May 9, 2012

About every two years, I get a wake-up call when some form of exhaustion sets in. Without noticing, I have fudged on bedtimes, let boundaries be way too flexible, or simply taken on more than I should have.

Time to Re-Group

Then I have to sit down and play the game called ”Where’d My Time Go?” Usually I find that other people’s expectations have taken over my writing time. Nearly always I was at fault. I offered to do something I didn’t really have time for, or said “No problem!” when I should have said, “Sorry, I just can’t.”

My schedule is under control again, but I’d like to step out of this cycle once and for all. The best way I’ve found to save my writing time is to set policies. Remember, you’re the boss in your office! You have the authority to set whatever policies you need.

Time-Saving Policies

After you’ve spotted some of your weakest areas, develop policies to cover future requests. For some reason, stating that you have a “policy” about certain things carries more weight with people. Very few people argue when you have a “policy.”

Target the areas where you have the most trouble setting–and enforcing–boundaries. It might have to do with overtime on your day job, expectations from the neighbors, or any organization where you volunteer.

Some “company policies” might include:

• I have a policy about home business parties. I don’t attend them, and I don’t give them.
• I have a policy of not returning phone calls until the noon hour.
• I have a policy that says I don’t make doctors’ or dental appointments until after 3 p.m.
• I have a policy that includes no drop-in baby-sitting. I need a minimum of 48 hours notice.
• My policy states that I don’t commit to any event more than (X) months away. (Fill in your personal limit.)
• I choose to help with one party each year at my child’s school. That’s my class contribution, so what party would you like me to help with?
• My policy states that I charge $5 for each ten minutes that parents are late picking up their kids from my day care.

Under-Promise

Sometimes our commitments get out of hand because we want to do such an excellent job everywhere. So learn to under-promise, and later you can over-deliver if you have extra time.

For example, instead of volunteering to help at school the entire day, say you can come and read for one hour. If it turns out that you have extra time when the day rolls around, you can use the time to write or you can “over-deliver” on your promise and stay two hours. You’ll earn a reputation as someone who delivers even more than promised—and yet you’ll have saved time for yourself.

Time Credit Cards

Some of us (I’m guilty!) promise to do things months and months in advance when our calendars are still pristine white. Then six months later, when the event rolls around, our calendars are more jammed than we had anticipated; we regret that we ever agreed to that event or favor that really isn’t that important.

Too often we commit future time that we believe we’ll have, only to be caught up short later (like a credit card junkie who charges now and is just sure he’ll have the cash to pay it off later.)

Stop charging your time ahead! Cut up your time credit cards. Pay off whatever “time debt” you’ve accumulated at this point, but don’t charge anymore.

If people want you to commit to some volunteer thing more than a month away, simply say, “I have a policy that I don’t commit to things so far ahead. If you want to call me back in (X) months, I will be able to give you an answer then.” At that point, you’ll have a realistic idea of what your month’s schedule looks like.

If you are pressed for an answer (“I need to know now!”), then regretfully tell people that the answer will have to be “no.” (Given that choice, people will usually wait.)

E-mail, Social Networking, and Web Surfing

Limit your Internet time to two periods per day, before and after your writing. Keep it short. Answer crucial e-mail, but skip all the forwarded jokes and poignant stories till later. Unsubscribe from all but the best two or three e-newsletters you receive. Delete the junk without reading it. Check the social networking sites you use for marketing, and then close down. According to current workplace statistics, conquering e-mail/surfing/Facebook addiction can save you a full two or three hours per day.

Assignment: Where is your time going? Do you know? Keep track for a few weeks and be sure. Then begin to implement whatever policies you need in order to safeguard your time.

Write your company policies down and review them daily. As you use these policies, they will become second nature. Just remember that nature abhors a vacuum. Be ready to fill your new-found time with activities that can further your writing career.

***Speaking of furthering your writing career, in response to several emails, I’ve updated my critique service page. I am now reserving spots for July, August, and September. Just FYI!

March 14, 2012

Before reading a great article last week, I secretly feared I had lost my drive to write.

Not my “want to.” Just my drive.

For thirty years I’ve set goals, worked hard toward meeting them (some called me ”driven”), achieved most of them, then set more.

I happily set one-year goals, five-year goals, and ten-year goals.

Goals that Once Spelled Success

• Graduate from the Institute’s course. Check.
• Sell first article. Check.
• Sell first short stories. Check.
• Repeat many times. Check.
• Sell first novel. Check.
• Sell more novels. Check.
• Get agent. Check. Fire agent. Check.
• Sell first series. Check.
• Sell many series. Check.

They were busy whirlwind years, with writing, raising children, and teaching. But somewhere around Book #35 or so, I found myself losing the drive. Or so I thought.

I still loved writing and didn’t want to quit. But enjoying the writing and having a balanced life (e.g. more time to sleep and be with grandkids) meant more to me than the next contract, the next conference, or jumping on the next social networking band wagon.

Changing Times, Changing Goals

But last week, in a romance writers magazine that was given to me, I read an article by Barbara Wallace called “Defining Success.”  Many definitions were as expected: get published, be represented by an agent, win an award, get fan letters. I almost stopped reading, thinking, “Same old, same old.” But then!

I read some definitions of success written by women who had been writing quite a while, most of them published many times. Here’s what their current “definitions of success” were:

• Jackie Braun: Now, more than 25 books later, my definition has changed again. I see success as achieving and maintaining a happy balance between writing books and spending time with my family.
• Judith Arnold: Today, with my mortgage paid off and no more college tuitions to cover, I define success as writing the books of my heart. I define it as ignoring the commercial pressures and focusing on the stories I feel compelled to share.
• Donna Alward: If I never wrote again, I’d  survive and I’d do something else. But if something happened to my family, I’d be destroyed. Figuring that out was really liberating and helped me rediscover the joy of writing.
• Pam Nowak: I feel good about what I have done. If I never sell again, I’ll know what I achieved, and I’ll feel good about having done so.

It helped me to see how their goals had also changed over the years. I could really identify.

Coming Full Circle

Actually my goals now aren’t so very different than when I started writing when my kids were babies. Back then, I worried about how to write without neglecting anyone. In my first interview, the reporter came to my farmhouse to photograph me with the four kids piled on my lap. I still recall her last question: “How do you choose between your children and your writing?”

It was a great question, and it solidified my priorities for the next thirty years. I told the writer, “I don’t choose. The kids come first. The writing comes after them. If I can’t do a good job at both, I’ll quit writing.”

Some Things Don’t Change

I feel the same way today, although it’s about grandchildren now instead of children. They also grow up very fast! And they won’t always love coming to Nana’s house more than anything else they do.

Does that change my goals? Without a doubt. Will it mean less money? Probably. But like the other ladies in that article, success today (for me) means having a happy balance between writing and family–and writing the stories closest to my heart, despite the current market trends.

What About You?

How do you measure writing success? Depending on where you are in the process, your answers will differ. There is no “right” answer either, so don’t let anyone else define success for you.

Do spend some time thinking about this. Your answer today may well change in a few years, and that’s to be expected. But you’ll be a happier writer once you figure out what success means to YOU.

March 7, 2012

I’ve been re-reading The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell.

The following statement got my attention:

“There is one discipline that stands above all else in the quest for writing success… It is the single biggest reason I was published in the first place, and have produced the books I have. It is, simply, this:

 

WRITE A QUOTA OF WORDS EVERY WEEK

 

The daily recording of the number of words you write is an invaluable incentive to get your work done. But set your goals on a weekly basis…If something comes up on one day that prevents you from writing your quota, you just make it up later in the week.”

Quota of Words Written or Hours Written?

I love the idea of setting a quota. However, the quota of “words written” only works for me for rough drafts, when you’re pulling words out of thin air and creating new pages of your novel. So little time, though, is spent writing that first draft.

Before that come hours of planning and writing character sketches and researching settings. After the rough draft stage, there are months of revision. Some days you might proofread five whole chapters. Other days, your entire writing day might be spent figuring out what’s wrong with your first chapter. Several more days might be needed to fix it. How many words would that be?

For those reasons, I like a quota of hours spent writing (instead of words written). My only restriction is that the time must be spent on my current work-in-progress. Not blogging, or reading writer websites, or Twittering, or being on Facebook, or answering email, or anything except working directing on the new book.

Nuts and Bolts of Setting Quotas

If you try setting a quota, keep track of time using a timer. I use a kitchen timer, but you can use one on your computer. When I am ready to actually start work, I hit the “start” button. I turn off the timer if I get up for a drink of water or to answer the phone. I only log in the minutes actually spent working. Each time I write sixty minutes, I log in another hour in my little notebook.

My quota right now is to average four hours per day, five days per week. That’s a quota of twenty hours per week. If I don’t get it done M-F, I make up for it on the weekend. (Last weekend we had a packed schedule that included much driving, so I finished my quota for the week in the car. The day I watch my baby granddaughter, I write before she gets up, when she plays, while she naps, and later that night.)

Success Rate

Do I always make the twenty hours quota? No, but I get close, and sometimes I go over. But the increase in writing hours is what amazes me. Before I decided to do a quota system, I was writing as much as I could (I thought). I worked around interruptions and marketing and babysitting and volunteer work, always believing that the writing was the most important thing.

But how much writing was I actually getting done? Maybe four or five hours per week. That’s right–per week. No wonder I was so frustrated!

Prioritizing Made Easier

With the quota system, knowing that it’s Thursday and you still have a lot of hours to work before you make your weekly quota helps you say “no” to a lot of other things that tempt you. It helps you get started earlier. It’s fun to mark off the hours and add them up in your notebook. It helps me not get behind earlier in the week too, as I don’t like working through the weekend.

But mostly, at the end of the week now, I love seeing how much progress I’ve made on a novel. I like how the book lives on in my mind after I finish for the day. Because I am finally spending enough actual time writing again, ideas and solutions routinely come to mind when away from my desk.

Set a Reasonable Quota

If you have a day job and/or have small children around every day, don’t copy my quota numbers. Be realistic about how much time you can set as a weekly quota. Don’t set yourself up for failure.

On the other hand, don’t aim too low either. You can write before kids get up, during naps, after they go to bed, while cooking supper, on lunch hours at the office, sitting in a car in the parking lot, in doctors’ waiting rooms, in bleachers…wherever and whenever. I know because I’ve done it. Push yourself to claim time for writing that maybe now you are wasting.

Your quota is personal to you, based on your unique circumstances. Don’t compare your quota to anyone else’s.

Commit to It

Your quota won’t help unless you make a commitment to doing it. If you need someone to hold you accountable for your weekly quota, find someone.

Reward yourself for the weeks you make your quota–which will be more often than not. Reward yourself on any given day that you meet your daily quota as well.

The more I read about successful writers with busy lives, the more I run into this idea of the weekly quota. It’s a tried-and-true strategy. It’s worth trying!

December 30, 2011

Excitement builds as we head into the new writing year.

Old calendars cluttered with appointments and scribbles come down, and new pristine calendars go up on the wall. All those blank squares! All that potential for doing the writing of our dreams in the new year!

I’ve been reminding you (“harping”) for weeks about setting goals for 2012. I’ve been working on project goals myself, along with reading about making writing more fun (one of my goals) by writing in flow.

Heading into the Home Stretch

2012 is right around the corner. If you still haven’t given much thought to specific goals for next year, I encourage you to sneak off alone sometime this weekend with pen and paper.

Does goal setting feel overwhelming to you? Don’t know where to start? Don’t know how to set good writing goals–ones that have the best chance of being fulfilled?

How to Set Writing Goals

Help is here! See these excellent articles below.

• The strategies we use to get more writing done sometimes do more harm than good. Listen to this writer of “Resolve to Write Better and Smarter.” No matter what your specific writing goals are, these three strategies will help you meet them with a confident spirit.
• While “Setting Effective Writing Goals” by Moira Allen is an older article, it’s one of the best over-all explanations of the importance of writing goals, plus how to set ones that help you move toward your dreams.
• A short “Goal-Setting Course” is found at this blog. This link gives you the first of seven steps. Just read her seven posts in order for specific step-by-step help in setting your writing goals.

December 28, 2011

As 2011 winds down and we put away the reminders of the holidays, our writing minds naturally turn to 2012.

It’s time to dust off some forgotten dreams, review met and unmet goals listed for 2011, and decide where we want to put our writing energies next year.

As you mull over next year’s plans, I want to challenge you with this question: ARE YOUR WRITING DREAMS BIG ENOUGH?

SHOOTING FOR THE MOON

I’ve been reading about famous inventors (like Edison), famous businessmen (like Ford), and famous entrepreneurs (like Bill Gates and Steven Spielberg). They lived in different historical periods and pursued different kinds of projects. But they all had one thing in common. They did NOT set “reasonable and achievable goals.” They dreamed bigger dreams than anyone thought they could achieve. And then they achieved them–and more.

Edison (who only had a few months of formal education) decided to try to invent a light bulb in less than three years, even though far more intelligent scientists had spent more than 50 years so far trying to do the same thing. An outlandish goal! But he ended up inventing it in two years!

When Ford started his auto company, the other 250 American automakers were turning out 12 to 300 cars per year. A reasonable goal for Ford to set would maybe be 150 cars per year. But his dream was to produce cars that the average family could afford–not just the wealthy. And he ended up producing 1,000 cars per day off his assembly lines. (That’s per DAY, not per year.)

Because Spielberg and Gates are present-day phenomenons, you’re probably already familiar with their stories. They became such huge successes for the same reasons Edison and Ford did. They dreamed of doing what others said was impossible.

IGNORE WHAT “THEY SAY”

Partly because of our struggling economy, the naysayers in the publishing industry are thicker than ever. “They say” you have to write what will sell instead of writing what you have a passion for. “They say” you can’t expect to sell your first novel to a big New York publisher–you should probably settle for a tiny publisher and no advance, or publish it yourself. “They say” you can’t get a good agent–you need to settle for someone with no experience that no editor will work with.

I’m big on goal setting. And I’m not trying to set you up for a big fall. However, I sometimes wonder if all of us achieve less simply because we start out with “reasonable, achievable” goals instead of reaching for the stars.

When you’re writing down your goals for 2012, I really encourage you to stretch and dream bigger. Go against the odds. Reach higher than you can even imagine reaching. The results a year from now may just be astounding!

November 30, 2011

For the past two days (plus today) I have been answering questions in the Writer’s Retreat Workshop on “Destressing the Writing Life.” You still have time to post a question today–or just pop by to read some of the discussion threads.

This subject isn’t just about destressing during the holidays. Frankly, we lead such busy lives these days that there are precious few “slower” months in the calendar year. You need to know how to destress your writing life every day.

In the workshop we’ve talked about such things as:

• stress caused by the flood of information on writing, publishing and marketing
• stress caused by the new social marketing–and how much is worthwhile
• setting goals that motivate without stressing you out
• handling multiple deadlines more easily
• critique groups–and how to benefit from them without adding stress to your writing life
• scheduling your writing day when juggling things like chores and a day job
• unexpected stress that comes with success

Check It Out!

If you have other questions on this topic that you’d like to see discussed, post them at the Writer’s Retreat Workshop before the day is out–and I’ll meet you there!

November 23, 2011

Will 2012 be the year your writing dreams come true?

This is the big weekend for putting up Christmas lights and (if you have the stamina) hitting the malls to start your Christmas shopping. Before you do that–while there is still a bit of sand left in the hour glass–let me suggest that you do one more thing this holiday weekend.

What Christmas writing wish would you like to see come true in 2012? It’s not too early to think about this. As the pace of the holiday season takes over, you’ll tend to put the writing on the back burner. Suddenly it will be 2012! This may be your last unrushed moment to think about your writing goals for next year.

Take Inventory

Nearly eleven months of 2011 are over. I’m sure you had writing goals for this year. Where are you at this point? I highly encourage you to review your goals and take stock. Make a clear, detailed, written description of your current writing life.

Then create a detailed image of your future perfect writing life. What are some projects you’d love to work on? What are your secret writing dreams? Make a list.

To go from where you are to where you want to be as a writer, two things are critical. One has to do with your feelings, and the other has to do with your will.

Two Requirements for Fulfilled Writing Dreams

First, you need an overwhelming desire to change something in your life. (Perhaps you want to get on a regular writing schedule. Maybe you want to submit the finished stories hidden in your desk. Possibly you’re ready to find an agent.) Whatever your goals, the more specific, the better.

Second, you must be determined to move from wishing and hoping to taking action. It’s as simple as cause and effect: you must do something different (cause) in order to develop the writing life of your dreams (effect). This determination will also involve developing good habits to support, nurture, and sustain your changes. (These habits might include eating right, getting sufficient exercise and sleep, and curtailing time wasters like too much TV and Web surfing. I’ve been working on such a list this past week myself.)

Time to Take Action

This week, think about what habits you may need to implement–and which ones you may need to eliminate–to support your writing goals for 2012. Remember to take baby steps as you make changes. (January’s goal might be to write 20 minutes per day. February’s goal might be 30 minutes of daily writing, etc.)

If you feel inclined, please share some of the goals and habits you hope to create. We’re all in this together! Time in 2011 is running out.

Make the most of the remaining days to prepare yourself for your most successful writing year yet–in 2012.

September 16, 2011

Today’s post is a two-part blog. First, I’m calling all NaNoWriMo fans! It’s almost that time again: National Novel Writing Month. Second, I’ll give you links for articles on writer burn-out, boundaries for writers, writing every day for a year, and ten skills every writer needs.

First Things First

I wanted to remind you that November will be here sooner than you think. According to their website, “National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Want to try? Or just curious exactly how it works? Then read “How NaNoWriMo Works in Ten Easy Steps.” 

I’ve participated three times in NaNoWriMo, and each year was better. If you’re an organized writer who uses an outline–even a brief one–NOW is the time to be planning your November novel (or two novels, if yours will be in the 25,000-word range.)

The first year I did no planning, and I quit after a week or so. The second year I had an idea, and I made it through the month successfully, but most of that novel got thrown away because it had no real structure. My third year was the most successful because I had the books more planned out before I started. (If you’re not a planning kind of writer, then this advice won’t apply to you.)

However, if you’re like me and don’t like to waste writing time (or just don’t have time to waste), then get going now. Give yourself a couple weeks now to work out an idea–or rework an idea you’ve been toying with already. Then take October to do your pre-writing: character sketches, plot ideas, setting research, and a rough outline. Then, on November 1, you’ll be ready to hit the keyboard!

Secondly, for your weekend reading pleasure…

• We’ve talked often of being able to set boundaries so that we have time to write. Here’s an article that tells you how–including actual “scripts” for various situations. It’s called “Setting Boundaries & Saying No…Nicely.”
• “Writing for 365 Days in a Row” is one writer’s way of finding accountability for getting the writing done. For his explanation of why he’s doing this, see his “Day 1″ post. This is something you could do alone or with a friend, I would think.
• “The Art of Avoiding Burn Out” is full of good reminders about taking care of yourself so you survive the writing life in the long haul. There’s a lot of wisdom packed into her lengthy list of suggestions.
• “Ten Skills Every Writer Needs” has to do with surviving and thriving in the writing life. I imagine there are more than ten skills needed, but this is an excellent beginning!

Read and enjoy! And then start planning for NaNoWriMo!

September 7, 2011

My good writing friend, Sherryl, and I were Skyping about a seriously time-consuming writing project we’d like to take on together. Since we both spend our lives constantly trying to squeeze out five more spare minutes, we realized that something in our schedules would have to give.

“Where’s the dead wood in your life?” we asked each other. “What can be cut?”

Take a Closer Look

I thought about it a lot last night and couldn’t come up with much of anything. I have a couple of writing jobs, I hold offices in a couple organizations, and I lead a couple of church groups. Some are new responsibilities this year, and some I’ve helped with for years. I was clueless about what to cut.

Then I heard someone on the radio this morning say:

“If the horse has been dead ten years, it’s time to dismount.”

Put It Out to Pasture

I made a list of my paid and unpaid jobs then. Which lifeless “horse” was I still trying to make gallop? Which job or position that once was fun and satisfying and productive was now just an unproductive time drain? Which things had run their course? Where should I “dismount”?

Some of our time drains are just habits we’ve had for years. Or they’re community or school obligations we took on, and somehow we feel they’re life-time commitments.

Take a close look at your stable of horses. I hope this month to dismount a couple of dead horses so that I have time to ride a new one!

Follow-Up

This is a re-posted blog–and here’s the follow-up.  I did resign from two of my long-term volunteer activities. In both cases, people who were on the sidelines stepped forward to take the positions. I stopped doing free book critiques too.

The changes took nearly a year, but I now have five hours per day to work on my writing, compared to the one hour I had when I first wrote this blog post. It was hard saying “I can’t” and “no, thanks” many, many times. But I love the outcome! I love looking forward to my work days now. Our lives are all different, but I bet you could get rid of some dead horses too.

Can you name ONE that could be eliminated from your over-crowded life?

August 24, 2011

“Habits are the little anchors that keep us from straying very far from the lifestyle to which we’ve become accustomed, whether that lifestyle makes us happy or miserable,” says Karen Scalf Linamen in her book Only Nuns Change Habits Overnight.

Habits: Help or Hindrance?

We all have habits that either support or hinder our writing lives. Habits are simply the ways we repeatedly do some things. Positive habits include daily writing practice, telling ourselves positive things about our abilities, and keeping current with publishers’ requirements.

Negative writing habits run the gamut from playing computer games and surfing the Internet during our writing time, to not keeping track of submissions and not studying to improve our craft.

Do you see any consistent patterns in your writing life? Which positive habits help you? Which habits detract from your ability to pursue your writing dreams consistently?

Habits from Scratch

If you could redesign your writing life from scratch, which patterns would you reestablish? Which habits would you drop, if you could break them? Can you even identify the habits that are getting in your way? Do you wonder where your time is going, why you can’t seem to get around to working on the project that is so dear to your heart? Try journaling about it.

“Keeping a journal can help you identify hidden habits that are interfering with your life,” says Linamen. “You can embrace the changes you want to embrace–and getting a handle on what’s really going on is a great way to begin!”

The Art of Change

A good writing life–a productive writing life–is built on good writing habits.  They keep you anchored to the writing life you want to have, both now and in the future. Building good writing habits may not sound very exciting, but discipline now will give you a lot of freedom later on–and a writing life worth having!

If you have time, share with others one GOOD writing habit you’ve developed (any kind) and one BAD one you’d like to break before the end of the year.

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