Infographic: 15 Ways to Write Faster

SOURCE @ www.custom-writing.org

On Being a Writer - Paulo Coelho style

Click the image for more detail

NaNoWriMo Infographic - a survey of 2000 Wrimo's

Source of study and infographic: http://www.stopprocrastinatingapp.com/nanowrimo/

35 Day Blog Challenge - Day 25: Infographics for Authors

Obsession by Linzé Brandon

You have probably seen these cute and compact graphic images all over the internet and social media websites. They contain useful information, but it is not represented as dry facts and figures. Instead the information is relayed in graphical format: compact and colourful; informational as well as entertaining. Not so long I was looking of these infographics (I cannot recall the subject matter) but it gave me an idea: use it for my books.

So far I have made three: the first was for Obsession, published in June this year and the second was for Michael's Mystery. The first I shared with all and sundry, but the second will live on my computer until the book is ready. I made a third infographic, and it is displayed on my office wall at home. This last infographic is a visual plan that I have to achieve my own goals.

Despite on how complex the graphics might appear, they are not that difficult to construct. You can get professional graphic designer, or use an online app (I use Piktochart) or even use software for making slideshows (such as Keynote for Apple) to create your own infographics.

To design the infographic for Obsession, I used the book cover as the primary image. Since it is black and white to fit in with the rest of the series, I added red accents to liven up the colour scheme. The book title, its relation to the other books in the series, and some cryptic info on the main character was added.

You can add as much or as little detail as you want, and use any colour scheme that compliments the colours of your book cover.

It is one image with details about your book that you can share in one place. Add the link to where the book can be purchased then you have supplied a picture worth a thousand words to a reader - all in one go.

Very handy book marketing tools, these infographics. Try them for yourself, they are super easy to make.

Pop around tomorrow to see how I keep track of details when writing a series.

If you want to see what the other participants are blogging about, you can find their blogs here. Why not pop on over and leave a comment?

OBSESSION by Linzé Brandon

Book 3 of the Third Gender Series (sci-fi romance)

OBSESSION is available here

Infographic Thursday: How to Focus

A few tips on how to deal with all those things that we have to do, want to do and simply need to manage in our daily lives.

Infographic from www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: Punctuation...a reminder

Infographic from www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: Managing the distractions and disruptions in my life

This is one busy picture, but if you take the time you will see that it explains the reasons why we are running around doing lots of things and accomplishing...nothing.

Focus is essential in this digital era we live in. Email and social media and all kinds of other real life stuff, like dirty dishes, keep our minds spinning in all directions and yet at the end of the day (or week) we are exhausted and still feel as if nothing got done.

Does it happen to you?

Source visual.ly

It happened to me and for a long time before I realised that I can control what I do. Yes, there are distractions everywhere and disruptions all the time.

At work priorities need to be set so you can focus on getting the job done.

When a disruption occurs, make a quick decision: 1. will it prevent me from getting the job done today? 2. if important or serious, then yes, deal with it. 3. if not, add to the list of things that needs to be done after the important thing(s) have been completed.

Our own lives are much the same. What is important to you?

As a writer, my third novel needs to be finished and in my life that is important.

So what will distract me from doing what I want to do? Dirty dishes? Laundry? Dogs that need feeding? Family obligations? The party my husband committed the two of us to go to, three weeks ago?

Manage them. I try write for two hours everyday before I go to bed, if I cannot then half and hour or fifteen minutes will do too.

By then, what is not done has to wait until the next day, or the weekend. As you can see I am not an anal housekeeper, but my social life can be challenging, since my husband is more of a social animal than I am.

While saying 'no' is no longer a problem for me, I cannot alienate my friends, family and husband all the time, so I have to write around this. It works most of the time, and when things go wrong, there is always the fifteen minutes before I go to bed.

Infographic Thursday: The Creative Process...a comic

A little humour for the day before Friday! :)

Infographic Thursday: Reward Yourself...you need it!

Source: www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: Keeping Track of your Time

It has been a while since I posted any advice on time management. So here is today's infographic to help out on projects, big and small, to help you get the things done that you have planned.

Infographic Thursday: Why Self-Publish

Source: www.visual.ly

There is a bit more to it than this, but the infographic does sum it up fairly well :)

Infographic Thursday: Your coffee personality

Source www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: Proofreading vs Editing

Source: www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: Make your day better

Source: www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: A Blogging Strategy

Source: www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: Hooow tooo beee Moore CREATIVE!

This is one long, long, long infographic :) Creativity is something that many people take for granted, simply because it is the way we are, but it does not have to be only that way.
Anyone can be creative, and it is not even that difficult.
Okay, shutting big mouth here, because the creative writing process is different for everyone. I am sure artists will agree that the argument holds true for them too.
I often get the weirdest ideas at the oddest moments, and 'what if' is the one phrase my brain seems to love above all others. Don't get me wrong, some of my brainwaves do not deserve to be mentioned, while others are explored in some or other story that I am concocting at the time.
Once in a while, the idea sticks and grows to become a short story or a novel.  Sometimes it even ends up worth reading.
May your creative endeavours give you hours of pleasure, and satisfy that deep dark need to ... write!


The infographic can be found on www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: Oops, not again!

Infographic from www.visual.ly

I have recently read an article about famous writers, alive and dead, who chose to write their novels by hand. While I write my books on my computer, I still enjoy the weight of my heavy Waterman fountain pen when writing in my journal.
I claim no perfection in my writing, but I feel that I make fewer errors when writing by hand. Am I going to start writing my novels or short stories by hand? Hell, no! If I did I will never finish anything, simply because of the time it will take to do that, and then transcribing it to computer for it to be published.
I suppose like most people, non-writers included, I have come to rely on word processors to fix my mistakes even as I make them.
But computers don't know what we want to write, it uses an algorithm to correct words to be the closest match to the wrong word we typed. Or the rules of good grammar that is programmed into its code.
So it really is up to us to check what we are writing, and understand that the words we are using are the ones we intended to be there. Then again it helps if you know a good editor.
Do you still struggle with these annoying little mistakes as I sometimes do despite all the words I have written and published?

Infographic Thursday: The DNA of a Good Book

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of blogs out there to give advice on writing, structuring, characterisation, plotting and scene setting in a novel. Advice abounds on use of short sentences, proper syntax and grammar, to say nothing of every writer's pet peeve, correct punctuation.
As a writer with some experience, I am still perfecting my craft (turning it into art?) and have compiled an extensive list of references of my go-to blogs for advice on writing. You can never know too much, in my opinion.
As many a writer, traditionally or indie published will tell you, that writing a good book is simply the start. But this is an incredibly important start. Without that good book, well written, edited and proof read, the rest will only be a waste of time. And the rest is just as important to get it to my audience - my readers.

So here is today's info graphic on what makes a good book. What are the most important elements for you to make a book a favourite worthy to be read time and again?

Click the info graphic to see more details. Source www.visual.ly

Infographic Thursday: What are Infographics?

Last week I introduced a new series for Thursdays: infographics. This week I share an infographic, about infographics. As you will learn (as I did) over the next few weeks, an infographic can be a handy tool to graphically convey a message. The trick is to do it in such a way that the message is concise and yet presented in such a way that it draws the attention of the intended audience.
At first glance they look easy to compile, but I have learned that it will take a little more study, some computer skills and more research for me to be able to design my own.
If you are interested in doing your own infographic, look around for a template that would closely resemble what you wish to use and then work from there.
On the other hand, you can also find professionals that can help you to custom design the infographic that is just perfect for your unique message.

You find this infographic on www.visual.ly