Category: Uncategorized

I’ve been thinking a lot about productivity lately.

This is probably because it’s summertime and my schedule is pretty much non-existent.

I’m getting work done every day, but it’s not at the same times of day as when the kids were in school. And it’s frequently really early.

I read this interesting article called Creative Kryptonite and the Death of Productivity.

Jonathan Fields talks about what happens when we get distracted by social media during our day. There were 2 things in particular that he focused on. One was that we receive “intermittent reinforcement” whenever we get an email, Twitter, or Facebook alert—an actual Dopamine squirt that gets us hooked.

The second thing he mentioned in his post was the Zeigarnik Effect. As Jonathan put it:

Every time we begin a conversation by text, email, twitter, Facebook or Google+, it’s like we’re opening a new loop. One that, until completed, compels us to want to finish the conversation. To keep checking and responding until the loop has been closed.

Problem is, in a hyperconnected world…the loops never close.

Of course, we all enjoy what we’re doing. I know I do. If I had it my way, large portions of my day would be spent catching up with everyone on their blogs, reading tweets, and looking at friends’ status updates.

But….I sure wouldn’t get anything done!

My solution to this is usually pretty extreme:

Close all my computer windows except for Word.

Put my phone across the room where I can hear it if it rings, but can’t check emails, Twitter, etc. on it.

Leave the house with my laptop and go to a place that doesn’t have wi-fi (increasingly more difficult to find.)

Write in a notebook (a real notebook) until I meet my goal.

And then I give myself a reward. :) I have to perform for treats.

How you y’all get things done with all the temptations of social media?

Please join me in welcoming my friend Karen Walker to the blog.

I love visiting Karen’s blog, Following the Whispers, because it’s a quiet oasis in my busy day. She helps me to think about life in a new light—and I appreciate her perspective. I’ve read her memoir and found it truly inspirational. Thanks for coming by today, Karen!

I became a mom in 1973. We’d been through the Civil Rights Movement, the Womens’ movement, the Viet Nam War. And the Mommy Wars–which, unfortunately, still exist–although it doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue as it was back then.

When I gave birth, I was 24 years old chronologically, but not in maturity. I didn’t have a sense of self, so trying to juggle my own needs with that of a baby and a husband and friends, etc. wasn’t even in my consciousness. I was pretty much on auto-pilot, trying to keep my head above water.

Today, it is common for women to either work outside the home, or, as writers do, work at home, while raising our children, caring for our husbands, and maintaining a household.

The key to juggling all of the above is balance. They tell you when you are on an airplane to put your own oxygen on first, before helping anyone else. There is a reason for this. If you become unconscious, you are of no use to anyone. We must put our own well-being first. I wish I’d known this years ago–it would have saved me years of misery.

When we have kids, this can be most challenging, because we all know, if a child needs something, we drop everything to deal with it. So it becomes a matter of priorities. And the ages of our children and what they can manage on their own versus what needs our immediate attention.

The way I find balance is to only have a few key things I want to accomplish each day. That way, I don’t overwhelm myself and can feel successful, rather than a failure because I didn’t do what I wanted to do. I make priorities of those few things. On some days, only one or two things get done. The next day, the priorities shift so I can focus on what didn’t get done the day before.

Another key to finding and keeping balance is learning to say no. Even to our husbands. And yes, even to our children. Because saying no to someone else is saying yes to ourselves. This is not selfish, as we may have been taught. It is crucial to inner peace and well-being.

To summarize, get clear about what is important to you. Make the time to do it. Say no to non-crisis distractions. And learn to balance your priorities so that you feel successful.

Elizabeth, you seem to juggle your life beautifully. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to blog here about such an important issue.

Blessings,

Karen
Karen Walker is a writer who has published essays in newspapers and magazines, as well as an anthology series. After a 30+ year career in marketing and public relations, she went back to college to complete a Bachelor’s degree and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2005 from the University of New Mexico’s University Studies program with a major emphasis in Creative Writing. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband, Gary, and their dog, Buddy. When she’s not writing, you can find her doing international folk dancing, singing at retirement communities with her trio, Sugartime, hiking, reading, or hanging out with friends.

You can find Following the Whispers: at:

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Below are writing links that I’ve posted to Twitter in the past week.

Hope you’ll enter this month’s WKB giveaway for a chance to win Donald Maass’ excellent Writing the Breakout Novel, from our friends at Writer’s Digest. Enter the drawing by signing up for the WKB newsletter.

Finger Lickin’ Dead released June 7th. Hope you’ll consider it if you enjoy mysteries, or know someone who does.Download it on Kindle: http://amzn.to/kh7MAp Mass market paperback: http://amzn.to/lfUE2N ($6.99)

Tomorrow I’m looking forward to hosting Karen Walker on Mystery Writing is Murder. Hope you’ll come by!

Making Time to Write Despite the Never Ending To Do List: http://bit.ly/rfpixb

Digital lit: How new ways to read mean new ways to write (Globe and Mail): http://bit.ly/nEz6bY

The Kings Speech – Why is this such a Great Bad Movie? http://bit.ly/r49QZc @StoryMeBad

Why So Few Men Join Book Groups: http://bit.ly/oyHqI2

How some famous crime fiction sleuths got into the business: http://bit.ly/n1J2rX @mkinberg

The Writer as Detective (NY Times): http://nyti.ms/pYkGpe

An overlooked form of marketing–volunteerism: http://bit.ly/ot1c1y @MariaZannini

Best practices for the professional writer: http://bit.ly/nSRjhB @JourneytoFree

Writing for the reluctant teen reader: http://bit.ly/ounoG3

Writing urban fantasy vs. steampunk: http://bit.ly/qhLJNB

Stop Procrastinating By Thinking of Your Future Self: http://bit.ly/puZPqP

10 Ways to Keep a Long-Term Character From Being Hated: http://on.io9.com/rsJ7GD

Roving body parts: http://bit.ly/pnXOHw @authorterryo

Why gratitude is vital for writers: http://bit.ly/nQoe25

7 Tips for Writing a Film Review: http://bit.ly/pXr6Df

Why 1 writer/artist loves Google+ & her tips for newbies: http://bit.ly/obIcU5 @inkyelbows

6 tips for helping writers suspend reader disbelief: http://bit.ly/oRLqjv @damesofdialogue

A nice how-to on creating an ebook: http://bit.ly/oEBpVg

Censoring Books for Kids: http://bit.ly/rcb2Pn @jemifraser

Nice link roundup by 2 historical writers: http://bit.ly/o7I6J4 @2nerdyhistgirls

Fluffing up a flat character: http://bit.ly/olUF17

Fast and Easy Guide to Writing Characters of the Opposite Gender: http://bit.ly/r2QpJh @KMWeiland

Why Your Creativity Is Stuck On Shuffle And You’re Not Hearing A Single Song: http://bit.ly/okpcHT

Magical Rooms in Fiction: http://bit.ly/qXfcpR @AwfullyBigBlog

Everything You Wanted to Know About Digital Publishing But Were Afraid to Ask: http://bit.ly/pCKrr8 @DearAuthor

Sex and the Novel: http://bit.ly/oYSkW7 @Sarafurlong

How Much Should an Author’s Ebook Royalty Be? Some number crunching: http://bit.ly/pvfEl9 @kellymcclymer

Metafiction: The Forgotten Transformer: http://bit.ly/nOFFl1 @yaHighway

9 Tips For The Perfect Pitch: http://bit.ly/njpYCp

Lessons from the Movies–Planting and Returning Images to Create a Satisfying Ending: http://bit.ly/nhDO8D

Tips for getting in the writing zone: http://bit.ly/oltcpS @SarahKetley

Improving Creativity: The Connect Brainset: http://bit.ly/qkVl8p @lkblackburne

6 great heroes of epic fantasy: Part 1: http://bit.ly/oUhkZj and 2: http://bit.ly/oXQoba

Things not to do as a writer–the rush to publish: http://bit.ly/o9bOfr @LisaKilian

The truth is out there: sci-fi doesn’t have to be stupid (Brisbane Times): http://bit.ly/p6nFP3 @brisbanetimes

Writers and Doubt: http://bit.ly/p81WwQ

The real Secret Garden (Telegraph): http://tgr.ph/ozKGuh

The writer takes a walk: http://bit.ly/oVSlRz

The Best Way to Embrace a Negative Review: http://bit.ly/qqqpJ5

Write what you know…or not: http://bit.ly/qsZhma

When writing is hard, write in a herd: http://bit.ly/nIjjBP @BWBODRasch

Tips for crime writers for avoiding “Cabot Cove Syndrome”: http://bit.ly/ncGFG4 @authorterryo

5 Steps to Writing a Killer First Chapter – How to Wow Readers: http://bit.ly/nqMNW8

3 protagonists walk into a bar: http://bit.ly/nJGPAI

Tips for writing action well: http://bit.ly/rs165T @Juliemusil @lisagailgreen

Using tarot cards to develop your story: http://bit.ly/qmwgyd @joanswan

The Importance of Knowing & Writing For Our Target Readers: http://bit.ly/poiYUs @JodyHedlund

Identifying the specific reason behind procrastination and making steps to work through it: http://bit.ly/mRqawn

Personalized publishing advice–where to get it? http://bit.ly/q37dES

One writer’s 10 favorite writing lessons: http://bit.ly/nGgPxv @jhansenwrites

Handling Content Edits: http://bit.ly/pyNrIe @KatieGanshert

Hands-on plotting: http://bit.ly/pmDER9

A former D&D gamer offers us 10 types of character quirks: http://bit.ly/r1PX4Q @CherylRWrites

An agent on what to do when you get an offer: http://bit.ly/nSXb5N

How to Write a Non-Fiction Query Letter: http://bit.ly/qAkoyT

5 Tips for Making a YouTube Promo Video: http://bit.ly/phhjSz

Writing Historical Fiction: Daring to Own an Icon: http://bit.ly/pDySEm @BTMargins

Getting started with Google+: http://bit.ly/mWYERp

Basics of writing–keeping it fresh: http://bit.ly/rnAkBP

When artificial intelligences start using contractions: http://bit.ly/ph9Phq

Don’t lie in query letters: http://bit.ly/qKUDKk

How writing is like ironing linen: http://bit.ly/oDo4Cl

Stop talking about writing and write: http://bit.ly/rjz3AH

3 Ways to Sell Yourself as an Online Writer: http://bit.ly/ph5hmY

Legacy Publishing vs Self-Publishing: Can You Do Both? http://bit.ly/qzwi5f @AJackWriting

Union & Guild Resources for Writers: http://bit.ly/nKX8Kh @galleycat

Why You Can’t Buy Creativity: http://bit.ly/qQI0Ka

How *not* to support local bookstores and coffeehouses: http://bit.ly/odNIqF @NinaBadzin

How flexible are you? http://bit.ly/o8PC53 @JodyHedlund

10 Ways to Reach Your Word Count Goals: http://bit.ly/pbpk9e @elspethwrites

How to break your book into chapters: http://bit.ly/oiNSLl @PublishingGuru

A primer on your publishing options: http://bit.ly/r18AkX @HartJohnson

Agents as Publishers: http://bit.ly/nYd7gH @LauraPauling

3 types of mushy book middles: http://bit.ly/q3rutw @FantasyFaction

Dialogue and The Telephone: http://bit.ly/p34RGh

Self-editing checklist–externals: http://bit.ly/rgcc3t

YA vs. Romance Sex Scenes: http://bit.ly/pjJJT5 @yaHighway

3 mistakes 1 writer observed a newbie make at a recent convention: http://bit.ly/pcj7Jz

Why you should become more flexible as a writer: http://bit.ly/pQ717U

How to Throw A Book Party That Rocks: http://bit.ly/o1Uj5o @BTMargins

Editing-Meet the Novel-Killer: http://bit.ly/oog4yk

Taking the “Spookiness” Out of Ghostwriting: http://bit.ly/oMH5p7

Writing A Linked Series – An Agent on Why some work and some don’t: http://bit.ly/qBtpIF

6 tips for growing characters: http://bit.ly/qSFsyp @WriteAngleBlog

A Guide to Colloquial Contractions: http://bit.ly/qtnkeI

Why Small Ebook Presses are Thriving And How You Could Join Them: http://bit.ly/ng4YEa @thecreativepenn

Performing plot CPR: http://bit.ly/nitE59 @JulieMusil

Do authors have to be attractive in this business? And mine their personal history for promo? http://bit.ly/ocWQpo @nicolamorgan

How writing and driving are similar: http://bit.ly/osQdvt @LesaHolstine @ThomasKaufman,

5 simple math skills every writer should know: http://bit.ly/qIcO7K @

Cross-marketing your books–locating alternative markets: http://bit.ly/qY4BhP

12 Ways to Turn Your Old, Dusty Blog Archive into Cold, Hard Cash: http://bit.ly/pqCAer

Article Revision Using the Pointings System: http://bit.ly/qC2bTz

How authors can benefit from using YouTube: http://bit.ly/n8IFVn

WordPress Plugins that Make Your Blog Comments Social: http://bit.ly/oLPYJA

Book writing is agony, with little reward. Why is it still pursued? NY Times: http://ow.ly/5DO9y RT @JaneFriedman

Agents are no longer relevant to authors? An agent says no: http://bit.ly/pSNkje

Tyranny of “The Numbers”: http://bit.ly/nnEOnK

Dear Young Writer: Advice to Your Younger Self: http://bit.ly/q0ZRXL

The Death of the Publishing IT Department? http://bit.ly/pjspJS @pubperspectives

Google+ Hangouts for Writing Groups: http://bit.ly/q5JdMb @galleycat

4 Elements of a Great Book Signing: http://bit.ly/nHxZno @PimpMyNovel

The 7 Stages of Writing a Sequel: http://bit.ly/nZGbos

How To Sell Songs Inside Your eBook: http://bit.ly/rgm59B @GalleyCat

7 Sound Techniques for Effective Writing: http://bit.ly/oS0bpp

Twitter tools for authors–Twellow and Grader: http://bit.ly/qU2Q6e

Why your reader is your co-writer and 6 tips for letting readers fill in the blanks: http://bit.ly/nWJw4x @KMWeiland

A deep editing analysis that demonstrates the power of cadence and specificity in writing: http://bit.ly/neyG9z @jhansenwrites

16 Ways Fiction is Usually Different than Reality: http://bit.ly/qT7kuu

2 PIs explain white collar crime to crime writers and give tips for writing it: http://bit.ly/nshtCX

How to work theme into your novels: http://bit.ly/qbjrfQ @DirtyWhiteCandy

Making Critical Character Traits Part of Your Plot: http://bit.ly/qVL6AW

What Readers WON’T Miss about Corporate Book Publishers When They’re Gone: http://bit.ly/ot0uVm @AnneRAllen

Tips for writing your 1st scenes: http://bit.ly/n7msBR

The dreaded flashback: http://bit.ly/noGjYG

How to speak publisher – C is for Cover: http://bit.ly/nccNZs

Managing Your Time as a Writer: http://bit.ly/qqYeqj

The art of rocking out your identity crisis so you can go on to rule the world: http://bit.ly/oAOY2a

How much description? http://bit.ly/p11bQL @JulietteWade

Tips for providing value on Twitter: http://bit.ly/pv1dsQ

World Building-Part 2: Social and Cultural Aspects: http://bit.ly/nrUPAb

5 must-do publicity tips: http://bit.ly/qpQ0no

The Surprising Key to Becoming an Authority: http://bit.ly/q0mOEX

7 Reasons Creative People Don’t Talk about Money: http://bit.ly/qNWNnv

Tips for bringing scenes to life: http://bit.ly/qE1F0J @4kidlit

Have white-board, will plot: http://bit.ly/px9XJT @yaHighway

The Lies Screenwriters Tell (Themselves): http://bit.ly/p4wdzQ

10 public speaking tips: http://bit.ly/pDL9yx @katiewardwriter

Who has authority online? @JaneFriedman with answers: http://bit.ly/qaHqRQ

Is your book’s middle saggy? Losing motivation halfway through? Don’t give up! Some tips: http://bit.ly/o425Ct @jhansenwrites

The 7 Deadly Sins of Writing: http://bit.ly/pH42sy

Self-Publishing is Like Playing Baseball: http://bit.ly/pNjO82

5 Reasons Why Your Writing Matters (Even if No-One Will Take You Seriously): http://bit.ly/ofMVip

A Google+ cheat sheet: http://bit.ly/npVzr6

12 Easy Steps to The Making of a Book Trailer: http://bit.ly/kP5jpk

Fixing Problem Pacing: http://bit.ly/qHO7Fb

Genre Interruptus: http://bit.ly/ofT0Io

Why copywriting is the secret to building a popular blog: http://bit.ly/pA6m8Y

How to Delete Half Your Facebook “Friends”: http://bit.ly/qfdRkb

10 Greatest Unintentionally Hilarious Lines from SF&F: http://on.io9.com/q8cnA9

10 Fantasy and Science Fiction Copycats that Actually Improved on the Original: http://on.io9.com/nHam8t

Getting ISBNs in Canada: http://bit.ly/oUblTz @JustusRStone

Keeping Your Promises To Readers: http://bit.ly/pTnwq6 @ajackwriting

An Agent Answers a Writer’s Question on Collaborative Writing: http://bit.ly/nST1u1

How to Cure Writer’s Block and Stay Productive: http://bit.ly/nHX6rb

A Writer’s Must-Read List: http://bit.ly/nh2uSk @on_creativity

Tips for formatting your manuscript: http://bit.ly/oPlX6i

On rejections: http://bit.ly/nCaoc1

That book was edited? http://bit.ly/qHeIBm

Keeping the Vision in Revision: http://bit.ly/owbtIy @BTMargins

Creating Cover Art: Down & Dirty Tips: http://bit.ly/pnYzC1

Making Marketing More About Them & Less About Us: http://bit.ly/npT2Ha @JodyHedlund

Manipulating Your Reader for Better Plots: http://bit.ly/q1HNP4

An e-publisher says not to query them if you won’t blog or tweet: http://bit.ly/nFcXAa

I mentioned last week that I was preparing two books to e-publish. I wrote one of the books three years ago. The other is a book I wrote five years ago.

The book that I wrote three years ago was definitely easier for me to edit. I did remove some ‘telling’ references and created a deeper POV for the story.

The book that I wrote five years ago? It’s taking me forever to edit it.

The problem with the book I wrote five years ago isn’t a mechanical problem or grammatical problem.

It’s definitely that it’s just not a very mature book. I’ll read along a little bit and think, “Why would this character do that?” or “Why did I spell out that this character was getting into their car and driving across town? Why not just start the scene across town?”

There’s something on every page that I’m deleting, adding, or completely rewording. The only thing that seems really solid is my voice. I’m thankful that’s intact or else I’d have to write the book over from scratch.

I’m lucky that I’ve got a few weeks where I’m not really under any pressing deadlines (except to read my pass pages for the next Memphis book…coming out in November.) So I think I’ll just spend some time updating this book and hopefully raising the writing bar to at least my current level of ability.

Sometimes I wonder if showing up every day to write is doing anything for me. Am I actually getting better?

But then, looking back over stuff I’ve written 3-5 years ago, there’s no question of the improvement. Every day you open up that laptop or notebook…..no matter what your goal is—a weekly goal, a monthly goal, whatever…you’re improving your craft.

Have you got any old manuscripts? Can you see a difference in your writing from long ago?

Today I’m at the Writers in the Storm blog (a great resource for writers, if you haven’t visited), talking a little about book middles.

Middles can be tough—not only is it where our plots might start getting a little saggy, they’re also where we might lose motivation to finish our book…and when Shiny New Idea syndrome is most likely to strike.

Hope you’ll join me there!