Beginning your book writing journey is similar to setting sail on a vast ocean of creativity, discovery, and personal growth. Over the past five years, while working from home and managing various freelance projects, I’ve figured out some valuable tips that have helped me out personally that I believe could aid to enhance anybody’s writing experience. Whether you’re searching for the ideal writing environment or aiming to reduce distractions, these tips and tricks are designed to keep you both productive and ‘positive’.

Comfort

1. The first tip that I want to discuss in your writing adventure is finding out your perfect writing environment. Being in a comfortable setting that best suits you will keep you productive and ‘positive’ (more on that later). For me, especially coming from working from home and doing tons of freelance work for the past five years, I have found it difficult to get into the write mindset at home. There are moments where I find myself simply unable to get into a good rhythm and tempo offering minimal ‘positive’ attributions to my book. About two months ago, I decided to give other environments a try first trying out the library but the smell was sort of odd which kept distracting my mind while I am trying to directly focus down on my work at hand. I then tried to go and sit by the water on a dock but the weather was too unpredictable and sometimes I could hardly see the glass screen in front of me. Finally, I tried out Starbucks, because you always see people in coffee shops in the movies working which ultimately gave me the idea. And I am glad I did because the environment was perfect for a few reasons. Firstly, I am in a nice air-conditioned place and I work best in colder rooms than warmer ones. Secondly, the aroma was palpable, I love the smell of coffee and having that in the air was a magnificent variable in keeping me focused. Lastly, it’s in public and I felt like getting out more, being around folks and working productively was a great way to get out of my shell I’ve been in since lockdown.

*side note, dress as professional or as comfortable as you please. Don’t worry about what other people think, as you are merely a human being trying to do something you love and their judgement should never hold any merit in your own mind.

Cut down distractions

2. The next trick I’ve learned to be very fruitful in my writing escapade is probably one of the easier ones in theory, and that is to reduce your distracting stimuli. Phones are an exceptional tool in our lives but they can easily go into your suitcase, backpack or bag while you write. I put my lofi girl music livestream on and then put my phone into work mode where only notifications from my family and partner come through. Speaking of my partner, she kindly has gifted me a few nice pairs of bracelets through the years and I love to wear them every single day. However, these bracelets are very hard as one is composed of beads made from lava rock, the other has half of a 3D metal heart that jabs into my wrist in my typing positioning. Therefore, I must remove them as the pain over time becomes distracting.

You are NOT alone!

3. Talk about your book! I cannot stress this enough. You are going to come into contact with all kinds of different folks, from different paths of life and different perspectives from you. If you talk to people about your story, what you have written so far and what is going on in your character’s lives then you can easily gain some insight to the human mind and help grow/shape your narrative. I have gotten so much great advice from my coworkers, my family, my friends just from talking to them about a circumstance or time that one of my characters are going through. It helps drastically!

Organization

4. Another tip that I have found extra handy is to establish and figure out early on into your writing progress how you will go about organizing your writing process. When I began brainstorming for my book, I started via concept art for an idea that I wrote down in my iPhone’s Notes app. Using my iPad’s ProCreate, I drew the character that I thought fit the build and what he would look like as he evolved. This helped me have the boundaries of my story in my head for the task at hand. I then used ProCreate to create a brainstorming bubble map that took me from square one to the potential final moments of my book. I’d share it with you but ~*SPOILERS*~ :O

Have Fun

5. The final tip that I have for you is to simply have fun. Remember that this is your story from your mind, body and soul. The world is so desperately in need of genuine art from genuine people and you have the world at your fingertips. Whether it’s a romantic drama, a comedic novella or a sci-fi thriller, I want you to have the time of your life and create something magical for yourself to enjoy first and foremost. Don’t hang your hat on the opinions of others. Write your story and when it’s all said and done, smile.

No matter what you do, as I mentioned before, always try to be ‘positive’. By that I mean whether you write 1 page, 10 pages, 1 paragraph or 100 paragraphs, try to be positive in your writing. Always add a scoop of dirt onto the pile. Because say you go ten days in a row with no progress, what if you had simply wrote a sentence or two each day? That would equal out to be about a page worth of content that you didn’t have. You need to work smarter and harder than you ever have before in this process because writing a book is a lot like a hike! One step at a time, but always keep on stepping.

love trev