I've set my intent and, hopefully, unblocked the flow of words from my mind to my fingertips to my keyboard. Now I need to decide what to write about.
Since starting this blog a few days ago, I have been learning about the whole "blogging" thing, and it raises many many choices for me about writing. Sure, I am learning the technical stuff...how to link to another blogger's article, the do's and don'ts of blogging, etc. But now, there's a new conundrum: what kind of writing do I want to do?
This should be a no-brainer. I have always wanted to write fiction...huge books like the ones I enjoy so much. When I was younger, I really wanted to write sci-fi/fantasy books, though now I like a more broad definition of fiction that can include many genres. I have so many ideas, I just need to get them started.
Reading through other blogs, however, has thrown a little kink in the works. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have written non-fiction in the form of tax articles (ghost written for the boss, but published in an industry trade journal, nonetheless) as well as other business related items. I have plenty of ideas for how-to books, as well. The blogs I am now following talk about getting paid to write, and many of them talk specifically about blogging for pay. I had vaguely considered this notion, though not wholeheartedly. Getting paid for writing would be wonderful...it just hasn't been my main motivation in this venture. The thought of getting paid to do something I love is exciting! The accountant in me says I wouldn't make enough to replace my current income, so what would be the point?
Well, I'm not listening to the accountant, because that would mean giving up without even trying, as though money is the only reason to do it. My goal here, let's be very clear, is to WRITE! Not necessarily to replace my current career with a writing career, though I will definitely leave the door open to that possibility. I expect to refine, focus, and hone my skills so that I can create writing products that I can be personally proud to call my own. I want to write books, stories, and articles that I am interested in reading. I am a pretty tough judge of quality writing, if I do say so, myself. If I can write something that I would want to read, then I know I've done something good.
On that note, while I will still be blogging, I have decided I also need to spend time writing some fiction that can turn out to be a story or a full-fledged book. I know that is ultimately what I want to do, so blogging, alone, will not be enough for me. I could consider writing my fiction on the blog, but I have been advised against doing just that, and other good tips for writing a book, by a blog I read this morning. Therefore, instead of blogging every single day, I have decided I will blog a few times a week and spend my time on the other days working on my writing project, offline.
Don't be too disappointed, dear reader. After all, you haven't even met me, yet. :)
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Focus
Yesterday was all about procrastination, so I've decided to turn the tables and make today about focus. I have goals, I want to reach them, and I certainly don't want it to be me that stands in the way!
I've been doing Bikram yoga before work now for nearly 90 days straight. It started out as just a work out goal, but has morphed into something else. Even though I had migraines every single day for the first 12 or 13 classes, I persisted. I was determined to figure out how to make it work for me and to get rid of the migraines at the same time. I figured if I stuck with it long enough, either my body would get used to it, or I would figure out what I was doing wrong and stop doing it. Either way, I don't get the migraines any more...so I'm happy with that. I can't be certain if it was the persistence or if I learned something along the way, but I know that I had to focus in class and really focus on breathing to reach my goal. I have 4 days left to reach my 90 days. Then, I'll tack on another 30 days to my next goal. Focus!
Every morning, focus on breathing. Every morning, focus on clearing the mind so that those 90 minutes are used to clear out all the crap in my head so that I can be more efficient, clear, productive, peaceful, etc. throughout the rest of the day. I haven't come close to mastering the focus of clearing the mind, yet. I am working on it. It's amazing how my mind doesn't stop thinking of random things. Ever. It never stops. Not even when I sleep! I really need this part of yoga. Focus!
This morning, when I was trying to clear my mind in class, I decided I need to practice the same focus outside the hot room. For work, of course, that's a given. Quit procrastinating and do my work in a more evenly time-spaced manner and I will be rewarded with a peaceful tax season (Good luck with that!) and not feel rushed. For my writing focus, I first need to set a time....or at least a mood...that works best for me to write. Then, I need to make sure to do it then. Today, I was thinking about focus, I was thinking about my goals, I was thinking about writing. What better time to just do it, than right now? By knocking out my few minutes to write first thing in the day (well, after yoga class), I feel I've already made progress toward one of my most important goals, which frees me up to be productive in other areas of my day. Focus!
Now, I'll tackle some more returns. How about a mini-goal? I'll focus on completing two big projects today. Ready? Set? Go! Focus!
I've been doing Bikram yoga before work now for nearly 90 days straight. It started out as just a work out goal, but has morphed into something else. Even though I had migraines every single day for the first 12 or 13 classes, I persisted. I was determined to figure out how to make it work for me and to get rid of the migraines at the same time. I figured if I stuck with it long enough, either my body would get used to it, or I would figure out what I was doing wrong and stop doing it. Either way, I don't get the migraines any more...so I'm happy with that. I can't be certain if it was the persistence or if I learned something along the way, but I know that I had to focus in class and really focus on breathing to reach my goal. I have 4 days left to reach my 90 days. Then, I'll tack on another 30 days to my next goal. Focus!
Every morning, focus on breathing. Every morning, focus on clearing the mind so that those 90 minutes are used to clear out all the crap in my head so that I can be more efficient, clear, productive, peaceful, etc. throughout the rest of the day. I haven't come close to mastering the focus of clearing the mind, yet. I am working on it. It's amazing how my mind doesn't stop thinking of random things. Ever. It never stops. Not even when I sleep! I really need this part of yoga. Focus!
This morning, when I was trying to clear my mind in class, I decided I need to practice the same focus outside the hot room. For work, of course, that's a given. Quit procrastinating and do my work in a more evenly time-spaced manner and I will be rewarded with a peaceful tax season (Good luck with that!) and not feel rushed. For my writing focus, I first need to set a time....or at least a mood...that works best for me to write. Then, I need to make sure to do it then. Today, I was thinking about focus, I was thinking about my goals, I was thinking about writing. What better time to just do it, than right now? By knocking out my few minutes to write first thing in the day (well, after yoga class), I feel I've already made progress toward one of my most important goals, which frees me up to be productive in other areas of my day. Focus!
Now, I'll tackle some more returns. How about a mini-goal? I'll focus on completing two big projects today. Ready? Set? Go! Focus!
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Procrastination
My mind has been so focused on finishing this tax return for the last 7 hours, that I almost missed my "appointment" with myself to write! Damn iPhone calendar. OK, we all know it's user error...but I felt like blaming someone/thing else. I have exactly 10 minutes to write before I need to get out of here and go home.
Wow! I just re-read that first paragraph and realized the whole thing is made up of excuses! Funny, I literally read an article today that said Want to Be Happier? Stop Doing These 10 Things Right Now. Of course, one of those items was to stop blaming others for things and just take responsibility and move on. You'll be happier when you focus on preventing problems in the first place. Makes sense.
How does that relate to procrastination? Pretty obvious, really: Procrastination is the love-child of Blame and its girlfriend, Avoidance. When I don't want to do something, aka WORK, I tend to "find" all kinds of things that I "really must get done right now!" (avoidance) such as tweak my monthly budget, check my bank balance, clean out junk emails, read LinkedIn articles that are really just fluff and won't help me improve my network or professional life. Then, I blame all those trivial tasks for keeping me from getting the billable stuff done as quickly as I originally planned it.
The one reliable thing about me, though, is that if I procrastinate a little too often for a while, my work load piles up and then I go into a frenzy of super-focused activity and knock a bunch of things out all at once. I get everything done, and yes, it is done correctly, but the inefficiency of it all really screws with my "me" time. Can't have that!
So...I have a goal to write. Therefore, I need to make sure I do it....every day. No matter what! In order to meet that goal, I must stop procrastinating. Or at least do it a whole lot less.
This is not really the sort of topic I wanted to practice writing about, buy hey! I've got to start somewhere. Oh, and while I'm still here, I'll figure out later how to imbed a link so that I can send you (reader? hello....anyone out there?) to the article I mentioned.
Until next time.....
Wow! I just re-read that first paragraph and realized the whole thing is made up of excuses! Funny, I literally read an article today that said Want to Be Happier? Stop Doing These 10 Things Right Now. Of course, one of those items was to stop blaming others for things and just take responsibility and move on. You'll be happier when you focus on preventing problems in the first place. Makes sense.
How does that relate to procrastination? Pretty obvious, really: Procrastination is the love-child of Blame and its girlfriend, Avoidance. When I don't want to do something, aka WORK, I tend to "find" all kinds of things that I "really must get done right now!" (avoidance) such as tweak my monthly budget, check my bank balance, clean out junk emails, read LinkedIn articles that are really just fluff and won't help me improve my network or professional life. Then, I blame all those trivial tasks for keeping me from getting the billable stuff done as quickly as I originally planned it.
The one reliable thing about me, though, is that if I procrastinate a little too often for a while, my work load piles up and then I go into a frenzy of super-focused activity and knock a bunch of things out all at once. I get everything done, and yes, it is done correctly, but the inefficiency of it all really screws with my "me" time. Can't have that!
So...I have a goal to write. Therefore, I need to make sure I do it....every day. No matter what! In order to meet that goal, I must stop procrastinating. Or at least do it a whole lot less.
This is not really the sort of topic I wanted to practice writing about, buy hey! I've got to start somewhere. Oh, and while I'm still here, I'll figure out later how to imbed a link so that I can send you (reader? hello....anyone out there?) to the article I mentioned.
Until next time.....
Monday, March 25, 2013
Unblock the flow...
Wow, it's been such a long time since I wrote anything just for me. I've written research articles and technical pieces for work, papers for homework, long notes in greeting cards, etc., but I haven't really written anything just for me in years.
That's where this blog comes in. I've felt for a very long time that I should be a writer, and yet... Well, ...and yet. I haven't done it. I've set my career course on "stable" and "make some money", and therefore have spent years trying to do just that, and have let my writing sit in the dark back corner of my mind's closet. I've had plenty of "what if?" moments and long daydreams about what would have happened had I chosen to create a career that only included the things I am really interested in doing...rather than something I happen to be able to do well.
Right now, I am taking a mini-break from a complicated corporate tax return to recharge my brain cells by doing something more interesting. I decided it is finally time to start writing again.
Using this blog, my goal is to write a few minutes every chance I get. I'm not concerned with editing or being creative, sensitive, inspiring, or anything else. I just need to write. I can trace my original writer's block back to my high school creative writing class. I NEVER had any problem thinking up a story and writing away at a furious pace...until that class.
I remember we had specific projects that we would be completing during the year: certain types of poems, a couple of short stories, fiction, non-fiction, etc. The class involved specifics about writing that I never really bothered to think about when I wrote, such as creating characters and plots. Those things just happened when I wrote....before. Now (and for the many years between that class and today), I get so bogged down with "where do I start first?" that I end up not starting anything at all!
I have had ideas, and even jotted a couple of them down on scrap paper...but they didn't make it any further. So now, today, I pledge to pull myself out of the figurative mud and just write. Just let it flow. Disregarding grammar, punctuation, spelling (well, maybe not...since I'm pretty obsessive about all that....) and just let the words flow, unhindered until eventually something useful pops out of the gush.
That's all for today. Back to my tax returns.
That's where this blog comes in. I've felt for a very long time that I should be a writer, and yet... Well, ...and yet. I haven't done it. I've set my career course on "stable" and "make some money", and therefore have spent years trying to do just that, and have let my writing sit in the dark back corner of my mind's closet. I've had plenty of "what if?" moments and long daydreams about what would have happened had I chosen to create a career that only included the things I am really interested in doing...rather than something I happen to be able to do well.
Right now, I am taking a mini-break from a complicated corporate tax return to recharge my brain cells by doing something more interesting. I decided it is finally time to start writing again.
Using this blog, my goal is to write a few minutes every chance I get. I'm not concerned with editing or being creative, sensitive, inspiring, or anything else. I just need to write. I can trace my original writer's block back to my high school creative writing class. I NEVER had any problem thinking up a story and writing away at a furious pace...until that class.
I remember we had specific projects that we would be completing during the year: certain types of poems, a couple of short stories, fiction, non-fiction, etc. The class involved specifics about writing that I never really bothered to think about when I wrote, such as creating characters and plots. Those things just happened when I wrote....before. Now (and for the many years between that class and today), I get so bogged down with "where do I start first?" that I end up not starting anything at all!
I have had ideas, and even jotted a couple of them down on scrap paper...but they didn't make it any further. So now, today, I pledge to pull myself out of the figurative mud and just write. Just let it flow. Disregarding grammar, punctuation, spelling (well, maybe not...since I'm pretty obsessive about all that....) and just let the words flow, unhindered until eventually something useful pops out of the gush.
That's all for today. Back to my tax returns.
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