Pinar Tarhan, Author at Addicted to Writing

The Little Shop of Happy Ever After: Book Review for Jenny Colgan’s Delightful Novel

Posted on August 15, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Jenny Colgan, The Little Shop of Happy Ever After

* This post contains affiliate links.

Shy and bookish 29-year-old Nina lives in Birmingham, works as a librarian and loves her job. So what if her roommate/good mate Surrinder complains about how many books they have in the house?

But when the library closes and she needs to apply to a job she’d hate, she does something crazy: She decides to run a bookshop out of a van. She already has some inventory, and it will cost her all her money, but what other options does she have?

The van of her dreams, however, is in a Scottish village. A few more hurdles cause her to start her dream in that village. And while she becomes the town’s sweetheart, she doesn’t get along so well with her grumpy farmer landlord Lennox. Certainly not as well as she gets long with Marek, the Litvanian train engineer who just might be the romantic hero she has read about all her life. But happy afters don’t really happen in real life, do they?

The Little Shop of Happy Ever After is the ultimate romantic comedy for book lovers. Yes, it helps if you love romance and aren’t allergic to romantic storylines. But what is not to love about a fast-paced, sweet (and sometimes really sexy), fun, and honest novel about new beginnings and finding love? Of course, I love reading and writing sweet yet sexy romcoms.

It should be noted that I love Scotland (never been, but I’m hoping to change it someday), and this is my second Jenny Colgan novel. My first was also a great romcom set in England and Scotland, Where Have All the Boys Gone.

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I read the book while on vacation, but it’d have made a great anywhere.

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10 Ways Facebook Can Keep You Sane and Productive

Posted on August 10, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

I heard from a couple of writers I respect that they are quitting Facebook. Some of them keep their business pages, or just one group related to their blog or latest product. Few are going cold turkey.

I get where they are coming from. Social media can be a huge time suck. Likes, comments, and upvotes are addictive. For some, it means affirmation and validation. For many, it is a popularity contest. But among those who enjoy the popularity, are writers and other business owners like you and me.

Facebook, while a great platform for connecting like-minded people, staying in contact with friends and building your brand, can be hell: People being constantly negative, friend requests from creepy strangers, newbie bloggers who want to use you as a free consultant and their own Google, and content that gets banned for no good reason along with content that should be banned but isn’t…

Yet the positives far overweigh the negatives. And I can’t give up on Facebook. Maybe it is an age thing: You see, I was there almost from the beginning. I signed up around 2007, right after my Erasmus year. It was mainly a way to keep in touch with friends and neighbors. It was also to kill time during an internship where they didn’t give me much responsibility.

So 10 years later, Facebook remains my favorite social networking site. Granted, it has its cons. I hate most design updates. The ads are a bit much. But worst of all, it is so damn easy to get lost in your news feed when you have over 500+ friends.

But don’t worry. Facebook, with a little insight and self-control from you, can be a very powerful business tool, as well as serving as free therapy and entertainment.

So let me provide a proper bullet-point list on how Facebook keeps me sane and productive, and you can decide for yourselves whether it is worth your time. Because if we are honest, it makes procrastination very easy.

1. Traffic and social proof. Most of my blog traffic and shares come from Facebook. I have a lot of writer friends, and friends who want to be writers/or bloggers here.

2. Social media management skills. I might not be the ultimate Facebook guru, but I’m pretty damn good at it. I do social media marketing for clients, so it helps that hanging around Facebook comes as a second nature to me. I love the site. Damn you, Zuckerberg! You created a monster.

3. Groups for social interaction, business growth and learning. Yes, you can google a lot of things, so I’m not suggesting asking friends and colleagues “What’s WordPress?” or What’s blogging?” in this day and age. But there is a lot Google can’t tell you, especially in the specific way you need to learn them.

Google is a search engine, and sometimes you need to ask direct questions to your more experienced peers. Some of the amazing groups I belong to:

Groups on making money from your non-fiction:

30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success (private group for Gina Horkey’s namesake course.)
Earn More Writing (group for Holly Porter Johnson’s namesake course)
Beyond Your Blog (Group for Susan Maccarelli’s namesake blog)

Anything related to Screenwriting

Bang2write
Screenwriters who can actually write

Anything ficiton-writing

Fiction Writers

I run some awesome groups myself:

Addicted to Writing – official group for this blog
Writers Helping Writers – a group for all things fiction and non-fiction with very few rules. (The existing rules are: Be respectful and nice to each other; helping others comes before self-promotion.)

I get a lot of requests, so I recommend add something about writing to your profile. It also helps if you belong to writing-related groups. This is to avoid people who sign up for everything but not participate, or people who are not serious about writing. Everyone in this group is either working as a professional writer, or trying to. Writers who write as a hobby won’t find it as fun or practical.

Hyperactive Dreamers. This is a super niche group. While most of the members are writers, it is a group for people who love more than more profession, run or want to run more than one business and has multiple fashions. We are extremely helpful, so you are welcome to check it out.

4. Keep in touch with clients. Sometimes you stop with certain clients, but you are on good terms. You can later collaborate on other projects. Or you can just have a wider network. Some of your clients love Facebook. So do you. And who knows? Maybe they want to throw some Facebook-related work your way. Or they see you and remember that they have friends who need writing work.

5. Finding like-minded people. Oh, this is crucial. Many of us full-time writers tend to be at least a little quirky. Frankly, I think it is non-writer people are a little weird, and I need writer buddies to back me up on the sentiment. We have big dreams, and we don’t let overt realism or pessimism deter us. Fellow writers understand why we can’t just write as a hobby.

6. Sharing ideas and exchanging feedback. With some ideas, I’m confident I need to keep pursuing. Some ideas, especially if I’m not experienced in the niche or with the genre, I need feedback on. And once I start working on with an idea, I need more feedback. Obviously, I return the favor.

The good thing about Facebook is that it offers variety. So let’s say you can take criticism, but you are not a fan of tough love. (That’d be me). It’s amazing that I can find friends who will be honest with me without crushing my spirit.

7. Laughter and entertainment. Who doesn’t love a funny video, song, joke, gif, meme…etc? Let me share one right here. The world can be a dark place filled with problems, including and not limited to your own life. So yes, I’m unapologetic about my right to see cute kittens on a regular basis.

8. It improves your writing. When you share posts, you learn quite a bit about how to write succinct but interesting

9. Venting. I don’t recommend venting all the time. It is not pretty, and it might turn off a lot of people, clients and friends included. But we need a place to share our frustration, and writers get frustrated a lot.

I’d argue we lead more challenging lives than other professions, except for other creatives, because we get rejected almost on a daily basis. I’ve been known to receive two rejection emails within 5 minutes. What the….?

I also live in a city with tons of traffic, inconsiderate people, crazy weather and constant construction noise. And then there are health problems and family members…So yeah, we all need to vent sometimes. And it’s great to be welcomed by friends who jump in to say “Me too!” It just is better for everyone if you can combine the anger with some humor.

10. Reducing isolation. I talk to friends, and it feels like I have co-workers. The difference is, I like all of these co-workers. Writing can be very lonely, and it is detrimental to our well-being to be on our own all the time, especially if we have an extroverted side. Social media created the illusion that we’re not working alone, and Facebook just is more comfortable when it comes to messaging and commenting if you’re on your computer a lot.

7 Tips to Limit Time Your Time on Facebook

Turn off the Internet.
Get away from the computer.
Use free apps to block your site. I use SelfControl for Mac. I wrote it about in detail in my productivity book. (If you want to receive The More Productive Writer, email me and I’ll add you to the newsletter. Or you can subscribe to the newsletter by using the TinyLetter form in the right sidebar.)
Schedule more time for exercise and friends.
Leave groups that you haven’t felt the need to participate in a long time, or groups that have failed to provide you benefits.
Unfriend people who you don’t remember even meeting. They aren’t notified when you do.
Unfollow friends whose feed you aren’t enjoying.

How about you? Are you a Facebook person? Let me know your reasons why (and why not) in comments!

And if you liked the post, please share it on social media.

5 Tips on How To Watch Movies According To Your Writing Needs

Posted on August 5, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

A writer has to read a lot. For fun, inspiration, motivation, and to get better at their craft. It also helps with market research.

And a screenwriter doesn’t just have to read a lot; they have to watch a lot too.

But with only 24 hours a day, so many other tasks, possibly a day job and of course your writing, you can’t watch everything.

So how do you choose?

Easy. You prioritize.

What prompted this post was that I’ve over 500 movies on my watchlist on IMDB. If you eliminate the guilty pleasures, there are still over 400 movies to analyze.

And I’m someone who has watched a lot of movies. I’m still so behind, it is crazy.

So let me help you choose what to watch (again).

Genre. I try to watch in similar genres to what I’m writing. It helps to see what was made and how it was made. But it also helps flex your creative muscles when you watch stuff outside of your comfort and taste zone. So mix it up whenever you can.

Box office and budget. Box office result matters, as well as how much the movie cost. Which budget range gets more movies? Low, medium or high? Which budget range tends to make the best profits?

Commercial success is a huge plus. After all, rarely anyone writes hoping not to be watched by a lot of people. But the budget is very important when you are deciding based on box office. I give priority to a 50mil dollar movie that made over 200, rather than a 200-million that made a billion.

Because:

A) I don’t write movies that will cost that much to make. You could put Tom Cruise in it (I know, I wish), and it still wouldn’t cost that much to make. Well, apart from what you’d have to pay him. 🙂

B) Quality movies that were shot with relatively small budgets give me hope, and it teaches me a lot.

You can use boxofficemojo.com to check budget and box office information.

Cast. There are a lot of actors whose works I enjoy, and all of these actors are people I’d love to work with. So I want to know what kind of scripts they are attracted to.

Try IMDB for the cast info.

Critical acclaim and/or audience reactions. Some movies become cult hits years after they are released. Festival wins/awards and other critical acclaim intrigue me. Why did this one particular movie become so popular, successful, and/or loved?

I wasn’t going to watch Dunkirk since it is not a genre I’m particularly interested in. But the audience reactions are so mixed, now I’m tempted. And one can always learn from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar, Memento), so there’s that.

Relaxation and entertainment. And many of our best work comes when we are not stressed out. So forget everything above, and choose according to whatever you feel like. You can always change the disc or walk out of the movie theatre if you are unhappy. And even that shows on what/how not to write.

If you need suggestions, feel free to comment with what you are looking for, and I’ll get you started in the right direction.

Obviously, not all movies will have all of the qualities you’re looking for. But your time is limited, so you should try to kill as many birds as possible with one stone.

Now, this reminds me…what should I watch tonight? (Comment your suggestions please!)

16 Non-Writing Tasks to Do When You Have Writer’s Block (or Don’t Feel Like Writing)

Posted on July 28, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

I love the idea that we – writers – are sitting on a porch somewhere with a lovely view, a delicious coffee-based beverage nearby and typing away to our heart’s desire.

Now, we can often be found typing away with a coffee in hand, but we are not always writing a story or an article. (And the view doesn’t always rock, but that’s beside the point.)

Pinar Tarhan, writer — For instance, this is me posing for a picture because we need that too. 🙂

And while we love writing, sometimes we are stuck. Sometimes we’d do anything but, no matter how much we love writing.

But just because you can’t write doesn’t mean your whole work has to go to hell:

16 Non-Writing Tasks to Do When You Have Writer’s Block (or Don’t Feel Like Writing

Pitch. Unfortunately, editors and clients don’t always come to you with assignments and story ideas. You have to create your jobs. So you pitch. You usually have a pitch template than can be tweaked, so this is more editing than actual writing.
Follow-up on previous pitches. You have pitched stories a while back, but you haven’t heard back. So you customize that follow-up template if you need to, and fire away.
Keep track. You make notes on where you pitched and what you followed up. You don’t want to send the same idea to an editor that already turned it down.
Clean your inbox and answer important emails. It’s not advised to check your email every 2 minutes, but you should probably check it at least twice every day – especially if you are expecting responses and you have clients from different time zones. You don’t want to miss an assignment because the message got buried among 100 unimportant other messages.
Read the articles in the publications you are pitching– aka also known as market research.
Read unrelated stuff for fun and inspiration.
Deal with blog administration. There is always a plugin to update, a post to edit.
Apply to jobs and/or pitch to clients.
Post on social media. You have a presence; you need to maintain it.
Talk to other writers. It’s one of my favorite methods for staying sane.
Update social media profiles. Maybe you did something interesting or acquired an impressive byline.
Update your website copy. You might want to review your services and how you present them.
Update your portfolio. Those new bylines won’t add themselves.
Hang around aimlessly – online and offline- looking for inspiration and story ideas. Some of the most obvious ideas arrive when you feel like giving up. And ideas can come from anywhere, including from your favorite comedians.
Clean. I don’t mean spring cleaning, but just a general, mindless tidying up that won’t take too much time. Also, how clean is your computer screen? I swear mine is playing in the dirt when I’m not looking.
Organize. Organize files, on the computer and in your office. Do you need all the paper? Did you notice a publication you loved but forgot about? Saw a book you need to refresh up on? Leave the cleaning and organization to the end, though. You don’t want to use them as procrastination tactics.

What do you work on when you are stuck? Please let me know in the comments.