To thrive in the present publishing climate, our manuscripts need to be submitted in the best condition possible. I’ve written previously about the need to continue studying the writing craft. [Strong Writers Do This, Self-Study Advanced Writing Program]

“But how do you find the TIME to study on top of writing and marketing?” I’ve been asked time and again. Actually, it’s simple.

Shorten the Learning Curve

Whenever possible, I piggyback on someone else’s research. For example, I prefer a book like Time to Write by Kelly L. Stone, who interviewed more than 100 professional writers about how they fit writing into their busy lives. All that experience condensed into one book is a gold mine.

Likewise, last week I put together two e-booklets that could also shorten your learning curve. First is 50 Tension Techniques: Hold a Reader’s Attention from Beginning to End. I teach a writing workshop called “Tension Techniques,” based on my thirty years of writing and selling 35 books. A few months ago in Austin, I met a woman who had attended that workshop years ago; she told me she’d worn out her hand-out and wished she had another one. I use the hand-out myself in my fiction writing when I come to spots that drag or when things are too calm for too long!

Editors tell us that we need tension on every page in order to keep readers hooked. But what exactly is tension? And how can you possibly increase tension on every page? The fifty simple techniques in this e-booklet show you how to infuse page-turning tension into your dialogue (15 techniques), your plot (14), your characterization (12), and setting descriptions (9). I’ve gathered these techniques from years of reading how-to and writing craft books. (I have six bookcases full of writing books in my office.)

Special Tension Needed

I love mysteries and have had eleven mysteries published (one won a children’s choice award), and mystery stories and books never seem to go out of fashion with kids. A few years ago I wrote a monthly magazine column on mystery writing. I’ve gathered those columns into a 50-page e-booklet called Writing Mysteries for Young People.

I’ve studied close to two dozen books on mystery writing, and these sixteen short chapters are the best techniques I’ve found. Writing Mysteries for Young People will show you how to construct a mystery. This includes the development of heroes, victims and villains, plotting and planting clues, creating the sett

What have you given up in order to have time to write?

When I started out, giving up my hour of pleasure reading in the afternoon (the kids’ naptime) was the biggest sacrifice I made. I loved that hour of escape where I rose above my daily chores and relished adult language and words longer than one syllable. Yes, I could still read at night when the kids were in bed, but by then I was too sleepy to keep my eyes open.

Are You Sacrificing TOO Much?

We’ve talked lately about tracking your time and then sacrificing some of your current pleasures in order to write. And yes, time for pleasure reading may have to be cut back drastically in the “learning years.” Like many writers, my pleasure reading is now used as a reward. (I often set my timer and write for thirty minutes, promising myself a ten-minute reading break for each thirty minutes of writing. I love those reading breaks!) I try to read at bedtime too, but I still fall asleep too quickly.

I once had a student who read five romance novels per week, every week. Really! I had no problem recommending that she turn 75% of that time into writing time. Most of you don’t have that kind of time to read for pleasure–and I don’t either. You may only have thirty minutes to an hour for pleasure reading. And when you give it up, you’re losing a writer’s #1 most favorite pastime: reading.

Short-Term Sacrifice

If you’ve given up pleasure reading in order to write, I hope you will be able to add it back to your life soon. I think writers need to read. (And not just books on craft or books in the genre you hope to publish in.) Reading for pleasure nurtures our soul–and keeps us in touch with what readers want.

So how can you balance this while you’re learning to write, especially when you’re juggling a day job and/or a family? Make use of alternative methods. Discover books on tape, and listen during car pools or while washing dishes. Discover books on MP3 players like Playaways, or download digital books from your library, and listen to them while you run or garden.

When my time was the shortest–when the kids were small and I was working another job in addition to the writing and school visits–all I could carve out for pleasure reading was fifteen minutes per day. It wasn’t enough time to finish a book in a month–and I couldn’t figure out the plot in those little bits.

During those years, then, I re-read the classics on my shelves. Consequently I’ve memorized whole chunks of Pride & Prejudice, Little Women, and other favorites. Since I already knew the plot and characters, I could relax and just enjoy seeing old friends for fifteen minutes each day.

No Time to Read

I know a good number of full-time professional writers who have given up pleasure reading altogether. They said they just don’t have time. What do you think about that? Is pleasure reading something you’d give up in order to have the writing career of your dreams?

Why–or why not?

Getting into the writing habit is difficult, especially in the early years of writing. Our lives are full to overflowing already, so where can we possibly fit in some writing? How can we form a consistent writing habit when our schedules change from day to day, depending on our obligations?

Believe it or not, you have more time to write than you think. Keep a time log, tracking how you spend your time for a few days or a week. If you do, you’ll spot “down” time that you use for other things which could be snagged for your writing.

Redirect Your Time

When my kids were very young, I desperately wanted to write. I realized that instead of catching up on laundry and chores during their afternoon naps, I could write. Instead of making beds and doing dishes during the morning half hour of “Mr. Rogers,” I could write. Instead of thumbing through ragged magazines for twenty minutes every Friday afternoon while my daughter got her allergy shots, I could write.

Bed making and dishes and laundry could be done while little ones milled around. I chose to write instead when they didn’t need me. That “nap-Mr. Rogers-allergy shot” schedule became my writing routine until my youngest went to kindergarten. By that time, Atheneum had published my first five middle grade novels.

Hidden Time

“But I really don’t have any free time!” you might truly think. I challenge you to study your schedule very closely. Everyone has pockets of “down” time during the day. It may vary from day to day, but usually it is consistent weekly. (For example, you may sit in the pick-up line at your daughter’s elementary school every afternoon for fifteen minutes. Instead of listening to the radio, write.)

You might free up some time by doubling up on your mindless activities. Most of us multi-tasked before the word became popular, but if you’re not, try it. While supper is cooking, don’t watch the news; pay those bills or wrap those birthday gifts, and free up a half hour in the evening to write. If you want to write YA novels, listen to those young adult books on tape while you walk your dog. You’ll be doing your “market research” for an hour, freeing up an hour later to write.

Get It in Writing

Write down whatever pockets of time that you discover can be used for your writing. Even if it’s only fifteen-minute chunks, note them. You can write an amazing amount in ten or fifteen minutes at a time-and it adds up. You may find these chunks in the “between times.” You might have a bit of time between when the kids get on the school bus and you have to leave for work. Or between your day job and supper, you may have half an hour that you wait on a child at ball practice. (I wrote a lot sitting in bleachers waiting for children at practice.)

Write all these pockets of time down on a weekly schedule and write it on your daily calendar. Make it a habit. Perhaps on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you write half an hour before work, plus daily you write fifteen minutes before cooking supper, and Saturday morning you write an hour while the kids watch cartoons. That’s four hours of writing in a week, just in the free bits and pieces. Since many of us started writing while caring for small children and/or holding down a day job, this kind of weekly schedule may be the best you can do for a while.

And that’s fine!

Time-Honored Tradition

The highest percentage of today’s famous, best-selling authors admit that their writing schedules were exactly like this in the early years. But they had that “burning desire to write” too. And that desire is what motivates us to find those pockets of time, give the

Have you ever gone in for your annual check-up, sure that you’re doing fine, only to discover you have some unsuspected condition?

Or have you taken your car in for its periodic tune-up (thinking things are fine), only to be told that you need some major part replaced so you don’t crash and burn? In both cases, discovering the unknown problem is a blessing in disguise.

That may be your feeling if you read the wonderful article called “101 Habits of Highly Effective Writers.” You might–like me–start reading the article with the idea that you’re doing just fine. On the other hand, you might realize that although you once had these habits, some of them have slipped–and you need a tune-up.

Not All Habits Are Created Equal

This great list–and I’d recommend printing it out to save for monthly mini check-ups–is broken down into several categories.

• Routine: habits to help you find and maintain a successful writing routine
• The Process: the actual writing you do–and habits to help you
• Inspiration: habits for finding inspiration to improve the quality of your writing
• Improving Your Craft: habits to improve your skills as a writer
• Business: good business habits to make sure you can pay the bills
• Habits You Don’t Want to Have:  habits to avoid if you want to become a successful writer
• Advice from successful writers: a whole list of gems!
• Habits of Famous Writers: the writing habits of the “greats”

What’s Your Score?

I hope you’ll go through the list thoughtfully and make  a note of the habits you need to work on this year. We all have areas that need improvement, but this list is a great practical place to start.

If you’re really brave, leave a comment and share what habits you have well in hand, plus one or two you know you need to work on. We’re all in this together!

If you answered the list of questions Wednesday about “Where’s My Time Go?”, you may see now that other people’s expectations have taken over your writing time. It’s a common occurrence.

Once you’ve completed your commitments, you need a way to avoid becoming trapped again.

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. Target the areas where you have the most trouble setting boundaries. 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 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.

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 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 wait.)

E-mail and Web Surfing

Limit your Internet time to two periods per day, before and after your work day. 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 and then close down. According to current workplace statistics, conquering e-mail/surfing 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 safeguar

Do you feel as if you’re forever running to catch up and keep up? Is finding any time at all to write a challenge for you? If so, you’ll need to simplify your life—choose what really matters—and slow your pace.

But HOW?

Reflective Thinking

With all the noise of modern life and the frantic running around, we have little chance to hear the inner whispers and feel the nudges that try to warn us. “Hold on—this isn’t right” or “You really don’t want to do this.”

Sometimes life gives you the gift of stopping you in your tracks. That happened to me a couple years ago when I ran a fever for eight days and ended up with many sleepless nights to think. I took stock of my rat-face, anything-but-serene lifestyle, and I asked myself some hard questions. If you also want to get off the merry-go-round, take a note pad and jot the answers to these questions pertaining to your own life.

*Why is my life as busy as it is?
*Why have I chosen to commit to so many things?
*What are the costs to me right now of living like this? What are the future costs?
*What tasks/meetings/jobs are no longer necessary? (Only one out of my four cancelled appointments that week needed to be rescheduled. The others, it turned out, weren’t that important.)
*Which activities are things other people thought I should do?
*Which volunteer positions do I no longer enjoy?
*Which professional organizations no longer meet my needs and can be dropped?

This time of reflection was so very profitable. It enabled me to spot three big changes I could make, immediately freeing up about fifteen hours per month.

Should I? Shouldn’t I?

Is your life run according to shoulds (your own or other people’s?) When asked to run a concession stand at your child’s school or attend a make-up or clothing party, do you agree because you feel you should, rather than because you have a real desire to do it? Do you even take time to make a thoughtful decision, or does the should rule?

In a sermon entitled “The Unhurried Life,” the pastor reminded us that “NO is a complete sentence.” In other words, sometimes you can just say no. Or “I’m sorry, but I can’t.” Period. Don’t let people guilt you into doing things you just don’t want to do.

Reassess the value of your time. Is it really more important that you do the volunteer newsletter for your neighborhood association—or that you put that time toward your writing dream? None of us likes to have people mad at us. On the other hand, it may be a price worth paying in order to have a fighting chance to realize your dreams.

Are you dragging around excess baggage? Is it getting in the way of running the daily writing race set before you?

Is there “stuff” taking up space in your life that you need to dump overboard so you can pick up some speed?

Jumping Off!

I’ve been struggling with this issue lately, and it reminded me of a period in our country’s history. Each spring from 1841-1861 Independence, Missouri, was crowded with thousands of emigrants preparing for the 2170-mile trek we now call the Oregon Trail.

Here merchants competed for the opportunity to furnish emigrants with supplies and equipment for their journey west. A family of four would need over a thousand pounds of food to sustain them on the five-month trip to Oregon. Most emigrants loaded their covered wagons to the brim with food, farm implements, and furniture. 

The journey began, but within a few miles most emigrants realized they had overloaded their wagons. Unless their loads were lightened, they would never be able to make the arduous journey across the plains. Their only choice–if they wanted to go the distance–was to start throwing things out.

How About You?

Do you identify with these emigrants? Have you overloaded YOUR wagon? Are there things (activities, hobbies, interests, bad habits) that you need to dump if you’re going to make a successful journey as a writer?

Remember, those pioneers weren’t throwing out things that didn’t matter. They were giving up precious possessions in order to fulfill their dreams. What have you given up for your writing? [This topic has been on my mind lately because two weeks ago I made a very difficult decision to bow out of my long-running weekly critique group. I needed more time to write, and I couldn't find it any other way. I am still in withdrawal.]

Fulfilling our dreams requires sacrifice. What have you had to “toss overboard” in order to devote some time to your writing? What was the easiest to let go of? What was hardest? Take a moment and share!

As one of my time-saving endeavors in 2010, I made what my best friend calls a Not-to-Do list. I couldn’t squeeze more writing into my day unless I eliminated some things. Once I identified many of the problems, fixing them wasn’t that hard!

And a Not-to-Do list really works too. The first week in January I was able to add 16 hours of writing time to my schedule, and the second week I added 15 hours. I was thrilled with the changes—and believe it or not, I’m finished earlier in the day and able to take all of Sunday off.

I’ll share my list, and then I hope you’ll leave a comment and share something you’ve given up to make more time for writing. Altogether, we could generate a really helpful list! 

The List

Since what you don’t do often determines what you can do, let the weeding out process begin!

1.      I use my answering machine and don’t take calls from numbers I don’t recognize. I let it go to Voicemail on my answering machine, which is turned up so I can hear the message. If it’s important, I can interrupt the message and take it. Nine times out of ten—or more—it can wait.

2.      I don’t get on the Internet at all until 2 p.m. This has been the single most beneficial change I’ve made this year. I let my kids and friends know my new schedule and said to call me if they needed an answer about something before that time. If I answer email before that, I’m stuck online for several hours, flitting from site to site.

Lady writers, do you have box envy? I do!

We laugh when we talk about men’s and women’s brains, how women have spaghetti brains where everything is interconnected, where the concern over her children is tangled up with her financial worries and affects her weight.

Men, on the other hand, have brains like waffles (according to a popular author). They have little square boxes, with nicely separated categories for each segment of their lives.

Strange, but True

We laugh at the anology because it’s true. Surely you recognize this scenario. You have a fight with your spouse at breakfast, and then you both leave for work. The wife ruminates all day about who said what, why it was said, what should have been said, how to make up that night, or IF she should make up.

The man, on the other hand, closed the lid on the “wife” box when he drove out the driveway. He thought about nothing on the drive downtown. He opened the “work” box at work. He didn’t open the “wife” box again until he got home at night-when he wondered what was for supper.

You know the rest! She is about to explode, wanting to share and talk and rehash and resolve the argument in order to restore harmony. He can’t even remember the argument.

Box vs. Spaghetti Writers

What does this have to do with writing? It makes the act of writing-concentrating despite circumstances-easier for men. It’s the only time in my life that I would gladly trade a sensitive feelings brain for a “box brain.” I had determined years ago to write a mega bestseller if I ever discovered the “secret” of sorting all that spaghetti into boxes so I could be a more focused writer.

Well, someone discovered it before me. Enter Simple·ology.

Rescue Me!

I had heard about this free course more than a year ago, but I hadn’t felt enough pressure to take it seriously. However, the last four months, due to my own poor scheduling, were busy beyond belief.

I had said “yes” to so many people that I was only home two evenings in November and one evening in December before Christmas. I worked during the days. It was crazy while it lasted-but it’s now thankfully over. During the worst two weeks, I scrambled to find ways to get my work done faster and find some more energy.

That’s when I remembered the free Simple·ology course that Randy Ingermanson (the “snowflake guy”) so highly recommended. I downloaded the free 30-day 101 course on finding time and achieving goals, loved it, and then bought the 103 course on increasing energy. (The 102 course is on money, but my immediate needs were for more time and energy.)

The Test

Last week, I had a period of two days where I was both sick and very upset with someone, but I had a lot of promised work to complete. I reviewed the “5 Laws of simple·ology,” fixed them in my tired mind, and got to work. As suggested, I kept the list of “memory joggers” nearby for review when my mind would wander.

You are making decisions every few minutes that either take you toward your goal or away from it-and Simple·ology helps you keep moving steadily in the right direction. The result? I got work done in two days that would normally take me 3.5 days! 

The Simple·ology Box

This weekend I took a long walk and two bike rides, despite the cold, and during one of the rides, it occurred to me that Mark Joyner’s Simple·ology laws were teaching my spa

“Where did all my time go?”

This is the question on my mind the last few days as I’ve analyzed 2009 in order to meet a lot more of my goals in 2010. What was keeping me from living the writing life I had envisioned and fully intended to live?

As mentioned in The Law of Clear Vision, I had over-committed to a number of volunteer groups and ministries this year. I wasn’t sure how I’d been hooked so thoroughly–nor how to keep it from happening again. And then I read something about trigger foods that turned on the light for me.

Look Out!

All you veteran dieters know that “trigger foods” are those foods that you’re particularly sensitive to, the ones you can’t have in the house because eating one serving triggers a whole binge. Maybe it’s chips or chocolate or rolls. Triggers spark unhealthy behaviors that you swore you wouldn’t do again.

I’ve over-committed myself to outside activities in years past, learned how to set boundaries and say No, and all that very good stuff. So what was my problem this year? What triggered me to binge on so many outside activities that I couldn’t do my own work or stay healthy?

Needs

Needy people are my triggers, I’ve decided. And they come in many forms.

Seeing sick or tired-looking people prompt me to make offers of baby-sitting and help with housework and office work.

Phone numbers I don’t recognize are triggers because they might be hurting people wanting to join one of my support groups. I feel uncomfortable letting my answering machine take the messages because often times people just hang up.

Readers of my blog or website who want help getting started writing can easily “hook” me because I identify with them so much. I remember how it was in the beginning–and how helpful it would have been to know someone who could answer my questions.

Whoa, Nellie!

Years ago, when my children were small and I held four or five jobs in our church, my pastor took me aside and told me to cut back before I got sick. “The need is not the call,” he told me gently. “Just because there’s a need doesn’t mean that it’s a job you should take on.” I liked what he said, but to be honest, I never could tell the difference.

Maybe it’s just those of us who grew up very needy that have trouble saying “no” to people, with or without guilt. It’s hard to know where to draw the line, but my health has suffered this year, so I know it’s time.

Other Types of Help

I may need to begin giving less personal help. For example, when someone wants advice on how to start a writing career, I may need to adopt my youngest daughter’s constant refrain: “Just Google it!” Instead of researching things for people, I would do better to tell them how to find the answers themselves and let them explore all the writing websites and books out there.

My best friend suggested that I also create some “canned” email responses since many of the email questions I receive fall into five or six similar categories. I could create some fairly lengthy, helpful emails on certain topics that come up repeatedly and have them ready as a response.

How about you other writers out there? What tricks do you have up your sleeves for helping your fellow man, yet knowing where to draw the line so you can get your own work done and get sufficient sleep? I’m open to suggestions!

While I was pleased with the 50,000 words produced during NaNoWriMo last month, I was NOT pleased with the six pounds I gained. (Much more sitting and typing equalled much less biking and running.)

I was lamenting the sad state of affairs to my friend who runs a weight loss group, and she gave me a book she’s using with her group right now. It’s a six-week study on making it through the holidays, enjoying them and yet maintaining healthy exercise and weight control plans.

Planning Ahead

“The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays can be very busy with many social events, shopping expeditions and church activities that make it difficult to remain faithful to your commitment to living healthy,” the author said in the introduction. It struck me how true that statement is about writing as well! With all the decorating and Christmas card writing and school programs and parties, keeping to a writing schedule is much more difficult during the holidays.

So, like the women in my friend’s group, you need to plan ahead. In the beginning of the book, there was an exercise where you listed your goals for the holiday season (spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical). After that, you listed “strategies for reaching those goals” in each of the four sections. Those strategies are your individual plan for success. This exercise could easily be adapted to your writing life.

Flex Plans

Before you throw up your hands and just assume that you won’t get any writing done in December, I’d urge you to make your own “goals for December” in each of those four areas. (I listed my writing goals in the mental section.) After you write down your December goals, map out a strategy for meeting them. (Search this blog for practical tips if you’re stuck for ideas.)

You may need to be more flexible this month, writing in the car on the way to Grandma’s house or while sitting in the back pew and waiting for your kids to finish their program practice. If you have company, you may need to get up early and write before everyone stirs. For workable strategies, you’ll have to think outside the box for December–but it can be done!

What Works For You?

What kind of writing challenges do YOU expect this year? Will you be having company or traveling a lot? Will you be working a part-time holiday job? Or directing the Christmas pageant this year? What strategies can you implement now and throughout the holidays that will enable you to still write, even if it’s not your usual amount?

Let’s pool our ideas!

I’m not now–nor have I ever been–a party animal. I wear no lampshades on my head, don’t dance on tables, and often dress wrong for the occasion. My general MO is to scan the party crowd, find someone I know, then disappear into a corner and have a good, long, in-depth conversation until it’s time to go home.

I’ve discovered that I am much the same way with social networking.  Has anyone else found this?

Hopping Aboard

Some while back, I added a “professional” Facebook site. (I’d had a private “family only” Facebook page for several years.) On my professional page, I now have 203 friends. I know that’s miniscule compared to most authors, but it’s more than I can keep up with. I discovered that this past weekend.

I owe some of you an apology, and I don’t even know who you are! But I was sick much of the weekend, so I was lying on the couch looking at Facebook. I started scrolling down to older postings, and I discovered with horror that I had missed some important messages. I answered the ones I found, like requests for critiques and news that a former student had sold his first book. But I missed one real-life friend’s news that she was in the hospital for three days. By the time I came across it, she was home.

Please, if you left me an important message or question, email me at the Facebook site so I’m sure to see it (instead of writing on my Wall.) I also adjusted the email settings–which I just discovered today–so that Wall comments will come to my personal email.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Sometimes I still feel overwhelmed. In real life, I have about five close friends. In addition to my family, that’s about all I have time to befriend. I don’t keep tabs on my acquaintances. I wish I had time to read all the Facebook posts of my 203 friends, but I don’t. There aren’t that many free hours in my day. I wonder if I am an anti-social social networker? It’s quite possible.

By the way, I also discovered that my Twitter account had been hacked into. Argh! My apologies to any of you who were sent some silly IQ Test thing. It wasn’t from me! By the time I found the problem and changed the password, I had been reprimanded by a publisher for sending spam. It’s bad enough to be socially inept in your real life. Now you can do it globally without even trying!

How do you handle the social networking you’re involved in? Do you worry about missing important messages in the updates and offending someone? Or does anyone actually have time to read so many posts? I’d be interested to know how you keep up with it all.

“One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half a hundred half-finished tasks.”

B. C. Forbes

The joy of writing is second only to the joy of finishing a writing project! When Friday afternoon rolls around, we automatically take a look at our week’s To Do list. What now is the status of various projects? (e.g. proposals, chapters, revisions, marketing, website updates, blogging, speeches to write)

Seeing projects crossed off as completed brings a pure rush of joy. It gives you a fabulous finish for the week.

Half-Baked Cakes

On the other hand, the fatigue of projects that weren’t completed or even moved forward much saps our writing energy. Whatever the reason (interruptions, illness, etc.) we didn’t finish them or accomplish the amount of writing we intended to. We may simply have never committed our energies to them in the first place. Dabbling won’t do it. Only committed hours of B.I.C. time (Bottom in Chair) will enable us to complete those projects.

Maybe, as you review your work week today, you’re not pleased with what got finished. [Trust me: I'm not!!] If not, commit to completing more projects and assignments next week. Don’t let unfinished work deplete your energy–because it will! Instead, turn that energy in a direction where it will do some good.

Use it to systematically tackle your work, write with speed and focus, and complete it. Fix your eyes on that fabulous finish line–and go for it!

My good writing friend, Sherryl, and I were Skyping this week 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–until this morning.

I do a weights routine while I listen to Joyce Meyer online, and this morning she was talking about this very dilemma. As she put it:

“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 weekend to dismount a couple of dead horses so that I have time to ride a new one!

What fuel are you running on?

Many people these days are frantically running from place to place, working too many hours, volunteering for too many projects, working nights and weekends because of a need for approval.

They are fueled by sugar, caffeine, cigarettes and adrenaline to keep going. You might get more done short-term this way, but you’re injuring your health in the long run.

I don’t need to tell you that we live “on alert” these days. We are bombarded from so many information sources. We allow ourselves to be at the beck and call of anyone who rings our cell phone or shoots us an email. Adrenaline is used like a drug, pushing tired bodies to work faster and harder. The end result is a crash-and-burn depletion of your reserves.

Go Against the Flow

Do you want to have a long-term writing life? Then while you still have time–while you still have your health–I urge you to develop a counter-cultural lifestyle. Look at your life now. Make a list of the things that have stressed you out this past week.

(No groceries in the cupboard because a meeting ran late and you couldn’t stop at the store? Phone call from a teacher saying little Johnny forgot his required permission slip for the day’s field trip? News of a violent crime in a part of your city you considered safe? A bounced check? Having to work late at night while everyone else is sleeping, just to keep life from derailing?) All of these things make us run on adrenaline that wears down our bodies. And all of these things are preventable.

Replace the Old with the New

Habits that cause you to run on adrenaline are habits that need to be replaced. I can’t tell you which habits you need to exchange, but I can share some of mine.

For one thing, I’ve noticed that for six months, I’ve arrived places out of breath and a little bit late, and I go tearing into meetings or classes after the program has begun. So embarrassing. I sweat it on the way to the meeting, and backed-up traffic skyrockets my blood pressure. I hate to waste time, so I hate arriving somewhere early and waiting. From now on, to avoid the adrenaline rush, I plan to leave early enough to arrive early, but take work or a book along, stay in the parking lot and work, then walk in calmly ten minutes before the class starts.

I have also noticed that the days I DON’T run on adrenaline are the days I start with exercise and positive reading and prayer. And yet, too many times lately, I’ve awakened feeling energetic, considered the two hours I’d lose if I stuck to my exercise/relaxation regimen, and jumped into work instead. Make hay while the sun shines, right? Mostly, I’ve made headaches and a sore back and neck. I need to remember that my health regimen actually saves me time in the long run. And I run those days, not on adrenaline, but on healthy energy supplies.

I am going to set a boundary on working in the evenings. I couldn’t see what difference it would make if, while watching a good movie with my husband or chatting, I also answered some email questions and deleted hundreds of blog spam and updated my websites. Most of it was “no think” activity, so what did it harm? A lot, I think now. My mind wouldn’t shut off when I shut off the computer to go to bed. My neck and back hurt terribly by then. And I felt disgruntled, like I hadn’t had any free time at all that day.

Mostly, I think I need to convince myself that it’s not selfish to slow down and live at a sane pace, to build in a buffer zone or margin around activities so you can make a slow, smooth transition from one thing to another. What’s that old saying? “We’re supposed to be human beings, not human doings.”

It’s Up to You

No one can make the change for you. And frankly, many people in your life who are used to calling the shots and like all the work you accomplish won’t help you make changes. But make them you must. If you want to have a decent quality of life, you’ll have to step outside this current “hurry frantically” electronic culture of ours, and figure out what works for YOU to have a saner, happier life.

Running on premium fuel instead will make you more productive, less stressed, and be better for your health. Saner writers are happier, more productive writers. And doesn’t that sound appealing?

I recently read that the trajectory of the successful Apollo moon rocket was “off course” 90 percent of its flight-yet it still reached the moon!

How did that happen?

1. Scientists acknowledged the deviations from the expected path.

2. They repeatedly made the necessary course corrections.

3. They achieved an adequate (though not perfect) trajectory to the moon.

Scientists made a major breakthrough in space exploration by sticking to the mission in spite of numerous setbacks.

How’s Your Trajectory?

What does the moon mission have to do with writing? Well, I was looking at my yearly goals over the weekend, and like the Apollo mission, my trajectory is off course-and has been most of the year. Earlier I made enough course corrections to help, but over the summer my trajectory got way off! In the past, my strategy for reaching goals has been to first make them, then get waaaay behind or detoured, then either (1) give up on the goal, or (2) make drastic course corrections to force myself back in line.

The drastic course corrections usually happened when I had a deadline with a publisher. For example, the original goal of “hitting the moon” might have been to write five pages per day for four months. Not hard. However, after procrastinating for two months, I would panic, course correct my goals, and commit to writing ten pages per day to meet the deadline. That writing schedule worked until Day Four when an interruption kept me from the keyboard.

What’s the Answer?

Now, right there, an Apollo scientist would have refigured the goal, spreading out that minor missed day of writing over the coming weeks. But I tended instead to let one day of failure slip into two or three. Denial is a great place to live-as long as you can stay there! But eventually panic sets in, and you are forced because of the deadline to refigure your trajectory. By now, though, you have to write 15-20 pages per day. Every day. No days off.

Panic and adrenaline can manage it, to the detriment of your health and the quality of your writing. How much better off I would be if I followed the successful Apollo mission method instead.

Keeping Track

Here is where the idea of a spreadsheet would be a benefit. The very day you fall behind your goal, you could refigure your daily word counts. One day’s lost writing, spread out over the coming weeks, would barely be noticed. Regaining your trajectory (your deadline) would take very little extra daily effort. And if, every single time you got off course, you refigured and kept moving, you’d also hit your target.

We need to learn to be resilient. Every time we have a setback, we need to recalculate. A setback requiring a course correction might come in the form of being sick yourself, having a child needing extra help, unexpected company arriving, you name it! Life is full of things that cause setbacks for writers. Any number of things can get you off your trajectory.

We may not be flying to the moon, but we can learn a lot from this successful Apollo mission that was off course most of its flight. We need to pay attention to our goals and our progress, be aware when we’re off course, and make those corrections quickly. This skill is a part of the successful–and sane–writer’s life.

Did you ever wish you could magically transfer some good habits from one area of your life and apply them to your writing? You probably can!

“But I don’t have self-discipline in anything!” you might say. You may feel that way, but it’s probably not true. Don’t believe me? Think about something you’re especially good at. Next, write down five or six habits you practice regularly that make you successful in this area. (Can be anything: running races, keeping a clean house, raising children who like vegetables, keeping your weight stable through the holidays…anything.)

I Don’t Think About It

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Well, I was a good student” or “I learned to play the piano,” but you’re not sure what habits made you successful. If that’s the case, pretend that someone approached you and said, “I’d love to be as self-disciplined as you are with your (fitness, music, housekeeping, whatever). Tell me how you do it!” Then make a list of what you do. Which of those habits can you transfer over to your writing life and make them work for you?

The habits that help you lose weight or be fit or run a business might include:

• having a support system
• keeping a written record (of food eaten, miles run, income/expenses)
• setting small, sustainable goals
• journaling through successes and failures
• monitoring self-talk to counter-act negative thoughts and beliefs

Borrow Those Habits!

The next time you can’t seem to make yourself write or blog or do market research (or whatever is on your “to do” list for the writing day), think about areas where you are successful. Borrow those habits–they’re habits you already have under your belt in one area–and simply apply them to your writing.

Does having a support group help you lose weight? Then maybe a support/critique group would help you be accountable for your writing. Does keeping written records help you balance your budget? Then maybe keeping records of pages or words written and marketing progress would help your writing. Did setting small daily goals help you get your closets and garage clean? Then would setting small daily goals help you get your book written?

Build on Past Success

Good habits free up our time and attention so we can focus on more important things than overcoming procrastination. Chances are very good that you have had success in at least one or two other areas of your life. Take time to analyze those habits that work for your particular personality–and try applying them to your writing life.

“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!

Have you ever had a wake-up call that was loud enough to make you change your lifestyle? Have you ever procrastinated about changing (maybe for years) and then suddenly been able to make that change–and make it stick?

I have. So why can’t I do the same thing with writing? And marketing? Instead, I find myself making excuses like ”My back and neck hurt” or “I don’t have anything worthwhile to say” or “I can’t write when I’m emotionally upset.”

What is it that motivates us to make a permanent lifestyle change?

Scares and Slave Drivers

Sometimes the motivator/wake-up call is a big scare of some kind. I have a friend who is now motivated to lose 140 pounds because his last complication–a brain vessel breaking–was painful enough to get his attention. Four months ago, I got my own wake-up call. A check-up revealed a high cholesterol reading, and I was told I had three months to get it down with diet, or I’d have to take drugs. Drugs and I don’t mix well at all, and that was enough to motivate me to eat a very low fat diet (and only cheat once in three months.)

Both my friend and I have known for years that we needed to make changes. And we’d both tried–and failed–and tried–and quit. (Many times.) And yet, when faced with dire consequences, we were able to do what needed to be done–and make the necessary once-and-for-all lifestyle change.

Sometimes the motivator for a lifestyle is some kind of slave driver. I remember working in an office for seven months where I actually had three bosses. I hated that boring job. My neck and back hurt then too. But I was at my desk by 8:30 daily, I never took longer than my allotted 15-minute break, and I didn’t take personal calls or play on the Internet when I was supposed to be working. Why not? I wanted to keep my job–and at least one of the bosses was always looking over my shoulder.

Or what about all those boring high school and college classes? For me, it was the world history or economics classes that put me to sleep. Or tried to. However, bored as I was, I found a way to stay awake and sit in my chair until the 55 minutes were over. How? I somehow always ended up sitting near the front of the class, under someone’s piercing eye. They pounced on you with questions if they suspected you were sleeping with your eyes open. I used all the tricks I could muster to stay alert. Why? I wanted the grade. It didn’t matter if my stomach hurt or I’d had a big fight with my boyfriend. I showed up for class–and I did the work.

Can’t Do It–Or Won’t?

As I thought about the above scenarios, I realized that it was a blatant lie to tell myself I couldn’t write for longer periods of time. I’ve had to work for long periods before. It was a lie to tell myself that I couldn’t sit still that long, that I needed constant breaks and rewards and bribes to keep writing. I never had a boss or a teacher dangle carrots before me, whispering, “You can do it! You can stick it out! Just ten more minutes and you’ll be done!”

Heavens, no.

What’s the Answer?

If we want to make a lifestyle writing change, one where we write daily for longer periods of time without all the procrastination, what can we use as a similar motivator? What can substitute now for the boss watching from his desk? What is a wake-up call for writing equivalent to a health scare?

What incentive can we use to smack ourselves up the side of the head so we stop this incessant messing around, once and for all, and get to work daily? How can we make that permanent lifestyle writing change?

Sometimes a desperate need for income will do it. When I was the fulltime writer who was also the sole breadwinner for my family, the slave driver was built in automatically. Work daily and work hard, or your family won’t eat or have a place to live.

That isn’t the case anymore. My kids are grown, and my income only contributes to the household. No one will starve if I stop writing. So I’m looking for something to motivate me to stop the constant waffling between my disciplined writing days and my procrastination days (which effectively cancel out those disciplined days.)

Tired of the Drama

All this writing angst, year after year, is starting to strike me as rather…well…silly. Drama queen kind of stuff. I wonder if the lifestyle change will involve nothing more than telling myself to just “stop it!”

This morning when I sat down at my writing desk and looked at my blank writing paper, I closed my eyes and pictured my boring econ class, then my boring secretarial job, and how many hours I’d forced myself to work in both cases. Then I looked at my story–something I’m excited about and enjoy working on (once I get into it.)

Just for today, I tried telling myself “I can” statements. I said, “I can sit here for an hour without a break” and “I can write for two hours this morning” and “I can focus regardless of my physical health” and “I’ve done lots harder things than this before!” and a few other true statements (based on my past behavior.)

And guess what? I wrote for two hours, with a short break in the middle, before turning to this blog and other marketing and critiquing I need to do today. I wrote about 2,650 new words, and it felt wonderfully productive.

Do you have a secret that gets you to your writing desk daily? What works for you?