Guest post today! I met Joshua Pior through the Twitter writing community. His blog Jeune Authors has lots of helpful posts so be sure to check those out. Have a wonderful Saturday! -Eliza Noel
You’d never know it was math homework—it looked more like a sketch pad for art class. The grids that were supposed to contain balanced equations and reduced complex fractions looked a little more like the panels of a doodly comic strip, filled with characters, sketches, squiggles, and decorations.
Joshua Pior is a twentyish author who gets up early in the mornings to sit in Starbucks with a laptop and pretend to be a famous author. So far nobody has asked him for his autograph, but he passes the time by writing stories and blogging about it. If you want to connect with Josh and other young authors and read more of his weekly posts about writing, check out his blog at JeuneAuthors.com!
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| photo cred//stocksnap |
Even though I somehow managed to get good grades in math, I made up for it by hating every moment spent doing it. My mind bounced around like an overactive collie cooped up in a closet, daring me to let it go free.
I’ll be honest. I wasn’t a star algebra student.
But I did complete several novels. So, you know. Balance.
Now that I’ve graduated high school, I can look back and see what I did (and what I should have done) to find time to write during high school. So let’s get into it: five ways to be a legit, full-time, productive writer during high school, without sacrificing school or life.
Number one!
1. Use Your Free Time for Creativity
All of it.
Wait, what about, y’know, fun?
Here’s a trick that I’ve learned. If you struggle to find time to write, this will help you tremendously.
Writing doesn’t always mean tapping away at a keyboard. Or scratching notes in a spiral-bound.
Writing, according to the dictionary, is the act of composing text for publication.
This can be done anywhere. I have a constant stream of words running through my mind at all times. When I sit down to write, all I’m doing is wrangling those words down onto a page.
This means you can be writing while watching a movie. You can be writing while you’re babysitting your nephew. And if you’re like me, you can be writing while balancing quadratic equations.
So you can still have fun in your free time! I’m not suggesting that you sequester yourself off in your bedroom with a pad and pen during every spare minute. But whatever you do in your free time, allow yourself to compose text in your mind while you do it.
It’s idea-fishing—you’re relaxed and having a fun time, but your hook is in the water, ready for a bite.
And once a decent idea runs across your mind, snatch it down on a piece of paper or your phone. Never let one get away.
2. Only Write What You’re Passionate About
Yeah, occasionally that means you will start a story and never finish it. But it also meant that writing will never be a drag. It’s better to start a hundred stories you love and never finish them than to slave away on a project that you despise ... just to boast that you always finish what you start.
Yes, I managed to finish a couple of novels in high school. But let me clarify that they weren’t good novels. Nor were they very lengthy (the longer of the two was only 24,000 words). But that didn’t matter, because I loved writing them! I just wrote what I wanted to.
You may think you do this already, but if you struggle to find time to write, then you aren’t. Guaranteed.
You need a passion project.
Sometimes this means starting something new without finishing what you’re currently working on. Horrors! That’s hardly responsible!
Well, to break it gently, writing isn’t exactly all about being responsible.
The first priority in writing is gaining experience. And sometimes that means starting a dozen projects and only finishing two. That’s a dozen ways you gained experience. A dozen ways you learned something new.
I’m not desecrating the value of finishing what you start. I’m simply dropping it down on your list of priorities. Just start writing something you love, and stop worrying about whether you finish it or not!
3. Read About Writing
The writing section was just about the only nonfiction aisle I’d ever duck into at the library. I checked out every book I could find on the art of fiction. I seriously had no clue how to write a story, so I was determined to figure it out.
Did it help my writing? Definitely.
Yes, it’s possible to improve your writing without actually writing.
Can this tip be used as an excuse to not write? Yes! But who cares? Listen, if you’re not writing, read, because that’s the next best way to improve yourself as an author. There’s nothing wrong with learning the craft … even at the expense of advancing that precious word count. It’ll be all right. You’re still a writer. On to the next tip:
4. Take a Writing Course
In my humble opinion, this is the best way to get writing done during the pressures of high school. You “legalize” it by taking a novel-writing course!
For me, that was buying the One Year Adventure Novel (not a sponsor). This credited writing course taught me so much about what makes a story a story. It also pushed me to complete a much longer adventure novel than I had ever written before, all while giving me high school credit. My voice improved; my storytelling sharpened, and I started seeing stories with new eyes. So, all good things.
The One Year Adventure Novel is just one option out of many. Really, any way that you can actually do creative writing for school is a fantastic way to balance writing with high school. Take an early college course, order a fiction-focused English curriculum, or buy a bunch of how-to-write books and figure out a way to (legitimately) count them towards your language arts credit.
5. Call Yourself A Writer
Just do it. It’s easier than you think. I can’t begin to tell you what this will do for your self-esteem, your motivation, your confidence. You write. You are a writer. You need to acknowledge this to yourself so that you stop wasting time with thoughts like, “I’m not really a writer.”
It’s okay. You can say it and mean it. The day you get published is not the day you become a writer. Take yourself seriously! Don’t feel embarrassed about what you do. Say it and smile. Even if it doesn’t feel natural at first; you’ll get used to it. And your productivity will begin to skyrocket!
And those are the five ways I figured out to be a writer during high school. It’s not a science. There’s no magic formula. But I know you can do be successful at writing, right now, as a student. You got this!
All right, time to start writing! What passion projects have got you excited right now? I’ll be hanging out in the comments section here for a while, so tell me what you’re working on right now!
Special thanks to Eliza for letting me guest post on her blog! If you haven’t already, definitely consider subscribing to her newsletter to stay in the loop and stay current with her latest posts.
