Back to Writing

Although fall doesn't officially start until September 22nd this year, the month of August always feels like summer's end to me. I think it's partly all the back to school sales; seeing those inevitable yellow cartoon bus signs plastered on a bin of file folders or hanging over an endcap of highlighters signals the finality of fun for the year (for me, anyway -- summer is my favorite season.)

This week I've been plotting a new work project that will keep me writing until the holidays arrive, and like any fresh story I'm completely in love with it. I want to start it so much I've been scribbling bits of dialogue and sketching characters and printing out research notes all week. Tomorrow I'm heading to the office supply place to acquire a new binder -- and I'm thinking of colors and how I want to make this huge, rich palette for the whole cast of characters, because they're all so different, and yet -- look, I can do this all day. My point is that I'm excited and thrilled and so enthusiastic about this story that I feel as if I could write the first book start to finish this weekend.

But: I'm not ready to write it.

Why? Not like I haven't written a book before, right? Plus I know what I want to do. I can even see some of it in my head. When I'm this worked up about all the sparkling beautiful parts of a story, it can be almost painful not to write it. But: I'm not a pantser, or a particularly organic writer. I'm a plotter who wants everything nailed down before I write a single word. I need the whole story, figured out, run through, mapped out and precisely detailed, and that I don't have down or done yet.

It doesn't sound like fun, and I know a lot of writers can't do the kind of prep work I do because it kills their mojo. I'd love to be a more organic, artistic writer, but I know me. When I do this I have to be very methodical, very focused, or I won't finish the project. I don't want to waffle or wonder when I'm writing because that derails me. I don't want the story to be a surprise. Fun for me is getting it done minus train wrecks or surprise parties on the page.

Knowing the kind of writer you are is half the battle, I think. Our blog pal LJ Cohen, who is probably my polar opposite as a writer, talked about how she works in this post. One thing she wrote should be tattooed on all our bods somewhere: "Don't let anyone get away with saying there's only one way to write a novel."

I know tons of ways to write a novel; I've probably tried at least half of them. I also know what works best for me -- the way that hurts a little in this glitzy in-love stage I'm in, but that will enable me to deliver. So I'll spend the next day or two finishing up my very detailed outlines of the plots and characters, and discuss them with my client while I do a bit more research and let everything percolate. Once I have all that done, I'll set up my novel notebook, sit down at the computer and write those two words that still send a little shiver through me, even after typing them sixty-seven times: Chapter One.

What have you got planned for your fall writing? Anyone thinking about doing NaNoWriMo? Tell me in comments.

Art Space vs. Work Space

This past weekend my guy and I took on a monster spring cleaning project, which involved unloading everything from the kitchen, donating what we don't use to Goodwill, and scrubbing every inch of the cabinets and counters before reorganizing and putting everything back. I have a big kitchen, and after three decades of cooking for this man and our kids, way too much stuff. We made three trips to Goodwill yesterday and I've still got a pile of things to take over today.

I did pretty well, too. I got rid of two sets of old dishes, innumerable gadgets, old flower vases, pans, pots, and three small appliances. I wasn't sorry to see things like the 20-year-old blooming onion maker drop in the donation box (I haven't used it since the nineties.) At the same time, I couldn't let go of my daughter's Where's Waldo plastic cereal bowl, which I can guarantee you she will never use again. That bowl is for me and my memories of her in her high chair, dropping Cheerios for our dog Missy when she thought I wasn't watching.

Cooking is work, but it's also an art. When it comes to meal preparation, the kitchen is both work space and studio. Having a spotless, well-organized kitchen now will help me be a better and happier cook, which will result in more creative meals. Since I'll be cooking only for two starting this fall, I definitely need that, but it's also about respecting myself. I work every day in the kitchen, and it should be a space that allows me to do that comfortably and well.

Next on the spring cleaning list is my office, which I've let slide over the past couple of months because I've been so busy. I could let it wait until summer, or do it a little at a time, which is also perfectly acceptable. Thing is, I have some new, significant writing projects coming up on the schedule, and I need the office to be as clean, efficient and uncluttered as the kitchen is now.

Whether it's cooking or writing, I'm always happy to go to work. I'm not very conscious of my work space when I do. That said, I feel better when everything around me is tidy. I think I work better, too.

What's on your spring cleaning list for 2017? How are you going to tackle your projects? Let us know in comments.

Notebooking 2017

This year I'm trying a different approach to keeping track of my progress with personal and business projects. Instead of keeping a regular journal, a writing idea journal, a business journal, a quilt journal and a weight loss journal, I'm keeping notes on everything in this one notebook.

So far it's worked pretty well. It saves time, as I don't have to switch between journals to check on something else. I won't misplace the notebook because I carry it around with me all day whatever I'm doing. I can also schedule ahead with more confidence because everything is in one spot. I've never journaled like this, so it feels a little weird, but I figures I'd give it a couple months and see if it works better than my old system.

Right now I haven't planned any of my schedule except for work, my weight loss finish line, and a family visit in March, but I'd like to put some full-month pages or dated bullet lists in the notebook so I can look at the entire month in advance. 2017 already feels like I should be keeping things open and flexible, too, so I plan to save at least one day a week as an anything-goes spot. In between all the work, family and home stuff I'm also tinkering in the notebook on my secret project for 2017, which makes it a little more fun.

How are you dealing with 2017? Planning or no planning? Any tips on how to keep on track? Let us know in comments.

A Tale of Two Pincushions

Quilt show season has arrived, and I was considering attending one of the national conventions to meet up with some friends and wallow in fabric. It's always a bit dangerous for me to go to the big shows, as there's always so much I want to buy, and I really don't have the money to splurge on anything. I managed to talk myself out of it after I sorted through my fabric stash last week; I probably have enough fat quarters and yardage to circle the planet. I'm also just now getting over the last dregs of my URI and I don't want to risk being infected by some sniffly attendee who should have stayed home. So this year I'll probably just go to the county quilt show next month and let that be enough.

I have been sewing quite a lot lately, and while I was cleaning up my work table last night I noticed the state of two of my pincushions:



The little china cup pincushion on the right is one I made myself. I got the cup from a thrift store and used some scrap fabric, a handful of fiberfill and my hot glue gun to make it. It turned out so pretty I hardly ever use it. I needed some short pins for some binding, though, so I grabbed it off the shelf where it lives and impresses everyone with how organized I am (not). This pincushion really symbolizes the sewer I wish I was: elegant, tidy, and always attractively engaged.

The sugar bowl pincushion on the left is one I bought from Kathy at Strange Notions, who also made it. It's my favorite "work" pincushion that is always parked at my elbow, and it's been working overtime since it arrived at Casa PBW. The dogs knocked it over and broke off one of the handles, which I then imperfectly glued back together. It's riddled with dressing making pins, and big pins for heavy-duty work, and at least one of each type of hand-sewing needle I use. It also guards my favorite thimble. This pincushion really shows the sort of sewer I am while I work: busy, untidy, and indifferent to appearances.

I admire the "order" pincushion -- it reflects the ideals all those quilting books and shows tell me I should strive for -- but I love my "chaos" work pincushion, because like me it isn't perfect.

Organization is wonderful, but creation itself is often a messy business. Don't kick yourself if you don't work in an atmosphere of 24/7 pristine perfection. I think the key to working well is to be comfortable in your work space, which is something only you can define. If that means embracing a little chaos over order, go for it.

Color Week #5: Color Collection Notebook

Creating, collecting and keeping handy all your color-related stuff for stories is a lot easier if you have a notebook in which you can work and store your reference materials.

For this you'll need:

a good size, sturdy three-ring binder
a three-hole punch
a package of top-loading sheet protectors
ruled notebook paper or a spiral-bound notebook with binder holes
dividers in the basic color spectrum (optional)
ziplock bags (optional)

How you set up your notebook should be what works best for you, but I generally go with dividing sections into the color spectrum first, then keep particular color combinations in a palette section, and put my notebook paper in the very back of the binder (I also use a spiral-bound notebook that I can remove from the binder and take with me for trips to the home improvement store or wherever when I'm hunting new color ideas.)

If you collect or make color charts, store them in your sheet protectors so you can reference them without having to remove them from the notebook:



For smaller items like paint chips, swatches and other bits can go inside your sheet protectors, too. Since they're cheaper than sheet protectors I like to use ziplock bags to hold the little stuff, and punch holes in the bottom of mine like so:



My ideas, word list charts, particular story placements and all the other writing-related work I do go in my spiral-bound notebook:



If you like to be super organized you can also use color dividers (the kind with pockets can also hold your little bits, too):



Your color notebook is also a great self-teaching tool. Once a week take it out and go color hunting, as I do, to find new words, shades and descriptors to add to one particular color section. Make a habit of this, and in no time you'll have a wonderful collection of colors to use whenever you're writing.

Catching Threads

Last week I finally started on my annual Spring project of making sachets for our drawers and closets. One nifty little helpful widget I picked up at this year's county quilt show is a thread catcher, which you can see there in the photo on the left (the white and black cup-like thing.) When you sew you are forever snipping threads, and having a little bin in which to deposit them prevents them from clinging to you, your project, your hair, your pincushion, your fabric, your rug, your sewing machine, being sewn back into your project, etc. The neat thing about this widget is that when I'm finished I can empty it and collapse it into the size of a Ring Ding, which also makes it very portable. It was so cool I bought a second one for a friend.

Would that we had such handy widgets for catching our story threads. Writers use everything from index cards and Post-It notes to whiteboards and outline trees to keep our threads mapped out, organized and contained, and still we drop them, lose them, forget about them and/or wake up at 2 a.m. in a panic after we send off the last round of revisions to our editor because we forgot about that thread we left dangling unfinished in chapter seventeen (I'm still really sorry about that, Adam.)

If you're into software solutions, excellent novel organizer services like Hiveword can help you keep track of your story threads (and it's still free, and there's nothing to download; you work online with it.) But let's say you want a low-tech solution that is simple and easy to update while you're working offline on your story -- this is why I invented PBW's Story Thread Catcher:



Okay, I know, it's just a blank writing pad. But you're going to turn it into a story thread catcher -- like this:



At the top of your writing pad, write Chapter One/Scene One or however you want to divvy up the work, and write a short line on each of the threads you start in this section (if you're a plotter, you can do this before you write the chapter; if you're a pantser, do this after you write the chapter.) This is your thread catcher section. Now on the bottom half of the page, make notes about any work you need to do on the threads in the next chapter (pantsers, if you want you can just write lalalala on this part.)

Tear off the bottom section of the page and remember to review it before or after you write the next chapter so you do or have done the thread work necessary. The work you do on the threads then becomes the entries for the top catcher section of the next page. Then all you do is repeat the process for each chapter. As you progress with your story, you will build up a flippable series of tops with your thread notes, so that's the catcher part:



See how simple? If you need to look back at a particular thread and how it went, all you have to do is flip through the top part. Keeping track of the threads is as simple as lettering or numbering them in sequence (and yes, you can add more threads as you go along, just remember to keep adding them to and tracking them on your subsequent thread notes.) When you finish your story, all you have to do is make sure you wrapped up each thread, and you do that by reading through your catcher section.

You're welcome.

By the Chapter

Chapter by Chapter (aka CbC) is a freeware program designed by Sébastien Berthet for "novel writers who use Microsoft Word intensively. It allows managing and organizing chapters within a book far easier than in Word just because it deals with one doc file per chapter rather than one big file containing the whole book. When the book is finished (or whenever the writer wants), CbC generates that big file. CbC was developed because the Master Document feature of Word was too complex and very buggy (it corrupts documents). So, the idea was to mimic this feature from out of Word with another application running independently and driving Word."

I usually work on a novel as a single document on Word and keep all my chapter/scene/etc. notes separate and hand-written in my novel notebook, so this approach of doing both at the same time on the same screen definitely appealed to me. I downloaded the program and installed it today (very quick and no problems there.) When you open CbC you'll first get this little side screen on your desktop:



(Click here to see larger version)

When you open a new book you're prompted for a title, byline, and which file format (doc, rtf, docx etc.) that you want to use. Once you've input that, you can begin adding chapters by right-clicking on the appropriate act, which automatically opens up a new Word file and companion screen:



(Click here to see larger version)

I like the convenience of being able to make notes while I'm writing a chapter, which the program allows in a small box at the bottom of the side screen:



(Click here to see larger version)

When you save your files, the document is segregated to the CbC program file, but you can dupe it elsewhere easily with a different Save As file name. This is as far as I've gotten with using the CbC program, but I'm going to give it a genuine test drive by writing an entire story using only the program for what I usually do in Word and with my hand-written notes. If it proves to be as helpful as I think it will, I'll report back on what happens and how I think you can use it for your Word story projects.

Inconveniences

Yesterday laryngitis prevented me from getting any serious work done, and I was slightly miffed. I have a quite a backlog of posts to write and e-mails to answer, and the inconvenience annoyed me. Determined not to sit around and mope, I spent my morning writing session putting together a new journal and thinking about a story. The journal turned out neat, and while no new revelations about my story struck me (for me that kind of lightning cannot be summoned at will) I did sort out a few things that had needed more thought but that I hadn't had the time to brood on.

I devoted the afternoon and early evening to clearing out some closets, packing up donations for Goodwill and cleaning out the pantry. This is my pantry:



Yes, I alphabetize my spices and categorize my canned goods; it keeps me from having to hunt for things when I'm cooking. It also gave me a chance to check expiration dates and get a handle on what I need the next time I go shopping. This is all part of taking care of a family, and that's my first job anyway.

My voice is better now, which is excellent because I hate whispering, but tonight's editing session is off because I have family obligations to attend to. Families tend to be inconvenient that way; they're always doing something that requires our attention and/or our physical presence. And because we love our families for putting up with all of our writing life nonsense (last week my family were absolute troopers when I was spending twelve hours a day online to promote) the work schedule has to come second to them. I don't expect I'll be thinking at all about writing tonight, but that's okay -- I'll be participating in life and having fun surrounded by the people I love. Nothing is better for recharging the creative batteries than that.

Here are five other things you still can do as a writer whenever life interrupts your writing:

Run Title Ideas: for this you need your brain, a pen and a small notepad. Make a key word list that relates to your story and start playing with combinations or synonyms of the words to form new ideas for titles. Pay attention to the world around you, too; I once got a stupendous title idea when I saw a couple of signs on the highway during a road trip and recombined the words.

Characterize the Crowd: Make up a name, an occupation and a goal for interesting strangers you see while you're out and about in the world. Keep that notepad and pen handy to jot down the best of your ideas for future characters (and, if you have the opportunity, note a physical description of the person who inspired it.)

Memory Game: this is one I play often when I'm away from the desk; I observe a person, place or thing, wait five minutes and then jot down what details I remember about them. This is a great exercise in sharpening your memory and determining what is memorable about anything.

First Lines Tinkering: like the title ideas exercise, just think about what words you want to use in the opening sentence of your story, or work on giving more immediate impact to the sentence you've already written.

Story Photo Ops: If you have a camera with you, why not take some photos of interesting subjects around you? Look for things that are not only attractive or compelling in some way, but that also inspire your curiosity. I keep a photo album specifically of neat places and things I see when I'm out that I think I can work into a story.

Inconveniences -- a few large, but mostly minor -- often make a riddle out of our writing lives. Becoming frustrated or sulking when they happen makes them breed, I think, so I've learned to put the work on hold and simply deal with them as cheerfully as I can manage. It's the resentment that is the creative poison, not the inconvenience itself, so shedding it as quickly as possible is the best kind of damage control.

Planner Ten

Ten Things to Help Plan Out Your Writing Year

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Calendar: If you don't already own a 2013 calendar, you can pick up one at 50% off at your local Books-a-Million store, or shop the selection online at B&N.com, which is also 50% off until January 28th. For those who prefer a virtual calendar, I recommend Chaos Manager and Rainlendar Lite freeware.

Goals List: You have eleven and a half months of 2013 to write; why not put together a list of your goals for the year? If you've never done this, start by listing the twelve months, and note by each month one or two reasonable goals. For example, January: 1) write every day and 2) put together a writing plan for the year.

Map Your Mind: I prefer to brainstorm ideas on paper and put together notebooks and such, but one virtual alternative to that is using a mind mapper program like XMind to work out your ideas. According to the designer's site the original/non-pro version is still free to download, too.

Organize: Organizing yourself can make writing less of a hassle, so look around and see what you can do to tidy up your writing life. Suggestions: clear out the clutter from your writing space; create files for your current writing projects; restock your office supplies; catch up on your filing; perform any necessary maintenance on your computer; create a new tax ledger for the year, etc.

P&W Awards/Contests/Grants Database: Those of you who are poets or literary writers should check out this site's comprehensive database of awards, contests and grants here and keep an eye on their submission calendar for all of them here.

Planner: While you're out shopping for a calendar you might pick up a desk planner, too; these can be great for recording daily writing goals, expenses and vehicle mileage for tax time, upcoming events etc. You can also date ahead important reminders of appointments, deadlines, expected reponse times and so forth.

Ralan.com: I know some of you short fiction writers are upset by Duotrope's decision to charge five bucks a month for access, which I personally think was a stupid move, too. Don't despair, though; you can still find free market info out there. Ralan's place is the best and most frequently updated free source of open calls, sub ops, contests and dead markets I've found on the internet, and while it's basically geared for SF, Fantasy and Horror writers there are still listings for book publishers, myriad-themed anthologies and other markets outside those genres.

Red Notebook: Because it's calendar-based Red Notebook can be used as a planner as well as a writing tool. See my write-up on this freeware here.

Submission Tracker: If you'd like to better track your subs in 2013, SF author and computer programmer extraordinaire Simon Haynes offers Sonar3, a simple freeware here to help you ride herd on what you're sending out as well as what comes in.

Word Count Widget: If NaNoWriMo has taught us anything, it's to set writing goals and motivate ourselves, and one way we do this is to post and continually update a word count widget on our websites and blogs. If it works during November, why wouldn't it work for the rest of the writing year? To get a freebie, try Writertopia's Picometer or honorless.net's Java-based progress bar (or check out another eleven options over at Writing for Your Supper here.)

What do you find most useful to you when planning out your writing year? Let us know in comments.

NaNoWriMo Countdown: Work Space

I can write just about anywhere, and I know this because I have. I started writing for publication on one corner of our dining room table. I've also written in coffee shops and hotels, lobbies and waiting rooms, in cars and on airplanes, in physical therapy whirlpools and once (rather memorably) while I was a patient in Labor & Delivery. Nineteen hours of labor is long and exhausting and utterly devoid of fun, especially when you elect to do it completely naturally. They don't let you order in pizza, either, but if you plan ahead you can your guy smuggle it in between nurse checks. To me extra pepperoni is way more soothing than chipped ice and back rubs . . . but I digress.

Where your writing space is, how large it is or how much you can fit into it doesn't matter as much as making it work for you. Once I turned pro I definitely needed a dedicated work space, but at the time we had no spare rooms I could make into an office. My solution was to invest in a rolling computer stand. I figured with it I could make my writing space portable and move it to whatever area in the house was unoccupied.

It worked great. I usually kept the stand in a corner of the living room or our bedroom, but when things got noisy I'd roll it out on the porch. One winter when we had a lot of house guests I took it out in the garage and worked there for two months. All I really needed was a quiet place with an electrical outlet, and I was good to go.

When you think about creating or changing your work space you might consider what is the ideal working atmosphere for you. If you write best in a quiet space, look around your home for a spot away from areas your family most often use. Some writers choose to work in spare bedrooms or garages; I read an article recently about one novelist who turned a walk-in closet into a work space. Others choose to write in attics and outdoor sheds. Many public libraries offer quiet rooms where you can get some work done, too.

If you write best in a public place like a park, mall or coffee shop you should try out a couple and see where you're most productive. I often like to go to the park with a bag lunch for a writing session, especially now when the cooler weather is chasing off the bugs. You should also look at how accessible your favorite public spot is when you need to write; some may be closed or too crowded during the times you plan to work.

If home is too busy and public places are too distracting, you might check with family, friends or your place of worship and see if you can borrow one of their spare rooms as a temporary work space. Churches are often happy to lend you a quiet room in exchange for a minimal fee or even some volunteer time. If you have a day job and a friendly boss, see if you can stay after work to write at your desk or in one of the offices for an hour or two. When I worked a day job I used to spend my lunch hour writing in the back storeroom (and since I was a bookseller being surrounded by all those boxes of new arrivals was very motivating.)

In what sort of space are you most productive with your writing? Have you found any great alternatives that might work for other writers in need of space? Let us know in comments.

Hiveword

Recently while I was poking around the Writers Knowledge Base site, I discovered Mike Fleming's Hiveword, an amazing web-based story organizer that is easy to use, provides quick and easy outlining of scenes, characters, settings and plotlines, and generates terrific compilation lists of the same. In addition to these features Hiveword also stores your work online for you in a private account, so it's like a virtual version of a novel notebook. Here are details on some of Hiveword's different features along with some screenshots (and click on any image to see a larger version):



Your Hiveword account includes a dashboard with all your works in progress arranged by title, along with when they were created, stats on how much work you've done on them, and the last time you updated the info.  For those of you who like me are quantum writers and work on several projects at the same time, this can help you track your progress and productivity on multiple WIPs.



Each story you archive on Hiveword has a main title page where you can record a subtitle, what name you're writing under, and a summary of the story.  Here I've plugged in the summary for my novel crash dummies' book, and the summary area is a great place to work on a draft of your outline or synopsis.



As you compile scenes on Hiveword, it keeps track of them, and generates a list of them for each project.  This is great because you can track how often you switch settings, POV, plotlines and keep track of who appears in what scene.



Hiveword also compiles lists of your characters as you make them up and provides an at-a-glance summary of things like attributes, occupations, motivations, etc.  If you're working on a project with a big cast of characters I don't have to tell you how valuable this is.



The service also compiles lists of settings in the story, as well as a snapshot of your description of them.



There's a button on the settings list page that offers you the option to you generate place names if you need them, and provides maps and links to info about the generated results.  By selecting the "add setting" button you can add any of the results you like directly into your story.



You can also use a similar button to generate random character names, and add those you like from the results to your story.

There is much more to Hiveword than what I've mentioned, so it's worth taking it for a test-drive yourself to see all the features.  Hiveword is so great at helping organize your story info and elements that it's like having your own personal story assistant.  You can use it for other purposes as well, such as outlining those bright, shiny and very distracting new story ideas so you can get out of your head.  For those of you who are series writers, Hiveword would serve as an excellent encyclopedia to keep a running record of your characters, settings, plots and details from every novel.  If you're on the phone with an editor, you can consult Hiveword on details from your book for pitches, editorial discussions or to answer those pesky impromptu questions (like "Hey, what Chapter did Marcia find out John was also the demon thief?")  You pantsers might not have to backtrack through your manuscripts as much if you take a few minutes after your work sessions to record details of what you've already written in a Hiveword file.

The very best thing about Hiveword is that right now it's free* for anyone to use, so you don't have to pay to play with it (and according to Mike Fleming's blog, he's keeping it free for National Novel Writing Month.)  If you're thinking about writing your first novel this November, want to become more organized with ongoing projects, or simply want to play with novel-writing software to see what it can do for you, I highly recommend Hiveword.

*Added: I just learned from the designer that Hiveword is going to be free forever, not just for NaNoWriMo, so one more huge reason to love it.

Now or Later

I've noticed something about the times in which we live: we can get everything we want, often instantly, without leaving home. Need to talk to someone? Text or call them on their smart phone. Want to watch a movie? Get it on demand on your TV or by streaming download online. Need to gift shop? Buy from the internet and have it shipped to your house. Want a newly released book? Get it in five seconds by wireless download on your e-reader. Want a romance? Go to an online dating site and be "matched" with those most likely to appeal to your heart (or attend one of those speed-dating sessions and meet ten or twenty prospects in under an hour.)

It seems like everything we need has become or is becoming immediate and utterly convenient. Considering how volatile fuel prices are I think this is (somewhat) a good thing. Telecommuting jobs are becoming more available, too. Someday soon we might not need cars or a job away from home. One day we might not have to step one foot out of the front door for anything but our own pleasure.

If we have any time left for it, that is.

The downside to this right-now, can't wait, must-have culture of immediacy is less noticeable, but it's there, lurking in the shadows behind the touch pads and the one-cup coffeemakers. We have no time for ourselves anymore. All the time people save with these time-saving devices and services is spent doing more stuff rather than less.

Technology has made privacy and personal time obsolete. If you're not telling the world your thoughts and activities by the minute, or making yourself accessible to others 24/7, people actually become angry with you. They regard it as a form of insult. Ask someone to turn off their phone for a day -- just 12 hours -- and they'll likely tell you they can't. Someone might text them, and woe be on the head of anyone who doesn't text back immediately.

I've also observed that with so many choices to make everyone is becoming collectively indecisive. I think it's sheer confusion combined with mental exhaustion. With all the stuff you have to do, how can anyone keep it straight? Just think about what we do online. Have you checked your Twitter, your Facebook, your e-mail, your LinkedIn, your blog, your comments today? How many hours will you spend trying to keep up with all of it? How much defeat and guilt do you feel when you can't? I mean, hey, everyone else does it . . .

I don't, but even I fell victim to the culture of immediacy earlier this year when I allowed myself to be inundated by the must-have-it-now needs of others. Somehow I was persuaded to juggle two deadlines, a contract negotiation, a book production, a variety of domestic crises and various projects others needed me to do for them. As a result I didn't have time to update my events calendar, but I was sure I had everything straight in my head. I was so tired and frazzled that I didn't realize I'd inverted two dates in my memory. As a result I missed by one weekend one of my favorite annual events; one I have attended faithfully the last seven years. That was a sign to me that I needed to stop, think, regroup and reorganize my time, and weed out some of the unnecessary activities inflicted by others to focus on those that were important to me and my well-being.

Unless the planet is hit by a massive EMP I don't see it getting better anytime soon, so it's up to us to deal with this problem. If you find you're being stretched too thin by all that's expected of you, here are some suggestions on how to eliminate the unnecessary, make better decisions and take back at least some of all that time you're supposed to be saving:

Deviceless Day: We used to have these things called weekends, during which we were off duty and free to do pretty much whatever we liked. Remember those? I won't be so crass as to suggest we return to that lovely practice, but it doesn't hurt to choose one day each week to shut off all the phones, computers and other electronics and make it your personal Deviceless Day. To avoid affronting your coworkers, family and friends, let everyone know in advance that on that day you will not be available to them at all.

Live By the 1:2 Time Ratio: For every hour you give up to the culture of immediacy, reserve two hours for yourself. That means if you spend an hour tonight online updating stuff, you should spend two hours doing something that relaxes you or that you personally enjoy.

Narrow Your Choices: Often people have towering stacks of books, movies, CDs and games that they never read, watch, listen to or play because they can't decide what they want. Since you can get practically anything immediately it is tempting to hoard stuff. To combat this, use the finish-first approach by not buying new books or other forms of entertainment until you've finished your latest purchase. This is tough to do, but if you stick with it you'll find you spend less and enjoy more.

Ward off the Immediacy of Others by Making Decisions: Someone has to make a decision; it might as well be you. For example, I've always asked my family what they'd like for dinner, but often they couldn't give me an answer. Every night I had conversations like this: Italian? Maybe. Asian? Well . . . Burgers and fries? Hmmmm. Not sure. They tried at first to counter my question by giving me that Magic 8-Ball answer of saying they'd let me know later. And then they tried to wait to the very last minute. Since I happen to be decisive, and I'm running a home, not a restaurant, gradually I began ignoring their stall tactics and making the choices myself. When there were objections, I told them that anyone who complains about what I make is then given dinner-making duty for the next night. Now they either let me know what they want, or eat what I choose without a peep. Apply the same logic to any immediacy problem your family or loved ones present to you and you'll find it solves it rather quickly.

Work Your Passions While Accepting Your Limitations: For many reasons I am not suited to participating in social media; thus I have never texted, Twittered, Facebooked or any of that stuff. I know it can be fun, it's a decent promotional tool, and I would probably sell a few more copies of my books if I devoted myself to all the various aspects of it. I also envy other authors who handle it so well. That said, I understand that it's not for me, and I've accepted that unhappy fact. So I devote the time I would spend on it doing what I am good at it, which is writing books, talking about books, teaching, finding free resources and helping other writers when I can -- all the things about which I'm passionate and (unlike social media) that I love. By doing this I've inadvertently developed my own form of social media; this blog, the connections I've made through writer friendships and getting to know my colleagues in a less conventional manner. Bottom line: do what you love and you never regret a single second of the time and energy you spend on it.

Photo credit: David Hughes

Virtual Storyboard

If you like working with whiteboards and/or index cards for your stories, you might want to check out Trello. According to their About page, Trello is "a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a process."



To test drive the service I set up this example story board, which you can see in more detail here. Using Trello is pretty straightforward; you just have to fiddle with it a bit to get the hang of how to edit and arrange your cards. I'd be most likely to organize a story project outline as shown and keep a running list of what tasks I need to accomplish, but you can use your cards for whatever you like.

Two of the features I liked most are the simple color-coded tags you can apply to any card, and the search feature -- you can sort through everything by any keyword, which makes finding pertinent data and editing the cards a snap.

For those of you who collaborate with another writer Trello would probably be extremely useful. You could set up an account for the two of you, organize your schedule, plot out your next project, work out who needs to do what and update each other on your progress. The right activity sidebar shows all activity on the board in chronological order, so you can always look there to see what's been added, deleted or changed recently. You can also set the board to be private so that no one sees it but you and your writing partner.

Thanks to our blogpal author Charlene Teglia for originally blogging about Trello.

On the Road

Just a heads up: I'm starting a road trip tomorrow, so any comments you care to leave will probably sit for a while in the approval queue. I'll try to get to them whenever we stop and my kid finds somewhere with free wi-fi (I don't think it will be a problem anywhere but in the mountains.)

I'll be working while I'm out of town, too, and I thought some of you might like to see what I take with me and how I go about being a mobile PBW. A story can be as portable as you want it to be, as long as you think ahead and plan what you'll need for your writing sessions away from home.

The first thing that goes into the writing tote is my novel notebook, which has my synopsis, chapter outlines, character profiles, research data, visuals and so forth for me to reference. This is another reason for making one; it's convenient to take along on trips.

In a pencil case (one hole-punched to fit in the novel notebook) I stock lots of pens and pencils, of course; I never depend on hotel freebie pens.

A blank notebook also comes along for any new notes, writing to-do lists, or other draft material I may need to jot down (a spiral-bound, one-subject student notebook or composition book have prepunched holes in them, so they should fit nicely into the back of your novel notebook binder.)

A laptop, netbook, smart keyboard or other writing tech to use for writing sessions is a given; for me it's usually the laptop, but if my hands are in pretty good shape I also take an AlphaSmart Neo smart keyboard. The Neo is sturdy, doesn't require special hookups, power supplies (mine runs on batteries) or complicated wiring, can be used practically anywhere but in the shower and doesn't offer the distraction of the internet.

A few blank CDs to backup the work I accomplish while away from home also go into the bag. If your writing tech doesn't burn CDs for you, an alternative is to e-mail whatever writing you do each day to yourself, although if you've had any problems downloading e-mailed files I'd use a secondary form of backup as a safety measure -- maybe send a copy via e-mail to a writer friend to hold for you.

I always write up a daily task schedule to make the best use of my time. On the road I might have two or three hours a day to work, so I try to give myself short, manageable writing assignments. On some trips when I have to fly for more than eight hours or drive for more than four hours every day I will pack a print copy of a recently-finished manuscript with me and do a read-through edit each night (you may want to do an electronic version if your airline has weight restrictions or extra baggage charges.)

If I'm going to be staying at the home of a family member or friend, I also bring a lap desk. In the event there is no desk or table in a quiet area for me to use, I can take a chair to a secluded corner and work off the lap desk.

Finally, I take one book to read for pleasure. I take only one because I usually end up visiting book stores wherever I travel and buying at least five or six more.

What do you take with you on your road trips to help with getting some writing done? Do you have any tips on how to be productive while traveling? Let us know in comments.

NaNoWriMo Prep I: The Mountain

The UpHill Battle

No matter where you are with your work, the prospect of writing a novel can be very intimidating. For one thing, it's a big project. And a mean one. A book-length story can be a demanding harpy from hell who is never, ever satisfied. Hundreds of blank pages, waiting to be filled; all those words that have to be written. And collectively the book has to be original, interesting, correct, logical, creative -- and that's simply to make it readable. If we're talking major-house publishable, then up the wattage to dazzling, inventive, jaded-editor-stunning . . .

Before you even approach the book mountain, you first have to wade through every failed story, every abandoned partial manuscript, every single page you ripped out of the printer and crumpled or tore to pieces. You have to get past the sneering effigy of every person who has ever told you that you can't do it, or that you'll do it badly, or that as a writer you suck, or otherwise kicked you in the story cods.

Okay, so somehow you find the courage to fight through all that (probably because like me, you’re just that stubborn) and you're finally standing at the mountain's base, and you're ready to climb. Only you can't stop looking at how far it is to get to the top, and you're already tired and worried and scared. You're convinced that it's never going to be the way you see it in your head. So why put yourself through this?


Stop Looking at the Damn Mountain

I think the biggest obstacle to writing a book is thinking “Hey, I’m writing a book. Oh, God, I'm writing a book.” Actually, you’re not. No one, no matter how fast they are, can write an entire book all at once. The book happens in stages. At any stage of creation you will be writing words, sentences, and paragraphs that are part of a book. During one session you may write a page, a scene or an entire chapter; if you're very lucky you'll write multiple pages, scenes, maybe two or three chapters.

That’s what I suggest you think about every time you sit down to write. Not the whole book, not the mountain, not the enormity of what you're hoping to accomplish in thirty days for NaNoWriMo. Today's session, the stage you can manage to do now, is where your head needs to be.

To figure out what that is, I suggest setting a daily writing goal or quota. You don’t have to, but it helps to keep track of what you need to do and what you've already done. If you're joining in NaNoWriMo, your preset goal is to write at least 50,000 words in 30 days. That would make your daily goal approximately 1667 words, or about seven double-spaced manuscript pages (and I know all of you are not going to be writing daily, so adjust that quota to whatever your writing schedule will be for the month.)

If NaNoWriMo were a mountain to be climbed, it would be 50,000 feet high. Fortunately if you write every day in November, you have only 1667 feet to climb per day.

Jinxing the Climb

As you're heading up the book mountain there will be things that try to kick you back down to the bottom. Everyone has their own set of writing jinxes, but there are a few that I think are pretty universal.

Uncertainty over the writing seems to make writers do two things: go silent, or talk too much about it. I'm of the go silent and not share anything with others mentality, primarily because I've tried the talk about it too much method and it's always jinxed me (which is also why I rarely if ever discuss a book I'm actively writing with anyone but the agent or the editor.) I think for me it's because I have enough of my own doubt to deal with; I don't need additional contributions from outside sources. Also, I've been derailed in the past by well-intentioned but bad advice; one time it almost cost me a three-book contract. I recommend not talking about too much. Exception: if you have a wonderful reader or writer friend, critique partner or family member who is always genuinely helpful to you as a sounding board, this may actually help your climb.

Judging the writing before the book is done is another common climbing jinx. It usually happens in the middle of chapter three, when you suddenly suspect everything you've written is complete crap. This is like being ten thousand feet up the mountain and deciding that all the climbing you've done sucks, so naturally you can't climb any higher. Sounds stupid, right? Well, it is. No one is born knowing how to climb a mountain or write a book. You have to learn how to do it, and the only way I know is to do it over and over until you get it right.

More often than not this judging jinx comes from your own doubts and fears, which will certainly knock you off the mountain if they can. You can stop, fall down, start over, give up, or you can agree with your doubt 100% but keep writing. Just stop worrying about what you've already climbed and keep going up. Why should you do that? Because you can always edit and rewrite whatever you don't like later.

The final jinx I want to mention is a malady among writers commonly referred to as writer's block. Or, you just can't write. For a long time I didn't believe in it, but I've watched too many writer friends suffer from it to doubt it's real.

I don't get what I'd call writer's block. I get tired of writing, I don't feel like writing, or something gets between me and the page that stops me from writing. Publishing is the #1 cause of this. Distractions are #2. Depression is #3. I deal with the causes as quickly and efficiently as I can. I do everything I can to keep Publishing out of my writing space, from unplugging from the internet to turning off the phone. Since Publishing in general has absolutely no respect for my writing time, I don't feel the slightest bit guilty about kicking it out of my writing space when necessary. As for distractions, I remove them, or remove myself to a distraction-free writing space. If they have one, I highly recommend the quiet room at your local public library.

Depression is what it is, and there's no easy way around it. I'm particularly fortunate in that no matter how I feel, I'm an insomniac who hates television and can't stand sitting around and doing nothing. Thus if I'm so depressed that I can't write, I go fold laundry, or vacuum the living room, or mop the kitchen until I feel better. Cleaning helps me work out a lot of frustrations and negative energy, and afterward my house looks great and I feel good about that. I also walk the dogs, play ball with them, garden, quilt, cook, or do anything that naturally helps lighten my mood. For me the key to fighting depression is to do something else besides feeling depressed. So try getting active. Do something physical. If the weather permits, go outside, commune with Nature. Or do something that you really love other than writing.

Next up: I'll discuss the gang you can take with you on your climb -- your story's characters -- and what you can do to make them outstanding. But in the meantime, anyone have any questions? Please post them in comments.

Book Mountain Climbing Tools: Another Little Progress Meter ~ NaNoWriMo Word Meter ~ Word Count Tool ~ WordFlood 1.2 freeware ~ Writertopia's Progress Meters

Image credit: © Emmanuel Lacoste | Dreamstime.com

To-Do Ten

Ten Things I'm Planning to Do This Week

Arrange: I've moved the contents of my office downstairs into a smaller space, which requires some creative arrangement of my equipment and work stuff. This is a good time to evaluate what I'm using and get rid of anything that is just taking up space. How to Organize Your Work Space by Rhonda Day had some good suggestions.

Clean: The fall housecleaning is done and the house is almost immaculate, thanks to me working out a lot of frustrations. I'd like to keep it that way, so each day I plan to tidy two rooms to maintain the sparkle. I also like the idea of creating a household notebook so I can use my tidying time better.

Donate: We're making a Goodwill run this week, so I need to go through the closets and bag up the clothes we're no longer wearing (and if you're thinking of doing the same, eHow.com has 5 ideas on where to donate old clothing here.)

Organize: my work schedule has been erratic, so shuffling and reorganizing my time for the rest of the year is a priority. I'll write up a new daily plan through the end of 2011, at which point I hope to catch up with everything. I'd like to use this opportunity to switch my work plan over to RedNotebook and see how that works as a time manager for me.

Paint: Anything. I just need time with the brush. Something small would probably be best; maybe some holiday cards. I might try using a rubber stamp as demonstrated in this card-making video.

Photograph: The sunsets are slowly transitioning to the spectacular variety we have here during the winter months, and one clear night I'd like to go down by the water with the camera. I'd also like to document my progress with the Spoonflower fabric I designed.

Read: Sofie Kelly's Sleight of Paw is in my purse, Linda Howard's Prey is on the nightstand, and for research I need to reread portions of Dungeon, Fire and Sword by John J. Robinson, The Templars and the Grail by Karen Ralls, and Templars in America by Tim Wallace Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins.

Sew: I'm always working on a couple of quilts in progress, but I'd like to sew my Spoonflower project this week, too.

Study: various weapons, equipment and other devices as well as how they were used on 17th century sailing vessels like Sweden's amazing Vasa.

Write: 20K in new material; finish polishing two candidate scenes for the end pages of Nightborn to send to the editor; catch up on e-mail and snail mail, update my personal journals. I'd like to get back to writing my daily posts here at PBW. One new thing I'm trying is Ami Mattison's suggestion in this article of warming up first by free writing for a few minutes.

So what are your plans for this week? Let us know in comments.

Productive Task Listing

Whenever the seasons change my guy is swamped with new chores around the house, and he gets a little aggravated. Being a hands-on, get-it-done type, he's not particular fond of multi-tasking or leaving things unfinished. At some point he starts grousing at me about all the work that needs to be done and how he can't keep up with it.

Because I'm the organized one, I always say the same thing: Prioritize everything and make a task list. Then start at the top of the list and do at least one thing every day.

He used to blow me off and continue spinning his wheels, but after 22 years together he's watched what I get done and knows it works, so now he writes up the list. Then about a week or two later, after he finishes everything on it, all the stuff is done, he's much happier and I get an extra kiss.

Here's his latest list (click on image to see larger version.) I like to read his lists when he's not around so I can help out here and there but also to see how he prioritizes things. My guy likes to do yard work, use his power tools and paint much more than he likes to clean or shop, so his favorite chores are always at the top of the list.

I think this is pretty typical of most people's approach to tasking: take care of the fun stuff first, leave the dull or boring stuff for last. This is also the main reason many people have trouble finishing their task lists because by the time they reach the un-fun part they don't have anything to look forward to, and they have to drag themselves through all that work they don't like to do.

I write task lists all the time, and one thing I've learned that helps me get through them faster is to alternate fun with dull. I always begin the work day with something difficult or that I don't especially like to do; this because at the start of the day I have the most energy and patience. I follow that with a task I really want to do, and this motivates me to get task #1 finished so I can move on to something fun. Then I just repeat that over and over through the work day until I finish everything.

Here's one of my reminder lists from this past week. I kicked off the day by working on three chapters of a copy-edit that is due back to my editor on May 2nd, possibly the most stressful thing I had to do all day. I followed up that with a rewrite of a chapter I wasn't happy with, something I really wanted to jump on because I'd been rewriting it in my head for a couple of days, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. After that I had a glossary to work on, which I dislike, and then my lunch break and a sewing project, which I love and that also recharges my creative batteries (Fall Crazy is not my state of mind; it's an autumn-themed crazy quilt I'm working on.)

The rest of the day alternated the same way, until I wrapped things up by working on the sewing project again -- something I love -- so when I finally got to bed I was in a good mood. I've found that saving for last a task that involves the least amount of work but offers the most fun is a great way to relax, unwind, and combat my chronic insomnia.

If you decide to start using task lists to better manage your time, remember to pace yourself. I get up and start working at 6 am, and generally don't finish until I go to bed at 11 pm, which would be insane if I didn't take plenty of breaks. I also reserve a couple of hours each day and keep them open so I can spend time with my family and be available to handle any unexpected/unplanned tasks that land in my lap.

You know the old saying about all work, too, so try to devote a little time every day for play. I sew, read, go for walks or listen to music, not because I want to goof off but because I know I need to, or I'll crack under the constant pressure. Doing things that are strictly for fun can help you become even more productive, because whatever makes you happy will eliminate stress, improve your mood and put you into a mind frame that allows you to accomplish more when you do go back to work.

Related links:

eHow.com's article, How to Write an Effective To-Do List

iPrioritize, an online list-making/storage service, offers free accounts to registered users. You can create lists, rearrange them, print them, e-mail them, share them and access them even by phone.

MindTools.com's article To Do Lists ~ The Key to Efficiency

Cool Calendars

I admit, I'm a calendar junkie. Every year I go out and buy a year's supply (I wait until after January 1st so I can get them at a discount) for the entire family. They are not as vigilant as I am about keeping them updated -- the slackers -- but it satisfies my ever-constant need for organization. If you're going to the brick and mortars, BAM and B&N always seem to have a nice selection, and Borders usually offers theirs with excellent discounts after January 1st.

I have found if I get calendars with themes that appeals to my victims loved ones, they are more apt to use them. So I look for nature or beach scenes for my guy, puppies for my daughter and anything Asian for the college kid. For myself I buy some type of quilt-themed wall calendar -- this because they almost always come with free patterns -- a purse-size pocket planner and a lay-flat, desk-size notebook type for my office desk.

I've never before made my own calendar, though, so in keeping with my "try new things" outlook for 2011 I decided to see how hard it was to put one together. Not difficult at all, as it turns out. Microsoft Word 2007 allows me to access and download online templates from their site, so I found a simple one to use. I inserted a blank page between each month and on those inserted an interesting photo from my collection.

The whole thing took about thirty minutes, and the resulting calendar came out great, as you can see here. I was just playing, but I think doing something like this for readers would be an excellent New Year's gift from an author, especially those of you who do a lot of booksignings, conferences and that kind of thing (I'm thinking you could also mark upcoming release dates with a cover thumbnail inserted into the appropriate calendar date block, although I haven't tried that myself.)

One suggestion: I didn't resize the photos I used for the example calendar, so most of them are really too hi-rez for printing (they also make the file over 4 MB in size; rather huge for a 25-page document.) If you're going to use digital or scanned photos for a calendar you want folks to print out, resize them first to an easily-printable resolution before you insert them in your doc.

Other calendar resources:

The simple but wonderful Chaos Manager freeware designed by Martin Bresson was such a huge help to me in 2010 I'm going to keep using it as my virtual calendar/reminder program for 2011. I've got my guy hooked on it now, too.

Veranda Magazine's February 2011 issue comes with a lovely free calendar featuring their amazing photography; I'm putting this one in the kitchen because it's attractive, not too big and yet it has decent-size blocks to write on.

Calendar Freeware fom the Freebies page: 1 year * Calendar.exe * Calendar Magic * Calendars & Planners * Chandler * Easy HR Popup Calendar * MiniMinder * Multi-Reminders * Rainlendar Lite Remind Me Please * Sunbird * TaskPrompt * TKexe Kalendar

Midweek NaNoPost

We're down to the final 7 days of NaNoWriMo, and today I'm prepping for my NaNo deadline week as well as Thanksgiving. I've decided to use my November novel as part of a presentation I'm giving in a couple of weeks to some marketing and publicity folks, so there's additional pressure to get it done, buffed, polished and ready for inspection (which means I have to finalize the cover art, too.) So I've given myself the somewhat brutal task of wrapping up this story in seven days.

Why, yes, I am a masochist. Sometimes I think every writer is.

I've got some stuff waiting at the finish line as additional motivation to keep going: three new novels by some of my favorite authors that I've been saving to read, taking my daughter and her friends to see the latest Harry Potter movie, and dinner out with my guy. If by some Act of Divine Intervention I make it all the way to 50K, I'll also give myself a little bookstore shopping spree.

A lot has helped me get back on track this past week, and it's not been related to my NaNo novel: spending quality time with my guy, my kid and the pups; finding my favorite apple strudel recipe (which I'm making into a bookmark so I don't lose it again.) I've also taken some time to read books by Erin Bolger, Alison Kent, Emma Holly, Jackson Pearce and Chris McKitterick. All of these things refilled the well of me the person, the lover, the mom, the reader and the caretaker.

There's something most folks don't think about: our self-esteem doesn't come from just the well of creativity. We can have many wells.

Example: this past weekend I cleaned out my fridge to make room for our Thanksgiving turkey. I try to keep it tidy, but when other people around here use it they only worry about remembering to close the door when they're through looking at everything. Thus my fridge is generally in some state of controlled to cluttered chaos.

To me a clean, organized refrigerator is like a sparkling bathroom; you don't mind anyone going in there (versus when they're in dire need of be sanitized, when you'd rather padlock them shut.) In the process of tidying up I realized I won't need to buy any sort of mustard again until maybe next June (how did we end up with seven different kinds of mustard? Beats me.) Anyway, it felt so good cleaning out the fridge I went ahead and tackled the freezer, too. At which point I determined I might need to talk to my daughter about her growing predilection for frozen pizza products.

Of course, once the fridge was completely clean, I had to tackle the pantry, rearrange my non-perishables, check expiration dates, and alphabetize the spices. Go ahead, snicker, but at my age it's pretty easy to look through the wrong spot in my trifocals and pick up the cumin instead of the cinnamon. Gives a whole new meaning to homemade coffee cake, too.

Getting my household stores re-organized for the holidays gave my spirits a nice, much-needed boost. Seems silly, arranging spices and stacking cans, but it's comforting to me to know where things are and to be able to see everything I've got at one glance (and no more hunting for my little cans of organic tomato paste that always seem to hide behind Kat's favorite canned pasta.)

A deadline week is when it all comes down to the wire, and it's a time when you really need your head to be in a good place writing-wise. At the same time, you need to balance the work with life. Doing something non-writing related that makes you feel better about yourself, your home, your job, your friendships, etc. may give you that extra dose of self-confidence you need to cross the 50K finish line. It doesn't have to be a huge, time-consuming project, either. Spend an hour playing Scrabble with your family, take care of a chore you've been neglecting, or call a friend you haven't talked to in a while. Here's another thing most people don't realize: fill one of your wells, and it will spill over into the others.

Your turn: how are things going with your NaNo novel? Are you doing anything in particular to keep your wells filled? Let us know in comments.

Handling Derailments

Today my guy is flying back from an overseas job, and while I have faith in the airline he picked, I know I won't be able to write from the time his plane takes off until it lands. I'll be too busy pacing the floors. Because I know his itinerary and my capacity for air-travel anxiety, I planned for this and wrote a little extra yesterday.

I couldn't take the laptop with me during my most recent unplanned road trip, so that completely wrecked two working days. Which I also anticipated, and took along a manuscript I wrote on-spec so I could do the final read-through during any quiet moments. Got about two-thirds of it read, edited and ready for the final buff and polish, plus I made notes for a shorter version of the synopsis. That came in handy this week when I decided to finish the submission package and send it to my agent, who thought it rocked and is now shopping it around.

Sometimes I can't predict when my writing time will be knocked off schedule, like this morning, when the dog decided to be sick and, of course, choose to do so on the carpet versus the tile floor. I lost an hour to clean up and comforting the pup, which combined with worry over my guy's flight back will probably keep me from catching up on my writing for the day. So I'm composing this blog post and my afternoon chores this morning and will try again to write after I make the school pickups. If I don't, I have a couple of hours to add to my writing time for the next three days.

I hate being derailed from my writing routine, because along with the regret over lost productivity comes a nice big fat dose of guilt. I belong to my manuscripts for a certain portion of every single day, and when I can't show up for work, I feel like I've just called the boss and lied about having the flu. I've had to learn how to set aside those feelings and accept that real life often has to come before the job, and that I simply can't juggle it all without dropping something now and then.

One way I compensate for missing writing time is by lining up simple work-related tasks that I can do. There's always a box of filing waiting in the office for me to put away, as well as a stack of books to add to my book inventory over on LibraryThing. The ledger can be updated any time, not just on Friday, my usual deal-with-the-accounting day. I now print out e-mails before I answer them and make notes on them for whatever I need to do in response (send an ARC, pass along referrals, recommend another writer for whatever I can't do, etc.)

Market research and reference books sit in a TBR pile in the book room in the order I need to read them. Shorter tasks include dusting the computer station, running a disk cleanup and defrag, updating my backups or vacuuming the office rug. I also update my new monthly reminder program, Chaos Manager, with new appointments, deadlines, and anything else I need to add from a notepad I keep with dates and things as they come in.

People laugh when writers say that while they're sitting and doing nothing while staring off into the distance they're actually working, but when the writing is derailed I do my fair share of that, too. I think about the stories I'm working on, the characters, and how I can make them more interesting, more realistic, better written, etc. I run through ideas for future books, and reconsider old ideas that I never had time to develop. Sometimes my most effective story epiphanies have come to me while I've been sitting in a waiting room or in traffic. Which is why I always carry a note pad and a voice recorder with me wherever I go, to nail down the best of those fleeting, idle thoughts.

I'll never be able to know when the next derailment is due, but since I'm never completely caught up on anything peripheral to the writing, I always have something to do or read or consider. The trick is to see the derailment as an opportunity instead of letting it wreck me.

What do you guys do when your writing time is derailed? Let us know in comments.

Photo Credit: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration