The Relaxed Writer

Laser Coaching for Writers: 60-Minute Strategy Sessions

Many of you asked me for an affordable, powerful (and fun) way to coach with me this past year. 

Today I'm pleased to introduce you to the 60-Minute Strategy Session, a laser coaching session designed to get you on-target, unstuck and well-resourced for 2010.

You can learn more about 60-Minute Strategy Sessions here.

I've set things up so you can enjoy a fantastic rate if you book your session (for December, January or anytime) before Thursday, December 31, 2009.  

Please feel free to email or call me if I can answer any questions, ok?

What to Do When Your Writing Time Vanishes

Let's just say it's the holiday season, 2009. 

And you're a very busy person.  (A very busy writer-type person.) 

Writing much?

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@secondglantz:  @marlabeck The holiday rush has usurped all writing time. Can't wait to get back to it in the new year."

If you're struggling to make time to write during this busy holiday season, you're not alone. 

Like my Twitter friend, Cheryl, more than a few of my coaching clients have expressed frustrations with their writing lives this week.

No matter the source of their time stress (end-of-year work deadlines, kids' calendars or holiday to-dos), they've realized that their writing time has simply vanished.

Gone with the (winter) wind.

What to do when your writing time vanishes?  Here are 3 tips I've used with success in my own writing life and coaching practice. See what you think.

1.  Plug the Energy Drain.

It takes a lot of energy to redefine reality. 

Remember when you were little, and one of your siblings or friends started pushing your buttons by telling you something untrue? 

One of my own scenarios (from awful third grade) went something like this:

"Haha, you're a pig, Marla!"  (Can you believe that crap?)

"No I'm not." I'd say.

"Ha ha ha...you are!  A pig!"

After a few rounds of this exchange, I'd finally realize that a shift in tactics was in order.

"That's right," I'd say proudly. "I am!"

"I'm a pretty, intelligent girl." (Thanks Mom, for that one.)

While it was great to have a sassy comeback, defending myself against Billy's mean opinions sure took a lot of psychic energy.  Talking back was probably a decent coping mechanism as a kid.

As an adult, though, when faced with impossible situations (crazy folks' opinions of us, temporarily overwhelming time demands, you name it), sometimes it's best to pack up and go off to another sandbox.

Rather than force your writing time during the holidays, try saving your energy.  Quit fighting your situation and accept your temporary reality ("No time to write.")  Then use your energy to enjoy the season.

2.  Remember this Sanity Saver:  "Life Balance Ain't Linear."

"Now that I've made consistent time to write, things should stay balanced," you say.

It'd be convenient if "life balance" were always controllable, neatly manageable, and deliciously linear, but you may have noticed otherwise?

When disruptions to your writing time come up, your work as a Relaxed Writer is to remember that life balance is zig-zaggy by nature.

You're not doing something wrong if things get "squidgy" again.  You haven't lost all progress, either. 

Like trained muscles, your writing self and psyche have a "muscle memory" of their own.  Create the same conditions for writing when things settle down, and it's likely you'll be able to click right back in.

3.  Apply Patchett's "Edgar Principle."

Last night I picked up my husband from work, and while I waited for him (5 minutes or so) in the car, I  polished off a few rows on the scarf I'm knitting for him.  I added nearly an inch in length.

Seeing my knitting project grow incrementally over time has been a wonderful reminder that small efforts add up.  Little efforts really do matter.

* * *

In her fantastic Washington Post essay last week, writer Ann Patchett introduced a favorite productivity tool, inspired by composer and bassist, Edgar Meyer.

"[Edgar] put a notebook by the door of his studio and kept a careful record of the number of hours he actually sat down to work.  The startling conclusion of this experiment was...time spent work equals output of work.  Amazing!"

Patchett calls her friend's experiment the Edgar Principle: "The more time I committed to working, the more pages I stacked up," she says.

Small efforts really do add up.

* * *

@MarlaBeck: "@secondglantz & writers everywhere: Can you find small moments for writing and make good use of them? Even during holidays?"

@secondglantz @MarlaBeck Now that I think about it, yes. :) I do a lot of outlining/note taking during lunch and other work breaks.

@TiffanyVize   @MarlaBeck yes,I downloaded a notes app. For my phone and now I can write whenever,wherever!If that doesn't work, email a note to yourself :)

Cheryl outlines and takes notes during lunch.  Tiffany jots notes to herself using her phone or computer. I like to do 15-minute freewrites (and love to watch my small notebook fill up over time).  You might choose to use these end-of-year "small moments" to dream, plan or strategize for your writing in 2010.  (If so, I can help.)

Small efforts really do add up.  Little efforts matter.

* * *

Take a moment and consider your own writing. 

• How can you find small moments to help yourself stay connected to your writing, even in the midst of busy holidays?

• How do you track your "small efforts?"

photo credit: thomaspetermueller (flickr)

An Interview with Sage Cohen

 I'm pleased to introduce you to poet and new mom, Sage Cohen, author of Writing the Life Poetic, an Invitation to Read and Write Poetry.

Read on for Sage's take on: 

• the "life poetic"
• freewriting as spiritual practice
• advice to first-book authors
  

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1. Sage, as I read your new book, Writing the Life Poetic (Writer's Digest, 2009), I thought that many writers--poets, fiction and non-fiction writers alike--would benefit from reading your ideas.

You've written a wise and playful companion to the writer's life!  Was this your plan for the book as you sat down to write it?  Did your focus change as you got further into the project?

Thank you for your kind words, Marla! The beauty of having a book in circulation is learning from readers what that book is about. I set out to write a book specifically for poets -- to invite them into the delight of a poetic way of life. And I've heard from many readers who do not identify as poets -- or even as writers -- that this book spoke to them and helped them better appreciate the pleasure and process of writing. I am grateful that writers of all genres are finding it to be good company.

2.  What is "a life poetic?" 

The details will be different for each person, but there is one key theme: receptivity. A life poetic is attuned to the sounds and sights and feelings and language of daily living. It is moderated by a choice to become awake to all that is moving through us, and then tending to or exploring that movement with words. It is a life that echoes our experiences in image and metaphor, rhythm and sound. The life poetic transcends ordinary states of mind through a curiosity for the undiscovered, a dash of danger, a willingness to make and break rhythms and rituals and a willingness to investigate the uncomfortable. By turning our sails into the wind and saying "yes" to whatever life brings us, we are welcoming the life poetic.

3. You write about the importance of cultivating curiosity and receptivity to the world around us.  What is one of your favorite ways to stay open and awake to the world?

Freewriting is my most reliable poetic portal. It takes me beneath my thinking into the place where language is hurtling itself upstream against all reason. I stand cold and still in those waters, and I become simply a hand moving, transmitting words. The paradox is that as I become more connected, I also disappear. In this way, freewriting has become my spiritual practice.

4. How do you know you're on track in your writing life?

While my productivity and publication priorities are constantly shifting, one thing remains constant: I know I'm on track if I'm writing!

5. Any advice to writers working on their first book manuscripts?

Yes. Read Christina Katz's Get Known Before the Book Deal. Your fabulous manuscript will have a far better chance of becoming a book if you understand what a platform is and how it can benefit you -- and then start creating one (or enhancing the one you already have) now.

Thanks, Marla. I've enjoyed this interview. Wishing you and your readers a surprising creative journey.

• follow Sage on Twitter: @SageCohen
• read an excerpt of Writing the Life Poetic
• visit Sage's blog:  writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com

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Follow The Relaxed Writer on Twitter:  @MarlaBeck

Stay Tuned for Sage Cohen (Writing the Life Poetic)

You're invited to stop by The Relaxed Writer in the next few days to read an interview with Sage Cohen, author of the new Writer's Digest book, Writing the Life Poetic.  To pique your interest, here's a wee bit of (non-literary) backstory...

I heard about Sage long before we met (virtually, via Twitter) a few months ago. 

Years before she wrote her book on writing, reading and the creative life, Sage lived here in the Bay Area.  Among her adventures, she played in an acoustic folk-rock quartet called Darrington, led by my talented friend, Drew Pearce.

If you were around for any of the Darrington shows (circa 2002), you may've seen Sage perform.  If not, you might like to click here to hear Sage sing and play her djembe.

Sage's book, Writing the Life Poetic, is wise and funny.  Whether you're a poet, memoirist or fiction writer, I think find something delightful in what you read. 

Stay tuned!

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Follow me on Twitter:  @MarlaBeck

How to Write All Weekend

For a few years in my 20s, I met weekly with a group of painters, writers and musicians to discuss our progress as we worked Julia Cameron's spiritual path to creativity, The Artist's Way.

My friends and I took "artist dates" and met every weekend to share the sculptures, sonnets and songs we'd created. Over time, many of us changed our lives to enable us to make creative expression a top priority. 

One day, a member of our group announced amazing news.

"I've saved up some cash," he said.  "I just quit my day job.  I'm going to write full-time!"

40 extra hours a week? To write?  I was incredibly envious.  (Happy for him, but envious.)

My newly full-time artist friend did some good creative work at first, but as the months passed by, he got depressed.  Without a daily structure and routine, he just couldn't focus. 

He stopped making art.

***

As anyone who's ever dedicated an afternoon to writing and found themselves wasting the hours away instead, more time doesn't necessarily equate to more--or better--writing.  

It is entirely possible to drown your productivity in an abundance of time.  With skillful time management you can avoid the perils of unstructured, extended work sessions (what I call "time bloat") and stay focused on your writing. 

Here's how.

Tip #1 - Segment & Stop

Planning to "write all weekend?"

You'll create urgency and focus for yourself if you break down your overall goal ("20 hours of focused work on my novel") into a series of discrete writing sessions.  (One of my clients, Dan Schifrin, calls his work sessions "modules." I like this approach.)

Adjust the length of your work sessions to fit your needs.

• Most folks I've coached do well with planning up to 2 solid hours of writing at a time.
• You may prefer to plan for 45 minutes at a time or 4 hours...everyone's different.

When you're ready, note the time and begin writing.  When your session's elapsed and your time is up, (here's the rub)...

Stop. 

Be as serious about honoring your time limit as you are about your writing.  Stopping when you say you will builds integrity ("I do what I say!") and also creates urgency and focus: your own personal deadline.

Tip #2 - Reward Yourself

As a Kiwi friend of mine used to say:  Good on ya!

If you've followed my suggestions, you segmented your time into smaller work sessions and stopped writing when said you would.

You wrote. And you honored your commitment to your own deadline. 

You deserve a little reward for all this work, dontcha' think?

The key to staying energized and alert is to give yourself periods of "guilt-free play" (this is Neil Fiore's term, from his fantastic book, The Now Habit) between back-to-back writing sessions.  

My suggestion is that you shoot for 5-10 minutes of play for every hour of focused writing.  As an example, I often write--and coach--in 40-50-minute work sessions beginning at the top of the hour.  I use the last 10 minutes of each hour to call a friend, stretch outside or sip a cup of tea.  After awhile, this way of segmenting your time will become a habit.

Conscious "fun" breaks are refreshing and relaxing.  An added benefit? In this space of "not-trying," you also give new ideas and insights a chance to surface.

Two guidelines for you: 

1.  Step away from the writing desk.  (This means putting down the pen and closing the laptop, if you have to.)

2.  Choose an activity that's very different from writing.  (Get back into your body, walk outside, feed the fish.) You'll find plenty of suggestions for fun on this blog. Just search The Relaxed Writer's "Ease" and "Balance" categories for ideas.

Be deliberate with your time and honor your need for play.  Using these tips, you'll alternate "structure" with play and your writing-weekend word count grow.

image credit:  PinkSherbertPhotography (Flickr.com)

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Follow Me on Twitter:  @MarlaBeck

Need More Time to Write? (an interview with The Relaxed Writer)

Call me shy.

A few months ago I was interviewed by Shonell Bacon for her quarterly online publication, SisterDivas Magazine.  In the interview, we talked about my work as a life coach for writers and what it means to be a "relaxed writer."  Until now, I hesitated to share it with you because frankly...I thought I was awfully  long-winded.  :-)

But if you're desperate to make more time to write, in the article I outline a deceptively simple and very effective exercise to help you get started. 

Click here to read "In the Know with The Relaxed Writer".

And stop back by and let us know what you think.

Make It Fun!

A Swiss-based coaching client sent me a link to Volkswagen's recent Fun Theory video, "Piano Stairs" recently.  Have you seen it yet?

Capture and Collect: Idea Management for Writers

If you're creating regular time each week to "resource" your writing life, you're probably enjoying a healthy stream of new ideas. The creative wellspring is highly responsive, especially when we engage in  non-goal-oriented activities like exercise, socializing, favorite hobbies or meditation.

Idea Capture & Collection

How do you manage the juicy, the viable, the marketable and the outright outlandish new ideas you generate each week? 

• Do you keep a master list, or keep separate lists of ideas categorized by form or genre ("articles," "creative non-fiction," "poetry," "fiction")? 

• Do you store your ideas in notebooks or binders, or in files on your computer?

• Do you review your creative "starts" regularly, or just dip into your notes only when you need a new project or idea?

• Do you collect ideas on-the-go?  Do you have a system for integrating them into your master lists?

Idea collection is personal, and I'll offer you no universal answers or prescriptions today.  Instead, I'm writing to encourage you to give some conscious thought to how you capture and retrieve your great ideas. 

Here are a few concepts that inspire my own idea capture and collection.

Experiment with Juxtaposition.

Libraries and bookstores are so creatively stimulating because wildly disparate topics and genres co-exist in close quarters.  Have you ever found that a series of unrelated book titles sparks new associations and creative ideas for you?  This is the power of juxtaposition. 

As you review your idea management systems, consider how the power of juxtaposition might work for you.  Play around with what information you keep and where you keep it.  Binders or folders with seemingly disparate creates an interesting, fruitful dissonance or area of inquiry.  

Date Everything.

I always date hard-copy notes and I've recently gotten in the habit of dating electronic notes, too.  I suggest you try this, too.  I've never regretted being able to trace the timeline of a project.

File Your Reading Notes, Too.

We all know that great writers read!  One of the most useful practices I learned in graduate school was how to create a reading journal.

Are you keeping notes about pieces you like, books you've read?  If not, now's a great time to start.  I'll give you some more specific ideas in an upcoming post here on The Relaxed Writer.

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Your Thoughts?

Tell us about your own ways of capturing and collecting ideas.  What works for you?  Take a moment now to leave us a comment below.

5 Simple Tips to Beautify Your Life

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”      -Frank Lloyd Wright

I don't know about you but when someone speaks to me from the vantage point of a life mostly-lived, well...I tend to listen up.

To me, Wright's experience of an increasingly beautiful life is uncommon and inspiring.  He seems to be saying that "beauty" is available to us always, but it's up to us to wake to it, to cultivate it in our lives. 

photo credit: pablo.sanchez (Flickr)

Take a moment to think about your own life and habits.  Ask yourself:

• Have you been deliberately feeding your senses exquisite images and sounds, textures, colors and tastes? 
• Are you regularly decluttering your self-limiting attitudes and habits?  
• Do you give yourself regular time to reflect, process and savor your life's challenges and experiences?
• Do you experience your life a bit more richly, a bit lovelier than you did ten years, three years, thirty days ago? 

The late Thomas Leonard, pioneer of the coaching profession, believed that an optimized home and workspace enhance our ability to realize goals more than we might realize. 

To fine-tune your physical environment, this week I encourage you to consciously invest in beauty.  Take a few small steps to deliberately create a more elegant, inspiring or downright gorgeous place to live and work.

To get you started, here are 5 simple tips to beautify your life.

1. Grab some fresh flowers from the market, or tend and groom the houseplants you already have.
   
2. Cull the notes from your bulletin board, and use some of the newly freed-up space to post a quote, image or tchotchke that delights you. 
3. Reorganize your music collection, and create a playlist of newly rediscovered tunes or artists to play before or during your next writing session.
4. Warm up the lighting in your living or writing space.
5. Treat yourself to an elegant new writing tool.  Buy yourself a new pen or, if you prefer to write on-screen, experiment with a distraction-free writing environment to see how you like it.

You also may also experiment with making a daily "loved moments" list before bed.  To keep this exercise quick and simple, compress each impression into 1-3 sentences (or just an evocative phrase).  If you note even one loved moment a day, in a month you'll have a collection of notes to remind you of the beauty suffused in your everyday life. 

* * *

I'll end today's post with a personal note--a postcard of sorts.

My two-year-old daughter, Annabelle, has always been a lark (like her mom).

Early in the mornings, my husband has been wrapping our little daughter up head-to-toe in a fluffy down comforter and picking her up to go outside. He opens the front door slowly, and as the damp autumn morning rushes at her face, Annabelle clasps his neck expectantly.  They settle on the topmost step just outside the door, Annabelle cuddled on her dad's lap.

Sometimes I hear Annabelle and her dad through the door as they sit in the starlight, talking about the neighborhood yet-to-wake, listening to the birds and chipmunks, looking at the sky.  Often when I hear the rhythms of their sleepy chatter I stand still.  Enchanted.

(A simple "loved moment" of mine.)  

* * *

Care to share a recent "loved moment" of your own? 

What will you do to beautify your inner or outer environment this week?

Please Write. Now.

This morning Liz Stires stopped by my cafe table today to say hello.  She's a singer-songwriter who's lately begun to really "sing out" into the world.

As we talked about her gig last night, she described how great it was to share her music with an audience that "really listened."  Like me (have I ever mentioned that I'm also a singer-songwriter & emerging jazz singer?), she sometimes worries that her own songs are "too mellow" or "not quite right " for an evening's entertainment.

Yet at the end of last night's gig, an out-of-town couple approached Liz to introduce themselves.  They effused. They gave her their email addresses, even though Indiana is miles away from the Bay Area.   Liz's soulful music was just what they'd wanted to hear, and they wanted to keep in touch.

What's the point?  Why am I sharing this music story with you wonderful writers today?

1.  Write what you write.
At least at the beginning of your project, please don't populate your mind with the faces of expectant audience members or critical agents.  It's important to give yourself space and time to realize your voice on the page--to play around, experiment and realize your own particular aesthetic intentions.

If you choose to do so, you'll have ample time later on to modify your work to suit the market.  You may even find, as Liz did last night, that there's actually a niche for your voice, just as it is.  You won't know, though, if you don't first give yourself an opportunity to show up as "you" on the page.

2.  Write right now.
Hearing about Liz's experience bolstered my own courage and sense of permission about my music.  ("Hey, if she can find an audience for her style, perhaps I can do so for my own.")

We're all interdependent. 

As a writer, you have an opportunity not only to add your own voice to cultural discourse, but also to empower others to do the same.  (Writing that sentence reminds me of my favorite chapter title ever:  "Why Women who do too much housework should ignore it for their writing," from If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland, c. 1938).  By writing regularly, whether you realize it or not, you're modeling the creative life for your children, your spouse, your friends, colleagues.  You're saying "Yes" to the idea that not all value can--or should--be measured in financial terms. 

In the process, when you write consistently, you're also adding to your manuscript and--if you're working with intention and focus--learning and practicing your craft. 

Do your work.  Write.  By doing so, whether you realize it or not, you inspire others around you to do the same.