Jen's Writing Journey

Welcome to the new home of Jen's Writing Journey, the blog that chronicles Jennifer Roland's writing life and provides useful information for new and seasoned writers.

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A few years back, I got really into Flylady as I worked toward removing clutter from my life.

Since getting married and moving into my new home with my husband, I have kind of gotten away from the routines she suggested.

So, when we came back from our second vacation of the winter, I realized that our house was a disaster. Yesterday, instead of writing, I spent my entire day cleaning the kitchen, living room, and master bedroom. I sorted through a lot of clutter, and those rooms look so much better. I find an uncluttered bedroom much more soothing, and I definitely fell asleep much easier last night. (A hard day of cleaning might have had something to do with that, too!)

But, I was unhappy to lose what I had planned to be a productive writing day. And I could have prevented that loss by keeping up on my cleaning routines so things didn’t get so out of hand. Things were so cluttered that I simply wasn’t able to think about anything except how much the clutter was annoying me!

I’m in a good place now, and simple routines can keep things up. Next holiday, I will be able to do the things I want: take the dogs hiking and get a good chunk of writing and querying done.

How about you. What things interrupt your productivity?

• My story OK, so maybe post 1 should have been the "my story" post, but here it is anyway. This is an excerpt from an email I sent to the friend who gave me feedback on my first story:It's really funny how this whole thing started. When I learned at the beginning......
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14 So many great resources, so little time. Thus, I avoid preamble and move directly into this week's links. The Business of Writing 5 Reasons Pitches Can Be Detrimental Rather Than Helpful Jane Friedman, who took pitches at the Willamette Writers Conference, offers a little advice to writers making pitches: Don't......
• Writing Course I just turned in my first lesson from my writing course, From Writer to Author. It was hard, because it made me focus and refine my goals. The questions were about what I wanted to write and how I wanted to build a writing business.Tiffany Colter and many of the......
• Writing Roundup, Nov. 6: "Still Friday on the West Coast" Edition The Business of Writing Craft Fiction Freelancing The Business of Writing Firsts What are your goals for your writing career? Aprilynne Pike discusses her goals, other possible goals as a writer, and the ways we can achieve these goals. Choosing Your Genre Agent Jessica Faust covers the issue of......
• Writing Roundup I decided to add some categories this week to make it easier for you to find your favorite links. Let me know if you like it better this way, or if the hodge podge put together as I found a good resource worked better for you. Also let me know......

• Weekend Roundup - Spring Cleaning Edition Well I've been bitten by the "spring cleaning" bug. There are several large decluttering projects I have planned for the coming weeks. We're also going...
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