Day 75: Traveling

As the holidays come up, one of the most difficult challenges for everyday writers come to the surface. How can you get everything you need to completed when you're jumping from one flight to another and headed home to see your family and friends? The name of the game is definitely discipline. I will be getting up very early on Tuesday so that I can finish all of my writing, paid for or otherwise, to take a lot of the pressure off of needing to do it all while I'm on a plane or in an airport terminal.

That being said, when you're actually traveling, via plane or train, if you have a pad of paper for yourself available and a writing utensil (plus one backup), writing in transit is a synch. Know what scenes you plan on writing or make a note what you need to write about at the top of each page. I've used this method on multiple trips around the country and while it's tough to fit everything in, it's completely worth it not to "take a break" just because you're on "vacation." I would much rather have to make a few sacrifices here and there and complete 12,500 words during my 5 day vacation than have to catch up once I get back to Chicago!

Yesterday was my big Twitter #JournalChat and it was a ton of fun. Here's a transcript of the entire conversation. Did some fun back story work on Ted today and I'm thinking of taking a break soon to get back into the world of creating characters for 1,000 Character Writing Prompts, Part 2. I also wrote a blog post today about everyday creative writing. Happy Friday, all!

Day 74: The Deep Freeze

As winter in Chicago begins (about a month earlier than the official solstice), the deep freeze is on and I once again feel blessed to live in a warm apartment and to have a job that keeps me cozy. While I wouldn't say that the cabin-fever-causing life of a freelancer isn't ideal for everybody, it's certainly nice for people who like to stay warm during the winter :).

Interesting opportunities seem to abound this week as I'm involved in my first ever live Twitter chat with blogger Dawn Herring. Around 4 PM CST/2 PM PST I'll be answering questions and chatting about one of my latest blog posts that was centered on Journal Writing Ideas. Search #JournalChat today around that time to check out the chat!

Today on the writing front, I worked on Ted and I tried to be a step ahead of the game by creating a post of December writing prompts.