One of my friends is a writing coach. She spots things in my writing life when I can’t see “the writing forest for the trees.” She recently asked how the writing was going with my new contracted mysteries, the ones with firm deadlines that are longer than anything I’ve ever written before. How many chapters […]
boundaries
Writing Boundaries: Thinking Like a Nine-to-Fiver
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 […]
Your Writing: Who's in Charge? (Part 3)
(First read Mental Boundaries: Who’s in Charge Part 1 and Emotional Boundaries: Who’s in Charge? Part 2.) By now, you’ve changed your thoughts and your attitudes. However, in the final analysis, taking charge of your writing life comes down to taking action. Are you actually writing? Have you developed the Seven Habits of a Highly […]
Emotional Boundaries: Who's in Charge? (Part 2)
(First read Mental Boundaries: Who’s in Charge?–Part 1) Are you tired of feeling the same defeatist way about your writing? Are you ready for something new? 2. Attitudes Changing your thoughts will change your mental attitudes and emotional feelings about writing. Even so, there will be times throughout the day when you will be faced […]
Mental Boundaries: Who's in Charge? (Part 1)
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 […]
Boundaries and Energy Management
If you don’t manage your energy, it won’t matter how well you manage your time. That point was brought home to me again this weekend when I was re-reading a great book called The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.. Most of us realize that we have to balance our energy […]
Boundaries for Writers E-book Available
If you have identified some boundary issues in your life after reading the past five posts (links below), I’d like to encourage you to go further in my 70-page Boundaries for Writers e-book. The blog series could only touch lightly on a few of the topics listed in the e-book. You can […]
Degrees of Boundary Busters
Are all boundary invaders created equal? Absolutely not! We’ve been talking a lot this month about healthy boundaries, unhealthy boundaries, and boundary recovery. Why is there a need for recovery? Because at some point–or several points–your boundaries were invaded. Degrees of Boundary Invaders To be honest, the major boundary busters–often dubbed “abusers”–are the easiest to […]
Setting Boundaries on Yourself
As I write this, I am sitting in my car in a parking lot, waiting for my library branch to open. (And no, that isn’t my library. I wish!) Why am I not sitting in my cozy home office, complete with all the joys of a writer’s surroundings? Because I have several rapidly approaching deadlines, […]
How Healthy Are Your Boundaries?
Writers want and need healthy boundaries. We won’t ever have perfect boundaries, but we can have healthy boundaries. There are basically four kinds of boundaries: healthy boundaries damaged boundaries collapsed boundaries walled boundaries Let’s compare these kinds of boundaries to a room in your house. What Kind Are You? Healthy boundaries would be like living […]