As your Facebook feed has likely told you, many of America’s children went back to school last week. If you are the parent of a school-aged child you have also been clued into this fact by your suddenly bursting at the seams schedule and extreme fatigue. As excited as I get for fall… the colors, clothing, productivity… I have to admit, that it can also be exhausting.

When asked how our back to school routine is going, I’ve described these first weeks back as mental gymnastics. There is so much to organize and so many places to go (at very specific times) and so many responsibilities to juggle. This fall I am feeling all the feels, x4, because not only are my kids and husband back to school, but I am also back in the college classroom with an additional two new classes bumping me back up to teaching five days a week. Oh, and did I mention that my sons’ football started and it is Fall Ball season for my college baseball coaching husband?!?!?

In my family we say we’d rather be busy than bored, but I think this fall we are taking it to a whole new level. Which brings me to today’s post. When I started musing about a topic for this week’s Writing Wednesday, my mind kept wandering to lesson plans and carpool schedules and what in the heck we were going to eat. As I dug through my folders in search of a prompt for my writing club’s critique group meeting I came across a folder full of writing advice articles. And so, because my brain is mush and I find these articles incredibly helpful, they are what I have to offer to the writing universe this week. I hope you find something of value in the shared wisdom below.

10 Writing Articles to Percolate Your Fall Productivity

How to Write a Novel When You Have a Full Time Life by M.J. McGriff

8 Mundane Elements you Should Cut from Your Story by Jordan Rosenfeld

How to Raise the Stakes in Your Story By Kristen Kieffer

How to Get Out of the Writing Doldrums by Methina Calliope

A Word Count Guide for 18 Genres by Blake Atwood

Masterful Wordsmithing with Metaphor and Imagery by C. S. Lakin

10 Reasons Why You Should Be Proud to Be a Writer by Laura Tong

Writing an Essay About Yourself: 8 Common Mistakes to Avoid by Amy Paturel

5 Important Steps Before You Self Publish by Joanna Penn

Day-by-Day NaNoWriMo Outline: Characters and Themes Cheatsheet by Christine Frazer

I’m not the only one who has decided to help point you in the WRITE direction (lol) this fall. Over at Writers in the Storm they also devoted a post to shouting out great resources. In their post they asked their readers to share a “favorite author, blogger, post or book you’ve read, a wonderful teacher or just someone who had profound influence on you as a writer or a person”. Head over to the post to see their Pimp and Promote post and check out all of the great contributions.

To close this post I’ll say that I’m wishing you all the best (and all the caffeine you need) as you enter this new and busy season. I hope that amidst the chaos you are able to carve out some time (see article #1) to get a little writing done and maybe even partake in one of the many, many fun literary events scheduled in Wisconsin this fall. (Stay tuned for THAT post coming soon!)

Until next time, happy writing!

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