Forced to Write

I haven’t written in a while, having spent some time querying and some time prepping for classes and some time traveling the past two weeks. But I’m here at Starbucks, waiting for my husband to show up for lunch. It’s only 10:45 and I expect him here at 11:30. Or noon. And I have to do something.

So I’m forced to write, starting with this blog. The words are flowing out after feeling blocked for the longest time. From here, I’m going to look at Maker’s Seeds and see what might have inspired me in the hiatus and tweak, then find new purchase in the story.

Maybe I should trap myself into writing more often. That should be a good way of forcing me to write.

Gamification

Gamifying defined

Gamification is the practice of building in rewards to activities on the computer through completion badges, notifications, and other incentives. Often used in online lessons and certifications, gamification can motivate people who need a boost to get through activities. Completion is not always its own reward, especially when the time put in seems large compared to the outcome. Gamification, even with its virtual and nonmonetary rewards, can give a sense of completion.

Gamifying WordPress

I would have skipped writing today, but I would miss getting that “You have posted for XX days in a row!” notification from WordPress. And, eventually, that “You have posted XXX posts on WordPress!” notification. I have fallen victim to the gamification of WordPress, and I’m fine with that.

Until today, I didn’t associate WordPress’ notifications as gamification, until I realized that they were driving me to blog.

Gamifying daily life

One piece of advice for goal setting is to include a reward for meeting a goal, not too expensive or fattening. There are plenty of apps on Android and iOS that motivate achievements and tasks with gamification. (To find these, search for “gamification”.) I have not tried any of these yet, but they all work under this gamification concept.

This works better with an online app rather than setting up the rewards yourself. I think the act of someone/something else giving the award makes it more satisfying psychologically.

A query for the reader

Do you reward yourself for completing disliked goals? Boring goals? Tell me about your motivation/gamification strategies in the comments.

Just Do It

I’m having trouble writing this blog today.

I’m struggling with inertia when it comes to writing the blog today. Inertia is, so far, winning. To the point that I stare at this vista of screen space and … blank.

I try to write this blog as a show and tell — I show you what I do today and tell you the practical underpinnings. Not “You should do this” as much as “I’m trying this and this is how it’s working for me.”

At this point, I can abandon the blog till later — a practice we call procrastination.

So what do I do about my blog-writing woes?

I’m going to address this in terms of procrastination advice, which goes beyond “just do it” (thank you, Nike) and into practical advice. Procrastination breakers I’ve learned are as follows:

Break the job into smaller parts — this gives you motivational boosts in small doses when you need them
Put a reward at the end of the task
Do five-ten minutes of the task, promising yourself you’ll quit if you’re still unmotivated.

So, how’s it working?

You might notice I have headers. Not just because it makes it easier for you to read, but because it makes it easier for me to write. This is my breaking up the job into the smaller parts. (Yay, I’m done with two parts so far!)

My reward at the end of the blog? Another cup of coffee, because I can be motivated by caffeine, always. Coffee, tea, it doesn’t matter.

Doing five to ten minutes of the task — I always work like this, and for some reason I never quit tasks after that 10 minutes. Why? Because once I’m into the task, my brain wakes up and I end up finishing the task.

I’m almost done with this blog, and I didn’t know if I would abandon it at the beginning of the writing. Now time for coffee!

Now for you

Tell me what your go-to procrastination!

Mission and Vision Statements (Personal Development)

Mission and Vision

Mission statements for writers encapsulate who we are as writers. Vision statements propel us forward. It’s nice to have both, because writers have to deal with a lot of delayed gratification. Missions and visions motivate, much in the same way as

Mission Statements

I found source material that describes how to write a mission statement better than I ever could. Here you go. If you are not a writer and you want a personal mission statement, go here.

Here is my mission statement using their methodology:

My Mission Statement:

I am a chronicler of an earth filled with unusual talents, both inborn and gifted. My readers delve into their reading and love exploring the unknown and preternatural in their own world. I ground my fantasy with sociology, psychology, and humor. I write to create modern mythologies that could be right before our eyes if we knew where to look. I plan to write short stories and novels, and to obtain a traditional publishing contract in the next five years.

Vision Statements: I didn’t learn them this way

Writing a vision statement seems a bit more difficult, especially as all the sources I read about writers’ vision statements seem to refer to mission statements, and mission and vision statements are not the same thing. Vision statements describe where we want to be five or ten years down the road. This one, however, gets close, if a little long. For non-authors, this worksheet may be helpful for both writers and non-authors, but it will yield a longer vision statement.

I learned vision statements as a very short blurb describing one’s future trajectory. Thus, my vision statement is shorter than those in the links.

My Vision Statement:

My vision is to be a published author of contemporary fantasy by a well-regarded publishing house. My works will introduce a modern mythology for the 21st century which detail the preternatural shoulder-to-shoulder with the mundane.

A Takeaway

Write a mission and a vision statement. Hang them on your wall or put them on the desktop of your computer. Use them to focus, use them to reassure yourself that the work is worth it. And tell me how it goes: lleachie@gmail.com

Something to learn

Sometime around the 2nd of February, I will have put in 1000 entries into this blog. A couple-three years or so worth of entries. This boggles my mind, because I didn’t think I could stick to something for that long.

To be honest, I’ve never been good at sticking to things. I plant a garden and the weeds take over. I start a hobby and I abandon with a room full of supplies. A good amount of this is from the bipolar, when one gets a boost of enthusiasm and energy in mania and then heads down a spiral of depression. Some of this has to do with my ability to over-focus at times, and the subsequent burnout. Some of it has to do with my somewhat lacking planning skills. In other words, I’m a mess who can concentrate on two things well: My job and my writing.

Maybe I have something to learn from this — what keeps me on track on these two areas? Influence on the outside.

How can I use this? Provide myself with external contact points, such as this blog does. There aren’t many of you, but I don’t want to let you down, so I keep writing. I keep trying to publish. I keep asking for feedback.

So, if you’re stuck anywhere in life, what motivates you? What is your workaround?

Revving the treadmill engine

I guess I got tired of that idyllic end of summer crap, because I’ve sent twenty queries over the past couple of days.

That’s twenty chances for rejection, I know. That’s also twenty chances for requests for manuscripts. That’s twenty chances for someone to share my query with another agent in the agency. Twenty more agents who know my name.

No, I’m not always as optimistic as I sound. It’s just that my hedonic treadmill, the constant state of moving up and down from our hedonic set point , really gets revving up when presented with possibilities.

So I have to get more queries out there to rev my treadmill engine, and so I’ll be writing those up until I work New York Hope as moulage crew and then start my semester.

In the meantime, I dream of someday having a book release party. Locally, where I’m with the people I know. Cake and coffee and punch. What quirky things do you think should happen at a book party? Humor me.

Day 1 Camp Nano April 2019: The beginning of Gods’ Seeds:

I’m trying to motivate for April Camp Nanowrimo and a new book. Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter:
*****

A group of beings — human-like, but with a venerable air for all their apparent youth — sat in a room whose black crystal-crusted walls shone with reflected light from the molten white floor, from the white and silver table, and seemingly from the participants themselves. The paucity of light did not lessen the sterility of the surroundings.

“The Apocalypse proved that we, the Archetypes, no longer take our protection of the human patterns seriously,” Luke Dunstan said earnestly, his hands tented in thought. His visage, weathered in contrast to the unlined faces of the other immortals around him, announced that he had become worldly and, unlike most Archetypes, had committed evil — in his case, for the sake of good. Unlike most Archetypes, he had also repented, which gave him a perspective that could be called almost human.

“But they still embrace evil,” the Baraka Archetype, short and spare like his people, countered. “They fight wars. They envy each other and they commit crimes out of greed.”

“Or out of want, or madness, or jealousy or a dozen other things,” Luke stated, the grimace on his face reflecting a view of reality he knew had wavered from the neutrality of an Archetype. Su, his consort and the Oldest of the Oldest, watched impassively, her tightly curled hair ruddy in the sparse light. She knew how to play the game, Luke noted sourly, something he had lost in his long association with humankind.

“If we give them the full impact of their cultural histories — not just the facts, but the emotions — the fear, the hatred, the xenophobia — “ The Bering Strait Archetype trailed off.

“How do you know it will make them worse? They already have the stories of their peoples’ pasts, and those seem to inspire xenophobia, it’s true. But what if they remember the full impact of the losses of war and weigh it against their hatred — would they decide to fight more? Or would they lay their weapons down?” Luke paused to take a breath, to calm himself down, to wear the gravitas of the Archetype instead of the passion of humans. “The point is that, if they kill each other, millions of them will not die with each death. If we keep holding the patterns of the humans — “

“One of our deaths will kill millions of humans,” Su interjected. “Which is why the Maker created us nearly immortal. Yet Lilith, who held the patterns of all women, was nearly killed by our kind. Can we guarantee this won’t happen again?”

All of a sudden the residents of the room stopped speaking. Luke felt as if a wind had cut through his immortal bones and chilled them for just a moment. Then he felt the weight, a weight of the history of countless descendents of the people of the seax, the knife that gave its name to the Saxons. And then his burdens vanished, and he felt a hollowness inside. The gasps from the others at the table echoed his.

“What — what was that?” The Ibero-Maurasian snapped, breaking the silence..

“I think — Su, did you notice anything?” Luke asked, knowing that Su had not carried humans’ patterns, their cultural DNA, for millennia as all her people, the Denisovans, had long since become extinct.

“Nothing,” Su answered, “except that all of you around me froze for a moment, and slumped forward. As if something had been taken away from you.”

“As it has,” the Bering Strait Archetype murmured. “I think — I think we have lost our patterns, and if we have, the Maker has taken them from us.” He sounded bewildered, as if something more than the weight of patterns had been taken from him.

“I must see — “ the Ibero-Maurasian said, then paused, and Luke knew that she mindspoke another Archetype. “No,” she finally said, speaking slowly as if weighing each word. “I think we are the only ones whose patterns have been taken.”

“But what does this mean?” the Baraka demanded.

The Arnhem Archetype, theretofore silent, spoke. “I think this means that the Maker has decided for us — He will take our patterns from us whether we are ready to relinquish them or not. And we’re the harbingers of this big change.”

Tomorrow is NaNo

Tomorrow, I commit myself to writing 2000 words a day for the next month, I’ll be honest; I’m not as motivated for this as I’d like.

I have a lot of documents to edit (now that my developmental editor lets me know what’s not working). I have a novel that needs 25,000 more words.

On the other hand, there’s feeling a part of something bigger than me. NaNo is huge. NaNo is worldwide. NaNo comes with its own motivation.

Oh, this is such a hard decision! I’ll keep you posted.

WAKE UP!

I’m trying to write something meaningful, and I’m failing. Mostly because I’m falling asleep at my desk.

I could write down the stream of consciousness I face when I sleep, but there is a green field far away/I hope to find it some fine day* (repeat and fade) and I’d rather sing along (repeat and fade) than be inspired at the moment … zzz …

My drowsiness does not seem to understand Robert Frost’s words: ” … and miles to go before I sleep …” I know he was talking about death, morbid spirit that he was, but I’ve got a full day today and naptime doesn’t seem to understand that. I’m dressed up, I’m ready to teach, and — zzzzz …

I am falling asleep sitting up. Sitting up. It’s a good thing I can’t sleep standing up, otherwise class today could be very … different. Zzzzz …

I’ve had two cups of coffee. By cups, I mean 12 ounces, or about 2x the amount in those styrofoam shot glasses they call a coffee cup. This means that I’ve had a total of a pint and a half of — zzzzz …

Can I sleepwalk through work? Not an option — especially since teaching has a touch of acting in it, and I must show my true enthusiasm for this topic externally, which can’t happen if I — Zzzzzz …

It’s okay, I’ll wake up as soon as I have to drive to work. It’s not good sleeping while driving — Zzzzz …

*Waterboys, “The Return of Pan”. Great song.

The Joys and Sorrows of a Playlist

Many of my fellow authors make playlists to inspire them to write. It makes sense — music helps people muster up feelings which can energize, soften, or entrance.

Football (by which I mean American football) and soccer (by which I mean everyone else’s football) use popular songs and team anthems to fire up the audience.

In movies, a playlist can make all the difference in the viewer’s perception of the movie. Guardians of the Galaxy‘s well-chosen vintage soundtrack may well have been some of the reason for its success. For an example of how a soundtrack manipulation can influence our perception of a movie, watch this trailer.

Back to writers — yesterday, I read a Facebook post from one of my favorite romance authors, Robin D. Owens. The discussion centered around soundtracks as motivation, and I was reminded of all the pitfalls we writers have when trying to put together playlists:

Unlike James Gunn, who could afford the time and money to go through thousands of songs to complete the Guardians soundtrack, writers rely on what they have in their MP3 collection, songs they can recall, and suggestions from their friends.
A song with words might have the right words but wrong musical feel, or vice versa. Here is a sad song about child abuse whose tune doesn’t fit its words:
A song you thought was suitable doesn’t flow with the rest of the playlist. I wanted the playlist for Prodigy (Grace, the main character, likes that one) to incorporate a lot of classical, because that’s what she would be listening to. I, of course, wanted the pieces I picked to fit the mood of the segments of the book, which include a lot of running and a counter-attack on the protagonists’ part. I put the playlist together, and realized that one of the classical pieces sounded like the background music to a 1930’s Superman movie.
iTunes Store has little talent for this type of search. Type “eerie” and you get songs called “eerie” in their title and albums called “eerie”. Most of these will be death metal (not eerie), rap (not eerie), or Halloween music (NOT EERIE, ironically enough.) No theremin music (they can even make “Over the Rainbow” sound a little scary.)
Almost nobody can make your playlist for you because they can’t get into your head, which is the only place your characters and plot live when you need a playlist. Perhaps a playlist goddess can. Or the person who listens to you prattle about your book daily — my husband has gotten pretty good at playlists.

Try a playlist — not just for writing, but for motivation. For working out, for running, for housework, for getting up in the morning. I had a partner for a presentation back in college who walked into the room where I was putting together my poster, said, “excuse me”, and dropped the needle on “Also Sprach Zarathrustra. He then breathed, “I’m prepared now.” It turned out that this was his ritual to get through public speaking, as he was an introvert.

Just understand that it’s a work in progress. Like you are.