January 3, 2011

Happy New Year!

I don’t know what it is about having a brand new CLEAN calendar, but it gives most people the urge to begin something new.

Proof is well documented, though, that new year’s goals and resolutions rarely last through January. I’m convinced that much of the cause is lack of careful thought beforehand.

Doing Something Different

If your December was nuts and you had little time for quiet reflection before New Year’s Day, then I highly recommend that you take this whole week (or longer) to ponder some questions. Even better, journal the rambling answers to the questions below. Pour out everything that comes to mind.

After you’ve thoroughly answered the questions, go back through your entries and underline or highlight your Aha! moments of insight. These insights are what will help you set goals that you can actually meet. (Example: in your journaling, you might discover that you wrote very little for months because it hurts to sit. One of your writing-supportive goals, therefore, might be exercises to eliminate the hip pain.)

Not all writing goals focus on writing, I’ve found. There are many writing-related and nonwriting goals you will find helpful to your writing success this year.

Ready? Set? Write!

Take plenty of time to journal these questions this week:

• How did I do on my 2010 goals (if you had any)?
• What habits contributed to successfully completing any of the goals?
• What situations/events/habits got me off track this year?
• What worked for me in the past to get back on track?
• What non-writing goals (in the areas of health, relationships, day job) would support the success of my writing goals?
• What can I do to make the writing more fun (which motivates you to work on your goals)?

When you have the answers to these questions, you are well on your way to setting goals that you’ll actually meet this year. If you’re willing, please share a goal (either writing or writing-related) you hope to achieve in 2011.

Let’s do this together!

December 31, 2010

Have you noticed all the diet and exercise  ads already flooding your Inbox? Tons of advice is available for breaking bad eating habits.

One idea I read was about how to stop relapsing into bad eating habits. The article seemed equally applicable to breaking bad writing habits.

Setbacks and relapsing into old patterns is so common! Carol Lewis in Stop It! asks, “Have you ever noticed consistent patterns when you fall?” She says we need to build into our lives a plan that guards us against getting off track.

Writers need such a plan every single day!

Great idea…but how?

The idea is to create a plan ahead of time to head off your bad habits. [I'll show you how below.] My worst writing habits are wasting time on the Internet, getting online way too early in the day, and trying to write for long periods without breaks and rewards to make the writing fun.

I need a plan of attack for each of those habits. Here’s a template you can use to head off bad habits.

Template

• My problem area is: ____________
• My goal is to not fall into the habit of ___________.
• I know it creates the following harmful circumstances: ____________
• I want to create a new sustainable habit. Therefore I will guard myself by changing the following circumstances: ____________________
• I will remove the following temptations: ________________

Making It Work

So, for example, with my Internet issue, it might go like this:

• My problem area is: wasting time on the Internet
• My goal is to not fall into the habit of  getting online before noon.
• I know it creates the following harmful circumstances: hours hunched over the laptop make my neck cramp, wastes valuable writing time, makes it hard to finally settle down and write.
• I want to create a new sustainable habit. Therefore I will guard myself by changing the following circumstances: I will only work on the computer that has no Internet connection, I will set a timer for ten minutes if I MUST check email for something, and I will plan blocks of writing time to work at the library or book store coffee shop, packing my book bag the night before.
• I will remove the following temptations: Since I can’t really get rid of the Internet, I will remove myself from it when temptation is high and work in places where there is no Internet (bedroom, porch, coffee shop, library).

It’s almost the New Year! While most of us would like to break a few bad writing habits, it probably won’t happen without taking time to think it through. Make a plan and follow your plan. This is an easy template to use.

Give yourself every chance to succeed in 2011!

January 4, 2010

Before making my list of writing goals for 2010, I did some serious evaluating last month to try to discover why I had accomplished so much less than I’d hoped in 2009. I had worked harder and longer hours, doing my best to be efficient.

Even so, I wasn’t effective in many areas where I had set goals. I either failed totally or accomplished just a fraction of what I had intended. Why hadn’t I been effective? I was practically the most efficient person I knew!

They Aren’t the Same!

Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most ecconomical manner possible.

Most of us work hard to be efficient in our lives just to stay on top of ever-lengthening To Do lists. And efficiency is good–when it’s applied to the right things, the important things. It’s absolutely useless if it’s not.

Important vs. Unimportant

How do you decide which tasks are important to moving toward your writing goals? It all depends on what your ultimate goals are. Is your main goal to write books, perhaps even make a living at it? Is your writing goal to land a staff position on a big city newspaper? Do you want to bring your writing skills up several notches in 2010?

Once you know your over-all dreams, then look at your To Do list with a more critical eye. Which things on the list support your goal? Those are the important jobs. Which things–if done later, done quickly, or (gasp!) left undone–wouldn’t affect your goals at all? Those are the unimportant tasks.

Take a Step Back

Sometimes we are so close to our To Do lists that we can’t see the forest for the trees. We don’t see that doing something unimportant really well doesn’t make it important. (I’m an excellent email organizer, for example, with all kinds of folders and tags and categories. I have the most organized unnecessary and unwanted email you ever saw.)

Also, just because a task would require a lot of time to accomplish doesn’t make it important either. (The email query to the editor might take you an hour. Reorganizing your writing closet will take four hours. Only querying will get you that coveted assignment–making it the most important task nine times out of ten.)

Effectiveness Trumps Efficiency

Yes, it’s great to be efficient, but to repeat myself, it’s only helpful when you are being effective. For example, if you want to lose the holiday pounds you added, which supports your goal the best–efficiently organizing your recipe files or going for a power walk?

If you want to finish your first novel, which action supports your goal–tearing articles from your writing magazines to file, or sweating over that first chapter?

Are You Effective–or Just Busy?

You want to make the most of your time available. I don’t know what your “efficient time wasters” are, but you probably do. I’ll be talking more about this in the weeks and months to come as I cast a cold, unrelenting eye on each item on my list–and weed out some activities that look good or that “everyone” says you have to do.

What’s the deciding factor? It’s this: Will it take me closer to my goals in some measurable way? Good! If not, it gets pushed to the bottom of the list. I may get to it later–or never!

December 30, 2009

Writing is a lot like farming.

We raised our family on a farm in Iowa. Some years the conditions were just right: perfect temperatures, exact amount of needed rainfall came at the right times, and there were few insects. The farmers worked hard those years, and most were rewarded with bumper crops.

Publishing has had its bumper crop years when conditions were just right too. Writers worked hard then as well, but the rewards came more easily.

Lean Years

Some years on the farm, however, were very lean, and there were even a few crop failures. Farmers probably worked even harder those years, but lack of rain, freezing temperatures, and bugs combined to give even the hardest-working farmers scant return for their effort.

Publishing seems to be having one of those years-or two. What are you going to do about it?

Will you be like the farmers who threw up their hands and sold out? Or will you be like those who hunkered down, refigured their profits and losses, studied all the current research on new farming practices, applied themselves, and survived until the economy turned around?

Out with the Old, In with the New

Yesterday my friend Sherryl and I had our semi-annual Skype talk to review 2009 goals and set goals for 2010. Because of the economy, we are both doing some things differently. Because we both need to make a living, one thing we are studying is our ROI (return on investment).

What writing are we doing that is actually bringing in the most income? Can we duplicate that? What writing projects and activities are taking the most time but returning very little? What can we do to increase our chances next year of surviving and thriving during the current economic situation?

Individualized Plan

It’s good to hope for a bumper crop, but in times like these, it takes planning ahead now, plus hard (although usually enjoyable) work later. The plans Sherryl and I made for 2010 aren’t identical because our goals aren’t identical.

It’s not a “one size fits all” kind of planning you need to do. My writing “ground” has a few more weedy bad habits to deal with than Sherryl’s, for one thing. And I’m lacking some writing skills she possesses–I will work on those.

But we both need to overhaul our rusting equipment a bit (a few health issues), and we’ve both been horribly bad most of 2009 at adding fertilizer to our writing ground (self-care activities to feed the writer’s soul.)

Ready, Set, Go!

Next Monday we’ll be in 2010 already. I urge you to take some time before then to review your progress in 2009, see where your strengths and weaknesses are, then make a plan to improve and grow as a writer next year. In the end, we can let these “lean years” make us better writers, if we want to.

December 31, 2008

What’s preventing your success? Thoughts? Behavior? Low energy? Procrastination? Perfectionism? Overdoing? Counter-productivity? Negative self-talk? Disorganization? Time mismanagement? Unrealistic expectations? Defeat your self-defeating behaviors with this one-month mental boot-camp. (from Margie Lawson’s class on “Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviors: Allow Writing Productivity and Creativity to Soar.”

Jumpstart 2009 with a Mental Boost

Last week, I mentioned that I would be studying Margie Lawson‘s lecture packet on character emotions.  I also wanted to pass along information about a January on-line class she’s teaching that starts Friday, Jan. 2 and runs till Jan. 30.

Here’s the rundown on the class taken from her class description page. (You can register for her class at the bottom of that page.)

• Address the three fears that paralyze writers
• Analyze yourself: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
• Challenge your internal dialogue
• Redirect resistance and manage your moods
• Duct-tape your Inner Critic
• Protect your priorities
• Practice Conscious Competence
• Apply Margie’s DUH Plan

On-line Class vs. Teaching Packet

You can register for the on-line class for $30 or buy the teaching packet/lectures on this topic for $20. (For lecture packets, go to Margie’s website and click on “lecture packets” on the left-hand side.) You can study the lecture packet at your own speed and any month of the year, while the “self-defeating behaviors” class is only taught in January. I asked Margie what a writer would gain for paying that extra $10–I’m always making sure there is plenty of bang for my buck!

Her email answer included this important information: “Writers taking my Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviors (DSDB) course on-line can post their assignments, get feedback, get support, ask questions, get answers. Some class members are active on the class loop, others lurk and learn from what their classmates post. In DSDB, writers also work with a CHANGE COACH throughout the month-long on-line course.  Many of the Change Coach pairs continue working together after the course is over.  They keep those self-defeating dragons from making any sneak attacks. The camaraderie in the on-line class is amazing.  It’s a powerful bond. An amazing force.”

Slay the Dragons!

I can’t personally recommend the course because I haven’t taken it yet (although I plan to register today), but I’ve heard excellent comments about Margie’s other courses. I also know (from 25 years of teaching and from writing my Writer’s First Aid book) that these behaviors are what most often derail writers. As our lives change, the dragons change, but they’re always there, breathing fire down our necks.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to defeat mine–once and for all!

(If you also register for the class, let me know. It would be fun to share on the blog the things we’re learning.)

December 29, 2008

Will this be the year your writing dreams come true?

Last Friday I shared one goal for 2009, a three-pronged “Self-Study Advanced Writing Program” that I designed for myself. Ten days ago I talked about “Setting Goals NOW for 2009,” about moving from where you are to the greater success and fulfillment that you desire.

Now What?

If you did the writing exercises in that post, you now have a clear, detailed, written description of your current writing life. You also have a detailed image of your future perfect writing life. And you know some projects you’d love to work on—your writing dreams. Now what?

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

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, organized in a 3-ring notebook. So many habits to change!)

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 2009. If you feel inclined, please share some of the goals and habits you hope to create.

December 31, 2007

Memorize This!
If you want a writing life that you’ve never had, you’ll have to do things that you’ve never done—and do them consistently. (Copy the preceding sentence, tape it to your computer, and read it many times daily.)

(If you haven’t read “Set 2008 Writing Goals Now” and “Make the Writing Dreams Come True,” stop and read them now. They’re short, but today’s blog builds on the previous two.)

If you want a rich writing life, cut out time wasters and replace them with reading—and reading a lot. Otherwise our creative wells run dry. Also socialize with a purpose more often (SCBWI conferences, critique groups, book discussion groups, book store readings, lunch with writers.)

Be determined to create new ways of working and thinking. This involves both doing different things AND doing things differently. For example, if you want editors and agents to react to you differently, you’ll have to act differently. You may have to do different things (attend conferences, ask questions) or do things differently (write gutsier queries, research the agency better.)

You must also think differently. Yes, making dreams come true is hard—but you can do hard things! Yes, success takes time—but you can develop patience! Change how you view yourself. Determination to make changes won’t be worth much without an accompanying belief in your ability to do so. If you already hold down a job or have children, you already know how to be patient, delay gratification and work hard. Just apply those same attitudes to your writing!

(Look for the next installment tomorrow.)