Writer Routines

Hello all. As I mentioned in earlier posts, writers should develop routines. A simple one that I proposed, and many great American writers follow(ed), is writing 500 words a day. I am now proposing another routine in addition to the 500 words a day. Have a warm-up.

A warm-up is exactly what most would think a warm-up is, doing easier exercises to prepare the muscles for the more strenuous tasks that lay ahead. In this case, I believe writers should write something (that they don't necessarily care about) in order to limber up their brain. I got this idea from one of my writing professors.

The professor, first, writes 500 words in what they call a "junk novel." This is just a random project they don't expect to be published, but they use it to get in that writing mode (*side note: he has published two of his junk novels). After that, the professor writes 500 words on their real writing project.

Everyone should develop a routine that warms up the mind before taking on their big project for the day. It does not even have to be as big as writing an entirely different novel (a "junk novel"). As a matter of fact, I have heard writers who do entire crossword puzzles before writing, or read their favorite selection of poems. Point is, you might find that warming up the brain before writing really helps get the best out of you.

What am I doing for a routine?

This is the beginning of a short story I started writing about a month ago. The thing is, it is the beginning and I have not worked on it for awhile. I have kind of lost interest in it. However, instead of throwing away the story and not finishing it, I will use it to warm up. I may not write 500 words to warm-up, but I will aim for 250 words, 1-page double-spaced. Here is what I have so far...

Mel’s Family Diner, a small metallic building, smelling of bacon grease and black coffee, was almost full at lunch time when Mrs. Rehberg’s third grade class entered. Ten eight-year-olds filed in one-by-one, each chattering amongst themselves, led by Mrs. Rehberg, a fair skinned lady, wearing a blue jean dress with apples, school houses, and rulers stitched sporadically on the denim. Like a shepherd leading a flock of sheep, she walked tall and knew exactly where she was leading her class, they just had to follow. When one of her students, Billy Matthews, strayed from the flock, Mrs. Rehberg stopped, addressed him as Mr. Matthews, and told him to get back in line. He did.

All the regulars, eating at the counter, twisted their necks around or swiveled on their stool to see what all the new commotion was. One man, with the wrinkly face of a pug, murmured something under his breath about those damn kids, and went back to eating his scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. Another man, wearing a green trucker’s cap and a red plaid shirt and sitting next to the pug-face man, grumbled in agreement, raising his coffee mug before taking a sip. The other customers, sitting in the red vinyl booths along the diner windows, kept eating, minding their business.

Mrs. Rehberg led her class to two empty booth seats, in the far right corner of the diner. She stood at the middle of both booths as she expected her kids to file into the seats, one-by-one, and they did.

“I want to you all to remember your manners,” Mrs. Rehberg said once her class was all settled into the booth seats. “That means using your pleases and thank-yous.” She turned around from the waist scanning the diner, searching for her class’s potential waiter. As she looked around the room she stopped for a brief second with her gaze fixed on the far back corner, diagonally across the diner from her class. Mrs. Rehberg’s eyes grew and her face drained of color, and then she quickly snapped back, facing her class again, and standing straighter.

Suzy Landers, a small girl with brown hair styled into two pigtails, cupped her hands around her mouth, whispering to her friend, Jenny Sparks, directly next to her in the corner. Jenny wore a big smile, scrunching up her cheeks, making her eyes to slits, as she listened to what Suzy had to say. Then she whispered back to her friend and giggled.

“Suzy. Jenny.” Mrs. Rehberg’s voice quivered, missing the strength she usually speaks with. She cleared her throat, fixed her dress, and said again, “Miss Landers and Miss Sparks, sit up and face the table properly. It’s rude. And it’s especially rude to whisper at the table.”

Both students stiffened and folded their hands, sitting properly at the table.  

Amanda Hocking

In my previous post, I talked about the visit to Gregory Maguire's house. And I talked about how he wrote a ton from a very young age. I find this topic very interesting and I wanted to provide one more example of someone who has wrote/told stories from a young age and is now successful.

Amanda Hocking.

Amanda Hocking is a recent phenomenon. She only became a well-known author in the past couple years when she began self-publishing her YA novels (paranormal romances). Eventually, her novels caught on like a wild fire and she has made the USA Bestsellers list, $1,000,000+ all from self-publishing, and recently has become a traditional published author.

How does she explain her success?

"People ask me, "When did you start writing?" And the truth is I never didn't write. Before I could talk, I would tell stories. When I was younger, I couldn't write fast enough to keep up with the ideas I had, so I had talk and get them out. I was always writing. It never occurred to me until I was about 12 that I would do anything other than be a writer. 

When I was 12, I decided that writers were boring people, and I didn't want to be boring, so I'd save writing for my "safety" career while I tried out other ones. In high school, I probably wrote about fifty short stories and started a dozen novels. I also wrote a full-length script for a movie about four teenagers who resort to murder to protect a friend. I'm sure it's poorly written, but I haven't looked at in like 8 years.

I finished my first novel when I was seventeen, right after I graduated high school. It was about a guy with amnesia. In a corrupt institution. Looking for a serial killer. I know, it's shocking that something with that many overwrought cliches never found a publisher. (BTW - my mom still says its her favorite book by me. But its still a very bad book)."

This is just one instance where she explains her success. Time and time again, Hocking says the best advice she can give people is write. Just write. She attributes her success to hard work in writing (and a little luck). If you are interested in Amanda Hocking and want to read more of her blog and other work, you can find it here.

So, in the spirit of my past two posts, did you write today? I know I did, just by writing this post (but, I will do 500 words on a story project).

A visit with Gregory Maguire

While staying in Concord, MA, we visited the author, most famously known for Wicked, Gregory Maguire. We went to his house, Gregory Maguire's house, for brownies, ice cream, and coffee. How cool! I was sitting in Gregory Maguire's living room, eating dessert made by him, Gregory Maguire. Anyhow, we all sat in his living devouring delicious food and talking with him and asking him any question we wanted....

So where do I start?

Well, to begin with, Gregory Maguire started writing and telling stories at a very young age. Eventually, he got into writing children's books; and eventually he wrote the books he is most well-known for, stories building off of the The Wizard of Oz. What I gathered from his timeline story, and Maguire even emphasized this himself, was that he has written a lot.

Right now you may be saying, "So what."

Well, Maguire's upbringing may have more to do with his success as a writer than one would thinking. Have you read the book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell? This book proposes that peoples' cultures, upbringings, families, generations, etc. are the reason for their successes. All to often people look at what successful people are like. And the one thing the successful people have in common, save a few exceptions, is that they have accumulated 10,000+ hours doing what they are currently successful at.

Thus, I am proposing this is the reason for Maguire's success. He has been writing and telling stories for a long, long, long time. It was his only form of entertainment, since his parents did not allow him to watch television, among other things.

If you have not figured it out yet, the take away for all writers is write! You need to write daily. Make it a routine. Most American writers--Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Jack London--to name a few, all wrote 500 words a day on each project they were working on.

Writing daily is practicing writing. The more you practice, the better you are. When legendary golfer, Gary Player, was told he was the luckiest putter in the world, he responded, "Yes, and the more I practice, the luckier I get." I think this quote sums up the point perfectly. Practice. Practice. Practice. Write. Write. Write. You will get better.

Home Again

Hello, I am back from my trip to the New England area, and, as promised, I have brought back plenty of good stories, great advice from famous people, and a greater insight into the writing world.

Cool News

Six days ago I put my first short story, Murder on Laodicea Street, for sale on Amazon/Kindle. Today I found out how to take advantage of the FREE promotional stuff offered through Kindle. So now my short story is FREE in Amazon/Kindle stores. However, the free promotional only lasts for five days. Therefore, I encourage (and beg on my knees!) that you all go and "purchase" the free copy of my short story, and review it on Amazon. For your convenience her is a link to the page, here.


Here are the quick facts so far...

My story went FREE at 2:00 p.m. Central Time.

It is now 1:00 p.m. Central Time and my story has sold 300 in the United States, 15 in the UK, and 1 in Germany.

My story went from being ranked ~200,000 on the Kindles bestsellers list and is ranked 1,224 on Kindles (free) bestsellers list.


I am leaving now for New England. I will write when I arrive back. Thanks for the reading support.

New England

Hello. First of all, I like to thank everyone who has read my story that I self-published on Kindle and reviewed it. I still encourage you all to spread the word, review it on the amazon page here, and read it if you still have not.

In the month of January, I am going on a two-week trip to Concord, and learning about the American literary tradition that was created by the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, and many more.

Part of the trip will include visiting Walden Pond, the house that Hawthorne and his wife lived in for two years (where he claims to have done his best writing), and various museums. In addition to site seeing, the trip will include having meals with various well-known authors (one of them being Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked), and visiting and talking with the people of Walden Media (they are probably most famous for making the Chronicles of Narnia films).

The other part of the trip will include living like a pilgrim for roughly 2 days (1.5 to be exact) at a place called Plymouth Plantation. I have been given the pilgrim identity of William White. I have to research him and act like him during my stay on the plantation.

I hope to have some good material to write about (and how it pertains to writing--because I am studying how the context of these early American writers influenced their writing). But, I will not be posting much until I get back from the trip (2-weeks from today).