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Writing Warm Fuzzy and Fun

Anne Ashby

Writing Warm Fuzzy and Fun

Anne Ashby

10 Aug

Who cares that its winter when you can get days like today. The depth of blue colouring the sky and stillness of the air suggests our perception of seeing into infinity could almost be true. I am reminded of many such days I was privileged to enjoy in Maryland. The locals questioned the sanity of this alien family who wandered outside in shorts and teeshirts - and bare feet - delighting in the beauty of such winter days. Why would freezing temperatures - far colder than we'd ever experienced before - bother us when the sun shone so brightly from a cloudless blue sky? Such a day can cure any negative or depressing thoughts hanging onto us and leave us free to savour the beauty of our environment. If its lousy weather where you are, curl up and read a good book. Whatever you're doing, find some enjoyment in this day God has given you.

17 Aug

After talking with a friend about promotion and getting one's name out in the public arena, she suggested I check out "Coffee time romance" as a possible option for publicity. What a revelation. The speed and patience of the coordinators of this site has amazed me. I cannot praise them enough for their help in grooming my application and explaining things I didn't understand. Within days I am signed up for a heap of promotional billets which will expand my knowledge of the tricky business of self promotion. I would definitely recommend them just on the experience I've had in my first week. I'm so full of optimism I've put a counter on my site. Check them out by clicking on their icons below.

I have my own group within their forums and I'm looking forward to chatting with like minded writers and readers. Often over the last year or so I've felt the need to link up with and chat to anyone writing in the traditional or sweet genre as we seem to be a quiet lot, beavering away at our craft rather than projecting ourselves to others. I'm hoping to unearth lots of people who still enjoy a sweet story which survives without the presence of vampires and shapeshifters and other ghostly presences. Come over and join me for a chat, tell me what you like about traditional stories and what has kept you true to the genre. I'd love to hear from you.

31 Aug

Do you ever try dividing up your days into manageable pieces of time? Where you feel you can actually achieve something worthwhile in each one of those smaller time slots? I've done it plenty of times when things seem overwhelming but never bothered within my writing day. But that's what I realise I need to do right now if I'm going to get any real writing done before the end of October. While over the last couple of months my time has been filled with some very important domestic/family things I've also done a lot of fluffing around where I've achieved absolutely nothing. Wasting even a minute of the time God gives us is so defeating and then very demoralising when we look back on our accomplishments for the day. One of my critique partners mentioned a Margie Lawson course she'd done where Margie suggests "chunking" your time. Without knowing anything much about Margie's theories I'm planning to do exactly that. From tomorrow, my writing day is going to be divided between my WIP, and two stories I am currently self-editing. Because editing is easier to stop and start, I'll allow myself a one hour block for each story - I figure high schools suggest an hour as an acceptable length of time before student's attention begins to wander - then I'll attack my WIP with two hour chunks. If the muse should strike during this period, then I'll forgive myself for ignoring my chunking ideal and keep writing. If it doesn’t, I would have still done some new writing for two hours. At least this way something new is being committed to 'paper'

You don't need to be a writer to think about doing this - it could make any part of your life more manageable. Why don't you think of giving it a try if you find the days slipping away from you.