Even if you don’t have a publisher setting deadlines for you, you can still use deadlines to accelerate your writing process.

There are many ways to do this.

• Find an  accountability partner and share goals
• Tell EVERYONE and have your friends and family ask if you’ve finished your book yet.
• Use contests and challenges to motivate you.

Right now is a great time to get involved in contests and challenges.

The Rose City Romance Writers offer the Golden Rose contest to help you prepare for the Golden Heart contest of Romance Writers of America. You get a critique of 50 pages.

The Golden Rose Contest is now open. Click on the banner for details.

If you write articles, Ezine Articles is holding their 4^th 100 articles in 100 day challenge. It’s already into the second month, but you can still join. If you can’t make the 100 articles, do as many as you can. Even if you don’t win the goodies they offer, you will still have more articles than you do now. Articles are a great way to put your name in front of readers and get people to visit your website or blog.

If you have a blog (and you really should), Jeanette Cates is holding a 30 posts in 30 days blog challenge in June. There is a Twitter hashtag (#blog30) and a membership site. You can meet lots of great folks and get more exposure for your writing.

Pick a method. Set a deadline. Start writing.

What are your favorite ways to move your writing into high gear? Leave a comment and share it.

This week I’ve been sick, REALLY sick, sicker than I’ve been in years sick. Well, you get the idea.

Like you, I set my goals high for the year. I jumped into the Ezine Articles 100 articles in levitra price 100 days challenge. I was on-track with my articles. I’d outlined a series of blog posts. Then WHAM!

A dear friend reminded me that sometimes we need to give our bodies a chance to catch up with our minds. If we don’t slow down, our bodies find a way to force us.

So, I’ve been cocooned, wrapped up in my soft ,cuddly robe, usually with my soft, sometimes cuddly cockatoo, resting, healing, and skimming. Since I’ve been unable to concentrate on too much for too long, I’ve been watching SHORT videos, listening to SHORT audios, and scanning articles and blogs.

While I’ve been ingesting snippets of information, I’ve been getting ideas and taking notes for my own work. I’ve gotten ideas for blog posts, articles, teleseminars, audios, and videos.

I’ve posted comments Erection packs. Viagra, Livitra… on some of the blogs I’ve read. This is a great way to build relationships and connect with new readers. I love becoming part of conversations all over the net.

As my energy returns, I’ll be able to write the articles and posts that I’ve planned. That is much easier than trying to come up with ideas and write at the same time. While I’ve rested, my mind has been busy at work fleshing out my notes. I will still be able to keep up with the 100 article challenge.

The lessons I’ve learned are

• Listen to 5 mg paxil viagra buy online cheap your body.
  • Slow down before you HAVE to.
• Take time to relax and gather new ideas.
  • (Smell the roses too.)
• Write down all your ideas.
  • The palest ink is stronger than the best memory.
• When your energy starts returning, use it to heal first.
  • Jumping back to work too fast leads to relapse.
• Even if you can’t talk, you can still maintain relationships.
  • Emails, blog comments, forum posts, Twitter, and chats all work well without using your voice.
• Sometimes it’s better to be still and listen.
  • Give the universe a chance to bring you what you need.

Even though this illness has delayed my planned teleseminar series, I’ll be better prepared for it when I can talk again.

Make sure you don’t miss the calls.  Put your email address in the opt-in box on the right. You’ll receive an email announcement in your inbox.

How do you make your downtime productive? Leave a comment and share your techniques,

Write on,

Lynn

I made it back to Portland in time for last month’s meeting of Rose City Romance Writers. This great group of writers support each other in every level of their writing careers. The meetings are informative and inspiring.  I always can’t wait to get back to the keyboard when I leave the meetings.

After a great presentation on promotion (one of my favorite subjects) by a couple of the rising stars of the group and celebrating some great new contracts, a bunch of us went out to lunch. I finally got to catch up with a few friends who I haven’t seen in several months.

One friend has recently started writing again after several months of dealing with life’s obstacles. She bemoaned the fact that her writing wasn’t flowing as smoothly as it had in the past. The words weren’t coming easily, and her writing didn’t evoke emotions of the reader as it had in the past. She asked me how to improve her writing skills.

You’ve probably had this problem at one time or another. When you sit down to write, your fingers don’t fly over the keys or your words would be better gracing the bottom of the bird cage instead of shining in your next novel. › Continue reading…