Five Writing Tips

Last week, I shared my writing goals for 2022 and I thought I'd follow that up with five writing tips that I've learned along the way while writing 15 books, which I'm sure I'll be putting into practice over the next year!

I first discovered this method of writing back in 2017. It was the school summer holidays and I was in a bit of a writing slump, so getting the words down was tough. But I found setting a 15 minute timer and only having to write during that short burst (with no distractions or looking up stuff on Google) really helpful. Having only 15 minutes to write feels less daunting and it takes the pressure off.

I've used this method loads of times since and I usually get around 400 words down. I then repeat the timer a few times during the day and I end up clocking up a decent word count for the day.

You can see my original blog post about it here

I find the Read Aloud function on Word really helpful when it comes to the latter stages of a book. Our brains can trick us into reading what we think is supposed to be on the screen, but having a voice reading out what I've written helps to make any mistakes jump out. 

I blogged about the Read Aloud function here

Having trouble thinking of names for your characters? I put together a list of five fun ways to name characters to stop you from staring at your laptop in frustration.

So you have names for your characters, but what makes them tick?

I shared three ways to get to know your characters while planning my twelfth book.

I like setting myself goals when writing - even if they're only loose 'work on Book 15 during January' types ones. It helps to keep me on track and stops me getting too lazy.

I also like to mark milestones - the start of a new book, 10,000 words, The End, etc - as I find these help to keep me motivated.

I blogged about setting goals and marking milestones here

I hope you find my writing tips useful. If you have any tips of your own, feel free to share them in the comments below :)

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5 Ways I'm Getting Ready for Nanowrimo