{"id":11476,"date":"2022-03-26T05:00:55","date_gmt":"2022-03-26T09:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/?p=11476"},"modified":"2022-03-25T09:51:09","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T13:51:09","slug":"one-writers-journey-exercising-the-writing-muscle-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/2022\/03\/26\/one-writers-journey-exercising-the-writing-muscle-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Talk About Writing: Exercising the Writing Muscle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"9632\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/ontarios-missing-adults\/screen-shot-2020-04-15-at-4-42-23-pm\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-15-at-4.42.23-PM.png?fit=373%2C372&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"373,372\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}\" data-image-title=\"Screen Shot 2020-04-15 at 4.42.23 PM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-15-at-4.42.23-PM.png?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-15-at-4.42.23-PM.png?fit=373%2C372&ssl=1\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-9632 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-15-at-4.42.23-PM.png?resize=300%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-15-at-4.42.23-PM.png?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-15-at-4.42.23-PM.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-15-at-4.42.23-PM.png?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-15-at-4.42.23-PM.png?w=373&ssl=1 373w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>One of the most common questions I get asked, both at events, and during author interviews, is if I have any writing advice. I always quote Agatha Christie first:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don\u2019t want to, don\u2019t much like what you\u2019re writing, and\u00a0aren\u2019t writing particularly well.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Christie’s advice worked for me because it made me realize that if I wanted to be a published author\u2014and I did\u2014I needed to start treating it like a job and not like a hobby.<\/p>\n<p>But what if you’re not quite ready to become a “professional writer?” What if you just want to hone your craft? Here’s the best advice I can give you:<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Make time to write every day. The writing muscle is like any other muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you exercise regularly, you know the truth of this statement. Exercise regularly and you start to feel better. Stronger. Suddenly, you\u2019re making better food choices. You\u2019re parking as far away from the mall entrance as you can, instead of circling around the wheelchair accessible parking, looking for a spot right next to it. You\u2019re in control and proud of it.<\/p>\n<p>You also know that a couple of days off can lead to a week off, which can lead to a month off\u2026and before you know it, you\u2019re sitting on the couch, eating junk food, watching reality TV, and feeling sorry for yourself. What the heck happened to that buff-body-in-progress?<\/p>\n<p>The same thing can happen with writing. As long as you\u2019re writing every day\u2014even if it\u2019s just for thirty minutes\u2014you\u2019ve got a work-in-progress. Maybe it isn\u2019t perfect, maybe it\u2019s not even very good\u2026but as every day goes by, it gets better, easier. It becomes something to look forward to, instead of something to avoid. It becomes part of your daily routine.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t have to start big. Even marathon runners start with that first mile and gradually add more distance every week. Writing is no different. Think of it as a word marathon and don\u2019t forget to enjoy the journey!<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most common questions I get asked, both at events, and during author interviews, is if I have any writing advice. I always quote Agatha Christie first: \u201cThere was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Let's Talk About Writing: Exercising the Writing Muscle #writingtips","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33],"tags":[319],"class_list":["post-11476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-one-writers-journey","tag-writing-advice"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11476"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11482,"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11476\/revisions\/11482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.judypenzsheluk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}