September 29, 2010

I want to check in with you writers who are doing the “Grab 15″ from Habit #1 and the 100-Day Challenge. How are you coming with “chunking down” your goals into tiny slices you can accomplish in 20-minute segments of time? (Leave an update in the comments.)

It reminded me of a blog post from two years ago, and I’m going to run it below because it goes along with our daily writing challenge.

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I’m a sucker for daily reminders from various websites. I get writing reminders, fitness reminders, and blog notices. Today in a couple of fitness emails I realized the solution to a writing problem I have this morning.

First, there was an email from SparkPeople on getting fit called “Success is an Attitude.” A woman wrote: “I plan to lose 50 pounds over a year. I am not setting myself up for any big disappointments by trying to lose too much too fast. Every day is a new day. Every day can be a successful day.” Smart lady, I thought.

Then I read an article from Runner’s World about “The Ten Rules of Weight Loss.” The first rule said, “To lose 10 pounds of body fat a year, you need to eat 100 calories less per day. Cutting too many calories from your daily intake will sap your energy level and increase your hunger, making you more susceptible to splurging on high-calorie foods.”

Parallels with Writing

Ah-ha! Do you see a parallel with writing? I sure do. My natural tendency is to get behind schedule, grit my teeth, buckle down, and plan to write 5,000 words every day for two weeks to finish a project. Who am I kidding?

I can maybe keep up that grueling schedule for several days, but soon I’m depleted, with back and head aching, and I want to eat everything in sight and vege out through a couple of chick flicks. Then it takes me a week to make myself write again, thus averaging out my writing to something like 1000 words per day (or less).

Why not just write 500 easy words every single day–or several times a day in 30-minute slices? That would be a breeze! They’d add up, I wouldn’t get that familiar neck and hip pain from sitting too long—and I would meet the deadlines.

Chunk It Down!

I need to take the attitude of the lady who planned to lose fifty pounds by losing one pound per week. A little bit done every day. What was it that she said?

That way every day is a new day. Every day can be a successful day. What a great description of the perfect writing life!

September 27, 2010

We all want to succeed with our writing, right? I can say a resounding YES! to that, but sometimes you’d never know it by my actions.

Case in point: the 100-Day Challenge that many of us started last week. I’m doing this with my writing friend, Sherryl Clark, and we check in daily with what we’ve accomplished. That’s an excellent system.

What Went Wrong?

However, within three days I was overwhelmed and wanted to quit. We Skyped about it, and the conversation went something like this:

• Me: I was too busy already! I can’t find another hour in my days to do this challenge!
• Sherryl: Hour? What hour? It’s supposed to be 20 minutes.
• (Pause to think and frown) Me: Where did you get the idea of 20 minutes?
• Sherryl: From Angela Booth’s instructions in the first email. You’re supposed to take your projects or goals and chunk them down into 20-minute segments. You set a timer, work for 20 minutes, and then quit. You pick up the next day where you left off. Just 20 minutes per day!

Instead of chunking it DOWN, I had piled it on and plumped it UP. My list became discouraging then. This behavior is known as setting yourself up to fail.

Small Bites

So I backed up and did what Angela Booth recommended, and I chunked down my list of (mostly) marketing tasks into things that could be accomplished in 20-30 minutes. Now it’s fun to look at that list and choose ONE thing to do each day. I start the timer, keep an eye on the countdown, and whiz through each small task.

I intend to use the 20-minute chunk principle for all my writing jobs for a few weeks, just to see how I like it. It’s amazing how much you can get done in 20 concentrated minutes, whether it’s writing or blogging or marketing or updating your website.

Don’t set yourself up for failure. Instead, do whatever it takes to set yourself up for success!

September 24, 2010

For your weekend reading pleasure–and for encouragement as you tackle the 100-Day Challenge–try these articles:

How Deliberate Practice Can Make You an Excellent Writer

10 Reasons You Should Write Something Each Day

Breaking Down Big Dreams into Little Steps

Making Fake Deadlines Real: Completing Projects with Self-Assigned Deadlines

How Priorities Make Things Happen

Have a great weekend!

September 22, 2010

We’ve talked about the Seven Essential Habits of a Working Writer for the last seven days. So…

The Big Question

How do we actually put these habits into motion? How do we make them a part of our daily writing lives? 

I’m going to pass along Angela Booth‘s 100-Day Challenge that a writing friend sent me. 

The challenge actually started yesterday, but you can still sign up for it until Saturday, the 25th. It’s a way to set your writing goals, work at them in very small chunks (like our “Grab 15″ habit), and accomplish some important writing goals between now and January 1, 2011.

Why Wait for the New Year?

Let’s hit the new year already running, with our seven daily writing habits well in hand. If we do the 100-Day Challenge, we’ll also start the new year with some goals achieved, which is a real boost to a writer’s self-esteem.

Who else will join me on this 100-Day Challenge?

September 1, 2010

The eight comments about Wednesday’s E-book Revolution post were so thought-provoking that I didn’t want the blog readers to miss them. I will post the eight comments below, with my reactions in red.

From Elizabeth:

My son gave me a kindle which I do enjoy, though I prefer REAL books still.
I think that e-books will make for a publishing revolution and make it much easier for niche interest groups.
All best wishes Yes, that is so true. While a publisher may not create a whole section for Amish Vampire fiction, an e-publisher can do so. (And don’t laugh–I didn’t make that up. It’s even got a movie deal coming.)

From Beth Mac

I still love the feel of a real book, and an e-book doesn’t seem real. But I can see how they have their place. I’ll always have shelves of books, myself. No batteries required! That “no energy source needed” is so true. And I see the shelves of books all over my house, and I love them! I love sorting through the favorites and passing them down to my grandkids. I just can’t see passing down an electronic box (which I suppose would be way outdated anyway.)

From rockinlibrarian:

In a way it’s silly to me, because I don’t BUY books unless I want to keep them forever, in which case I want a hard copy. If I just want to read a book and don’t care about keeping it, I get it out of the library. I wouldn’t mind having an e-reader, but I would use it primarily for reading long things I find on the Internet, or manuscripts from critique partners, or other transient sort of things. Yes, I would love one for that too! I understand there are people who actually BUY most of the books they read, who pick up huge piles of paperbacks that they read once and then throw away (or attempt to donate to their library- WE DON’T ACTUALLY WANT THEM, YOU KNOW, WE’LL JUST SELL IT AT OUR BOOK SALE FOR 50 CENTS); but that way of doing things is just so foreign to me.

I do worry about the money aspect of the e-book revolution. Even if readers do become incredibly cheap, people still have to pay for content, and for new batteries after the ones you have don’t hold their charge anymore, and for repairs or entirely new readers if they break I hadn’t really considered those “hidden” costs, but that would add up, and if anything that will just make books and reading even LESS accessible to the lower classes than it already is. I work every day with people who cannot afford a home computer, and have little idea how to use one, who then are stuck trying to figure out how to apply online for a minimum-wage job because the bigwigs in that corporation have naively decided that since everyone has a computer nowadays, applying online will be easy! I see entirely too much “everybody’s as well-off as I am” assumptions happening in most of the e-book revolution talk, and that still bothers me. I just experienced that yesterday. I took my granddaughter to a museum, but we had to leave early because she had homework. Last year she could do it in the car, but this year her math book and homework was on a CD that had to go in their home computer. (They weren’t allowed to bring their books home.) It seems like a big assumption to think all kids in the class will have computers at home.

The other thing that bothers me is the insistence that e-books are “greener” than paper. What, replacing something made from a renewable resource (trees) with something made from non-renewable resources (synthetics, petroleum, metals, whatnot), which takes electricity to run, which becomes hazardous waste (you don’t throw electronic equipment in the regular trash you know!) when it goes bad, is that really all that greener? You have really made me think today! I hadn’t considered that either.

But I’m not against the concept of e-readers. I think they’d be handy for transient and often-updated content. I think there are many situations- textbooks, user manuals, things like that- when an electronic version just makes WAY MORE SENSE than a paper version. Yes, my computer is loaded with manuals that are no longer included with new equipment. I actually like the idea of a more all-purpose type reader, a kind of book-shaped computer, where you can read the Internet and so forth too, a multimedia-type thing, I guess like the iPad. But it’s two different things: reading is reading, content is content- but a book is a physical entity, A Book. In other words, there’s no such thing as an e-book, it’s just content delivered electronically. I like how you think! Thanks for taking the time to contribute so much-I know it takes time away from your own reading and writing!

From Yvette

I don’t know what I think about e-books! I’m such a traditionalist! I don’t know what I would do without multiple bookshelves full of books made from paper. Me either! But, I’d be willing to publish that way, if that’s what people are reading. I’d carve my stuff into tree trunks if I thought people would read it that way! I love your sense of humor-and flexibility!  lol! I sure can’t afford to be choosy.

From Ally M

Hello,
From what I’ve heard/read about e-books they seem to have a lot of advantages… but one big draw back, if you don’t have power (dead battery & no way to charge it) you can’t use them. Still… I would love to have an e-reader & would purchase e-books if I had one, great for traveling, Yes, I thought of this the last time I flew. I only took carry-on bags, and to be able to take all the books I wanted, I had to settle for two pair of jeans and two tops for the whole week and hitting a Laundromat but I still love the feel/weight of a good book in my hands when I’m relaxing. For me nothing will replace a real book. I hear you!
My 2 cents… Cheers

From Trudy

Technology is fascinating and can benefit us in so many ways, but sometimes I’m sad about the way technology is taking over the way we read books. I have read a couple of e-books and I can understand how e-books can save on publishing costs, but I still prefer the feel of a “real” book or magazine in my hands. I think you speak for many of us, Trudy. I see the benefits too, and I love the “instant” factor of being able to download and read something right away-especially nonfiction. BUT I like to underline and find things, and I don’t know if I could get used to doing that on an e-book or not.

From Emily

I didn’t think I would like the whole ebook thing, but I have to say I’m a huge fan now. I spent several weeks in the hospital earlier this year and got my Nook during that time. It was so convenient to have everything I wanted to read right at my fingertips when I was unable to do much else. Yes, I can see this, when you’re traveling or away from home for any reason, and you can carry so many books that way so LIGHTLY. When I buy new books now, I get the ebook rather than the regular version, unless the book does not come in digital form. People like you must be why Amazon is selling so many ebooks. It’s nice for traveling, too! Of course, I don’t think traditional books are going anywhere…there’s still something lovely about the look, feel, and smell of a regular book. And something in me just doesn’t want to cuddle up with a child and an ebook. I just love both!

I also have your two digital books on my Nook, Kristi…I found them both to be extremely helpful when it comes to writing! Thanks, Emily! That’s funny, but when I put them together, I never envisioned anyone having them on an ebook reader! I figured they would be downloaded to computers, to have right next to a manuscript someone was working on. (That’s how I use the 50 Tension Techniques myself.)

From Andrea

I have absolutely nothing to do with e-books; they just can’t satisfy my reading senses. Narrow minded? Maybe, but there are just some things you can’t get from an e-book that you can from a printed book. I don’t think anyone would disagree with you there-even the biggest e-book fans.  I like to place the spine of a book in the palm of my hand and feel the weight, I like to fan through the pages and smell the paper and ink smell, but most of all I love turning the pages one at a time – especially when I am so far caught up in the book that I feel like I am a part of the story itself – I haven’t read an e-book that can do all that for me. I expect that all those reasons are why paper books will always be with us. At least, I fervently hope so!

Thanks for the great comments. And if you didn’t comment Wednesday, feel free to comment below. I’m learning a lot from all of you!