R is for Research

Sorry it took a little bit to post past the letter Q. I may have (unintentionally) made you think that I had just up and quit anyways, despite me saying that I didn't plan to. Not so. Fridays and Saturdays get really busy for me and I've been using Sundays to catch up, instead of taking it off like I'm supposed to for the A to Z Challenge.

~~~

Letter R is for research!

Research is very important when writing. Doing your research can really make a difference in how people accept your work. If you fail to do research, most people will see that you are "faking it" and it can pull them right out of the story. This is bad! You want people into the story, forgetting they are even reading. If you remind them they are reading by making them think, "Woa, the author really messed up here," then you are not going to have as successful a story. You risk not getting those coveted reviews that curse you for keeping them up all night because they could not put the book down.

Some things need to be researched more than others. If you have a character getting excited because he or she got a new computer, it might not be a bad idea to hit some tech sites and see what kind of things excite people about new computers. It doesn't need to take a lot of research if it is just a part of a small scene in your story.

However, if the computer is central to the story and you don't know much about computers, make sure you start to become an expert. If you have a kid who uses his computer to hack into the CIA, you had better become a bit of an expert on hacking, tracing, getting around passwords, encryption, proxy servers, and more.

Q is for Quitting

I've got to be honest, turning out a blog every day has turned out to be more time consuming than I had imagined. If I could go back I would probably have not done the A to Z Challenge. I have appreciated the comments that have come in and the new people I have interfaced with. I really have. You have no idea what each comment I receive means to me.

My post on priorities yesterday got me thinking about the time I have put towards this blog and how it has pulled me away from the writing I want to do. This little blogging adventure is going to teach me to think a little more before I start taking on new things.

I'm not quitting, though I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind. I'm going to see this challenge through. I do see the opportunity for growth and I hope to be able to connect with more people. And I've made it this far, I'd only be kicking myself if I threw in the towel this late in the game. And it isn't that it has been an unpleasant experience, only a time-consuming one.

Sorry that this post is a bit of a downer, but I just wanted to blog what I'm feeling today. I'm going to keep this brief as I've promised a friend I would help out with something. Nice thing is that it is writing related, so I think it is for a good cause.

And, really, the letter Q? Somebody needs to call up that letter and tell it to get a real job!!

P is for Prioritizing

Everybody has a lot on their plate. There is paying the bills, supporting your family, fulfilling civic duties, and everything else that crops up. It's life. It is a problem for almost everybody. Time is a rare and precious commodity.

Last May, when I began this blog, I had wrote about some of the things I decided to sacrifice in order to concentrate on writing. They included online gaming (still resisting), several television programs (still doing well), and even some athletic training (I don't completely neglect this, thank goodness).

Amazingly, this has not freed up a ton of time. In the end, I have found that it isn't about finding time, it is about making time. For instance, I find I am spending a lot of time critiquing, something I wasn't doing a year ago.

If you don't make time, you will find your schedule filling up faster than you can imagine. Other priorities will appear if you don't make the time. Schedule it into your day. Let your family know that a certain time is for your writing, just like it is your job. The nice thing about dropping some of the commitments like I listed above is that it gives you more options to make that time you need. So foregoing some of those items has still been a benefit.

This goes for any goals you may have. Time is often the largest obstacle in most goals. For instance, I have a friend who got into cycling after his knees wouldn't let him run anymore. He puts in a LOT of hours burning rubber all over Southern Utah, and often entering races beyond that. He is in his 50's but he has the fitness of a 30 year old. One of his secrets is that he makes time. When he puts something on his calendar he follows through with it, whether it be a meeting, a dentist appointment, or riding his bike. He, as he says, "gets it done." He rarely -- if ever -- misses a bike ride, and the results speak for themselves.

If you have a goal, prioritize your time. Until you do, your goal will only remain an unfulfilled wish.