Tips for Tuesday: Five Top Tips

Hey Guys,

This is Tips for Tuesday. Here is where I give you the tips that I, loosly, follow or think that I should follow. These are either life tips or tips to do with work, maybe even specific tips to something. It may help you with something you’ve been trying to over-come or maybe it will just inspire you to try something new.

This week I'm going to tell you my five top tips that help me on a daily basis, they are loosely linked with work and writing, but they help in all aspects.

Now I'm not saying I follow my own rules, and I'm not trying to be hypocritical or condisending in any sort but I know when i follow these tips it does help.

So here's my tips, some of them may contridict themselves, but lets see what happens:

Tip One:

The way I work the best is to have a set deadline. 

Even if it's not as important as, let's say a university essay deadline, or a work deadline. It is still important to think in the back of your mind: 'I should have finished this much work by this time'

Not only will you get more work done than normal but you will have more time to do other tasks and finish the tasks quicker than normally.


Tip Two:

Enjoy what your doing.

If your not enjoying it? why not, think it over, make it more fun. 

Now for me I like to listen to music whilst working, and also in life, I try and have fun, keep young and not get too involved in situations unless I really have to.

Tip Three:

Base your work on things you know or have seen.

It's going to come to you easier.

Of course you still may stumble on some of the finer details, but there's a difference between writing a story about a character who feels lost when you have, at one stage, felt the same; than writing about a character who is lost and you don't know how it feels properly.

Tip Four:

Don't try and rush into anything, 

don't rush your work, or your life. 

It does not help, if anything standards start to drop and things get a little bit out of shape.

And Finally

Tip Five:

Live for the moment. 

I know how cheesy that is, but you should understand what I mean. 

There is no point in sitting around, compalaining that nothing happens and you don't do anything and it upsets you. 

If your bored, go out, find new friends or join a club. 

If you want to go somewhere or do something, just go and do it. 

I'm not saying drop everything and put other people out by doing these things.

So, as I said, I'm not saying these are the hints and tips for a perfect life, not even saying it may help and I'm guessing you already knew all these hint, but isn't it obvious? 

It's what we already know but we forget them all the time, I know I do, so not only am I trying to remind and help you, I'm also trying to remind myself and keep myself inspired.

If there is any tips you would like to share, or any advice you would like for next week, let me know.

Stay safe,

Matt

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Tips for Tuesday: Plan of Action

Hey Guys

This is Tips for Tuesday. Here is where I give you the tips that I, loosly, follow or think that I should follow. These are either life tips or tips to do with work, maybe even specific tips to something. It may help you with something you’ve been trying to over-come or maybe it will just inspire you to try something new.

We all need to plan out what we are doing. From the simplest of shopping lists to the major deadlines.

I have done a guest post once about writing tips, which went into both how to prepare and planning. So I thought I would extend on the Plan of Action.

So heres a few steps to help you plan and set out things so you get them done on time, or, if you are like me, before the deadline.

Tip One: Buy a Diary and Use it Wisely

What could be better for your deadlines than a diary? Lets say you need to finish a book by September. Set it in your diary, write it down. Once the deadline is written down, that means it is stuck. Theres no changing it, you’ve just got to make sure you work towards it.

Tip Two: Stop calling them Deadlines

The worst thing to hear, or think is along the lines of ‘Oh here’s the deadline, it has to be done by this point.’ Instead, set goals and targets. Lets use the same example of the book completion. So say you want it finished by September, work out how many pages you would have to write a week, how many chapters, and so on. Put down a target and a goal. The difference between a target and a goal is as follows.

Target: Your average amount that you can hit. The bare minimum you know you can do in that week. – This has to be what you know you are capable of, what you can achieve.

Goal: Above your target, what you want to be hitting, but you know it will take a little more effort. – This has to be a realistic goal, nothing too far fetched that its never going to happen.

Tip Three: Plan Your Day.

This task that you are trying to figure out and finish (The book by September) will not be the only thing you have to focus on at that time. You have to give room for your other commitments and tasks. So say if you work, or you have children, you have to make sure that all this is fit in also.

Now this might sound difficult. You are think, ‘I have so much to juggle I couldn’t possible do it all.’ Well for a start, wrong attitude to have, and secondly if you plan your day out, with all your targets and goals you might be quite surprised.

If every night, before you settle down to sleep, you plan out your next day; or every Sunday night, before you catch up on your shows, you write down what your goals are and plan out your days, then you’ll be surprised at how much free time you might actually have.

Tip Four: Make a List.

I don’t know what it is about lists, but we just can’t seem to get enough of them. We love to crete shopping lists and all sorts. So why not crete a list of things you need to do with the project (in this example list what needs to be done for your book). Such things like what the characters are up to, what happens. Even a breif step by step account. This way you know what’s coming next and you know what you need to do to get there and you aren’t going to feel as stuck when you come up to a more tricky task.

Tip Five: Reading and Research:

Reading seems to be the theme of the week this week, (as it is mentioned tomorrow in the guest blog, and my writing updates blog) but to set up your plan of action, you first need to research everything. You need to find out which directions you could take with your task and the best thing that would suit you.

If you are writing a book, then read afew books that are similar style or genre. This will help you with your layout, which in turn will help with your planning. (I will be going over this in much more detail in Writing Update Wednesday: You’ve got to Read to Write).

Finally:

Tip Six: Enjoy the Task.

If you have followed all these steps you should be doing quite well and should be well on your way to having it all figured out, but if you are not enjoying what you are doing and you don’t make the excersises or tasks fun, then you aren’t going to get into the task and lose motivation.

You need to stay motivated and enjoy the task at hand, this way you will get the task done much quicker than you first expected.

So if you follow these tips you should be able to get your plan of action all set up and should be able to get the tasks, and work done even before the ‘deadline’ you originally set.

If you have any other tips you would like to share on this subject, or any tips you think I should discuss for next week then let me know.

Stay safe,

Matt

Welcome Wednesday: Guest Blog: Joseph Eastwood:Why Branding is Necessary

Hey Guys,

Welcome to Wednesdays. Every Wednesday I will introduce a new person who has a simular interest to myself who I think that both myself and you guys can learn from, understand and take things from. Each week I will post a short intro to the person, what they have to say and their important links. Maybe even do a response once or twice.

This week my guest is a good friend of mine from university. His name is Joseph Eastwood, he is 19 years old and studies English and Creative Writing at University. He is an aspiring writer who's book, Lumen, is coming out very soon. This is his blog about writing and how 'indie' writers should have a brand and a genre.

Hope you enjoy it:

Why Branding is Necessary

I feel that as an indie author you need to have a brand, you need to have a genre, you need people to remember who you are---being another self-published author is hard.
I'm going to kick this off by telling you that if your Facebook page doesn't have your name in the title, then there isn't much point in having it.
Book pages are useful, but they are also very boring and don't offer as much as author pages do. I find that author pages are more personal, where book pages just have pictures of the book...or random pictures of people they want to fill the characters etc. and yeah, that's fun and everything, and you want people to "like" your book, and unless that's the only book you're ever going to write, I would delete it!
I believe that if you want to be indie you will not become successful over just ONE book! So quit promoting it to hell and back! Instead, I think you should focus on your writing, Amanda Hocking did not become famous for that one book, nor did Stephen King, or anyone else for that matter. They all wrote several books and have a backlog.
Just like an musician must build a repertoire of songs because lets face it, if they listen to the same song over and over again it just gives you earache and you start to hate it. I think the same thing goes for an indie author who keeps on pushing their book everywhere you look and I've actually said to myself..."No, you're not buying that, it's just spam! The author has done nothing to try and sell it to me, just forever posting it and the reviews they've received."
You need to hone your genre and you need to write, write, write! Not everything you write should be published for money, some things you write can be free! You know, like in your notes that people can read because there aren't a lot of people who are going to be taking a chance on an indie author.

For more information on Joe, his writing or any of his blog posts, check out the following links below:


Blog: www.josepheastwood.com

Twitter: @JoeEastwood

Page: www.facebook.com/josephswriting

If any of you fancy writing me a guest post for next Wednesday, could you please get in contact with me. Either on here, or on Facebook/Twitter. Links below:

Page: www.facebook.com/MattThomFilm

Twitter: @No1MattThom

Stay safe,


Matt

Tips for Tuesday: How to Get Out of 'One of Those Moods'

Hey Guys,

This is Tips for Tuesday. Here is where I give you the tips that I, loosely, follow or think that I should follow. These are either life tips or tips to do with work, maybe even specific tips to something. It may help you with something you’ve been trying to over-come or maybe it will just inspire you to try something new.

Today the tips are about how to cheer yourself up when you’re having ‘one of those days’.

Now let's not lie, we all have them. We all wake up in the morning and feel down, or a bit rough. Sometimes we aren’t even truly sure why. It’s just ‘one of those days’ where whenever anyone says anything at all, like ‘would you like a cup of tea?’, you snap.

So here are my tips on how to get over those days. I’m not saying they’ll work for everything or that it’s a miracle cure for down days but it tends to cheer me up. So here goes:

No1: Make yourself a nice hot brew, with some sugar, and a nice slice of cake or a snack of some kind.

Well we all know sugar is bad for us and that if we have too much it gets risky, but you're in a bad mood, and things like that are the least of your worries. Sugary drinks and snacks will cheer you up and obviously you’re gunna pick your favourite snack or desert, so its going to taste even better. Then we focus on the brew. Now whether it’s tea, coffee, hot chocolate, whatever you fancy, the brew is going to warm you up inside and make you feel nice and cosy. that's just what you need for the mood swing.

No2: Put something on that you know will make you laugh no matter what.

I’m talking about your favourite comedian’s stand up show, or a film that makes you giggle every single time you watch it. Maybe even a sit-com. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s full of laughs and will take your mind off your bad day blues.

No3: Have great company.

Now I know what it’s like, you wake up, it’s ‘one of those days’ you want to be left, pardon my French, the fuck alone. Yet more likely than not, what you actually want more than anything is somebody to be with you to cheer you up.

Now obviously don’t pick the friends that gas on about things that annoy you, or the ones that are a little attention seeking. (And yes we all have a few friends like that, it’s natural) Pick the ones that make you smile and you can have a laugh with and never take much seriously. They are the kind of people you need around when you’re a little down.

No4: Pamper yourself.

We all love a god pamper. Yes even us guys. We love to sit in the bathtub and soak away our troubles. Nice glass of wine, some candles, a bit of music. Perfect.

If you’re not a bath person, fine. You can still relax; maybe you could moisturise, or take care of something that you’ve been meaning to do. Like, for example, a tan, or shave, or something that makes you look, and feel a million times better.

This will help because when we look better, we automatically feel better. It boosts our confidence and makes us think ‘Hey why am I down, I’m looking good and fresh. Let's forget about it’

No5: Put some really happy music on.

Now I don’t mean this stupid happy go lucky, everything is perfect music. I mean stuff that has a good beat and gets you going, makes you feel like you want to get up and dance and have a good time.

Last thing you want to be listening to is something depressing or sad, like Winehouse or Anthony and the Johnsons. That’s never going to help. You want some club mixes, some dance music. Whatever cheers you up.

Finally, 

No6: Spontaneously go out on a night out.

Now don’t be silly and get steaming drunk, now that is not going to help you at all. You truly don’t need to drink much at all. (Remember you had a few glasses in the bath as well).

It is just the vibe you get from a night out, the lights and the atmosphere. Plus if you’ve chosen the right people to go out with, which you should have, then this spontaneous night out will be amazing.

We all know that unplanned events are always the best also. So get your glad-rags on and get your party shoes on. We are going to have a great time.

So These are just six ways that I would try and cheer myself up, and seeing as I’ve only done two so far and I’m already feeling better I can say that most of the time they work.

If you have any other ways of cheering yourself up, or things that help you in everyday life, then let me know. I want to see how different people cope in similar situations to their bad days.

What do you do when you’re having ‘one of those days’?

Stay Safe,

Matt