50 Useful Tips to Boost Your Organisation and Productivity

Good advice to stay on track

Suzie Speaks

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small amount of money if you make a purchase from any of the Amazon links included…

A routine is incredibly important to productivity, motivation and organisation and a morning routine (even if you aren’t a morning person) followed by further preparation in the evening is more likely to encourage a successful day. 

Avoid focusing on the idea of perfection. There’s no such thing. Avoid getting caught up in fussing over the insignificant.

Plan your month in advance. Using a calendar, phone, diary or Bullet Journal, map out your month. I like to see an overview of everything on one page, so I create a linear list in my Bullet Journal for the entire month of dates when I have an appointment, event and a birthday to remember. I duplicate this list onto a single piece of paper…

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Turning an Idea into a Plot

good advice

Uninspired Writers

Good morning writers, I hope you’ve had a great week.

I took a little time out this week, and took myself to Edinburgh for a few days. It’s an amazing city, and my aim was to spend some time alone, plotting novel 2 ahead of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Whether you’re planning to take part in NaNo or not, you may sometimes find yourself struggling to turn an idea into a full plot. I know do. So I’m going to share with you my method for turning a fledgling idea into a full story outline. (Please note, this is not a guaranteed guide, it works for me but may not work for everybody.)

Take a look at the following eight steps, to turn your novel idea into a plot:

1. Spend some quiet time thinking
The first thing I do when I have the stirrings of a new…

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It’s Finally Here!

Here in Texas, the first day of fall sometimes slips by virtually unnoticed, but this year was an exception. It began with a downpour. Heavy dark clouds, a little fog, and chilly weather set the tone for the day.

Made me want to pull out my recipes. After months of salads and quick meals, nothing sounds (or smells) better than a pot of homemade soup and hot bread. I’ve already changed my comforter and added another thin cotton quilt for cooler nights to come. My tub of fall decorations is sitting in the living room, waiting.

Soon it’ll be time to get out and look at all the fall decorations, search for the red mums and colorful pumpkins I use on my front porch. October is a busy month. Our town hosts Autumn Trails every year so there’s something going on every weekend. My daughter and I usually go to the Arts and Crafts show for her birthday. My sister and I plan to go to Canton to celebrate our birthday at the end of the month. And every year my son and daughter-in-law host a Halloween party.

I’m looking forward to it.

Advice On Submitting to Agents

Good advice!

Uninspired Writers

Morning world builders, I hope you’ve all had a great week.

Last Sunday I sent of my first ever submissions. I sent my carefully crafted work out into the world, and now I am up against the long wait for inevitable rejections and potential feedback.

It’s taken a long time to reach this point and I’ve needed to do a lot of research, and seek a lot of help, to get here. So I want to share with you some of the advice that has helped me, and some of the things I’ve learned. Please share your advice in the comments, as there’s still plenty I don’t know.

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1. Make sure your novel is finished
This is the first advice you’ll see anywhere. It’s really tempting, when you’ve had an amazing idea, to pitch it before it’s ready. But the truth us, most agents want to hear from writers who…

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Remembering 9/11

Always

Nicholas C. Rossis

Remembering 9/11

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Writing Is Easy And It Is Hard

via Writing Is Easy And It Is Hard

What kind of editing do I need? by Kerri Miller…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

on Utopian Editing site:

You’ve written something. You’ve poured all your skill, creativity, and time into it. You’ve made sacrifices to reach the finish line, and you can now congratulate yourself on a job well done.

But what’s next?

You know that something needs to happen between the completed draft and publication. Trouble is, you aren’t quite sure what. There are so many types of editing:

• Developmental (substantive) editing
• Fact-checking
• Line editing
• Copyediting
• Proofreading
• Formatting

How are you supposed to know what services you need? 

Continue reading HERE

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Writing An Agent Submission Letter

Short and sweet…good information

Journey To Ambeth

After seven days of writing about an otherworldly weekend away with The Silent Eye, it’s back to reality with a rather prosaic thud – this post is all about crafting the agent submission letter.

I’ve written before about submitting your manuscript to agents – while I don’t consider myself by any means an expert, I have had a bit of experience in sending the things out. I also attended a workshop some time back at Bloomsbury, where a couple of London agents shared their idea of a perfect submission letter, and several other agents have commented that my submission package stood out from the others (although no-one has taken me on board as yet – boo-hoo).

So, how do you structure the all-important letter? (I say all-important because it’s the first opportunity you have to make an impression, and we all know how important first impressions are). Well, here are…

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Everyone interested in time travel, meet here yesterday

bluebird of bitterness

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Author SummerRead Exchange-Viviana Mackade

I’m visiting Viviana Mackade today. Stop by and join the conversation about alternate realities. https://viviana-mackade.blog/2018/07/26/in-my-own-shadow-by-susan-a-royal-and-meet-the-character/