Category: Videos

5 Tips For Fighting Burn-Out: Learning Limits And Finding Gratitude

For those of you in America or from America, I’d like to wish you a very merry Thanksgiving. For the rest of you, I hope you have a great day.

I knew, going into November, that NaNoWriMo might not happen. The first couple days I was going to be a writing convention, I have a massive work deadline coming up in early December, plus, there’s that whole family and holiday thing you might have noticed is happening. But still, I had hope and plans.

However, I’ve had to take a step back and reassess. Here are my:

5 Steps For Avoiding Burn Out

Didn’t I Used To Be An Extrovert?

The past couple of years, I’ve noticed a trend–in myself. I’ve been wanting to stay home and not deal with going out. I’ve been not wanting to host big, complicated events, and it was usually okay if people came to me. Although, lately, I’ve been craving smaller and smaller groups. Of worse? Wanting to stay home, on my couch, alone.

But wait, I thought I was an extrovert. Was I was wrong? My entire identity has fallen into crisis!

One Method For Incorporating Feedback In Your Writing

If you’re a writer, at some point between you putting the words down and it going out to its intended audience, you’re probably going to solicit some feedback (and if you don’t, you probably should).

Be it from one or all of these:

  • an alpha reader
  • a flock of beta readers
  • a writing group
  • a critique partner
  • a paid editor
  • an agent
  • an acquiring Editor for a publishing house
  • or your mom

you’re likely going to receive some feedback other than, “I loved it! Don’t change a thing!” (Unless your mother is very different from mine)

But, when that feedback is more nebulous or overarching than typos and wording, it can be tricky to know where to start.

https://youtu.be/pmRmXKkqyPU

Here are the 6 steps I follow when receiving reader feedback

3 Techniques to Fix Your Pacing

There’s a writing skill that many novelists struggle with.

It’s something that read-a-chapter-a-month critique groups often miss.

Pacing.

We all know that you need to start off with an inciting incident — at least by the end of the first chapter. But after there, it can get a bit fuzzy.

3 Techniques To Help Your Pacing