Idea Creation Part 2

Another good idea for breaking writer’s block (and just a good way to focus on the positive aspects of life) is to keep a “Thankful Journal.” Set a goal so that every day you record 3-5 things your thankful for in a notebook or journal. This keeps an even more precise account of your every day life than a journal does because in a journal you’ll usually write about the big events and gloss over the every day miracles that take place. That’s where your “Thankful Journal” comes in. Being a late bloomer, I didn’t get braces until after I graduated from high school. I absolutely despised them. The only thing that helped me out of my depression was writing 5 things I was thankful for every day for six months straight. Some days, it was really hard, but it forced me to focus on good things instead of sad things. And now that journal serves a double purpose. As I reread it, I find tiny events that spark ideas off spontaneously in my mind. Here are some examples:

• Stayed up late to make a banner and a cake for my roommate’s birthday.
• People admired my sweet rubix cube skills.
• My mom took me to get a make over and $30 cover up.
• Got random free cookies in the library with cream cheese frosting.
• The butterflies in my stomach as the time of the blind date approaches.
• Pancakes I made perfectly all by myself.
• Attending a jazzy Christmas music night.
• Having a “boring” night with my roommates.
• Real rain where I could use my umbrella.
• Holding a three-day-old infant and him falling asleep in my arms.
• Eating a chicken heart at a Brazilian restaurant.
• Going for a walk down my own private “duck alley.”
• The nice security guard with the salt and pepper hair who was “twice as friendly as Santa Claus with a tickle.”

What kinds of things can you be thankful for in your own life?

Idea Creation Part 1

The easiest things to write about are things you already know about. We all have had unique, individual experiences that have shaped our points of view and lend a flavor to our voices that no one else on Earth would be capable of duplicating. But how do we incorporate our experiences into our writing effectively? We can't always remember the things we've done, the places we've gone, and the people we've met. The answer sounds easy, but can actually take more time and effort than a lot of people are willing to commit: keep a journal. This is a lot like writing down the ideas you feel inspired with, but you're writing about the events of your own life. Fortunately for me, journal writing has never been too big of a chore. I've kept a journal since I was in second grade. Granted, there are some years when I was younger when i was lucky to get even ten entries written down, but looking back now is like looking through a window at myself at a younger age. My writing demonstrates my mental state and capacity at that time period and certainly exposes the topics I was preoccupied with. The following are some excerpts from those early entries that I've felt like could be food for thought in future writing ventures:

January 28, 2004
I'm 13 years old. We got a calico cat named Magic from our grandpa for Christmas. My room is a mess. I shave. I wear deodorant. I got a perm and a haircut at the beginning of the school year and I got my hair layered more recently. I am infatuated with Andrew Heikkila and I have a small crush on Jeffrey Barnes . . . I am the president of Cantabile Choir and I think I'm too fat . . . I want to go out on a date and dance with a boy. I want to have my first kiss.

July 9, 2005
June was a month packed full of excitement and fun for me. On June 14 at 4:30 a.m. my mom woke everyone up so we could catch a 6:30 a.m. flight at the airport, beginning our trip to Washington D.C. When we finally got to D.C. at 4:30 p.m. my first impression was of heat and humidity. We rented a car and wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial but had faulty directions and ended up at the Jefferson Memorial. The rest of the trip went better though . . . we later saw the U.S. Captiol, the Smithsonian of American History and Natural History, the National Archives, and the Library of Congress. At these places we saw the original Kermit the Frog, Dorothy's ruby slippers, the Hope diamond and lots of fossils, and the Declaration of Independence.

Included with this last entry were the brochures I picked up for Williamsburg, VA and the Washington Monument and my ticket for when we toured the U.S. Capitol. As you can see, journal writing not only allows you to remember important events in your life, but it also reminds you of experiences that might be interesting to write about . . . in your spare time.

Using Your Resources

As I was researching material to include in my blog, I found myself reading article after article and thinking, "This is exactly what I've been talking about all this time. My followers need to see this." The following are links to articles and other blogs I found that give great hints and tips on how to write in your spare time. If you ever thought you were alone in your difficulties of following your dreams in spite of vastly over-packed schedules and endless commitments, think again.

Ezine Articles
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Write-a-Book-in-Your-Spare-Time&id=2259881

A Far Away City - Martin Adams
http://afarawaycity.blogspot.com/2009/07/writing-full-time-in-your-spare-time-pt.html

Article Directory
http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/Write-a-Children-s-Book-in-Your-Spare-Time-/663956

Telling it Like it is
http://www.tellinitlikeitis.net/2009/11/earn-extra-money-from-home-in-your-spare-time-freelance-writing-online.html

Stephenie Meyer

If there was ever a more famous success story of someone who got published from "writing in their spare time" than Stephenie Meyer, I have yet to hear of it. For the uninitiated, Stephenie Meyer is the best-selling author of the Twilight Series which includes the books Twilight, New moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. Two of these books have now been made into movies and they have each spent time on top the the New York Times Best-Sellers List. Prestigious as her name is now, however, she came from much humbler beginnings. I share this story so that those of you who think all great writers began like Mozart, who started composing at the tender age of 5, can think again.

Stephenie Meyer got her Bachelor's Degree in English from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. She got married, had three kids, and established a comfortable life as a stay-at-home mom and may have continued in this way and passed on into the oblivion of nameless faces if she hadn't one night in 2003, at the age of 30, written down an idea she got from a dream. The idea so intrigued her that she began writing--in her spare time. According to her online biography, she "mostly wrote at night, after the kids were asleep so that [she] could concentrate for longer than five minutes without being interrupted." Despite the plethra of demands made on her time by three young children--from making breakfast to changing diapers to driving kids to and from swimming lessons--she finished her book in three months.

Maybe this biography describes you, and maybe it doesn't. One for sure thing is that Stephenie Meyer was leading a perfectly ordinary life up until the day she received from a publishing house the announcement that her book had been chosen for revision and publication. There are thousands more possible Stephenie Meyers in the world--all you really need is a good idea, a little spare time, and a determination to finish.