Plan your day

You need to plan in advance how you will use the time available during the day, the week, and even the month. Take in account that one single hour in a day is usually wasted on anything, but 30 hours wasted in a month make up a considerable amount of time, important and decisive for the one who wants to achieve something.

When you get up in the morning, you should already have a concrete idea of what you will do during that day, and then, try to follow the plan as strictly as possible.

Without a previous organization of your time, it will be impossible to reach the level of study wanted. Still more, even if you have an extraordinary intelligence and a great ability of understanding, this will not suffice to make up for the lack of persistence and method.

Planning strategies.

These are the strategies the students use to direct and control their behavior, and so they precede any action by the students. These strategies include activities such as:

·         Establishing learning goals and objectives

·         Selecting the previous knowledge that's necessary to do so

·         Dividing the task into successive steps

·         Devising an action calendar

·         Anticipating the time it will take to perform this task, the resources required and the necessary effort

·         Selecting the strategy to follow

Regulation, direction and supervision strategies.

They're used during the execution of the task. They say how capable the student is of following the plan and proving its effectiveness. They include activities such as:

·         Asking questions

·         Following the plan

·         Adjusting the time and effort required for the task

·         Modifying and looking for alternative strategies in case those previously selected are not effective.

Evaluation strategies.

They're in charge of verifying the learning process. They're done during and at the end of the process. They include activities such as:

• Reviewing the given steps.
• Evaluating whether or not the proposed objectives were accomplished.
• Evaluating the quality of the final results.
• Deciding when to finish the process, when to take breaks, how long the breaks will be, etc.

Private diary

1.         Sometimes we need to talk about many things, but don't know who to talk to, or how to tell all the details. Having a personal diary can be immensely helpful.

YOUR READING CORNER

The Diary of Anne Frank, whose author was thirteen years old, became a great literary work. She didn't write it with that goal, she wrote it because she found in it a support to spend days inside a Nazi camp during World War II.

PRACTICE

Think about starting your own diary, you can think of it as a friend you can confide with, without keeping any secrets. You can express anything you want in it, about any topic whatsoever. If you also want to make that a literary experience, make sure you mind your language, feel your own story, narrate the details, tell it as if were the story of your life. Maybe, when you don't have anything to write about, you can go check your diary and collect ideas, characters, situations, etc.

Be simple on your writing

Be yourself: because when you try to use a language that is too sophisticated in order for other people to see us as writers, to receive compliments from them, then you would be sacrificing your true self. The best words are those that come from your own soul.

Exercises: I can't think of anything

1.         Are you sitting looking out the window, trying to write something, but nothing comes to you? Describe the scene. The people going by. How are they dressed? What are they doing? Imagine what their work might be. Do they have problems? A couple? Etc.

2.         Describe your home, your room, your things. Give detail to everything. What memories do they bring? Who might have created them? Where have they been and with whom? If one of those things were alive, what would happen?

3.         The days when you don't know what to write. Write it on paper too, even if it's just: "I couldn't come up with anything today". Stay there for a while, an idea might come to you. Remember that you need discipline to achieve it.

Write for pleasure

Remember that writing is just one part of your life, an interest, maybe even your job, but don't identify yourself with this activity. You are already whole, supporting yourself, being a part of this world. If you achieve the results you expect, great. If you are not satisfied with your work, repeat it; but DON'T feel identified by it. Don't insult yourself, or think less of you for supposedly not achieving what you wanted. Don't give up. YOUR BEING is more than just your actions.

Sometimes we use writing as a way to get noticed, to call for attention, and for people to like us. "look what I've written. I'm a great person". But you are a good person even before you wrote one single word...

As writers, we are continuously seeking support. But before anything else, we should realize that we've had support all along. (Goldberg, 1999:95)

Practice exercise: Art in a story

1.    Pen and paper - Go to a museum, or check a book about painting. Pick a painting, the one you like the most, the one you feel identified with. Imagine a story coming out of the landscape, and of the people and objects that are present. Write it

2.    Working with dance - If you feel stressed out, dance before you start writing. Enjoy the moment. Then write about the freedom you feel when you experience something that you really enjoyed. A story might come up, maybe even a novel.