Bella is a member of the RNA’s new writer’s scheme. She has recently finished her first novel, Acting on Impulse and she’s represented by The Kate Nash Agency. She lives with her husband, daughter and a deaf geriatric cat.
Every fortnight, Bella will be sharing tales and experiences from her writing journey.
Bella Osborne
Now here’s an interesting phrase I heard recently ‘personal branding’. My immediate thoughts were ‘Someone has a new tattoo’ which was closely followed by ‘or pencils with their name on’. Do you remember the pencils by the way? They were great, new school term, new pencil case and your own pencils with your own actual name on them – genius! (Makes note to order some for myself)
Anyway, it turns out I was completely wrong on both counts. Personal branding is all about you and it’s is quite important if you are promoting yourself or your own business. We are all familiar with big company brands like Disney, Coca Cola and Cadburys but what does it mean for us as individuals?
So I did a bit of research (which we all know means I watched funny cats on You Tube for 20 minutes and then googled personal branding). There was loads of content to read but here are the highlights I picked up that I thought might be useful:
o What is unique about you?
o What do you want people to remember?
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Bella Osborne
Oh my word it’s hard being back at the proper job! All those wonderful days relaxing in the sun are so quickly a distant memory as you walk back into the office, open your in-box and start catching up. It all takes so much effort to keep your brain focussed in the room and not wandering off back to that sun lounger by the pool, with the warmth of the sun of your skin, the gentle breeze and the distant laughter of children splashing in the pool… sorry what was I saying? Yes, keeping your attention on the day job is tricky, but essential, because it’s the one that pays the bills.
Somehow after a holiday it all seems just a little bit more pointless than it did before you went away. Before you went on holiday, you were excited about the plans for the second half of 2014, you knew you were adding value, heck you actually enjoyed your job but something has changed. Of course nothing has actually changed – it’s just post holiday blues (PHB).
So question is how best to overcome them? There are probably quite a few right answers for this but here’s just a few suggestions that I tried:
by Bella Osborne
Hopefully at some point in time you have faced the inevitable. You have given in to your deepest most feelings, (no not the one about the biscuits) those ones that have been telling you to stop hiding your true self. To embrace the real you and accept who you are. And declare to the world, with pride, I AM A WRITER.
Well done for that, it’s not easy and I hope you are coping with the repeated questions of So when will you get published? When can I buy it in a shop? How much have you made so far?’
It’s truly fun isn’t it? Why are you shaking your head at the screen (I can actually see you… Oh, yes I can… Anyway…) No, it isn’t fun, but mostly they do mean well. Even when they say, ‘Don’t you think it’s time you stopped wasting your time on this?’ Or ‘It’s only a hobby isn’t it?’ Honestly, they still only mean well. The thing is they really don’t understand. They may have known you all your life or just met you in the supermarket queue but the thing is you could spend a lifetime trying to explain but they will most likely never really get it.
The reason for this? (there are a lot of questions this week, I hope you are keeping up.) The reason is… drum roll please… they are not writers.
I can tell you are not blown away by that answer. Because you are most likely thinking that these people know you very well and they’ve probably witnessed the blood sweat, tears and coffee that you have poured into your writing, so surely they must understand – but trust me it takes a writer to understand another writer.
by Bella Osborne
Last time on Bella’s Scribblings I talked about finding time to write. What I didn’t cover was how to avoid squandering it on non-writing displacement activities. School holidays is the time when most of us grab a couple of weeks away from the proper job to spend time with our offspring and hopefully get some writing done too. What actually happens is that offspring magically eat up all but a smidgen of the time we have and when we do get time to write what do we do?
I’m afraid to say that sometimes, not always, but sometimes we waste the time that we do have. I am thinking of starting a local group of Procrastinators Anonymous, but in the meantime here are my suggestions for combating procrastination:
My family want feeding – This is an easy one. Go back in time and spend a day making batches of food you can reheat and use fish fingers for the other days, they’ll be fine – that’s what vitamin supplements are for.
The house needs cleaning/tidying – scientific fact that living in a sterile environment isn’t good for the immune system so a little bit of dust will be better for your family’s long term health.
I need to go on Twitter to keep my social media presence current – and a couple of quick posts a day should do it. You do not need to read everything from the last ten hours on your feed nor do you need to look up everyone you know to see if they posted something interesting in the last few days. Trust me, they won’t have. Do not get caught up in conversations about dogs, cats or wine – they go on forever. Stop obsessively checking the number of followers you have and trying to work out who has deserted you – it doesn’t matter – well, certainly not as much as finishing your writing does.
by Bella Osborne
I have covered this in a previous column but this is School Holiday season and it’s particularly hard. Children are like limpets but with a more advanced sticking ability.
First of all don’t feel guilty about wanting to spend some of your hard-earned holiday time on your writing – IT IS OK. The children will get the lion’s share of your time, which goes without saying. It’s most likely that soggy middle that needs some attention now (soggy middle of your novel that is).
So the big question is how do you find the time when the offspring are demanding your every waking moment and a few of the night-time ones too?
No1 – Be prepared. I know you love stationery so make sure you always have a notebook and a pen (one that actually works not that free one) with you at all times. (I will excuse you in the shower/bath but have one ready for when you come out). This means you won’t miss an opportunity to write, even if it’s just the odd sentence of brilliance – they all add up.
No2 – Be vigilant. Time is a crafty little thing and these childfree moments creep up on you. So you have to recognise them and grab them quickly. Usually they occur when the child/children are unexpectedly distracted – Loom bands is working well in our house but the length of time they hold child’s attention is varied. They can be unexpected so watch carefully for those ones. An example would be ‘Picking fluff out of Daddy’s tummy button’ bought me 9 minutes the other day!
No3 – Be creative. Set them up with tasks or games that they will hopefully become engrossed in and will leave you in peace for a few minutes without trashing the place. Make sure you sell this in at the start e.g. “Mummy/Daddy (I do have some male followers and I am all for equal opportunities) has some work to do so instead of you having to sit quietly and be bored would you like to…?”
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