Tag: Motivation

  • Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo

    National Novel Writing Month sweeps in with the autumn air of November. Are you getting on board with this worldwide event? For the first time, having only heard of it last year, I’m jumping in feet first.

    To help put participants in the right (write) frame of mind, regions are hosting all sorts of local events. I’m already looking forward to one this Thursday at a local library. It sounds like it has everything I need just in the title alone: The Courage to Write.

    A gentleman by the name of Ralph Keyes will address many challenges. Among them is just sitting down and getting started. That’s the all-important first step. Then there’s looking within for ideas, confronting procrastination, and dealing with anxiety about the reaction of others to one’s work. The whole thing is supposed to be a lively, good humored presentation ending on a positive, motivational note. This sounds like just the ticket!

    Are you inspired yet? Click on the link and read all about it. Better yet, join me and register today: NaNoWriMo Registration

  • Starving Artist

    I was at a restaurant the other day with my partner when the wait turned into a longer ordeal than anticipated. I was not really surprised, as it was a new place. My first instinct happened to be leaving, too, but I didn’t want to be a spoilsport.

    So we waited. We waited for a table, we waited for service, then we waited a ridiculous amount of time for mediocre food. Somewhere during the period between sitting down and getting served, I was asked why I wasn’t writing. There is always some sort of writing material on my person, even if it’s a cheap pen and a scrap of paper. I don’t feel right without it.

    But do you know why I wasn’t writing? Because I was hungry. The old belly grumbled way too determinedly for me to focus on any kind of storytelling.

    I thought that was a funny sort of blessing. Of all the big issues that plague countless poor, blocked artists, my issue happens to have been a very brief one with biology.

    So, what stops you from writing or drawing or whatever it is that makes you feel personally productive? I doubt it’s your appetite for protein and carbohydrates. Do you suffer guilt over other things you think you “should” be doing? I say, go feed that creative hunger! Stop being a starving artist. Your whole being will thank you.

  • Writer’s Block or Artistic Balance?

    A few recent evenings and weekend afternoons have given me the perfect opportunity to work on my fiction WIPs. To my surprise, that didn’t happen. The sense of urgency to tell stories wasn’t there.

    I think it’s a combination of things. For one, I’ve decided not to break my neck to get published at this time. Honestly, the pressure to work 40 hours a week for a regular paycheck is too great. I can’t see doing that, writing, AND promoting myself to the satisfaction of publishing houses, e-book or otherwise. So I’ll hone my craft and keep feelers out for the right opportunity. Can you read my optimism? I’m happy to find it there.

    In the meantime, Friday night I watched a movie. Saturday and Sunday mornings, I devoured an e-book and pecked a little at a new story. Sunday afternoon found me setting up Thursday thirteen blog posts for weeks into the future. That felt good and I enjoyed some random research.

    Last night, fully intending to tell story, I instead read another m/m romance. This bit of fluff wasn’t as substantive as the one last weekend but left me with a warm and fuzzy HEA. That’s never a bad thing. So, I’ve decided not to beat myself up.

    Rather than feeling blocked, I sense a balance against the extensive creative output that flowed for weeks prior. I hope you can say the same, and wish you the best on whatever creative input or output you enjoy! It will be interesting to see where my instincts lead tonight.

  • The Perfect Storm

    It’s official. I’m sitting at the center of a perfect meeting between great fortune and very encouraging benefactors. As a result, an original short story I wrote has been put up for sale. As in money.

    Me. Darla. My story.

    In the words of the wonderful mentor who made this happen, for the very first time my material has been given “professional book packaging services”. He said he was tickled pink the first time and I couldn’t say it better. The e-book is beautiful! A part of me could die happy right this minute.

    However, I know that this success is an illusion. I’m in print, but not for personal aggrandizement. The month-long charity sale in which I’m participating means I may not see a dime. And that’s fine, except this also means that I have no signed contract. There is no publisher. And at the end of March the ownership of the story reverts back to me.

    Wisely, kind souls who’ve gone this route already have advised me to shop for the right fit. I understand the logic. What does this mean? It means I need to get off my behind and do some research.

    Sure, my tremulous heart would love for somebody in the business to see my contribution and fall in love with me at first read. Yet I don’t dare hold my breath and be a wallflower. I can’t expect some awed publicist to find my work on that website and show up in my inbox with an e-card and bouquet of digital roses. This is the time to be practical.

    For the first step, I’ve been emailing people with whom I have shared even the briefest interactions. You never know who might know who in this industry. The genre in which I’ve written might attract folks who tend to have extensively networked communities.

    You never know. At the very least, I’m making another positive step to get out of my reclusive shell.

    So far, I’ve spread the news across four continents. We’ll see what happens. You never know. Right?

    The important part now is to quiet the self-doubting inner critic and keep my momentum going. I could easily let this fizzle out and turn to ashes. The characters in my head have other ideas. They want their stories to be heard.

    Wish us luck! Uh, I mean me.

  • Road Rage

    The other day I was driving home from my day job and watched an unknown vehicle cut off the poor, anonymous driver behind the wheel of another. For some reason, that cool disregard for the consequences to the victim brought something very different to mind. I thought of certain individuals one can often find within on-line writing communities. There are those everywhere who consistently put down the efforts of others and I think they’re a little like that reckless driver.

    Sometimes a slight is presented as some sort of vaguely stated “constructive” criticism. The critic might try to tell the author that what he or she penned is somehow wrong. Is there a correct verb tense or point of view? I think not. Most aspects of storytelling are not good, bad, right, or wrong. Outside grammar, and sometimes not even that according to more experimental stylists, the choices are spawned by societal fashion and individual taste.

    But why do I compare these persons to rude drivers? Sometimes, fellow travelers, it’s because they simply want your car out of the way! “Get off the road,” they would say if they realized their own true intent. It’s what I want to tell the driver who adds precious minutes or even seconds to my short commute. “Get out of my way!”

    These folks might be stuck with writer’s block or face some form of rejection that has hurt their pride. This critic might unconsciously want others to suffer, as well. Others might have some superior notion that they are better and should be teaching others how to “drive” even though they lack the credentials. Some aggressors might careen through traffic leaving accidents in their wake in the form of defeated writers who end up believing they don’t have the talent. I believe that there are many gifted people who fear rejection to the point of eventually just leaving their car in the garage.

    This makes me sad. Writing is a vehicle that needs to be driven or it rusts and falls apart. For me, it’s the best, fastest, and safest way to travel outside myself for a time. And if I’m lucky, perhaps I’ll connect with likeminded acquaintances through my story. I’ve found enough kindly souls encouraging me to make more of these ventures. These friends fuel my tank and help map out new places for me to go. And each of us reacts slightly differently to the road rage crowd that can dent our ego if we let them.

    Some us might be fearless behind the wheel of our tank-like SUV and not worry so much about what the other driver intends. These people power over or maneuver around obstacles that lie in the direction they want to go. On the other hand, the same pothole might wreck someone in an economy car.

    That poor lad or lass gripping the wheel of a tiny sedan can feel fragile and intimidated by aggressive drivers that hog the road and only care about their own destination. That soul might wisely take a different route rather than risk being driven off the road.

    I think I’m somewhere in-between. I’ve got a powerful engine and sit comfortably surrounded by lots of airbags in my sporty little roadster. What about you?

    Wherever you’re at in my silly analogy, I wish you a safe and pleasant journey. Maybe we’ll travel together for a stretch!

  • What coaxed the creativity inside me, out?

    I know exactly what did. I love to read and read obsessively for a number of years. At some point I began to notice peoples particular styles of writing and how they used words. Along with the unfolding interest in how authors wrote, I discovered I wanted to write romantic fiction and did. I didn’t much like what I wrote. Until I discovered poetry. That changed everything. And while writing poetry, photography attracted my attention.

    I scoured the Internet looking to grow, learn, and draw my shy artist out of hiding. While hunting for images and photographs to accompany my poems, I found myself thinking about what makes up an artistic photograph, and wondered what it would be like to make art with a camera.

    So, I take photos and write poetry and everyday is a discovery of what I’m capable of and what I’m not. I was surprised enough when I discovered I can write poetry, even more surprised when I started to get behind the lens of my camera and produced some photos I like.

    There are advantages to having two strings to my bow. If my writing is struggling, I go take some photos…simple. Writing is a deeper digging into the well of self, photography is a lighter avenue of expression. A good release if I’m tense and can’t find any worthwhile words.

    Creativity is sometimes hard to access and open up inside ourselves, but so worth the effort. I can’t help myself…it’s too late to even pretend that I don’t have a desire to explore what talent I have. Whether it’s good or not, whether I have that special spark in my work or not, I have a flame inside me and the process of getting that flame to come to life in poetry or in a photo is my burning challenge.

    The girls of Artist’s Retreat are partly responsible for me making art of any kind. They have always encouraged me, read what I wrote and looked at what I captured through my lens. We don’t live in each others pockets, sometimes it is weeks that we don’t make contact. But to have support of others who are living their creativity is a must for when it gets tough. And it does get tough, your muse dries up or nothing looks worth a photo anyways, some days are bent on being non-creative. That’s where like minded friends help carry you through to the next phase of expression. We complete each other – syrupy, but true. 🙂

    The photos below are from a current study in my back yard, a giant Sunflower my eight year old daughter named Linda.

    *Click on the Pics to see the details*





    Love,

    Eaton

  • The Power of Plurality: The Many In Support of the One

    People frequently ask me, “How do you do all that?” when they find out the irons I have in the fire. While it is true that when I was younger, I would frequently bite off more than I could chew. But it is also true that I’ve learned a lot since then and, while some might disagree with me, no longer am as subject to that foible as I once was. So, how do I do all that?

    There are two simple answers, that end up becoming complex in the telling. One is organizational and time management skills, which I was emphatically NOT born with (in case you feel, like I do, that busy people must be part magician). I went to lots of classes and read a lot of books, have tried a lot of things, and worked out what works for me. While I could write an entire essay on that subject (and, truthfully, probably a whole book or five), because I have many ideas and opinions on it, the subject I wish to discuss today concerns the second answer: I have help.

    We will now pause for those of you who wish to twit me on the fact that yes, I do need professional help.

    Moving on now. What I mean by help is, simply put, playmates. I don’t mean professional or paid help (which I do also, in select areas, utilize – but I am not wealthy, so cannot use as much outside paid assistance as I might, in my more grandiose moments, wish). I mean I find people with similar interests, and we schedule time together to do things.

    Yes, it really is that simple.

    So, what kinds of things do I work with others on?

    Pretty much anything, including housecleaning and bill paying. You know the Apple ad, “there’s an app for that?” Same thing here. If you have an interest, chances are high that there are others out there with the same interest. Now, I’m very fortunate to live in the third largest city in the United States, so that gives me about nine million potential buddies. But we also have this thing called the internet (or, for you LOL users out there, the interwebs). Don’t overlook the power of groups on the internet. I’m here to tell you that it can be a very comforting thing that another human being out there knows your trials and tribulations, even if they’re four thousand miles away.

    We have a candle making party every year, for example. It’s always the first weekend in February, and is either one or both days. This year, we’ll do two days. Paraffin candles the first, beeswax the second. We make pretty much all the candles we’ll use in the coming year during that weekend.

    What’s fascinating is this: we (the friend of mine who hosts these with me) always hope to do more than one candle weekend. But when you add in the time for prep (putting down cardboard on the floor to catch drips, wrapping the stove and counters with foil, melting the pots…) it’s a huge job. We’ve only done it one year out of the last ten. But we have done candle parties TEN years out of the past ten. Because we know people are coming, and now people know we do these and about when we do them so they ask for it, it adds power to the calendar, and ensures that we get at least one candle day a year. And now, at a remove of doing them for a decade, I actually have learned quite a lot about the process – without even taking a class!

    Now, don’t underestimate the power of classes, either – because they have the same function. The only reason I’m focusing on groups here, as in “groups of friends or acquaintances with similar interests” is that frequently, the latter do not charge whereas the former do. On the other hand, classes for which one pays might induce one to be more serious about going. It’s up to the individual.

    What else have we done in a group?

    Spiritual exploration, political discussion, parties (I’m a pot luck expert by now), hiking, walking, weight loss, sales training, lead generation for sales, house cleaning and organization, knitting and sewing (any of the handicrafts), paper arts, Pysanky (Ukranian decorated eggs), bread making, soup making, car maintenance (no kidding – changed my oil with a buddy back in the days before complex catalytic converters and computer tune-ups)…

    Even if you’re an introvert, don’t underestimate the power of people. We all have interests and skills, and others do too. It makes sense to leverage those skills. Maybe I’m great at organization and you’re great at web design. So, I’ll organize your office and files, and you design my website. Or, better yet, we teach each other our skills – synergy at its truest distillation.

    Now, what the heck does this have to do with writing?

    Well, think about it. This is a group blog.

    (The light bulb should be going off right about now.)

    ~grin~

    See? Even writing can be done in group – either an in-person one, or a “virtual” one. Schedule write-ins, prompt groups, contests, anything your little heart desires.

    There’s a group for that.

  • Planet Procrastination

    Most of us aren’t gifted with a lifestyle allowing us to pursue every whim. Most of us have jobs, families, school, and a host of other responsibilities. Most of us have . . . well, lives. But then, we also have this funny whim called writing. Or, for some, it’s a compulsion, maybe even an addiction. Or, if you prefer, rather than addiction, we could refer to it as a medicine – a balm we use to soothe, or shield, or heal ourselves. Unfortunately, as much as it feels like it, you don’t need writing like you need air. And there are often demands from those pesky real lives that take a higher priority. (Usually, heh.) It’s easy for this “hobby” to get shuffled to the back burner when real life demands our utmost attention. But when does handling your life become procrastinating at your passion?

    “There are 8,760 hours in a year. Surely you can allocate some of them to
    your writing.”
     – Dan Poynter

    For me, it’s easier and easier to make excuses not to write the longer I stay away from it. Do any of these sound familiar?

    “I don’t feel well.”
    “I’m too tired.”
    “I have ‘such and such’ to get done first.”
    “I’m not in the right headspace.”
    “My to-do list is too long.”
    “So-and-so is expecting XYZ of me.”
    “I don’t feel inspired.”
    “It’s not like I have any real deadlines.”
    “I’ll get to it later.”
    “My writing isn’t going anywhere.”

    If so, you are practicing the art of procrastination. And don’t think for a second that I’m not right there with you. I am a procrastinator of epic proportions. So, the question becomes: How do we get around this nasty habit of putting road blocks between us and our creative pursuits?

    Answer: By clearing away the excuses and MAKING them a priority.

    Not as easy as it sounds, I know. There are PLENTY of things to use to procrastinate. TV. Internet. Work. Books. Social gatherings. Chores. You name it. And ultimately, yes, you can legitimize everything you put before your creative pursuits. After all – they’re creative pursuits – they’re just gravy, right? It’s not like you have to write. No one is going to give you a bad grade, or charge you interest if you don’t. No one but . . . well, you, that is. In my observation, many of us writers have a tendency to punish ourselves for not letting our inner writer out to play, to varying degrees. And beating ourselves up just fuels the procrastination.

    So, some simple steps to kick that procrastinator in the rear and get up to the plate (or keyboard) again. Try one, try them all, or . . . well, do what you like. But please take this to heart – the most important person counting on you is you. If it makes you happy to write, if it brings you joy, a sense of wellness, peace, vitality – whatever the reason you love it – give yourself permission to make it a PRIORITY in your life. It’s important to YOU. That’s enough.

    1. Make the time. Write it on your calendar, put it in your Palm Pilot, notify your friends and family. You have an APPOINTMENT with your WIP. At a time when you’re not feeling frantic and over-worked, think about how much time you can realistically cut out of your life for writing. Then do it. If it’s an hour a day, four hours on the weekend, whatever. Just make sure you set that block of time aside and that you use it. No excuses. No interruptions. Life will be waiting for you when you’re done. I promise.

    2. Eliminate distractions. Set the book aside. Hand the kids over to parental unit #2. Turn the TV off. Unplug the internet. Leave your phone in the other room. Shut the office door. Simply don’t give yourself any excuse to dilly-dally, put-off, or avoid your appointment.

    3. Even if you don’t feel like it, do it. If you’ve set aside an hour to write and you spend that hour staring at a blank screen, so be it. You’re not procrastinating anymore. That’s a start. The words will come. In fact, they might not be what you expected at all. That’s okay too . . .

    4. Let go of your expectations and judgements. Don’t ever let yourself think your writing time is a waste of time, or that you could be getting XYZ done. Remember, this is important to you. The very first step to writing is ‘applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair’ (Mary Heaton Vorse). What you write doesn’t matter. That you are making writing a priority in your life and setting time aside to do it is the main focus here.

    So . . . there you go – a simple list of steps that I’ve put to use time and again, and often need to remind myself of. I hope you can take advantage of them too.

  • Wiley Wednesday, 10/15/2008: “Twin Realities”

    As we head into what shows every sign of being a prolonged period of economic stress, it pays to look to our own houses and make sure they are ready to weather the coming storm. As writers, we must be sure to keep our spiritual and emotional house in order so that we may continue to create. It is the times of challenge that show us where our weak points are, the cracks in our armor that let the wind in; the leaks in the roof that send drips down on our heads. These don’t need to be as onerous if we just remember the universal principle of the power of thought.

    While not a new idea, it bears repeating. I’m not talking here of ‘blame the victim:’ “Oh, you thought about cancer, so that’s why you have cancer.” That kind of cause/effect leap is specious and unhelpful. I’m talking here in a subtle reality shift of what reality we choose to inhabit. The key word there is “reality” – I’m not talking about avoidance of reality, quite the contrary. But there’s a world of difference between being aware of reality and cynicism – though cynics will, of course, tell you differently.

    Every day we are given a choice (or, if you prefer not to think of something “giving” us anything, then I’ll say merely each day we have a choice to make). We can inhabit the reality of abundance, or the reality of lack.

    It’s easy to get down about the future, the world, when things aren’t going our way. But Rena Tarbet once said, it doesn’t matter what stops you – your mother’s diagnosis of cancer, a sick child, your own injury, the dog threw up. What does it matter, if it stops you? There are stories of great everyday heroism – Christopher Reeve, Helen Keller, Steven Hawking… these stories can inspire us, but better, they can inform us of what it takes to inhabit the real. We are far more wealthy than even we are aware of, a fact that immediately becomes apparent if we watch footage of Iraq and Afghanistan, to name just two of the places on earth today that are torn by war and worse. We have safe homes to live in and people to love us (even at the remove of the internet – love is love, don’t throw it away because it’s not physically sitting next to you on your couch).

    Okay, so all of that is very good and well, if we already inhabit the reality of our own abundance. But if you are reading this, thinking “Yeah, yeah, but I’m really NOT living in abundance and have no idea how to get there,” do not despair. Two simple tools can help each of us shift our reality. If you consent to walk this path with me, you will not be the same person three weeks from now.

    The first tool begins as soon as you finish reading this: count your blessings. That’s right, pull out a sheet of paper, (yes, please handwrite this exercise; the hand knows reality better than the keyboard). Write down each of your blessings: you have underwear, socks, pants, shirts, sheets, a bed, four walls and a roof, food, and go from there. Try to get to fifty, then a hundred.

    The second tool is a gratitude journal. First discussed in Sarah Ban Breathnach’s lovely book, Simple Abundance, the idea of the gratitude journal is to make us aware of just exactly how much we have in our lives, every day, for which to be grateful. Each night for the next month, before bed, write down five things for which you are grateful. Some days they may be magnificent. Others, particularly if you are really in a state of lack, it may simply be the simplest: I am alive, I have an internet connection, I can type, I can read, I ate food today. That’s okay; they don’t have to be big things.

    And that’s the lesson. It doesn’t have to be big things. But the reality of abundance is the mirror image of the reality of lack, and they are both simple realities. It’s your choice which one to inhabit.

    Please, leave a comment and tell me how your blessings list went, or any thoughts on the twin nature of reality that you might like to share. We are not alone, and sometimes just that simple fact can remind us of how abundant our lives really are.

    Resources

    Ms. Sarah Ban Breathnach’s website: http://www.simpleabundance.com/
    Author, Simple Abundance (and many other excellent books, including Moving On)
    Available on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=282922

    Ms. Rena Tarbet’s website: http://www.renatarbet.com/
    Author, How to Succeed in Spite of Life’s Challenges
    Available on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Rena-Succeed-Spite-Lifes-Challenges/dp/1880692325

  • Converted

    Many members of our group have already done the Artist’s Way workshop and the following books with Catherine, but I’m a first-timer.

    Ever have those things that just happen to fall right into your life, right when you need them? I’ll be honest, I resisted this for a while, thinking I didn’t have the time, or even (yeah, ego, I know) that I didn’t need it because it’s supposed to help blocked creativity, and I wasn’t blocked.

    Well.

    Skepticism. Yeah – there’s a section on that in this book. There’s also one on synchronicity. And I’m now a believer.

    I’m on Chapter 3 and I can already see the way I view myself as an artist, and creativity in general changing and morphing. The back cover touts the Artist’s Way as the ‘seminal book on the subject of creativity’ and it’s true. It really is.

    I have been trying to put my finger on what exactly it is, because I think part of the reason I resisted so long was that the actual SCOPE of this book was never adequately described to me. But it cannot be adequately described.

    It’s subtitle: ‘A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity’ doesn’t do it justice. I think the only way to describe it is to say that wherever you are on the road, you can get something from this book. I thought I didn’t need it, but then, when I finally gave in to peer pressure, I found I needed it more than I ever could have imagined. And I truly believe that no matter when I might have picked it up, I would have needed it then too, and taken something different from it.

    From an objective position, Ms. Cameron has an amazingly soothing and engaging voice. Her thoughts are well organized, thoroughly informative and totally applicable. In short, I think everyone should read this. I can’t think of a single person in my life who won’t take something away from it. And I know, just like all my friends told me (yeah, I know . . . I’m a stubborn arse, but you love me anyway), I will do it again and again, and take something new away each time. I’m officially on board now.

    Buy it. Read it. Live it.

    And that’s all I have to say about that.