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By Gary, February 27, 2008

The thing about writing and running a regular blog is it keeps you as busy as an insurance adjuster handing out life insurance policies at an undertaker’s convention. You not only need to write a lot, you need to have a bit of the graphics artist and designer in you. You always have plenty to do, you just need to do it.

So I was looking around at a bunch of blogs friends of mine do, and I ran onto a handful of nice looking, useful WordPress themes (that’s what you call the layout and design packages for blogs run by WordPress software) and decided I’d mess around with a new look for the website.

What do you think? Does it look as good to you as it does to me? I like the simplicity of the blue theme. I like the appeal of having some space to sell ad “buttons” to those who want to pay for the space. (You can contact me via the “Contact Us” page and we’ll discuss it.) I also like the “Popular Articles” section, though I might adapt it a bit and even rename it.

Now it’s up to you. What do you like or dislike especially about the way things look now? What would you like to see? You do know, don’t you, that you can always write a “Comment” after reading any of the posts at this blog and I absolutely will read it. Chances are good, unless you’re an evil sp*mm*r, I’ll approve your comment and it’ll show up under the blog post.

Tell us all what you think, please.

Technorati Tags: WordPress themes, WordPress blogs, writing blog posts, writing tips at garyspeer.com

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By Gary, February 26, 2008

Everyone reading this who has NOT mastered the techniques of scheduling, daily “to-do” lists, time management, etc., RAISE YOUR HANDS HIGH.

Yeah, that’s my chubby little paw sticking up right there in the front row.

I’m going to assume that you naturally went to Suzanne Lieurance’s website, The Working Writer’s Coach, after she was a “guest blogger” via one of her excellent articles last week. You did go there, right? And you did sign up for her excellent daily email highlighting writing tips, “The Morning Nudge,” right? If you haven’t done that yet, you can sign up for “The Morning Nudge,” or “The Nudge” as I call it, right at the top right-hand column on her home page.

Go ahead. Go there and sign up now. I’ll wait.

Now. My point about the importance of scheduling is simply a reinforcement to her tip in “The Nudge” today. I quote:

“People always ask me why I’m not stressed out over all the things I have to do every day.

“My answer is simple.

“I schedule everything.

“Once something is on my schedule, I don’t think about it any more until the scheduled time for it.

“That way, I’m able to relax and focus on just one thing at a time.”

See why you need this nifty little daily boost in your writing life? I could drone on here about all the techniques I’ve tried and perhaps you’ve tried, too. I could tell you about spending literally HOURS roaming the Internet over the years looking for just the right Personal Information Manager (PIM) software. I could tell you the many times I’ve been confused trying to use Outlook and trying to use Time & Chaos, and a bunch of other fancy time management software. (If all the time management tips and software I’ve gone through in the last five years were like travel supplies and luggage, I’d be well equipped for a quick three laps around the world.)

But I won’t tell you all that. I’ll just give you the only two tips that have ever helped me schedule and organize my time and efforts as a writer — on those days when I discipline myself to use them. Here they are:

1. Write everything down when you think of it.
2. Look over all that you’ve written down and take it one step at a time.

Be sure to use lots of notecards, stickies, and scratch pads. That’ll create lots of random scraps of chaos to make you look and feel busy.

Seriously, tell us about your system. How do you organize or disorganize your writing life?

Disclaimer: This post has been brought to you at the urging of my Good Wife, St. Shirley the Encourager (I call her “St. Shirl” for short), who has been after me all day to get organized and accomplish something more than sitting here moaning about how in the world I’m ever going to accomplish anything yet today.

Technorati Tags: scheduling, time management, organizing your writing, advice for new writers, writing tips at garyspeer.com

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By Gary, February 25, 2008

I hope that title caught your attention. I just discovered a wonderful writer. It happened last week when I was browsing around the “New Fiction” section at the nearest branch of our public library system and caught sight of the name “Terry Pratchett.”

Long story short — I left the library half an hour later with three of the most bizarre comic fantasy novels I’ve run onto in a long time.

To my surprise, Pratchett has only been publishing his warped humor about Discworld for something more than 20 years. Ah, well, I’ve often told my wife that I’m usually the last person in the world to hear about anything. When I worked in a newspaper newsroom, I was volunteered to be the person responsible for putting newsroom news in the in-house newsletter. (Enough news in that sentence for you?) It was an odd choice by the managing editor — I was almost always the last person to hear news of what was going on in the newsroom to pass it along to the employee newsletter.

Pardon me while I pause just to be amazed. I used the word “news” or some form of it nine times in that paragraph.

You see, reading Pratchett’s stuff is not only fun, but it will make you aware of the fun and functionality in words. Much of his humor, from what I’ve read so far, depends on puns and wordplay. For example, I ran onto a scene in one of his early Discworld books (“Sourcery”) involving two wizards being outclassed by a strange young child wizard. One of the wizards, named Carding, touches the child’s staff and is knocked across the room. His fellow wizard, named Spelter, helps him up and makes sure he’s all right. Then they have the following conversation about the child, named Coin, and his staff:

“Don’t touch his staff,” muttered Carding.”
“I’ll remember, um, not to,” said Spelter firmly. “What did it feel like?”
“Have you ever been bitten by a viper?”
“No.”
“In that case you’ll understand exactly what it felt like.”
“Hmm?”
“It wasn’t like a snake bit at all.”

I also want to share with you Pratchett’s own comments about the Discworld series and his work as a writer. This is a comment he has near the top of his website:

“Welcome to the Discworld. It started out as a parody of all the fantasy that was around in the big boom of the early ’80s, then turned into a satire on just about everything, and even I don’t know what it is now. I do know that in that time there’s been at least four people promoted as ‘new Terry Pratchetts’ so for all I know I may not even still be me.”

So get right out there and find some Terry Pratchett books and read them. The second best way to learn how to write well is to read a lot. (The first best way, of course, is to write a lot.) Go forth and read and enjoy Pratchett’s delightfully twisted, humorous work.

Technorati Tags: Terry Pratchett, Discworld, comic fantasy novels, advice for new writers, writing tips at garyspeer.com