Item 1:

Meeting my work head-on…

I’ve listened to and followed Srini Rao for about six months now. I always glean plenty from his insightful Unmistakable Creative podcast–a productive collaboration between himself and his guests– and from his weekly newsletter. Here is an excerpt from yesterday’s topic: “The Power of One Focused Hour a Day”. I believe he originally wrote it in June of last year, which goes to show the power of ‘resharing’ valuable content on the Internet.

• With one focused hour a day you can write a book within a year, write 1000 words a day or finish a 45,000-word manuscript in 6 months.
• With one focused hour a day you can easily develop a daily writing habit, and even write something daily as Seth Godin does.

Note: He also suggests locking in your focused hour to your calendar rather than your digital or analog to-do list.

 

Item 2:

Teachable ‘course’–first steps…

It’s really more of a Teachable project [that I hope will benefit visitors].

It’s really more of a lab experience, even a tour of my process as I work on a first draft.

Sessions [not ‘lessons’] will consist of:

1. excerpts of my first draft
2. short screencasts and slide decks of my own editing/revising process
3. thoughts on my challenges
4. input from visitors to the course
5. demonstrations/discussions of a variety of different writing tools, such as Scrivener, IdeaFisher [this piece of software is the prime reason I’ve hung on to my 3-ton eMac running System 9], and concept mapping programs such as Inspiration and MindMeister.
6. short profiles of experienced, successful and generous writers and content creators who have helped nudge me forward.

So, basically, I have a lot to do.

If you’d like updates on the progress of the project, just fill in the contact form below. Use the comment box for questions and suggestions. Thanks very much!

 

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Item 3:

Using an image and video for my post today…

Thought I would try some different post formats. I used the mindmapping software Inspiration today. Below is an image file of what I wanted to communicate to you.

Below the image is an eight-minute video demonstrating a few of Inspiration‘s features. [Reminder: I’m not trying to sell anything–just sharing what I like to experiment with.]

 

 

Use your fast-forward button liberally. You’ll get the gist of the program.

 

Item 4:

“You can’t wait for inspiration…”

Like I needed to be reminded of this…

 

So, first of all, it’s not so much a Teachable course [though I hope visitors will learn from it].

It’s really more of a lab experience, even a tour of my process as I work on a first draft.

Sessions [not ‘lessons’] will consist of:

1. excerpts of my first draft
2. short screencasts and slide decks of my own editing/revising process
3. thoughts on my challenges
4. input from visitors to the course
5. demonstrations/discussions of a variety of different writing tools, such as Scrivener, IdeaFisher [this piece of software is the prime reason I’ve hung on to my 3-ton eMac running System 9], and concept mapping programs such as Inspiration and MindMeister.
6. short profiles of experienced, successful and generous writers and content creators who have helped nudge me forward.

So, basically, I have a lot to do.

If you’d like updates on the progress of the project, just fill in the contact form below. Use the comment box for questions and suggestions. Thanks very much!

I’ve listened to and followed Srini Rao for about six months now. I always glean plenty from his insightful Unmistakable Creative podcast–a productive collaboration between himself and his guests– and from his weekly newsletter. Here is an excerpt from yesterday’s topic: “The Power of One Focused Hour a Day”. I believe he originally wrote it in June of last year, which goes to show the power of ‘resharing’ valuable content on the Internet.

• With one focused hour a day you can write a book within a year, write 1000 words a day or finish a 45,000-word manuscript in 6 months.
• With one focused hour a day you can easily develop a daily writing habit, and even write something daily as Seth Godin does.

Note: He also suggests locking in your focused hour to your calendar rather than your digital or analog to-do list.

 

Very pleased, actually.

Today I used Microsoft Word and it did a pretty good job of proofreading and correcting its own translations.

Example…I said, “I also like the way it lets me stop in midsentence”. Its first translation included ‘get me stop in midsentence’ and it corrected itself to the desired phrasing.

What else did I like?

It’s very patient. It waits quietly while I gather my thoughts.

Suggestion: Experiment with dictation when you’re in brainstorming/prewriting/outlining mode. You’re not as locked into dialogue and its added punctuation requirements nor are you weighed down with the same level of perfectionism.

 

 

from Writing the Breakout Novel…

A good reminder to raise the stakes–private, public, or even better, both–for your main characters.

Example of raised private stakes: Investigator Clarice Starling of Silence of the Lambs [Jodie Foster in the movie] needs to erase the childhood memory of the slaughtering of the lambs.

More later.

A good reminder by Donald Maass, though.

 

I’m finding that if I’m working against a clock, it can make me productive, but it can also be a pain in the rear if I’m rushing around and feeling enslaved by the timer.

So, I tell myself, give it a rest. If you have to take some of that time to find the book you need or website, or whatever, then do it and reset [rather than ‘resent’] the timer.

In fact, I’m writing this during a seven minute stint that was dedicated to a story I’m working on. So there you go! Progress already!

Time to reset my Tomato One Timer.

Glean solid advice and entertainment from each of these books…

Quote from my good friend and owner/operator of Bluebird Bakers in Portland, Oregon. Give their Chocopocalypse! cookies a try. Or their Browned Butter Oatmeal. 

Actually, here’s a visual sampling, taken a couple of years ago.

Okay, back to the quote:

“Learn to make croissants  or something.  If you can make a good croissant from scratch your life is complete, if you ask me.”

So, it looks like it’s time to roll up my sleeves [figuratively, at least], and head back to the kitchen.

Yep, displacement activities, the bane of a procrastinator’s daily life.

So, let’s look more closely at ones that feed your [okay, my] soul. Feel free to interpret the order of list items any way you want.

1. Any Leave It to Beaver episodes where Eddie says, “Good afternoon, Mrs. Cleaver.” in his trademark obsequious way or The Beav wrinkles his eyebrows and says, “Gee, Wally.”
2. Baking cookies, doughnut muffins, or no-knead bread [Recipe #1 and Recipe #2]
3. Sketching [even if you’re an amateur like me] Pssst! You might surprise yourself.
4. Reading Write It Down, Make It Happen or The War of Art , two of my favorites to revisit
5. Thumbing through Your Idea Starts Here