Author: Peggy Bechko

Peggy Bechko: 8 Ways to Carve out Writing Time

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by Peggy Bechko

If you’re a writer (notice I’m not saying ‘aspiring’ writer – a writer writes, if you write you’re a writer) it’s more than possible you’re at a time in your writing career where you have all kinds of obligations and responsibilities like putting food on the table, paying rent, maintaining a car or maybe going to school or a whole lot of other things.

It may be a novel you’re writing or a screenplay or articles for magazines or non-fiction instructional books to help others. Whatever it is it could be you’re juggling like mad and trying to figure out how to write a novel or script or whatever while you’re holding down a full time job or going to school full time.

Every writer no doubt has his or her own method of coping. I’m a full time writer now, but I’ll pass along a few things I did along the way. Some you probably won’t like to hear (there can be sacrifice involved in being a writer), others will seem more workable. Still others might just jump-start an idea that will work for you while you’re madly juggling. read article

Peggy Bechko: Thrill Obsessed

Conflict-photo

by Peggy Bechko

Are we thrill obsessed? Well, yeah, kinda. Oh, heck, admit it, we are. As writers we’re even more aware of it than average.

You don’t think so?

How about this? Notice most stories we tell end when the good guy wins, when the hero marries the heroine, when the dragon is slain (literally or figuratively). Lots of people run around and do lots of stuff before that happens. There’s movement, action of some type. As writers we don’t pay much attention to the quiet times, the things people do every day like sitting on the couch reading or walking the dog or fixing dinner – at least not unless it’s a precursor to more action. That stuff would create major yawns in readers or watchers of movies or TV shows. read article

Peggy Bechko: Trippin’ Out

cord-cutting-cable

by Peggy Bechko

So, when you’re a freelance writer, and making your living that way, maybe not yet top of the heap, how do you plan for a vacation (which believe me you’re going to dearly need)?

Like me, I’m about to head off to Las Vegas with my husband to celebrate our anniversary.

You just go, right? Nobody to tell you you can’t. No boss, no nine to five, no restrictions on your time. It’s okay, pack your bags! read article

Peggy Bechko: Time for Writer’s Introspection

 by Peggy Bechko

wolf printsWriters, at least fiction writers, pretty much live in a world of make-believe. We live in worlds of our own creation and in that living attempt to make those worlds real to everyone else; readers, listeners, watchers.

But it’s not as simple as sitting around spinning tales. Don’t we wish. There’s a whole lot that goes into writing a story and one aspect of that is research. No you can’t skip it.

Getting facts straight brings believability. If your setting is in the 1920’s Chicago you better know what you’re talking about to get the mood set and not flush readers and watchers right out of their ‘suspension of disbelief’ mode. Yes that goes for Sci Fi and Fantasy as well – get some facts in there that will make your ‘way out of our experience’ world more real. If you trim unreality with reality you bring belief and immersion. read article

Peggy Bechko: Writers and the Learning Curve

Networking

by Peggy Bechko

Writers; we’re by necessity much more than that these days. The world of writing and everything associated with it has changed amazingly in the past few years and continues to change every day. Think about it. The internet with it’s amazing resources for writers; research at our fingertips, social media to get out there and meet our readers and promote, videos and so much more.

It’s all a bit of a whirlwind, but if you’re a writer you’re already all too aware that what it means to be a writer is changing on a daily basis. How we can be successful at it is changing even faster. You have to grab the brass ring of what our culture is throwing at us, move forward rapidly, build new skills with alacrity and stay on top of stuff you previously didn’t even know existed (well, actually you didn’t know it existed because a short time ago it didn’t!).

So here are three of those skills I mentioned above to consider: read article