In the past few years, I have learned that I get more done when I work on an every-other-day basis for the heavy-lifting type of “stuff”.
Yesterday I spent a lot of time on the how to write when you don’t feel like writing book… And I do need to think of a shorter title or a more appropriate title.
I did some outlining and thinking about this as a series of books. Each book would be complete unto itself so that you don’t need a whole big book if you’re only interested in one aspect of solving the problem.
I outlined 2 chapters but I wasn’t happy with those… so I took a break and worked on prompt ideas and what I’m calling “asides” which is where I make commentary on some of what I’m writing about – almost like an alter ego for the person reading it. I’m thinking of what to call that and what it could look like as an avatar…..
I was reminded of when I was a therapist, and some of my clients said before they’d start to do something stupid their head would go “I wonder what Lynn would say about this” and then they would not do it because they knew they knew how THAT conversation would go!
I’ve said before that very often when I want to write, I often start with images and that’s what happened with the avatar. I began to play with the idea of what an avatar could look like – it could help me ultimately think of what I’m going to call it – or the other way around – if I find a picture, I like then I may know what to call the avatar.
I’m moving at the literal snails pace, although I sometimes think the snails are faster than me.
Slowly – day by day – I am getting things done for the upcoming “how to write a book when you don’t feel like writing” book. It will have a better title than that, but I’ve been thinking through some ideas like maybe including worksheets or prompts or somethings that work for me and hopefully work for you and/or don’t work for me but might work for you.
I’m enjoying the thinking process, but that’s me.
I always enjoy the thinking process.
It’s the get it down on the computer process that’s hard for me.
And while all this is going on, we had another heat wave along very dangerously dirty air. I got used to dirty air when I lived in Portland, Oregon. Certainly isn’t fun when you’re subjected to the smoky air, but I feel worse for the people up in Canada where the smoke is coming from because they’re losing everything.
Hopefully, we will have a lot of rain soon, which will help slow the fires and clear up the air.
For decades, I wrote in steno pads. Took them with me all the time, especially when I was riding public transportation. But then I started taking my phone and dictating into it, which was good, and it was still mostly on public transportation.
With my current move, I am now in an area that lacks public transportation, and I don’t use my phone when I’m driving [except for google maps.].
So I’m back to computer and phone and no longer use steno pads. I miss them. There is something about writing words out on paper. I remember hours I spent in the museums in D.C. with a cup of coffee and jotting down words, or what I was thinking about, or whatever – but I was always writing.
In fact I can’t remember a time in my life I didn’t write. I think I was born with a pencil in my hand.
Over the years there have been times where I don’t feel like writing – and I remember someone once saying if you want to do something, you can’t have moods.
Well, I have moods. I’ve always had moods and some of those moods tell me don’t write today and I live with it because I’ve never figured out how to work around that mood. What I’ve learned is when the writing mood strikes get all the writing done that I can because I know another “let’s not write today” mood is coming along.
Thus my thinking I’d write about indoor gardening has gone to “I don’t wanna do that until I’m ready to have my own window garden and I’m not gonna do that till it gets colder out” – so that book will be on track to be started in the fall. I promise.
I promised – but that doesn’t mean it’ll get done. I often break my own promises to myself. That’s me. I live with it!
So – I had a great conversation with my head and said – I sort of feel like writing, but I don’t know what to write about and I’m getting into in “one of those moods” – and my head said back what it often does in these days of technology: “go play online with your ideas.”
The result? It’s going to be a short funny book about how to start writing when you don’t feel like writing.
I figured I’m not the only one who thinks this way – so what is coming up next is not gardening, not the other topics that I thought I wanted to do, but this one – which has popped up frequently in my head.
Well – it’s day 8 and I am again writing. I think that’s a good record for me. It hasn’t been all eight days, but it’s been more than 2!! And that’s better than the none record that I have had of late….
I did have my usual post-heat-wave-reactions over the past two days and I didn’t feel like writing very much or even thinking very much except for about an hour this morning, so I fiddled around online looking for a topic in which I have some interest and which the world at large said is one where people actually buy books.
I settled on growing herbs and veggies on your window sill.
Of course I now have to sit down and write about it. I’ve given it some thought because it’s something I keep thinking I’m going to do but in actuality I really have only done once or twice in my very long life. I grow stuff outdoors, and I rarely bring it in in the winter – so this year I’m not only going to write the book, I’m growing veggies now and will bring some in for the winter or even start some new from seeds in a few months and have them grow all winter.
And that does assume that the cats won’t knock them over which is usually one of the reasons why I don’t try growing too many things indoors – my cats knock my plants over. I’ve never had a cat that did not do this! I do have some special plants that I have been tending to for decades and I’ve managed to keep cats away from those, but those are very large plants.
Herbs and vegetables in smaller pots seem to be much more interesting to cats.
One plant I’ve never tried to do indoors [and I will try this year] is a tomato plant. I have several growing in my garden, but I know a few people up in the New York area, who actually grow tomatoes in their apartments, and I thought OK, I can do that this year and I’ll write about how to do it – and then come back and let every one know how it went!!
I now have ideas for the next challenge which hasn’t even been announced yet.
I said in one of my earlier posts that I had planned on doing a lot of writing this month in lead up to redoing older books with new additions, breaking some of them down into a series, and writing up ideas that I’ve had in my head for years, but have never done anything much with except to make lots of notes!
Those were great plans.
Then the heat wave came and stayed. I don’t do well when it’s over 85 and it was near 100 for most of the week. I was inside in air conditioning which gave me some time to think but one day when I had my dog out I managed to touch something that somehow my body didn’t like. I have no idea what it was I touched, but I didn’t have gardening gloves on because it was too hot. I developed a contact rash, hives, etc. so I took a Benadryl, which I hate doing, but it made the itch go away – and also left me feeling foggy.
I got over that only to be facing more days near 100 and when I was out with my dog again, something bit me. I have no idea what it was at 7 o’clock in the morning but something I couldn’t see bit me. I came in, sat down, and I saw hives or swellings, traveling along veins on my arms and legs. and itching like crazy. So what did I do? I took another Benadryl. The itching and swelling stopped, but my brain went foggy again.
One would think this might give me time to sit around and think but all I could think of that was how much I hate taking Benadryl and how much I hate how hot it is. That’s not conducive to getting book writing done.
I did play around with some ideas because my accountability buddy was around and we plugged away at this, even though I was foggy, and I discovered something that I’ve probably known before, but didn’t verbalize.
Often when I pick a topic to write on, it’s because I’m interested in it and very few people buy those books – and in my foggy brained state, I finally said I am going to do it the way everybody suggests which is find a topic that I’m interested in but is a topic or take where people actually buy the books!!
So – I’ve been doing some research on topics that people actually spend money on. But I’ve also decided I have to semi-like the topic – it has to bring me some amount of joy. The joy can be the challenge of writing on something that doesn’t interest me all that much, but I have to work that one out myself.
I realized I had done that before, but I was getting paid for it. One of the things I recounted to my friend was when I worked for a major consulting firm in the Boston area where we bid on government contracts, we very often were writing proposals on topics that none of us knew very much about. This was before the Internet so you had to do some quick research and write quickly – we won a lot of those contracts so I know I can write and write quickly on topics where I’m kind of semi interested…..
That is my goal and my big thunk for July. I can actually pick a topic I don’t love. I just have to like it and know that other people want to read about it – and make it a fun challenge for myself to write a book, an interesting book, on that topic – that is a successful breakthrough for me and that is what I am going to do during the rest of July.
I am in an air-conditioned space but do go out to do things – and it’s brutal out there – or it was until a major storm went through!!
I’m trying to stick with this challenge. I actually got some book ideas done sitting in a coffee shop yesterday and today was a day of fun with friends who came over – but we had to spend the day inside.
Tomorrow I am meeting with my friend/accountability partner again, and we are going to start the books that we spent time talking about at the coffee shop.
I also figured out what the major problems was with my website and it’s one of the theme plug-ins that I use – a paid one – and I am really miffed at the changes that have happened since the guy who developed it sold it – so I’m not using all of it right now and I probably will cancel my subscription – I’m at the point where I don’t feel like playing with the technology part.
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