Increasing productivity -

05Jan 2016 by dlgunn

Writerly Goals 2016

Goal setting, Increasing productivity, Writing

Last week I shared my accomplishments of 2015 and--in the interest of both accountability and education--today I'm going to share my goals for the year of 2016. This year I've actually also divided the goals into quarters and even figured out how far to progress on each goal during the first four months of the year. Of course, this is always subject to change, but I'm pretty proud of the way I've broken things down: 1. Submit Good Bye to 30 publishers(or until I get a contract) -- Good Bye is actually a novella so this is a somewhat ambitious number, but it's totally doable. January: Finish editing Good Bye and edit the synopsis/query(queries will be customized but the blurb will be the same for each one) 3-5 times. Submit the initial batch…

02Sep 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

How are you going to end the year?

Increasing productivity

Can you believe it's already September? If I hadn't filled my day planner every month this year I might not be able to believe it myself. It's been a pretty crazy year, both on a personal level and a global level, and while some of the days have dragged on seemingly forever, the months have flown by. As we enter the last four months of the year and students return to school, it's important to assess what we've accomplished this year and decide how to move forward. Last week I talked about creating a schedule to move your writing career forward. Today I want you to make a big commitment to your writing career. I want to see you making progress by leaps and bounds instead of baby steps in…

14May 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

3 Reasons to Schedule Time for Self Care

Increasing productivity, Mental Health

You have a job. You also have a couple paid writing assignments, a blog to maintain, friends to visit and a family who seems convinced that they deserve some of your precious time. Oh, and you're trying to write a novel in your "spare time". With everything else going on in your life, it's easy to ignore self care. When was the last time you read a good book purely for pleasure? Enjoyed a sunset by yourself? Had a relaxing bath? Did yoga? Odds are you've heard about how important it is to take care of yourself, but how deeply have you thought about it? Is self care part of your daily routine? Here are 3 reasons why it should be: 1. You need your health to write. This includes…

03Feb 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

What different writing groups can do for you

Increasing productivity, Writing, Writing communities

As anyone who's participated in Nanowrimo knows, being part of a writing community is invigorating. Most participants wouldn't win without the community standing behind them. I certainly wouldn't have accomplished 300K in a month without the vibrant Nanowrimo community. Unfortunately, ML's don't run events all year round and the forums slow down immensely a week into December, leaving you to create or find your own writing community. If you know other writers, you can ask around for suggestions about what already exists and what they might like to see created. Today I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of different forms of writing groups, and next week I'll talk about how to find the right one for you. It might turn out that you need to create your…

27Jan 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Creating a realistic schedule when you have no boss

Goal setting, Increasing productivity, Inspirational, Uncategorized, Writing

Last Friday marked the official end of my high school career. For many students this marks time to go to college or starting a full time job. For me it means the opportunity to work on my writing full time. There will likely come a day where I choose to seek full time employment or further education, but for the next few months I'm going to be entirely focused on doing what I love. Or, should I be lacking in discipline, it will mean the least productive period of my entire life. As many authors and entrepreneurs have learned before me, controlling your own schedule can be quite perilous. When you have all day, it's easy to think a few minutes on the phone and one TV show won't completely…

13Jan 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Monthly routines to save time

Goal setting, Increasing productivity, Writing

Some things, like checking email and social media, are best done in small bursts every day. It's easier to do a little bit of cleaning every day than it is to do all your cleaning at once. Still other things are easy to ignore for months, and yet become monumental tasks when you finally face them. Every year, I spend the first couple months paying careful attentions to these things. I carefully organize my life in January and February, and things soon fall apart as I get overwhelmed by everything in my life that isn't writing. But this year I will be finishing school and be able to focus on my writing full time for the first time, and I'm determined to make every day count so that I can…