Tag: wip

Pinterest for Writers

Confused how Pinterest can help your writing? Read on!

If you’re anything like me, you love to save things. Pictures, old notes, that weird looking rock you found on a trail that one time.

But did you know there’s a digital way to make that work for your writing?

Yup, I’m talking Pinterest here. Digital hoarding. Er… digital collecting.

You may already be familiar with Pinterest, but if not, basically it’s a place where you can save (pin) pictures linked to websites, or just pictures you upload yourself. It’s just like the corkboard you might have over your desk, but you can also use it to link back to websites you want to remember.

And that opens up worlds of possibility for us as writers. But what ways can we make this work for us?

To start, we can create boards with subdivisions… basically the way I handle it is to create a board for a book or topic, then subdivide it into things like the world, specific characters, etc. I did this a lot for my WIP, Sea of Broken Glass. Check it out!

By using it this way, you can give yourself ideas for how to describe a certain character or things to place in your world. For me, it helps me to flesh out each element of the world. It helps me organize my thoughts and ideas (in conjunction with my handy story notebook).

When I’m researching, I can add or create pins with information I may need later, like statistics. I did this when I was working on Life After College, an adult mainstream book that I have on hold right now.

And beyond that, it helps me set the tone for my writing. It gives me feelings and inspires my mood to set me in the right mindspace for the world and the characters. It puts me there.

And that’s another way you can use Pinterest boards. You can create mood boards, like I did for This Cursed Flame which include elements that are simply meant to inspire you and place you in the world, rather than just help you with worldbuilding.

And if you look at that mood board again, there’s another thing we writers can use it for: marketing and sharing our work.

Once I complete a work, I make sure to include an image of the cover with a link to purchase it in the board. I also use Pinterest on occasion to share bits of my blog or pictures I’ve made for writers.

Really, there are tons of possibilities. All you have to do is sit down and start scrolling and pinning. There’s plenty of time to organize and pare it down to make it be the board you need it to be. And I do want to be clear here: I am not getting paid to endorse Pinterest. I am simply sharing it as a tool I use and have heard other authors lamenting their confusion. Hopefully this clears that up and gives you some ideas to kick-start your own work!

Happy writing!

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Your turn!

Do you use Pinterest? Do you use it for your writing? What are your feelings on it? Has it helped you? Or is it more of a distraction? Tell me in the comments!

Ooo, Shiny! (Or, Managing New Ideas While Writing)

One of the most important things to a writer is simply an idea. A place to spark their next story. An inspiration. A gift from a muse. The shinies we see and chase instinctively in a need to capture and create with them. Ideas are the life, blood, and magic of the writing process; without them, there is no story.

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I see you over there, you beautiful new story, you.

However, as good and important as ideas are, they can also be dangerous distractions. They can lead us to lost time on our works in progress (WIP) as we daydream about the new idea, create Pinterest boards, write new outlines for new stories, or even start writing new stories themselves.

And what happens to the WIP when that happens? It starts to stagnate. It lies forgotten in the dust, that story that was also once a shiny worth chasing. It slows, and in many cases, it dies on your hard drive.

For years, this was how I operated. I would get a new idea and dive in head first, starting the new story with impatience while allowing the old one to sit half-finished forever. Because of this model (and how I only wrote when inspired… but that’s a story for another day), I never finished anything. In the years between elementary school and college, when I’d started to write my own stories, I finished two. And they were never edited or looked at ever again (they can probably stay out of the light of day, honestly).

But that all changed in the last five years or so. I still get new ideas all the time that want to pull me away from my WIP, but I manage to finish what I’m writing before moving on to the new story. I’ve learned ways that work for me, that keep me productive and motivated and entertained.

How do I manage these distractions and finish what I’m working on? Three simple tricks:

  1. WIP has priority. That’s right. That simple. Set yourself a goal on your WIP, and make sure you complete it before you let yourself do anything with any new ideas. For example, if I get a new idea, I set a daily goal of 1000 words on the old project before I allow myself to work on something unrelated to my WIP. The trick here is you have to keep yourself accountable and disciplined. You have to do the work to get the reward, not just reward yourself for no reason. Writing trackers can be very helpful and motivating for this. I personally use Writeometer on my phone.

    And speaking of the reward…

  2. Make the new idea your prize. Use it to motivate yourself to finish your WIP so you can indulge in the new idea. Write your WIP goal for the day, then turn on Pinterest.
  3. Don’t start writing until your WIP is finished. Unless you think you can keep up your enthusiasm for the WIP while starting the “more exciting” story in your head, just avoid beginning the writing at all. Instead, start doing the background research, create your mood boards and inspiration boards, create character sheets and plot outlines. Do whatever prep work you need. Just don’t start writing it. Writing the story is the ultimate prize for finishing your WIP… treat it that way!

So there you have it! It can be very difficult to keep writing a story, especially in the muddy middle or if you’ve been working on it for a while, and especially when a new, shinier idea comes around. But with a few changes in your routine or how you think about the new idea and your WIP, you can still finish your stories and enjoy your new ideas.

What about you? How do you manage your new shinies while writing something else? What suggestions do you have for focusing on your WIP? What methods do or don’t work for you? Tell me in the comments!