by Bobbie Christmas
I devoted an entire chapter to my Bill of Writes for writers in my seven-award-winning book on creative writing titled Write In Style: How to Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing. Special to WPN, I have agreed to list and explain each item. Below you’ll find numbers fourteen, fifteen and sixteen in my Bill of Writes. For all twenty-one items, refer to Write In Style, published by BookLogix and available on Amazon.
You Have the Right to Celebrate Each Milestone
To celebrate a milestone, we must first understand milestones. They are the markers that show us we are moving forward.
What might be a milestone for a writer?
When you conceive the idea for a new story, book, or article, you have started your journey. Consider conception your first mile marker. Celebrate!
If you have a project assigned to you, make the first call, start your research, write the title of the project, or do whatever begins a new project, you have set your benchmark. From then on, celebrate each step that takes you closer to your goal.
You might celebrate the completion of your table of contents, which outlines the chapters you plan to write. You might celebrate making a list of contacts. If you write an outline, that’s a marker. If you write a proposal and finish it, that’s worthy of celebration. Honor each step, chapter, or activity that draws you closer to your goal. Celebrations lift our spirits and give us strength to continue.
Decide before you begin your project how you plan to celebrate each milestone and how you will celebrate completion of the project.
My friend Vicki finished the first draft of her nonfiction book, and to mark the occasion she invited friends to a celebration at a charming restaurant. The observance cost her nothing; we all paid for our own meals. Some folks even brought her little gifts to celebrate the milestone: pencils, pens, and dark glasses and a hat, so she could go incognito when she becomes famous. She gave a brief speech thanking us for our support, and we cheered her and encouraged her to move on to the editing phase. Everyone had a good time, and she marked her milestone with grace.
When I came to an agreement with a publisher on publishing this book, I drove to a party supply store. I bought the craziest party favors I could find, ones that roll out when blown. They squawked and had bright feathers on the ends. Whenever I thought about all I had accomplished to have struck a deal with a reputable publisher, I pulled out my party favor and blew it. When I announced at a writers meeting that I had struck a deal with the publisher, I blew my party favor, everyone laughed, and I felt great. When the contract arrived in the mail, I blew my party favor, and my dog jumped around with excitement, thrilled about the noise and the feather. She celebrated my milestone with me.
You deserve to feel great. Once you identify your milestones, find ways to celebrate each one, and by all means, do so. You have the right!
You Have the Right to Create a Schedule and Stick to It
“I’d love to write, but I don’t have the time.” That excuse does not work in my world. We all have the same number of hours each day, so how do some writers create a book in a year and others whine about not having the time?
We make time for things that matter to us. If your relationship matters, you find time to spend with your significant other. If school matters, you make time to study. If writing matters, make time to write.
Even if you think you don’t plan your days, you do have patterns. You wake up at a certain time, eat meals at certain times, watch television at certain times, and take care of other responsibilities, as well. If you claim writing is important to you, add it into your daily activities.
At one point in my busy life I made Thursday evenings my writing time. Friends and family members knew not to call me or invite me out on a Thursday night. I recorded the television programs I wanted to watch, and I got to work. I picked Thursday because I had my critique circle every Saturday morning. I could write on Thursday night, let my pages rest overnight, reread them the next day and revise them, copy them, and be ready for my critique circle Saturday.
Your schedule should not only be a daily or weekly writing plan, but also one that depicts when you will finish certain projects. Deadlines motivate people.
When I give myself a deadline, I get the work done by breaking it into smaller tasks. If you want to finish your book in ten months and predict you’ll have ten chapters, write one chapter a month. Schedule it in your daily planner, perhaps this way: On the last day of each month, write “Finish chapter.” On the first of each month, write “Begin new chapter.” On the date ten months away, write, “Finish book.” Write it down, see your goals in writing, and you will meet them. Schedule your time and reap the benefits.
You Have the Right to Use a Thesaurus
A thesaurus adds variety to your writing. When someone points out your tendency to overuse favorite words, use the thesaurus program in your word-processing program and look up appropriate synonyms.
While some purists raise their noses and condemn the use of a thesaurus as a form of cheating, wise writers who want to improve their style turn to a thesaurus to find words they would’ve used, had they thought of them. Use your thesaurus as a memory trigger.
Don’t use the thesaurus to find fifty-cent words you would never say in conversation, though. Choose words that roll off your narrator’s or character’s tongue naturally, words you and your readers would not have to look up in a dictionary.
Here’s another precaution about using a thesaurus: Not every word in the list has the same definition as the word you looked up. Choose only the perfect words with the perfect connotations. Look up their meanings, if you are not certain of their connotations.
My favorite thesaurus was the original Roget’s International Thesaurus (Thomas Y. Crowell Company) that my father gave me for graduation from high school. That marvelous old book shows its wear and has been a valuable asset to me through the decades.
Today we also have the ease of an electronic thesaurus built into our word-processing programs. Look for yours. Electronic thesauruses on word-processing programs have a limited vocabulary. If they can’t provide me with the exact word that’s on the tip of my tongue, I lick my fingers and duck back into my printed thesaurus, which lists many more possibilities.
Bobbie Christmas is a book doctor with twenty-five years of experience and is the author of Write In Style: How to Use Your Computer to Improve Your Craft, winner of seven awards. Her website is www.zebraeditor.com.