The Writers Studio

 Good morning, friends!

Well, last week was pretty much a bust for me. With Bob home, I really don't have a head for business or writing. I used to have a time in the morning between my getting up at 5 a.m. and Bob at around 8 a.m. This trip home he's been getting up either with or before me. With him home, I'm also going to bed later so I'm waking up later. I've lost my 'me' time in the morning but that's okay. I see so many stories of women who've husbands have died unexpectedly. I don't want to be one of them then wishing I'd spent more time with them. You can't turn back time. 

With that behind me, my Top 3 for this week will pretty much be the same... and hopefully have time to execute at least part of them.

 A couple of weeks ago I shared that the #1 Writer's Tip was to Write Every Day.


Today's tip comes from novelist and writing coach, Joanna Penn.  Joanna says to Schedule time to write and show up for the meeting. 

That's really good advice. I've always heard we should treat our writing time, if we are serious about the business. Once you have that in your planner, be there. be on time - even a little earlier. Treat your scheduled writing time like any other appointment you can't miss such as a medical appointment, parent/' teacher meeting, date with your hero. You have to show up!

I've recently joined a group on YouTube - a co-workers meeting - led my Marisa Mohi.  I know that at 10 a.m. CST every weekday morning, I need to be in that group.. But here's the thing - a lot of us are in there by 9 a.m. Sometimes we just chat about the ups and downs of the previous week but we also talk about plot points and offer bolstering and support where needed.

You are welcome to join us!

Even on the days (like today) when YouTube has decided I don't need to be in the meeting, I still have it in my planner to write during that hour  or two. Whether I can meet up with them or not, I am still at my keyboard making words happen... whether it's on a blog post or my story. I'm writing every day.

Are you writing every day?

For the past few weeks my life has been all about music - primarily the Texas Music Awards coming up next month. But I've also made connections in Nashville and getting requests for album reviews. I love my job but I am missing working on fiction.

In the snatches of time I've taken to work on Heart on the Line, I've been working on the historical time line of the hero's family. Some incidents have a marked effect on the story so it is important to know what happened when and who was (or was not) responsible.

I'm getting there. I can trace Bo's family back to his grandfather - which is as far as I needed to go. And I found out Kassie's mom deserted her at the age of 16. While Kassie was at school, and later at Granny Pearl's (Bo's grandmother), Kassie came home to find her mother had up and left. She never heard from her again.

Now I'm down to how some of the scenes need to work in correlation to the time of year. The story takes place from late August through to Valentine's Day the following year. There are tour schedules to work out, funeral arrangements to be made and a wedding to plan... if all is to work out as it should.

I'm getting closer. I'm trying to grab a couple hours every day - not even the same time each day - but every day to work on my story. Writing every day is important. I will get back into the habit.

Happy Writing - and Reading!
Angela