Category Archives: The Writing Life

Time Management… Not!

Clancy Metzger Motivation The Writing Life 2 Comments

do_notMy son used to try to bargain with me all the time, “I’ll do this chore. I promise. Just let me go have fun now and I’ll do it when I get back. Promise!”  Ha.  It would get put off and put off and further bargained until everyone involved had forgotten what he was supposed to do and he had done nothing but have fun.  I’ll own the bad parenting involved when I fell for it time and time again.

Writing can be like that too, “I’ll write today, just as soon as I ____.”  But, then you get caught up in the alternative action or sidetracked into another tangent or you lose all motivation you may have felt initially. It’s an easy trap to fall into as my previous compatriots have mention in their posts this month.  It’s easy to find excuses to not write and hard to be the only person cracking a whip that says, WRITE.

I’m sure it helps to have an editor/publisher/agent keeping you on task (which Quincy brings up), but what if you don’t? What if you are your own boss (as Evan mentioned) or you’re a habitual procrastinator, so habits are hard to form (as Matt talks about) or perhaps you’re better at making lists than crossing them off (as Kristin discusses) or you’re tragic at prioritization (as Jace does). In other words, what if you’re like me?

The posts I mention all have great points they discuss and I need to incorporate them all. I do. Really-really. So, I appreciate what they have to say and hopefully you found them useful too.  I do know what I need to do. It’s the doing it that’s hard.

Instead, I’m going to make some suggestions on what NOT to do and I shall endeavor to not do them myself this year.

Don’t look at your email before you write. I get sidetracked every time and can waste hours on it. So,  first write.

Don’t reward yourself BEFORE you earn it. I reward myself with movies, TV shows, video games and reading. But that reward is only a reward if I wrote first, otherwise, it’s really an excuse to not write. So, first write.

Don’t wait for a chunk of time in order to write. Even ten or fifteen minutes can be productive and it’s better than nothing.  So, just write.

Don’t wait for the mood/muse/creative spirit to strike before you write.  It will show up if you’re plugging along. Maybe not right away, but you can edit crap. You can’t edit what isn’t there. So, just write.

Don’t give up. Like Matt said in his post (linked to above), the one thing that works for everyone is to not give up. Everyone’s vision of success is different and the only person you need to satisfy is yourself. So, just write.

I wish everyone the best in achieving their goals this year, by doing and NOT doing what you need to succeed.

If anyone has some more NOT’s for the list, please share 🙂

Keeping the Day Job

Business Jace Killan Superstars Writing Seminars The Writing Life 3 Comments

“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”

C.S. Lewis

45382430The other day I found myself shopping for a spiral-bound, college-ruled notebook for my son. Holding the notebook, brought to mind a series of memories. As a child I saved up to purchase similar notebooks, then I would fill their pages with adventures. I dreamt of someday becoming a famous author, sharing my stories with the world.

At the beginning of 2013, I found myself wanting, craving that childhood dream. It had been years since I had written anything, though I often felt the stories inside me, demanding to be heard. I fantasized about the day I would have enough financial independence that I could quit my day job, allowing me time to dedicate to my craft.

I realized that I had found many, many excuses not to write. I had friends with families, busy jobs, and demanding schedules that still managed to produce a novel, and see it published. It came time to commit to my dream or move on. I began to write.

I used 2013 as an opportunity to better my craft by composing a series of short stories to practice various aspects of good writing. I found a tribe and continue to build relationships with those that support and encourage my endeavors. And I attended Superstars Writing Seminars where I received a barrage of information related to becoming a successful, professional writer.

 “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”

Zig Ziglar

Superstars helped me clarify my direction. As the presenters adamantly suggested, I decided to abandon the fantasy of quitting my day job. I took some time to discover why I am driven to write, and have determined that I do so, not for fame or fortune, but to inspire. With this newfound direction, I began planning and setting goals.

My greatest hurdle isn’t vocabulary or punctuation (though I tend to use too many commas). It isn’t voice or point of view or plot development. My greatest impediment is me, more specifically my time–those 24 hours a day.

In a matter of priorities I have evaluated those things that occupy my time.

  • My day job, at times can be very demanding. I seldom work less than fifty hours a week and have occasionally logged seventy or more.
  •  A lot of my free time is spent in volunteer service for the Boy Scouts of America; I estimated about 30 – 40 hours a month.
  •  And of course there is my wife and five kids that support my writing as long as I fulfill my other expected duties first.
  •  Though I call it research, I do spend several hours a week watching television or playing videogames.

 “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve decided that work and family time will be and should be what they are. I’ve resigned from several duties with the Boy Scouts that will significantly reduce my time commitment there, and I have budgeted the remaining time between writing and research.

Writing everyday has helped in the past. I notice that as work and other responsibilities grow more demanding causing my writing to suffer, it becomes more difficult to pick up where I left off. To counter this, I write daily, if only just a hundred words. Additionally, I read my stories to the kids. This allows me to rough edit and gather feedback, all while being a good dad.

A good goal is attainable, measurable, and within the maker’s control. While getting published is a dream of mine, it wouldn’t be a good goal because it is outside my control. The following are my goals for 2014.

  • This year I will write something everyday, if even just 100 words.
  • I will write at least 20,000 words each month.
  • I will submit at least one work to be published each month.
  • I will finish writing at least one novel this year.
  • I will attend at least one writing seminar and at least one con this year.

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

Henry David Thoreau

 Share your 2014 writing goals in the comments below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Milestones

Business Character Motivation Publishing Quincy Allen The Writing Life 1 Comment

I’ve crossed a number of milestones over the past few years: first short story published, first convention panelist, first novel in print, first teaching gig at a writing conference. I’ve managed to predictably repeat those achievements virtually at will, and as nothing more or less than an act thereof. Each and every one of those milestones felt like the success it was, but they were all, at best, minor-league achievements.

Make no mistake, though. To achieve them I’ve had to climb the highest, steepest mountain in my experience. And I have a long way to go.

My career-change from “IT guy” to “writer” back in 2009 set me as my own task master, and I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder. However, every milestone I’ve passed thus far has been small—insignificant when compared to the summit I intend to reach. Added up, however, the sum of those milestones made possible my most current opportunity… and crisis… from which I should be able to derive my greatest achievement to date.

I’m under contract to write a novel.

There is something both thrilling and daunting about committing to a novel under contract rather than selling a completed manuscript.

Daunting.

That word doesn’t quite cut the mustard. Frankly, I’m nervous as hell, hoping I can get Last Stand at the Gates of Heaven written within a somewhat aggressive timeline… and on top of everything else I’m committed to for the first half of 2014. As I type this, the publisher has nothing more in her hands than a title and the pitch I gave her back in November. I, on the other hand, have a deadline and a deliverable of roughly 100k words by the end of May.

What this represents is a first step into the major leagues. Granted, it’s a smaller publisher asking for a stand-alone novel, but the fact is that a publisher asked me to produce a novel. I’m on the hook for delivery. My reputation is at stake. My future is at stake. If I can deliver on this, I’ll know that I can cut it when a large publisher asks me to produce a body of work.

There’s a reason I’m telling you this, and it’s not to sing my own accolades. Quite the contrary. I’m humbled by these circumstances. I’m telling you all this because the path I’m on is one of the primary methods by which part-time writers become self-supporting authors.

The pyramids were not built in a day; each one of them started with a single block. Everest wasn’t climbed over a weekend, and every man or woman who reached that summit started with a single step at its base.

That’s what you have to understand in the writing business. Skill is a factor. So is practice and talent and luck and a lot of things. But if you’re not prepared to build upon your small successes and turn them into larger ones, you should hang it up right now. You have to be in this business for the long haul and grind away as much as you can without losing your mind. You have to invest in yourself each and every day in some fashion, gambling with your own future and the harsh reality that you might not make it.

If you can do all of that, your odds of success increase exponentially. And in the absence of it all, you are virtually guaranteed to fail.

So get to work!

Q

Creating a Sense of Urgency

The Writing Life 1 Comment

I stared blankly at the “30 before 30” list that my friend posted on Facebook. Run a marathon, go skydiving, visit 5 foreign countries, meet Dolly Parton, and buy a house are all popular choices that I have seen on many “30 things to do before I turn 30” lists, and these items were not excluded from my friend’s list, either. As a fellow goal-setter, I decided that I should sit down and make my own list.

Kristin’s 30 Before 30 List
1. Write 3 books
2. Read 500 books

… And that was it. I’ve visited Australia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and spent a semester in Yosemite. I’ve run a few 5K’s (and that was enough, thank you very much). I’ve owned two houses. I’ve met a few personal heroes. Okay, I haven’t met Dolly Parton yet. But I’ve driven by Dollywood, and I think that counts for something.

I lamely tried at a less ambitious #3 (like cook and memorize 5 “go-to” recipes), but realized that I didn’t really care about any other goals other than #1 and #2. I realized that, unlike some of my friends, my goals are not age-reliant. I can continue to write whatever my age, whereas some may choose to climb Mount Kilimanjaro while their knees are still relatively creak-free.

What a great freedom to know that I can do my loves (reading and writing) whatever the age!

Right?

Well. Not exactly.

Knowing that you can continue to work on your passions no matter your age comes with it a kind of comfortability. You find yourself in situations like: “Hm. So-and-so invited me to his board game day… I guess I can skip writing today for that.” Which eventually turns into: “This is a really busy month. I’m going to have to take a break from the novel until this month is over. Hell, I have the rest of my life to write that novel!”

Truly, you should enjoy the moment. If you are given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I will be the last person to say you shouldn’t because you should be at home writing. (Hey now… I see those cogs working. “Well, isn’t everything technically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?” NO. I have to add that in because if you’re anything like me, you’ve told yourself that excuse.) But the trap always set: Sure. You can put off writing, reading, painting, or whatever your true passion is. And it’ll sit quietly, very patiently (way too patiently). It won’t make a fuss or demand attention, while everything else around you bangs pots and pans for every minute of your time and attention.

In 2014, I’m gonna turn up the heat a little. This year, I’m going to get myself into the habit of putting my passions first.  I don’t want to finally feel like I’ve had enough experience as a writer at 40 when I can have enough experience by the time I’m 30. Because I don’t want to have a book published eventually. I want to have a book published as soon as possible.

I’m all about “30 Before 30” lists. And “40 Before 40” and “90 Before 90” lists as well. Whatever list or other motivation helps you develop the sense that if I don’t do it now, then maybe I never will.