Mental Boundaries: Who's in Charge? (Part 1)

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: Boundaries, Uncategorized

Your writing life is the sum of all the writing-related choices you make.

Choosing means to make a decision each time you come to a particular crossroads.

Most decisions are not deliberate. Instead we unconsciously follow our habits, choosing what is easiest because it’s what we’ve done for years. We choose negative thoughts about our abilities, we choose negative attitudes about our progress, and we follow with choosing negative actions (like not setting goals and not writing.)

Choice or Habit?

Although many of your choices have become automatic habits, each one is still a choice you make. [IMPORTANT NOTE: See the list at the end of this post for some excellent books on creating helpful habits so that your good choices can become automatic.]

If you want to have a successful writing career (however you define “success” for yourself), you must control the process of choosing. You must begin to notice your choices, moment by moment.

Think about what you’re thinking about! Then start making consistently better daily choices. These changes can be very small, if you make them daily. Take control of your writing life by being in charge of yourself.

Writers make critical decisions in three areas every day–sometimes every hour. Train yourself to be a close observer of your choices. You come to a fork in the road hundreds of times each day, and each time you have a choice to make. [That’s one reason why it’s easier if you establish habits in these areas. The good choices eventually become automatic.]

Beginning today, consciously choose the direction that leads to your writing goals. And that begins with your thoughts.

1: Thoughts

If you want to make changes that last, you must change the way you think. Your mental and emotional framework needs adjusting. Focus on getting your MIND moving in the right direction. The way you think will ultimately dictate your long-term success or failure.

Certain thoughts and beliefs will derail you before you even get started. (“I’m not good enough.” “I don’t have the talent I need.” “It’s who you know in this business, and I don’t know anyone important.” “I don’t have the time/energy/family support to write.”) Take time to recognize which particular issues negatively affect your choice to write.

Writer Myths

Perhaps your thoughts about writing contain a few myths that need exploring–and debunking. Do you think that you’ll be a happy writer if you just manage to get published? You might be–but probably only if you’re happy before you get published. Grumpy, negative, passive writers who achieve publication only become grumpy, negative, passive writers with a publishing credit. Publication itself won’t make you happy.

Do you think there is a magical short-cut to writing success? Are you on the constant lookout for the latest get-published-quick scheme? Do you think, if you just find the “key,” you’ll get published immediately? Although we’re a society of instant gratification promoters, it is still true that excellent writers don’t spring up overnight–they study, practice and grow. S-l-o-w-l-y.

Do you think it’s someone else’s fault that you aren’t published? Do you have a general mental habit of blaming your lack of success on others? While it’s a human tendency to do so, this kind of thinking will keep you stuck–and unpublished. Every career has obstacles to conquer on the way to success, and writing is no different. The obstacles only change from time to time. (Writers fifty years ago did not worry about their hard drives crashing or finding time for online social networking.) But writers of all ages have had barriers to overcome. At one time women writers had to disguise what they were doing–and even use a male pen name in order to get published!

Choosing Mental Boundaries

Mental boundaries determine what thoughts are allowed to set up housekeeping in your brain–and which ones are told to get lost! [If you need assistance in this area, I think you might find my “Boundaries for Writers” e-book helpful.]

Choosing your thoughts begins with noticing when a thought like this passes through your mind: (“When am I going to get published? I’ve been submitting for months and months! I should just quit!”) The second critical part is replacing that thought with one that is both true and positive. (“Getting published takes time for all new writers, and if I’m persistent and consistent in my efforts to improve and market well, I will probably get published eventually!”) At first, it’s reinforcing to say these new thoughts out loud.

(The next two posts will be on making choices in our “attitudes” and “actions.)

Resources

I’ve been working hard myself to improve habits in all areas of my life, including the writing. In the last year, I’ve found these books especially helpful.

Hopefully this blog series will prompt you to look further into this whole matter of habits. Recent research shows how habits actually change your brain. Good habits can conserve your energy and willpower for other things (like writing or enjoying life!)

 

Regain the Passion (Part 3)

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: encouragement, passion, Uncategorized

(First read “Regain the Passion” Part 1 and Part 2.)

How to Regain Lost Passion
If you were passionate about your writing in the past, but haven’t felt that way for a long time, there is a definite sadness mixed in with the lethargy. It feels like falling out of love, and in a very real sense, it is.

Can you stir up the fires of passion for your writing? Can you fall in love with writing and your work again, when all seems dry as dust and just as tasteless?

Yes!

Surprising Sources
Years ago, I struggled with this question, slowly becoming afraid that the boredom and apathy were permanent. I tried to muster some enthusiasm for my book-in-progress, whose deadline was fast approaching, but to no avail.

It wasn’t the book manuscript itself. I knew it was finely plotted, with well placed clues and plenty of tension. The problem wasn’t in the manuscript—it was in me.

Unexpected Lesson

I found the answer to the problem one cold, snowy morning, and it came from the most unlikely source: my dog. We’d had freezing conditions for several days, cutting short my walks with Rhett (my black Lab.) I chained him outside for the day, then hurried back indoors. Playtime was cut short—it was just too cold and windy for me.

I paid little attention to Rhett during that week, although I’d loved him passionately since bringing him home from the pound ten months earlier. As the frigid week wore on, and the weather stayed miserable, I began to resent having a dog. I hated going out in the weather to his snug dog house, carrying water so often because his dish froze over. I became apathetic about Rhett—he was getting to be more trouble than he was worth.

Then one day the sun came out, melted the snow, and temperatures soared. I put Rhett on his leash and took an hour-long walk, complete with Puppy Biscuit rewards for correct sitting, heeling and staying. When we got home, I chained him outside near his food and water, then stayed to play.

I petted, I stroked, I laughed, I cooed. (If you’ve never been a dog owner, you may need to gag here.) Anyone watching me that morning could see I had regained my passion for owning a dog.

Simple Formula
I’m sure you see the parallels. Regaining passion for your work can be accomplished the same way:
A. Pay attention to your work. Think about it when you’re not at your desk. Mull over your theme. Ponder plot points. Have mental conversations with your characters.
B. Take care of your work. Feed it with quotes and good resource books. Do in-depth research and interviews. Immerse yourself in your subject matter.
C. Spend time with your work. Daily, if possible. If you want passion to ignite in anything (a relationship, your work, a hobby) you must spend consistent—and sufficient—time with it. We understand this principle in romantic relationships, but it’s just as true with your writing.

Don’t Settle
Part of the enjoyment of being a writer is the pure passion and pleasure of setting words on paper. Don’t settle for ho-hum, apathetic work. Instead take the necessary steps to revive your passion for writing.

Do it as often as necessary to keep that spark of joy alive!

Regain the Passion (Part 2)

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: encouragement, passion, Uncategorized

(Read Part 1 of Regain the Passion first.)

When does passion flourish? Under what conditions?

First, a writer’s passion is generally at its highest point when life is going well. (Big surprise!) When relationships are smooth, health is good, there’s enough money to pay the bills, the writer is following a healthy diet and getting sufficient sleep: these are the optimal conditions.

Whatever is draining your passion first needs to be attended to, thoroughly and persistently. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always bring back the passion. It simple sets the stage, giving yourself the optimal environment for your resurrected passion to grow.

Habits of a Passionate Writer
How do you recognize passion for writing? Yes, it’s a feeling, but it’s so much more.

Each writer will exhibit certain habits when she is being passionate about her writing. These habits are individual and personal. Take a moment to make a list of habits that (to you) marks a writer as passionate.

To me, a passionate writer:
A. writes, almost daily.
B. listens, observes and thinks—alert to her surroundings.
C. carries a notebook everywhere to jot down impressions, descriptions and ideas.
D. journals—daily, if possible.
E. is focused—begins and continues her writing with energy.
F. reads other good children’s books, both current and classics.
G. keeps up with professional reading.
H. shares her enthusiasm at conferences and workshops (but doesn’t over-schedule such events so they don’t interfere with writing).
I. leads a more secluded life than the average person, in order to nurture and explore her talent.
J. is physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually healthy.
K. Most of all, passionate writers are 24-hour-a-day writers. Even when washing dishes or cutting grass, the passionate writer’s work is close at hand, on the edges of her mind. Everything she does is writing-related and life-related, so that her work and her life are inseparable.

What did I leave out? What additional things are on your list? (Next time we’ll talk about practical ways to get the passion back.)

Regain the Passion

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: encouragement, passion, Uncategorized

Has this ever happened to you?

You’re half-way through a short story revision, or the rough draft of your novel, or the research for a biography—and without warning, you lose your desire for the project. The passion evaporates.

You feel lethargic, sad, and brain dead (or least oxygen deprived.) You put your writing away for a few days, hoping it’s hormonal or a phase of the moon or post-holiday blues.

After Some Time…

However, when you dig it out again, it’s even worse. It doesn’t grab you. You’re sure it won’t grab anyone else either! It’s boring. It goes back in the drawer.

Unfortunately, over the next few weeks, the situation worsens. Lethargy turns to apathy. Boredom turns to dislike. You face the fact that, for some reason, you’ve lost your burning desire to write this story—or maybe even write anything at all.

Without the passion, why bother to endure the long hours, the potential rejection of your work, and the low pay? Perhaps the bigger question is this: once it’s lost, how do you recapture your passion for writing?

What is Passion?
The question is summed up well by Hal Zina Bennett in Write from the Heart:

“How do authors connect with that passion, bordering on obsession, that drives them to finish even the most ambitious writing projects in spite of seemingly insurmountable handicaps? What is the secret creative energy that the world’s best writers can apparently zap into action the moment their fingers touch their keyboards?”

Some say this passion is tied to how meaningful the writer feels his work is. He feels passion when what he is sharing is deeply meaningful. He may lose his passion when his writing turns into

  • what will sell
  • what the markets dictate are current trends
  • what pays the most money.

Eric Maisel in A Life in the Arts says,

“The most salient difference between the regularly blocked artist and the regularly productive artist may not be the greater talent of the latter, but the fact that the productive artist possesses and retains his missionary zeal.”

Most writers would agree that a passion for writing involves enthusiasm, excitement, drive, and a deep love for your work. This passion makes writing a joyous occupation. It makes time fly while “real life” is shoved to the far comers of the mind. It’s being in the flow, enraptured in the present moment. For some, it’s being aware that they’re writers twenty-four hours a day.

Why Does Passion Dissipate?
Passion can spring a leak after too many rejection slips, too many critical comments from spouses or reviewers or critique partners, and too many crises to handle in your personal life. Passion can also die when you repeat yourself in your work instead of exploring new avenues of writing.

Lack of passion can also be caused by chronic fatigue.

“Fatigue and the accompanying blockage also come with living the sort of marginal life that artists so often live,” says Eric Maisel. “The effort required to put food on the table, to deal with an illness without benefit of a hospital plan, to pay the rent, to get a toothache treated, to attend to the needs of a spouse or children, can tire out the most passionate and dedicated artist.”

Do YOU sometimes struggle with this issue? Please leave a comment! (Parts 2 and 3 will discuss ways to get the passion back!)

The Writing Season

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: career planning, Uncategorized

My daughter’s expecting her second baby any day now, and it’s fun watching her during this “nesting” season.

Today it struck me how much her preparations for a new life are like those plans made by writers who want to write for a lifetime.

Having babies takes serious preparation. So does having a writing career.

Time to Make Changes

My daughter’s changes have included preparing the baby’s room and getting the baby equipment out of storage. With the first baby, she read many books to prepare. She handed over a ministry at church that she ran (and loved), but felt she couldn’t devote enough time to after the baby was born. And she stopped working, something they had been budgeting for. (Bless her husband.)

Writing Season Preparation

If you want to be successful at your writing and even turn it into a career, you’ll need to make similar changes. Study books by writers who have traveled the path you want to take. The easiest change you’ll make is setting up a writing space (whether it’s a spare room or just a corner of the bedroom) and acquiring the proper equipment (computer, printer, Internet access).

You may have to give up some volunteer activities for a while, or cut back (or cut out) certain hobbies. For a while, maybe you can’t plant huge gardens or run marathons or belong to three book clubs. You may also hope to quit your day job. If that’s the case, you’ll need to do like my son-in-law and have a strict budget (probably for years) to prepare for the income cut.

It’s Temporary

My daughter’s nesting season didn’t last forever the first time. One day when she was an old hand at the skills she’d acquired to balance home and baby, she slowly began to add some “extras” back into her life. Maybe not everything, but some things she missed the most.

Likewise, the things you give up so you have time to devote to your writing is for a season. Once you have the writing skills well in hand, you will be able to slowly add back into your life a few of the things you miss most. But give sufficient time to your “writing season” first. You’ll be glad you did!

What part of the writing season are YOU in? Cutting things out to make time? Adding things back in? What has been the hardest part?

Nourish Your Writer's Soul with Spontaneous Combustion

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: encouragement, Uncategorized

For the past month, I have been choosing what Nancy Butts calls “activities that nourish your writer’s soul” (from Spontaneous Combustion: A Writer’s Primer for Creative Revival by Nancy.)

In fact, one of the activities I do each day, before I work on my novel, is to read half a chapter or so of Nancy’s book. (Chapters are fairly short.)

It’s much like having a dear writing friend right there beside you who GETS the writing life.

Why Write if Nobody’s Buying?

Even after you are published–maybe even published multiple times by traditional publishers–you’ll hit dry periods. Very dry periods where no one wants to buy from you.

I’ve been there a couple of times, each discouraging period lasting several years.

When it happens to you–not IF–will you quit? Will you hang in there a bit–and then quit? Or will you be like Barbara Pym, someone Nancy suggests should be the patron saint of writers.

After reading Barbara’s story, I have to agree. And with Nancy’s permission, it is reprinted below. Enjoy it–and let it inspire you.

Nourish Your Writer’s Soul

In the 1950s, Pym published six novels: quietly comic books about the lives of spinsters and curates in English villages. She was well-reviewed, had a body of loyal readers, and seemed to enjoy a solid working relationship with her publisher.

Then in 1963 she submitted her seventh novel— and despite her fans, her good reviews, and her history with the publisher, they refused to print it, saying it was out of step with the times. She revised and resubmitted it, and they rejected it again. She submitted it elsewhere, twenty times. And twenty times it was rejected.

Pym was living through a writer’s ultimate nightmare. The people whose opinions she valued— upon whom her very existence as a writer depended— no longer respected her work. She was devastated by this experience. “I get moments of gloom and pessimism when it seems as if nobody could ever like my kind of writing again….” she wrote in 1970. 

Note two things about this quote. Though it was seven years after that painful first rejection from her own publisher, Pym was still writing, despite her despair. She continued to believe in the worth and value of her writing even when no one else did. She continued to write.

That’s why I’ve nominated her as our patron saint.  

Another nine years went by. Pym was diagnosed with breast cancer and went to live with her sister in a small village, and she continued writing, despite the fact that no one wanted to publish what she wrote.  

Bear with me: there is a gloriously happy ending to this tale. In 1977, sixteen years after Pym entered what she called “the wilderness,” two other British writers named her as the most under-rated novelist of 20th century England in an article in the London Times literary supplement.  

It helps to have friends in high places. That same year, Macmillan bought her novel A Quartet in Autumn for publication; it made the short list for the Booker Prize. A second novel followed in 1978, and then a US publisher “discovered” her, and all her works were made available   for the first time to American readers.

It is Pym’s setbacks, not her success, that make her a hero. I call her a literary saint because even in the darkest of times, she was able to show the rest of us the truth and wisdom of this:

Take your writing seriously— even when nobody else does.

Especially when nobody else does.

 So when you can’t remember why you’re bothering to write, think of Pym.

 

 

 

 

 

Journal Through the Summer (Part 2)

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: family, journaling, Uncategorized

(First read Journal Through the Summer–Part 1) Journaling has many purposes and uses–and here are some more!

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Journaling Dreams

Journal through your summer by exploring your dreams and daydreams. Give yourself free rein to imagine the kind of life you’d love to live. No restrictions. Journal about where you’d like to live, things you’d like to experience, new foods you’d like to eat, different hobbies you’d like to try. Let your mind wander off onto all sorts of delightful tangents, then capture those daydreams in a journal.

You’ll begin to notice common threads. Perhaps you’ll discover all your daydreams cen­ter around creating more simplicity in your life. Perhaps they express a need for more adven­ture. Perhaps they’ll uncover a buried dream or goal from long ago. Slow down, and take the time to get to know yourself again.

Journaling Creativity

Use a summer journal to explore more facets of your creativity. Perhaps you’ve written and published numerous nonfiction pieces. In your journal, experiment with poetry. Draw a pic­ture. Write an essay or a fairy tale. Create some song lyrics. Write a fantasy story if you’ve always written modern-day thrillers. You may be surprised to uncover hidden talents in areas you never explored before.

Use a summer journal to take snapshots. In addition to using a camera, use your jour­nal. After you snap a picture of Grandma reading to your son, write a journal entry describ­ing the scene. Be liberal with sensory descriptions, and use all your senses. Describe the lilt in Grandma’s voice, the tattered childhood book, the creaking of the rocking chair, your son’s terrycloth sleeper, how he curls into her bent arm. Capture memories with the sensations of the moment. I intend to keep a journal when my daughter’s new baby arrives in a few weeks. I’ll take a million pictures, but I also want a written account of those first days and weeks of the baby’s life. It will contain treasured memories to enjoy myself and share with others.

Switch Gears

If this summer’s crowded calendar has you throwing up your hands and walking away from your computer for a season, take heart. Your writing isn’t over for the summer. Instead, switch gears. Buy a notebook and pen, and this year journal your way through your summer.

Has this summer journaling idea given YOU any ideas of how you can use your summer “chaos” to further your writing?

Journal Through the Summer

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: family, journaling, Uncategorized

I’ve received a lot of email from writers and blog readers about the difficulties of writing during the summer. Kids and grandkids are home from school, vacations are taken, company arrives. Is there a way to keep writing, despite all this?

Yes. You can journal through the summer.

I wrote this article (first part below, second part on Tuesday) for my book, Writer’s First Aid.  It’s from the section called “Work Habits That Work for You.” Hope you find it helpful!

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For a variety of reasons, writers often have difficulty writing during the summer. Your children may be out of school and underfoot, or you may have a house full of company. You may have trips and vacations planned. Warm weather may entice you onto the beach or golf course. Whatever the cause, you’re thrown out of your writing routine. Sometimes you stop writing altogether and lose your momentum. One solution? Journal through your summer.

Journaling is a hobby with many advantages. It’s inexpensive. A cheap spiral notebook will work just fine. Your journal is always available, and all you need in the way of equip­ment is a pen. Journaling can be done at any time of day, in any type of weather, for as long (or short) a time as you desire.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Journaling is meant to be fun. Don’t put expectations on yourself during journaling time. Forget about your performance, and don’t critique yourself. Relax. Let go. Writers need a place to write where “enjoyment” is the only requirement. Ask yourself frequently, “Am I having fun?” If not, loosen up. Write from your gut. Be totally honest. If you can relax and have fun, you’ll eventually discover the natural writing “voice” within you. You won’t have to try. Your unique voice will simply flow out onto the page.

Journal the Joys

Journaling during the summer has many advantages. If you’re traveling, it can provide written snapshots of the people you see, the places you go, and the things you do. (Back home, these descriptions easily translate into nonfiction ideas or into characters, settings, and plots for your stories.) If a special event is scheduled–a wedding or the birth of a grandchild–journaling is ideal for capturing those special, once-in-a-lifetime feelings. If you’re surrounded by active children, journaling provides a practical and convenient way to capture creative ideas on the run, since a useful journal entry need take no more than 10-15 minutes.

Journal the Blues

Journaling can also be beneficial in helping you work through unpleasant feelings that sum­mertime sometimes produces. Perhaps your cross to bear is your in-laws’ yearly two-week visit. Journal beforehand, journal during the visit, and journal afterwards.

Before they arrive, write about your feelings of dread. Remember (on paper) the past visits. Describe how you hope this visit will go, then brainstorm ideas that can make that dream a reality. During their visit (perhaps late at night) journal your frustrations, failures–and successes! Use the journal for a dumping ground of negative feelings. (Be sure to hide the notebook!) After they return home, a journal can be used to process the visit. How did it go? What did you learn? What would you do differently next time? Was there improvement? (Later, these notes could become a how-to article on structuring a successful in-law visit.)

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The second part will be on Tuesday. Feel free to add your own ideas for journaling in the summer in the comments!

How to Fix A Writer's Fragmented Life

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: balance, focus, Uncategorized

I always blog on Tuesdays. Except yesterday.

My grandkids had been here for a couple of days of hiking, water fights, reading and laughing. I had planned to blog last night, but I had a meeting at my house to plan and clean for. BUT the air conditioning went out (a big deal in summertime Texas), and several elderly committee members would have fainted in my oven of a living room. In the midst of rescheduling the meeting, a storm blew in, and I shut down all the computers…so no blog yesterday.

A very fragmented day.

This morning when I got up early to blog, I saw the article below in my Inbox. I laughed aloud. It’s on trying to write with fragmented lives, written by Randy Ingermanson. If you don’t get his newsletter, you should. Contact info is at the end of this wonderful article (reprinted with permission.) Enjoy!

“Organization: Your Fragmented Life” by Randy Ingermanson

So your life is fragmented beyond belief, right?

  • You need to research foods they ate in the 1880s in France for your novel.
  • And the repair guy is coming at 10 AM to fix the busted washing machine.
  • And you have a blog that needs feeding.
  • There’s a storm coming and it might be time to clear the gunk out of the rain gutters before they overflow.
  • Did you remember to sign up for that writing conference that’s going to have that agent you’ve been mooning over?
  • The cat is way overdue to be spayed and she’s acting much too friendly with your teddy bear.
  • You haven’t Facebooked in ages and you’re not sure it matters anymore because you hate it anyway.
  • Your boss wants that report on his desk tomorrow.
  • You’re supposed to be writing your novel.

All of the above, and more, is on your plate for today.

Most of these tasks have been festering on your plate for days or weeks already. You hate your plate. You want all those tasks to just go away. They’re all important. Quick — which do you do first?

Does any of this sound remotely familiar?

Good, you’re human. If your life isn’t fragmented, you might be a robot. Or God. Or deceased.

So how do you deal with it all?

I can’t tell you how you SHOULD deal with it all. But I can tell you how I deal with it. If it sounds like it might work for you, then try it.

There are really three basic steps here:

  1. Keep lists for the main Big Chunks of your life. All tasks go on a list for one of your Big Chunks, or else they go on the Miscellaneous list.
  2. Every day, pick a few of the Big Chunk lists to work on. Assign a priority for each list for the day. Set a fixed amount of time that you’re going to work exclusively on each list, when you’ll be totally focused on that list.
  3. When it’s time to work on a given list, work on that for the assigned amount of time and then stop. Ignore all interruptions if you possibly can.

Does this work? Yes, it works for me. It might work for you too. Let’s see how it plays out in real life:

Today, I have a boatload of things to get done. A lot more than I could possibly do in one day. All of them are important.

They fall into four Big Chunks, and for today, I put them in this order:

  1. My novel. I’m proofing it for publication. Yay!
  2. My business. I’ve got a ton of small tasks and one big task.
  3. This e-zine. I’ve got three articles to write in the next few days, plus editing.
  4. A giveaway campaign on Goodreads that I just started, and which I need to check up on.

Each of these Big Chunks has a bunch of tasks that all need to get done. So on each list, I’ve got the tasks in the rough order I want to do them.

This morning when I looked at my lists, it was pretty overwhelming. That’s normal. I can’t remember when my lists didn’t look overwhelming. Yours look overwhelming too. That doesn’t mean we need to be overwhelmed.

What we need is focus.

When I started work this morning, I assigned myself 90 minutes to work on the novel, 60 minutes to work on my business, 90 minutes to work on this e-zine, and 60 minutes to deal with the Goodreads campaign.

That works out to 5 hours total, which in my experience is a good day’s work, because there is also email to be answered, small breaks to be taken, water to be drunk, exercise to be had, cats to be coddled, and crises to be managed.

The little things never go away, but you manage them by wedging them into the cracks between the Big Chunks in your day.

The point is that 5 hours of my day is scheduled for the Big Chunks in my life.

I began with Big Chunk #1 — working on my novel. I had only 90 minutes assigned to it, which meant there was no time to mess around. I dived right in and got cranking. 90 minutes goes fast.

When my 90 minutes were up, I was on a roll and didn’t want to stop. So I kept on going until I reached 160 minutes. That was cheating, but my novel was my top priority for the day, so I wanted to run with it. I’m happy to cheat on behalf of the high priority things in my life.

I felt pretty good when I finished, so I took a break and did some e-mail. Not all of it, but enough to knock down the in-box a bit. That burned 15 minutes.

Then I moved into Big Chunk #2, my business work. There is an infinite amount of work on that plate, but I had budgeted only 60 minutes for the day. Which meant there was no time to mess around. I took the most important task, which really NEEDS to be done today, and started work.

There were some interruptions. Urgent phone calls from my boss which I really can’t ignore. That happens. But I was pretty focused anyway, because I really wanted to get this one task done. It took two full hours. I had only one hour budgeted, but when you’re halfway through, you really don’t want to stop. So I got it finished.

Fact is, there are a dozen other important tasks I need to do for my business. I did only one. But I finished it. I could whine about the other eleven left undone, or I could be happy about the one that I did. I’ll take the one. Some days, I don’t get even one done. That’s just reality.

I’m right now working on Big Chunk #3, this e-zine. I have 90 minutes budgeted for this, AND I have a crisis to deal with from my boss which I have set aside to ferment for a bit.

My theory on crises is you either kill them right away or let them take their turn with all the other crises in the world. This one is going to take its turn. I just don’t think I can solve it today, so why should I let it interfere with the Big Chunks in my life? No reason to do that. Not going to.

I have three articles for my e-zine I’d love to write today. Not going to happen in the 90 minutes I have budgeted. I’ll be doing very well to get this one done in that amount of time.

But in fact, the first draft is almost done. I’m pretty focused right now. I’ve given myself permission to be focused for this 90 minute block.

After the 90 minutes are up, I’ll need to go check the mail. And deal with the e-mail that’s reproducing in my in-box. And pay obeisance to the cat, who has not been fed in two whole hours. And think about my boss-induced crisis.

I don’t know if I’ll get to the Goodreads task list today. It would be wonderful if I do, but the fact is that it was #4 on my list of Big Chunks.

On different days, I choose different Big Chunks. My life has several Big Chunks. Probably six or seven of them. On any given day, I can generally get something significant done on three or possibly four of them.

That’s my life.

I bet yours is similar.

I bet yours is totally out of control.

Just like mine.

You will never get your life under control, if by “control” you mean that all your lists are finished.

Not going to happen until you die. Because things keeping adding themselves to your lists. Crises happen. Cats select you to be their humble servant. Yikes, my friend is Skyping me right now. I’ll allow myself a couple of quick responses to be polite. Got to stay focused on what I’m doing.

Every day you can budget time on the Big Chunks of your life. 60 minutes for this. 90 minutes for that. If you get some actual work done, one or more tasks crossed off the list, on each of three Big Chunks every day, well that’s progress.

Yes, we all want to get it all done.

No, none of us are ever going to do it.

Sure, your life is fragmented beyond all belief. But you can defrag it a bit, right now, today, tomorrow, and forever. By budgeting time for the Big Chunks.

Which Big Chunk is most important for today? (On a good day, your most important Big Chunk might be your novel, but it probably won’t be every day.)

How much time can you realistically spend on each of your Big Chunks? (Remember that the little pieces of life are going to intrude, so the time you spend on your Big Chunks is not going to be 100% of your day.)

Now go work on the first Big Chunk for the time allotted. Ignore all interruptions if you possibly can, until the time is up. Then deal with the interruptions, the crises, the incidental e-mail for a few minutes.

Then on to the next Big Chunk, and the next.

For me, three Big Chunks is a good day, and four is spectacular.

Divide and conquer. It worked for Julius Caesar. It can work for you.

One Big Chunk at a time

****This article is reprinted by permission of the author.

Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, “the Snowflake Guy,” publishes the free monthly Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with more than 32,000 readers. If you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction, AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND have FUN doing it, visit http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

Download your free Special Report on Tiger Marketing and get a free 5-Day Course by e-mail in How To Publish a Novel.

 

 

The Scheduling Habit

Published on by Kristi Holl Category: Uncategorized

Getting into the writing habit is difficult, especially in the early years of writing. We aren’t making much money at it, so it’s hard to justify taking the time.

Our lives are full to overflowing already, so where can we possibly fit in some writing? How can we form a consistent writing habit when our schedules change from day to day, depending on our obligations?

School is out now, for one thing, which affects you parents and us grandparents who babysit. Schedules that worked during the school year will have to be adjusted. And summers often bring events like vacations, out-of-town visitors, swimming lessons, and Bible school.

Every minute is spoken for! (Or…is it?)

Going on a Time Hunt

Believe it or not, you have more time to write than you think. Keep a time log, tracking how you spend your time for a few days or a week. If you do, you’ll spot “down” time that you use for other things which could be snagged for your writing.

It might be ten minutes while you wait for a ball game to start, or half an hour waiting in the car during swim lessons, or fifteen minutes while you stand at the stove and stir. It might be an hour while kids watch a DVD or play in the backyard.

You may not have more than fifteen minutes at a time to yourself, but those bits can add up during the day–if your mind-set is to take advantage of those writing bits of time.

Redirect Your Time

When my kids were very young, I desperately wanted to write. I realized that instead of catching up on laundry and chores during their afternoon naps, I could write. Instead of making beds and doing dishes during the morning half hour of “Mr. Rogers,” I could write. Instead of thumbing through ragged magazines for twenty minutes every Friday afternoon while my daughter got her allergy shots, I could write.

Bed making and dishes and laundry could be done while little ones milled around and talked to me. I chose to write instead when they didn’t need me. That “nap-Mr. Rogers-allergy shot” schedule became my writing routine until my youngest went to kindergarten. By that time, Atheneum had published my first five middle grade novels.

Hidden Time for Scheduling

“But I really don’t have any free time!” you might truly think. I challenge you to study your schedule very closely. Everyone has pockets of “down” time during the day.

It may vary from day to day, but usually it is consistent weekly. For example, you may sit in the pick-up line at your daughter’s elementary school every afternoon for fifteen minutes. Instead of listening to the radio, write.

You might free up some time by doubling up on your mindless activities. Most of us multi-tasked before the word became popular, but if you’re not, try it. While supper is cooking, don’t watch the news; pay those bills or wrap those birthday gifts, and free up a half hour in the evening to write.

If you want to write YA novels, listen to those young adult books on tape while you walk your dog. You’ll be doing your “market research” for an hour, freeing up an hour later to write.

Get It in Writing

Write down whatever pockets of time that you discover can be used for your writing. Even if it’s only fifteen-minute chunks, note them. You can write an amazing amount in ten or fifteen minutes at a time–and it adds up.

You may find these chunks in the “between times.” You might have a bit of time between when the kids get on the school bus and you have to leave for work. Or between your day job and supper, you may have half an hour that you wait on a child at ball practice. (I wrote a lot sitting in bleachers waiting for children at practice.)

Write all these pockets of time down on a weekly schedule and write it on your daily calendar. Make it a habit. Perhaps on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you write half an hour before work, plus daily you write fifteen minutes before cooking supper, and Saturday morning you write an hour while the kids watch cartoons. That’s four hours of writing in a week, just in the free bits and pieces. Since many of us started writing while caring for small children and/or holding down a day job, this kind of weekly schedule may be the best you can do for a while.

And that’s fine!

Time-Honored Tradition

The highest percentage of today’s famous, best-selling authors admit that their writing schedules were exactly like this in the early years. But they had that “burning desire to write.” And that desire is what motivates us to find those pockets of time, give them to our writing, schedule it daily, and follow through.

You can find time to write, whether it’s early morning, during your noon hour, late at night, during commutes, or in catch-as-catch-can bits throughout the day. You must integrate writing into your existing routine for it to work.

Schedules make writing a habit, which in turn makes it a permanent part of your lifestyle. Can you think of even ONE bit of unused time during your day that you could spend writing? Please do share your ideas!