Okay, so I had this brilliant idea to use creative visualization to spark my creative juices. Then my hubbie took off for Hawaii to do a hypnosis training video and took my iPod with him. Bad husband! So I decided to write about how obstinant we writers need to be to get our jobs done. So here are a few pointers from the trenches as I continue to crank out a few pages of my new novel even while spending most of my day writing business articles, brochures, newsletters and the like.

(1) Make a date with yourself. We’ve all heard it before, but for me, I seem to stick with it if I mark out the time on my calendar. I’ve got at least a half dozen pending projects at any given time, but I’m in tune with my calendar and tend to go wherever it tells me to go. In this case, it’s usually a coffee shop with my laptop for a few hours.

(2) Tell your family and friends the exact time you plan on writing and ask them with all the graciousness you can muster to “go away!” during that time. You may be surprised by how supportive they become. They might even check in to make sure you’re sticking with your commitment.

(3) Write whenever you can. Make sure you have a notebook and pen handy. Even in this day and age of computers and PDAs and the like, a writer without a pen is like a flasher without a…well, you know.

These are just a few writing tips from my own experience. You may have heard it all before, but I know that a reminder from a kindred spirit can often get one back on track.

Happy writing!

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