The Relaxed Writer

FreshStart '09 - Your Year in Review

Professional athletes improve their skills by reviewing game footage with their coaches.  It's easy to emulate this technique and conduct a simple "performance review" of your year.  Grab a pen and let's get started!

Your Year in Review

1.  We're always making choices, whether we do so consciously or not.  Consider, for a moment, the state of your health, writing practice and relationships.  What choices did you make this year to get the results you're getting? 

2.  Pull out your calendar or PDA and look at December "at-a-glance."  In 2-3 sentences, record a few brief notes describing notable activities/events.  Next, describe (to your best recollection) your feeling state during the month.  (Optimistic?  Fearful?  Overwhelmed?)  Keep it brief:  your goal is simply to describe.  Resist the urge to judge, explain or justify yourself.

3.  Repeat step 2 for each calendar month, working backwards through the year.  If this becomes too overwhelming, break the year into quarters and review it 3 months at a time instead.

4.  Take 3-5 minutes and quickly list everything you can think of to be grateful for.  When we're focused on improving or enhancing our lives (such as with new year's goals and resolutions), it's easy to become disempowered and focused on what's not right in the moment.  Reconnecting with what all that we do have is energizing, empowering and healing.

5.   Close out your review by breathing in deeply and blessing the year.  Ok...so what exactly do I mean by "bless the year?"  In whatever way makes most sense for you, find a way to close out the events and energies of 2008.  Perhaps you'll want to go for a run, write a statement of self-forgiveness, or say a short prayer.  You may want to simply tuck these pages in a notebook or file them away.  (Or burn 'em.)  Whatever you decide, take a moment to "close out" the year in a resonant way.

I hope you found this exercise fun and useful.  Enjoy your day today, and Happy New Year, everyone!

FreshStart '09 - Vision

Response to yesterday's FreshStart post was fantastic!  I'm happy so many of you are taking a few minutes to explore and articulate your intentions for the new year.

Today's FreshStart builds on yesterday's exercise.  Since you were writing freely when you created your "What I Don't Want" list, let's organize and group your ideas.  These notes make a perfect foundation for drafting a vision statement and even writing out goals, if you desire. 

1.  Review your ideas for recurring themes and redundancies.  How many times did you describe the same outcome or circumstance in different words?  This can indicate areas you're most interested in shifting.

2.  Take a moment to list 3-5 aspects of your writing life that you're happy with right now.  It's important to remember that effecting change is a process, one that builds on our past actions.  Chances are, you've got a lot more going your way than you realize.

3.  Review your responses and group your vision statements into the following categories:

a.  outer environment (lifestyle/health, writing/work environment, relationships)
b.  inner environment (mental attitudes)
c.  writing process (blocks you want to overcome, workflow procedures you want to adapt)
d.  writing/productivity outcomes (publishing, finishing drafts, etc.)

Your responses are now grouped into meaningful categories you can use for goal-setting.

4.  Write a 3-5 sentence paragraph describing your vision for your writing life.   (If you have more time, you may want to write this out as an outline of your ideal day.) 

Remember that this is an organic process--today's notes are just initial ideas.  Ideally, your vision statement is a dynamic document you'll update and refine throughout the year.  

FreshStart '09 - Knowing What You Don't Want

FreshStart '09?  Sounds great.  But how to get there?

Give me 10 minutes of your time, and I'll show you a fun exercise to trick yourself into articulating what you really want, more clearly than ever before.  Michael Losier calls this exercise "Clarity Through Contrast." 

Here's how it works.

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1.  Take a sheet of clean paper and draw a vertical line down the middle to create two columns.
2.  Label the sheet, "My Writer's Life."
3.  Fold the page in half. 
4.  Set a timer for 10 minutes.  On the left-hand side, as quickly as you can, list exactly what you want your writing life not to look like in the coming year.

For instance:

I don't want... 

• "to not have a place to write"
• "to keep justifying my writing to others"
  
• "to struggle to find time for my writing"
• "to be so isolated"
• "to not send work out" 

5.  Keep going until the timer chimes or you've completely exhausted all possibilities.  (Note:  This exercise isn't meant to depress you!  Tony Robbins and others stress the importance of emotionally connecting to our goals.  The more you can allow yourself to really feel, see and experience what you don't want, the easier you'll find it to connect with what you do want.)

6.  Unfold the page. Use each bullet point in the left-hand column to help you write a specific, clear intention for yourself.

For instance:

I want...

• "to have a dedicated space to write"
• "to believe in my writing so that I never justify it to others"
• "to create and adhere to a workable writing schedule"
• "to connect with other writers"
• "to send my work out regularly"

7.  Get an even clearer perspective by repeating the exercise with a new sheet of paper titled "My Writing."
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Now that you've got a clear picture of what you want, it's time to transmute your desires into goals.  Check tomorrow's The Relaxed Writer for more tips and ideas for your very own "FreshStart '09."

Bookending: Using Twitter to Beat Procrastination and Boost Your Writing

Nothing motivates Frank more than a blank page or screen to get around to washing the dishes, sorting the mail and returning calls.  After all that work, he often feels he needs a snack, or perhaps a cup of tea, before he can finally settle down to write. 

Sound familiar?

For some writers, this type of "preparatory procrastination" can be a useful transition to help them shift from outward "doing" to sitting down to write.  For many others, though, procrastination leads them far, far away from the page or screen.

Bookending

Before I became a life coach, I learned a powerful technique to help me get going and stay working when I wanted to write.  My clients now boost their productivity with bookending, and you can, too.

What It Is:

"Bookending" is the simple process of alerting a supportive friend when you begin and when you stop working on a project.  This technique provides us with:

• structure
• a witness to our process
• support

How it works:

Before:  Before I'd sit down to write, I'd make a quick phone call:  "Hi, it's Marla.  I'm working on my piece now...I think I'll be at it for an hour.  I'll call you when I'm through." 

During:  During the work session, even if I was only able to leave a message for my friend, I worked with more focus.  "Gotta' report back after I'm done, and I don't wanna' let him down!" 

After:  When I closed the laptop, I'd give a quick call back:  "Hey...me again.  Finished for today and have goals outlined for tomorrow.  Thanks for being there."

Simple, huh?  If you're bookending with a life coach, you have the support and knowledge that he or she is tracking your progress, holding you accountable and heavily invested in your success.  Bookending with peers builds community and camaraderie. In all forms, bookending works.

Bookending with Twitter

Today's technology enables us to bookend by phone, text message, email or online chat.  Posting to Twitter.com offers writers immediate community and support using microblogging:  --posting short status updates in 140 characters or less. 

Here's a sample thread of bookending posts using Twitter:

@ MarlaBeck  Bookending:  Sitting down to draft blog post.  Plan to work for an hour.

@ MarlaBeck  Going well...getting up for a quick break.  Will check in again b4 resuming writing.

@ MarlaBeck  I'm back.  Writing.

@ MarlaBeck Bookending:  Done!  A solid first draft...will revise tomorrow.  Tks, everyone!

Creating bookending posts ("tweets") on Twitter enables you to update your personal community members--people who are interested enough in you and your updates to click a link to become your "followers"--immediately.  They track your progress and support your work.  Can you see the benefits of using Twitter to communicate with a broad and supportive community, on demand?  

Bookending using Twitter provides one other advantage.  Twitter archives your "tweets," creating a tangible archive of your bookending statements.  Reviewing a list of your bookends over time provides you with a powerful record of your progress towards your writing goals.

Try This

>>Visit www.twitter.com to create a user account.  (Feel free to look me up:  @MarlaBeck)
>>Bookend a writing session with a friend via phone this week. 
>>Once you've begun to create community online, try bookending a work session using Twitter. 

How do you write when you bookend (vs. not)?  What bookending method are you drawn to?    Stop back by and leave a comment with your thoughts and ideas.