Paranormal Magical Realism
Creative writers releasing their inner authors is the motto of Author Apprentices. In conjunction with YouTube, they host their Free blog on Patreon. The nice thing about the Patreon platform you contribute what you chose too.
Our blog is free. The benefits of being part of the community are described within the tiers of participation. As the community grows our ability to prove beta readers, critique partners, and social get-togethers will also grow.
I will see you there.
For many years, I have focused on growing this or that business. Nothing has grown from many attempts. My recent focus on writing. Not a publishing business, not a website with merchandise for sale, just plain old writing stories, and typing the end. Then I begin again.
This is my recent epiphany. What did you do today? As I look back, probably busywork. When I ask, What did you accomplish today? A different answer appears. I want to know what I accomplished that propelled me forward to my goal.
Let me share an example. What did you do today? I researched and figured MailerLite might be a better choice for a newsletter distributor. Then I removed the old email distributor and set up the new MailerLite after creating an account, and the first campaign. Discussed the change with my go-to person, and hashed it out as to if this really was a good idea. Now, What did you achieve today? See how that changes your focus from the busy work and went directly to what you needed to accomplish. I put into place a new more productive newsletter distributor.
When I listen to motivational young folks on how they make their first million while I am working on my first hundred, it inspires me when they accomplish so much in a relatively short amount of time. Sunny Lenarduzzi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCbfiEcsGhU) and Steve Jobs (https://getpocket.com/explore/item/one-thing-steve-jobs-did-at-apple-that-will-instantly-improve-your-productivity?utm_source=pocket-newtab) Both removed the distraction.
Using the plan set out by Sunny Lenarduzzi and Steve Jobs, I’ve taken my writing to the next level. Stephen King said in an interview that he writes four hours a day. I’m not to that level of habit, but I am getting cranky if I don’t get at least an hour a day of writing time.
You might ask, what stops me from doing more? Power. Until this past week, I didn’t have reliable power to keep the computer charged let alone the phone and the tablet I do my 9 – 5 job. My creative moments were during the time I had unlimited shore power. In fact, during those times I failed at my exercise program because I lasered my focus on my writing and editing.
What have you accomplished today?
Fangirl here!
When you run short on time and still want to write you either make time or dictate on the go. If you choose the later, then transcribing can be a chore. There are a lot of virtual assistants that do transcribe only and nothing else. Which means you will need to do all the edits yourself.
I have found that google docs have a voice typing tool. You dictate to google docs. This feature is not always accurate and sometimes when I use it, my article reads as if the aliens dictated it. Speak slowly, enunciate clearly, and read it often to make sure you are actually capturing what you dictate.
At times my southern twang drives it to the brink of a chaos hijinks. I do like and recommend it as a form of the old Dragon Speaks program. The drawback is it doesn’t work on all my devices.
Log into docs.google.com with your Gmail account and you have an online equivalent to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
