One Minute Writing Workshop: If In Doubt, Read It Out

 Hello and welcome to this little one-minute writing workshop.

This month, I want to have a little chat about something that I do a lot when I’m editing my work: reading it out aloud.

Sometimes, we can write a passage down and there’s this little voice niggling away at the back of our head saying, “You know what, that’s not quite right.” Then, we read it over and over and darned if we can’t work out what’s actually wrong.

Well, in this situation, I find it very helpful to just take a moment and read the infernal passage aloud. Quite often, sentences can sound different when spoken aloud compared to that quiet voice we use in our heads. We can pick up tones, inflections, stray punctuation… all sorts of things.

So, the next time you type up something and think to yourself, “That doesn’t look right,” just take a moment to read it out loud. You might find it helps.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advanced screenings of my videos and free books.

Take care and keep looking out for what lurks in the shadows…

A.S.Chambers.

One Minute Workshop: Routine

 Hello and welcome to this little one-minute writing workshop.

When it comes to writing productively, one thing which can quite often be overlooked is a good routine. As writers and creatives, we often feel that we should start putting pen to paper when the Muses move us. We feel that we really need to be in the zone in order to generate worthwhile material that we will be proud of. 

However, this can lead to us lurching from one project to another with no consistency and a distinct lack of progress. Yes, we need to be mindful of when inspiration strikes, but that should be used as a time for note-taking and research, for the jotting down of ideas and playing with topics in our head. As far as the writing process is concerned, it is far more beneficial to have a set time of day to pursue this. For some, this could be first thing in the morning (personally, I’m up at 5 o’clock and writing at half past for a few hours before the day kicks in), some are night owls and some might split it into two blocks of a few hours each. It is important that we find what works for us and that we stick to it. This way we will be able to compare our progress from day to day and set attainable targets with regard to how we want our work to progress.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advanced screenings of my videos and free books.

Take care and keep looking out for what lurks in the shadows…

A.S.Chambers.