Requests for Real Writing Strategies for Writers of Non-Fiction
I’m hoping you talented people can help me with something. Do you have any writing strategies for non-fiction that have worked for you that I might share with a client? I’m espcially interested in strategies for long-term, big, or book-length projects, not just how to get a school paper done in a day.
Here are some questions that will get you thinking along the lines of what I’m looking for:
* How do you structure your writing time?
* How do you develop a rhythm?
* How do you shut up the critic/editor in you long enough to actually get words on paper? In other words, how do you honor both sides of your brain–the creator and the editor, without allowing the editor/critic to paralyze the creator?
* What are some practical strategies (turning of the phone, keeping email off, using a timer, etc.) that work?
* Do you try to write at the same time every day? Is there an advantage in occasionally approaching your writing tasks at a different time than you usually work?
* Do you set yourself a goal each session?
* How do you avoid daydreaming and writers’ block?
* What rituals do you do? (remember in the film “Shakespeare In Love,” when Shakespeare spit on his hands, grabbed his quill, and spun around before sitting down to write?)
If you have any tips to share, I’d greatly appreciate it. Or, if you know of any online resources I should check out, I’d love to hear about them.
Thanks!
