Nina Jade Singer on Being a Productive Writer and Giveaways!

Maintaining Momentum – Being a Productive Writer
Let’s face it – spare time is a rare commodity these days. And unlike say… doing the dishes, writing a novel is not one of those things you can elbow through and cross off your to-do list. It takes time, patience, perseverance, and a good deal of faith. I recently celebrated my first release, Secrets of the Knight, available from Crescent Moon Press. But it took effort and commitment. And a good investment of time.
Even when there aren’t major events happening in our lives, just the day-to-day grind can often make it hard to be the productive, prolific writers we would like to be. Thankfully, through the years I’ve been able to find a few strategies that have worked for me.
Here’s one of the biggest – making sure I’m prepared before I even get to the keyboard (or notepad, or alpha writer, or cocktail napkin). In other words, I try to know exactly what I’m going to write down as soon as I sit. I don’t mean every single word. But I try to make sure to know where I want to start and the point I want to get to.
This means I’ve been thinking about the story and the words consistently throughout the day. As I’m doing the dishes, I’m thinking about what my heroine might want to say when she speaks next. Or how her facial expressions may change throughout my next scene. Before my bottom even hits that chair, I want to know what words are going to go down on that paper or screen.
Think of the driving analogy. You know the saying – writing a novel is a lot like driving a car at night. You only see a few feet ahead of you. But you can make the entire journey that way. And you see a little bit before you even put the car in gear, right? By the way, for now we’re going to ignore the incessant nagging backseat driver known as ‘your inner critic’. More on him/her later.
So what are some ways you can prepare yourself to have the words before you sit down? There are quite a few. First, observe your surroundings. Notice the details around you as you go about your day. In the grocery store, look at the ways people are interacting. Does one shopper seems agitated? Or frazzled? How can you tell? What are some of the ways you can describe what you’re seeing? How can you correlate that to a character in your story who will be agitated or frazzled?
In other words, think of your story and how the world around you may parallel what you want to write next. Is this going to work for every scene? Of course not. If you’re about to sit down to a fight scene or steamy romance scene, your grocery shopping isn’t going to lead to any great ideas that day. (If it does, you shop in way more interesting stores than I do.) But it will work often enough.
How about in the gym? Before you start cranking the iPod, take the first 5 minutes on the elliptical to go over the next scene. Even if you’re a seat-of-your-pants writer who knows exactly what your next scene will be, do you know the exact words you’ll start with? ....to be continued.
Part 2 of Being a Productive Writer will be on 21st November.
Nina Jade Singer has a new release! SECRETS OF THE KNIGHT!
Secrets of the Knight
Blurb:
Several years ago life forced Thomas (Bo) Bowden to give up everything, including the woman he loves, and take refuge on a Caribbean island. Little did he know, he was taking the first step to fulfilling his mystical destiny.

Nicole Balian has come to the small island of Trenado to find a missing teenager. She's shocked to the core to find her former lover instead. And the attraction between her and Bo is as strong as ever.

Working together to solve the unexplained disappearances plaguing the island, they find themselves in a frightening world of voodoo and magic. Trenado's history is shrouded in supernatural mystery. The danger they face serves to reignite their love. But as Bo fights an ancient evil that haunts the island, will Nicole be able to save the man she loves? Or will she lose him once again, this time forever?

Buy Link:
About Nina Jade Singer:

I've always loved stories of the supernatural. With mystery,  suspense, and a good dose of romance.

After years in the corporate world, I had to start writing my own such stories. And I had to do it New England - near mystical Salem, Mass.

Nina on the Web:
Website       Facebook     Twitter

One lucky commenter will receive Secrets of The Knight today. Followers and commenter’s of the blog tour will go in the grand draw of an Amazon Gift Certificate of US$100.00!

 For the full itinerary, check the AUTHOR PAGE!

34 comments:

  1. Good advice, great article. Your book sounds like such an excellent read. lornel@xplornet.ca

    ReplyDelete
  2. "writing a novel is a lot like driving a car at night. You only see a few feet ahead of you. But you can make the entire journey that way..." What a great perspective!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Having an idea for a scene in mind before I sit down to write is my number one rule for success. Otherwise, I stare at the screen and end up surfing the social network sites instead of writing. Great tips in this blog -- thanks! And congrats on the book release. I love to hear successful writers share their journeys!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post! I saw this book featured on Ciara Knight's blog. So looking forward to reading it :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great advice for writers, thanks Nina!

    SECRETS OF THE KNIGHT sound an awesome book!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's so true--there are lots of ways to squeeze in writerly time. I need to do that more often. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, whenever I'm prepared before I write, I have a far better writing session--both in quality and quantity.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Nina,
    A great craft of writing post. Some really good advice there.

    Thanks for the wonderful guest, RR!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awesome advice. Mine usually will pop out of nowhere. Thanks to the voice recorder on my cell, I'm somewhat more prepared.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fantastic advice! Sometimes my best ideas come from time away from my novel, doing chores etc.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nina, I love your advice about "knowing where I want to start and the point I want to get to." I have saved this to my list of motivational writing words.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Lorraine,
    Thank you for your comments about the book and the post. I'm glad you stopped by.
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Sharon,
    I can't even remember the first time I heard that driving analogy, but I remember really being struck by it.
    Thanks for your comment!
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Nicole,
    I'm so glad to hear you try to write that way too! You're right, I just play on iTunes or Pandora if I don't plan beforehand.
    Thanks for your comment!
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks Raelyn,
    I appreciate you stopping by to read the post!
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Nas,
    Thanks for stopping by!
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Lydia,
    Thank you for reading the post and for your comment.
    : )
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  18. HI Lynda,
    Nothing beats a good writing session, does it!? Well, maybe just a couple of things... ha ha.
    Thank you for the comment!
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Serena,
    I really appreciate your comments.
    Thanks!
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Donna,
    I also use that mini recorder all the time. Sure beats those cassette things from the old days, doesn't it?
    : )
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi Talli,
    Some of my best ideas come when I'm doing chores. Still don't like doing them though!
    Thank you for the comment!
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Michelle,
    Thanks for the kind comment.
    I'm glad you stopped by to read the post.
    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Nina,

    Thanks for coming along and sharing with us all these awesome writerly tips!

    I hope you liked meeting my friends?

    Thank you to all my friends for coming along and reading Nina's post and about her book, SECRETS OF THE KNIGHT!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm so glad that, thanks to the blosophere, I can read about the way writers build their works. I'm just like a bee near a jar of honey :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is great advice, and definitely a productive use of time. Congrats on your release.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great advice! I read a book a few years ago that recommended writing only one scene a day, and spending the time in between scenes thinking about the upcoming scene so when you get to it, you know exactly what you're going to write. Makes a lot of sense!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Constantly thinking about the story is a great idea, and if I'm really immersed in a new idea, I can't even help doing it. It's great to start writing with ideas in the back of my head of what I want to explore.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I need to have a plan before I sit down and write. Many times I daydream about my wip all day long, so that helps.

    Salem has always intrigued me.

    It was nice getting to know Nina. :)

    ReplyDelete
  29. This was fabulous. Really great advice and just what I needed diving into a new novel.

    What a fabulous blog! Glad to have stopped in.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Great post - the paragraph that really rang true for me was about being prepared. I find I have to have in mind what I want to achieve and where the story is going before I sit at the keyboard - or I just mull things over and get nowhere!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I imagine writing is definitely a journey and for everyone it is different. It helps to have a great attitude and help yourself to advice. Great post.

    Cambonified(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  32. When I'm walking I listen to my iPod & think about my story - it always helps :)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Fantastic advice! I spend a lot of time running and driving thinking about what I'm going to write, because I do find that if I don't know where to start when I sit down, somehow, suddenly, I'm on Facebook...

    ReplyDelete
  34. The winner of Nina Jade Singer's SECRET OF THE KNIGHT is ....
    Raelyn Barclay!

    Congratulations Raelyn, please contact nina@ninasinger. com regarding your win!

    ReplyDelete

Join the discussion!