WRITE ME: Advice, Projects, Practices, and Motivation for Wattpad Writers

MY FAVORITE THINGS - 1

This is the first of a multi-part series on the things every writer should / could have in their toolbox. I was going to wait on this for a while, but the reason I'm kicking off early is that it's the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas is around the corner and people are out buying gifts! This will help to make sure you don't get ANOTHER mug.

Mugs are nice. I'm not anti-mug.

***btw I'm not getting any kind of kickback or affiliate money from suggesting anything to you. This is just my opinion as a career writer and the stuff I've found over the years that helped me stay productive!***

What's my thinking here? I'm going to do this in a very specific order at the start because one thing I could suggest may work better when paired with something from a previous post. Good? Here we go!

Ever wanted to participate in Writing Sprints? And, like, smoke your author pals? Here's how. Today's FAVORITE THING, and the most important thing imo, is... to take a typewriting class.

I KNOW! You're already swiping off.

It's a hassle...

and you're doing just fine...

and dictation has gotten increasingly better by the year...

and pretty soon artificial intelligence will help the trascription process along...

and by the time you're finished with your typewriting class, you'll be able to dictate at your own comfortable pace anyhow...

Hear me out. I personally think that if you are choosing to be a writer, you need to be able to physically write without too many technological aides. And, yes, I already admit that many of my "Favorite Things" could be considered technological aides. That said, I still firmly believe every author should have a foundation of practical, traditional writing skills.

Are there apps and programs and online courses out there that can help you type? Definitely, and I'm not knocking those. BUT! If you can find an IN-PERSON typewriting course, add it to your wishlist! Maybe they offer one at your school. If not, try a junior college course or check with your local library.

This is not a process you should try to "hack". I repeat, this isn't a "Whoa, I learned how to type in 5 days!!" thing. No. Noooo. Sitting in a classroom with direct instruction, gradually learning how to master that keyboard without looking down and consistently increasing your WPM (Words Per Minute) speed is going to make you a better writer. Which is the point.

So you've tried it, and it's not for you? Don't be upset if you're not there yet. Your writing career is not a sprint. Be patient with yourself. No one is born knowing how to type. We all have to learn, and I've been typing consistently since high school.

Why do I suggest this? I can't describe in words how safe and comfortable I am at a keyboard. I remember when typing required my attention. No longer. These days typing is such a natural thing, I barely think about it. Using the keyboard is as thought-consuming as taking a breath. And that's where we need to be as writers. Especially if you are plagued with attention issues... like yours truly...

Look, a squirrel!!

STORY TIME: Long distance runners often describe reaching a "runner's high". Once they'be been running long enough the body simply takes over mechanically and they experience an unreal euphoria. This phenomenon fascinates me. It's as if our body is capable of autonomous consciousness! It's not, but it sure feels that way. So how can we, as writers, tap into this peculiar occurrence?

Well, we can! We call it "being in the zone". One of the most important states of mind that you can find yourself in as a writer is the zone — that flow state where ideas are just pouring out of you. I fondly refer to it as the Brain Dump, where I just free write until my fingers start to cramp. Of course, it's first draft garbage, but you got the words on the page. You did! And that's half the battle. When we find ourselves in that state of mind, call it what you like, we need to do whatever we can to not be interrupted. Typing helps us to stay there!

Sure, there is still the physical functionality of typing that could impede the flow of your narrative. I will be showing you different tricks and other "Favorite Things" that will help you in this area. For now, get yourself into a typewriting class. Make it a practice not to look at your fingers and be okay with making mistakes. Develop a really good habit of using the keyboard daily. Of course, we can feel secure in the dictation software and the ability of the microphone on our phones to help us, and utilizing that tool is a good idea. But we shouldn't rely on it. I don't want to say it makes us lazy, but it kinda does. Also it confuses punctuation, doesn't understand us completely, and mis-types unfamiliar proper nouns. These and other issues can be frustrating stumbling blocks that pull you out of that precious flow state.

The worst is going back through the text you dictated into your phone and discovering a sequence of quickly worded mistakes that you now have to decode and eventually delete because you have no idea what you were saying. This is very frustrating because, well, you're a genius and none of your words should be deleted!!

byeeeeee

Extra Credit:
I once worked with a girl who was studying to be a court room stenographer and was impressed by how quickly she could notate her thoughts. Part of this career, at least in the way my mechanical mind thinks of things, is to constantly be iterating the process to make book writing faster, more productive, and more efficient. And this is certainly one way you could do that! I never considered it myself, but for those overachievers out there, this is how to surpass all of us during those writing sprints!