Breaking Bad Habits

It's been said it takes 21 days to break a bad habit.  Yikes!  That is a long time.  This time frame kept playing through my head this morning as I re-read a chapter in Page after Page by Heather Sellers.  The chapter discussed the old "butt in chair" theory and how one needs to sit quietly, butt in chair, and write without distraction.  Not do the laundry, answer email or the phone, wash dishes, etc., or any other of the multitude of time sucking tasks on one's long list of things to do. 

Now, I, for one, and am all for the butt in chair phenomenon; however, I also don't function well with chaos around me--to include dirty dishes, laundry, dust bunnies or any other issues staring me in the face.  Thus, I deal with those things first but then, voila, the day is gone--poof!  How?  Where do those minutes and hours go? 

I'm now determined to break my bad (one could argue good given it is cleaning) habit of organizing my environment to death before writing.  I'm going to give it the old college try anyway.  So, today is day one (of the LONG 21 day stretch supposedly necessary), and I will report in along the way.  As the old saying goes...where there's a will, there's a way.

Happy writing to all of you as well! 

Read Widely

This morning, I was reading PAGE AFTER PAGE by Heather Sellers.  She was talking about needing to read widely as a writer.  It was like confirmation for me.  I LOVE to read, maybe even more than I love to write.  I'll read almost anything and could lounge for days in my bed with just books for company.  I've often felt badly about always wanting to read rather than do something else, something more productive.  When I read Ms. Sellers' words, it was like an affirmation. 

She says, "You can't get too far off track as a writer if you are reading.  In fact, I don't know any successful writers who don't read.  Writers read.  Reading completes the gesture.  Reading is what we do."

Well, there you go...couldn't have said it better myself.  I'll now feel more productive in my writing life when I am reading.  Thank you, Ms. Sellers!

Simplicity

Firstly, I would like to say thank you for your patience with my very inconsistent blogging this summer.  I've now completed all of the continuing education requirements for work that had been taking up so much of my time and am now trying to get back on track.

As such, I was reading a chapter of PAGE AFTER PAGE by Heather Sellers this morning.  I started the book some time ago but never finished.  I cracked it open this morning and what I read was like a breath of fresh air.

Sellers was talking about the tools we have to write, not the physical tools so much as the tools within.  She says we should use the topics within us, the things only we know, to create and write and states, "write whatever the heck" you want to write about.  "This is what we want to know.  The tiny things people do.  The little things they say."

She further goes on to discuss all we've heard before...write what you and only you know, write what you want to read and suggests we make it all too hard by over-thinking and analyzing everything which really hit home to me.  I can frequently think so long and hard about the what and the how that I lose sight of (and time for) the actual doing.  Sellers says we have all the tools we need, we just need to sit down and write.

The one thing that really resonated, and I found myself highlighting, is this:

"The single most important tool in your tool kit is to stay simple--truly simple.  Stop making this harder than it is."

So, you know everything you need to know...join me in taking Seller's advice and just sit down and write!

Choose to Write

In my reading quest, I recently started reading PAGE AFTER PAGE by Heather Sellers. Early in the book, she discusses the importance of choice. She says one can make that choice and needs to do so.

In Ms. Sellars words, "You pick. That's all you have to do. You have to pick. And then support that choice with every fiber of your being--aka stop complaining."

Sounds simple, doesn't it? Just choose. Choose to write. Put writing first (or don't but accept that without complaint) and make time. Just do it.

This month, I am choosing to read in hopes it will incite my creativity to finish the current projects on which I am working. What are you choosing to do?

The Writing Life

I've just started reading PAGE AFTER PAGE by Heather Sellers based on a recommendation I read. Thus far, I've read only the first two chapters but came across a wonderful nugget of inspiration this morning I wanted to share.

Ms. Sellers says, "My writing life was, and is, in every hour of my life."

Seems simple, doesn't it? As writers, we write. We read, we study, we market, we network, and we write. But, as I read the words above, I realized how much I compartmentalize my writing. I designate certain times of certain days to be "writing time." I work around the same obligations every other writer does but realized I often switch off the writer in me while focusing on the other parts of life--kids, husband, work obligations, household chores, etc. Every now and again, something will hit me during these non-writer times that I make note of, but, all too often, my writer self is not paying enough attention and, therefore, misses what could very well be wonderful story opportunities and ideas.

So, from now on, I am going to focus on leaving that switch on at all times to be in that writing life "in every hour of my life."