten Ways You Can Find Time To Write In 2016
My house is a disaster. We’ve moved furniture around to make room for holiday shenanigans. We’ve forgone our schedules for calorie packed merriment. We’ve embraced the season with so much fervor, our wallets, our stomachs and our emotions are upset in a mostly good way. But the party will be over soon and Monday, January 4, will be here, all bright and shiny, waiting for us to make our mark and start good habits in the New Year. We should all collectively rename January and call it “Good Intentions Month” instead. Because, really, by February we’ve forgotten all we want to accomplish and we’re back into old habits and…
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#Top10Tuesday Top Ten Things I Think About Daily That Make Me Productive
I am NOT perfect. I make a LOT of mistakes, but one of the biggest things I did right was decide that I would make time for my dreams. (I wrote a book about it too!) I realized that if I was going to actually write in 10 minute increments, I would have to organize my life. Now, I’ve been doing this 10 Minute Writer/Novelists gig for nine years, so I’ve streamlined my procedures pretty well (and THANK GOD, my kids are older!) But I still have 10 Things I think about on a daily basis that makes my organization and productivity possible. 1. I know where everything is. I…
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TODAY IS RELEASE DAY! Write A Novel In 10 Minutes A Day is NOW Available!
Today I release my first non-fiction book, Write A Novel In 10 Minutes A Day! You can purchase it or see the reviews here! This is the story of how I got the contract — it’s a great one! Also? I created a Facebook group for writers who have no choice but to write in 10 minute increments! Wanna join over 1000 writers worldwide as we encourage each other to pursue our writing dreams? Click here! Are you a blogger? Would you like to help promote this book? Leave a comment! I’d love to work with you!
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How Your Wasted Time is Like An Overpriced Latte From A Designer Coffeeshop
Ever since I decided to find 10 minute increments here and there to write, I’ve started viewing the time in my day differently. Now, I compare wasted time to a designer coffee that I might buy daily without thinking about it. I’d like to suggest that in the area of time management, conscientious writers need to consider the latte factor. I did not coin the term Latte Factor. It was, however coined by financial guru David Bach,In his book, The Automatic Millionaire. In his book, he claims that consumers spend little bits of money here an there, say, buying daily designer drinks. He claims, and rightfully I think, that these little bits add…
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The Writers’ Guide To Time Thieves A Guest Post by Elaine Bayless
As 10 Minute Novelists, we live life in the margins. Ten minutes here, ten minutes there, a few word sprints, and boom we have a novel! So it makes sense that we would be excellent managers of time, right? Ah yes, I can hear some of you laughing right now. Managing time is like nailing Jell-o to a wall. And to complicate matters further, we must contend with Time Thieves. What are time thieves? Those sneaky critters that sneak into our daily calendar and steal away our precious 10 minute writing increments! Fortunately, you don’t have to be a victim. Here are four of the most common time thieves and…
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Write with the Family – How We Worked as a Team to Create Mystery Rock A Guest Post by Kathryn Lang
Writing can be one of the loneliest professions. The idea passed around so many conferences and came from so many experts, that I started to believe it. I assumed I had to be doing something wrong. I write in the middle of chaos on good days. On the bad days, I squeeze out words while fighting back the storms. I am a full-time writer, radio talk show host, home school mom, and active social media stalker. I have a lot of plates in the air that take me to events, throw me in the middle of lunches, and basically provide little time alone. I tried the isolation path. I sat…
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The SMART Way To Set Goals For The New Year A Guest Post By Rebecca Laffar-Smith
The last twelve months are swiftly disappearing in our rear vision mirror. That means it’s that time of year when we reflect on what the past year has brought into our lives and start to think about the year to come. We look back at those New Year’s Resolutions we made many months ago and wonder how our good intentions to lose 15 pounds turned into the extra 5 pounds now sitting on our hips. And, as writers, we look at our aspirations to write more (more poetry, more short stories, more books, more screenplays), and wonder what happened to those good intentions to get more finished. The truth is,…
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Lost But Not Afraid A Guest Post By Writer Keisha Page
Something happens to a woman when she turns forty. I’m sure things happen to men, too, but since I’m not a man I can’t really speak to that. Turning forty didn’t freak me out or send me into this existential crisis that I halfway expected. I had heard things, you see. I had been working for a few years as a freelance writer, but unable to really justify the time spent writing, because, in the end, it might not make me any money. I felt like I needed to be spending my efforts either on earning a paycheck or with my family. Freelancing is a fickle business, and it’s…
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The Routines and Research of a 10-Minute Novelist by Guest Blogger Carre Gardner
Today was a writing day. Not every day is, I’ll confess. I know this is bad writerly practice. All the best authors say you ought to, must sit down at the same time every morning, and not get up until you’ve produced 500, 1,000, 1,500 words. I would so love to have that kind of life. But I am a 10-minute Novelist. And between 12-hour shifts at the hospital, a house with 4 stories of living space to keep clean-ish, 3 teenagers, 2 needy dogs, and 1 husband—all of whom expect to eat actual food on a regular basis—I can’t always carve out time to sit down and write 1,000…
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You Could Shoot For The Moon, Or You Could Try Just Getting Out of Bed (Why Having Low Expectations Isn’t A Such A Bad Strategy)
This post is for you if you have any of the following: 1) A schedule that is so busy that you barely have time to go to the bathroom. 2) A belief that the only way to accomplish writing goals is to have hours and hours of uninterrupted time to yourself. 3) A vision that real writers have offices with lockable doors or lonely cabins in the woods or private islands or other extreme work space. I’d like to suggest that while you may be busy, you can still accomplish much in very small increments of time, even if it means working at your kitchen table. I also believe that…