Enrichment Activities:
30 Days of Stay-at-Home Learning, Business,
and Self-Care Activities for Writers
Fiction writer?
Home?
Bored?
Thinking that you should be getting some writing done but somehow not getting anywhere with that?
First, let me recommend that you take it easy on yourself.
Second, have I got some ideas for you!
If you’re spinning your wheels and want someone to give you the equivalent of a small arts and crafts kit for fiction writing, have I got some suggestions for you.
As a ten-year ghostwriting freelancer, I have been disciplining myself to stay on track and focused for quite some time. I’ve learned some tricks on the business side, and I’m a positive fiend for studying new techniques.
Want to steal some of that? Follow this blog for the next month, and you’ll have 30 different story starts, 30 different journal entries to mine for content, 30 different fiction techiques to add to your toolbox, and lots, lot more.
And best of all? While it’s on the blog, it’ll be free.
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Da Rules
- The business tip should take you no longer than 10 minutes; if it takes you longer, put it on your to-do list for later (unless you actually feel like doing it).
- Study projects: literally type in the first 250-500 words (as you like) of the opening of the book, not counting any introductions, prefaces, or quotes, unless it’s part of the book. However you normally type your fiction, do that. If you hand-write fiction, you can hand-write the study projects, but stay on the low end.
- Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way has excellent advice on how to journal. She recommends 3 pages in a spiral-bound notebook. I advise to go for a minimum of 1 page spiral bound or 250-500 words typed.
- Short writing topics: You can do more than 3 sentences. Stop when you feel like stopping. This is just to try something new.
- Staying human: If you’re going to pick one thing to do every day, hydrate!
- Fun with research: it’s best to do your own Internet searches, but I’ve provided a fun link to get started with.
My choices across the board reflect my own personal preferences, not any kind of absolute wisdom. This is a rapid prototype, not a well-thought-out plan of development for fiction writers!
The idea for this project came from a voice chat with some members of the Colorado Tesla Writers Group, who expressed that they were having trouble staying motivated to write.
DAY 27
Business Tip
Look through your “done” list and make a list of tasks which you will need to check up on later, but not “soon.” Add your #1 priority to the top of the list. Add your writing schedule. Congratulations! You now have a minimal business writing plan. If you like, start adding your long-term goals, wishes, dreams, and “if I get extra money in my tax return” information.
Short Study Project
Type in the first page of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, not Chapter 1, but the part beginning with “Far out in the uncharted backwaters…” Highligh all elements that hint at hopelessness and despair. (Use the Free Amazon sample!)
Journal Topic
Write one page or less about something that made you feel hopeless, and how you might insult, mock, heap sarcasm upon, minimize, belittle, satirize, or otherwise verbally wreck that situation. (Hint: don’t write about specific people. Anyone can write nasty things about their ex. Mock the situation itself.)
Short Writing Topic
Write 3 evil little sentences about a situation greatly in need of being mocked.
Staying Human
Go to your local library’s website and figure out how to check out ebooks, music, and/or movies from your local library. Hint: libraries are often funded based on how much they’re used!
Fun with Research
Watch an episode of a British satire that you haven’t seen before: Blackadder, Red Dwarf, and Fawlty Towers are classics.
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