Lorna Faith

Clean Fiction Author

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005 Find Time to Write with Christine Royse Niles

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I had the honour of interviewing Christine Royse Niles. She is a fiction and nonfiction writer and a blogger who guides writers step-by-step on how to grow their careers as writers.  She is a wife to Mark and a mom to two beautiful Ukrainian daughters which they adopted.  You can read about her passion for orphans around the world and how in a land far, far away she was a corporate project manager. You can connect with Christine on her writing blog at riverofthoughts.com, her fiction blog at nileswriter.com or on Facebook or Twitter.

Watch the Video Interview

Interview Summary:

*Christine shares her story of how she started writing stories as soon as she could hold a pencil. As she got older – and became more serious – her talent got channeled into technical writing, but she still wrote stories on and off. When she turned 40 she decided she needed to do something that mattered. She was working 60 hours a week in her corporate job but wanted to write so she started getting up at 5am.

*After she was writing everyday for 3 months straight, her husband saw that she was doing this and taking it seriously and gave her a MacBook Air for her birthday and encouraged her to keep writing. From that she learned the discipline of getting up early – when she didn’t want to – to write and schedule content ahead of time; and developed more relationships with other bloggers and writers. When a round of layoffs came at her job, she started writing for a missions organization and ended up being the content manager and copywriting manager for that organization.

*Christine encourages writers to give themselves permission to start to write. She writes about the step by step process of how to begin telling your story in her new book for writers Start to Write: Break Free from Rules, Overcome Your Fear, and Start Writing Today (Step-by-Step Guides for Growing Writers). 

*Where do you get new ideas as a writer? Ideas are everywhere. Christine encourages writers to think of ideas as abundant – that none of your ideas are too precious. You can start by simply observing people around you. See someone with a brightly coloured hat, old tattered clothes or a limp, capture those ideas and let your imagination take you away with possibilities for their story. Christine says when she did that she started developing a giant list.

*Free writing is also a key to open up your writing. She encourages new writers to experiment with just writing down ideas and trusting emergence of the story. Then also try doing a little outlining of your story and see how the story weaves together best for you.

*Christine talks about how to get any writing project done in 90 days. She says she believes 90 days is long enough for something to matter; to do something where everyday it’s important to write. The most important detail to identify is your why – If you don’t know why you’re going to accomplish something then you’re just spinning your wheels. If you don’t stick to your plan, the book you’re writing won’t get done in the time frame you’re hoping for.

Grab your free copy of the worksheet on how to cut through the chaos to get your writing project done in 90 days at riverofthoughts.com.

*Christine talks about her own nagging fears. She encourages writers to give fear a name – it’s a bully – tell resistance to go. A big thing that helps is to have a community of writers to talk to and who encourage you to go on when you’re down and a few trusted friends who are your cheerleaders.

*It was great to get a little taste of Christine’s fiction stories and her writing process. She always liked thrillers and TV series like Bones, so she had an idea to try to write a thriller, mystery or detective series. She says she had a moral dilemma as these horrible characters popped into her head and she began to write them. She was able to understand that many times her characters were people who were deeply wounded and she was able to understand how the ‘horrible’ came to be in her character’s lives… and then exposed them to the consequences of their horrible.

*When she just let the characters be and do what they were going to do, writing fiction became so much freer. It was like an outlet to channel some of her anxiety and angst she sometimes went through as a parent to her own girls. Writing through the characters and scenes really helped her to let them go.

*If you’re planning on collaborating with other authors, Christine gives some helpful tips: Think generosity – make it about introducing your audiences to each other instead of making it about money; find authors who have something in common with you – who have a similar philosophy and worldview; find writers you really respect to work with; connect with writers who are in a similar place as you. Let your goal be something as simple as connecting with more readers. Christine did this in a recent Christmas collaboration she did with a few other author friends in their new release Christmas Wishes: A Dysfunctional Collection.

*A great tip, I learned from Christine, is to be free to experiment as a writer. Now, with since the start of self-publishing, nothing is permanent. In the old days once you gave your manuscript to a publisher they published a ton of copies and typos wouldn’t get fixed. There’s a tremendous amount of freedom. You can get a book uploaded fast for next to nothing. If you use Scrivener(I recommend Joseph Michael’s Learn Scrivener Fast  course), then you can write and publish your book onto digital stores like Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords and other stores quickly.

*If you’re writing your first book, don’t let prices hold you back. Christine says she made her first book cover using MS Word. You can also create covers using canva.com. And Christine recommends Brad from chrome47.com, who did the cover for her book Start to Write.

*Projects Christine is working on right now is 1 fiction book – the prequel to her Jennifer Hughes Detective series, and 1 nonfiction book, the next in her series for writers called Time to Write.

Do you struggle to find time to write your stories? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

 

*Photo by Christine Royse Niles

*Some of the above links are affiliate links and help to support this blog

The Power of Vulnerability in Writing

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To write our stories in a real way, means we need to become vulnerable.

Sometimes we’ve looked at vulnerability and seen it as a weakness in ourselves and in others. Showing our true selves in our writing – and in real life – requires courage.

It’s only when you are brave enough to explore those hidden places that you will discover the power of your own light in your writing.

The truth is each of us experience many different emotions each day of the week. If someone were to write your story, what would they put on the page?

Think about your lowest point and your best moment. I know it’s scary to go that deep, but if you want your stories to have power, you have to choose to be vulnerable. You have to be willing to bring those emotions and experiences onto the blank page.

Being willing to bring raw and real emotions in your story is what will carry your story to the end and leave your readers with a lasting impression. If you can make someone cry, laugh or ache, you will have done the important work of a novelist. You will have made your readers feel.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

the power of vulnerability in writing

*Photo created with Canva

Be Brave in Your Writing

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway

I think as writers, we’re sometimes afraid to let people know that we feel as deeply as we do. I know many times I’m tempted to write half-truths for fear of being judged.

But, this is where you get to choose what kind of writer you’re going to be.

If you really want to write your story that is unforgettable, you have to be willing to go deep.

Think of your favourite novels or other stories, and ask yourself why did you love them? Was it because those stories revealed real, deep, and raw emotion?

For myself – as a reader – I love it when stories make me laugh or cry. Or when I can hear all the angst, hope, passion, love, despair, shame and anxiety in the story. It draws me in.

As writers we need be willing to go toward the subjects that scare us most.

I’ve been learning as I’ve been writing this next book that if a scene or specific part of the story doesn’t make me feel, then I know I need to explore more and go deeper to pull out those nuggets or parts of the story that do.

I’ve discovered that when your writing scares you a little, it’s a sign you’re bringing the real you – warts and all – onto the page.

When you begin to worry what other people will think – because what you’ve written is so real – most often that’s the writing that will affect people the most. The only way to accomplish that is by going to your most vulnerable places.

As a writer you put in long hours – early mornings and late nights – as you work to finish your story. Months can go by, and many people start to question why you’re doing this. You might even have moments where you ask yourself if all your hard work will be worth it.

This is also a place of vulnerability.

At some point, as you keep writing, your story becomes a part of you. You start to dream it and the raw emotions of the characters come alive. 

You begin to believe that just maybe someday your story will make a difference to a reader somewhere.

When you finally type ‘the end’ you are excited and scared all at the same time. In your heart, you believe you’ve written your story with vulnerability and you know the tears and laughter your words have brought you, and you hope it will do the same for others.

Next, is the scariest part of all. Publishing your work.

It requires a massive amount of courage to put your book – the words that are a part of you – out into the world.

You know that there will be people who won’t like your book and some who will leave a nasty review. But, there will also be some readers who will love it.

Writing your book with vulnerability and putting it out into the world, asks that you do it with courage.

But as someone who creates art – as a writer – this is what you do. You are brave. By writing your story you are being vulnerable. Telling your raw story, is no small feat. 

If you’re unsure about whether you should write about a specific part of your story, or if you’re on the fence about writing something, activate your courage and vulnerability.

It’s not easy to write from that very real and honest place that asks you to dig deep into some of those parts of yourself that you’d rather keep hidden. But it’s the only way you can truly have a powerful story that impacts many readers.

Be brave. You can do this. The world is waiting for your words.

 

*Photo created with Canva

7 Great Reasons to Finish Your Novel

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When it feels like we’re in the middle of writing our story – still trying to find our rhythm – it’s too easy to give up.

As we near the finish line of our work in progress, writing can feel as painful as a visit to the Dentist.

Sometimes we want to abandon our novel completely, but there’s still a part of us that feels compelled to keep writing.

We have all these doubts and questions and we wonder if we should quit now while we’re ahead. But sometimes in these moments, we remind ourselves that if we do quit, most likely we’ll regret at some point later in life.

Writing fiction, isn’t easy.

So why finish your novel at all?

7 Great Reasons

*Photo created with Canva

Why you should keep writing…

This past month especially, I’ve asked myself why I should keep writing my current novel.

I’ve really struggled with my story. Some of the plot points in the story structure, didn’t seem to ring true to the rest of the story I was telling.

It was incredibly frustrating and many times I wanted to give up altogether.

After talking about the story – out loud – with my husband(asking questions, focussing on theme and characters), many of the foggy parts of the story cleared up for me. It really helped a lot.

If you’re struggling to finish your story, try something new like asking your characters deeper questions or maybe try what I did and ask your spouse, children or a friend if you can talk your story out loud to them. It worked wonders for me.

It’s really difficult when you struggle for a few days or weeks with your story. You start to question whether you’ll ever figure it out and you start to question whether you should finish writing your book at all.

I get it. That’s where I was these past couple of weeks. That’s why I wrote this list of reasons why it’s a good idea to finish your book – I hope some of these ideas will inspire you too:

1. You Love to Write Fiction. For most of us, there are a bunch of activities that we have to do – like going to work; taking out the garbage – and there’s not so many things we do that we choose to do for fun.

It’s great to have a few things in your life, that you do just because you love it. If writing for you is one of those things you love to do, then keep writing… and finish your book. If writing your stories makes you happy and more alive, that’s an amazing gift to embrace.

2. You will stretch and grow as a writer. To write a really good novel, there are many details to get good at. For instance, you need to be able to see the big story, break your story down into story structure and learn your characters arcs.

But, as you keep learning, you become a better writer. That really is an added benefit of being committed to finishing your novel.

3. You learn more about yourself as You write your novel. This was a surprise to me, as I wrote my 1st novel. I didn’t realize I would have aha moments about myself, but I did. Most likely you’ll find as you think deeper about your story, that you’ll find new ideas, emotions and beliefs. As you write, you’ll see that the themes, characters and circumstances you explore in your novel, help you understand yourself and your own life in a new way. This can help you understand more of who you are and who you want to become.

4. You can reach people on a deep level with fiction. Ever since I started reading fiction in my childhood, I discovered that fiction short stories or novels had the power to reach me in a way a nonfiction book never would. I love that about storytelling.

There’s been many novels whose characters and their lives have stuck with me for years. Maybe you’ve experienced that too? Fiction stories and their characters have the power to get deep into the reader’s heart and mind and engage them in a really deep and lasting way.

5. You are empowered and given control as a self-published author. Since ebooks and print-on-demand have revolutionized the publishing industry, you don’t have to wait for an agent or publisher any longer. You don’t have to spend months or years trying and hoping to get published any more. Instead you can give yourself permission to write the novel you love and publish your novel onto digital retail stores as soon as your book is finished.

Of course, you can choose to traditionally publish if you want, because being an indie author isn’t for everyone. But the great thing is you have the option now. You can be confident that you’ll be able to get your novel into the hands of readers.

6. You will develop great time management, self-motivation, planning and goal-setting skills. It takes a little bit of planning to schedule in time to finish your novel. Whether you take 30 minutes writing while you’re riding the bus home, or whether you go sit in your closet and write for an hour, it means you’ve chosen to put the time in to write your book. By continuing to write your novel until you type “the end” you prove to yourself that you can motivate yourself to keep going even when the going is tough.

You also use your planning skills when you organize your ideas into chapters and plan all your characters and where each of them fit into your story. You also learn goal-setting when you choose a date for when you want your book to be finished. Then all you do is figure out how many words you need to write each day to hit your target word count. All these skills are great to develop. Many people spend a lifetime struggling to develop these skills. Writing a book, helps you jump in with both feet to improve all these skills as you write each day, and you can then take these skills into others areas of your life as well.

7. You might just change your life and step into work you’ve dreamed of doing. If you don’t write your novel, you might regret it later in life. If you don’t finish what you started, you’ll never know what might have been. If you don’t share your words with the world, you don’t know if it would have touched someone, somewhere, or if it might have been a best selling book or perhaps your novel would have been start for you to step into your new career as a full-time writer.

Be brave and confident that you can do this… that you will finish your book. Then ten or twenty years down the road you can look back with no regrets and see what you’ve created and achieved as a writer.

Today, choose to make time for your novel…. even if it’s only 15 minutes. Go back through your outline, character sketches or your first few chapters and re-read what you’ve written. Begin to write from where you left off last time.

Make a commitment today, to finish telling your story.

What are your reasons for finishing your novel? Please share your ideas. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

 

*Photo created with Canva

21 Fringe Benefits of Writing a Blog

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Have you ever asked yourself, why should I blog?

Maybe you’re thinking of starting a blog(, but aren’t sure if  this going to be just another time suck in your life.

You might be wondering if writing a blog will actually benefit you in some way.

If you’ve asked yourself similar questions, I want to encourage you to look at this list of benefits I’ve discovered from blogging. See if any of these benefits – or even a few – resonate with you.

If you’re already a blogger who is reaching the audience that resonates with your words, I hope some of these rewards of blogging will spark your fire and bolster your enthusiasm to keep writing.

21 Fringe Benefits

*Photo created with Canva

21 Fringe Benefits of Writing a Blog

Once you’ve found the right passion for your blog, and have set up your website, as you begin writing, sometimes it helps to be reminded of the amazing benefits that writing a blog offers you. Here’s a list I came up with as I thought about how blogging twice a week has helped me.

1. Writing a blog stretches you. When you start blogging you need to be willing to go beyond your normal comfort zone and put yourself out there. Writing in public, uncovers your thoughts and ideas to the world and not everyone will agree with you. That’s okay, just keep writing.

2.Writing a blog starts a conversation with people. I love this added benefit of blogging. I feel like I meet new people and learn from them and have great conversations. I feel like my world – my thoughts and ideas – have expanded as I’ve read and responded to comments.

3.Writing gives you greater insight on different topics. This goes along with #2. Just like you learn from people who stop by your blog, just by writing your blog regularly, you’re learning about different topics and best of all you’re learning how to be a better writer. I love that!

4.Writing a blog helps you to pursue what you love. Just by using the internet, you literally can write and chat with anyone anywhere in the world. There are unlimited topics you can write about and the world is waiting for your words – it’s just a click away.

5. Writing a blog grows your platform. If you’re an author, entrepreneur or a stay-at-home mom, blogging is available to you. You can grow your platform around what you love to talk about most.

6. Writing a blog increases the possibility of connecting with other influencers. I’m amazed at how blogging helps you grow so many relationships. Writing a blog offers you the chance to connect with other influencers – shakers and movers – within your niche. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to connect with other bloggers who share your passion.

7. Writing a blog is a awesome place to try out your ideas. Blogging and writing out your thoughts and ideas, is the perfect chance to see if others feel the same way you do, and if they don’t to understand their thought process. It helps you sort through your good and bad ideas by writing them down and having insightful conversations with other people.

8. Writing a blog helps you communicate better. This goes along with #7. When you try out your ideas and you keep writing each week what you’re learning, you are practicing writing. Not only that, but blogging is like writing an article. There is a main idea and each point you write needs to support your main idea. So when you are offered a speaking opportunity, you’ll have lots of practice writing keynote speeches.

9. Writing a blog helps you to lead better. Writing a regular blog regularly, gives you the chance to move your vision forward and influence those around you. Blogging is a great opportunity to get get personal with everyone who connects with you, because they start to know what’s on your heart.

10. Writing a blog helps to solve problems for others. It’s such a great feeling to have someone comment on your blog and tell you that what you wrote really helped them in some way.

11. Writing a blog gives you a voice. Blogging regularly helps readers who really resonate with your words and your message to find and connect with you. What you have to say can have a big impact on someone.

12. Writing a blog positions you as an expert in your niche. As you keep writing about what you’re learning and your thoughts & ideas around your message, people will begin to see you as a expert in your niche. They’ll come to you for answers specifically around the topics you write about.

13. Writing a blog helps you develop your personal brand. Since your blog has the possibility of reaching a global audience, people start to see what you talk about and what your passions are. This begins to develop ‘your brand.’ Blogging offers you the opportunity to increase and establish your personal brand in amazing ways.

14. Writing a blog offers the chance to promote other bloggers. Another fringe benefit of writing a blog is that you can promote other bloggers, authors and also support worthy causes.

15. Writing a blog can help you publish your book. There are many successful authors who started first by writing a blog. You can use each blogpost you write, as a chance to create content for your book and also grow the audience who will read it.

16. Writing a blog has long term impact. People will always be looking for information on specific topics or needing to be inspired in some way. So even if they see a blogpost from 3 years ago on your website, more than likely it will still help them in some way.

17. Writing a blog can help you earn income from your products. When you focus first on providing great value and being useful for your readers, the natural by product is that people will want to buy your books, courses or other products because they resonate with your work. When you focus first on making a difference, people begin to know, like and trust you.

18. Writing a blog allow your ideas to influence others 24/7. When you have a website and write a regular blog, your door is always open to readers. That’s what is so amazing about the internet. You can be on vacation and someone can be reading your words or signing up to your email list while you’re away.

19. Writing a blog offers you social proof. Building and growing your blog and adding social media links there(Facebook, twitter, Google Plus, etc.) can open up possibilities for you. Your blog gives you a central hub for connecting with people on social media. Plus, if you’re wanting to go with a traditional publisher, many publishers look at your blog to see how many real followers you have, before they consider you for a publishing contract.

20. Writing a blog is a very low cost way to grow your business. As of this writing a domain name is around $15 and you can get started with a self-hosted website for as little as $5 a month hosting package. Or if you can start with a free blog on WordPress.com – I talk more about that in this blogpost. Blogging is a very low cost business to start.

21. Writing a blog grows your writing craft and gives you more opportunities to be creative. I saved this one for last, because I love the freedom and creativity you get from writing a blog. Not only do you become a better writer through regular practice, but you are offered an amazing place to express your creativity. And that’s a beautiful thing.

I hope this list has helped you see the many fringe benefits of writing a blog. I’m sure there are many more perks that blogging gives you.

If you’re thinking about blogging, or have already started your blog, I hope this inspires you to keep writing and impact readers that step through your open doors.

What are some other benefits that writing a blog can give you? I’m sure I’ve missed a lot more benefits that blogging gives you, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

 

*Photo created with Canva

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