Thinking: First Backward and Then Forward

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: goals, Uncategorized

Soon my writing friend and I will Skype for a few hours about our 2013 goals.

We’ll discuss what we’ve accomplished, what we’ve given up on, and what is still challenging (and defeating) us.

Current State of Affairs

In past years at these goal check-ups, I’ve been both pleasantly surprised and chagrined at my progress. This year I’m happy finally with the amount of writing I’m getting accomplished (thanks to running four challenge accountability groups this year) and how I’m taking stronger steps in the marketing arena.

Another “plus” is how my writing life is flowing. For years my friend and I brainstormed more effective ways to draw boundaries at work, at home, with friends, and (most importantly) with ourselves. This whole boundary thing seems to be an ongoing challenge with us, but we’ve grown this year! We’re better at setting boundaries around our time and not backing down. (Several years of work on this issue resulted in my 2013 e-book Boundaries for Writers.)

Don’t wait until New Year’s Day to think about your progress in 2013. Begin to review it now. Think about it. Celebrate your successes. Be honest about how much work you’ve put into your writing career this year. If you got derailed, take time to think deeply and figure out why.

Thinking Ahead

Then begin to visualize and dream. Where would you like to be a year from now? What changes will you need to make?

For me, I intend to read what’s currently being published in my field a lot more. I’ve read a lot of middle grade books, but I need to do more. My granddaughter and I have hit several excellent book sales recently, and I’m stocked up! I’m also wondering if this is the year I try to find an agent.

Everywhere I turned this year, I got the same message (from writing friends, books, and conference speakers): If you want a rich writing life, cut out time wasters and replace them with reading—and reading a lot. Otherwise our creative wells run dry. Also socialize with a purpose more often (SCBWI conferences, critique groups, book discussion groups, book store readings, lunch with writers.)

I also want to market a bit better, but mostly I’d like to consistently do the marketing things I’ve started. If I could ask Santa for one thing this year, it would be consistency.

So think now about your goals for 2014. Journal about them. Think about how you’re going to hit them. Give yourself these six weeks before the New Year starts to ponder these questions–and then decide on a direction.

Memorize This

If you want a writing life that you’ve never had, you’ll have to do things that you’ve never done—and do them consistently. (Copy the preceding sentence and tape it to your computer.)

Weekend Gems

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: goals, inspiration, Uncategorized

For your weekend reading pleasure, here are four articles I think you’ll find inspiring and practical. (We need both!)

Bookmark them all, or save them to Evernote, and each time you need a break from your writing, read one of these articles. 

You’ll be glad you did!

  • Here’s one of the best quick reference guides for plotting your conflict that I’ve seen in a long time: 9 Ways To Undermine Your Characters’ Best Laid Plans. It’s a list worth printing off and keeping next to your keyboard.
  • Renowned editor Patti Lee Gauch’s thoughts from a Highlights workshop: Have Your Own Standard of Excellence
  • 5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM describes what successful people (not just writers) do each morning to make sure they use their day in a powerful way. Simple, but profound–and we could all take a lesson here!
  • Books change lives. We say it all the time. Here’s an inspirational article about a new YA author and this very thing: Sometimes The ‘Tough Teen’ Is Quietly Writing Stories

 

Getting the Writing Done: Crunch Times

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: habits, Uncategorized

I have several deadlines to meet by the end of this month, including finishing an outlined NaNoWriMo novel. Crunch time!

I reviewed my past “crunch time” behaviors, many of which set me back instead of moving me forward. (e.g. I often gave up eating healthy meals and grabbed caffeine-laden soft drinks and chocolate to get me by.)

But since the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over (while expecting different results), I decided to make a list of behaviors I wanted to implement from now till the end of November. These are the habits I’ve found to work during previous crunch times:

**Never sit and stare at a blank screen. When you hit a mental block, get up and move. Do a household chore you hate until you think of something to write next. There is nothing in this world that jogs my writing block loose like scrubbing a toilet. It is one of the writer’s best kept secrets.

**Close down email during the day. Check for emergency email first thing in the morning, answer any from editors, and leave the rest till the end of the writing day. Same goes for turning on the answering machine and returning calls late in the day.

**Keep up with health routines. Although my brain says, “Skip your run and get to work” or “grab that candy bar and keep working,” it never helps in the long run. I am much more productive during crunch times if I continue with my 6 a.m. run, eat my oatmeal (ugh), drink my eight glasses of water, and take breaks for healthy meals.

**Remember to stretch your neck and back. I set a timer for ten minutes throughout my work hours. Every ten minutes, I stop and do neck rolls, side bends, and back stretches. It only takes a minute, but it both lengthens the amount of time I can stay at the computer and lets me finish a work day without headaches and backaches. Every single time that I skip the exercises to save writing time, I pay later by having to quit early and having headaches interrupt my sleep.

**Give yourself a reward. Create little rewards throughout the writing day (like ten minutes of reading your favorite mystery for every hour you write) and rewards at the end of the day (a favorite DVD or dinner with a friend). I used to think rewards were silly and childish–and maybe they are–but they work!

What habits work for you during crunch times? Leave a comment with your best tip!

Writer Imaging (Part 3)

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: dreams, focus, motivation, psychology of writing, Uncategorized

(First read “Writer Imaging” Part 1 and Part 2.) Here are the final attributes of a happy writing life…

4. Staying focused on the positive. View your writing life as a series of opportunities and growth experiences, even though some experiences (like rejection slips) may involve pain.

Daily there are good things to focus on though. Focus on the excitement of finding a good idea, or researching a fascinating subject, or working in a quiet library where you can still smell the stacks of books.

In the same vein, avoid worry, anger and depression wherever possible, and if it’s a part of your life, stop and deal with it. In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron says: “the truth is that too much torment and too much depression can make it as difficult to write as to make the bed, wash the dishes, do the laundry. To the depressed person, writing may present itself as one more chore. For this reason, we are actually working on our writing when we directly address the larger issue of our happiness.”

5. Spending time socializing with other writers. Form writing and critique groups. One word of caution, though: choose WORKING writers, not just people who like to talk about writing someday or go to workshops. Choose writing friends who actually are committed to writing consistently and trying to improve.

Iron sharpens iron. You need writers who will hold you accountable, not for sales, but for trying, for studying the markets, for revising, for doing thorough research, for your daily journaling, or whatever writing activities you’ve chosen for your growth. And if the writers you meet with stop writing, don’t feel compelled to remain in the group. Drop out and find other working writers to socialize with. You will help each other along.

The Whole Truth and Nothing But 
Believe it or not, winning an award or being on the bestseller list would NOT change your writing life, either for better or for worse. That’s because fame and fortune (both which are fleeting, I’m told) are not the elements of a good writing life any more than being thin guarantees happiness for women.

Incorporating the above five elements in your life will do a lot more for creating a happy writer. The best part about this news is, of course, that these five attributes are totally under your control. They don’t depend on the shifting markets, changing times, or fickle public taste.

Each attribute of a happy writer’s life is attainable by every writer. So start today. Right now. Change your perceptions of what a successful writer’s life entails. (It’s probably better than you’ve imagined.) Then go out and make it happen for yourself.

Writer Imaging (Part 2)

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: organization, time management, Uncategorized

First read Writer Imaging: Your Vision of Success.
According to our most reliable sources—happy writers—the “good writing life” is actually dependent on the following conditions:

1. Staying active, writing every day, even if it’s only a journal entry or your Morning Pages, as promoted by Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.

2. Staying organized. Many writers claim that they’re better parents, spouses and friends when they’re writing. I can attest to that myself. This is where being organized comes in. When our offices overflow with stacks of unanswered mail, unread newsletters, and scraps of paper everywhere, the messiness often makes us depressed and antsy, unable to sit down and work.

On the other hand, being organized calms us and makes us want to write. This becomes a daily “happiness” habit after a while. Elaine Fantle Shimberg, in her book Write Where You Live, says organization builds routines. And “routines created to fit your personal schedule and time commitments can quickly become work habits. These habits help you to assume the professional persona as soon as you enter your office space… Routines help you prevent sliding into procrastination,” a nasty habit that can make us unproductive and miserable.

If you need more help with this, get my free e-book at the top of this blog: Rx for Writers: Managing Your Writing Space and Your Writing Time.

3. Staying productive with meaningful work. When we’re working on a project that feels important, that we know will benefit our readers in some way, we’re happier writers. These tend to be stories and books we need to write, such as the book that “in some way speaks profoundly to the core of his [the writer’s] beliefs, the emotional and spiritual and intellectual center of his life” (from Philip Gerard’s Writing a Book that makes a Difference). When your work is meaningful to you and touches others’ lives, you’re a happy writer, whether it ever makes you rich and famous or not.

(We’ll talk about the last two requirements for a satisfying writing life next time.)

Writer Imaging: Your Vision of Success

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: success, Uncategorized

Picture this: you’re feeling strong and confident. Your writing is going well, you’re in the flow.

That is, until you see her, that Famous Writer, on the cover of Writer’s Digest or being interviewed on the “Morning Show.” Rejection slips and cash flow crunches are just distant memories to her.

Or maybe it happens closer to home. Someone in your writing group sells a series and is suddenly catapulted into living your dream: The Perfect Life of a Successful Writer.

Why Not Me?

Why couldn’t this perfect writer’s life be yours? Eyes squinted and stomach churning, you’d gladly trade your computer for a slot on the NY Times Bestseller list. Or any list, for that matter. No chance, you think glumly.

Your self-esteem plummets, you scorn your own wishful thinking, and you reach for the nearest (writer’s) block enhancer: food, drink, TV, etc. The writing is forgotten for a day or a week … or a month.

Success and False Imaging

The above writer is a victim of “writer imaging.” Just as young girls and women are subjected daily to air-brushed and computer enhanced images of perfect women which create a distorted body image, writers are exposed via magazines, newspaper interviews, websites, podcasts and bookstore signings to distorted images of writers. Unless you boycott all media, you can’t avoid these images.

However, you CAN avoid the other part of the problem: your own perception and resulting lowered self-esteem.

The Illusion

The writing world focuses on fame, like society focuses on thinness, often to the point of obsession. And “fame” is a relative term. To one writer it means selling a story to Highlights so all her friends will read it in the dentist office.

To another writer, fame is an award, a contract with a big name publisher, or being asked to speak at a conference.

Media messages associate writing success and fame with the perfect writing life: a better, happier, more successful life. But this false image of perfection falls far short of reality. The promise is an empty one.

The Truth

Biographies and profiles have shown that the attitudes and behaviors shared by happy writers have nothing to do with fame or fortune, just like being a happy woman has nothing to do with being thin and beautiful. Thanks to popular mainstream media and entertainment perpetuating the myth, many girls and women have been conditioned to believe that happiness relied on being thin.

And thanks to years of writer profiles in the media, new writers have been conditioned to believe that their contentment depends on publication and sales. Not so!

According to our most reliable sources—happy writers—the “good writing life” is actually dependent on five conditions.

(We’ll discuss those five conditions next week. In the meantime, what’s your own image of a successful writing life? Has reality measured up to your original image? Has your definition changed? Do leave a comment.)

Press On to Finish Strong

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: perseverance, Uncategorized

Typically, writing students are excited two times: at the very beginning of the writing course and again at the end (because they are graduating and/or being published.)

Book writers are also excited at the beginning of a project (when their idea and characters are new) and at the end (when the final draft is complete or it’s sold.)

But the middle? Middles can be miserable.

Part of the Package

Last year I had two writers in the same week, both talented and one already published, write to say that they were no longer excited about writing because it had become difficult. “This is harder than I thought it would be” is something I frequently hear. The new writer usually wants me to explain how to make it easy again, how to take the work out of the writing (because, presumably, it’s not hard work for me.)

I think this comes from a real misconception about writing. Writing is like having a good relationship with someone. It’s exciting when you first meet, it’s satisfying after years of sharing experiences and working through the conflicts, but the middle is a mixture of joy and tests (or obstacles.) Frequently it’s not fun! It’s just part of the package–and it’s the same with writing.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

A quote from Never Give Up! says it well:

“Between the beginning and the end, every situation or pursuit has a ‘middle’–and the middle is where we often face our greatest challenges, hurdles, roadblocks, obstacles, detours, and tests. People who are easily led by their emotions rarely finish what they start. They give up when the project is no longer exciting and all they see in front of them is hard work.”

Just a While Longer

If you’re on the verge of quitting writing, I would encourage you to give it a bit longer. Face the challenges and be determined to overcome them. Find ways to make the middles fun! They can be every bit as rewarding as beginnings and endings–it just takes more work. Don’t be satisfied with “just trying” something, but see it through to the end. At least 90% of the time, you’ll be so glad you did.

I know there are rare instances where the only wise thing to do is to give up (on a career choice, a relationship, or a story). That choice is the exception to the rule though. Don’t be quick to quit writing just because it stops being fun for a while.

Best Predictor of Success

Many new writers will ask me, “Do you think I have what it takes to succeed as a writer?” I used to believe that I could tell within a couple of lessons with students. I have found over the years that I was wrong. Too often the students I had earmarked for long and happy writing careers quit because it grew difficult, and they were used to instant and easy success.

On the other hand, students who were mediocre at the beginning have gone on to publish well! I have a shelf of student books to prove it. They studied, they learned, they took courses and got critiqued if necessary. They submitted and endured rejection slips–but they persevered. And I’m proud to say that their books are impacting the world of children in very positive ways.

Crossing the Finish Line

ALL writers have trouble sticking it out during those “miserable middles.” Do you have any mental tricks or words of wisdom that work for you at such times? If so, please share!

The Danger of Fuzzy Goals

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: Uncategorized

How’s your focus?

It’s a question I’ve dealt with this month as I’ve led two October writing challenges and am thinking about goals for 2014. I started out the month great, but I lost focus somewhere. I set out to discover why.

My calendar was so full of very good things, but I was frequently exhausted and vaguely dissatisfied. (Well, not vaguely actually. It was a very pointed dissatisfaction with the amount of writing I finished on any given day.) What was the reason?

My children were grown and on their own. I had long ago given up time wasters (TV viewing, hanging on the telephone) and most hobbies (quilting, gardening), and yet…the struggle to write for quality periods of time persisted.

A Busy Blur

I realized that I had fallen into the all-too-common trap of substituting being busy for being focused. Could this be you as well? If it is, you’ll need to deal with it–or this year’s goals will go by the wayside too.

Answer the following questions to check your focus:

  • Do you know where you’re going?
  • If you stay on the road you’re on, where is it leading?
  • Are you busy qualifying yourself for a writing life you don’t want?

Pull Back for Better Focus

You may need to get an overview of how you spend your time before you can answer those questions. It can be an eye-opening exercise to keep track of your activities, hour by hour, for a week or two. (A month is even better.) For example, you might truly believe that you spend two hours writing every day, plus one hour marketing, and a fourth hour studying.

After keeping track, you might find you actually write twenty minutes while frequently stopping to check email. Your marketing hour might actually be spent reading about marketing methods, but not truly ever doing any marketing of your own projects. Your hour of studying the magazine article on character development might actually boil down to twenty minutes of study and forty minutes of reading ads and letters to the editor.

My biggest downfall, I discovered, was my “automatic yes.” I said yes without stopping to think about my decision. In an effort to clean out my email Inbox, I said an automatic yes to all kinds of volunteer things I didn’t have time for really. I said an automatic yes to social functions with friends and requests to babysit grandkids. I did the insanely ridiculous thing of saying an automatic yes without looking at my calendar. So frequently lately I’ve had three appointments or social things in one day, and I was burned out the next day too.

Training for What?

Suppose you dream of writing novels. Your time tracker might reveal that your writing time is eaten up by writing free newsletters for two organizations you belong to. Or, if you’re well published, you can’t say no when asked to write an endorsement or review of someone’s new book. (That may not sound like much, but those of you who write reviews know that reading the book takes several hours, and a well crafted review takes another hour at least.) Maybe you haven’t had time to work on your own novel for three days because you’ve been critiquing for other writers in your group or writing guest blogs.

All these things make you feel like you’re furthering your writing career as a novelist–but are you? Or are you busy qualifying yourself for something other than your dream? You’re actually gaining experience as a reviewer, a critiquer, a blogger, and a newsletter writer. (Those are fine jobs, if that’s truly what you want to be doing in the long run.) But if you stay on this road–if you continue to spend a large chunk of your writing time this way–do you like where it will inevitably lead you?

Fuzzy or Focused Goals?

Know what your dreams and goals are. We all have our own criteria for choosing goals–and different methods to determine what we’re supposed to do with our writing gifts. (Prayer and journaling work best to clarify things for me.)

Once you’ve decided, don’t be vague about how you intend to get where you want to go. You must live on a higher plane–above the constant demands for your time–and say “no” to things that don’t further those goals. If you have difficulty saying “no” and think it is selfish, I recommend my Boundaries for Writers e-book where I deal with this.

What might you change (get rid of OR add) in your writing life to better qualify you for the writing life of your dreams? Name one thing in a comment below!

 

NaNoWriMo Accountability Challenge: Sign Up Now!

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: accountability, NaNoWriMo, self-discipline, Uncategorized

Last week I posted some links and information about the National Novel Writing Month (November). I mentioned that I would do a November accountability challenge if enough interest was shown.

I heard from plenty of you to have a good-sized group!

Modified Children’s Writers NaNoWriMo

As many of you know, NaNoWriMo has its own website with its own competition and qualifications. To be considered a NaNoWriMo winner, you must write 50,000 new words in the month of November.  There have been many years that I wanted to participate, but I was working on smaller projects than that. Other times, like last year, I had a deadline that demanded a lengthy book revision during November.

So, to accommodate children’s writers who would like to be part of a November “writing frenzy,” but they don’t plan to write a 50,000-word novel, I am going to run a challenge in November through email. This will be for a modified NaNoWriMo experience. [Sign-up instructions are at the end. Even if you have already expressed a desire to be part of this challenge, I need to have you sign up officially now.]

Can You Do Both?

You can certainly sign up to participate at the NaNoWriMo website, plus participate in this email daily check-in with the group. That’s up to you. (I will probably do that myself this year.) But to participate in my email challenge group, you only need to sign up below.

Think about what BIG project you want to work on for NaNoWriMo. What project during November would you dearly love to accomplish? Maybe it’s something you’ve dreamed about writing for years. Maybe it’s a novel you actually outlined at some point, but never got any further. Whatever you choose, it should be a big challenge for you. (Keep in mind that what is “big” for one writer isn’t going to be big for someone else. It’s personal to you and your current circumstances.)

Remember: because it is Nation Novel Writing Month, your project needs to be fiction. Novels, multiple picture books or short stories, a poetry collection: some fiction project that is challenging for you. [We will NOT be posting manuscripts to prove how much you wrote. I will take your word for it.]

So do not sign up for this particular challenge if you plan to write a nonfiction e-book or thirty blog entries, for example. Yes, that is definitely writing, but it’s not for this fiction-writing challenge.

How to Sign Up

I will collect all the email addresses that come to me with the correct subject line. Email it to me at kristi.holl@gmail.com.

Subject line: NaNoWriMo Challenge

Body of email: Tell me what kind of fiction you plan to write. And specify your goal, so will know if you achieve it. (e.g. write MG rough draft novel about 25,000 words; write a poetry collection about the holidays, at least a dozen three-stanza poems; write two easy reader mysteries, about 10,000 words each)

That’s all! I will collect your emails, and then you will hear from me again on November 1 for the first check-in.

Writing Boundaries: Thinking Like a Nine-to-Fiver

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: Boundaries, habits, Uncategorized

Time pressure and interruptions–they’re always with us. Right? To a certain extent, yes.

I have several appointments coming up that will take three hours out of several different days and a couple of favors I didn’t have the nerve to say “no” to. I was bemoaning the chunk of work time that would be deducted from my work week.

How would I get my writing done?

Aha! Moment

Then I realized that my husband hasn’t missed an hour of work in more than a year, yet he keeps his doctors’ appointments and other special commitments. He does what I need to do myself–he makes up for lost time. He works afternoons and evenings. If he has  to make appointments during work time, he switches shifts,  or he goes to his appointment and works extra hours afterward. The alterations are rare though; work is a given.

He doesn’t moan and groan about time pressure, he doesn’t miss any work, and he takes care of important appointments.

Keeping Office Hours

I’m guessing that I need to follow his example in that area. If I’m going to say “yes” to a favor or a long phone call with a friend, I need to “clock out” of the office for that time, and then make it up in the evening. Or, better yet, I need to get up earlier that day and log in the extra writing time before my appointments. Too often, I go to the appointment or run the errand or babysit grandkids…and let the writing go for that day.

You can do that once in a while, of course. But this had become my habit, and my lack of productivity showed.

If I diligently make up the writing every time I quit work short of my goal for some reason, I bet I will get better at saying “no” to some requests. In fact, I can almost guarantee it as I don’t like writing at night.

I like to say “yes” to favors when I can. But I imagine I would be more productive if I thought like a nine-to-fiver and said, “I can’t do that for you this morning, but I could do it at four o’clock.” Sometimes the person wanting the favor can rearrange his schedule.

Whatever your writing goal for the day–whether it’s fifteen minutes of scheduled writing or four hours–try making it non-negotiable. Think like an office worker with a boss looking over your shoulder.

Home Office Hours

Yes, it’s easier if you work at an office with a boss. None of your friends or family members expect things from you during the day when you work outside the home. So your only option when working from home is learning to say “no.” I’ve been working in my home office (mostly full-time) for thirty years. Many people still half-assume that since I’m at home, I’m not really working.

So, as usual, it comes down to this. I need to take my writing schedule seriously before anyone else will. It’s not about convincing the people in my life that I’m serious about my writing. It’s about convincing me.

You will need to do that too.

Once we do, I suspect our schedules will fall into place. The boundaries I need to set are most often on myself. And now, off to re-read my own e-book, Boundaries for Writers. I need periodic reminding on how to do this!