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Want to be more productive and enjoy your writing even more? Declutter! Here’s how I was able to part with some of the things that were no longer needed but too hard to part with.

I came from a four bedroom, two living-area, two dining room house to a three bedroom, one living-area and one dining room house. From a garage to no garage. Major downsizing. Needless to say, we had a lot of stuff that would no longer fit into a much smaller house. So much of the items we had were things that we had spent money on and liked. Thus came the problem: how do we get rid of the things we still actually want but have no room for? Clutter clutter clutter. Help!

Getting rid of our stuff has proven very difficult, until I recently had a breakthrough with my thought process. Instead of getting rid of my stuff, which most people actually equate with trashing or destroying, I’ve come to think of it as giving it to someone. It’s hard for me to “get rid,” “trash” good things but it is not hard to give things away to those I know who will enjoy it and get good use out of it.

I did this recently. I loaded up several boxes of books, nick-nacks, and even a real pretty coat and drove it to Goodwill. The donation center is usually right next to the main store. I pulled up and someone came out. I asked if they would take my things. Within no more than five minutes, my boxes were unloaded and a receipt was given to me. Yay! How easy was that! The empty backseat of my car seemed veryproud.

I also gave a few items to a family member who I knew would enjoy it and get good use of it. These were some things that I still really liked and didn’t really want to part with, but had no room for. It was freeing to give it to good hands, which is the purpose of the item, anyway.

After this experience, I have freed myself of clutter and too much. It feels great knowing that for those things I don’t have a place for I can simply donate. This doesn’t mean I’ll give away everything, obviously, but it helps to part with things at some point. After all, a room too full of pretty items is no longer pretty anymore. Look at the picture below. Which version would you feel most ready to write in?

Hope that helps! A clean, orderly and clutter-free home always makes me feel better and makes me more productive.

So, as you all know, most of what I blog about is related to writing and anything fantastical. However, we all know that sometimes your state of mind weighs heavily on how well, or not, your writing day goes.

Some of you may have noticed, and some of you may not have, but there’s something extraordinary about what you wear and it’s correlation to what you wear.

How many times do you just throw something on, leave your hair up and in a knotted mess or down and stringy? You head out to town and you know you look frumpy. Let’s be honest, we say we’re just being comfortable, and it’s true, but it does have a negative effect on our moods once we’re out in the public.

On the flip-side, though, what about those times when you actually put some effort into your hair, makeup and clothes. You and I both know that you automatically have a boost of self-esteem when you hit the town; whether that’s Wal-Mart, the grocery store, work, or an outing.

Okay, great, we know this, but what’s the big deal?

If you really stop and think about it, how often do you feel good about yourself? How often do you feel energized and ready to tackle any tasks you’ve set before you? Sometimes the answer can be a bit low and our

motivation can suffer, thus, or productivity.

When you think about being productive, especially in your writing and career, how you feel makes a HUGE difference. I equate it to being mentally healthy and balanced, and in turn, you’ll be more motivated and proactive. It comes down to prepping yourself for your day. Dress nice, but relaxed (dress-casual), put on makeup, a dash of perfume, and fasten back that hair with some light perfume. Listen to a positive pod-cast and get to it!

The end-result: Productivity and a happy spirit. It may be simple, but it’s totally worth a try. So next time you go out or even stay in, dress up!

Until next time ~ Feliz escribiendo.

So today I thought that I’d do a brief blog on a topic I really like, but am in no way a guru on: Design and decorating. Granted, it’s not on the topic of writing, but creating a positive space will do wonders for making your mental mind ready to sit down and get to writing!

How many of you like to design and decorate your the interior of your home? I love to, but for many years I always decorated with earth tones such as brown, gold and crimson. As some years have passed, however, I have found that even though I truly still like and appreciate those colors that I am now choosing and favoring lighter colors due to the effects they have.

Effects: more open, more clean, and fresh. Also, more professional.

Dark furnishings and decor tend to darken a room and make it feel smaller. That’s not to say that you can’t have dark pieces, but it’ll lighten the area and make it more airy if you add white or light-toned accents.

Curtains are huge! Often, you’ll see dark one’s used to block out light, but the light and the light colored curtains are what will make one of the biggest impact on opening up your house.

The second things that work really well are pillows and throws – having a limited number of these items and have light colored ones are an excellent way to brighten up a dark area.

Rugs work really well, too. A small rug under a coffee table can brighten up a bland room. Lamps and picture frames: Lamps will aid to rooms that don’t have much natural light and picture frames that have lighter edges (not black or brown) but grey, and light colors, will do a lot to cheering up your house.

If you really want to liven it up, you can still evoke a calm house with a spark of life by throwing in an orange or yellow flower on the table or on the wally. That spark of bright color will really give it a punch.

Plants and wood. Any green plants (though not too many) go a long way to bringing nature inside and increasing positivity. Wood has a similar affect; the texture and tones bring out the wild aspect of nature and can make a more modern home a bit more cozy, thus bringing in balance.

Lastly, pertaining to design, making sure that furniture is NOT pushed up against other pieces of furniture is really, really important to giving your room space. If you can’t separate items without taking away walking space, the important key here is to downsize or declutter. *Note – decluttering can include furniture, too.

These are some things that I’ve discovered that help me when I design and decorate a room.

Just a quick note that I’ve found VERY helpful when I’ve been stuck in my revision stage.

I heard this advice from Kristen Marten (I’m pretty sure it was her; go check her Youtube channel out) and it has proven it’s merit.

And here it is: Think about your story all day, in the bath, at work, and while cooking – basically every chance you get. While these weren’t her exact words, I made them work for me.

I grabbed up a notebook and started reading my manuscript. My plan was to make another outline of the story as I read so I could go over the outline and brainstorm improvements for a later draft. Some evenings before bed I sat down with the notebook and wrote improvements and ideas on it, and other times I just thought about it and would come back to the notebook at a later time.

I even took the notebook to work and kept it at my desk for the rare times that I had a moment to brainstorm. Truth be told, I didn’t have time – to write, that is, but it did help to keep my story in my mind, and over the last few days, I’ve come up with solutions to predicaments I’ve been stuck on for way too long.

Going back to my manuscript was not only productive, but I felt that I had a clearer path to a better manuscript.

So the key? Keep your story in your mind at all times, or at least very often, and keep a notebook to brainstorm potential ideas for those scenes that you know aren’t any good and can’t figure out how to fix. It’s really helped me so far, because as I experienced the day, different ideas would present themselves to me that otherwise wouldn’t have.

Sorry if this post has errors. Late night posts don’t always equal the best quality. Lo siento y feliz escribiendo.

Soon to be available on Amazon and Kindle

Hey all. As some of you might know, I am working on publishing my first novel, Forces and the Malachite Stone, a middle grade fantasy book that is the first in a trilogy. I have a new YouTube channel where I will be sharing insight on the writing process, the self-publishing process, and other related things. Currently I do not have many videos but plan to upload a video weekly. Make sure to check it out and give it a thumbs up to support me! Also, if you have suggestions of any topics you would like me to discuss in a video, let me know in a comment below!

Enjoy your rainy Sunday! Happy writing!

You can find me on YouTube by typing: E.L. Pierce

Hello all! Just some brief info today on an awesome author and and online personality, Kristen Martin.

 

If  you’re looking for someone who can give you the down-low on all things self-publishing, she’s definitely someone to check out. Not only can she give you tips and really helpful information to get you started on your journey, she also has three awesome books for sell.

Check her and her work out here: Kristen Martin

Good Afternoon! For those of you interested in the process of making a cover for your book, if you read my last post, you might know that finding a good image could be a bit difficult.

I do believe that finding free and royalty free images through various websites can work quite well once tweaked here and there for any realistic fiction book. When it comes to a more imaginative work, however, such images as found on Pixabay or other free sites are a bit more difficult to find.

In such cases, you can have a freelancer design it for you, or go ahead and purchase an image. The images that are more creative in style are those that you’ll usually have to purchase, and will convey the message of your book much better. After all, your cover goes a long way in attracting readers.

Purchasing is easy – just as easy as buying something from Amazon.

Good luck on your image search.

Here are some things to consider when formatting your self-published novel:

Writing:

1. Be completely done with your novel before starting the publication process. If you’re not, you’ll spend a lot of time and effort laboring on your formatting that you’ll only have to go back and redo again once your novel is completely finished/revised/edited. Don’t make it harder on yourself. Finish the entire writing process first.

Interior:

1. This was actually a bit more difficult than I originally imaged it would be. Mostly, you will need to decide you the size of your book. A 6×9 is actually rather large, whereas a 5×8 is smaller and more manageable. I’d suggest really knowing your product and the standard size of similar works.
2. There are a lot of you-tube videos that help show you how to work the trim (ex: 5.25×8) on Word or other documents.
3. You-tube is your friend: not every video is going to be beneficial, but the more you watch how-to videos and listen to others talk about their experience, the more you get an idea of the process and what to expect.
4. The most difficult part is going back and forth between the right font, font sizes, symbols, and other tidbits. Things change, and when one thing changes, you might need to change something else. Embedding your font is really important, as it will not carry over on some programs.

Cover:

1. Pictures for both the inside and outside are recommended to be at least 300 dpi. Personally, I’ve found it very difficult to come up with creative artwork/illustrations for my covers; most of them are much, much lower in dpi. There are still good websites to find free images, and even really pretty images, but when it comes to really creative work, especially for children, the search becomes much more difficult.
2. You can always hire a freelancer; there are websites out there that will allow you to look at various freelancers as well as their portfolios. You can also set a budget beforehand, which is helpful.
3. Matte finishes are soft and a tad duller, but still really attractive. Glossy finishes are also pretty and attractive, but scratch and get finger smudges easily.

This post is not in depth. If you have a particular question, feel free to ask one in the comments. I will post updates again soon along with other details.

Thank, thank you very much, Grammarly.

Completely recommend Grammarly for anyone who would like a quick, painless, and free edit. Hiring a personal editor is still recommended, but this website helps clean up a document real quick. Talk about feeling clean!