This week I sent out my monthly newsletter just before New Zealand began to prepare for a four-week lockdown. We are entering an uncertain time. I get to share my working space with my family for four weeks solid. This could be challenging. Here are some of the ideas I shared in my newsletter for writers coping in this brave new world.
Clean up all your computer files.
Back up all your documents.
Shelve your books alphabetically, or by colour… or practice book structure sculpture.
Write a book review and post it online every day for Book Karma.
Study a good film for plot points and emotional payoffs- Do it as a group activity (family time?)
Check-in with your loved ones and your colleagues. This is about physical distancing not social distancing.
Be Kind To Yourself
The calm good sense of K M Weiland on the power of hopeful stories when the world seems a bit mad is a nice reminder that the world needs storytellers.
Joanna Penn has a great article on productivity from guest writer, Tiffany Joy. If your productivity has gone out the window it is alright to regroup and try again.
Nate Hoffelder has a great post on how to look at your author business and move forward with a new plan for when we come out on the other side. Very sensible, also his 6 stages of grief are right on target.
Anne R Allen has been looking at Amazon’s review policy and yes, they have changed it again. Now you have to be careful of ARC team reviews. But as Anne says there are other places you can leave reviews.
New Zealand was going to be hosting the WorldCon this year and now the whole country is in lockdown. As a nice pivot Worldcon will be virtual.
Meanwhile, BEA is still attempting to go ahead despite the withdrawals of 3 big publishers.
Kris Rusch has dug out an old post on setting priorities if you are new to working from home. This is absolutely the best advice as we figure out how to work in this brave new world of coronavirus lockdown. She then continued her current thinking about black swan events and what might be coming down the track for author business.
In The Craft Section,
5 ingredients for story subtext- K M Weiland- Bookmark
Peer critique versus Professional editing- Jane Friedman
Creative Writing Prompts and Writing Exercises from Reedsy- Bookmark Both
How to format dialogue – Jami Gold - Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
5 reasons to consider translating your work- Angela Ackerman
How to get publicity- Tom Corson Knowles- Bookmark
April - unique content ideas- Penny Sansevieri – Bookmark
To Finish,
Last week was I was writing about creativity. The Oatmeal blog came up with an awesome comic on creativity.
Here in New Zealand we are lucky to have a brilliant microbiologist and a cartoonist join forces to write creative, entertaining and factual daily articles that are now being shared globally.
Be Kind. Stay strong.
Maureen
@craicer
Day One of New Zealand Lockdown
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