Giveaway & Guest Post: Jayne Fordham, author of A Season of Transformation

I am pleased to welcome  Jayne Fordham, the Australian author of a debut paranormal young adult novel, A Season of Transformation to Book’d Out today.  Read my review HERE. Jayne has written this guest post that answers one of the most oft asked questions of a writer. She is also offering readers the opportunity to win an electronic edition of her book. Keep reading for details on how you could win.

Getting in the Mood to Write

As a writer who has learnt a lot from other writers and self-directed avenues I have come across ample advice that says you can’t wait for the right ‘mood’ to come along to start writing. You need to make it part of your daily routine. At times I have been for and against this guidance and I’m not sure I have figured out what works for me. When I think about getting ‘in the mood’ for productivity, I think of being in a calm environment where I can let my mind do all the work. What instantly comes to mind is a relaxing soak in the bath with candles and a glass of wine. While I might get away with reading a paperback in the bath tub it’s not an ideal setting for a pen and notebook or my laptop.

The next best place is my study with overflowing bookcases, a shiny new laptop upon a chocolate brown wooden desk which sits against a stunning teal feature wall, designed to spark creativity- or so I’d hoped.

But sometimes I sit down at my desk open up my laptop and I just feel restless. I have talked about procrastination on my blog in the past, which I wrote while I was doing exactly that. There are times I stare at my laptop and become distracted by the mounds of paperwork piling up around me and figure I better start filing as a tidy desk will help me stay focused. When my desk is cleared I notice the rumble in my stomach and decide it’s time for a cup of tea and some chocolate. A hot mug on my desk and a delicious caffeine hit should get me on the way. But then I open up the internet browsers and I’m distracted by my inbox flashing, new tweets and enticing new books to read on Goodreads. I have also become completely engrossed in my book review blog whose initial purpose was to network and learn more about the reading/ writing community and now it often takes me away from writing. What starts out as prelude to a good writing session ends up being wasted away by hours of procrastinating to the point where I think there’s no point starting anything and I may as well try again tomorrow.

When I do have sparks of motivation often at inappropriate times when I will be interrupted or should be doing something else like when I am at work, on a train or in the shower. I scribble down my thoughts and can’t stop thinking about it all day long and by the time I get home from work and sit down at my computer the enthusiasm has gone.

These are not great habits for someone who works full-time and needs to make good use of every spare minute possible if I am to wind up with a finished writing project! I honestly have no idea how I managed to write the first draft of A Season Of Transformation in less than 3 months. Somehow once I was underway I just couldn’t stop. At times I find it extremely difficult to get back into the writing zone and take off with words.

To break me out of my writing rut I decided I needed to set myself deadlines. When I have freelance writing jobs or the rare assignment due that is when I put fingers to keyboard and get to work. When I am under pressure this is when I can get the job done. So when day to day ‘to do lists’ became overwhelming and just another distraction from a writing project I decided it was time to do what all those other authors seem to do and make writing a part of my daily routine.

I stumbled across the great site 750words (http://750words.com) and signed up to make writing once and for all a PRIORITY. The goal is to write 750 words each day (roughly 3 pages) without editing and so far so good! I don’t always make the benchmark some days but I try to make up for it on others. So with a lot of self-discipline I now write everyday and because I have to write at least 750 words my chocolate and tea urges go by the wayside until it is done! Only then do I reward myself.  If all goes to plan I hope to have my next novel, an adult SciFi/ fantasy novel published by the end of 2011, early 2012. Wish me luck!

*Disclaimer- at time of writing this post 750words was free to sign up and I am in no way affiliated with them!!

What gets you in the ‘mood’ to write? What are your quirky writing routines?

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Enter to Win

Jayne Fordham has one electronic edition of

A Season of Transformation

to giveaway.

Open worldwide

Required To Enter:

+1 Include your name, email address  and country.

For extra entries

+1 Answer Jayne’s question

+1 Add A Season of Transformation to your Goodreads or LibraryThing TBR page

+1 OR follow Jayne one way or another

Website I The Australian Bookshelf I Twitter I Goodreads I Shelfari

+1 if you tweet or facebook this post Use the icons below to make it easy and provide a link OR tweet the following:

I entered to win A Season of Transformation by @AustBookshelf at @bookdout, you should too! http://wp.me/p12MUP-Df

Entries close July 9th, 2011

Good Luck!