Staying Focused – Tips from Carmen Welsh, Jr.

Writer’s Zen welcomes a guest blogger today, Carmen Welsh, Jr.

She writes. She blogs. She tweets. She creates artistic works far beyond what my fumble fingers can draw or paint. And in her spare time, Carmen is in graduate school furthering her education, completing papers, taking tests and completing the myriad tasks and assignments that go along with graduate work. How does Carmen maintain focus in the midst of constant deadlines and demands? Here, she shares some tips and inspiration with us about how she stays focused.

Thanks for stopping by at Writer’s Zen and sharing your thoughts with us!

 

Stay Focused

For me, staying focused is constant list making, jotting down odd vocabulary, and check boxes.

It’s putting up reminders – on my desktop, in journals, on a cellphone app, and on a netbook. It means Stickies and Post-Its(r). It means raving about my work-in-progress on my blog and other social media.

How I stay focused is to tell others who give a damn while I’m in a draft desert. Sometimes, they cheer me on. Other times, they tell me to shut up and go back to write. I guess we writers often need masochism.

Staying focused for me means to surround my outer world with references to the craft, to the topic at hand. That involves research both offline and online.

It’s jumping to a new project when I’m stalled on another; this helps to get the juices flowing and my fingers going. Both on paper and on the keyboard.

Being focused means to immerse myself in research notes and other writers’ voices so that when I am stuck in my head for too long, I will be bombarded by the very things that knock me back.

Staying in focus means there isn’t a writer’s block if the neighborhood is a constant source of inspiration.

 

BIO: Carmen Welsh Jr. (yes, I’m a girl) holds an AA in Art Ed and a BSc in IT. She’s published artwork, short stories and articles in fanzines, magazine anthologies, e-zines, and other literary blogs. Two of her early short fiction became podcasts. She says tweeting is an addiction. She’s an official member of the Furry Writer’s Guild and AWP. Carmen is currently in grad school. Her official site is http://TabbertheRed.com. You can find her ranting and raving about many topics on Twitter @kayfey. Her ongoing art portfolio with works old and recent can be found on http://CopperSphinx.deviantart.com