For a good portion of the country, August is the start of a new year—of sorts. It’s the month to think about going back-to-school. Whether you are a student, the parent or grandparent of a student, or an educator of students of any age, you will undoubtedly be shifting your mindset back to the school routine this month. As a writer, you may want to jump on the back-to-school bandwagon and do this too; you will find an assortment of varied opportunities available for your continuing education in the field of writing.
First things first though. Some of us who write use these August weeks as a time to gather school supplies for ourselves as well as for the students we may be sending off to the classroom. Since many writers cannot resist new notebooks, pens, and other miscellaneous office supplies that seem necessary to load up on, you may want to check what is available at the retailers near you, especially at the back-to-school sale prices we tend to only see at this time of year.
If you’ve been considering replacing your laptop, the back-to-school season is arguably the best time for that large purchase. Laptop computers that are used primarily for going online and word processing—those mainly designed for students—can be found for affordable prices in August. (A quick online search just now showed a nice assortment of student laptops for under $200.)
You may be able to resist the pull of back-to-school sales and online deals—since you don’t necessarily need to buy anything for your home office—but think about using this time to evaluate your own continuing education in the craft of writing. Whether you are a beginning or unpublished writer or someone who has been writing for a while and has created some marketable manuscripts, the learning never stops for writers.
Here are some ideas for continuing your writing education in the new school year:
Hit the (Writing) Books
Read, read, read. Just as our students approach the new year with renewed reading gusto, writers should make a renewed commitment to reading. That reading should include children’s books, middle grade, young adult, and adult—in fiction and nonfiction.
Also consider books that are specifically focused on the craft of writing because even though you know what you are doing, successful writers provide us with a gift when they share what they know and their strategies for writing. It is worthwhile to add those books to your reading rotation.
An online search of “writing books by writers” can provide some fine suggestions. Keep in mind that the goal is not to style yourself after another writer or write like another writer. If even a few tips and ideas within a book are useful or get you thinking, reading it was worth your time.
Organize your Writing Space
Writers use a wide assortment of places to do their writing. You may sit at your kitchen table, at a desk, or at a nook you created in a corner of a room in your home. It is a good idea to use this back-to-school season to reorganize this important area.
If you have stacks of papers or books, go through them and find a good home—a shelf, a file folder, or the waste basket to declutter your space. Gather up miscellaneous items that are sitting on the flat surface and consolidate them to neaten up your writing space. The clean-up activity won’t take long but could change your mindset and make your ideas flow more easily. It’s worth the time investment.
Field Trip
Not everyone is able to write at home and many writers are able to get more work done at other places. Explore these options in your area—if the weather is nice, it’s often inspiring to write outdoors at a park or playground. Public libraries usually have areas to sit and write and most have free wi-fi available.
Coffee shops can be good places to write, usually for the price of a cup of coffee or a cold drink. Evaluate whether a change of venue may aid your writing by trying a few places outside of your home and looking at your efficiency afterward.
Make Time to Write
If you don’t have a set time to write each day, consider trying this for a month or more and assess whether you are more productive in this way. Think of how much time you can reasonably devote to your writing each day or decide how many words—some writers try for one thousand—and stick to that goal each day or a reasonable number of days per week.
Your writing time may end up being early in the morning, late at night, during your lunch hour, or primarily on weekends, but attempt to stay consistent with the plan you have made. Being consistent with your writing will help move your projects forward and there is a good chance you will stick to this plan.
These back-to-school ideas are not new to many writers, but listing them here may help get you into an optimal productive mindset to lessen any roadblocks to writing your manuscripts.
In the next blog post, we will discuss specific learning opportunities available to explore to enhance your skills, meet and network with other writers, and move your writing forward this school year. See you then!
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