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Rachel Tindall 6/24/20 Rachel Tindall 6/24/20

10 Picture Prompts to Start Summer with Writing Inspiration

We’ve officially made it to summer! I can’t tell whether this year has gone incredibly fast or slower than any year before it.

What does it feel like to you?

Summer is typically a joyous time where kids are home from school and the swimming pools are open for business! Late night movies, team sports, and reading lists abound. Well, usually, at least.

This summer will be different than all the rest, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still get inspired to write!

What is a Picture Writing Prompt and How Do I Use It?

Before I share pictures for summer writing inspiration I wanted to quickly describe how to use them.

If you haven’t done a picture writing prompt before, it’s fun and you’re going to love it!

All you have to do is look at the image and write a story about it.

All you have to do is look at the image and write a story about it. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, or a certain word/page count. It’s simply meant to inspire your creativity and get you writing. You don’t even have to think of a subject if you’re using the picture! How cool is that?

The Prompts

Below are 10 images to spark your creativity. Use them however they are helpful (and fun) for you!

Try writing a short story, poem, or essay. Or if you’re feeling really inspired, you could write a novella or novel!

1. Toes in the Sand

2. Pure Joy

3. Holding Hands

4. An Abandoned Historic House

5. A Natural Throne

6. A Statuesque Windmill

7. Stormy Skies

8. Hidden Treasure

9. Secret Stairs in the Woods

10. Road Less Traveled

BONUS: Brother Love

If you use one of these prompts, please consider sending your writing to rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com - I’d love to see it!

Who knows, maybe I’ll feature your words on my blog (with your permission, of course!)

I’d love to hear about your experiences using picture prompts! Find me on social media, drop a comment below, or email me at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com!

Let’s chat because you, my friend, are on your way to great writing.

Rachel Tindall 6/12/20 Rachel Tindall 6/12/20

5 Ways to Tame an Unruly Inner Critic

Are you good at being kind to yourself?

Think about that for just a moment.

For many of us, it’s easy to be kind to others. Being kind is valued and encouraged from a young age in our communities. What seems to be lacking is the idea of being kind to ourselves.

Sure, we need to take care of ourselves, but it’s not really considered a problem if we consistently put others before ourselves. In fact, it’s almost looked at as a good thing in many cases - especially care-givers.

It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that for many writers, we are harsh in criticism to ourselves.

So it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that for many writers, we are harsh in criticism to ourselves. We berate our writing, even when it’s not that bad. And rarely is it THAT BAD. I see this all the time as I work with beginning writers, or writers who have faced nasty criticism before.

This harsh criticism comes from our inner critic.

Our inner critic is mean.

It’s not always mean, but it happens enough of the time to be (at best) a nuisance or even (at worst) a deterrent from getting any writing done at all.

What is an Inner Critic?

If you’ve heard the term before, the inner critic is probably a familiar idea. You know your inner critic, or rather, they know you, better than anyone else in the world.

If you haven’t heard of the idea of the inner critic, you might be asking, “What the heck is that?”

Your inner critic is that little voice in your head that critiques what you do. In writing, it’s that little voice that questions things like whether a sentence is coherent, or whether XYZ is the right word. It’s the whisper (or bullhorn) of doubt when you write something that just doesn’t feel right. It’s the voice that, at the end of the novel, goes “Does the whole thing suck?”

The problem isn’t that your inner critic is there.

Everyone has an inner critic, and it’s likely you’ve heard it before, even if you didn’t know what it was called (or if you call it something else). Some of us are good at ignoring it, while some of us battle to not take it as direct truth every single time it makes a comment about our progress - or lack thereof.

Incidentally, this voice also sometimes gives us praise! Things like “wow, what a great phrase!” The problem isn’t that your inner critic is there. The problem is that a lot of times the criticism is worse than warranted and yet somehow gets more attention than positive comments your inner critic might make.

We Are Our Own Worst Critic. Really.

Whoever said this out loud first was absolutely right. We absolutely are our own worst critics! Unfortunately, writing seems to bring out the worst inner critics.

There are several factors that go into making our inner critic so mean:

Self-Esteem

It’s hard to be nice to yourself when you don’t believe you’re worth it. Self-esteem plays such a big role in our lives, but we don’t often notice how it trickles into things like our writing. If self-esteem is low, the inner critic in our mind sees this as a weakness and takes advantage of it.

Confidence

Even if we have a good self-esteem, it doesn’t mean all of us are confident writers. We all have days where we doubt ourselves, but a constant lack of confidence in our skills and abilities becomes a big problem in making real progress. The inner critic sneaks in and scares us away from getting feedback, or even sometimes continuing to write at all.

Prior Experiences

Friends, I’ve talked to A LOT of writers. And almost everyone has had a bad prior experience with writing. Whether we’ve gotten bad feedback, or been told we couldn’t (or shouldn’t) write, the differences lie with how each of us deals with it.

You can’t be a failure because it’s something that happens, not who you are.

Some writers are resilient enough to push forward and grow from it (which is healthy), while others unleash the inner critic who rips up the last shred of our confidence. Some of us even let these experiences define our writing or ourselves for long periods of time (that was me). The inner critic sneaks reminders of these experiences in when we try to move forward with our writing.

Beliefs About Writing & Writers

While we are growing up and learning to write, we learn some weird things about writing. Somewhere along the lines we learn that writing is a talent that only some special people have, and the rest of us shouldn’t even bother trying to succeed as writers. (This is 100% false, friends.)

We also learn that unless you become a mega-star writer like J.K. Rowling, writing can’t make you any real money so we should probably like something else along with writing - it can only really amount to a hobby. (Also untrue.) Our inner critic feeds these ideas back to us when we think about starting new creative projects or taking a leap and following our big dreams.

Beliefs About Success & Failure

How we define success and what constitutes failure also weighs heavily on our ability to be successful writers. We feel like we are only successful when we finish something, and/or that we’re a failure if we pivot to something new when a project just isn’t working out. That’s a misconception. Anytime you make progress it’s a success. Small progress is still progress!

We have to actively change these ideas we’ve accumulated about success and failure in order to move ahead.

The other misconception is that a person can be a failure. The truth is, failure is an event. It’s not a person. You can’t be a failure because it’s something that happens, not who you are. Sure, some people have lots of failure on the record - it’s become common to say things like “FAIL” and laugh.

We have to actively change these ideas we’ve accumulated about success and failure in order to move ahead. Our inner critic has a feeding frenzy when it thinks there’s any chance of failure because it knows it can convince you that failure is permanent - it’s you - when it’s really just an event.

5 Things to Do When Your Inner Critic is Particularly Self-Deprecating

So what the heck do you do about this inner critic voice?

The bad news is you that can’t just get rid of it.

The good news is that there are some simple things you can work on to make your inner critic work for you and not against you.

These 5 simple strategies are to:

Take a Deep Breath & Acknowledge Your Feelings

Before you do anything else, take a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. Dealing with a mean inner critic can be extremely frustrating (just like dealing with a mean person out in the real world), so you don’t want to go in with fists ablaze.

Dealing with a mean inner critic can be extremely frustrating, so you don’t want to go in with fists ablaze.

Once you have taken your deep breath (and a few more, if that helps you cool down) acknowledge the fact that your inner critic does have feelings. They might even have a little validity! That does not mean you have to let the inner critic or comments run the show.

Tell Your Inner Critic to Back Off!

Chances are, if someone insults you, you probably respond to them with some kind of “back off” message, right? Treat your inner critic in the same way.

If you don’t use strong language or harsh criticism with others, you don’t need to be saying it to yourself. Tell that little voice to take a hike! It can come back when it has something productive to say.

Make a list of regular negative comments like “this sucks” or “you should have been able to do this better the first time” and make a focused effort to stop using them & letting your inner critic use them on you.

Explore the “Why”

As with most things, it’s generally helpful if you know why your inner critic is being a jerk.

Remember the factors:

Self-Esteem

Confidence

Prior Experiences

Beliefs About Writing & Writers

Beliefs About Success & Failure

What’s gotten into your inner critic that’s making it say such harsh things?

What’s gotten into your inner critic that’s making it say such harsh things? The more you know about it, the easier it will be to debunk those comments.

Take Some Critical Distance from Your Writing

I’m a big proponent of regularly taking critical distance from your writing, but especially at major milestones. This means walking away lock, stock, and barrel from your project for a set amount of time. Your inner critic won’t be as active during the distance because it’s not looking at the same writing you’ve been pouring over for weeks, months, or even years.

Critical distance also helps you get a fresh perspective and new eyes to take back to your work. This is helpful in keeping our inner critic at bay because it knows we’re making needed improvements already - no need for another naggy reminder.

Get Feedback from Someone You Trust

Feedback is so important to the writing process. It can also be scary! But, when your inner critic tells you that something you wrote is terrible (even if you don’t quite believe it), consider having a trusted writer friend read it and give honest commentary.

In order for us to get an honest self-critique (and helpful feedback from others), we need to tame that beast and keep it under control.

Having someone else look at your words can help you identify places that need work, but it can also help satiate that inner critic voice that’s chomping at the bit for things you might need to fix. Your inner critic will have much less to say when your trusted reader likes your work!

You’ve probably heard your inner critic, and even if you are good at silencing that voice, it can sometimes get out of hand focusing on the negatives. In order for us to get an honest self-critique (and helpful feedback from others), we need to tame that beast and keep it under control.

The great thing about taming the beast (besides satisfaction) is that none of the strategies are overly complicated. This doesn’t mean they are easy - don’t misunderstand - these things take hard work. But, they are 100% worth the effort, and you will start seeing a change in your inner critic when you start purposefully implementing them.

My challenge to you is to choose one strategy and try it the very next time you sit down to write something. Whether that’s a blog, a creative piece, or a piece of artwork. Work on that strategy and just see what happens. I bet you’ll find it improves your writing experience.

When you do try these tips, or if you have other experiences with how to deal with a mean inner critic, I’d love to hear about them! Find me on social media, drop a comment below, or email me at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com!

Let’s chat because you, my friend, are on your way to great writing.

Rachel Tindall 5/8/20 Rachel Tindall 5/8/20

3 Reasons Your Writing Needs Critical Distance

We’ve been social distancing for what seems like forever, and for many of us, that has meant more (or less) time for writing. For some of us, we have felt encouraged and inspired to dive into our writing, but for some of us staying motivated to write has been an uphill battle.

UPDATED FEB 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic changed most things about our lives, including how we write and create. For some, being in lockdown meant writing all the time - it was the only way we could escape. For others, writing took a back seat to other responsibilities and the collective chaos.

If you’re like me and find yourself up to your ears in writing that hasn’t been edited, from the pandemic or otherwise, it’s key to incorporate some critical distance into your writing process.

What is Critical Distance?

The idea of critical distance is simple. Writers get critical distance when they write something and then take a specific amount of time away from that writing.

During their time away, writers don’t look at their writing at all. They can work on other projects, or just take a break from writing altogether - it depends on the individual!

Writers use critical distance to improve their writing.

Writers use critical distance to improve their writing. First drafts aren’t always great (they’re not always terrible either), so taking time away from it helps strengthen the piece as a whole.

How Long Should Critical Distance Be?

Because critical distance is specific to each writer, there is not a firm set of rules. The beautiful thing about it is that each writer can start with one goal, say a day or two, and learn as they go along.

When I teach English, I always advise my students to use a critical distance strategy. Since their writing is 10 pages or less, I generally advise a pretty short critical distance time. This is also because they are students, most of them procrastinate (I was the worst when I was in school), and most are trying to balance life with their schooling.

Outside the classroom, things are a little different!

Outside the classroom, things are a little different! Most of us probably aren’t writing researched essays, or having to present them to a class of our peers. Some writers are working on short stories or novels. Some are working on essays or columns for publication. Some are blogging just like me!

Whatever type of writing you’re doing, you will have to make the judgment call about how long you think it will take to really get a break from your own words. The ideal time is when you feel refreshed and don’t recall every single word, but you also don’t lose all the focus you’ve worked so hard to maintain during the writing process.

Here are some ideas to help you decide:

Short writing (< 10 pages) - 1-2 days

The fewer pages there are of your writing, the less time it will take to read and re-read!

No matter how long it takes you to write 10 pages, chances are it won’t take you nearly as long to read 10 pages.

Taking a brief 1 -2 day critical distance break can give you a reprieve, but also allow you to get back to your work pretty quickly. You don’t want to spend too much time away, but a little is sure to be helpful.

Moderate writing (20-50 pages) - 4-5 days

When you get into the 20-50 page range, you’ve spent a considerable amount of time on your work. It’s probably been at least days, if not weeks or months. It will also take you longer to re-read and process when you go back to it.

Whether you’re a daily writer, or a weekend warrior, moderate writing needs more time to settle than something shorter.

This isn’t at all to say that moderate length writing is easier than shorter or longer writing - on the contrary, the middle length is tricky! Many times, writing in this range will be submitted for publication or needs to meet a specific word/page requirement. This likely means you will either be adding content, or trimming to fit all of your thoughts concisely in the required space.

Taking a longer critical distance time of 4-5 days - about a business week - will allow your brain to focus on other things around you. Whether you’re a daily writer, or a weekend warrior, moderate writing needs more time to settle than something shorter.

Longer writing (50+ pages) - 1-2 weeks (or more)

After you get past about 50 pages, you’re probably working on a novella or a novel. As you know, novels can be really long, and really complex! Cloud Atlas? Ulysses? Game of Thrones?

Even if you don’t think your novel is the stuff of an HBO mega series (mine isn’t, and that’s not my goal), it will still take you many hours of blood, sweat, and tears to put together.

Those of us who have finished writing a novel can tell you it’s something incredibly special. No matter your view on first drafts, there’s nothing in the world like finishing one. It can be hard to come back with fresh eyes knowing you probably need some changes or updates, but also knowing that you poured your heart into that first draft.

Remember, the ultimate goal is to make our writing better.

Longer writing needs a longer critical distance. In fact, the longer the writing, the more time it will take to be able to take a full-on stop. After all, sometimes novels can take years to write! I would recommend at least a week or two, but if you’ve been working for years on your novel, you might need longer than that.

Remember, the ultimate goal is to make our writing better.

Why Should You Use Critical Distance?

So right about now, critical distance might seem like a mixed bag.

It might be helpful, but sounds like a lot of extra time in the writing process?

It sounds awful, and sounds like it’s an excuse to stop writing for a little bit?

It sounds alright, but still not quite sure what it would do for your writing?

Here’s the thing: Writing needs critical distance.

Critical distance allows for:

Fresh Eyes

Have you ever stared at the page so long your eyes burned? Or started a sentence only to realize halfway through that you have no idea where it was going?

This is super common! If we’re being honest, it happens to the best of us probably more than we’d like to admit.

It’s all about perspective.

One of the best things about critical distance is that the time away gives us the ability to look at our words again with fresh eyes. We see things we were too glazed over to see before (or maybe saw but didn’t have the heart to change). We read that half sentence and remember what we wanted to say, or think of something even better!

It’s all about perspective, and you, my fair writer, have the wonderful opportunity to look at your words and give them a face lift when you take some critical distance time away from them.

Clarification of Your Message

How many times do you take notes only to be baffled later by what in the world you meant. Of course you knew it in the moment, perhaps during a meeting or fevered brainstorming moment, but you sure can’t figure it out now!

Our writing is the same. When we get into a frenzy, we sometimes think we’re making sense and being clear yet creative only to find out later that we talked ourselves into a big old circle and repeated the same idea 3 times. Or we’ve gone off on an unrelated tangent that made sense in the moment. These are writer-friendly patterns, and they feel okay to write, but they’re awfully confusing to read.

Taking a period of critical distance allows you to make your writing more expressive and articulate than it was in its first draft form.

Taking a period of critical distance allows you to make your writing more expressive and articulate than it was in its first draft form. You have the chance to add new vocab, revamp characters who are important but got lost in the shuffle, and even do some rewriting if something is awkward or off the wall.

Your message has a much better chance of shining through and expressing what you want to say after you’ve had some time to read it through and think like a reader.

Time to See (and Subsequently Fix) Errors and/or Inconsistencies

I love autocorrect! … Said no one. Ever. And yet, the major digital writing tools we use all seem to have some form of error tracking. Whether it’s using the wrong word (we see you their/there/they’re), or using a comma where it shouldn’t be, these tools can help us figure out where we missed something.

The problem starts when these programs suggest words we don’t actually want to use or try to make our phrases more concise even when we don’t want them to be. Sometimes I just want to use a longer phrase, dang it!

Taking a period of critical distance helps us read back through for things like typos, wrong words (spelled correctly so the program didn’t notice it), and grammar. When you’ve been looking at the darn thing for months at a time, it’s much harder to notice those details because that’s not what you’re focused on.

The other thing critical distance helps us fix are plot holes and inconsistencies.

Does your main character have an accent at the beginning of the novel but not the end? Did you accidentally start calling one of your main characters a different name throughout the last 100 pages? (Speaking from experience here, Control F is the BEST!) Did your characters somehow just appear in another country without any sort of transportation being mentioned?

These are all things that you might not notice in the first draft writing, but you will after you get some critical distance, and your readers will certainly see and point out if you don’t find them.

So what do you think?

Critical distance should be a part of every writer’s process, no matter how short the writing. It gives us a valuable chance to look at our writing with a fresh perspective, clarify our message, and find inconsistencies and errors we made during our initial drafting.

You are the ultimate decision-maker on how long your critical distance time should be. Keep in mind, the longer the writing, the more time you will need to process and release your mindset.

Have you used critical distance? Are you starting to see how this strategy could fit into your writing process? I’d love to hear about it - drop a comment below!

Rachel Tindall 4/17/20 Rachel Tindall 4/17/20

4 Easy Steps to Effective Collaborative Writing

We often think of writing as a solitary activity, and many times that’s true. But, there are some times when collaborating with others is very beneficial. In fact, there are many instances where writers work together to create a project.

This blog was collaboratively written by my best friend and writer, Courtney Conley, and I.

This blog, for instance, was collaboratively written by my best friend and writer, Courtney Conley and I.

Some of the most common types of collaborative writing we regularly see include:

Anthologies

Books of essays

Books of poetry

Academic books

Blogs

Online articles

What is Collaborative Writing?

Collaborative writing is writing involving one or more people working on a project together either at the same time or as a shared responsibility.

Collaborative writing can happen in several ways:

Simultaneously, as you can do with Google Docs, where multiple people are actively writing and editing at the same time. We wrote this blog with Google Docs in this way!

In Sections, where one person writes about something and the other person writes something else, and it is later blended together.

With Edits, where one person writes the majority of the content, and the other person goes back through what’s already written and adds their own content and changes the wording.

It’s really up to the writers to determine what works best!

It’s really up to the writers to determine what works best! Some people do great being more conversational and working at the same time, but some people need time to process and figure out how their ideas fit with the other person.

If collaborative writing is when multiple people work together on a project, the bigger question is why?

What are the Goals of Collaborative Writing?

If you’ve ever been part of a writing project with other people, you might already know that collaboration is not always easy! Much like other types of teamwork, there can be problems with responsibility and ownership.

BUT

When collaborative writing is successful, it lessens the workload for all individuals. Logically, if you have 2 people working on a 50 page writing project, that will round out to about 25 pages per person instead of the entire 50. That’s half the “polished” writing you have to produce if you’re working with a trusted collaborator.

Our body of thought can be strengthened and diversified when we work with others.

Successful collaboration also has the benefit of having more than one brain thinking about a problem, solution, or creation. What a powerful tool!

Even the most similar among us have different perspectives and ideas. This means our body of thought can be strengthened and diversified when we work with others. There’s also much less chance of accidentally skipping things when you have others looking at the project, too.

Unless you’re in academia, you probably don’t just wake up thinking about collaborative writing projects. Most people outside of the university generally think of writing as something you do on your own.

So why, then, would a “regular” writer want to collaborate on something?

Reasons for Writing Collaboration

Probably the most common reason a writer would want to collaborate is to work with an expert. It’s almost always helpful to have an experienced mentor, especially in a field like writing where there are so many different ways one could go.

The expert can then also add extra information to the project you didn’t even think about, or know to ask!

Collaborating can also help writers gain experience with others in the field. This is especially true if you are working with experts and mentors because they can then show you the ropes.

The old saying “You don’t know what you don’t know” is definitely true - you can’t possibly know everything, especially when you’re first starting out!

The old saying “You don’t know what you don’t know” is definitely true - you can’t possibly know everything, especially when you’re first starting out! Having others work with you can help you hone the talents you have and grow new ones.

Teaching can also be another major point of collaboration. Many teachers, especially in the college classroom, teach collaboratively, with skills or entry level English classes. We even had co-professors in graduate classes. Much of teaching is based on collaborative learning and helping each other - writing included.

Perks of Writing Collaboration

There are a lot of perks that come with collaborative writing!

Writing collaboratively gives you the opportunity to hear different perspectives on your topic. This can be very helpful, and most of the time, writing can benefit from having more than one set of ideas and worldviews. After all, our audiences bring their own thoughts and ideas to whatever they read - having a variety of voices in the writing itself makes it stronger.

More than one writer means sharing the workload!

More than one writer means sharing the workload! Collaborative writing is a great way to split up a large project and work more efficiently. Writing projects can be daunting. Having someone else there to share the work with can be a relief. Plus, there’s someone to commiserate with when you’re stuck or dealing with writer’s block.

We’re all guilty of getting stuck in our routines at one point or another. Do you procrastinate? Do you only write if someone is asking you to? Writing with one or more people can help us break out of our comfort zone and write in different contexts. Maybe you’ll even pick up a new idea or two from your writing partner(s)!

Struggles with Collaborative Writing

Although there are undoubtedly perks, there will always be struggle when it comes to working with other people.

We all have busy lives. Probably the biggest complaint or struggle with collaborative projects is having time. It can be really difficult to make time to work on a writing project with other people, especially if you don’t live in the same place or time zone. It can also be difficult to keep everyone on track once you get the project started. The more people there are, the more complicated scheduling gets.

The hard part about having different voices in a writing project is that it can be tricky to merge the voices of different writers into one cohesive voice.

The hard part about having different voices in a writing project is that it can be tricky to merge the voices of different writers into one cohesive voice. Writers often have different styles, as well. Maybe you love the Oxford comma (go team!), but your partner hates it. It won’t matter for some projects if it sounds like multiple writers worked on it, but in other contexts, it’s important to create one writing voice.

The nature of collaborative writing often means one writer is doing more of the work than other(s). It can be hard to split up the work in a way everyone is comfortable with. If you’ve been in a collaboration before, you might have felt the sting of either doing too much or feeling like you’re not really able to do enough. Some writers naturally take the lead on projects, while others are happy to do their share of the work and nothing more. This can lead to conflict in relationships if one person feels like the workload balance is unfair.

How to Do Collaborative Writing

At this point you might be thinking that this all sounds great, but how the heck do you accomplish it?

Good question!

There are a few steps for effective collaboration that you should take (although if you find a more efficient way - go for it!):

Step 1: Decide the Parameters of Your Project

A brainstorming meeting at the beginning of the writing process can be very helpful to ensure everyone is on the same page, understands, and agrees on the goals of the project.

You should clarify things like:

How many words do you want your writing project to be?

Who is your audience?

How many references do you want to include?

Once you have had that conversation and answered any questions, you are ready to move forward!

Step 2: Distribute the Work

Knowing who is in charge of each role in the project up front will help keep everyone on track and minimize conflict. We like to create an outline first and then decide together who will write which section.

Knowing who is in charge of each role in the project up front will help keep everyone on track and minimize conflict.

Another way to distribute the work is to write simultaneously. One person can do the typing while others share ideas. Talk with your writing collaborator(s) to figure out what works best for your project.

Step 3: Set Deadlines

What we have seen cause the most tension in collaborative writing projects is the idea of a deadline. Once you know who is doing the work, and how it’s getting done, it’s important to decide on a deadline and stick to it!

Depending on the scope of your project, it will probably be helpful to have regular check-in meetings where everyone gives an update on their progress. Make sure to give yourselves enough time to proofread and revise. Remember, you’re blending multiple voices, so you will need to leave time to smooth everything over to sound cohesive.

Step 4: Do the Writing!

You’ve laid the prep work, decided your roles & deadlines, and now it’s time to get down to the hard, messy work of writing. Be mindful of your deadlines as you progress - you don’t want to be the collaborator that stalls the project with your procrastination.

Be mindful of your deadlines as you progress.

What Tools Can I Use to Write Collaboratively?

We hope, by now, you’re getting at least a little excited about exploring collaborative writing projects. We love working together - we even won an award for our collaborative writing during grad school!

Courtney Conley (left) & I received our collaborative writing award in Spring 2017!

If you are ready to embark on this kind of project, there are several handy tools you can consider adding to your toolbox:

Google Docs

Google docs is an incredible collaborative writing tool! In fact, we like it so much that we used it to write this blog.

Google docs allows multiple writers to work and edit one document simultaneously. So, for instance, if you have two writers working on a project, both can be writing different parts of the document at the same time. The interesting part is that you can see the other person’s work appear in real time, and they can see yours.

You can write on your smartphone, tablet, or computer, AND it automatically saves anytime there is a change on the document.

Google docs allow for multiple documents, so you can easily access your writing from anywhere, as long as you can access the internet.

You can write on your smartphone, tablet, or computer, AND it automatically saves anytime there is a change on the document. This is a special bonus for those of us who sometimes forget to save when we’ve been working on something for an extended period of time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0OqnItA-zA

Introduction to Google Docs

Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote is also a great collaborative tool because it acts like a digital notebook. I’ve used it professionally and for my own writing. I wrote a whole blog about it here!

Essentially, OneNote allows you to do anything you would do in a regular notebook, with the added benefit of being able to use word processing like highlighting, underlining, etc. It’s pretty intuitive if you’ve used the popular Microsoft Word program, but better because you can align your thoughts more visually.

Microsoft OneNote allows you to collaborate in real time like you can in Google docs.

You can also send your thoughts to others for collaboration and collaborate in real time like you can in Google docs.

OneNote is typically included in most packages of Microsoft products and on Windows 10 computers you might buy, so if you use Word, search for it and you will probably find you already have it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjnQ937cg8g

Introduction to Microsoft OneNote

Trello

Trello is a brand new tool for me, although I’ve heard people talk about it many times before I decided to try it. Can I just say, what a life changer for those of us who love lists? AND for those of us who collaborate?

Sample of Trello Organization for Collaborative Blog Writing! It's incredibly flexible to use with a team, but since there were just 2 of us, we didn't feel the need to assign the roles.

Trello is a free application you can use online or download and use on your desktop. You can have boards with upcoming tasks, set due dates, and assign tasks to people, including yourself!

The reason Trello is such a good tool for writing collaboration isn’t the fact that you can write whole paragraphs there. You could, but it probably wouldn’t be visually appealing to work with. Trello is awesome because all the people you’re working with can see and access the same to do lists, due dates, and assign/be assigned tasks. Everyone is on the same page with to-do tasks, literally!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xky48zyL9iA

Introduction to Trello

Have you written something collaboratively before? How did it go? What tools did you use? We’d love to hear about it! Drop a comment below or email me at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com and let me know!

Rachel Tindall 4/3/20 Rachel Tindall 4/3/20

How to Know Your Audience

With so many people at home due to the pandemic, it’s a great time to write. I’ve seen a definite uptick in articles about how to start a blog and how to make money online.

But if you’re a writer who wants to get your ideas out into the big wide world, you need to know your audience!

What is an Audience?

Before we talk about how to know your audience, let’s talk about what an audience actually is.

An audience is, “a number of people or a particular group of people who watch, read, or listen to the same thing” (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary).

When we think about writing, an audience is made up of people who are interested in a specific topic or idea, and read about it.

When we think about writing, an audience is made up of people who are interested in a specific topic or idea, and read about it. They are people who care about what you are writing because it means something to them. They are also sometimes the people who can make changes based on your ideas.

For instance, if you want to write about laws in your community, some members of your audience might be lawyers or police men and women.

Why is it important to know who your audience is?

It might seem like you want to write to everyone - after all, your ideas are important! Right?

The problem with writing to everyone is that it can make your writing bland.

The problem with writing to everyone is that it can make your writing bland. Similar to wanting everyone to like you (which just isn’t possible), if you try to reach every person with your writing, it’s going to be more vague, and therefore less useful. You will actually end up getting less of an audience, and we don’t want that!

Knowing your audience gives you some major advantages:

Informs Your Writing Having a specific audience allows you to narrow down your many ideas to those that are most relevant. It really helps you figure out what to write about because your audience is made up of people who are interested in similar things.

Hopefully, when all is said and done, your writing is the similar thing they will be reading! Keeping this thought in the back of your mind helps you to be persuasive and concrete with your words.

Gives you a Focused Purpose When you have a specific audience, you can really hone in on what they want and need. Why should they come to you for information, entertainment, advice, etc.? Why will they want to keep coming back for more?

You don’t have to worry about whether your words are relevant because you’ve already chosen people who have a vested interest in your topics.

You don’t have to worry about whether your words are relevant because you’ve already chosen people who have a vested interest in your topics. That allows you to get down to the nitty gritty helpful details they are looking for rather than having to explain the basics over and over again.

Allows You to Meet Your Audience Where They’re At This is probably the most important part of knowing your audience: meeting them where they are with information. Have you ever read a book where there were so many big words you didn’t understand at all, even when you knew something about the topic? Or, perhaps, a book that was talking about something advanced with short choppy sentences that really belonged in an elementary school textbook? Probably - maybe even both!

You don’t want to do either of those things to your readers. You want to anticipate where the general knowledge level will be and talk to them as such. In many ways it’s like a normal conversation. You don’t want to assume they don’t know anything, but you also don’t want to assume they’re experts - some are, but most aren’t!

It’s a delicate balance to figure out what will be helpful and refreshing to your readers in a way that’s not “dumbed down” or overbearing. You can only achieve this balance when you know your audience.

How do you figure out who your audience is?

We’ve talked an awful lot about what an audience is, and why it’s important to have one in mind when you write, but how the heck do you figure out who YOUR audience is?!

Grab a notebook or a blank document and write or type your answers for each step, that way you will have notes for quick reference as you move through your writing journey.

Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way!

1. What do you want to say?

The very first thing you need to do when figuring out who your audience should be is to think critically about what you want to say.

Are you interested in promoting activism?

Do you want to connect to others with similar experiences?

Are you interested in inspiring people?

Think hard about your goals and decide what message you want to put into the world. This is not to say that you have to have an exact map of every piece of writing or blog you plan to do; on the contrary, by nature, writing must remain flexible. BUT, you should have an idea of what it is that your writing will express at the concept level. These are your global, big picture ideas.

2. Why are you saying your message?

Once you figure out what you want to say, you need to think about why you’re saying it.

Consider:

Why do you want to start writing?

Why do you want to start writing? No matter what your topic is, there is a reason you wanted to write, right? Most people don’t just pick up a difficult and largely isolated hobby like writing if they don’t have a “why.” So what’s your why?

Once you figure out your personal writing "why," figure out what goal you are trying to achieve with your message.

Do you want to educate?

Do you want your audience to take action on something?

Do you want your audience to buy something?

Do you just want to be heard by like-minded people?

Remember, something sparked a little fire and excitement in you to get this whole writing thing started. Let’s take that idea and put it on paper and make it a concrete part of your journey.

3. Who needs to hear your message?

You’ve figured out what you want to say, and why. That’s great! Now you need to figure out who exactly needs to hear your message. (This is why the “why” part is important).

Who are the people who will be interested in your message?

Who are the stakeholders for your topics?

What kinds of characteristics does your topic appeal to in your audience?

Think back to our example about laws in your community. If you’re trying to effect change:

Who will be interested? The citizens who are most affected by the law in question, right? Students studying law. Law enforcement officials who uphold the law. The attorneys and members of local government who made or are also trying to change the law.

Probably not surprisingly, many of these interested parties are also stakeholders. These are people who are directly affected by the law, and who also have the ability to make changes: law enforcement, attorneys, and local government officials are all really important stakeholders because they have the power to make a difference on the issues.

Finally, what kinds of characteristics does your topic appeal to in the interested parties and stakeholders? Are you using logic with facts and evidence? Are you appealing to their compassionate human side? Are you making them think critically about the situation using interesting language and pertinent information?

The people in your audience are interested, and more than likely, some of them are stakeholders who can make a difference and who are actively affected by your topics.

4. How is your audience already talking about & searching for ideas similar to yours?

First of all, stop and take a moment to look at the hard work you’ve done so far. Figuring out your audience is hard work! It’s not something that's natural for many people, so the fact that you have come so far is awesome. Nice work!

Moving right along. You’ve figured out what you want to say, why you’re saying it, and who needs to hear your message. The next step is to figure out how your audience, the one you identified in step three, is already talking about and looking for ideas that are related to what you want to say.

What are they saying on social media?

What are they typing into Pinterest?

What are they Googling?

Where are they going to find ideas like yours?

Take some time and look around on social media. What Facebook groups are available to join? Are there hashtags or Twitter threads about your topic? What pins can you find when you look on Pinterest?

Also do some research on keywords: those words and phrases your audience is typing in to search for your topics.

To get ideas for keywords, pretend you are a member of your audience and brainstorm how you would find information about your topic.

To get ideas for keywords, pretend you are a member of your audience and brainstorm how you would find information about your topic. What words would you use to search? How would you find information like what you’re writing? If you would be part of your ideal audience, make some notes about what you do search for when you look for these topics.

Some good free resources are Google Ads Keyword Planner & Keyword Tool.

Remember, you’re joining an ongoing conversation, so you need to know what’s out there because your audience has already been thinking and talking about it.

5. How will you get your message to your audience?

You’re almost there! You’re knowledgeable about your message and you know quite a bit about your audience.

The next step in really knowing your audience is to figure out how you are going to get your message to your audience. This step is similar to finding where your audience is already talking because you want to go where they go!

Where is the most conversation happening about your topics?

Where do you enjoy communicating with others?

How can you best get your message out to your audience?

Once you know where the conversation is and where your audience is hanging out, you can decide where to put your message so they have prime time access to it. That could be: social media, a blog, Pinterest, Medium, YouTube, or wherever else you might find during your research.

6. How will you talk to your audience?

You’ve made it! You’re on the final step of knowing your audience. How do you feel? Pumped? Prepared? Excited? Maybe a little bit of everything.

The final thing you need to do to know your audience is to figure out how to talk to them.

The final thing you need to do to know your audience is to figure out how to talk to them. These are the ways you reach out and how you express yourself. Your words, your expressions, and the way you want them to respond to your message.

Do you want to be casual and friendly in your writing? Maybe use colloquialisms to connect on a personal level?

Do you want to be direct and factual? Perhaps use facts and statistics to impress your audience on your knowledge level & establish credibility?

Do you want to be approachable and hands-on? Ready to jump in and help with anything your audience will ask?

The key to deciding how to talk to your audience is understanding how they will interact with your message. Think about the ways you want your audience to think and feel when they read your writing. Then, tailor your writing to fit these anticipated feelings.

Congratulations! You know your audience and you are ready to get your important message out there into the world.

If you aren’t quite ready yet, that’s okay, too! I have this pretty nifty Know Your Audience Guide that will walk you through the steps and give you room to think out loud on paper. Fill out the short form below to get your copy now!

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If, at any point, you need a sounding board or just a friendly face to talk to while you’re working through the guide, don’t hesitate to reach out via social media, the blog contact form, or email me at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com.

I sincerely enjoy helping people do audience analysis, and it’s an important part of writing if you want to write really effective words and put them out there for the world to see.

Rachel Tindall 3/6/20 Rachel Tindall 3/6/20

You Need a Timely Blog Schedule. Here's Why.

March is Women’s History Month, so what could be more fitting than talking about timely blog writing?!

In honor of women everywhere, from every walk of life, this month’s blog posts will be specifically focused on women.

Why is it important to strategize and plan special content throughout the year?

So what’s the deal with timely blog content? Why is it important to strategize and plan special content throughout the year?

Before we get to the why, we need to talk about the basics of timely & topical blog content.

How Do You Choose What to Write About?

Blog Organization When you look at a blog, you’ll usually see some primary categories blogs fall under. These are larger concepts that many subtopics can fall within, and allow a blog to maintain focus instead of just “braindump” about everything.

As readers, we usually come to blogs for information or to figure something out,

As readers, we usually come to blogs for information or to figure something out, and it can be pretty frustrating when we think we’re reading about one thing and all of the sudden it’s a different topic entirely.

Our category layout at Capturing Your Confidence is:

My Novel Experience

Personal topics related to my own experiences
Blog updates

Inspiration

Inspirational topics for writers
Motivational topics
General confidence-focused topics (not specifically for writing or teaching)
Special topics throughout the year (like holidays)

Writing

How-tos
Encouragement
Confidence-building
Honest problem-solving

Teaching College Writing

How-tos
Encouragement
Confidence-building
Honest problem-solving

Books

Reviews
General interest topics about books
Interviews with Published Authors

What People Want! Blogs also write about what people want to read! When a particular blog does really well with your audience, you obviously want to give them more and similar content so they want to keep reading.

Keep Readers Interacting When they continue reading, readers are more likely to engage with the content, which is the ultimate goal. We want to keep readers interactingin ways like:

Sharing on social media
Sharing via email
Pinning on Pinterest
Commenting
Linking on their websites and/or sending to friends
Visiting website again to read more content

Plan for “Timely” Content Last, but not least, most bloggers plan for “timely” content. These are special blogs outside of their normal content cycle that are typically in celebration or discussion with a current event. Timely content allows bloggers to benefit from conversations or hot topics that “everyone” is talking about.

What are “Timely” Topics?

Everyone has their own version of what a timely topic is for blogging. Most really successful bloggers use these kinds of timely topics to keep their blog relevant and mainstream:

Holidays Holiday content can be nationally or internationally recognized holidays like New Year’s Eve/Day.

It can also be fun trivial holidays like Pi Day on March 14th. Where the blogger is from and the audience to which their content is directed will drive their holiday content scheduling.

Big Events Timely content might also revolve around big or impactful events. For instance, this year is 2020 and began a whole new decade. This is a pretty big event for many people, and one worth creating special content for!

Where the blogger is from and the audience to which their content is directed will drive their holiday content scheduling.

Milestones As with most things in our lives, we like to celebrate milestones. For many people, we do special things for our birthdays because they mark milestones in our lives. I just planned a surprise birthday party for my husband’s 30th birthday (which was a great success!).

We also celebrate births and promotions.

So it makes sense that we would plan timely blog content about our business and blogging milestones.

“Hot Topics” or “Buzz Topics” Hot topics, or buzz topics, are those that “everyone” seems to be discussing. With it being election year, there are an especially high number of buzz topics going around. Creating timely content about these kinds of topics (that fits within your blog categories, of course) is a great way to be relevant and draw a wider audience than you might normally get.

How Do You Know When to Add a Timely Topic Post?

Ultimately, when bloggers create timely topic posts is completely up to the individual. That being said, keeping things timely is crucial if the blogger wants to be truly successful.

There are a couple of important times when it’s smart to create timely content.

Established holidays & loop topics play a big role in my content calendar.

Established Holidays At the beginning of the year, I identify what holidays I will write extra blogs for, and when those blogs will be published. Certain times of the year are busier than others, like November & December, because there are more holidays occuring.

In a time where we have very short attention spans, it’s crucial to keep your audience happy and coming back for more.

Loop Topics Loop topics are those that can circulate every year at a specific time. I like to create loop topics around the season changes, like spring & summer ideas. Since I also create teaching content, back to school, spring break, and end of semester are also important loops in my calendar.

Bloggers add these kinds of content to spice things up and increase audience engagement. It’s important to deliver timely and topical content, but not to let things get stale! In a time where we have very short attention spans, it’s crucial to keep your audience happy and coming back for more.

The best thing bloggers can do when figuring out when to post timely content is to consider anything they want to read during certain times of the year and make sure to plan for it. If you want to read it, others do, too!

What Do You Write in a Timely Topic Post?

It’s one thing to have a plan for all this great content, but what the heck actually goes in those posts?

PostsRelated to Your Categories The most important thing is that your timely blog posts are related to one or more of your categories or subcategories. Don’t just write words to join a movement if it doesn’t have anything to do with what you normally talk about. This is sure to confuse your audience and probably make them less excited than normal to read your content.

Relevant & HelpfulPosts Just like regular blog posts, your timely topics should be relevant and helpful to your audience. Remember, we read to get help and relate to others. Our content misses that connection if we don’t relate to our audience and help them with their needs.

Our content misses that connection if we don’t relate to our audience and help them with their needs.

Thought-Provoking & FunPosts Timely blog posts can also be thought-provoking and fun! Fun and thoughtful posts might also allow you to stretch your subtopics a little and cover things you might not normally cover. They can add a little zing to your content without taking away from your impact.

Posts that are lists or include guides can be excellent timely topical posts because people love to have tangible things they can come back to. Spring cleaning list? Sure winner! Fall back to school guide? Pretty much guaranteed interest!

“Pro” Tips

As a not-quite-new blogger, there are some things I have learned from planning timely content.

FIrst, don’t overwhelm yourself! Especially if you are a brand new blogger, it’s probably not reasonable to expect yourself to put out a brand new, good quality blog every day for every holiday. Quality is more important than quantity, and you don’t want to create built-in burnout for yourself by overscheduling.

Make sure to plan ahead. There will be some months where you are slammed with potential special content. While this can be a great opportunity, it also means more work for you. There will also be some months with just “regular” content. If you don’t have special content to create, what do you need to be working on that month?

You and your message are at the core of what you do. Don’t just write blogs to write them.

When possible, collaborate with others. This is sometimes easier said than done, as blogging can be a pretty solitary activity. Collaboration helps you create more quality content with less content generation time for you. It’s a win-win if you can find trustworthy co-bloggers.

Be genuine. You and your message are at the core of what you do. Don’t just write blogs to write them. Write blogs that add value to your audience’s lives. Your audience came to your blog specifically to read what you are saying - make it worth their while!

Last, but certainly not least, evaluate yourself after a few topical posts. We need to evaluate our successes and misses in order to grow and get better. You don’t want to work on your topical content for a whole year only to find out that you should have changed it 3 months in!

Do you read or write topical content? How do you plan? I’d love to hear about your experiences! Drop a comment below or email me at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com.

Rachel Tindall 1/31/20 Rachel Tindall 1/31/20

4 Romantic Valentine’s Day Gifts to Woo Your Literary Love

Struggling with what to get your writer this Valentine’s Day? These heartfelt gifts are sure to win their heart!

Poem

Many “classic” love stories include poetry written for a special someone - and for a good reason! A good love poem can make someone smile both inside and out. Whether you choose to write about her smile, his sense of humor, or anything in between, a brand new poem created in honor of your love is sure to win them over!

Presentation Options:

Handwritten on any available paper

Handwritten on decorated paper or cardstock

Typed & printed on regular paper

Typed & printed on decorated paper or cardstock

Preparation:

If YOU Write the Poem: Craft your poem. Take a day or two afterward to think about it, but don’t read it. Before you give it to your special someone, read it again to make sure there aren’t any spelling or other really obvious errors. When the poem is complete, prepare the final copy and gift it to your love.

Not everyone likes poetry, but there’s something extraordinary about such an artistic use of words.

If You COMMISSION the Poem: Reach out to a couple of your poetically gifted friends (or stop by a poetry booth when you’re out and about - there seem to be pop-ups the week before Valentine’s Day) and ask for them to write a poem. Make sure you tell the poet the special things you would like to highlight before they write the poem. When you receive the poem, read it through to make sure you are satisfied before you give it to your special someone.

Why It’s Meaningful:

Not everyone likes poetry, but there’s something extraordinary about such an artistic use of words. Whether your goal is a laugh or a smile, or even a happy tear, if you take the time to write a poem or have one written about your partner, it shows that you are thinking of them and all the things you love. It also shows that you’re engaging with one of their favorite things in the world - words - even if you don’t generally enjoy that on a regular basis.

Short Story

If your special someone prefers longer writing, crafting a short story with him/her as the main character might be perfect! Short stories are still short enough for a brief read, but long enough to have a plot. You could write a story about the day you met, a day in the future you are looking forward to, your favorite memory together, or, if you want to go really big, write the story of your proposal (and follow through)!

Presentation Options:

Handwritten on any available paper

Handwritten in a journal or notebook

Typed & printed on regular paper

Typed on regular paper, specially bound to look like a booklet

Preparation:

Decide which story you want to tell before you try writing anything down. It should be something meaningful that you have shared or hope to share together. While your special someone is the “main” character, you can be a main character, too - get creative!

Once you have decided what story to tell, write it down. Even if you don’t consider yourself a “writer,” do your best to tell the story as if you were telling someone who doesn’t know the story.

Love keeps things exciting, like a good story!

You can also try writing in third person, where you describe the plot from an outside point of view (rather than an “I” point of view). You don’t have to share it, but thinking about yourself and your partner as characters might help you get your point across more easily.

Take a day or two away from the story, then do a final read-through.

Prepare the final presentation. If you want to get it bound or looking a little more “finished,” go to a local office supply store (like Office Depot) and they can look at all the options.

Why It’s Meaningful:

A lot of people think of their daily lives as boring, so if you choose a specific moment or memory that was meaningful for both of you and write a story about it, it shows that daily life isn’t quite so boring, after all.

Writers also spend a lot of time in their heads planning characters and plots, and it’s a nice thought that you, as a loving partner, are showing interest in that world while also remembering that your daily lives together are not boring when you look up close. Love keeps things exciting, like a good story!

Love Story Notebook & Pen

All the literary people I know love a good notebook - and when you give a notebook and a pen together, you are giving a passport to the great depths of imagination. While this may seem dramatic, many writers feel this way! For this gift, not only will you be gifting your partner two things they absolutely love, you will also be giving them your version of your love story.

On the first pages of the notebook, write your love story from beginning to end. This doesn’t have to be exhaustive (especially if you’ve been together for a long time), but a reminder of the major milestones, hardships, successes, and things you love about your special someone.

If you don’t want to write down your love story, you could also write a good old-fashioned love note, in your best handwriting, of course.

Presentation Options:

Handwritten in a standard spiral bound notebook

Handwritten in a fancier bound journal or diary

Preparation:

First you will need to purchase the notebook, journal, or diary. Choose something your partner will love. Whether that means it’s their favorite color, has a nice image or quote on the front, or is made out of fancier material like leather, keep in mind what they are likely to use.

When you write your love story or a love note, it breaks them out of the story mindset and allows them to be more in the moment.

Once you have the notebook, plan your love story or love letter outside of the notebook. Take the time you need to include the important parts and aspects. The reason you are waiting to write in the notebook until the final presentation is because drafting is often messy. We forget things, cross them out, or draw arrows all over the margins. You don’t want to include these in the nice version you give your special someone.

Carefully write the final version in the notebook and gift to your love! Wrapping is optional.

Why It’s Meaningful:

If your partner spends a lot of time reading or writing books (especially love stories), chances are they think about their own story in similar terms. They think about the actions, reasoning, timing, and other surrounding events. Things you may or may not see or notice become important simply by virtue of the fact that it’s a huge part of your partner’s work.

When you write your love story or a love note, it breaks them out of the story mindset and allows them to be more in the moment. Not only that, but the fact that you have put so much thought into presenting your love story in connection with what they love to do is incredibly heart-warming and shows you care.

Book Flowers

Want to do a more “traditional” gift but don’t want to brave the flower shops near Valentine’s Day (or pay the extra pricing that’s been added for the occasion)? Have no fear! Book flowers are here.

You can make as few or as many as you like, and all you’ll need is your special someone’s favorite book or love story (or yours), a pair of scissors, glue, and patience! This great tutorial walks you through the process step-by-step!

Presentation Options:

As a single flower

As a bouquet without any type of covering

In a decorative plastic sleeve

In a vase or other creative floral display

Preparation:

First, select & acquire the book. The good news is that one book can make many many flowers if you want to gift them a large bouquet. If you already have the book, you saved yourself a step!

A paper flower gifted to me in grad school. It's now a lovely decoration in my guest bedroom.

These are flowers that won’t wilt, so your partner can keep them as long as they like!

Once you have the book, make the flowers. Be sure to leave enough time to do a nice job, especially if you are not used to crafting. These things, while not difficult, do take time and patience (and don’t always turn out great on the first try).

Decide how you’re going to present it to your special someone & gift it!

Why It’s Meaningful:

The biggest investment in this gift is time! Between the time it takes you to figure out what book to use, go get the book, flip through the pages to make sure you have solid text on both sides, cut out the pages & petals, and assemble the flowers, you’ve gone to quite an effort to do something nice for your partner!

Not only will they appreciate that you know what their favorite book is (or that you have chosen your favorite to share with them), but also the fact that you made the flowers specially for them. They are also flowers that won’t wilt, so your partner can keep them as long as they like!

BONUS: Every Day Love Notes

If you’re a planner & want to win your literary love’s heart this Valentine’s Day, consider this gift. Out of all the gifts above, this is the one with the most preparation - not to mention you should gift it on Feb 1st, NOT the 14th!

The idea is that you will write one miniature love letter to your partner for each day up to and including Valentine’s Day. This could be a short note about something you love, something you’d like to do for them, or even something you’d like to do with them. Each day they will open one letter, with the biggest and/or most meaningful being opened on Valentine’s Day.

Presentation Options:

Almost any way you want! The most popular are:

Cardstock with small envelopes for each day attached

Standard sized separate decorative envelopes for each day

Preparation:

First, decide how you’d like to gift the notes. Do you want to get creative and do some crafting with paper and small envelopes? Or are you really busy and just want to decorate average envelopes and make them prettier (since they’re already practical)? Either way, you’ll want to think about this before you write the notes, that way you know how long each needs to be.

Write the notes for each of the 14 days. They should be separate pieces of paper or cardstock because your special someone will only get one per day!

It’s all about effort, and this gift shows how much you’re thinking about your special someone!

Once you have the notes, put the final presentation together and gift on Feb. 1st!

This is also a great gift for long distance couples because you can send them through the mail without much extra preparation.

The bottom, numbered cards are from a previous Valentine's Day. The other notes on the top are another format of everyday love notes I used when my husband and I were apart one summer.

Why It’s Meaningful:

Love notes are always thoughtful, but 14 loves notes?! The fact that you put that much thought and preparation into being ready for Valentine’s Day a whole 2 weeks ahead is heart-warming. Not to mention the fact that you took time to think about 14 separate things you love about them (or that you love about your love) and carefully write them down by hand. It’s all about effort, and this gift shows how much you’re thinking about your special someone!

These are ideas that I’ve gifted or been gifted, but certainly not the only romantic ones out there! Are you a literary lover? What have you gifted or been gifted? I’d love to hear! Drop a comment below or send me an email at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com and let me know!

Rachel Tindall 1/24/20 Rachel Tindall 1/24/20

4 Easy Steps to Increase Creativity at Work

UPDATED JULY 2020

I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity at work lately. Having recently gotten into a position where being creative is very helpful, it occurred to me that jobs I haven’t liked very much didn’t give me the opportunity to create. I’ve also encountered jobs where creativity wasn’t really an asset because I needed to pretty strictly follow instructions.

I’m sharing my method because I know I’m not the only creative who has struggled with this!

To survive these jobs (because we need things like food and shelter), I had to figure out a way to use my creativity while still staying within my professional boundaries. I’m sharing my method because I know I’m not the only creative who has struggled with this!

Follow these 4 steps to increase creativity at work:

Step 1: Question Yourself

The first step is all about analyzing your feelings about the work you do.

Whether you’re scraping by and need some survival tips or love your job and want to change things up, the very first step to capitalizing on your creativity at work is to ask yourself these questions:

What do I like about my job?
What do I dislike about my job?
What about my job could make my life easier?
What about my job could be more enjoyable (or less annoying) if I made changes?
What will happen when I make changes?
What can I personally change that will not interrupt or negatively impact my productivity?
Why do I want to make changes?
What outcome do I expect when I make changes?
Will I make multiple changes immediately or add them slowly?
Who else might be affected by my changes?

This first step is all about analyzing your feelings about the work you do. You don’t necessarily have to write about these things at length, or even write them down at all; however, to make improvements and add that creativity you’re craving at work it’s important to first analyze what’s going on right now. If you skip this part and just start making changes, it will be less rewarding in the end because you won’t have a clear idea of where you started.

Step 2: Analyze What You Do

The second step is all about figuring out what you are actually doing right now.

Once you have thought critically about your current workflow, your likes and dislikes, and why you want or need to make changes, you are ready to think about your creativity! There are two major components to consider as you think about being creative at work:

Job RequirementsThese are “what” items: things you absolutely need to do your job successfully. Think about things such as:

What tasks/projects need to be completed
When tasks/projects need to be completed
Skills you have that you actively use to complete your tasks
Skills that would make your job easier or more efficient that you don’t currently have
Resources you use to complete your tasks or projects

Job Functions These are “how” items: ways you do work to complete your job successfully. Think about things like:

Specific task/project protocol you must follow
Your motivation for completing tasks
The organization method(s) you use to keep yourself on track at work
How you spend a majority of your time (i.e. do you spend time making calls, answering email, working on difficult problems, etc.)
How you use the resources available to you

This step is all about figuring out what you are actually doing right now. What your work is and how you do it is important! Sometimes the work itself isn’t the reason we are miserable at our job. It can also be the way we complete tasks/projects.

Step 3: Connect Passion to Your Work

The third step is about figuring out how your passions and work overlap.

You’ve figured out why you need change, what you do, and how you complete your work. You’re doing great! If you’ve felt stuck in a rut, this kind of critical thinking can be difficult because you might be tempted to look exclusively at why you don’t like your job. On the other hand, if you love your work, you might tend to think more about the parts you enjoy and leave out parts that could be better.

In either instance, you are, in fact, working at your job and you got it for a reason. Whether that reason is because you have a family to feed, you want to make a difference in the community, or even just be financially independent, this job right now is helping you get there. That idea can be hard to see, especially when you’re unhappy at work; but, everything you do is a stepping stone to get to where you want to be.

Everything you do is a stepping stone to get to where you want to be.

Work can sometimes get disconnected from your passions, which can be a major cause of discontent. It’s hard to like doing something when you don’t really care about the outcome, right? This step is about figuring out how your passions and work overlap.

Doing Work You Don’t Love

Almost everyone has done a job they don’t really like at some point or another. Some major offenders are customer service jobs. Who here has had one of those? I know I have! It’s not always pretty, especially when you have an unhappy customer on your hands.

But when you work in customer service, you also get the satisfaction of solving someone’s problems or helping them find the ideal product that solves their issue. Nothing is quite like the feeling of knowing that your smile and willingness to help, even if forced, made someone’s day when they were struggling. It’s the small things like this that help bring passion to your work.

Part of bringing creativity into your work is figuring out what aspects can and cannot change. In customer service, there are always similar expectations you must follow - be courteous, efficient, and knowledgeable about your industry. Even though those things don’t change, the way you perform them can!

Part of bringing creativity into your work is figuring out what aspects can and cannot change.

The other part is figuring out what you’re passionate about. If you don’t love your work, what do you like to do? And how can you connect that interest to your job?

It all boils down to four main questions:

What makes you feel good about your work?

Why do you do this work?

What do you love to do?

Where do your work & passions overlap?

Even if your only answer is that you do this work to pay the bills, you can still have a positive attitude about it. There are always ways to bridge the gap between what you love to do and what you actually do. The trick is figuring out what elements they have in common.

When you know what your passion and work have in common, you can begin bringing that passion to your work.

NOTE: If you can’t find anything positive or none of your passions overlap with your work, it might be time to consider a career change.

Doing Work You Love

If you’re fortunate to like, or even love, what you do, you probably had an easy time figuring out where your passions and work overlap. For instance, if you enjoy customer-oriented jobs, perhaps you are in a role where you can serve customers with the skills you have, like a corporate trainer role.

There will obviously still be some uncomfortable pieces, but if you are a trainer, you probably enjoy working closely with others, learning new things, and sharing your knowledge and passion with others. These are all very fulfilling aspects of a role like this, and make it easier to like what you do.

Even jobs you like can get tedious sometimes, though, so it’s still important to critically analyze what you do and the aspects you like.

Even jobs you like can get tedious sometimes, though, so it’s still important to critically analyze what you do and the aspects you like. It’s also important to look at the shortcomings, because it’s often these that make for frustration at work.

Ask yourself these four questions:

What about this work makes you feel good?

Why do you continue to do this work?

Where do your passions intersect with your work?

How could you enjoy your work even more?

Sometimes change isn’t always about finding a whole new job or figuring out a completely new system or organization. The best change usually comes from maximizing what you love to do and combining it with aspects a job you enjoy.

Even when you love what you do, it’s important to think about the ways your passions overlap your work and areas that could be improved.

NOTE: No job is “perfect,” even if it’s an amazing opportunity. Even when you love what you do, it’s important to think about the ways your passions overlap your work and areas that could be improved.

Step 4: Add Creativity to Your Work

The final step is implementing strategies into your work life to capitalize on your creativity.

You have arrived! You’ve figured out all the important things you need to know about your job, and the ways your work overlaps with what you love to do. This is hard work, so give yourself a hand!

The final step is implementing strategies into your work life to capitalize on your creativity. Not every strategy will work for every person, and don’t feel the need to rush out and try all of them at once. It will probably be overwhelming if you suddenly change every aspect of your job all at once!

Here are 5 Great Strategies to Try:

Play a Competitive Game Against Yourself

Great strategy for: people who love competition and like to keep things light at work

Basis of this idea: Set mini-targets that challenge you do complete your work to the best of your ability on a specific timeline. Even if the mini-target is something like completing required paperwork 15 minutes faster or seeing how many emails you can appropriately respond to in 30 minutes, set yourself targets you can get to if you give it your best.

By making it a little competition with a reward for meeting your targets, you can realign your energy with your goals in a more productive way.

Then, give yourself a small reward for getting to the target. Short walks are a great reward, as are 5 minute phone game breaks (if you will be able to stop playing after those 5 minutes).

Creative Aspect: When you get into the comfort zone, simple things that eat up a lot of your time (like paperwork & email) can be a drain on your energy and enthusiasm. By making it a little competition with a reward for meeting your targets, you can realign your energy with your goals in a more productive way. Not only that, but if you set your targets high, you might have to figure out a new or more efficient system to meet the goal.

Imagine the Ideal Version of Your Job

Great strategy for: People who work at a job they dislike so much that they have a hard time rolling out of bed in the morning

Basis of this idea: Taking focus off the job you dislike and reusing that energy to create a positive image in your mind. Consider these questions:

What would I like my job to be? What’s missing?

How could I add what’s missing?

Part of figuring out how to make your job better is identifying what you don’t like about it in the first place. If you can think critically about these things and use your imagination to picture the ideal version of your job, you can begin to make the actual job a little better - a little more like your ideal picture.

Part of figuring out how to make your job better is identifying what you don’t like about it in the first place.

Creative Aspect: If you really dislike your job, it will take some imagination and effort to generate an image where you wouldn’t be miserable. When you are able to create that image, you will have to use your creativity to figure out ways to start making the real job more like the ideal, especially if you work in a place with strict policies & procedures.

Do Something You’re Passionate About

Great strategy for: People who are bored or don’t really like their job (but aren’t necessarily miserable)

Basis of this idea: Scheduling time to do things you’re passionate about will increase productivity during the time when you’re working on parts you don’t like. If you have a job where you schedule meetings and use a calendar, look at your week and block some time to do something you’re passionate about.

You will be amazed at how just a short time thinking about something you love will give you vigor and increase productivity.

This could be a half hour per day, an hour three times a week, or even a longer two hour period one day per week. Whatever time you know you can dedicate without interruption. If you are in an active job where you don’t have meetings and calendar events, use your lunch, even if it’s just 15-30 minutes to focus on the thing you love doing.

Creative Aspect: You are at work, and if you don’t have any down time or you have a strict set of time-keeping or regulations, scheduling time can be tricky. You will have to get creative about how you focus on your passion; however, you will be amazed at how just a short time thinking about something you love will give you vigor and increase productivity.

Revamp Your Organizational System or Get a New One

Great strategy for: People who feel overwhelmed, overworked, or just want a change of pace in daily work life

Basis of this idea: Changing your organization system can give you new energy and change your workflow just enough to keep things interesting. You will first have to figure out what kind of organization you use - do you file documents? Schedule meetings? Correspond with clients? And how do you do those things? What keeps your work on track and ensures you can find what you need to find?

Changing your organization system can give you new energy and change your workflow just enough to keep things interesting.

Once you look at what you do now, think about what could be better. Do you need a more efficient system for filing data and paperwork? Or maybe you don’t really have a system and need to figure out how to better prioritize the tasks you already have. Either way, figure out a systematic way to complete your tasks. This can help keep you engaged at work

Creative Aspect: If you have a ton of tasks or you inherited a specific type of organization, it can be hard to “buck the system” so to speak. Not all management loves to have employees change their workflow. If this is true of your company, you will have to get creative about the ways in which you can improve your workflow while still following the rules.

Have Lunch with Someone New

Great strategy for: Everyone

Basis of this idea: Networking is always beneficial, and hearing other perspectives about your company can change your own. It’s never a bad thing to have a friend at work, so if you see someone in your department or when you come in to work every day, ask them to have lunch!

Co-workers will probably be surprised (and delighted) you asked them to lunch.

You don’t know how this friendship will help you, but it could lead to promotions or other job offers. It’s also helpful to hear about other parts of your company and even other perspectives about your department from someone else who has different circumstances

Creative Aspect: If you’re a shy person, you might be afraid to ask someone to eat lunch with you. Others also have their lunchtime routine, just like you do. You will have to get creative about the ways you begin to build relationships at work and even the ways you ask your coworkers to lunch! They will probably be surprised (and delighted) you asked.

Make Time to Learn

Great strategy for: Everyone

Basis of this idea: We grow when we learn, so it stands to reason that making time to learn would be a helpful activity to do at work. Investigate your company’s learning management system (LMS) to see what’s available to you through work. This could be online learning, virtual classes, or even seminars.

We grow when we learn, so it stands to reason that making time to learn would be a helpful activity to do at work.

Choose something that interests you, even if you don’t think it’s directly related to your job. Bonus points if you find something you’re interested in that will directly benefit your work! Block off time on your calendar, or on breaks/at lunch, to work through that learning

Creative Aspect: The time component can be tricky to schedule, if you’re at a job without much down time; however, some companies also don’t really encourage personal learning at work unless it’s directly related to what you do. This makes it difficult to gain new skills.

Some companies also make employees request learning rather than opening it up to everyone at the company, which means it could get denied. If this is your company, you will have to get creative about how you rationalize use of work time and resources to learn about personal interests.

These are strategies I’ve used to bring creativity to my work, but I’d love to hear about yours! What experiences have you had with creativity in the workplace? Or how have you overcome lack of creativity in your job? Drop a comment below or email me at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com!

Rachel Tindall 11/1/19 Rachel Tindall 11/1/19

3 Easy Steps for Listening to Your Writer’s Voice

Think for a moment about the last time you wrote something creative.

What was going on in your mind?

For some of us, there is a whirlwind of sound - characters, dialogue, perhaps sounds from the setting (we hear you, barking dogs and ringing phones!).

But sometimes we don’t hear anything. Utter silence punctuated by the occasional self-doubt or questioning of what the heck to write next.

Do you fall into one of these categories?

Unless we have a set routine, it can be hard to focus in either of these scenarios. When we can really focus, though, these sounds become more intelligible and useful.

I don’t know about you, but when I get writing (and I mean really in the groove, not just a stray paragraph here or there) the characters actually do all the talking. It ceases to become my language and becomes theirs.

I write fiction (mostly), and I can say without hesitation that my writing is better when I let the characters write their own stories. It’s not only better, but also easier. It’s kind of like getting out of my own way, really.

The question is how to get to the place where your characters have a life of their own.

I follow a pretty simple 3 step system when it comes to getting the madness of my mind into words on the page:

Step 1: Listen intently to all the sounds in your writer’s mind.

What we’re thinking when it comes to our writing is not always organized. In fact, it can be downright wild. It is for this reason that I’m not writing my book linearly - it’s in sections that have a rough timeline.

Sometimes our minds are so dang loud and busy that we feel we can’t get anything done. Here’s the problem: all of those competing ideas and sounds probably play a role in what we (or our characters) want to say. When this happens to me (on the regular), I actually have to stop myself from multi-tasking and listen.

Rather than getting frustrated when your thoughts are jumbled, go to a quiet place and let them be jumbled.

I’m listening for character voices, setting details, pieces of a scene - anything related to my book. Sometimes this is triggered by something I read. Most often, I hear an old song on the radio that triggers a memory that then makes me think “What would Callie say about this?” or “How would she react to the memory from my life?” (Callie is my main character.)

Rather than getting frustrated when your thoughts are jumbled, go to a quiet place and let them be jumbled. Sit and have a cup of tea and think about them. Why do they feel so confusing? Why are they so mixed up?

Step 2: Take notes & doodles about the noise.

Once I decipher what the noise is, I write it all down. Because I don’t think logically about writing in the idea generation phase, my notes can get pretty messy.

This is what my notes look like... what about yours?

I’m talking lists with arrows every which way and sketches of characters. Bits and pieces of the scenes I imagine. Thoughts and ideas that make my characters angry or sad. Literally everything I can get onto the paper comes out in these notes.

The important part for me is that they are on a physical piece of paper. While I love technology and use it for many things, nothing will ever replace a trusty pen and paper. Not only does the act of writing help me sort out the noise, but it helps me contextualize where things will potentially go in my book. Not to mention the sense of satisfaction I get when I realize that I’ve piled 3 pages of messy notes onto the page.

If you really want to use technology, I would recommend M i crosoft OneNote - it does pretty much all the things a regular old notebook would do, but digitally.

Step 3: Start writing.

The final step once I have quieted my mind and gotten all that idea noise into notes is to take action and start writing. This is the hard part, right?

Sometimes.

Usually by the time I have sorted out my notes into something semi-logical or usable I have had a thought or two about what scene I should work on. I find that most times I am drawn to complete parts of my writing, even when it’s not in the next logical scenario. Somewhere in my notes is usually a phrase or a thought one of my characters have had. This is where my characters come out to play. I start with that and let them say what they want/need.

My writer’s voice is the one that tells me to get out of the way so my characters can do the hard work.

This is my writer’s voice in action. My writer’s voice is the one that tells me to get out of the way so my characters can do the hard work.

If this all sounds a little hokey and out there… it might be. I know a lot of writers and everyone is different. I’ve read a lot lately about how “The point of the first draft is to get it on the page” or “First drafts are always awful.” That’s kind of a bummer, though, right?

If I’m thinking those kinds of things, there’s no way I’m staying motivated to finish my book.

So, I ditch those ideas and listen to the writer’s voice in my head. Sometimes she’s unsure. Sometimes she hates what I just wrote. And sometimes she doesn’t grace me with her presence at all, which is highly inconvenient when I’m trying to listen!

What is a “writer’s voice”?

You might be wondering what I mean when I say writer’s voice. It’s not a real person or an alternate personality, but a guiding force in my writing. A part of my mind detached from reality and from my work that can keep a clear head when I’m writing instead of getting caught up in the character’s voices and lives. My instincts. Most, if not all, writers have some kind of a writer’s voice.

While feedback is definitely valuable, and I would always recommend it for writing, the reality is that we are the creators of what we write. The thoughts and characters came from our mind, and no one else has the exact vision we have for our work. It is important to listen to other ideas, but it’s critical to listen to ourselves so we can create our vision.

When we listen to the writer’s voice in our minds there are benefits!

Express Initial Thoughts So your ideas don’t quite make sense the way your writer’s voice thought? That’s fine! Guess what? You have initial words on the page. At least you know what you were trying to do and/or what you were thinking about. When you take some critical distance from your writing and come back, you might be able to clean it up and refine it to be a really strong scene.

Write Genuinely You are wonderfully and perfectly you, and when you listen to your instinctual writer’s voice, that comes out! We aren’t made to be human shaped cookies that look and function exactly alike. Our differences make the world a beautiful and diverse place, so to have your unique voice on the page sets you apart in the best way. No matter how much you like someone else’s writing, you probably don’t want to just copy that person’s writing, right? You want to write with your own voice.

Our differences make the world a beautiful and diverse place, so to have your unique voice on the page sets you apart in the best way.

See Our Good Ideas I can’t tell you how many times I hear people say “I just don’t have any ideas” or “None of my ideas are good enough.” Um, what? Look, when you brainstorm the heck out of something and work it out in writing, you have a good idea in there somewhere. It may not be what you thought it was, or what you would even necessarily want to read yourself. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t be something awesome. It means that it’s an idea open to whatever you want/need/care to do with it.

While I write fiction, I can imagine a similar process for nonfiction writers, too. I deeply admire nonfiction writers who can make their subjects engaging and relatable.

The next time you try to write and get overwhelmed by the noise in your head, remember to stop and listen, write it down, and start somewhere - listen to what your characters are saying.

This is the process that I use, but I’d love to hear about yours!

What experiences have you had with your writer’s voice? Or what do you do when you have too many ideas at once? Drop a comment below or email me at rachel@capturingyourconfidence.com!

Rachel Tindall 8/9/19 Rachel Tindall 8/9/19

What's the Deal with Writing Prompts?

We’re constantly inundated with new ideas. We see them on TV and other visual media, read them in books, and perhaps research or create them on our own, if we’re feeling inspired.

This can be a good and bad thing, right? An abundance of ideas would seem to lend itself well to a lot of great creative work. But, sometimes it’s just too much. We have so many ideas at the same time that we don’t know where to start and we just kind of shut down.

We writers hate this. Both the feeling that we have no “good” ideas and the feeling of being overwhelmed by too many ideas and not knowing where to start. This is where writing prompts come in handy!

What is a writing prompt?

A writing prompt is usually a short phrase or sentence that has a multitude of directions it could lead, should someone use it for their writing. You might remember using prompts at school when you were young. Things like “Describe your dream vacation” or “Tell me about your summer vacation.”

A more “adult” or intricate example might be: “A stranger shuffles up to your front door and paces around the front porch for several minutes before ringing the doorbell. What does s/he say?”

Who uses writing prompts?

Anyone can use a writing prompt!

Young writers
Old writers
New writers
Experienced writers
People with anxiety who aren’t “writers” at all
People who want to learn to appreciate their lives a little more who also aren’t “writers”
Anyone who wants to create something but isn’t sure where to start

All writers get “stuck” sometimes, and writing prompts can help. Even if they can get you out of your own head for a little bit. But writing prompts aren’t just for writers - they can help anyone who wants to be more mindful, or just wants a place to express themselves in a way that doesn’t make them worry about where to start.

When do I use a writing prompt?

Many people use prompts for lots of different reasons. Certainly we use them in school to get students writing (much to their dismay sometimes), and creatives often use them to spring into new genres or ideas. These are the most common reasons I’ve seen and heard for using writing prompts:

You’re stuck. You had a great character in mind but you have no idea what he’s supposed to be doing. You had a great setting but nobody to inhabit it. You had a dream or an event that sparked a great idea, but when you wrote it down, nothing else came to mind. The list could go on and on. Everyone gets “stuck” every now and again, so using a writing prompt to get you out of that rut can be super helpful.
You feel like your current idea is boring. You have a great character and a storyline, but you’re just not feeling it. And maybe your readers aren’t either. You just wrote 50 pages and when you reread it, it’s just blah. So, the issue wasn’t that you didn’t have an idea, or that you were stuck, but maybe your idea just isn’t the one for you right now. There are certainly many creative writing prompts - maybe you even find one that spices up the work you’ve already done!
You want to try something new. Just like we tend to read specific types of books because we like them, a lot of times, we tend to write pieces we like or we are within our comfort zone. Using a writing prompt can be really great to get you out of your box!

Where can I find writing prompts?

Because we are a largely digital society now, writing prompts are EVERYWHERE. If you Google it, there are 145,000,000 results for a simple “writing prompts” search. When you search Pinterest for “writing,” the very first suggestion is writing prompts, which will lead you to all sorts of images and visuals containing writing prompts for your use. There are also books upon books of published ideas for helping you get started writing.

The amount of writing prompts available can be almost as overwhelming as having too many ideas and nowhere to start! The good news is, whatever it is you need help starting, somewhere out there is a prompt that can help you. You just have to search for it.

What kinds of writing prompts are there?

This is an interesting question because a lot of people assume writing prompts are purely creative or only for creative writers. Or that they are just for kids or younger people.

This is not the case, though! There are tons of writing prompt types.

Kids
Adults
Students
Book of Prompts
Novel
Prompt Generators
Creative Writing
Gratitude
There are writing prompts for pretty much anything your heart could desire!

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If I use a writing prompt, isn’t that someone else’s idea?

If you were to copy and paste someone else’s words and use them as your own, that would be a problem; however, prompts are there to help you! Most of the writing prompts you look at are barely more than a phrase.

This is because they’re just meant to get you thinking, not to write anything for you. If the prompt you want to use is about a large bird named Thompson, you are the one who will create Thompson as a character - NOT the prompt. S/he will be your large bird who can do whatever you want her/him to do!

The other thing to note here is that if you found a prompt on the internet (maybe it’s inspiration at first sight?), you are definitely not the only one who’s seen it. In fact, there are probably lots of people who have! And they may be full of great ideas about it, too. This doesn’t change how the writing prompt resonated with you, or that you had a brilliant idea. You are the only you, so even if your idea is a little similar to someone else or something you’ve read, your voice will be different than everyone else. Take that idea and run with it!

Rachel-have-you-ever-used-a-writing-prompt_-What-do-you-think-about-them_.png

Rachel, have you ever used a writing prompt? What do you think about them?

I will be completely honest with you: I have not used a writing prompt to start any of my own creative writing. When I was younger I was brimming with ideas I thought were brilliantly original (even though they were not). I wrote all the time about lots of things!

A poem from around 2010 (ish?) about being 30. It's surreal now that I'm closer than ever!

My current work features a lot of situations and inspiration from my own life, and I honestly started it because of a dream. You can read more about it here. Because my novel is drawing on experiences I’ve already had, I have plenty of material without a prompt.

I also keep a gratitude journal every day, which some people like to use writing prompts to begin. Because my gratitude journal is not rigidly structured, I know I would have a hard time keeping up with prompts. Moment of truth? I would not do it if I had a list or prompt I had to read every day beforehand. The challenge of remembering what I’m grateful for on the bad days is enough of a challenge for me without adding in other ideas.

I have used prompts to try my hand at poetry, which I am admittedly not good at. I am definitely not a poet at heart. The poetry that I have kept, however, is alright because it was loved and worked on throughout an entire semester. I would never have thought to write about any of the subjects unless I had been prompted first.

In the end, the choice of whether or not to use a writing prompt is completely up to you.

You are the mastermind behind your own writing, after all! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with looking at things from a different perspective sometimes; in fact, I encourage you to do so.

Even if you’re not a writer and want to express yourself in a way that’s NOT crying on your spouse/best friend/dog/other pet’s shoulder, writing prompts can be a fantastic option. You don’t even have to worry about where to start!

What experiences have you had with writing prompts? Where & when did you use them? Did it go well? I’d love to hear about it! Drop me an email or leave a comment below.

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