7 Ways to Boost Your Writing Productivity

Every once in a while, I find myself with extra time on my hands and nothing much to do.

But most of the time, I’m scrambling simply to make it through the day without letting anything important slip. Chances are, you’re in the same boat.

Between school, work, family, clubs, sports, friends, and everything else, there’s often not much time left to write. That means you need to make the most of the limited time you have.

Here are seven tips on getting the most out of your writing time.

Limit Social Media

It’s easy to spend hours on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and other social media platforms. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with social media—many successful authors are on it all the time—it can quickly consume all of your writing time. Don’t let it.

Set yourself a goal: “I can’t go on Instagram until I’ve written 500 words.”

Make sure it’s practical and achievable. If your goal is too hard to reach, you’ll ignore it. But don’t make it too easy, either.

Or instead of a goal, set a time limit. Set your phone’s timer for 15 minutes before you go online. When the timer goes off, it’s time to shut down your apps and get back to writing.

Have a Writing Spot

One of the best ways to focus on writing is to have a special writing spot. Make sure it is comfortable, well enough lit, and quiet enough that you can concentrate.

If possible, pick a spot that you use only for writing. Don’t do anything else there. No email, no texting, no social media. Don’t even read books there. Use it only for writing. By not using that spot for anything else, it can help you focus just on writing whenever you’re there.

Have a Writing Time

With our hectic schedules, it can be tough to pick out one particular time to use for writing every day. But if you can do it, it will help you focus.

It doesn’t matter what time you pick, as long as it works for you. Many writers are best first thing in the morning. Many authors write better just before bed. Right before or after supper is often a good, consistent time.

Naturally, that doesn’t mean you can’t write at other times. But having a consistent time to write ensures you fit at least some writing time into your schedule almost every day.

Take a Break

Does not writing actually make you more productive as a writer? Well, sometimes it can.

If you’re only writing for 15 or 20 minutes a day, breaks aren’t important. But if you do manage to sit down for a longer session, they can make a huge difference. Especially when you’re stuck.

Get up. Stretch. Get a drink or snack. Go for a walk. Exercise not only rejuvenates your body, it helps clear your mind. While you’re being physically active, your mind will relax and the ideas will begin to flow.

Just don’t take so many breaks that you never get any writing done.

Build a Playlist

This one depends a lot on you. Some writers work best when it’s quiet. But many others like to listen to music as they write.

Music speaks to the creative areas of your brain and may be just what you need to get those writing juices flowing.

But not all music works equally well. Your favorite songs, the ones you have to sing along with, may distract you rather than help you. Pick songs that blend into the background.

Select songs that promote a particular mood. Writing something lighthearted and funny? Pick upbeat songs. Writing a zombie apocalypse? Something darker is called for.

Experiment with volume, too. Some people write better to quiet music; others like it loud.

Keep a Journal

A journal is helpful on so many levels. Not only is it good, constant writing practice, but it’s the best place to record all of those great ideas that pop into your head at random times.

Whenever you’re stuck on a story or a scene, flip through your journal. Somewhere in there is the answer. Ideas tucked away into corners weeks, months, or even years ago will leap out at just the right time to get you back on track.

Find a Writing Buddy

Writing by its very nature is a solitary pursuit. Yes, some authors collaborate, but even then, most writing gets done separately. And because writing is solitary, it has some drawbacks.

Most of the time there’s no accountability. Unless you’ve managed to land a paid writing job, there’s no one looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re getting the job done. When you write by yourself, it’s easy to slack off, set the work aside, and not get much accomplished.

A writing buddy is someone who can pester you on a regular basis to see how your story is coming. They are someone you can bounce ideas off of. Once you have finished your story, they can give you feedback. And you do exactly the same to keep them on track, too.

Your writing time is limited. Make the most of it.

Weekend Writing Prompt 1

Your parents accidentally leave something sitting out that you were never meant to discover.

If you come up with a good response, please consider sharing it. Complete THIS FORM with your story and some basic info no later than Friday, March 8. I’ll pick my favorite response and share it on the blog the following Friday.

Happy writing, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Become a Scholastic News Kids Press Reporter

Calling all 10-14 year-olds! Scholastic News is currently seeking its next set of Kids Press Corps reporters for the 2019-2020 year. This is an incredible opportunity to not only showcase your writing, but to get to meet some incredible people and report on amazing stories.

To qualify, you must:

- be at least 10 years old as of August 31, 2019, but not over 14 years old
- complete an application, which includes writing a personal essay and sample news story

All applications are due no later that May 31, 2019. No late applications accepted!

To see the kinds of stories that the Kids Press Corps reports, see their main page at http://kpcnotebook.scholastic.com.

For more details and to apply, see http://kpcnotebook.scholastic.com/page/how-join-scholastic-news-kids-press-corps.

Harmony Ink Press Young Author Challenge

Harmony Ink Press is looking for young authors (ages 14-21) who write in the LGBTQ+ genre to submit short stories for their sixth annual Young Author Challenge.

Your main characters should be 14 – 21 years old. They can be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or anywhere else on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, including characters who are still in the process of working out their sexual/gender identity. Your story should portray positive LGBTQ+ characters who grow or change for the better in some way.

To be considered, your submissions needs to be between 2,000 – 10,000 words.

The Young Author Challenge only accepts work from authors between the ages of 14 – 21.

Selected stories will be published in an anthology to be released in both paperback and eBook formats. Payment ranges from $70 – $100 depending on story length.

This challenge is especially exciting because you are guaranteed to receive feedback from at least one published author, whether your submission is accepted or not.

Submission Deadline: May 1, 2019

Publication Date: October 2019

Send your submission to submissions@harmonyinkpress.com. Be sure to include “Young Author Challenge Submission” in the subject line of the e-mail.

For more information, visit the Harmony Ink Press website.

C. Wombat

Review: Fire & Heist by Sarah Beth Durst

It would be tough to describe Sarah Beth Durst’s latest novel, Fire & Heist, any better than she did herself.

“I had the idea for this book while I was eating pizza (with mozzarella, tomato slices, and balsamic vinegar—yum!) and talking about heist movies with my awesome family. Midbite, I jumped up and said, ‘I want to write Ocean’s Eleven with were-dragons!’”

Released in December, 2018, Fire & Heist is Durst's seventeenth novel, and it does not disappoint.

Sky Hawkins is a 16-year-old wyvern (or were-dragon, as she likes to think of herself). Wyverns have lived among humans for centuries, but have made every effort to keep themselves separate. Despite their power, they are vastly outnumbered, and always in danger.

In wyvern society, reputation is everything, and it’s based in large part on how much gold you own and how craftily you acquire it. The more daring and difficult the heist, the more respected the victory becomes. And when it came to reputation, Sky’s family was riding high.

Then Sky’s mother failed in an attempted heist. Their reputation plummeted, and they were ostracized among the wyverns, nearly outcast. But that didn’t matter to Sky nearly as much as the fact that her mother vanished without a trace. Her father hints that she is still alive, but no one will tell Sky anything.

Determined to discover the truth and find her mother, Sky reenacts her mother’s last heist, breaking into a heavily protected vault and recovering a rare gem. Sky must recruit a diverse team of friends—and a few not-so-friends—to have any chance of success. And she can’t let her father or brothers figure out what’s going on.

Pulling the heist off means restoring her family’s reputation and finding her mother. Failure means permanent expulsion from wyvern society—if she lives that long.

Durst has crafted a complex and deeply satisfying world, full of twists, turns, and intrigue. Her descriptions are vivid and compelling, and there’s no shortage of action on any page. Fire & Heist is a gripping combination of thriller and contemporary fantasy that will make a great addition to your bookshelf.

C. Wombat

5 Ways of Knowing That You Are a Writer

There are many writers in this world, and many others who want to be writers. There are even more who think it might be fun to be a writer, but have never given it any serious thought.

But what makes a writer? How do you know if you are one? Or if you even have what it takes?

Here are five characteristics that most writers have in common.

You Read All the Time

Writers don’t just pop up out of nowhere. Every single one of them was a reader first.

In most cases (but certainly not all), writers tend to be those kids who were the first to start reading. The ones who read anything and everything they could get their hands on. The ones who were reading books that their parents, teachers, and friends told them were too hard for them.

Imagine trying to go out on the field and play baseball when you’ve never watched a single game. That’s like trying to write without reading. You have to know the rules. You have to understand the flow of the game. To write, you have to read.

If you’re a voracious reader, you’ve already taken the first steps towards being a writer.

Can you be a writer without constantly reading? Yes, but it might be quite a bit harder, and you'll probably make more mistakes that could be avoided just by reading more.

You Read Actively

It’s a sad fact that many teens, and even more adults, don’t read anything they don’t have to. And even if they do read, a lot of people—probably even the majority—read just for fun. They only see what’s on the surface.

But writers dig deeper when they read. They examine the structure of the story. They revel in the descriptions. They don’t just read the dialogue, they hear it. They try to predict what’s going to happen next.

There’s nothing at all wrong with reading just for pleasure. Every writer does it, many of them every single day.

But if you find yourself looking past the words, if you envision yourself in the story and how it might play out differently, then you’ve definitely got the makings of a writer.

You Collect Ideas

Just about every writing conference, panel session, or author talk I’ve ever been too, one of the questions that gets asked is, “Where do you get your ideas?”

And the answer is the same every single time: everywhere.

Writers don’t invent their stories out of thin air. They look closely at the world around them. They observe events. They watch people. They listen. And they find ideas.

But here’s the important part: they not only find ideas everywhere they look—they write them down.

One of the biggest, most important things you can do as a writer is to keep your eyes open for story ideas, and write them down! Keep an idea journal. Carry it with you whenever you can. When you can’t, at least carry some note cards or scratch paper.

Ideas are everywhere, but they’re incredibly fleeting. You might think you’ll remember that absolutely wonderful idea forever, but what if you don’t? Jot it down right away, any way you can, and add it to your idea journal when you get a chance.

Good writers never have to struggle to come up with ideas. Just by watching the world around them, they find far more ideas than they can ever use.

You Connect Ideas

So, what do you do with all of those ideas you’ve collected? All those characters, settings, turns of phrase, puns, events?

By themselves, individual ideas aren’t that useful. But once you put them together, that’s when you have a story.

Writers will often begin a story by taking two or three (or more) of their ideas and mashing them together. I felt like writing a zombie story, but not just the same old zombie story. While thinking about what to write, I watched some birds splashing around in a birdbath. I asked myself what zombies and birdbaths have in common, then sat down and wrote my story.

If you find yourself connecting ideas, asking yourself “what if this happened” and “how would this person react to this event,” you’re ready to write.

You Write

What is the one thing that every single writer has in common?

They write.

You can want to be a writer. You can daydream about book tours and movie deals. You can fantasize about hoards of fans screaming for the release of your next novel. I’ve spent far more time that I’d care to admit doing all of those things.

But until you start writing, you’re not a writer, and never will be.

All of the other characteristics are important, but this one is vital. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. Every day, if possible. You have to want to write. Many writers will tell you they find it painful not to write. If that’s you, you’re in good company.

So, what’s the best way of knowing if you’re a writer? You write.

Start today. Start now. Create something amazing.

C. Wombat