Willpower and Cantrips

Routines and Schedules

One of the most helpful and boring things that I have found keeps me writing is my schedules and routines. Last year threw a lot of that off for a variety of reasons. I started a new job in January and that meant a whole new routine to deal with as well as a new commute and a lot of learning.

Then well... March happened and everything changed again.

This is why my focus for 2021 is on rebuilding routine and structure into my life as much as I can. When some things are automatic, it frees up brain space. We've all had those days where you get home from a long day at work where you had to make a million decisions. You flop onto the couch, can't decide what to make for dinner so you order a pizza and watch movies. Suddenly it's 10:00 and time for bed. Your willpower is depleted and trying to force yourself to do more, doesn't really work at that point. You've exhausted that energy.

For my Dungeons and Dragons fans out there, it's like spell slots. You have enough energy to cast a certain number of spells before you need a rest. Schedules and routines act a bit like cantrips: they don't take a spell slot to cast.

One thing I have built into the routines of my life is that Monday is laundry day. It's become basically automatic at this point. I know that anything that needs to be washed will be dealt with on a Monday so I don't have to allot any amount of worry to 'when am I going to get all these clothes washed?' It frees a tiny amount of brain space from that thought. There's no decision to be made, it's already been made by past me.

By building in these little decisions already being decided, you can free a lot of brain space. Set up a similar breakfast every day, wear a 'work uniform' even if you don't have to, have a set time for eating or going to bed or writing. When these routines become automatic, those things get done with less resistance and less willpower drain.

Consider that schedules are really just a gift that past you is giving to future you, isn't that thoughtful of them?

My Top 5 Writing Books

Ah, the never-ending world of writing advice... there are so many options of things to read and learn from. As always, advice is very selective with what matches your own experiences and what clicks best in your brain. So, I thought I'd share my favorite writing books!

1. 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron

This book didn't take me to 10k a day writing (I mean, to be honest, I rarely hit 2k days lately) BUT it did give me a better plan on what matters for me to have ready when I start writing. Instead of just thinking about how I'm going to write so much when I have time, I can focus on the specifics: next plot points, dialogue, and plan actions.

If you're looking for a way to get more laser-focused during your writing time, this short book is a huge help.

2. Take Off Your Pants!: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing: Revised Edition 2nd Edition, by Libbie Hawker

The fun title caught my eye but the contents really solidified what I was looking for. If you're noticing a theme with these first books, you're right. These books are to focus on what you really need for an outline, the bare bones of what a story requires.

I have a bad habit of getting into the weeds of my story and writing out a history lasting 1000 years but not my actual story. This book helped me narrow down and create outlines that give me the information and guides I need to actually do the writing work.

3. Writing with Chronic Illness: Improve Outlook and Productivity (WMG Writer's Guides) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Now this book surprised me. I started it to see about if it was any good to recommend a friend dealing with a new diagnosis. I was amazed at how much this book helped me (and her!) with managing of energy.

Even in someone not dealing with a chronic condition (though honestly I could see everyone calling the past few years a condition to struggle with) can learn a lot about what is going on.

The ideas here of figuring out high, medium and low-level tasks is a great way to navigate fluctuating abilities day by day. I learned a lot about figuring out what tasks I can do when my energy is low and what tasks can really help me make the most of a high energy day.

Honestly, Rusch has a ton of books out and a great blog that provides a lot of resources and advice.

4. Business Essentials for Writers: How to make money in an ever-changing industry by James Nettles

I had the pleasure of beta-reading for this book and it is everything I could have hoped for when I was starting out as a writer. There are so many questions when you start seeking publication... and a lot of contracts to worry about! This easy to use guide provides a clear guide on things to be aware of: from scams, publishing paths, social media, contracts and networking.

I keep a physical copy of this book right by my desk and reference it fairly often.

5. The Successful Author Mindset Companion Workbook: A Handbook for Surviving the Writer's Journey by Joanna Penn

This one is a bit of a cheat since it's technically a workbook that you complete yourself. However, there are good bits of text along the workbook to explain what to do and to guide you through your own hangups around writing. I was really surprised by how much writing out my own ideas, goals and hangups helped me visualize WHY I was writing.

I know we hear it a lot but the why behind what we're doing really makes a huge difference in keeping motivated. Finding and really honing in on that answer makes me feel so much more inspired to keep working towards my goals.

Those are my top five writing books for the moment. As always, take what works for you and leave the rest! Writing is a really individual task and you'll find the method that works for you with trial and error.

Liminal Year

What a year 2020 was, huh?

The end there got a bit dark and struggle-y for me personally but here we are, on the other side of that 0.

My hope for this year is to be more active here, read more books and write more. Of course, I also have those 'typical' goals of getting healthier, working out more, etc. What can I say? I'm only human.

2020 changed a lot of things for pretty much everyone I know. There are so many things I miss and so many things that I've learned about myself. For instance, I've learned that working without background noise is a real struggle for me and that I really like Lo-Fi music.

Today I spent a good part of the day getting all of my calendars set up for 2021 and writing down important events. Normally I have several conventions I'm going to but this year, I don't have a single one on my calendar. It makes me realize how much I do miss those convention conversations and hanging out with the friends I only see at these conventions.

I think 2021 is going to be a liminal year, full of transitions, strangeness and disorientation. We're in the middle of a reshuffling of a whole lot of ways of life and of people seeing a new way of doing things. Many places are already looking at more permanent work from home options and several conventions are looking at creating year-round online content. The way we live has fundamentally changed and this is the year that these changes take root.

I've always loved liminal spaces, the grocery store at 2am, the abandoned building or the airport in the dead of night (man, remember airports?). There is a potential in those areas, a quiet humming energy that stays unseen but sends the hairs on your arms standing on end.

For 2021, I have so many things I want to do, but I also want to give myself the time to both enjoy the potential and to adjust to the stress of change. No matter how exciting a change is, it's always stressful and 2020 really proved that. What a year. I've never napped so regularly as I did all this past year. It just felt like exhaustion was always crawling up my spine.

Right now I've set a few simple goals with solid numbers that will give me a clear 'yes or no' when it comes to the end of the year.

I want to write 500,000 words.

I want to earn $3000 from my writing/freelance work.

I want to work out five times a week.

Those are the basics that I am hoping for in 2021. They're pretty easily trackable and when December 31, 2021 arrives I can look back and see a pretty solid yes or no for those.

But at the same time, I also feel that this coming year is the perfect year to change and shift goals as the year goes. I'm open for leaning into that slightly unnerving liminal energy to see where the currents take me.

If you're reading this, remember you survived 2020 and saw the dawn of 21, that's exciting. Look towards the ever changing future and remember that it's impossible to predict what's ahead. Learning how to roll with those changes is a lesson I'm hoping to learn more about in the coming year because honestly, who knows what waits around the corner?

Camp NaNoWriMo!

July is just around the corner and that means that Camp NaNoWriMo will be kicking off soon!

What is Camp NaNoWriMo? Inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) held every November, this camp offers the chance to try to complete a word-related goal throughout the summer. The goals are more flexible for you to set yourself (rather than the standard 50,000 for NaNoWriMo) and are open to all sorts of projects.

Because of the flexibility and customizable nature of the camp it can be a great launching point! I’m hoping to use the month of July to get started on some new projects!

Here’s one of my favorite YouTube channels, Heart Breathings, talking about Camp NaNoWriMo for her.

If you sign up, let me on so we can cheer each other on!

The Realities Of Saying No

Last week I had to make a hard decision about my capacity and what I can and can’t keep doing while also taking care of myself.

I post about the importance of not letting the hustle run you ragged but I haven’t been practicing what I preach at all. I’ve taken on more and more projects without letting old projects go. What I’ve ended up with is a plate overflowing with to-dos and a brain overwhelmed with tasks.

Finding myself staying up late night after night to finish projects and stressing about where I was going to find the time to do things. I still loved everything I was doing but I was doing it all poorly. So I had to face the reality that something had to go.

It sucks. There’s no real way around that but looking towards 2019 and the goals I have, I knew that things had to change.

So as December kicks off and 2018 begins to wind down, I encourage you to look at all your projects and see how they match with your goals and, more importantly, how they match with taking care of yourself.

Make hard decisions and be honest with yourself.

Writing with a day job

Most of the writers I know manage some kind of a day job for at least 40 hours a week, but sometimes a lot more than that, as well as all of their writing projects. It can be really hard to figure out ways to manage that and in my case, I don't even have a spouse or kids to complicate my schedule further. What I want to share today are some tips and tricks I’ve found to help manage my energy while spending my day working.

1.     Taking a serious look at what my schedule actually looks like.

 I know that it may sound a little silly but actually conceptualizing the times that you are committed to anything related to your day job is vital. If your commute is an hour in the morning then you probably can't try and squeeze in an extra 45 minutes of writing without sacrificing some major sleep. If your job allows for remote working then maybe you can easily fit that in first thing in the morning.

Know the reality of your job: do you actually get to take a lunch break where you could write? It's a really vital part of figuring out what times are even available for you to write. Know when the busy seasons are for your day job. If you work in financials than the end of fiscal year is probably going to be a really stressful time for you. By knowing that, you can try to mitigate the number of projects or external creative due dates you have during that time. Be aware of the most stressful times in your job if it follows a pattern like that and try to work around them.

2.     What are your priorities?

Figuring out what projects are the most important to you can really help make sure that when you do you have time to work on your creative endeavors you actually know what to work on. For a long time I spent a lot of energy spinning my wheels trying to figure out what project I was even supposed to be working on or wanted to work on next. I lost a lot of time by not having my priority set. Now I know what projects I have coming up and what projects I really want to accomplish. It really helps make sure that the limited time I do have is used well.

3.     Figure out what your energy levels are through the day.

Some people get out of bed and can immediately write. Some people can stay up all night writing. Some people hit their peak energy in the afternoons. Figuring out how your energy cycle works give me a huge help. It also can potentially point out some problems in what you're eating or your activity. I noticed that I tended to get really sleepy in the afternoons which lead to me realizing that I probably shouldn't be having giant pots of pasta for lunch every day. It made me sleepy. Now I'm perkier in the afternoons and I've also found that I can get a lot of writing done during my lunch break at work.

While I still occasionally work in the mornings, I found that I am a lot more likely to use the mornings to read and ease into my day. Figure out what works for you rather than trying to work against your body’s natural rhythms.

4.     Take care of your body.

This one always makes me roll my eyes a little bit but it is really important to remember to take care of your body. Now I am by no means saying that you need to be a gym rat or anything like that. I know that for me if I'm not eating at least some fruits and vegetables and getting a little bit of exercise I am a lot less productive and creative. If I'm really struggling, I try to get out and take a quick 10-minute walk around the parking lot. This also means that I try to pay more attention to how I'm sitting and the ergonomics of my desk. It’s not a sexy or exciting tip but this really make a huge difference.

5.     Know what you're giving up.

Part of embracing creative endeavors outside of your day job mean sacrificing things. For me, it mostly means sacrificing video games and TV shows. I am woefully behind on every pop-culture series and I haven't played a game through to completion in years. I've given those things up for the most part because I know that my energy is better spent trying to accomplish my goals. I had to realize what sacrifices needed to be made in order to continue writing in a way that could potentially build a career. It sucks and a lot of the time I still fail and get sucked into playing the Sims. But remembering what I'm working towards and what that requires helps me get back on track a lot easier than it would other hand.

Most writers are managing some kind of a day job and everybody’s schedule and requirements will make that look very different. I'm incredibly privileged to have a remarkable amount of free time available to me because of where I am in life. What works for me may or may now work for you but I really think that stepping back and being thoughtful and deliberate about the choices you're making with your time and energy make a world of difference.

My Life Tools

I talked about some of my productivity tools and some of my writing tools but something I haven't talked about this month is things that are helping me with life in general. Being a writer doesn't suddenly mean that the floors don't need to be vacuumed and meals don't need to be cooked. Sometimes it's really hard to manage the daily to-do tasks when I'm trying to meet a deadline or even just trying to get enough brain space to finish a project. So here are a few of the things that are really helping me right now.

1. My Roomba

I never thought I would be the kind person who would love a robot vacuum but I absolutely adore my little iRobot; his name is Alfred. It's really handy to be able to just schedule a time when the vacuum is going to run. I have two cats that track litter all over the place and it used to be that every morning while getting dressed I would get litter all over my feet and then have it stuck in my shoe for the day.

Since I started running Alfred every day that's completely gone away. It's great to be able to just schedule a time for it to run and not even have to think about when I'm going to make time to vacuum the floors. It also helps keep me motivated to keep my floors clear so Alfred has a clean path around the room.

2. Frozen meals

I actually like cooking but I've been having a hard time with actually doing it. I promise myself that I will make a nice dinner with soon as I get home from work but inevitably as soon as I get home, I'm exhausted and Pizza Hut delivery it is. What I found is that if I keep the fridge of healthy-ish meals then I don't order delivery.

If it's something I can pop in the microwave or the oven and under less than 20 minutes then I'm golden. It's not the healthiest option but it does provide portion control and minimizes the impact on my budget. On the days when I'm having a really hard time, knowing that there is some frozen ravioli that will take me 10 minutes to make is a huge relief.

For a while I felt really lazy about doing this but honestly it's one less thing to beat myself up for when I just don't have the energy to cook.

3. Themed days

Breaking my days into a theme has helped me do more and forget less. For instance, Tuesday is the day that I work on my podcast. Whether that's by updating the website, editing in episode, or recording a new episode, that's what I plan to do every Tuesday.

Friday is for laundry and Monday is for blog posts. By keeping that kind of consistent calendar I worry a lot less about what I'm forgetting to do and it's honestly free up a lot of brain space.

4, Brain dumps

One of the things I have been doing for almost a year now is what I call a brain dump. It usually happens once every other week, but there are sometimes it happens every week. All a brain dump is, is sitting down, taking about 20 minutes, and writing out every single thing bouncing around in your brain.

I can write down the bigger projects like writing a new novel or the really mundane stuff like doing the dishes. For me, getting it all out of my head and onto paper helps me see what all it is that I need to do and start prioritizing. Doing the dishes won't take that long, but writing a novel, that will take a while. Seeing it on the page in front of me helps me better visualize the amount of time and the size of the project. It also helps me to see if something is just falling from week to week and staying on the brain dump page that I either need to just bite the bullet and do it or I need to evaluate if it needs to be done.

So those are the things that are helping me right now and just like everything else that I talked about this month, it varies from month-to-month and from project to project. What works for me might not work for you but that's okay. The important thing is to learn how to listen to yourself and to do what fits your life, not to lie some productivity girly want you to have or even the life that I have. Going out there, experiment, find what works, and take care of yourself.

My Productivity Tools

I am a little bit obsessed with productivity. I tend to read almost every blog posts that comes across my dashboard that even remotely hints about how to be more productive. I love diving into how people use lists or technology to help them get more stuff done. At the same time reading all about that can also make me feel like an unproductive slug at times. But because I love productivity so much and I spend a lot of time learning about what works for me I thought it would be helpful for me to share the tools I use.

Now as a reminder, what works for me might not work for you. And that's all okay. I'm not telling you there's one way to do things, only what's worked for me. Honestly the best way I found to be more productive as a whole was through a lot of trial and error with learning about how I work and about what works with and for me. Now without further ado here are some of my favorite productivity tools.

1. Forest

I am a little bit obsessed with this app. It's simple and effective. You select the amount of time you want to go without using your phone and then you select a bush or tree that represent that amount of time. You plant the tree or bush and then the timer starts. If you navigate away from the screen where your plant is growing, it will die. The only way to let your plants grow all the way to adulthood and let it populate your beautiful forest is to leave your phone alone.

It also has the option to have background noise which I really love to. I didn't to use it a lot as a timer to keep me on track for how long I want to stay focused on something. It's really great and it's by far my favorite app that I have consistently kept using. Recently they have added an update where you can now plant trees with friends. (I don't have any friends on the forest app yet so I can't speak to how well that works but it sounds super fun.) 

2. Isolation

So lately I've actually found going low-tech helps a lot of ways with getting things done. Since I picked up dictating I've been spending a lot of time locked in my closet. And honestly that isolation has helped tremendously but keeping me focused. In my closet there's not much to distract me or interrupt me. Aside from the occasional kitty cat paw or region under the door to slap me. But I can turn on the forest app, Open up whatever project I'm working on and get to work. I haven't gotten very good at using dictation to be able to browse the Internet's or do much else besides write, which is exactly how I want (so please don't tell me how). The isolation, quiet and focused area help me get a whole lot more done than I would normally.

3. Pen and paper

As much as I love list tracking apps like wonder list, nothing has yet replaced my beloved pen and paper. I keep a daily journal to track everything I want to get done that day and I've done that for quite a few years now. Sometimes I do it in tandem with an electronic list that helps you remember it. I've bullet journaled for a long time so currently I'm using a pre-printed journal but when that runs out I'll probably return to bullet journaling. It's one of my favorite parts of the day when I sip my coffee and put together my list of things to accomplish for that day. It's sort of the ritual that starts every day. Even on the weekends I do it. I'm not particular about what journal or notebook it has to be but I prefer something with a hardcover to survive being in my bag. I'm much more likely to care about what kinds of pens or pencils I'm using the actual notebook itself.

So those are the three main things they're helping me be productive right now. And sometimes not even that works. There are some mornings where I don't put together a to-do list, where I feel too overwhelmed to write anything down, and there are mornings where I will just sit in silence and stare into space in the closet. And there are definitely days that I have killed my poor little tree in the forest app.

Productivity isn't a contest, even though it's really easy to feel like it is, productivity is personal and about what finding what works for you and how you want to work. Lately the world has been a little stressful for me so my productivity has taken a nosedive and the main thing I've learned as of the most important part of productivity is forgiving yourself when you have a bad day. So what are some of the ways that you keep productive or some of the things that really haven't worked for you? I'm always curious to hear about what other people are doing.

Dictation Station!

For the past two months, I've been having some medical issues that have made working at my computer uncomfortable and painful. My writing output nosedived as I struggled to keep writing even when it hurt. With the dawn of the new year I decided that I would try something new. Partially inspired by Joanna Penn’s book The Healthy Writer, I decided to give dictation a try.

What's kept me from making the leap is that everyone recommends Dragon Dictation, and, to be fair, it seems to be an amazing product for dictation. What's less amazing is the $300 price tag. I didn't have that kind of  money to throw at something I wasn't sure would even work. While looking for alternatives to Dragon, I realized I had an answer right in front of me. My MacBook comes with dictation software already in the general settings. I turned it on and gave it a run.

At it first it was terrible.

Example from session one. Yeah.... Not even close to what I said. 

It got maybe one out of seven words right. It was awful and I figured well dictation isn't for me. But then I thought maybe the problem isn't the software but with using the internal microphone in a noisy space. So I pulled out my snowball, locked myself in my closet to have a quiet space, and gave it another try.

This time it worked like a dream. In 25 minutes I had dictated 3000 words. And most of them we're what I had said. It honestly amazed me. 

So I've kept up with that, and for the past week, I've been working on dictating everything I type. Any time I want to write or I need to get an outline together, I pull out my microphone and go.

Now, it's by no means perfect solution. It requires a lot more editing, not to mention it can be a little awkward speaking your stories. The grammar is strange to have to voice out loud. For example, to get a dialogue line written you would speak:

Begin quote

I hate you

comma

end quote

he said

period

new paragraph

Which would translate to:

"I hate you," he said. 

It's strange getting the hang of and writing the fight scene was a particularly strange experience. It takes a little while to get used to sitting dialogue tags and speaking with the grammar and punctuation necessary. However, over the weekend I've already gotten a lot more confident and feel a lot better about my dictation period

I'm hoping that I will keep up with this dictation. In fact my goal for January is to dictate the draft of my next novella. It's certainly going to be a new experience but I'm excited about trying it out.

So if you're thinking about giving dictation a try, don't let price tag keep you from making the switch. Check your laptop or computer and see what options are already built into the settings. There maybe an alternative you can use. I do suggest using an external microphone that you can adjust to be closer to your mouth. But there are some really great options out there at some pretty reaonsable price points.

So that's my experience with dictation so far a week and a half in. This whole blog post was written entirely by dictation, pretty neat right? So give it a try see how it feels see what happens, at worst, you've lost a little time trying something new. That best, you've found a new way to revolutionize your writing.