The Creative Life during #LockdownSA (with 20 days still to go)

The Challenge: 2020

I am sure you will agree that 2020 has not lived up to the expectations that we have set for ourselves on 1 January. But has it been that bad? Of course, for the people who were infected by the Covid-19 virus, it has not been fun at all.

For those families who have lost someone they loved to the infection, it is heartbreaking.

And for the politicians and world leaders trying to figure out how to keep their countries' economies stable (at least) and fight the impact of the socio-economic issues (still not yet determined) it is a nightmare.

But for those of us everyday citizens trying to make a living to keep ourselves afloat in this time of crises, how bad has it been, really? Did you have to tighten your belt because you are self-employed like I am?

Being basically a level headed and fairly optimistic kind of person, I have not done too badly I think. I did have some work to do, which I will be able to invoice soon, and thanks to two of my writers' group friends, have been kept busy artistically as well. Like me they are artists and I have challenged them to a few creative projects during #LockdownSA. It helps to keep busy, but more than that it helped us all to keep our drawing skills sharp.

The one thing that I often forget - despite putting it on my to-journal list - is a gratitude journal or art journal entry. Last week I made it one of our creative projects and to me, it was something to remind of all the things that I am grateful for. Especially now as we are entering an extended lockdown of an additional 2 weeks (until 30 April).

Do I look forward to going back to work? Of course, I am. Being self-employed as a test and certification engineer does not mean that I work from home 24/7. I need facilities to do my work that I simply cannot accommodate, nor afford, to have at home. I am fortunate though that my work environment away from home is with a small company where any physical interaction with other people can be easily managed - mostly because we do most of our work as individuals, not teams. I am still training a newer member of the team, but he is not that green anymore that close distancing is required all the time.

If you are in isolation, self-imposed or otherwise, I trust that the need to be so will soon be over so that we all can start working together to recover from this situation. Recovery will take time, and teamwork on so many levels that I simply cannot even comprehend the difficulties associated with such a strategy.

Right now all I can hope (and pray) for is that the leaders of my country, and those of your countries, will set aside their political agendas and work together with their people to move forward from this. And perhaps even have a good and hard think on dealing with such a pandemic in future. Because it will come again, the question is: how soon and how bad will it be the next time?

On a more joyful note - here are links to the A-toZ Challenge posts on the Broomstick so far, with a hint of some of the posts to come. Enjoy! 💜

ART by Melissa a guest post about performance art
BFF by Linzé
COVID-19 by Linzé
DINNER by Linzé EDINBURGH station by Linzé FUN art by Linzé
GREEN by Linzé
HOLISTIC health by Vanessa a guest post and art journal
INKTOBER52 by Linzé
JOY by Linzé

Looking forward this week ...
Tomorrow: K by Kayelle a book release
Tuesday: L by Carmen a guest post
Wednesday: M by Andrea a guest post
Thursday: N by Charlene a guest post

Until tomorrow!
💜 Linzé

Why I got bored with a vegan diet

Fourteen months ago I switched to a vegetarian diet for health reasons. The net result was worth the pain and inconvenience of those first weeks of detoxing from eating meat for 50 years. But about a month ago, I came across a Veggie Challenge on Instagram and decided to try it out - as a vegan. So this my take on following a vegan diet for 31 days, in South Africa.

Exciting and challenging

The first two weeks everything was great. I cooked interesting meals at home and even managed to lose two kilograms. The weight-loss was not planned, but I do have to say not unwelcome. The challenge at this time was mostly finding things for snacking. Having a snack or two each day helps to keep my blood sugar levels stable - a good thing to do for anyone with a busy lifestyle.

As the challenge coordinator mentioned, there are more vegan snack options available these days than there had been say, 5 years ago. Unless you have high blood pressure, then these temptations are not an option. Too much salt, as you would have guessed no doubt.

So snacking options were severely limited for me, hence the weight-loss I think. I did have raw nuts in the cupboard, the bag is still fairly full, but nuts are heavy on calories, and I can only eat so much of them anyway.

Snacks remained a frustrating challenge throughout the whole 31 days.

Then the boredom started to creep in

Ever since leaving my high paying full-time job in January this year, we have been more conscious of the budget and eating out less often than before. On the vegan diet eating out in this country is a huge challenge on the best of days. Something I was not so aware of, until last month.

Boerewors picture courtesy
TempestSA at the English language Wikipedia

Allow me to elaborate for a minute. South Africans love meat. The more the better. We have a standing joke that people in South Africa eat boerewors for salad and chicken for vegetables. Seafood is probably considered a snack I suppose.

Unfortunately, there is more truth in that joke than you can imagine. Eating out options are extremely limited for a vegetarian, and borders on the near-impossible for vegans.

I do have to say this though: at the places where we dine out often, the waiters and chefs have been nice in trying to accommodate my vegan choices during October, but franchise restaurants are so restricted in their menus, that it became a problem for me after a while.

Whoever designs those menus seem oblivious to the fact that there are more food options out there than butternut (which I dislike except during winter), mushrooms (don't much like those either) and zucchini (also called courgettes over here). Whatever happened to lentils, chickpeas, quinoa, wild rice and all the other (very tasty) options to use as a base in cooking?

Even salads - which I love all year round - can definitely be spruced up with nuts, and the aforementioned ancient grains and starches in summer dishes.

Vegan proteins and vegan cheese

Fortunately for me, I had a vegan shake available which I could use to supplement my protein intake during the month. Since I have a dairy allergy (mainly the raw product - milk and cream) I even use the shake on the vegetarian diet.

Meat substitutes are readily available in supermarkets and are wonderful for home cooking. If only the restaurants shopped at the large supermarket chains too. (Hint?)

Back to the cheese. I like the taste of vegan cheese, but be warned, it is not a protein substitute. Aside from being expensive (even more so than the mature dairy version), I feel it a waste to buy because it is only a starchy food.

Fruits and vegetables

October is basically summer already in this country, so the abundance of fruits and vegetables is a pleasure to someone who has always loved fruit and raw vegetables. At least I got all my fibre and vitamins!

Enter the last ten days

By now I was getting really bored with the vegan diet. Except for the breakfast cereal, which I do eat every day of the week irrespective of the kind of diet - with almond milk.

Eating out became a chore, not a pleasure and I started to eat more 'normal' again, including cheese in my evening meals, and sometimes even for lunch. Two days before the end of the month, I started eating eggs again too.

Coffee, coffee, coffee ... my kingdom for a coffee

I drink my coffee black and have been since I was a child. I was the first person in my family diagnosed with the dairy allergy, after almost dying when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I have some tolerance for the mature cheeses, but still have to watch how much I eat.

I love coffee, Americanos, especially, but since hitting the sexy age of 50, drinking my coffee black has become a problem too. So I stuck to drinking coffee after a meal, but I don't have time to eat the whole day just so I could drink coffee.

I found a cappuccino premix - it does contain some milk powder - which I could drink at any time without the pain I experienced with drinking black coffee without eating. Vegan? Not so much, but I love coffee too much limit myself to two cups a day (I don't drink black coffee after a breakfast of cereal and fruit).

A veggie future?

I am not keeping up the vegan diet. That is not to say that I will not eat vegan meals, because I mostly still do at home, but as a South African the long term options are not worth it, at least not right now. Will the restaurants ever change?

I am delighted to say that some already have. Even on Friday when my friend, Vanessa, and I were having breakfast together for the first day of NaNoWriMo, our favourite meeting place had two new vegan options on the menu. I cannot claim to be the reason for it, but maybe I helped to raise awareness for the need that some of us have not to eat any meat at all.

But unless more people ask for a meal to be adapted to a vegan, or vegetarian, diet I don't think the average South African restaurant is rushing to include more interesting and seasonal vegetable-based options on their menus. And they really should.

PS: With NaNoWriMo challenging me once again, this will be the only post for November. But do keep an eye out for my newsletter, and #TheTinyBroom tweets twice a week.

Until December!
💜 Linzé

Keeping up...with me

Photo Hannah Olinger on Unsplash

How hard can it be to be an adult? Apparently harder than I sometimes tell myself. Read about that life lesson here.

Writing, studying, working, exercising, and a change of diet all together tends to keep me pretty busy. I took a leaf out of my current writing project, Take Your Journal to the Next Level, and restarted using a Bullet Journal. I have used it before, but I made a simple mistake which I now fixed: I am using a separate notebook.

In the past I used my normal journal to add the bujo activities, but it wasn't effective. Two weeks ago I dug out a blank journal out of my cupboard and have been using it with much greater success. I changed the format slightly to suit me, but that is just one of the benefits of the simple planner style-it is adaptable.

All the things I need to do are now in one place, and I can better see what I will have time for - yes, priorities. It helps to prioritise my study hours for the week, and when to work on my assignments so I can hand in early, leaving me more time to work on the book mentioned above. With better planning, I can make better progress, while studying. As it stands the first draft is now 75% complete, and I am back on schedule.
Go bujo!

If you are a journal writer stuck in a rut, or want to start a keeping journal, or just want to experiment with different styles of journal writing, then I want your input.

If you live in Pretoria, South Africa, and would like to learn more about journal writing, contact me to get your name on a mailing list for a course that will start in October.
If you are not living in my home city and still want to learn more about journal writing, you too can pop me an email to be a beta reader for Take Your Journal to the Next Level.

And since I have now committed myself to finishing the book by October, I better get back to it.

Wishing you a terrific week!
💜 Linzé

Words, Statistics and Time — the creative life's little problems

Linzé's iWatch on its charging stand

I recently read an article where the blogger/author mentioned that if you wrote 1000 words in an hour, it shouldn't take you more than 50 hours to write a 50 000 word book.

It also means that a full-length fantasy or other novel, typically in the order of 100k+ words, can be done in 100 hours. Now we are talking first drafts here. Editing and all the other activities to get a book to publishable quality, are not included in those hours.

So that means NaNoWriMo should take me (at two hours per day) only 25 days to do. These two hours are what I have available on a weekday. If I double that to 4 hours per weekend day then my NaNoWriMo target should have been completed today - the 19th of November. Since I have not achieved the 50k yet, it means that I am not as efficient as I would like to believe. Based on current performance, and present word count (41010 words) I would then complete the requisite 50k words in two days, the 21st.

Crunching a few more numbers, it means that I have only been 90% efficient at using my time this November. Using 30 days out of a potential 365 days of writing is not a large enough sample to draw any conclusions.

So I went to my word count spreadsheet for the year to see how efficiently I have used my time this year, so far. To do the math correctly, I can therefor only count the days until today - 19 November. This means my calculations must be done for 323 days if I include today.

So here is what my numbers for the 323 days of 2017 look like:

Writing: 208130 words

Editing: 126.5 hours

Until now there were 45 full weekends (ie, 2 days) plus one weekend day (today). I counted Saturdays, but it makes no difference since 1 January fell this year on a Sunday.

So that gave me 323 days x 2 hours per day + 90 weekend days x 2 additional hours per weekend day + today's 4 hours = 830 available writing hours

At 1000 words per hour, I should have written 830 000 words this year!

Let's work with hours; the numbers are just smaller to use for the calculations. Based on the 1000 words per hour premise, I had been writing for 208.1 hours up to today. Add the editing (because I can only do one of the two at a time) my total hours spend on writing projects so far were 334.6 hours.

Now my efficiency does not look that good anymore, does it? Crunching the numbers one last time gives me 334.6 / 830 = 40%.

I have used only 40% of the time I have allocated for writing this year. If this does not bother you, you can rest assured, it bothers the freaking daylight out of me!

To be honest, I type about 1200 words in an hour, which is not helping my case at all.

So where did things go wrong? Alternatively, did they go wrong at all? Am I deluding myself into thinking that writing for two hours per day is what is happening?

Reassessing my writing time slash writing life:

1. I don't suffer from writer's block, never have. So if I don't write, there must be other reasons for not writing - exhaustion, illness, and other obligations. These things happen, I am only human.

2. I read a lot. Since I work full-time, I have to choose between writing or reading in my spare time. Reading does not make me feel guilty for not writing, so those hours (which I have not kept track of) probably account for a significant portion of my writing hours not used for writing. To date, I have read 45 books - not nearly as many as I have done in recent years.

3. Studying. In September and October, I did a management course (on my own time) which required 60 hours of studying and assignments. It inspired me to change direction in my professional life. That means that I am now studying towards my diploma in Life Coaching. Again, hours taken away from my writing time.

4. Art. I have made it a point to do more art this year, and I have. The exact hours recorded are lost in a file that I cannot recover, but I did not spend them writing when I used pencils or paint brushes.

As I sit reading what I wrote here, I realise that I haven't done that badly at all. I completed Camp NaNoWriMo both times on target, I am about to finish the 50k version in the next two days, and while my fourth novel is late, it will still be published this year.

However, I have to ask: was I only 40% efficient? Judging by the numbers, I would have to say yes. However, this is my life, and while numbers don't lie, they simply cannot tell the whole story with all its plotlines, intricacies, and surprises.

Time is the most precious resource we have, and maybe I shouldn't use the number of words I write as a measure of how I spend my time. At least, not as the only parameter. A qualitative element could be more useful. Was that hour, day or week's time happy, satisfactory or fulfilling instead. Something to consider as the approach of a new year lends itself to a new way of doing things.

Until next time!
Linzé

Now is not the time to study writing...

My NaNoWriMo history

If you are a writer, your inbox has probably been inundated with emails about NaNoWriMo. Websites that sell all kinds of writing advice books that want you to buy their offerings before November. Others that offer online courses about writing just in time for November.

All of these are of course marked down by 50% or more to entice you to their websites to buy their products, to make you a better writer.

I have terrible news for you: at this late stage of the game (NaNoWriMo is three days away!) reading any writing advice books, or doing any online courses, are not going to help you. Any course or book requires time to study, time to practice what they teach you, and time for you to learn and get better at the craft of writing.

So should you just ignore these emails? Delete them without a glance? My answer is a bit different from what you might have anticipated. No, don't delete them, but don't do the work either. Huh?

Books about writing can be costly, so if you have been wondering whether or not you want to buy a book or two, I would say go for it. The prices are marked down, so now they are affordable.

If the online course allows you do buy the video course do it now as long as you can watch it later.

So why all the fuss, when I advise you not to do anything so close to the 1st of November? The answer is simple: time.

All skills take time to develop, and while it will be good for you to acquire the means to better your skills, now is not the time to do it. You simply cannot learn all there is to learn about writing in three days. Sure you can try, but what will you remember? How much will you be able to practice in time for November? The answer is not much if anything.

People place so much pressure on themselves in November to write that best-seller, because a few others have done that. The fact is, those books only became best-sellers months (or even years) after they were drafted in a NaNoWriMo challenge. That first draft is so far removed from the end product, that it might very well be unrecognisable to anyone who compares it to the published book.

So go out there and write that awful, misspelled, confused plot structured, wayward genre of fantastical characters in the medieval times, with characters cavorting with warriors dressed in kilts and wielding laser firing longbows and crystalline swords. Worry about the grammar, and the spelling and plot gaps later.

Because the one thing that November 2017 should always be in your memories nine years from now, is that it was fun. Whether the book is a national best-seller or an international movie blockbuster, at some point in your life writing has to be a pleasurable experience too, doesn't it?

Hard work it is, long hours of editing it will be, but if you don't enjoy writing the first draft, when will you have the chance to just love what you do? Write!

My writing buddy 😍

So join me on my seventh journey down the NaNoWriMo rabbit hole. Put away the books, and clear out your desks. Pour the coffee and gather your energising snacks. Dust off your writing buddies and let the words flow with glorious abandon and screaming pleasure. November is here!

You will have lots of time to study those books and watch those videos afterwards.

Let the fun begin!

💜 Linzé

PS: You can find me as Alexandra Beck on the NaNoWriMo website. 

When the Muse strikes or the sh*t hits the fan

Kick the muse to the curb

Many creatives will tell you to kick the muse to the curb and just get on with it. And they would be right. Waiting for that spark, that bright light bulb to appear overhead before getting to work on the novel, or that painting only creates a whole new level of frustration. So no, don't wait for Madam Fickle and her gang of muses to show up before creating your next project.

When the Muse strikes or the shit hits the fan (depending on your point of view)

One day she will pitch up. Ask any writer, artist, musician or photographer. That bitch just likes to have a laugh at our expense. And often at the most inconvenient times or places. When you are buck naked in the shower. Driving on the highway, or having dinner with friends. Or, her absolute favourite, in the middle of the night when you had a long hard day and really need to sleep. Don't you just hate that?

Aside from her trying her best to catch you unaware, it does make sense if you think about it. You are relaxed, or your mind is occupied with other things and thus at its most susceptible to input - from the muse or wherever those creative ideas originate. Our problem is mostly that we go, aha! And then a few minutes later WTF? Where did that idea go? It was the most brilliant thing ever! But it's gone. A few minutes have passed, and whatever that thought was, it is no more. Like it never even existed.

It doesn't matter if you think you are going to remember that plot, or that harmony, or that incredible tint of rose gold that played over the buildings next to the road. You will not be the first creative to lose that awesome idea. Nor will it be the last idea you ever lose either.

Ever repeated it to yourself over and over, thinking that you will remember? Only to realise a few hours later that you have completely forgotten about it. No clue. Gone forever.

Our minds are so busy trying to deal with the information overload that we are exposed to every day - to say nothing of the distractions of social media and other interruptions - that our brains just let go of that idea because its attention was needed somewhere else. But it doesn't have to be that way.

So what to do when the Muse does pitch up with a bag full of ideas? Those inspirational moments do come, not often, but they do come. And they come big. And bold. And sometimes brilliantly. And the only way to deal with them is to be ready.

Ready? Grab the pen...

Here are some pointers for that inspirational moment:

1. If that awesome idea comes in the shower, it can be tough since pockets were not part of the original design of the human body. So make up a song and sing it aloud, over and over. Shower faster and then write it down. Not only did you think it, but you also heard it, you memorised it. But do yourself a favour, write it down before the towel distracts you.

2. Being troubled in the middle of the night when dreams come with that new idea for a novel? Keep a notebook and pen next to your bed. Don't wait. Don't think it will still be there come morning because it won't. Sit up. Switch on the light. Write it down straight away. You will sleep better when you do.

3. Getting struck by Madam Muse while driving can be a big problem. Don't write anything with a pen or on your mobile phone while driving. Ever! But if the muse has a hankering to pester you with ideas while you are operating a vehicle, get a voice recorder that records with the push of a button. I know your smartphone probably has an app for it, but it will require way too many taps and clicks before you can say, hello. Nope, get a one-push button, old-fashioned voice recorder. Push the button, say the words and its done. Safety first!

4. Eating out? Partying with friends? Use your smartphone to quickly type the words to remind you of the idea. It will only take a few seconds, and then it's done. If people notice, tell them the truth: you got an idea for a new book. Don't tell them the idea it is too early. You need to work on it first, to flesh it out to a full-blown plot. The most important thing is to get it down immediately! With people talking and laughing, the distractions are huge and the risk of you forgetting is unimaginably high.

Then I told her...

The weirdest place I got 'inspired'? In church of all places. It freaked me out, but fortunately, it only happened once. I think now I am voluntarily 'blocked' when attending a service.

The most inconvenient time? Just as I was making my way to bed. I was exhausted, when I got this tap on the shoulder...'want to have this idea?'

My first thought was, now? Seriously?

On second thought, I reached for a pen and scribbled a few words. Then I looked up (I am sure there was a smirk on my face) and told the bitch to fuck off so I could get some sleep.

What happens after the light goes out?

Personally, I am a pen and notebook kind of ideas writer, but I have used my phone when the pen and notebook were out of reach. Scribbles that have been thought through when I could sit down and think about them.

I have rehashed some ideas. I mostly went on to repackage most of those ideas. I even ditched a few of them in lieu of a secondary plot when working through the original idea.

Others just got trashed without another thought. For now. Who knows where those ideas could sneak their way into a future story?

Seventeen published books and more than 600 blog posts later, writing ideas down when inspiration does come definitely works for me.

Never wait for that moment of inspiration to come, you will wait for a long time, and then nothing gets done in the meantime. However, when Madam Fickle and the Muses do make an appearance, be ready for her offerings. Capture that moment, that idea, as soon as possible. Maybe it will be your big break, or maybe it won't. But unless you capture it, you may never have the opportunity to find out where it can go.

Originally posted on Medium.com

Yay! A book festival! But public speaking freaks you out. Now what?

Yes, public speaking isn't for everyone, but as an author, you cannot let an opportunity pass to market your books. So what do you do now?

Book Festivals are not only about speakers, but there also has to be listeners too. Here are 6 tips to help with marketing your books at a book festival:

Be an active participant. Attend a discussion session or workshop about a topic or two that interests you. Take an active role in the discussion. Be sure to introduce yourself (Hi, I'm Linzé, I am a fantasy romance author, and I have a question about...) when you engage the speaker or another attendee in a discussion.

Be nice, just because. It takes nothing from you to be courteous to people. You don't have to like everyone, but you are talking to your market. Readers and book lovers like to engage with authors. Personally, I dislike being photographed, but I have learned that it won't kill me to be in front of a camera. If a reader asks to be photographed with me, I offer a genuine smile because someone will only go to that trouble if they want to be seen with me.

Dress well; your image says a lot. My daily life is spent in mostly casual clothing and I have been known to write in my pajamas, but it won't do when facing my readers. There is no need to dress up in heels and hose (unless you really want to) but taking care of your appearance also shows respect for your readers. It conveys a message of professionalism. You cannot expect your market to take you seriously if you don't take yourself seriously.

What does your brand say about you? For the authorpreneur, branding is an all-encompassing approach to your business as a published author. You spend time and money on the image portrayed by your book covers to showcase your product to the world. When you engage your readers and fans, be aware of the image, and brand, you want to them to associate with you as a person. If people make you nervous, make a point to learn to engage with people one on one. They will appreciate the attention and leave with a good impression and maybe a few of your books.

What to say, what not to say. It is a book festival, so people want to talk about their passion: books. If someone wants to talk about your books, you smile and chat and answer questions and autograph books for them. You do find people who want to talk about other people's books. If you are a fan of the same author, you will have common ground, but be careful not to spend too much time chatting when you have people waiting who want to talk to you about your books.
You could also face the situation of genre bashers. This happens when erotica writers are confronted with people who want to rip them apart for daring to write sex scenes in a book. If erotica is your genre, keep a cool head and suggest that they support other authors at the festival instead. If they bad-mouth another author for whatever reason, don't get into an argument and never agree with them. Rather suggest that not every book is to everyone's taste and that there are many other authors whose books they could read.
Avoid bad mouthing other authors because it reflects poorly on you. You might have an audience of fans of the other author and making them angry will not help your case.

Offer something in return. People like free stuff. This is a marketing opportunity where you can also give things away to gain more sales.
Think about the ads on television. Buy two tires from us and we will give you a movie ticket. Buy four and get two tickets. Car tires are expensive, so you will only replace them when safety becomes a concern. So why not treat yourself and drive your now safer car to the movie theater for a night out?
Book people, love book related things. Coffee mugs, bookmarks, shopping bags, gift cards for other books, etc. Or offer something where they can enjoy reading (or writing) at the same time - a foot massage voucher, pedicure, or a voucher for free coffee at a local coffee shop.

This is a basic list to help you get started, and there are more ideas that you can explore to market your books at a book festival.

Want to learn more about marketing your books? Take a look here.

Nine Things to Help Make your NaNoWriMo a Success in 2016

November is around the corner, and NaNoWriMo is already taking centre stage in many of the social media sites where writers congregate. If you plan to take part this year, make you are prepared for what is install for the 30 day, 50k challenge.

1. Tell your friends and family that you will be taking part in NaNoWriMo. Explain the time commitment. Say ‘no’ when you have to. December is time enough to catch up with them again.
2. Week 1: Get ahead of the word count target as soon as you can. Writing 1667 words per day requires a 1.5 to 2 hour commitment from you depending on how fast you write.
3. Make a backup of your work. You will spend hours writing. Don’t be stupid and take the risk of losing it with computer problems. Backup! Backup!
4. Week 2 is the most difficult week of NaNoWriMo. Be prepared for things to interfere with your writing. See point 1 and 2.
5. The people in your life will not take you seriously if you don’t take yourself seriously as a writer.
6. Week 3: Focus and make sure you are keeping up with the word count target. If you get stuck, ask for help/support. Take part in word sprints and word challenges to help you to keep going. This is not the time to give up!
7. Week 4: Dig deep. Keep calm. Keep writing, even if you feel like giving up. Even if you feel you are not going to make it. Keep writing!
8. Week 5: Start validating your word count. Backup your novel/short stories. The NaNoWriMo website will not save your file for you. It is your responsibility.
9. Don't forget – enjoy the challenge!

Do you have any special tips that work for you in November? Please share in the comments below.

See you at the write-ins and support groups!

Linzé

7 Blogging Tips for Fiction Writers

Original post on BookMarketingTools.com

(This post originally appeared as guest post by Linzé on the blog page of BookMarketingTools.com)

I have been blogging for a while and like many authors I thought that my blog had to be about writing advice. Recently I have made the decision that there are more qualified people (and bloggers) that can help with advice for other writers. I don’t mind helping people out, but writing advice is not my forte.
If you feel that you are in the same predicament, here are a few pointers that could also help you out:

1. Share a story. If you are a fiction author, blog a story. I want people to read my books, so what better way than to give them a taste of my style. Stories less than 1500 words are ideal for blog posts. If you are a novel writer, like me, then the short form is a challenge on the best of days. If you cannot write a very short story, start a blog serial – post the story scene by scene or chapter by chapter. (Example The Friendship Affair)

2. Share your knowledge. If you also write non-fiction, then post about your area of expertise. Don’t make the posts too technical. I love to learn new things, and if your post tickles my interest, it would be the ideal opportunity for me to ask a question or two. Engaging readers is what we are all aiming to achieve and what better way than to use your blog for it.

3. Be a professional. You are a writer, so make sure your post is edited before posting it. Of course, the odd mistake does slip in, but it is better if your posts are edited to be free of errors. At least, do a spell and grammar check the post before posting. If you are like me and don’t have an editor on hand when I write posts in the middle of the night, an alternative is an online option such as grammarly.com.

4. Write about your writing life. Readers (and new writers) also like to know how you manage your writing, where you get your ideas from, etc. Blog about that. Your experience can be inspirational to someone else, or help them if they stuck with a similar problem but couldn’t find someone to help out.

5. Write from the heart. There is nothing as irritating as someone who wants to come across as being superior to their readers. Don’t do that, even if you write non-fiction. If you have a particular issue in your writing that you struggle with, blog about it even if you don’t have a solution yet. By doing that, you might engage with someone in the same boat, and together you can help each other. Be a real person, not a real jerk.

6. Join a blog support group on Facebook. I am fortunate that I belong to a group of awesome women who help out by giving feedback on each other blogs – posts, structure, theme and so on. I have established a relationship with them, which took time for all of us to develop. I can trust them to be open and honest, and they know they will get the same from me. While this group is for bloggers, not only authors, the benefits are there for all of us.

7. Share your posts. Some people in my Facebook group are still feeling their way around the blogosphere, and that is okay. This means that their posts are not open for anyone to read. As a supportive member of the group, I encourage them to publish and share especially if they get good feedback from the group. Sharing is important as it helps you to find more readers and followers. It also helps the search engines to find and index your blog for the reader looking for info or looking for something relaxing to read. Make sure you blog is set up that others can share your posts with their friends on social media.

There are many topics to explore when blogging, and you don’t need to feel compelled to do what others do just because you are a writer. This will be a good time to be different. Why not share some ideas of what you think writers should blog about?

Linzé's Mischief: 28 February 2016

This year is two months old and already people are asking: where did the time go? Time is not ticking by any faster than it did last year or the year before or even ten years ago, and yet people still ask. I have been wondering about that for a while now. Why do we feel that time goes by faster, when in actual fact it does not.

Does it have to do with the rat race we found ourselves in? Or perhaps it is the increasing levels of stress we have to deal with every day? Or perhaps...I don't know...drifting along doing what is required - work, family, chores, work. Would we feel the same if we lived life for ourselves?

I don't mean that in a selfish, egocentric way, but do we even bother to make an appointment with ourselves, to meet our own needs of comfort and pleasure and self-expression?

My husband mentioned that December and January flew by at the speed of white light, but didn't make the same statement about February. While I was sketching today, I had a thought about that.

Yes, December and January for us had been hectic. Some things unplanned crossed our paths and for that he could be forgiven to think that time flew by.

But February was not like that, was it? Yes, we were busy, for him especially but that is normal in our lives.

I did another lesson in my tai chi class today - I am a bit behind on learning new forms, although I have been keeping up with my practicing. Especially after my horrible day yesterday, had an awful migraine that kept me in bed most of the time, another lesson was a welcome distraction. But it also reminded me of what I am doing with my time. My tai chi teacher (I am doing David Dorian-Ross' course) mentioned that a student of tai chi should be more aware of her next move. Her next choice. Her reaction towards a threat or simply what is going on around her. This way you have a measured response, a responsible counter reaction.

I think it is true about everything going on around us. A little philosophical perhaps, but maybe it is necessary to step back once in a while and think about the future. Time is only in our future. We cannot do anything about what has gone past. If we are more aware of what we spend our time on, on where we are wasting our time, will this not help to not ask the question 'where did the time go?'

Maybe I am more aware of time with the passing of my mother recently, but I think it was just one more prompt for me to look at what I am doing with my time and my life. Am I using time as best I can, or am I fooling myself about it?

Francois had been to a Photographic Society board meeting today and upon his return, he asked me what the soccer score had been between Man U and Arsenal. I had no idea. I didn't watch the game. I was utilising my time on the activity I promised myself as my new year's resolution - doing art. It will be a gift for a family member. Until he asked, I didn't know they had a game today. I used to love watching, but it has become less important to me. Maybe it never really was that important to begin with.

Are you still keeping up with that resolution for 2016? Is your time spent doing the important things you have been promising yourself? Do I dare ask the question: where did your time go this year?

The laundry, the writer and the timer they both used

I wrote 8500 words last weekend. I decided to sit and write my story for the JOURNEY project and get the first draft done after weeks of excuses. I did write, but other stories, so I wasn't procrastinating. I was avoiding the story that I should have been writing. The reasons for the avoidance are many, but let's just say that writing a story where grief is the main theme just after my mother passed away, was not going to be easy and I dreaded that. But I did it.

Before I get into the how of that, a small laundry lesson. My washing machine beeps when it has finished the program I had chosen for that load. I use that as my timer. I don't have to watch the clock or worry about how much time or how many words I still have to do. I write, and the washing machine's beeps will call time for a session. Since the lengths of the programs vary according to the load, how many rinse and spin cycles I chose, etc., I can use that to suit my energy levels.

Mid-morning will require a shorter cycle since I have to watch my blood sugar and eat at predetermined intervals. After I had something to eat, I can select laundry that requires a longer cycle. While this might be weird to you, it helped me to write a story that I had to write, but had been avoiding. With a deadline (that I set) not too far away, I had to make a plan to force myself to do this. And here is how I did that:

Saturday - it was short before 11 am, and I had to have a meal at about 12 pm. I went through my laundry basket and chose light fabrics, of mixed colours - typically clothes I would wear to work that won't get dirty because my job is mostly office based. Cycle = 40 minutes.

I started writing at 10h56. I didn't hear the machine beep because of music playing on my computer and the air-conditioner running in the passage outside my home office. I stopped at 11h57 and managed to get from 466 to 1651 words in that time.

The scene was emotionally draining, and I felt tired, so I took a long break. Took care of the laundry, had lunch, took some time to play with the dogs and got back to my computer at 13h39. I had another load of laundry ready but this time, the cycle was 1hr and 35min.

Again I stopped at 14h49 and managed to get to 2921 words. I was beginning to see a pattern that had nothing to do with the story. I could sit and write for about an hour before I had to get up and move around because of a back problem. I had noticed this before (also at work) but never really paid attention until I had this story to write. Okay, now I could work around that too.

Saturday evening I added a few more words and went to bed with 4527 words written. Not bad for a day where I had multiple tasks to do and had a story to write.

The requirements for the story are a minimum of 9000 words, so I was aiming towards that. This was the basic story, I would have to do a lot of editing, but this minimum target was not a bad place to aim for.

On Sunday my husband and I had our usual breakfast out, so I could only start writing again once we were back home a few minutes before 10 am. I didn't do much laundry, except some underwear because I was running low. Since I now knew that my body could handle being still for an hour at a time, I could work with that without worrying about the clock or my word count.

Here is how my Sunday went:

10h07 to 10h49 - I added another 858 words.

By 12h03 I had 6042 words in the story.

14h23 - 6451 words

14h34 - 6663 words

16h35 - 7485 words

16h50 - 7751 words

17h01 - 7984 words

17h31 - 8455 words

18h11 - 8975 words

As you might guess, I wasn't writing continuously, but that was okay. I had been able to consistently add words to my story until I felt the story was done. The above info I wrote down on a piece of paper next to my computer. This habit of mine to keep track of my words helps me to keep going.

Yes, my story is not 9000 words, but it will require more words to paint the complete picture that I want for my readers.

Don't misunderstand me - I cannot do this every weekend. I have other obligations most weekends, and I was utterly exhausted afterwards. So much so that at work on Monday I was having a hard time focusing. This it not the most number of words I have written over a weekend. If memory serves, I have done more than 10 000 words for NaNoWriMo one year.

These 8500 words came at a high emotional price for me, but having read the story afterwards (not ready for editing yet) I feel it could it be a story worth publishing. Let's hope my writers' group agree otherwise I will have to come up with a new idea - and soon!

Looking back...thinking forward

My parents and husband, Francois

As with most things we do at this time of the year, I also like to reflect back on the months of 2015. Feeling a touch proud at the books I published, and more than a touch guilty for not getting everything done I had wanted to.

At the same time feeling grateful for another year with friends and family - despite the people we lost - and excited about seeing my parents again very soon. They live far away and visiting is not always a simple matter of popping over for a coffee. Thank goodness for telephones and email.

View of Port Elizabeth harbour - my parents live in PE

December is not a month of writing for me, and yet the compulsion to do so has not gone away. Must be the fact that I have written every day from 1 January to 30 November, at an average of over 800 words per day. Not an easy thing to do, not writing. Yet, I simply choose to redirect my creative impulses with paint and pencil to satisfy another, less compulsive, desire to create.

As the year draws to a close, the prospect of a new year becomes brighter on the horizon. New writing projects, new work challenges and new opportunities to live a creative life. To learn new things; to become a better human being.

Zentange Fairie - art by Linzé

As I spend my hours in December drawing two roses, painting a zentangle fairy, drawing a blue dragon and a spotted thick-knee my mind is already planning the year ahead. My mind drifts towards musings of spending more time with my art, and not leaving it until December. Perhaps one project each month - two or three days. Large paintings (I still have two of those haunting me) will then be completed sooner. Work on smaller projects to keep my hand in, so to speak.

Writing remains my passion and project JOURNEY will be another exceptional anthology showcasing the talents of eleven authors this time. My story, Galen's Hope, will see me challenge myself in ways I have not done before. The risk of failure is there, but so is the prospect of stretching my writing wings into new dimensions.

The fourth novel on the Nations of Peace series, Waiting for Adrian, is lying on my desk ready to start editing. And the non-fiction book for authors will soon join it.

I wrote 294,000 odd words in 2015, at an average of 800+ words per day. Of those words, 87744 ended up in published work and 27000 were published on my blog. The rest are the first drafts of potential books and blog posts to come.

Do I have a New Year's resolution for 2016? You bet I do, and it is to do more art in the year ahead. A little creative planning and I could manage it without compromising on my writing schedule.

Many new challenges, and only 365 days to complete them.

When I look ahead, for myself, my husband and all the things we are planning in 2016, the year of our 22nd anniversary is going to be a year to remember.

May your 2016 be a year of surprising success and include many hours of creative happiness.