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So, I was privileged to attend a local writer’s conference. There were a number of workshops available for the writer on a range of topics from pen names to using firearms in stories. I attended four workshops that gave me some good ideas that I plan to incorporate into my burgeoning habit of daily writing. You might get something from these too, so I am sharing.

Many writers practice the craft under a pen name. There are many reasons and instances where a pen name might be used. You might work in an environment that can not be associated with your stories, or you write more than one genre and want them to be separated, or you are so afraid of the microscope under which writers find themselves you don’t want to use your real name. Whatever the case, in trying to find the perfect pen name there are a couple of things you should consider. First, Google the prospective name before committing to it. Finding out your pen name also belongs to a convicted killer after you have been published is quite the let down. So, run your moniker through the Google machine to ensure it doesn’t belong to a killer, or another well-known author. Another thought would be to consider the logistics of the name. In this age, your name must not only fit well on a traditional book cover but also be viewable on the thumbnails associated with e-books and internet marketing. Now, if you are really prolific, you might have more than one pen name under which you produce work. Keeping the two or more personas separate are important. You should endeavor to give each name equal time in your writing and marketing. Schedules would be life savers in this instance. They would also be a great help in keeping which voice you are writing in and where you are sharing content. In sharing content across social media platforms, remember that each name should have a presence and each should share relevant content on a regular basis.

Another concern that goes along with the idea of marketing yourself on social media is the branding of yourself. It sounds conceited, almost. Many struggle with the idea of tooting your own horn, so to speak, but there will be no success without people to read your work! When branding yourself, remember that a brand evokes an emotional response when you see the name or picture. You want people to see your name and think, “I remember them from that article, I think I will check out their book!” Cool, right. We all dream of our words reaching the masses. To help in this, make sure you have a website or blog where you can provide value in your area of interest. Maybe you want to bring awareness to a specific issue, or educate about a situation. With a blog you can write about your interests and share it to provide value to the reader. (A bit like I am doing here, well, a lot like I am doing here) With a blog, you can use it as a gateway to your social media presence. When using multiple social platforms, you will reach different people who then visit your site and learn more about you. You also get to interact with readers and virtually meet people interested in what you have to say. If you have an opt-in for visitors, you can offer exclusive content through newsletters that enhances their experience with you.

Plots are huge, sometimes bulky items. Every story needs one and as such, the workshop on plotting your story was heavily attended. Lots of us want to work on improving our process and stories. If you are a writer who has been around other writers, or spent a lot of time reading writing blogs, you have heard about the typical three types of writing processes. They are the Pantser, the Plotter, and the Plantser. Pantsers are those of us who have an idea but often no idea how of how it will play out in the book. Often you hear pantsers listen to the voices of their characters and let them lead. Some will tell you this is not a process at all, but anything you do in order to get your story written is a process. Pantsers have ideas, usually a summary of the book and spend time perfecting plot points in their revision. Many plotters have a very defined process and often start months in advance of actual writing to envision the story fully. They know the beginning, middle, and end of their story arcs and have copious information on the world their characters inhabit. I have always dreamed of elaborate flow charts of how people are connected with each other, the main plot with its subplots. I feel they must look so awesome and feel very safe. Too bad I haven’t gotten the hang of that just yet.  This often leads to the hybrid process of the Plantser. These writers do a bit of plotting, but only a few chapters or scenes at a time that go with their story while also being flexible to the voice of the characters leading the story in different directions. Don’t let anyone tell you that there is only one right way to write. There are as many processes and routines as there are authors, and as long as you write, then the process works for you. When talking about plot, it is good to figure out who is driving the story (character), what story will be told about them, and what is going to shake them up and move the story along. You want to give a hand at a set up which helps define your character even if you don’t use every single item of information. Knowing their life story, background, who will come against them and what the journey will be in the story is very helpful in getting started. Then you have the reaction, where your character has to react to the events that prompt the journey . Here the action, obstacles, and stakes increase for the character. You show more of the conflict that has arisen. Don’t forget the attack, where the fight for the completion of the journey takes place. The character is in danger of losing something, not finishing a task. Something major comes to a head and there is a crossroads for the character to step up or lose out. Get into the head of your character, treat them like you treat your closest friend. Think of all the things you know about this friend, their lives, their dreams. Now transfer this same knowledge to your character so that you know what they will do in a situation and can share that in your writing.

The last workshop I attended that day was on productive planning. All about how to make sure you plan for your writing and can fit it in to your life, because most of us are not able to write full-time just yet. But, I am sure those who do need to plan their days as well. We don’t write in a vacuum after all. In figuring out a planning strategy for yourself, you must remember that it is okay to get it wrong. Your first try may not work well for you or as you might have envisioned it. Just try again, it is worth it if it can help you complete the important items of your life. You want to start by assigning importance to your tasks for the day. An easy way to understand what this means, is to use the Eisenhower Matrix which assigns numbers to your to-do list. There are important but not urgent items, important and urgent ones, not important and not urgent items, and finally, not important but urgent. Then you prioritize with important and urgent items done first, not important but urgent items are delegated, not important and not urgent items are severely limited and you spend the bulk of your time on the important but not urgent things. For many writers, our writing falls under that last one where you spend the bulk of your time. Then you can try out different planning systems to help you keep all of that in check and allows you to make a plan for each day based on those important tasks. There are a lot of systems designed to keep us all, not just writers, organized, on task, and completing work. There are journals and visual boards, there are ways to break up large tasks into smaller steps and goals to complete. Maybe you check off everyday on your calendar when you do a certain thing, or sit down every morning and write things out. These things help us get the massive amount of stuff in our heads, out and that helps us figure out what is important and urgent. People use analog systems (pen and paper) in the form of planners and journals, or they like the digital world and use one of the many productivity software and apps. Maybe a mix of the two works best for you. Either way, figuring out what you need to do, then planning time to do it helps keep your productivity not only high, but focused on the important things.

As I said, these ideas are not mine, I learned these nuggets of wisdom from the many writers speaking at the conference. They included Kiernan Kelly, Vivi Barnes, Christina Farley, Lucienne Diver, Amy Christine Parker, Racquel Henry, Erik Deckers, and Leslie Salas. Go check them out, you might find a great read for yourself.

Are you currently using any of these ideas? Maybe you have an entirely different way of doing things. Share them with me and I will be sure to update on if I incorporated any of these and how they worked for me. Let’s see if we can’t all be better writers.