MidLifeWriter

Writing Your Book as You Talk

Linda Locke
MidlifeWriter.com

If you have been procrastinating about writing your book because you can't type well, have carpal tunnel syndrome or a disability, or just plain think better while you talk, you can now put the power of your voice to work for you.          

I recently purchased a copy of ScanSoft's Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Standard software and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to set up and use.

The software comes with its own microphone headset and once you install it, all you need to do is train the software to recognize your voice patterns by speaking some short test paragraphs.

The accuracy is excellent and once you have it all set up, you can use the software to dictate all your emails, articles, and books with ease.

5 Ways to Break through Your Writer's Block and Get Your Book Started Now!

by Linda Locke
MidlifeWriter.com

You want to write a book. You talk about writing your book. You buy lots of writing books and take classes on writing. You talk some more about writing your book. So why aren't you writing your book? Here's 5 ways to break through your writer's block and get your book started now.

1. Get to Starbucks. Take your laptop or notepad, grab a double shot latte and start writing. You'll find plenty of inspiration by watching your fellow caffeine addicts and the energy buzz will give you a jumpstart. Don't leave until you have 10 pages written.

2. Play the Butt in the Chair Game. Here's the rules: Prepare your writing space. Sit down in the chair. Sit there until you write at least 2 pages of your book. Repeat daily as necessary.

3. Set a Deadline. Set a deadline for completing the first draft of each chapter of your book. Ask your most goal-oriented friend or family member to keep tabs on your progress and to keep score on how you are doing.

4. Get Out of Town. Create your own mini writing weekend retreat. Just take yourself and your writing materials and go somewhere that inspires you and start writing.

5. Blog Your Book. Set up a blog on Blogger.com or Typepad.com and write a 500 word post every day. At the end of the month, you'll have 15,000 words written.

Do You Suffer From Roughdraftitis?

by Deanna Mascle

There is an epidemic sweeping through writing groups around the globe. Day after day writers drag their weary fingers and bleary eyes into my office and beg for a cure.

The symptoms they describe are all too familiar:

~ Writers block
~ Disorganization
~ Frustration
~ Inability to create a coherent sentence
~ Problems with usually simple tasks such as spelling

Sometimes the disease is only in its early stages and writers have a few pages they have managed to create but refuse to share out of embarrassment. Others in more severe distress claim that the blank page (or computer screen) is silently mocking them. They are sure they will never write again.

The diagnosis is not the commonly-called "writer's block" as so many claim but rather the easily cured Roughdraftitis. Too often writers are in a hurry to capture their ideas in print or to finish a project. Often what they attempt to do in an effort to "save time" is to skip one or more steps in their personal writing process. Then they discover that rather than save time they are wasting it while struggling to write their rough draft.

The cure is simple. Allow your personal writing process to work through at its own pace. Use time to your advantage and give your brain the space and time it needs to work its magic. Most important of all, give yourself permission to write a really crappy rough draft.

Who says that a rough draft has to be something wonderful readable? Often times the reason writers struggle with their rough draft is that they are not really writing a rough draft. They have a vision in their head of the perfect final draft they hope to create and for some reason they expect that final draft to be born whole and wonderful at the tips of their fingers. Silly writer, beautiful final drafts are not made from whole cloth but are rather cut, stitched and patched together from the good bits of quite imperfect rough drafts. Beautifully crafted writing takes time and it takes more than one draft to create.

The next time you find yourself struggling with Roughdraftitis take the following prescription:

~ Sit your butt in a chair and start writing. Do not leave your chair until the rough draft is complete.

~ Do not reread or revise as you write.

~ Do not worry about spelling, grammar, or the perfect word choice.

~ Do not worry about organization or detail.

~ Concentrate on filling a certain number of pages or getting down a certain number of ideas or thoughts. When you have accomplished this goal then set your newly created rough draft aside and consider yourself cured.

Once you let go of that vision of the perfect rough draft (a beast more rare than the purple polka-dotted unicorn) you are on the path to that much more accessible quarry -- the perfect final draft. Just remember to bag your prize you must give yourself, and your brain, time to work through the drafts necessary to sort out all those problems with organization and development as well as surface errors such as grammar and spelling that you ignored while writing the original draft.

Writing a really ugly rough draft is a wonderfully freeing experience and can often be accomplished in an amazingly short amount of time. Soon you will wonder why you ever wasted time contemplating the perfect action verb or adjective. Once you have that rough draft, no matter how rough it is, you are on your way. It is much easier to craft and shape something existing into your vision than it is to create that vision on a blank page. Sometimes a really ugly draft can be a beautiful thing.

About the Author

Deanna Mascle shares more writing tips and advice with her blog Answers About Writing at www.AnswersAboutWriting.com

Use Your Brain To Become A Better Writer

by Deanna Mascle

Anyone who has ever labored over a writing assignment knows that writing is hard work. While it does not require the same physical effort as lifting heavy objects, it is often very heavy lifting indeed. While it does not require the same physical effort as pounding metal rods into concrete, pounding on a keyboard can be just as stressful to your body and infinitely more stressful to your brain. However, writing does have something in common with physical labor and athletics.

Anyone who has ever played a sport or worked with their hands know that there is a point during the learning process when you no longer need to think about what your hands or body are doing to achieve a certain task. A baseball player can process a pitch before it leaves the pitcher's fingers, make calculations on the physical motion and path of the ball, and then make adjustments to his body and bat. Later on, he could explain in detail the process he used to determine his swing, but at the time he relies on muscle memory to achieve it without conscious thought.

This simple trick of muscle memory is the reason for repetitive practice drills for athletes and the reason that older, more experienced manual laborers can work faster than their younger and more physically-fit peers. The older carpenter does not have to think about the process of placing a board, situating a nail, and then fastening it in place with a nail. He has successfully completed this process thousands perhaps millions of time over his professional life. His body knows what to do without conscious direction on his part.

Experienced writers also fall back on this trick of muscle memory. We internalize vocabulary, grammar rules, sentence structure, organizational patterns, and all the other tools of the writing trade. One of the ways to improve your writing is to increase your personal store of muscle memories or writing tricks. How do you accomplish this? By using your brain.

This means that you will never be done learning and growing as a writer. Accept that and revel in it. Continuing to learn and grow as a writer means that you must continually read. Read for knowledge, both in your field and out of it, and read for style, both authors you would love to emulate and those whose style is at odds with your own. Do not simply restrict yourself to professional writers either. I know as a writing teacher that I learn from my students all the time.

Learning and growing as a writer also means you must continually practice your craft. Write on a regular basis but do not simply write for a specific purpose (such as to earn money). Remember what drew you to writing in the first place and write for pleasure. Write for fun. Take risks with your writing and experiment with different forms and genres. Not all writing needs to be shared with others and much of this may never be read by eyes other than your own, but stretching yourself as a writer will always make you a better writer in the long run -- so it is not wasted effort.

Writing is very much a cerebral activity but by continually working to improve yourself by reading and writing on a regular basis you can improve your muscle memory and your writing tool box.

About the Author

Deanna Mascle shares more writing help and writing tips with her writing newsletters at http://wordcraftonline.com