The Writing and Marketing Show

Writing on the Move

August 10, 2022 Wendy H. Jones Episode 134
The Writing and Marketing Show
Writing on the Move
Show Notes Transcript

I am currently on a 2 month book, speaking and research tour of the USA. Therefore, I'm bouncing in and out of states and cities and have no clue where I am or what I am doing. It is important for me to keep writing, so todays show has hints and tips for keeping your author career moving forward whilst on the move. 

Wendy Jones:

Hi, and welcome to the writing and marketing show brought to you by author Wendy H. Jones. This show does exactly what it says on the tin. it's jam packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news to help you with the business of writing. It's all wrapped up in one lively podcast. So it's time to get on with the show. And welcome to episode 134 of the writing and Martin show with author entrepreneur Wendy H. Jones. As always, it's an absolute pleasure to have you join me. Today I'm going to be talking about writing when you're on the move. And that's because I am currently in the United States. I've been here eight days having a fabulous time, and we'll talk about that in a moment. But I'm obviously not in my usual place or my usual environment writing, I'm on the move all the time. So I'm going to give you some hints and tips as to how you can still keep your writing shedule still keep things moving forward, despite the fact you are on the move. Just an update on the USA trip, I'm having a brilliant time, I've had some time to do a bit of looking around, I've done a lot of eating, I need to stop eating so much that I'm going to be a 20 stone author rather than a slight, slight author that I am at the moment, because I'm eating a lot and the food is lovely. But I've also been doing a couple of book signings, which was amazing. I sold loads of books, I was really happy with both signings. And there are a lot of people who have gone off with some books from a Scottish author here in the United States. I'm currently in Suffolk, Virginia. And I'm staying with author Ali Marie, who has been looking after me her and her family have been looking after me extremely well. And they've been taking me here, they're everywhere. I've managed to spend a lot of money on gifts for my nieces already. Because I'll be taking some stuff back to them. So I'm doing some normal stuff. And I'm doing some writing stuff. It's all been amazing, amazing fun. So far, before I go on to the podcast about writing, when you're not in your usual environment. So writing on the move, I'd like to say, is really as a pleasure to bring you the show every week. And I do so willingly however, it does take time out of my out of my writing time. And it would be great. If you would support that time, if you would like to do it, you can do so by going to patreon.com That's pa t ar e o n.com. And you can support me for the price of a tear coffee per month, that's $3 a month. And I would be eternally grateful. And it would let me know that you like the show and you enjoy what I'm doing. So thank you for joining me each week. And if you would like to support that, then I would be grateful. So what of riding on the move. Well, it can be difficult. First of all, I mean to get here, I was all over the place. I started out on a bus from Dundee. I obviously cannot write on a bus because it makes me travel sick. And to be honest, if you go over a pothole or something your laptop would go flying or your pen which should cross the paper. So on the way here, what I did was I sat and listened to some podcasts on an audio book about writing when I was on the very first part of my journey. And then when I was when I was arrived in Edinburgh, Edinburgh airport, I find myself and I was in a lovely hotel, the Hilton art, Edinburgh, and I went to my room and I did some writing in my room because I had a lovely desk, lovely quiet place. You think with it being an airport, it would be extremely, it would be extremely noisy, but it's not even though you can see the planes coming in. It's very quiet. And I was able to get a lot of writing done that day. And the other thing I was able to do that day as well was a Facebook Live. I did one from my hotel room about my trip sorry, not Facebook Live tick tock live. So I did a tick tock live and I spent time marketing my books. So I was able to do some marketing from there via my tick tock live. I was talking about my books, talking about my trip, letting people know. So there are things you can do. It doesn't just have to be writing when you're on the move. So the next day I was up in at it hourly. And after a lovely breakfast I went off to the airport and I was through in seconds. I could not believe it. And I know this has nothing to do with writing but literally I was the only person in the queue for British Airways And I had four lovely people who had me whizzed through in a minute, I had fasttrack security. And within 10 minutes of me actually arriving at the airport, I'm sat in an airport lounge, and I had booked a lunch deliberately. So airports can be quite busy, the cafes and restaurants in airports can be very busy. So I always book, a lounge at the airport. And I did some writing there because it's nice and peaceful, nice and quiet. And I was able to get a lot of writing done. But I also met some lovely people there because you get chatting. And they said, what you're doing, where are you going, and I was explaining that I was going to America on a book tour, they asked about my books, and I was able to give them a business card. And they said that they would look them up. Now, I don't know whether they bought those books or not. But I can see that my sales are doing extremely well. But I wasn't deliberately trying to sell my books. When I was in the airport, it just came up in casual conversation, which was quite nice. And I also, then, obviously, I got on the plane. And I started off I watched a movie that was very good death on the Nile brilliant mystery, love the twist, they did on it, I sat and I kind of analysed what they were doing, where it was going, the red herrings and things like that. And I then did a bit of writing on the plane. Of course, writing on the plane can be a bit tricky, because when you've only got a little tray, I wasn't in business class or anything I was back in cattle class or standard class, I should say, it's very rude to say cattle class. But I was back in standard class, I was looked after very well by British Airways extremely well indeed. And I, but you don't have a big table to write on. And then they bring your food and they bring your drinks and they bring you more food. And before you know where you are you are, you know, landing, but I still managed to get a lot of writing done. So it's utilising the different ways that you can get that you can get it done. Now on the plane, I put some headphones on. Now, I wasn't listening to any music or anything through those headphones. But when I put them on, it kept the noise down, I have noise reducing headphones. So it kept the ambient noise down from the actual from the actual plane. And I was able to get quite a lot of work done that way. So that's one tip for you use headphones to limit the noise from around you. And you should be able to get more writing done then. Because you're not disturbed by everything that's happening. Because it can be tricky. When you're all crammed in together on a plane. People are talking things are going on, you can hear the announcements, et cetera, et cetera. Putting the headphones on just limits that and gives you more time, more ability to focus really, my next tip for you is to be flexible. Flexibility is important because you don't know what's going on. I'm staying with other people, they might say, Oh, we're going to do this today. We're going to do that today. So it's trying to fit in things in between that. Now I've been very fortunate in that yesterday and today, myself and Allie Murray went and did some writing yesterday was at a vineyard. And that was amazing, amazing with the views. And you can just get it's so tranquil, and we were able to sit and drink a little glass of wine, have a spot of lunch and just sit and write for several hours with uninterrupted time. It was very quiet because it was a Monday which isn't their busiest day. So they didn't mind us sitting in the actual Vinyard restaurant and coffee shop writing and I got such a lot done I would sometimes be indoors I would sometimes be outdoors. It's very hot outdoors, but of course I'm from Scotland. So I like a bit of a bit of heat. And I like to be outdoors and writing and it was in the country It just smelled lovely. It felt lovely. And it just gives you a different view of what what is going on really. So be flexible, be flexible about where you write, be flexible about what you're writing. Now, I've had the strangest experience because yesterday and today today I was at an airport and I was writing in the airport restaurant. And I went outside and I was actually doing some writing there. But it was lovely and warm and I loved it but obviously it was planes going overhead and but it was scorching hot and I mean scorching hot apparently it was over 95 degrees Fahrenheit today. And I was outside but I love that I say I love the heat. And but I was writing a Christmas story. So Seriously A Christmas Story. And I was knee deep in the North Pole. And I'm trying to do that in sweltering heat with sweat pouring down my face. But you know what, it was amazing. It was amazing being there. So I would simply be flexible, but also search out times when you can write, search out places where you can write. Because that you're not in your usual environment, you're not sitting in your office at home, you're not sitting, you know, in your sitting room, your dining room, whatever it is, you know, your spare bedroom, whatever it is, you normally do your writing. So you need to find areas to focus on your writing, despite the fact that you are not at home. And I thoroughly enjoyed doing that today, I'm going to be doing some writing elsewhere tomorrow. And then I have a book signing later in the afternoon from 330, to 630. And I'm very much looking forward to that. So I'm trying to fit the writing in between the book signings, now, as I record this, it's 930 at night. But I'm going to do a bit of writing finish up a story when I get into bed. So again, I'm doing things in different places, but I'm not letting it put me off. For example, normally, I would do this podcast sitting at my desk, in my office or sitting at my bureau in my sitting room, depending on the time of the year, because my office can be a bit chilly in the winter, because it used to be a garbage. So there's a lack of insulation. However, I'm normally doing it sitting at something, I'm now doing this while I'm sitting on a bed in someone's spare room, and I've got the laptop on my knee, I'm still doing it, be flexible, be adaptable, and just adapt to your surroundings and don't let the surroundings put you off. You can write anywhere, you can literally write anywhere if you want to. And I would advise you to do that. So if you're on the move, use every single opportunity you can to get some writing done. So the other thing I'm going to do is I'm going to wake up early in the morning as well. And I'm going to get on with a new project. So I'm going to be spending time doing that. And I'm going to be spending time doing writing elsewhere. Later on, I do have a meeting, I have a meeting with my agent tomorrow, which is good. Again, be flexible, be adaptable, it doesn't matter where you are in the world. Now, you can still record podcasts, you can still interview people, you can still do. Tick tock lives, Facebook Lives and still lives, you can do them all, from wherever you are in the world and still carry on life as normal. All you need is a laptop, and a mic. And the ability to be able to be flexible and adaptable. And to take the to make the most of every opportunity. I'm certainly loving this, but, and I do have a lot of book signings, but it's not interfering with my ability to write. Now I'm going to be in different places, I'm going to be going on a train to New York, from Virginia. And apparently that's a five hour journey. And I'm very much looking forward to that. Because that's five hours of writing time. That's amazing, five solid hours of writing time, I can't go anywhere, I can't do anything. And I will get a lot of writing done there. Again, I will put my headphones on. And I'll do that. Another time. I'm going to be going on the train from from Virginia to Washington, DC. And again, I will have my headphones on and I will be writing that's four and a half hours. So use all the opportunities you can use all the opportunities you can to sit and listen to podcasts to develop as a writer. If you can't actually do any physical writing, read a book about writing. Read a book that will help you with your historical research. Just do what you can't when you can't. And don't stress about it. Because this thing stressing about the fact that you're not getting writing done every day is not going to help your productivity. Just take it as it comes. Use every minute and enjoy the ride. And I'm certainly enjoying the ride here. And my final point is, when you're away, I'm away for two months. I am not going to work every single day for two months. I'm going to have time off. I'm going to do touristy stuff. I'm going to enjoy myself while I'm here. But it will all eventually feed in to my writing. So I'm going to sign off now tonight because it's getting later and as I say I want to finish off a story. So thank you for joining me once more. I'm going to be back interviewing Helen Sedgwick, who's a crate Scottish prime writer next week, and it's very strange, I have to say, me being five hours behind the UK, because normally, I'm five hours ahead of the USA. So I'm going to be interviewing her and we're going to be doing a podcast on on. Oh, what am I trying to say we're going to be doing it on. I can't remember what we're doing on. That's terrible. But again, you've got to forgive me. I'm in a different country. I'm in a different timezone. I've got a very, very busy, and I can't remember everything and thankfully, I've got it written down somewhere. So I will know when I interview Helen, what it is I'm interviewing her about. So I will see you next week. Until then enjoy yourself and keep reading and writing and all the very best with your writing this week. That brings us to the end of another show. It was really good to have you on the show with me today. I'm Wendy H Jones. And you can find me at WendyHjones.com. You can also find me on Patreon where you can support me for as little as $3 a month which is less than the price of a tea or coffee. You go to patreon.com forward slash Wendy H Jones. I'm also went to H Jones on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Thank you for joining me today and I hope you found it both useful and interesting. Join me next week when I will have another cracking guest for you. Until then, have a good week. And keep writing keep reading and keep learning