Finding Discipline to Write

Some people are disciplined. They can get up at 5 am each morning. They go for a jog every day after work. They spend 8 hours, 6 days a week in front of the computer, spinning stories one right after the other.  They are good at doing the hard thing every single day in order to achieve their goals.

 

And then there are those of us who are not quite as adept at self-discipline. We aren’t even good at setting goals, much less attaining them.  We try. We even try hard. But somewhere down the line we go back to our old ways of doing things, garnering no success along the way. In fact, the only thing we accomplish is guilt for failing once more.

I think I’ve found the problem - at least for me and my ever-recurring cycle of one step forward and one step back. It’s nothing new, but it is not always easy to obtain.

Accountability.

I need accountability to be able to sit my behind in the chair and write when I don’t feel like it. I need accountability to lose weight and get on the scale. I need someone checking in on me, asking if I’d met my goals.

If I don’t have that, then I slip back into doing what I always did before. When I get writer’s block or don’t like the blank page, I go watch Netflix instead (in the name of research, of course). Instead of logging my food into My Fitness Pal, I go to the fridge and eat a spoonful of ice cream. One little spoon doesn’t count, does it? It is my reward for doing all that research on Netflix!

The difficulty is finding someone to keep you accountable. I am fortunate to have a mentor this year for my writing. I have learned so much about setting goals and maintaining them. I’ve learned I can do so much more than I think I can when given a little kick in the behind. I only have her for a year, but I am doing everything in my power to learn and grow, praying that the lessons and discipline I learn this year will stick with me forever.

So how do you go about finding someone to be accountable to?

Many times you find someone organically. Maybe in your circle of friends, someone is going through the same thing you are and needs someone to bounce ideas with.

You could always put a call out for a critique partner who writes in your genre. This is definitely something I need to do. It is scary putting yourself out there, but the rewards of finding a good fit would be worth the risk. The ACFW organization has a critique pool and many have found partners within that group.

Network with writers at conferences and online. It could be an experienced writer sees potential in you and takes you under her wing.

Above all, pray about it. Pray that God Spirit within you will spur you toward discipline. I Timothy 1:7 says this: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

We have His Spirit in us, full of power that gives us this self-discipline. We can overcome our weakness through the strength within us. His strength.

We can sit and write. We can overcome the blank screen. We can write every single day. We can, because He enables us.

What are you doing today to make your dreams come true? 

What are you implementing in your daily life that will help you meet your goals? 

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Sherrinda Ketchersid is a born and bred Texan, preacher’s wife, mother to 4 children, and secretary at public elementary school. With the children grown and out of the house, she weaves tales of fierce knights and their ladies in a time where men were warriors and women had to be strong enough to keep them in check.

After taking time off from writing, she has returned with a new motto in place to spur her on. “Writers write. Everyone else makes excuses.” ~Jack Bickham.  No excuses this time. She is weaving her love of romance with history to bring joy and the hope of love to those who may one day read her stories.

You can connect with her through:

Personal blog: sherrinda.com

Twitter: @sherrinda

Instagram: @sherrinda

How blogging can help your novel-writing

In my last post, I talked about how short-story writing can improve your long fiction.

Today I'd like to discuss another form of writing that will help your career as a novelist: blogging.

Maybe you already do it. Maybe you've considered starting. Or perhaps it's not on your radar at all.

Here's why it should be.

1. Blogging will help you relax your voice
Us novelists tend to take ourselves a bit seriously at times. After all, writing a novel is a big undertaking. It's challenging and important and... and... kind of lofty. Right?

As a novelist shut away in our writing cave for months and years on end, it's easy to get wrapped up in the grandeur of the story we're spinning, and forget all about that little thing called the reader. And the problem is, if our storytelling voice becomes all lofty and self-important, we've lost most of those said readers from the get-go.

Blogging is different. There's a matter of hours between writing something and having it go live before a real-life audience: an audience who gives us immediate feedback on our work. Therefore, it's easier to write with said audience front and center in our writing brain. The result? A tone that is conversational, friendly, down-to-earth, and relatable.

Once you've been blogging long enough, you'll find that more natural, conversational voice finding its way into your longer fiction as well. And that's a good thing.

Blogging will help you strip affectation from your voice, simplify, relax, and keep things real.

Image by Ambro, freedigitalphotos.net

2. Blogging builds self-discipline
Blogging is like the stomach-crunches of the writing world.

Maybe it's not as exciting or glamorous as signing that big book deal, watching your novel climb the bestseller ranks, or any of the other delightful things we like to daydream about.

But it gives you a solid foundation as a writer. It requires you to be consistent and meet small, regular deadlines. That is great practice for one day down the track when you have deadlines set by a publisher.

3. Blogging will improve your productivity
Sometimes the best thing for a story block is to switch writing gears and hammer out a blog post. It's an easy and immediate style of writing, and it'll give you the satisfaction of completing something - which is a great antidote to frustration.

Besides, the more you write, across all genres and platforms, the quicker you get. Wanna be a prolific writer? Start blogging. Your output will increase overall, because it has to.

Before you know it, ideas start flowing faster from brain to fingertips, and you're all limbered up and ready to dive back into your story-world.

4. Blogging will help you find and connect with your audience
This flows on from the first point. Blogging puts you in touch with readers - right now, without having to wait for some "maybe day" in the distant future.

Publishers want to see that you have a platform. We all know how essential that is in today's marketing climate. There is no better time to start building a platform than before the book deal.

Wait till afterward, and you've probably left it too late.

When you blog consistently and strategically, you are building a tribe of people who are interested in what you have to say.

And after all, that's what every writer wants, isn't it?

To have a voice, and someone to listen.

Do you blog? If so, why do you do it, and how do you find it helps you as a writer? 

If not, what are your reasons for not blogging? Is it something you'd consider?

TWEETABLES
I'm a novelist, not a blogger! Why novelists should have a blog, & how it'll help your writing: Tweet this

Karen Schravemade lives in Australia, where she mothers by day and transforms into a fearless blogger by night. She's a Genesis finalist for women's fiction and is represented by Rachel Kent of Books & Such. Find her on Twitter, Google+, and getting creative on her home-making blog, A house full of sunshine.

The 28-Day Challenge

“They were under royal orders, which determined their daily activity.” Nehemiah 11:23

You are under royal orders.

God has a destiny and purpose for your life. He has a plan that only YOU can fulfil on this earth. Many of you already know your purpose. (If you don’t, here’s a classic book that will help bring you some clarity.)

But does your purpose determine how you live your daily life?

Here’s some news for you.

God wants you to achieve your purpose.

If it’s writing – God wants you to write.

If it’s mothering – God wants you to mother.

If it’s leading others – God wants you to lead.

If it’s helping, encouraging, serving, teaching, whatever the case may be – God wants you to get the necessary training and skills and live it out to the best of your abilities.

For a lot of us, there’s a chasm between our life purpose and our current reality. Why? Because it’s easy to think of our dreams as something far-off and grandiose. Something we’ll get around to “one day.” When we seem unable to reach our full potential, it’s easy to blame the usual culprits – our current circumstances, our limitations, our finances, the abilities we were born with, or of course, our lack of time.

Image by digitalart, freedigitalphotos.net

Ah, time. We’ve all been gifted with the same amount of it. And how we use it is, of course, the key. The power to achieve our dreams doesn’t lie in the next self-help book or the next motivational speaker to pray over you at church. It lies in our daily habits.

It’s that simple. Your habits determine your destiny.

I love that verse I shared at the start from the book of Nehemiah, because it tells me that the little stuff matters to God. The daily routine, the things we do over and over again, day in and day out – that’s the seemingly unimportant stuff that shapes our destiny. And because we’re under royal orders from the King of Kings, our daily activity had better reflect our respect for what he wants to accomplish in our lives.

Oh, boy, am I ever preaching to myself here.

And here is exactly where a lot of us start to feel a bit defeated. The problem most of us have when we look at our lives is the dozen different things screaming simultaneously for improvement. So typically, in a burst of enthusiasm, we decide to make a drastic 24-hour turnaround in which we will overhaul absolutely everything in our life. We decide we’ll go from couch-potato junk-food-eater to organic vegan athlete overnight, pray for an hour a day, home-school our children Montessori-style while also teaching them Suzuki violin and studying on the side, de-clutter the house from top to bottom, volunteer at a homeless shelter, and while we’re at it, we’ll also write ten thousand words every day on our novel while doing one-handed push-ups.

Um… yeah.

Lean in a little closer and I’ll tell you a secret. This is important. It’s a secret that has the potential to change your life.

Are you ready?

Image by Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee
freedigitalphotos.net

Here it is.

If you want to change your life, focus on changing ONE THING.

Did you get that?

One thing. No cheating. Not three things, or even just two.

Start with one.

Do that one thing every day for a month. Chart your progress. (Try using a chart like THIS one.) If you miss a day, begin again. This allows you to truly master that habit and make it a part of your life.

Then, once you’ve successfully incorporated one new habit into your life for a whole month, the following month you can focus on changing one more thing.

Are you getting this? Sure, it takes time to do it this way. But look at the end result. Do you want your habits to actually stick? Or do you want to continue down the path you’ve always gone - trying to change everything, and actually changing nothing?

So… are you up for a challenge?

Here’s how this is going to work.

1. Choose a habit

Choose one habit you’d like to incorporate into your life. It doesn’t matter how small or insignificant it may seem to someone else. This is YOUR life, and small, consistent action is better than no action. Here are some examples:

- To write 500 words a day.

- To make your bed every morning as soon as you get up.

- To spend 15 minutes of quality time with each child, every day.

- To get up half an hour earlier to have a daily Quiet Time.

- To exercise for 20 minutes a day, even if it’s just jogging around your clothesline.

- To deal with an email as soon as you open it.

- To wash the dishes each night before you go to bed.

- To spend 15 minutes a day de-cluttering or organizing an area of your house.

- To drink 8 glasses of water a day.

- To make a menu plan and cook dinner every week-night instead of ordering takeaway.

You might look at that list and want to do all of those things, and more. But don’t be tempted to fall into that old approach.

Choose one. Just one. Chances are, your one habit might look completely different from the things on this list. That’s okay. Choose one thing that is meaningful to you, that will ultimately help you toward your purpose. One small thing you know you can accomplish.

2. Make a plan

You may need to plan your day into a routine to find the time to incorporate your new habit. My One Word for this year was ABIDE. With three preschool age children, I knew that spending time with God each day was not just going to happen. So I drew up a routine. (See left). Every day we have different scheduled activities, so each day is slightly different. But by following my routine, I have been able to stick with a quiet time every day. Once I had that down, I worked on my next priority – spending quality “Focus” time with my kids each day, one on one. This, too, had to find a place in the routine, or it would not happen.

Now that these two areas have become a habit, it’s time for me to carve out

time for my writing again. It’s taken me a while to find my feet with this after baby number three, but I know that it’s time. That will be my focus for this challenge. So, I drew myself up a star chart. I know, I know. I’m a nerd. I’m also a teacher. It’s a teacher thing. Why should our kids get all the shiny gold stars? 

3. Share the challenge!

None of us are born disciplined. It’s a state that goes against our natural inclinations. So why not share this with a friend, and get them to jump on board too? Let’s get some momentum going and cheer each other on.

When you comment on this post, your name will be entered into a draw for a $10 Amazon gift card. Tweet or Facebook this post, and you’ll get an additional two entries per share. Check back in two weeks’ time, and we’ll take stock together and see how we’re all going – and you’ll have another chance to throw some more entries into the hat. In four weeks time, we’re going to celebrate together as we look at what new habits we’ve incorporated into our lives. If you’ve stuck with your plan that whole time, I’ll double your entries. Then I’ll draw a winner.

Don’t you just love a bit of extra incentive? But you know what? If you take this challenge, you’re already a winner. It’s your life, and you only get one of them to use. Let’s choose to glorify God through our daily habits.

So, let’s get started. In the comments, why don’t you share the one new habit you’d like to incorporate into your life?

Instead of doing nothing about everything, do something about one thing.

You can do that. I know you can.

Who’s with me?

Karen Schravemade lives Downunder and likes to confuse her American friends by using weird Australian figures of speech. When she's not chasing after two small boys or cuddling her baby girl, she spends her spare minutes daydreaming about the intricate lives of characters who don't actually exist. Find her on her website and Twitter.