Writing

The Five Minute Tip

January 16, 2020 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

One of the most lasting things I learned from NaNoWriMo in November was how much writing I could accomplish in just five minutes. So today, I’d like to share a simple tip that you’ve probably heard before, but I was reminded of again and have found it so very, very helpful over the past few months!

Set a timer for five minutes, and write as fast as you can in that time.

One of this morning’s tasks was looking for new replacement book covers for a project that I’ve been working on for the last 3-4 years—a complete upgrade and refresh of my book reviews website. It’s a massive job, and I haven’t gotten nearly as far with it as I would have liked, but that’s one of my goals for the year, so I’m tackling it again. Over this last week, I’ve gained a bit of clarity as far as what I can do now while I wait for several other things to fall into place, so I have a bit more steam to push ahead.

While I was looking for covers, I happened to see a search result come up from the current website—and the description of that particular result was my author bio. Which reminds me that I need to put together a quick description for that particular search function on the new website, to be more helpful to the end-user searcher . . . . #SolopreneurDoesItAll

Okay, that’s noted in my ever-increasing list of things to do before launch day.

The Five Minute Tip — We’ve had some gorgeous sunsets this last little while thanks to the smoke from the Australian bushfires!

Now, where was I? Oh, yes. So this bio said something like “I’m the girl who decided to write uninspired reviews instead of inspired fiction.” Something along those lines, anyway—and when I saw it, I remembered how it was something of a personal joke to me at the time. That was my trade-off then, as I put all my writing energy into the website and left the side of me that loves writing fiction in the dust.

But, when I saw that, I realized that’s not me anymore. I’ve come to the place where even though we’re still posting at least three reviews per week on there, and I’m still writing quite a bit for it, fiction writing has its place in my life again.

It’s not big, or grand, but it’s there—and like I proved to myself last November, it’s still vastly important to me. It was important enough to keep writing even while I was taking three trips, losing sleep in preference to writing, and trying to balance my other responsibilities here at home and on the reviews website. Some things fell through the cracks, yes, but this is one thing that isn’t as much on the back burner now as it used to be.

And I’m so very, very thankful!

At this point, I have a daily commitment to write at least a little each day in or for a fictional story. One thing that has helped me with this is a five-minute timer.

This morning, before I sat down to write this blog post, I set the timer for five minutes and wrote in my Biblical historical fiction story. I only got about 160 words in that time, but often I can get up to about 210 or 230 words—I had a bit of research to do before I could continue with that particular scene. I didn’t particularly want to do it then, because I wanted to get on with other things, but since that’s my daily commitment, and told myself I only had to write for those five minutes, I was able to get it done.

Little things, people. Change those little things to give you momentum for the big. You never know—you might end up with a novel at the end of it—as I’m expecting to have in another month or two when I finally get this thing finished! I’m at 60k now . . . and am a little scared to think of how much it will likely be before I’m done!

So yes, I’m writing fiction again—more than I ever used to. Along with trying to keep up with reviews for the website. And I’m thankful to have been given the chance to do both!

Now I need to figure out if it’s possible to edit a novel in just five minutes per day . . . (I think it must be).

Let’s discuss: What little tips like this have made a big difference for you? Are you trying to prioritize something a bit more now than you have in the past, or have you had to put something on the back burner for a while?

NaNoWriMo 2019

December 13, 2019 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

I have a little picture filed away above a list of many other memory-inducing snapshots on my computer.

It’s from the first day of November, the day I was supposed to start NaNoWriMo*. Instead, my room got a thorough clean out and tidy up! I did end up writing to my word count that day, I think, but it still makes me laugh—that’s so typical of day one for me, the excitement and trepidation as one stands at the edge of a cliff, wings ready to glide, but unsure yet if the winds will be strong enough to keep you aloft.

After that initial day of procrastination with a little writing on the side, the rest of the month blurred into writing in every little tidbit of time I could snatch, sometimes staying up until 11:30 at night or later just so I could finish.

I didn’t intend to stay up late, on October 30th or 31st when I signed up for the challenge. “I’ll only do what I reasonably can,” I promised myself. “It’s okay if I don’t win. I’ll only write as much as I have the time for.”

Ha. And ha! again.

I tend to be the type to really appreciate a challenge, and try to win the game—no matter what it is.

And despite taking nine days off throughout the month due to one reason or another, the Lord was gracious and gave me enough words to make it through.

Otherwise, through the month, we held a fun birthday party/cookout for one of my brothers, I was away for seven days (one a three-day trip to the North Island—I must share some pictures from that!), and some friends of ours moved down into our area.

NaNo 2019 Progress Tracker — Day 20: When things really started to get serious on the writing front.

It was a lovely month, overall. I’m so grateful to have been able to write again. I write a little each day, a habit I’ve tried to develop just to keep my writing “muscles” toned somewhat and hopefully grow as a writer, but I feel like you can grow a lot more as a writer by doing more all at once.

I’ve had a hard time even explaining to myself why I wanted to do NaNo so much. Part of it, I know, is the camaraderie—the knowing that thousands of other people around the world are trying to reach the same goal you’re aiming for, many succeeding, but others falling back. Part of it is the sense of accomplishment—the feeling that you actually got somewhere in that short amount of time. And part is the creative challenge, although that’s the hardest. Sitting down each day and pouring your heart and soul into the story takes far more energy than I’d ever expect.

But it’s so worthwhile. I don’t feel myself growing as a writer from one scene to the next, or chapter to the next, or really even one story to the next—but I know I am. Little by little, I’m getting better. Info-dumping scenes are occuring a little less often and I’m experimenting with adding a bit more description, bringing a bit more color with words and characters and dialogue.

It’s not easy.

But it’s worth it.

And I hope the experience can continue far beyond NaNo this year! I haven’t been writing as much in December, but I am still averaging higher daily wordcounts than normal, which is nice. Even so, I’m looking forward to (maybe next month? or February?) when I can do something like this again. 1,667 words per day aren’t that difficult—a couple of hours, max—and the way the story comes together so much better when you invest that daily time really makes it worthwhile.

What have you been working on lately? If you’re a writer, have you ever done a writing challenge before? If not, what was your favorite part of your November?

*NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month; a writing challenge that runs through the month of November with the goal of ending the month with 50,000 words or more written in a new book.

A Shout-Out to All Creators!

October 4, 2019 // Esther Filbrun 1 Comment

I don’t remember now how the conversation first started, but I got to talking with my younger brothers about a particularly annoying dragon in one of the stories I’d written. When met with blank faces, I realized they hadn’t ever heard the story, even though I wrote it for my siblings, intending to read it to them later!

My youngest brother immediately started campaigning for me to find it so I could read it to them, so over the last few weeks, I’ve taken time to do that now and then. We’re about half-way through the story now, which is significantly longer than I thought it would be (turns out it’s just under 20,000 words long!).

There have been two, no, three things that have struck me since starting to read this book aloud:

It’s not a bad thing to wait for a while to read through a book. I thought it was a fairly mediocre story soon after I wrote it, but waiting nearly two years to read it has changed my perspective quite a bit. I don’t know if I’d recommend waiting that long before you even read through your work for the first time, but you get a great perspective on the story—so much is new again!
I can write semi-funny things. I’ve laughed out loud several different times at unexpected happenings, and that’s a really fun discovery!
Some of my story ideas actually work. At least, for me and my family, which is the most important thing to me. I don’t know if this story will ever see the light of day in any editing/publishing roles, but I enjoyed the creation process, and I’m enjoying the sharing process, too.

Are you creating anything right now? Does it feel like absolute junk—like mine did? Keep working at it. Finish it. You never know what kind of gems you might find in your files years down the track!

Keep creating!

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

October 25, 2018 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

It’s always encouraging to hear from other writers. Back when I first started writing, I dived in head-first with little knowledge of story structure, character development, or even what the word “plot” or “novel” meant. That first year, especially, I spent reading everything I could on the subject. And though I’m sure I’ve forgotten most of what I learned then, I do remember the feeling of my world expanding exponentially, and the sure realization that I’d never look at anyone or anything the same way again.

There was a moment soon after I started writing for fun in longer form when I remember seeing a teenage girl being comforted—multiple times over a weekend—by an older friend of ours. Later, when I asked my parents about it, I explained that I wanted to know why she was doing that “because I might use it in my writing one day.” It turned out she had recently lost her brother, quite unexpectedly, and my heart went out to her.

But I knew then, even more than I had earlier, that life would never quite look the same again. I was a writer—was seeing life from the perspective of a writer—and that became a constant in my life.

Still, it’s good to hear from other people who are writers. They bring balance to my life.

I had forgotten how much I was missing out on until I got a chance to watch some encouragement from the last “season” of Indie Novelist Summit—which, in retrospect, I wish I had written about earlier, because wow. Some of that content is gold. I wish I could have shared it with you while it was still live! I’ve only watched one episode so far—one with Joanna Penn about writing mindset—but it’s set me down and shown me just how much I have yet to learn about the writing craft.

I love to write, love developing new characters under my fingers and watching them spring to life in gorgeous colors in my head.

However, I remember one time when I was probably six or seven, sitting at our grey, weathered picnic table under one of the biggest maple trees I’ve ever seen, a major feature in many childhood memories. I had a clean sheet of paper before me, a case of watercolor paints, and a beautiful picture in mind to paint. When I looked at my results a few minutes later, I remember feeling intense disappointment—though I had a picture in my head, I couldn’t translate it to the page.

Often, my writing feels that way too—a beauty of an idea, a meaningful thought, but poorly translated when it comes to writing.

Hearing from other creative writers refuels my tank, gives me the inspiration to keep going.

There was a phrase from Joanna Penn’s episode that has stuck with me:

“Stand on the shoulders of giants—know what has come before, so you can create something new.”

That’s what I’d like to do. I know that while my writing might not be great now, if I keep working at it, it’ll get better.

And that is why I’m thankful to still be able to write. And have the chance to learn from others who are also still learning—though obviously at a much more advanced level than me!

Who are you learning from right now? What are you learning?

Writing Inspiration Resources — Where I’m Finding Motivation Right Now

January 31, 2018 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

We’re currently in the thick of moving preparations at the moment. It’s Wednesday; we’re moving Saturday, and there are still some cleaning jobs, final yard clean-up, and last-minute packing to do yet! But we’re getting there.

My writing time lately has been struggling quite a bit. We’ve been spending a lot more time with other people (mostly goodbye meals), and the stress of having things in limbo especially this last week has really made it difficult to focus. I never realized before what part a tidy, “normal” environment plays into my creativity levels! It’s a fascinating thing to think about.

Anyway, I have wanted to continue doing at least a little writing, just to keep the practice in, so I’ve been pushing myself to do 100 words each day in my story. Keeping going in the midst of change is hard, but at the same time it’s also refreshing to have one constant I can count on in my life.

I’ve also been working on “fueling up” as much as possible, and I thought it would be fun to share a few places I’m finding inspiration these days with you!

Read updates from other writers. I frequently stop by Lydia Howe’s and Kate Willis’ blogs, because they often talk about writing. Seeing other writers struggle with their stories, fight through, and make progress, has always inspired me, so I’m gleaning as much inspiration from them as possible.
Shawn Smucker’s writing updates. Technically, this should fit under the previous point, but I’ve appreciated the thoughts he’s had to share so much recently that it deserves its own place in the list. 🙂 His goal is to write 1000 words every weekday, and each day before he begins writing he does a short journal entry or pep talk for the day. So far, I’ve found it helpful and encouraging. And it makes me itch to start writing more myself, so YAY!
2018 Author Olympics. A.M.Heath has apparently come up with this–it’s a self-paced olympics for authors, that runs alongside the winter olympics. I’ve never participated, but I’m hoping I can this year! From the description: “Each author sets their own daily goals in the hopes of earning a virtual medal by the end of the day.”
Three Day Word Wars. Again, something I haven’t participated in yet (schedules don’t always mesh very well!), but this is a community of writers who write as much as they possibly can over a three-day period, send in their final wordcounts, and whoever has the most at the end wins a prize. Pretty fun. I’m hoping I can join in next time, but we’ll see! The next one is running from February 22-24.
Read good books. I’m just over half-way through an apologetic, Cold Case Christianity (I mentioned that in an earlier post sometime). I’m also part-way through a novella that’s taken me over a year to read. As soon as I’ve finished that, I’m planning to read several books from authors I know I love—I always find lots of good inspiration there! Good writing, both non-fiction and fiction, often inspires me to work on writing myself.
Listen to piano music. I’ve loved some of Thad Fiscella’s songs for a long time, and often find his music inspiring.
Keep writing. As much as I might struggle to have this on the list, it really is helpful. My goal is to do at least 100 words per day. Often, I average just above that, but at least I keep moving a little!

What are you doing to keep yourself inspired and moving in your work right now? Do you struggle to focus when your surroundings are changing?

NaNo 2017 Recap and Life Update

December 7, 2017 // Esther Filbrun 1 Comment

Some days, I dream I’ll be able to become the kind of blogger that takes just fifteen minutes or so to slap a post together and get it posted. I often enjoy that type of blog, because I often feel like I get to know the author better that way somehow—but I haven’t tended to be a good blogger over the last while. Sigh.

HOWEVER, now that NaNoWriMo is officially eight days over, I feel like my brain is starting to return! Hurray!

NaNo was so fun to do this year. After I won in 2013, I really wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to participate again, because I anticipated life getting busier (maybe I was planning on getting married at sixteen; who knows? I can’t remember!). Anyway, even though I did no prep whatsoever for NaNo this year (a BIG no-no in my book!), I was thrilled to be able to participate.

And even better, I somehow finished. Don’t ask me how that happened; but it did, and I’m thankful!

Since winning NaNo, I’ve focused on a bunch of different things, but the most exciting has been working on the website redesign. Due to several Black Friday sales shared by a blogger I follow, I was able to both purchase the themes I needed to start the redesign, as well as buy website hosting! That was thoroughly exciting, after waiting several months for enough funds to become available.

And, of course, it’s always thrilling to be playing with code and website colors, fonts, and designs again. That’s one part of blogging that I thoroughly enjoy, so it makes my little heart happy to be able to work on it again.

However, life isn’t all fun and games—today, for example, I need to get some book reviews uploaded to the LRD website. I stopped uploading through the month of November, partly due to the lack of available reviews, and partly due to my (ahem) writing at the time. Near the beginning of the month, I decided getting into creative writing would trump working on reviews for the time being. But now that we are into December, it’s high time to tackle that project again.

Then, when that’s done, maybe I can start working on the complex problem with category presentation on the redesign, or perhaps get started on a sewing project I’ve been gazing longingly at for the past week or so.

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to dream up a way to get blog posts written and posted easier. Because I do love blogging; I just tend to get to feeling a little stifled at times by the things I “must” do before I can get a post up.

What have you been working on lately?