Step Up To Writing Goals (Motivation Monday)

We are in the first week of 2012, full of energy and enthusiasm to meet our goals! Right? Hopefully so.  After all, this is the time of year to get caught up in the collective optimism. Everybody has at least an inkling of what they would like the new year* to hold. Some even have a detailed plan of attack, with written resolutions and personal deadlines.  Others may have a vague notion to just “do better”—and that reminder may be enough for them.  It all depends on your personality, your drive, and your willingness to change.

Many people distinguish between two types of writers: “pants-ers” and “plotters.”  Plotters are the writers who start with an outline. They create the basics of their entire story or work—the skeleton—before they go back and add the body.  “Pants-ers” are those who write by the seat of their pants. They may not really know where the story will take them, they just have an idea and they run with it.

It’s the same with your goals, you may outline your entire year and know when you want to accomplish them. Or you may feel that creating concrete demands on yourself will stifle your creativity. You will be fine as long as you are writing or editing. It will come in time.

These are both fine ways to prepare for your journey, as long as you start taking the steps. Marking goals on a calendar or having a sense of ambition are both worthless if you do not take the steps and start the work.

NOLA Thoughts: Following the Beat of Your Own Drum

I recently survived 5 days in the French Quarter. I say survived because I thought I would burst at some point from the rich food, the tasty drinks, and the just plain fun of the whole experience.  I was overloaded with lots of music, and quite a bit of history, too, since my friends and I took in a few museum tours. 

This was my fourth trip to the area, and when I am there, I am just bombarded with evidence of creativity that’s all around us, but especially in places like this. I attempted to tweet some of what was going on around me, but I found the multi-tasking a little too difficult. I just wanted to experience the moments. And by the time I made it back to the Inn, I was exhausted.

I am not discouraged though. Just because I couldn’t get all the thoughts and ideas running through my head down right then doesn’t mean they haven’t set up camp somewhere in a corner of my mind, biding their time until they’re needed.

Newton's Laws of NaNoWriMo

Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo, and writers around the world attempted to finish a novel – or at least 50,000 words of one (most novels out there are closer to 80,000 words)-- in 30 days. For most, this meant a regular, daily commitment. Others opted for long weekends locked away from the world in order to build up their word counts. Either way, they set time aside and met a personal commitment. Although millions around the world collectively took up the challenge, it was up to each individual writer to do the work themselves.

Besides the lessons of time management (you CAN schedule writing time in, even when the rest of your life seems chaotic) and priorities (is another round of Words With Friends important, or is that last 200 words for today?), writers learned the strength of momentum!

You remember Newton’s laws of motion, right? Basically, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. This could be a law of creative writing as well. Once your writing creates movement onto the page, it is easier to keep it going; just as your writing stays at a standstill the longer you do nothing. That’s the essence of the other law; a body at rest tends to stay at rest.

These laws make sense with all sorts of habits, good and bad. You start a bad habit into motion, it picks up momentum and puts the brakes on the good habits. Anyone else spend a 4-day Thanksgiving weekend blowing their diet? Getting back to reality on Monday was pretty tough, right (especially if you STILL had leftovers)? The good news is, while it may cause a bit of strain in the beginning, getting back to the good habits is possible. After the initial struggle, you can transform a bad habit into a good one.

Hopefully, if you participated in NaNoWriMo you were able to get into a routine for your writing. One thing that I’ve discovered, however, is that the pace is not sustainable. For some, writing 1600+ words a day becomes easy. I’m not one of those people (not for my novel, anyway). Instead, at the end of NaNo, I suffer from burn out and my writing tends to crash. I did the same thing with my physical workouts earlier this year. I was working out, hard, EVERY DAY. I thought since the workouts were shorter than my usual hour long sessions, I didn’t’ really need “rest days”. While I can’t be sure, I believe this contributed to a knee injury that sidelined me for a few months.

If you are suffering burnout after NaNo, be gentle with yourself, but do come back. You made some great strides, and although you may be hurting now, the only way to build up your strength is to keep going. Find your pace and begin!

Or, better yet—Find the joy in Editing! (I’m a weirdo, this is my favorite part.)

I am going to spending a few days in New Orleans, starting tomorrow.  When I’ve been there before, I’ve come back with all kinds of writing ideas, written on backs of receipts, matchbooks, and the like.  This year, I think I will Tweet some of my thoughts (and possibly pics) so you can be inspired by the Big Easy as well.  Follow me @ExcuseEditor

P.S. Watch your email for the latest writing contest and market listing from Excuse Editor early tomorrow morning! Not signed up? Go here.

Writer's First Step: Show Up

Today was like any other day; I had to be certain places at certain times. I had appointments.  I rearranged the other tasks in the day to fit in the scheduled events.  No problem, this is life. We take the time we have in our day to do what needs to be done.  

In the past month, I’ve had to take about 6 hours out of my week for physical therapy on my knee.  Of course, taking 2 hours out of my day 3 times a week was not in my “normal” routine, but once I marked it on my calendar, I found ways to make it fit.  The therapy sessions were allotted for the whole four weeks, and if I needed to make a change (which I did, a few times), I had to let them know ahead of time, so that they could also shift their own schedules around. 

When we are trying to “find time” to write, it somehow does not appear. We fill our time with other tasks, rushing around, staying busy (or staying lazy, but with justification at the ready—tired, burned out, etc.), only to find our word counts at the end of the week severely lacking.  And yet, that surprise set of appointments—no problem, you can make time for them. After all, somebody on the other end is counting on you to be there. You can’t let them down.

If this is the case, and you are courteous to those you’ve set aside time for, why don’t you offer the same courtesy to yourself?  Writing is waiting patiently for you to show up, and too often you don’t allow yourself to make time.  Writing is the appointment that you are callously ignoring, and if you do that too often, it may not be so patient. Writing may be tougher to convince to come out after being treated so badly.

Schedule your writing time.

Stick to it.

Nobody likes to be stood up.

What do you use to schedule your writing time? If "whenever I get a few minutes" works for you, what do you tell those who say there's not enough hours in the day? If you really feel there is not enough time, have you tracked your time to see how you are using it?

Happy Writing!   --Tina

Guest Post: Author Kristie Cook Introduces Genesis

Today's guest post is a blog tour stop for author, Kristie Cook, who has recently released a companion novella for her popular Soul Savers series. Remember to comment for a chance to win prizes from Kristie (I will leave the comments open for entries until Friday, November 4). Have a great week and watch for a new writing contest and market newsletter this week (that is, if you are a subscriber)--Tina 

How the Ancient Greeks Lived: A Look into the World of Genesis

Genesis: A Soul Savers Novella is a bit different from the other Soul Savers books. Although the fantasy world I created is the same, the real world is not. After all, it takes place over 2,000 years ago, around 200 B.C. So it required a lot of research to understand life in Greece during that era. For each stop along the release tour, I’m sharing something I learned and how it ties into the story.

Just like today, homes in Ancient Greece varied depending on class. Wealthier people had larger homes that were usually two stories tall, with the women’s quarters generally on the second floor. Lower class people had single-story homes, usually with only three rooms. All homes, built of stone or dried clay with tiled roofs, had similarities, though.

All homes had a courtyard, which was considered part of the men’s space in a smaller home, although larger homes had a separate courtyard for women. When no males were visiting, this was much like a family room – children played here, women did their spinning and weaving here and the family often ate their meals in the courtyard when weather allowed. However, if a male visited, women had to disappear to their quarters.

The men also had a room called an andron, where they entertained other male guests with wine and political discussions. They would often hold “symposia” – parties with men only, although slave women might dance and otherwise “entertain.” Besides these exceptions, women were forbidden from entering the andron, which was often the best decorated room. The andron was usually the only room in the house with a tiled floor – the rest of the floors were simply packed dirt.

Make Sure Your Readers Believe You

Credit: NBC

If you are a fan of Parenthood, and haven’t watched October 11^th’s  episode (I haven’t caught up to this week’s yet), you may want to skip this if you don’t want to deal with a little spoiler.  Or not. It may not make a difference to you.

See, Crosby, the younger, hip brother, and Adam, the more uptight, responsible brother (played by Peter Krause, who I LOVED in Six Feet Under) are starting a music studio. Crosby tells Adam he really needs to loosen up when he meets with their potential client, a rapper named Mistah Ray.

Cut to Adam, looking more ridiculous than Jamie Kennedy in Malibu’s Most Wanted, walking down the street after getting talked into some “fly” clothes, just like Crosby suggested.  He catches a glimpse of his image in the car window and panics. He’s on his way to meet the rapper/potential client, but he realizes he looks like nothing like himself.  He grabs a lifeline and calls Crosby, who is closer to his house, and asks him to stop and grab him some more appropriate clothes. The somewhat flighty plan is that Adam will change in front of the rapper’s house.

That’s all we need to start the next chain of events.  Crosby ends up to driving his sister-in-law, Kristina, to the hospital, since her water conveniently broke while the two of them were having an argument about the music studio business.  And while Adam is stumbling over his words in a meeting with Mistah Ray, Crosby is holding Kristina’s hand as she delivers a baby girl. Of course Adam arrives within moments, and it’s a sweet emotional time, eventually wrapping up with the whole family meeting the new arrival.

3 Lessons On Writing Through Life

The Excuse Editor blog has been on a little unintentional break.  The blogging gurus and marketing mavens out there endlessly remind us that blog posts should be consistent. I agree. But stuff happens.

I also agree that writers need to continually write in order to improve and flourish.  Not many writers would disagree with that idea. But again. Stuff happens.

So. Stuff happened and I haven’t been blogging and I haven’t been writing (much). I’ve only sporadically been Facebooking, and my tweets are as rare as the tinamou.  (I was able to send out the monthly contest listing, though!)

The best way to get started again is to begin.  And that’s lesson #1 for today:

You gotta start somewhere.

Whether you are making your first attempt at writing, or you have been stopping and starting for years, when you decide to write, create a starting line wherever you find yourself at that moment. Now, runners at a starting line don’t stare, contemplate, and plan when they reach the line, they take action—they run!

If a runner started to analyze and fret over all of the obstacles she overcame to get there, she may start to second guess her ability and never get the chance to perform at all.

If your mind is cluttered with your history of non-writing, rejection, or lack of motivation, clear the space for your starting line. The only way to keep yourself from being buried in your own creative clutter-think is to take the first step away from it. Take action and GO!