Writing every day is helping me to get more non-writing tasks done.
Sound silly?
Let me explain.
Since I stared this writing challenge, I’ve been purposefully controlling my time better, in order to have time to write. The side effect of my nascent time management has been that not only do I make time to write; now I’m more productive with the rest of my time, because I don’t want anything interfering with (more…)
Today, I weighed 17 pounds less than I did a month ago.
I haven’t been checking my weight obsessively – I’ll weigh myself about once a week; maybe more, maybe less, because I know that weight is not an accurate measurement of fitness or health – it’s only a (more…)
I’m really tired.
Taking on the challenge of writing every day has been surprisingly exhausting. If I didn’t have a day job, I think the challenge would have been slightly easier, since I would have an open schedule to work with. Instead, I got up this morning at 3:30 so I could make it to work by 5:00. I got home at about 2:30 after fighting traffic for 25 miles and stopping off to pick up my dry cleaning – so I’ll have something clean to wear tomorrow when I get up at 3:30 to do it all again.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m very thankful for my day job, but (more…)
Recently I wrote a post looking at how past success can play a part in present and future failures. Basically, if we focus too heavily on past successes, we run the risk of not working as hard on future projects; or we try too hard to top the last pinnacle and make a mess of things in the process.
Today, let’s look at it from a different angle. (more…)
We break away from our regularly scheduled software comparison for breaking news:
Losing weight doesn’t have to be a mystery.
I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve been losing weight, my body having finally reached a critical mass that my self-esteem could no longer tolerate.
Shortly after the New Year, a coworker introduced me to a handy little iPhone app called MyFitnessPal. It allows you to not only count calories, but keep track of daily exercise, overall nutrition of the food you’re eating, progress you’re making, and more.
The best part is, MyFitnessPal is free. (more…)
Yesterday I posted about my resistance to making traditional outlines for my written work. The problem with that is that the human brain (mine, anyway) can only organize and keep track of a limited amount of information before it starts making critical mistakes; which means I need a different method to organize my writing.
Enter Mind Mapping.
Last night I downloaded the freeware version of XMind 2012. This is the first program I’ll be evaluating as an alternative to the standard, bulleted outline in a Word document.
My first impression of XMind after I downloaded it was (more…)
When it comes to writing, I’m not a planner.
I’m much more of a seat of the pants kind of guy. I always hated the old model of outline, rough draft, revisions – and, at long last – the finished product.
In high school, I would do it in reverse so that I could get credit – I’d write the final draft of a paper, then go back and write progressively messier, rougher versions so I could fulfill the requirement to turn in outlines and rough drafts.
My problem was I always thought in terms of (more…)
My wife took my five year-old son to the mall last week to shop for clothes. One store had a small table full of Legos for kids to play with while their parents shopped. Perfect for my son – he loves to build things even more than he loves to wander off.
As he was playing, a young girl came up and joined him. He related the story to me after he got home (using an exaggerated whisper voice throughout):
K (urgently): “Dad! I need to TELL you something!”
Me: “What is it, son?!?” (more…)
I’m changing a few things in my life.
This post is part of that – one segment in a personal challenge to write frequently and consistently, to develop writing as a natural habit.
I’m also losing weight.
Notice here that I said ‘I’m losing weight,’ not ‘I’m trying to lose weight.’ I never really liked Yoda, but even I have to admit he pretty much nailed it when he said, “No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.” (more…)
We’ve all heard the saying, ‘If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again.’ This concept seems to imply that success only comes after much trial and error. But what happens after the hard-won success?
Once a person achieves great success, what next?
I’m a lifelong fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing. My oldest brother read The Hobbit to me when I was very small, and the story left such an impression on me, I decided to be a writer myself someday. A few years later (more…)
When I started this writing challenge yesterday, I had no real idea where I was going with it, other than the fact that I wanted to write more consistently. By restricting my participation in social media until after I write, I unintentionally touched on today’s topic: What crowds your time and makes it difficult for you to write?
I realized that for me, watching TV used to be one of my biggest time-killing creativity leeches. To be honest, we turned off our cable and haven’t watched a show on regular television in at least a year. We realized that we were spending too much time in the evenings, camped out in front of the magic box, allowing our time to drain away while we watched programming that did nothing for us.
So we pulled the plug. (more…)
I’m always looking for a new way to prod myself to write.
The problem is that the various methods tend to fail after a short time, and I fall back into the tried and true pattern of making excuses for not doing what I want, and then, by default, doing what I don’t want.
Yesterday, I came across an interesting concept that might be more effective for me. John Muldoon had a link to Bradley Charbonneau’s blog that gave me a completely different way of looking at the problem of establishing a consistent writing habit. (more…)
