Branching out with my writing
Seth Godin provides a little insight on this question…
“It turns out that getting less lazy, more brave—more clear about your fears, your work, and your mission—are all easier than getting more talented.”
[Feels like he’s talking right at me. I hate when that happens.]
Will keep this post short so I can work on getting less lazy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all those wisenheimers spew about character being what you do when no one was looking, but this was different.
It was just a book, a silly book. And it wasn’t even written in English. So who really would miss it?
I only needed to make it to the end of the block, trade it for cash, and I’d be on my way.
My dad threw down his beloved John Deere hat.
“No way we’re making any money this year,” he said to me as he picked up the cap.
“Dad,” I said. “Do we know anyone with a helicopter? I have an idea.”
He glared at me. “We’re starvin’ here and you want to go on a joyride in the sky?”
***
When all you need is that one special nudge to your next great story…
“So, this wouldn’t be the ideal day for my job interview?”
The image in the mirror grimaced, but offered no response.
“How about a quick shower and a new conditioner?” she asked.
The image in the mirror shrugged and said, “What the hey?! You have no chance at this anyway.”
Little did she know…
This was neither the time nor the place.
A school board meeting was supposed to put people to sleep.
Instead, George had stood on a chair to reach the microphone. And being a little top-heavy, more than a little nervous, and all of seven years old, he wobbled a bit, leaned to catch his balance, and–thwonk–George’s forehead and the microphone collided.
He steadied himself and, still dazed, looked at the seven board members.
He was ready to present.
And then…the giggle.
From the back of the room.
And another one just in front of the first.
And two rows forward, a third.
The board members’ eyes shifted from George to the upwelling of amusement.
THIS…was not on the agenda.
***
[Should I continue?]
Happy that the process of publishing Writing Warmups to Kindle reconnected me with my own work. I know, I know, shameless plug. But it’s been useful, so what the hey…
I’ve been using it with my morning pages and for lulls in various stories.
Elizabeth Andre nails many of us to the wall with this short list…
Here’s an indirect path to her thoughts on The 9 Mistakes Every Beginner Writer Makes.
I’m on the 15 minute clock right now, so let’s see how it goes…
With a digital countdown hovering, I really did accomplish more than on other days.
For starters, I felt I needed to honor every minute of my three reading sessions. I actually finished articles and chapters, including one on Twitter use for reluctant writers [or is it writers who are reluctant to use Twitter…I’ll get back to you on that.]. Without the experiment, I would have skimmed the article and drifted away after five minutes. [I am, after all, a classic victim Nicholas Carr describes in The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brain.
One hitch in my schedule: I had forgotten that I had signed up for a publishing webinar. Still the experiment attuned me to making efficient use of my work time, so I made sure to nail down two ‘to-do’ list items and exerbiked while watching and taking sweaty notes on the webinar. Not a pretty thing, this drive for productivity.
I also felt compelled to dedicate 15 late-night minutes to a list item I hadn’t addressed during normal hours.
Interesting, however, is my much lower productivity level today, at least in terms of writing and publishing. [Of course, grinding through the formatting of my file for my ebook does leave me with a less-than-accomplished feeling. But grind away, I did.]
On the upside, I have written and mailed five personal notes, completely decluttered my kitchen counter, and dove into my closet to donate over a dozen pieces of clothing for the local St. Vincent de Paul store. I’m hoping that will score higher at the pearly gates [yes, it is quite the assumption.] than publishing my Kindle book.
All in all, it won’t happen every day, but I liked the way I ratcheted up my focus and the effort is easy to replicate. I’ll be back at it next week and will integrate it with my one focused hour. I also intend to reduce my checklist to ‘Most Important Tasks’.
Curation Station:
The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
How to Be More with Less with Courtney Carver Feb. 14 Unmistakable Creative Podcast
“I just know an interruption is around that corner…”
So here’s the deal…I have self-diagnosed my problem: Scattered brain.
I’ll stop at self-diagnosis.
Self-medication could get really ugly and involve empty bags of kettle corn strewn throughout the house.
Today, I’m going with 15-minute work segments.
I opened a new tab in Google Chrome and in the web address box [called the Omnibox, by the way…please bear with my occasional geekness.]
I typed ‘set timer to 15 minutes’ and sure enough a clock started counting down. [Been using that for months, but wanted to share that with you.]
So this blog post is my first work segment.
What other ones have I planned for?
Challenges to my experiment?
— My pup who is coming off emergency surgery and needs my vigilant eye to ensure he doesn’t undo the post-op stitchery. He is currently in deep REM state and whimper-barking at some dream-state rodent interloper.
— Need for a nap. Been sleeping on the couch for the last ten days to continue the dog-watch…and tending to his 1:00 AM, 3:00 AM, 5:00 AM backyard visits. [Medications mess up his usual sleep through the night routine.]
— The infernal need to check email.
Update: I have two minutes left in this blog post…You can only hope I’ll pare this down, right?
Back to the to-do list…
Okay, the timer went off and I did some polishing of this. Time to publish and move on to morning pages. Though, of course, there’s the dog…
Will let my thousands [dozens?] [pair?] of readers know how this worked out.
An epiphany…
I’m 15 minutes past the 15-minute goal. I’ll take this as a good sign…that I can extend my attention span a little further when I need to. [image from blogpiks.com]
For the time being, I prefer to not interpret it as inserting distraction into my workday. ;-]
Word Inventions