PW #162 - Moving lessons for writers
I opened the freezer door and a sea of green goo puddled towards me. What on earth was this stuff?
Turns out it wasn't pond sludge or paint, it was my kids' favourite ice cream -- mint chocolate chip. And it had oozed down to the bottom of the freezer because it had melted. This was a result of the freezer's death, right alongside its guilty partner, the dead fridge nestled below.
Under normal circumstances, I'd have uttered a few curse words and called a repair person. But our situation was anything but normal. We'd just moved into a rental house -- a move made necessary by plans to renovate our own home. And since we didn't actually own the freezer/fridge, I couldn't do anything except call the landlord.
Day three of our move was not shaping up to be a great one.
What's more, the dead fridge was not our only problem. The rental house was too cold -- you practically needed long underwear to survive the family room. The kitchen was too small -- more suited to a family of two who ate out a lot rather than our family of five who mostly eats in. And the movers (who moved only furniture -- we heroically and cheaply did most of the boxes ourselves) had managed to take a chunk out of my pine armoire.
In short, everything sucked.
Do you ever feel that way when you're writing? You stare at the computer monitor, not knowing what to say. Every sentence you write is tedious and dull. You overuse the verb "to be." You go crazy with audacious adjectives and you use adverbs disadvantageously. (Aside: that last sentence was a joke.)
Or perhaps, worse, you don't write at all and you do other things but you don't do them well or with any particular joy because you feel guilty . . . for not writing.
In other words, your writing life sucks. So what's a person to do? Give up? Sorry, no!
We all need to recognize that not every writing day is going to be a winner. After all, athletes are familiar with "poor performance" days, and recognize that this doesn't, by definition, make them poor athletes. Most chefs have baked cakes that have fallen flat or produced main courses that were less than stellar -- but that doesn't make them any less cooking savvy. Movers have terrible moving days. And so it is with writers. Some days are always going to be better than others. Don't let your inexperience or some bad luck define you.
You are a writer because you are a person who chooses to put words on paper. If you judge yourself too harshly that judgment will simply make the wonderful, creative part of your brain -- the part that writes -- want to hide.
Remember: things go wrong; it happens all the time. But in the end, life usually sorts itself out. With writing, we all improve with practice and a measure of calm.
As for my move, we settled in fairly quickly. I told my landlords we hadn't managed to sell the much-loved fridge in our own house, so they could take it for the cost of moving it to us. We bought an inexpensive space heater for the family room. We decided to eat only in the dining room and turned our kitchen table into a work surface. And I've concluded my armoire looks more antique with a few dings and scrapes.
Stuff happens. Get over it. Keep writing.
A former daily newspaper editor, Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of the popular book 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better. She offers a brief and free weekly newsletter on her website. Subscribe by going to the Publication Coach.
Showing posts with label Daphne Gray-Grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daphne Gray-Grant. Show all posts
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Daphne Gray-Grant has some great tips
I love Daphne's newsletters which show up in my Inbox every Tuesday. They take just a few minutes to read, but they're pithy little gems of information. I also like the word pithy. Here is the latest one:
PW #159 - What the Japanese can teach you about writing
My family and I are moving house at the beginning of March. We're renovating our home and have to park ourselves elsewhere for full year. It's a mega-stressful undertaking -- made somewhat easier because we've found a house to rent in the very next block.
As you can imagine, I've been spending all my spare time thinning stuff. We wore our shredder to oblivion getting rid of old financial documents and we gave away 18 boxes of books last weekend. But I've also discovered a few treasures.
One is the short book One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer a professor at the UCLA school of medicine. I'm embarrassed to admit I received the book as a gift from a friend many years ago -- and the teeny tiny volume somehow buried itself in the stacks of clutter in my office. It emerged from hibernation last week and I read it for the first time. What a winner! And what lessons this book offers.
Subtitled "The Kaizen Way" the book presents the Japanese technique of achieving great and lasting success through small, steady steps. How small? Really small. For example, a single mother who was depressed, exhausted and 30 lbs overweight was instructed to lose weight by marching for one minute while she watched TV each night. One minute!
The woman became so enthusiastic about her success in achieving this modest goal she asked for more exercise. Maurer and his colleague then helped her build the exercise habit, minute by minute. Within a few months, the woman's resistance had disappeared and she enthusiastically embraced a full aerobics workout.
Maurer says Kaizen works because it:
· Unsticks you from creative blocks
· Bypasses the fight-or-flight response associated with fear
· Creates new connections between neurons so that the brain enthusiastically takes over the process of change.
So, how can this help you? Maurer offers six steps which I've listed here. And under each one, I've suggested a "how to" example that's specific to writing.
1) Ask small questions. Ask yourself, "how will I get my book written?" and your brain is likely to shut down. That's because big questions cause fear to arise. Instead, ask incredibly simple questions such as: "If writing were my first priority, what would I be doing today?"
2) Think small thoughts. Spend 30 seconds every day imagining yourself as a successful, accomplished writer. Picture sitting at your computer and seeing your fingers moving quickly across the keyboard. When you're comfortable doing this, imagine what happens when you run out of ideas and then see yourself successfully dealing with the problem.
3) Take small actions. Instead of vowing to write for five hours, spend five minutes writing.
4) Solve small problems. Look for small problems in your writing or writing habits. Perhaps you have a messy desk that distracts you? Maybe you answer email while you're trying to write? Perhaps your mouse is uncomfortable? Pick one problem and do something small to make it better.
5) Bestow small rewards. Big rewards tend to put your focus on the wrong thing -- big projects. Instead, you want to focus on something small. So reward yourself for achieving a small writing commitment. For example, write for five minutes and then reward yourself by watching a show on TV or reading a favourite blog.
6) Identify small moments. Look for what Maurer calls "hidden moments of delight" and note them to yourself. What pleases you about your writing? When does writing feel good? Look for the sense of pleasure rather than pain and celebrate it.
I know this may all sound flakey or trivial, but there's lots of proof that Kaizen works. Toyota reduced many of its automobile flaws with the small step of adding a pull-cord allowing workers to stop the assembly line if they saw a problem. Lance Armstrong uses "small thoughts" to improve his athletic performance.
Why don't you make reading One Small Step your small task for this week?
PW #159 - What the Japanese can teach you about writing
My family and I are moving house at the beginning of March. We're renovating our home and have to park ourselves elsewhere for full year. It's a mega-stressful undertaking -- made somewhat easier because we've found a house to rent in the very next block.
As you can imagine, I've been spending all my spare time thinning stuff. We wore our shredder to oblivion getting rid of old financial documents and we gave away 18 boxes of books last weekend. But I've also discovered a few treasures.
One is the short book One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer a professor at the UCLA school of medicine. I'm embarrassed to admit I received the book as a gift from a friend many years ago -- and the teeny tiny volume somehow buried itself in the stacks of clutter in my office. It emerged from hibernation last week and I read it for the first time. What a winner! And what lessons this book offers.
Subtitled "The Kaizen Way" the book presents the Japanese technique of achieving great and lasting success through small, steady steps. How small? Really small. For example, a single mother who was depressed, exhausted and 30 lbs overweight was instructed to lose weight by marching for one minute while she watched TV each night. One minute!
The woman became so enthusiastic about her success in achieving this modest goal she asked for more exercise. Maurer and his colleague then helped her build the exercise habit, minute by minute. Within a few months, the woman's resistance had disappeared and she enthusiastically embraced a full aerobics workout.
Maurer says Kaizen works because it:
· Unsticks you from creative blocks
· Bypasses the fight-or-flight response associated with fear
· Creates new connections between neurons so that the brain enthusiastically takes over the process of change.
So, how can this help you? Maurer offers six steps which I've listed here. And under each one, I've suggested a "how to" example that's specific to writing.
1) Ask small questions. Ask yourself, "how will I get my book written?" and your brain is likely to shut down. That's because big questions cause fear to arise. Instead, ask incredibly simple questions such as: "If writing were my first priority, what would I be doing today?"
2) Think small thoughts. Spend 30 seconds every day imagining yourself as a successful, accomplished writer. Picture sitting at your computer and seeing your fingers moving quickly across the keyboard. When you're comfortable doing this, imagine what happens when you run out of ideas and then see yourself successfully dealing with the problem.
3) Take small actions. Instead of vowing to write for five hours, spend five minutes writing.
4) Solve small problems. Look for small problems in your writing or writing habits. Perhaps you have a messy desk that distracts you? Maybe you answer email while you're trying to write? Perhaps your mouse is uncomfortable? Pick one problem and do something small to make it better.
5) Bestow small rewards. Big rewards tend to put your focus on the wrong thing -- big projects. Instead, you want to focus on something small. So reward yourself for achieving a small writing commitment. For example, write for five minutes and then reward yourself by watching a show on TV or reading a favourite blog.
6) Identify small moments. Look for what Maurer calls "hidden moments of delight" and note them to yourself. What pleases you about your writing? When does writing feel good? Look for the sense of pleasure rather than pain and celebrate it.
I know this may all sound flakey or trivial, but there's lots of proof that Kaizen works. Toyota reduced many of its automobile flaws with the small step of adding a pull-cord allowing workers to stop the assembly line if they saw a problem. Lance Armstrong uses "small thoughts" to improve his athletic performance.
Why don't you make reading One Small Step your small task for this week?
***
A former daily newspaper editor, Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of the popular book 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better.
She offers a brief and free weekly newsletter on her website. Subscribe by going to the Publication Coach.
***
I'll let you know what small steps I'm making. Hint. It involves a piece of plywood with a stained glass lamp pattern on it. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with stained glass.
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