I'm having a bad day. A toughie. Things don't always go the way you want them to, but it's detrimental in more ways that one. Sometimes chaos intrudes in my brain and it makes me not want to write. I'd rather be tucked up with my duvet watching the next episode of Dexter, the DVD box set I'm working through just now. 

However, I am a writer. I am a blogger who posts on Fridays, so I would be letting myself down if I didn't post something here. 

So what can I share when I'm feeling 'meh'?

Here is a list of things which make me feel better, even if it's just the thought of it, when times get rough. 

A cuddle and a cup of tea - that fixes many things!
A good joke  (OK, ok, here's the latest one I've heard... What do you call a donkey with three legs? A wonky....)
Pizza
Starting a good new book
Being productive  - cleaning can even help here!
A baby elephant smiling
Playing a game with my boyfriend - not that kind... even "I SPY works for us!
Jumping in puddles in my wellies
Spending time with my family
Baking a cake
Random stranger conversations which make me laugh. I was called 'babe' by a 70 year old school caretaker yesterday!
Walking through crunchy fallen leaves
Food in fun shapes
Pretty stamps (I don't collect them, but I love coming across them)

Simple things... 

And making a list is still considered 'writing', right?!

Check out Positive News online if you're having a touch day yourself - and then write about what inspires you!

I feel better already! Enjoy your weekend, guys!

Lou x

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Born To be A Tourist

The key to successful writing is being organised and controlled. 

Still need to read on?  

Organisation is a key life skill .

Being organised as a writer is a pretty useful thing to be - especially if you don't (yet) have an agent to keep you in line. Some authors manage it, but I don't recommend it. If you're organised, 

...Tidying your desk (like JK Rowling) and you won't lose that poem you worked so hard on. 

...You won't burst in late to a 'meet the author' session.

...Friends and family *may* start to understand you do hold business hours for writing - and you stick to them! 

...You won't forget where your story is going. 

...There will be no rushing for a deadline of a competition or publishing date. 

As a result, you'll be writing more, maybe faster, and potentially better. 

Control is an entirely different, but again, key life skill. 

This skill is something which compliments being organised very well. 

If you are controlled, 

...You won't get distracted from the job in hand (e.g. that blog post you need to post by lunchtime).

...You will be much more likely to finish what you started. 

...Poems with structure and prose with word limits will manifest themselves more constructively. 

...You'll stay 'on-theme' and not drift into off-subject articles/blogs etc. 

...You won't take on more than you can handle - there's only so many hours in that day!

I am definitely guilty of taking on too much sometimes; running a writing group, writing a monthly column for MK Pulse, along with weekly postings here on my writing blog and my travel blog 'Born to be a Tourist' ... It can get a bit much sometimes!

However, I do have an organised way of writing, and I stay firmly in control of my writing business. 

How do I stay organised and controlled?

My diary is my best friend. I go nowhere without it and use it almost hourly for something or other. If there is something I am especially keen on attending or submitting to, I mark it in my diary and give myself a two week warning on its approach too. 

I hold two blogs and I try to keep them separate.  They are on different subject matter, after all.  Sure, sometimes they overlap, like when I highlight travel literature I've enjoyed on my travel blog, or share a photo I found on my travels as a prompt on my writing blog, but I try to keep the two worlds separate. This helps me to stay on-theme (controlled) and I rarely miss a posting deadline (organised). 

All my Word documents are named appropriately. I am pretty obsessed with this - all my documents ('day job', writing or personal) make sense in the way they're named so I can find them easily when I need them again. I've also started putting the publication date of things which make it to press or web (e.g. my MK Pulse articles) which helps organise my ever-growing harddrive. I'll never again wonder which issue of MK Pulse a specific article appeared in - brill!

I'm a big fan of To-Do Lists. Always have been. I'm currently in the throws of a wedding planning To Do list - and the jobs are growing in number! It's still so satisfying to cross something off my list, though. This tactic helps me to 'kill the frogs' or prioritise your work better too, whichever method I choose that day. 

Wearing a watch really helps. I never really wear a watch unless I am going on a journey or I'm going for an interview, but something to keep track of time is essential when I am running a workshop or participating in an event. No one wants to be an out-of-control, tardy guest speaker who can't keep to the evening's schedule!  

For more tips on how to be more controlled and organised as a writer, take a look at Jeff Abbott's blog on 'Creative Planning'. I found it a useful read, even from underneath my pile of To Do lists. 

****A note to my dear readers****

I will be in Costa Rica for the next two Fridays on a wedding planning 'holiday that's not a holiday'. I doubt I'll be posting (to many things to check off my To Do list 'in country'!), but do stay tuned - I'll be posting something exciting again the first week I'm home. 

Hasta pronto! (See you soon!)

Lou x 

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Born To be A Tourist

Image via Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of Sally Jean

I've been tagged in a Blog Tour. This one's about how the writer in question's writing process works. Thanks to Sarah Grace Logan for tagging me!


QUESTION 1: What am I working on?

Well, this week it's a mixture of my normal writing themed blogging and travel blogging, and my monthly column for MK Pulse magazine. There's no novel happening... I have minute hopes that it will surface again... Writing blogs and articles are so much more fun!

QUESTION 2: How is my work different from others in its genre?

The blogs are personal, no question about that. They are accounts of my own writing, travelling and personal life experiences, which I hope my readers will enjoy. This makes my entries completely fresh and original. I write with a conversational kind of tone, so it's an easy, friendly read, on a wide range of subjects and issues (e.g. baking, environment, but mainly on writing).

QUESTION 3: Why do I write what I do?

First of all, the content has to be of interest to me. I have tried writing about things I don't have any passion for or interest in, and it just doesn't work as well. I write to entertain (me, mainly, but also for the 3500 ish readers I get every week), and I write to help. I enjoy the posts which spread a good, productive, outward-reaching message too (e.g. last week's post on International Womens' Day). 

QUESTION 4: How does your writing process work?

I need the idea first. Sometimes it's a photo which inspires me, another piece of writing, a charity or campaign, an especially bad/good experience, or sometimes it's something I've come across that day while driving, walking etc.

Then I sit down and just bash out the words. I know that a blank page doesn't work for most people, and brainstorming what I want to say in short bullet points brings the article or blog post together very quickly. It's also very easy to structure in that way. My English teacher at school would be proud!

When the writing's done, I edit, then I allow myself to indulge the 'fun' part. I love discovering great images to go with my writing - a photo, something I found online, or a fab infographic I've come across (my favourite).

So who's up next?

Suzie Hunt - Read Suzie's blog - Check out her *free* latest short story

Sarah Becker - Check out her blog, GET THE LOOK YOU WANT!

Di Castle - She's writing a book inspired by deafness in her family - also has a blog...

Take a look at their blogs - I know they'll appreciate it!

Lou x

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Born To be A Tourist

Image from Differentiation Station

Hootsuite... Facebook Insights... Google Anayltics... Website monitoring... 

Writers are not known for being good at statistics, and I'm firmly in the no-can-do camp. I'm not a big one for numbers (words are my game, baby!), but even I can handle some web monitoring. There are many ways you can easily monitor your website use and social media reach. 

How many of us really get to grips with it all though? I'm going to share with you the statistics I think are the more useful ones and the more interesting ones from the plethora of information on offer. 

My Website

I judge the success of my website and blog by the following:

1. How many individual people visit in one month
   
   For example, when I posted the blog entry of I'M HOME, that day I got almost 400 hits. Over the week this obviously increased. I don't think many people would read my blog more than once, so his means I am reaching a lot of people daily with my blogging. 
   
   In my first month of my travel blog (Born To Be A Tourist, started in January 2013) I received over 1200 hits. This amazed me, as I was new to the travel blogging game, and nowhere near well-known. This gave me a great boost!
   
   It's interesting to see how these numbers go up and down between the two blogs. Even on the quiet weeks I get over 1800 hits on each, though, so I can't be doing too badly!
   
   
2. The number of comments I receive on a new blog post
   
   Of course, I love it when people comment on my blog. I've never had negative feedback; constructive, yes, but not negative. I love to hear from my readers, especially if that blog struck a chord with them. Please do leave me a comment!
   
   Keeping track of how many comments a blog receives is not always the best way to measure its success, but it's one of my favourite monitoring methods. It doesn't show what EVERY reader thinks (most don't bother to comment at all), but it really helps with my confidence as a writer and builds a relationship with my readers. 

My Twitter

I pretty much judge my Twitter success on the number of retweets I get. I don't keep a count, but I thank every retweeter and I'm grateful for them spreading what I have tweeted. 

This is the way to succeed in the of game Twitter - it's not counting not the number of followers you have. Sure, followers will follow if they see a retweet, but twitter is about broadcasting. And if someone re-broadcasts something you've said, it can only be a good thing. They think what you have said is insightful, funny, useful, interesting... etc. 

Of course, I retweet as much of the good stuff I find from other people (writers or not) and organisations too. 

My Facebook

My Facebook page is where it all began - it predates even my website. Facebook are very clever, creepy, almost, in their monitoring of the ways you use the social networking site. However, it can be useful for people who host 'pages'. I get regular updates as to how many people my posts have reached, the gender and age of my fans, the countries and cities they're from, which websites have acted most strongly as referrers, and what the highest performing posts are (i.e. the ones which encouraged the most engagement or which had the most people look at it). 

If I'm honest, the stats I only really pay attention to on Facebook are 'total reach' - I've noticed evening posts get more exposure - and the number of fans the page has. As long as the second one doesn't start declining, I know I'm providing content people want to read. 

So, I'm watching. I'm trying to figure out what you like to read online from my writing world. If you like what you see, please retweet. Please share on Facebook. Please visit my blog again. I am grateful for every single one of my readers, and I hope you like what you see!

How many of these tools do you use? How helpful have they been? 

All the best, 

Lou x

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Born To be A Tourist

Last week I went off-piste a bit and blogged about something non writing related (Feeling Challenged? Feel Better - Friday 31st January), so this week it's firmly back to the theme!

I discovered this colourful image on AFAR's travel blog and thought "what a great prompt that would be for my writer friends!" So, here it is! Take it, go where your pen takes you!

Happy writing - see you next week!

Lou x

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Born To Be A Tourist 

***Did you see Monday's travel blog post on windy Norfolk?***

RELIEF
-
ENERGY
-
HAPPINESS

Three little words - not what you were expecting, hey? These were the emotions of my Friday morning. Quick summary of the situation: I have had a turbulent few months at work with the threat of redundancy looming. My whole team is potentially changing, and we are feeling very threatened. My role was confirmed in October as disappearing from April of this year, but I was 'ring-fenced' for two other roles. This means I'd have to interview for and hopefully get one of them, but nothing was guaranteed. 

You can imagine, this was a stressful and confusing time, and the uncertainty made me feel very vulnerable. Certain plans had to go on hold (no new house for me just yet!), but life continued...

This morning I've had the news that the situation has change significantly. I have now been removed from the ring-fenced possibilities and 'assimilated' into one of the roles mentioned above - one I was hopeful in succeeding with in the interview process, and I was really looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into. This news is news of the FANTASTIC kind!!! A couple of hours on, I'm still a little shocked - this shift in the restructure was totally unexpected! Now I know I will have a job in the Spring (all things being equal), which makes life a lot more reliable and easier to plan for. Did I mention there's a wedding in the offing?!?!

So what, I hear you ask, does this all have to do with writing? This is, after all, a writing themed blog. 

Recently, I've not been feeling very inspired (hope you haven't noticed a negative impact on my blog!!). Ideas are slow-coming, if at all, and the enthusiasm I've previously had for writing short stories, articles, poems, and even my blogs (find the other one here, my travel blog: BORN TO BE A TOURIST) has been waning. I've also had less time lately to sit down and write the good stuff, as I've been busy having fun with my visiting boyfriend. He's come 8,000 miles to propose, so I need to make him feel welcome!

All of this has had an impact on my writing. However, today, I feel renewed. I feel inspired again. These three little words, relief, energy and happiness, is how I feel, one leading to another. Relief is not something you should under estimate as an emotion - it's wonderful! This has unleashed more inner energy than I have felt since before Christmas, if not for longer, and as a result, I have felt instantly happier. I have changed my outlook and feel an improved, refreshed version of myself. Good news for me and all around me. Hooray!

                                   Here's to a fantastic year!

Have a great weekend all, and I hope you are lucky enough to feel the same rejuvenation as me in the weeks to come. Go search for that feeling - it'll do you wonders!

Lou x

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Born To Be A Tourist

Writers, we're well into the New Year. Have your resolutions started to slide? Have you not written as much as you'd hoped? Have you lost some creative steam? 

Don't panic!!!

We've all been there, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Keep persevering and you'll get there.Put yourself out there. Pen what you want to and dream of. JFDI.  Good luck! 

Lou x

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Born To Be A Tourist

Writing a CV. We all have to do it, and I know of no one who relishes the thought. 

This chore is time consuming, boring, a memory test, a lesson in writing copy and marketing, and not the 'fun' kind of marketing I normally talk about! No two resumes are the same. so it can be hard to know what exactly to include - or not. 

I've been fine tuning my CV lately, but last weekend presented another element to the job: I helped my Spanish speaking boyfriend turn his CV into something British employers might like to see - if and when he is eligible to work in the UK, and I wanted to blog about the comparison between the two documents. 

This was quite a challenge! Of course, translation was required (made slightly more complicated by the lack of recollection of important dates). You cannot, with any translation, as far as I know, translate every word literally. Sentences just do not compute across languages in the same way. Luckily, his English is great, and my patience and grasp of the English language is improving every day!

Not only that, but the content of a Latino CV was quite different to what I'd become accustomed to here in the UK. The contact details still were present at the top of the page, but Costa Rican (Tico) CVs (or 'resumes' - very American!) also require the applicant to state their date of birth in this 'personal details' section - something I found very odd. This is not recommended for CVs in the UK, and is actively discouraged to protect applicants from possible ageism. 

Another difference I discovered was that CVs in Costa Rica require a lot more detail as to what your education and subsequent qualifications/courses entailed. This, I have been assured by several recruitment agents and friends who work in HR, is not necessary in the UK. It's something to expand on in the interview, but I'm advised to explain briefly in one short sentence or bullet point exactly what the course content contained, if it is particularly applicable to the post you're applying to. 

Expanding on the text can be useful, essential, even. This is relevant if you've been trained by a national body which represent themselves in your professional circles as an acronym (e.g. WRAP: Waste and Resources Action Programme). Charities aside, someone from outside that sector might not know how much of a high standing this organisation has, so give the company its full title and use brackets to house the acronym. This was very relevant to the session we spent on Sunday 'CV bashing'; many of the company/government/education acronyms commonly used in Costa Rica would mean nothing to the average (or more than average) Joe here in the UK.  

The differences between the British and Tico education system made for quite a challenge to make it clear exactly what happened in my man's primary and secondary years. There's no GCSEs or A Levels, of course. If in doubt, I figure it could be good practice to say something like this, if you were translating a CV from English - Spanish:

Spelling this out for a potential employer who may have no concept of exams and education outside of the UK or Europe was a fantastic challenge on writing to the point, clear and precise copy. 

Other things remained the same between our two types of CV; I'm pleased to announce that Word picked up on no more than zero spelling mistakes - result! Both of us have been careful to try to make sure our CVs as short as possible, mindful of the sad fact that many employers will simply skim the text for key ingredients. The Guardian Jobs website advocates this approach. Both of us have kept the sections tidy and well-formatted to make it easy to find, for example, the section on history of employment. We've also both taken the time to include a personal statement of sorts; the top of my CV has a very short paragraph summarising my personal profile (hard working, fast learner, keen professional and willing etc) and the bottom of my boyfriend's has a similar piece of text - albeit a little longer. This is because often covering letters are not used in applications in Costa Rica. 

Finally, neither of us have photos posted on our CV, no beautiful or not so beautiful mugshot to let the employer know just what we look like. I thought this was a total no-no for any CV, but my year I spent living in Canada proved otherwise. The Canadians are keen to see photos - a little over the top, I feel, and too much information to be judged on... positively or negatively! Surely waiting to meet the person for the interview should be enough, without having to ask for a photo - unless of course, it's for a modelling role! 

Top Tip for Translating a CV:

Get your CV up to scratch and find someone who writes well in the language you wish to record your achievements in. 

If the language flows nicely and it's set out in a clear, logical format, you'll be well on your way to a good CV. Remember also that the value of having someone to proofread the document when you're done cannot be overstated. We writers often can't see the wood for the trees when we're writing out own content, be it a CV, a novel or a short story, and having a 'fresh' pair of eyes take a look can be invaluable - as I learned on publishing my first novel with a rude word on the very first page! 

More resources to check out:

Take a look at '44 resume writing tips' from the geniuses at Daily Writing Tips for general and useful info on how to make your CV the one which stands out from the pile.

And if you're translating? Google 'translating CV into XXX' and see what comes up. Here's the French version, for example. 

There are lots of online CV templates too, so (free!) help is at hand. 

Here's hoping for onwards and upwards in professional circles for us both! 

More from me next Friday - enjoy your week!

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist

Image courtesy of Signet Resources and Arm

Good afternoon everyone again, thanks for stopping by my weekly writing blog! This week I welcome Sarah LaFleur, NaNoWriMo winner for 2013. She's here to share how she (and 311,830 other dedicated writers) conquered the international NaNo challenge and managed to write a novel in one month. I've invited Sarah to tell us what she learned about her skills as a writer, and to see if she'd brave NaNo again! Take it away, Sarah, and thanks again for guest blogging. 

How I Nailed NaNoWriMo

Like many other writers, I accepted the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge to write a novel (or at least 50K words of one) during the month of November.  This being my first time participating, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  After 30 days of nearly continuous writing (I took 2 days off to work on another project with a pressing deadline) I finished with 50,182 words and a decent first draft of a new science fiction novel!






























Now as most writers know, writing daily can be easy or excruciating depending on the circumstances going into the session.  One of the most difficult parts of this challenge was the feeling that I couldn’t miss a day, even if I wasn’t particularly inspired to write anything.  My initial goal was to get ahead early.  That plan failed miserably!  If you look at my NaNo graph, every time I pulled ahead, something would come up (remember those break days?) to thwart my advance.

Yet, somehow I managed to “win” by getting all my words.  

How did I accomplish this feat?  

Well, I had a great support system of writing buddies to cheer me on and keep me going.  Often we would meet on twitter and complete “writing sprints” together by writing for a set amount of time and then tweet our word count for the duration.  I also had my own motivation in the form of a sticker chart (yes stickers!) where I would earn a small sticker for every 250 words and a big sticker when I hit my daily goal of 1750 words.  There were so many days I would have quit if it weren’t for that big sticker reward.

So, what did I learn from this experience?  

Firstly, I am a very consistent writer.  Whatever word count I achieve in the first thirty minutes of writing typically stays the same for the duration of the session.  I have always been a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants author, but I outlined extensively (meaning I spent an entire hour placing chapter markers and notes for all 30 days) and that helped get me through the dead zones of the book.  I am incapable of writing without editing at the same time, and although it cost me on my daily count, I’m hoping it will also mean when I revisit the story in a few months, I’ll still like it.  

Finally, all this begs the question; will I participate again next year?  

Well, in the interest of preserving my marriage, my official answer right now is "maybe".  However, I predict that by the time next November first rolls around, my fingers will once again be poised over the keyboard ready to type with reckless abandon for another 30 days…

Sarah LaFleur

                                      -----------

Thanks Sarah, that was a really interesting account of your NaNo experience - love the sticker chart idea! Getting ahead of yourself and something coming up to 'thwart' your advances sounds so familiar, even to me, an as yet non-NaNo writer. 

Check out more from Sarah Lafleur on her website, find her on Facebook, and on Twitter - how we connected initially! She's also got an author page on Amazon, so take a look!

More from me next week - keep writing!

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist - my travel blog

The friendships between women cohabiting have long been fodder for novelists and scriptwriters. Have you considered adding this element to your short story or novel?

This week I'm paying tribute to fictional my favourite fictional female flat share: the twins in "Her Fearful Symmetry" (Audrey Niffenegger). Female twins are the protagonists in this novel. The majority of the novel is set in and around their flat, located close to Highgate Cemetery in north London, and it works very well. I admire their relationship in the very least; my sister and I would certainly not survive if we had to live in a little London flat together!

Everyone who has ever shared a house or a flat with someone other than family or a partner knows there's ups and downs to sharing where you live with others. Friends or 'randoms' thrown together, it can be an interesting mix.

There'll be someone in the possibly 'unnaturally' thrown together household who winds you up, no doubt. My friend has constructed a whole (hilarious and shocking) blog on this subject alone. For instance, one of your housemates might watch TV on a loud setting into the night. There'll be someone who doesn't pull their weight with the cleaning or restocking of the toilet roll. And you know each tenant will have a different standard of what is deemed to be clean! However, you might also enjoy the company and find a new friend, make life a little cheaper by sharing the rent and bills, and cooking together can be fun. 

There's positives and negatives to having a female (or indeed male/mixed) houseshare, and literature reflects this. Many of your readers will be able to relate to this situation, either having shared a place with someone before or having had kids who are doing it at the moment. Setting the domestic scene as a houseshare is a perfect example of a way to bring real life, real problems, and real relationships into your writing.   

You know, I can't think of any fictional male flatshares in literature... Maybe men just aren't so interesting to read about in a domestic or friendship context! Sure, there's several famous ones on TV and in movies, but in books, I'm trying to think of one. Let me know if any spring to mind for you...

Lou x

Image from Learn Vest

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Born to be a Tourist