I've had a lovely and busy weekend punctuated with a burst of wonderful news. I'm filled to the brim with new stories and ideas. I've made a new connection with a wonderful person, Sia Huff, who is a Petit Fours & Hot Tamales member. I'm so glad I participated in the PF&HT because I met a her. She is now a part of my little category romance critique circle with Pam Montovani.
And we three had a fabulous time cranking out plots, names, MIDDLE names (don't ask but it was fun and funny), dreaming about going to NYC and telling funny stories about how we all met and our adventures whilst sitting around a table during a Golden Heart/Rita ceremony. Of course, our editors and agents would laugh, right? And then we'd turn to the other wonderful circles of writerly friends we have, the GOOD GIRLS of WRITING Sharon Wray, Karen Johnston and M.V. Freeman and tell even more anecdotes.
And our writer friends, already published when we met them and so helpful to helping us attain our dream of publication would laugh and say you are such a funny and diverse group of women and yet you belong to each other in wise and mysterious and wondrous ways.
So that's what a writerly weekend with writers is like. It's laughing, working, shopping for wine at Trader Joes, celebrating, plotting, dreaming, and playing. Our minds are full. Our well is overflowing. Our lives are going in the direction planned.
And now this week I must execute the plans. For potential without perseverance is potential wasted. And I'm not the type to waste potential. Onward and upward I must go. This means face time with my pal the computer, following up on opportunities, making the most of my time, never surrendering.
The rest of this week's blogs might be a bit short. For I have writerly things to do that will lead me down a busy and happy trail.
:-)
Showing posts with label working. Show all posts
Showing posts with label working. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2012
Friday, October 22, 2010
You've Got to Play to Work
Last week I posted about finding your dream and going for it with no excuses. My first tip to pursuing one's dreams and goals was to make time to do it. There is no such thing as no time to do anything unless you are working three jobs and raising a family. There just isn't. If you have a half an hour, you've got time to work toward your goal.
Establishing a minimum time requirement per day is crucial toward reaching your goal. Even if all you do is research what it will take to accomplish reaching your goal, then it is still productive use of your time. As a writer, that half an hour might be about researching some facet of my novel. But if you're dreaming about becoming a doctor, it might be about researching what areas of medicine are best suited to your personality. Each step, even a baby step, is still a step forward.
If you've been reading my blog this week, you'll know I haven't been working as much as I've been playing. In fact, I didn't even meet one of my big goals for the week because I preferred playing to sitting down and reading through my two requested partial manuscripts. I always like to do a read-aloud before I do my final tweak and send my babies out into the world.
Bad me! But not really. Why? Because I did manage to meet my minimum goals every day this week. I also exceeded them more days than not. My minimum goal this week was to write 100 words a day about my new book which I am exploring, follow up on blog comments, write three blogs for the following week and schedule them, and continue working on my social media knowledge via Kristen Lamb's book, WE ARE NOT ALONE and my online courses. Yes, despite my deliberate hooky from serious work, I managed to accomplish quite a lot.
I could have accomplished more if I had hunkered down and forced myself to stop playing and work. But I know something important: my brain needs a break and this season is the one season I feel fully rejuvenated if I take the time to play. Every year in the autumn I slow down a bit to let my brain relax and enjoy the beautiful season. I need to.
Usually I've been working super hard and this year was no exception. I was working on my full manuscript's revision until September 29. On September 30, I immediately went to the Georgia Writers of America Moonlight and Magnolia's Conference and immersed myself in all things professional via pitching my manuscript, learning about writing from Michael Hauge, Allison Brennan and Kelly Stone, and celebrating my writing friends' victories at the MAGGIE Awards Ceremony.
There wasn't much time to breathe between that trip and our fall break with the family. I knew it would be pointless to undertake a large project so I stuck to my mini goals and gave myself some space.
This is my second tip: Understand your rhythm as you undertake pursuing your goal.
If you don't understand how you work and when it is best for you to work, then you will burn out. Everyone has a different rhythm. I tend to operate well on long jags of intense work with time out for good behavior breaks. I need my social time, my sun time and my time to relax if I am going to get the big tasks done. I've also learned that as a writer, I must touch or do something with my current work in progress everyday or I'll lose my connection with my story. Now that doesn't mean I write through major holidays like Christmas or New Years Eve, but I do write a bit every day through almost all the days of the year.
The trick is I know when to notch back my efforts and I don't beat myself up for not attaining major goals. I can make up for the loss during high work days. Giving myself permission to chill helps me to work harder when I am on full schedule. This can be true of students as well. I used to look at my schedules and I could see where my days were filled and not so filled. I made sure I cut back a bit, let myself play and regroup, during those slower days.
It's important to know when you're strongest creatively. Is it mornings? Nights? Afternoons? I tend to be super awake and creative in the mornings, lull in the afternoons, and then pick up a bit again in the 4PM-6PM time slot. Afternoon lulls are when I usually play more during my "off time" but if I am in full work zone, I usually use afternoons to catch up on the business and boring parts of my job as a writer.
Years ago I read a great book by Dr. Robert Arnot called THE BIOLOGY OF SUCCESS. I still have it in my bookshelf and refer to it regularly. Understand how you operate and you will optimize your chances of succeeding in your chosen profession.
Do you know your rhythm? Do you know your strengths? How do you relax? Do you have flex time built into your schedule?
If you are working toward a goal, writing or non-writing, share it with me. Share your challenges and your solutions with me. I'd love to hear about them.
Establishing a minimum time requirement per day is crucial toward reaching your goal. Even if all you do is research what it will take to accomplish reaching your goal, then it is still productive use of your time. As a writer, that half an hour might be about researching some facet of my novel. But if you're dreaming about becoming a doctor, it might be about researching what areas of medicine are best suited to your personality. Each step, even a baby step, is still a step forward.
If you've been reading my blog this week, you'll know I haven't been working as much as I've been playing. In fact, I didn't even meet one of my big goals for the week because I preferred playing to sitting down and reading through my two requested partial manuscripts. I always like to do a read-aloud before I do my final tweak and send my babies out into the world.
Bad me! But not really. Why? Because I did manage to meet my minimum goals every day this week. I also exceeded them more days than not. My minimum goal this week was to write 100 words a day about my new book which I am exploring, follow up on blog comments, write three blogs for the following week and schedule them, and continue working on my social media knowledge via Kristen Lamb's book, WE ARE NOT ALONE and my online courses. Yes, despite my deliberate hooky from serious work, I managed to accomplish quite a lot.
I could have accomplished more if I had hunkered down and forced myself to stop playing and work. But I know something important: my brain needs a break and this season is the one season I feel fully rejuvenated if I take the time to play. Every year in the autumn I slow down a bit to let my brain relax and enjoy the beautiful season. I need to.
Usually I've been working super hard and this year was no exception. I was working on my full manuscript's revision until September 29. On September 30, I immediately went to the Georgia Writers of America Moonlight and Magnolia's Conference and immersed myself in all things professional via pitching my manuscript, learning about writing from Michael Hauge, Allison Brennan and Kelly Stone, and celebrating my writing friends' victories at the MAGGIE Awards Ceremony.
There wasn't much time to breathe between that trip and our fall break with the family. I knew it would be pointless to undertake a large project so I stuck to my mini goals and gave myself some space.
This is my second tip: Understand your rhythm as you undertake pursuing your goal.
If you don't understand how you work and when it is best for you to work, then you will burn out. Everyone has a different rhythm. I tend to operate well on long jags of intense work with time out for good behavior breaks. I need my social time, my sun time and my time to relax if I am going to get the big tasks done. I've also learned that as a writer, I must touch or do something with my current work in progress everyday or I'll lose my connection with my story. Now that doesn't mean I write through major holidays like Christmas or New Years Eve, but I do write a bit every day through almost all the days of the year.
The trick is I know when to notch back my efforts and I don't beat myself up for not attaining major goals. I can make up for the loss during high work days. Giving myself permission to chill helps me to work harder when I am on full schedule. This can be true of students as well. I used to look at my schedules and I could see where my days were filled and not so filled. I made sure I cut back a bit, let myself play and regroup, during those slower days.
It's important to know when you're strongest creatively. Is it mornings? Nights? Afternoons? I tend to be super awake and creative in the mornings, lull in the afternoons, and then pick up a bit again in the 4PM-6PM time slot. Afternoon lulls are when I usually play more during my "off time" but if I am in full work zone, I usually use afternoons to catch up on the business and boring parts of my job as a writer.
Years ago I read a great book by Dr. Robert Arnot called THE BIOLOGY OF SUCCESS. I still have it in my bookshelf and refer to it regularly. Understand how you operate and you will optimize your chances of succeeding in your chosen profession.
Do you know your rhythm? Do you know your strengths? How do you relax? Do you have flex time built into your schedule?
If you are working toward a goal, writing or non-writing, share it with me. Share your challenges and your solutions with me. I'd love to hear about them.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Read Through Blahs
Well I started reading through the third MS and BLAH BLAH it is sooo good in places, but the first 25 pages have been tweaked so often, I can't see the forest for the trees. I am not stopping to edit, but following April Kihlstrom's advice and going all the way to the end, making notes about global changes and catching small edits along the way. My writing buddy sent back 106 pages with great critiqe so I am incorporating her thoughts as well.
I have figured out how to get the hero and heroine together without him coming off as sleazy or as a rutting deer -- and I think making that fix will go a long way to helping me recover the proper pacing for the story. The first chapter is way to choppy... probably because I've hacked it to bit sooo many times for contests to fit page counts etc.
LESSON LEARNED. Different cuts for contest and no using contest cuts in revisions!!
Now, a quick check on the other blogs I follow and hi ho hi ho it's back to slogging through the manuscript I go....
I have figured out how to get the hero and heroine together without him coming off as sleazy or as a rutting deer -- and I think making that fix will go a long way to helping me recover the proper pacing for the story. The first chapter is way to choppy... probably because I've hacked it to bit sooo many times for contests to fit page counts etc.
LESSON LEARNED. Different cuts for contest and no using contest cuts in revisions!!
Now, a quick check on the other blogs I follow and hi ho hi ho it's back to slogging through the manuscript I go....
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