The critical voices in our own heads are far more vicious than what we might hear from the outside. Our "inside critics" have intimate knowledge of us and can zero in on our weakest spots.
― Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy
Give space to your thoughts, clear the noise in your head, chit-chat with your inner critic, decide and move on.
― Cristina Imre
Our reaction to self-criticism is more important than the self-criticism itself. Paying attention to our reactions is very important because the only thing we have control over is how we react.
― Yong Kang Chan
Well . . . this will teach me not to be in such a rush. I thought I’d get a jump on my Sunday post by typing out my notes for the next workshop I was going to share, and I found a bunch of stuff I forgot to include with last week’s workshop. *sigh*
Last week the emphasis was on taking care of yourself both mentally and physically. Exercise regularly, adopt a healthy eating plan, meditate, and keep a regular sleep schedule.
As well as getting a good night’s sleep, become a morning person. Start each day with some freewriting. Get up and write for 15-25 minutes with pen and paper. Do this before doing anything else. Write whatever’s uppermost in your mind without stopping. Write in sentences, not point form. Make friends with your subconscious – you’ll find out things about yourself.
When you get used to this routine, you’ll be introduced to amazing clarity. Write these morning pages, then once a month or so, read what you’ve written. Phrases that you thought were substandard will leap out at you. Write these on a fresh page and use them as a starting place.
Keep your hand moving, lose control, don’t think. Be specific, use the senses and as much detail as you can. Don’t worry about punctuation, spelling, and grammar – go for the jugular. Use a specific notebook for these “morning pages” that is separate from your other writing.
When it comes to your regular writing, it helps to have a schedule – a specific time set aside for writing every day. But setting aside a specific time to write awakens the resistance (that we talked about last week). The Pomodoro Technique is a great way to combat this resistance.
Simply put, the Pomodoro technique is a time management method where you work for 25 minutes, then take a 5 minute break. Twenty-five minutes is the maximum amount of time you can work at something without your brain sending you into flight mode. Write for 25 minutes with a 5 minute break 4 times, then step away from the desk and take a half hour break.
Further Reading:
Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg
Becoming A Writer, by Dorothea Brande
We finished this workshop with five minutes of freewriting:
The inner harbour is ice-covered. The space between the wooden docks is filled with white. The seagulls and cormorants I enjoyed watching in the fall are missing. Do cormorants migrate for the winter? I’ll have to ask my bird-watching friend – she’ll know. At home the water fowl stay put because no matter how many signs are put up or fines levied, people persist in feeding the birds. The birds’ dependence on these human handouts is not always a good thing. Case in point, the trumpeter swan that died, frozen in the ice. I wonder what happen to its mate?
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
WORDAGE REPORT
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Where does the time go? It seems like I’m just relaxing on Sunday evening, and then all of a sudden it’s the weekend again. Wasn’t Monday just yesterday?
I was feeling much better last week, and Monday I had an epiphany that put me in a much better head space. That’s not to say I’m suddenly all gung ho to get stuff done, but I did a wider variety of things and felt like I wasted a lot less time. Which was the big surprise, considering how crappy the weather was. And an even bigger surprise was that I spent more time in my office.
March may have come in like a lion, but it left like a screaming toddler having a temper tantrum. The temperature has been up and down, the skies have been grey and overcast, and occasionally sunny. Wednesday it wasn’t looking too bad out . . . until we got two inches of snow in under an hour. About the only thing consistent has been the wind.
Barring last Sunday’s posts, not only did I get all of my posts scheduled on time last week, I also got them written early. So no super late nights where I was up past my bed time writing, which was kind of nice for a change.
NEW WORDS:
1426+477+244+654=2,801
DOWN 417 – words from last week
I guess I just didn’t have as much to say last week. The first part of my post on the inner critic workshop for the Sunday post would have been longer if I’d turned the page in my notebook and saw the rest of the notes that I posted this week.
Frankly, I thought about skipping Monday altogether because I really didn’t have much to say. One of the disadvantages of living the quiet life, I guess. And I tried to stretch out the poetry post by writing three example poems, but the form was so simple there just wasn’t anything else to say about it.
As for my serial . . . The pacing of my on-line serial story really sucks. And I jumped the gun a couple of times when it came to the timing of key events, which is really messing me up now. It started out so slowly, but then it started picking up speed and now I feel like I’m rushing towards the end. At this point all I can do is continue on to its logical conclusion, and hope I can fix everything when I get around to editing it.
I swear, I’m not starting a new serial until I have a couple of installments of it already written. There was more I could have said in that installment, and more I probably should have said, but I was in a hurry and getting tired (was only up a little late, but it had been a long day already). So it is what it is and I’ll try to do better this week.
Goals For Next Week:
Get some words written besides my blog posts.
EDITING:
0 hours
The only editing I had the urge to do was on the serial story, which I can’t really do because it’s ongoing.
Goal For Next Week:
Start work on An Elemental Spirit.
TECH & TRAINING:
I figured out how to use my new laminator. It was super easy, but I’m still counting it. LOL
Goal For Next Week:
Learn something new. Figure out Dropbox.
POETRY WEDNESDAY:
This week’s poem was super easy, which made for a super short post, even though I did three examples. It got easier as I went along, and my examples got better.
Goal For Next Week:
Find another new poetry form to share.
CRAFTING:
It’s done, done, done-diddily-done! The afghan is done. Completed. Finished! The crocheted monkey is off my back! AND it’s been delivered to the recipient, who even called and thanked me. Now all I have to do is figure out my next project.
Goal For Next Week:
Go through stitchery stuff and find a new project to finish.
WHAT I’M READING:
I finished reading Spellbound, by Shelley Dorey, and started reading the third in the series, Devil in the Details. I’m still pecking away at The Knockoff Eclipse by Melissa Bull, but it's slow going.
Goal For Next Week:
Keep up the slow and steady reading pace.
THE WEEK AHEAD:
I foresee a push to get the bulk of my writing done during the day, whether in my office or not, so that I can do craft stuff in the evenings when I’m watching TV.
I did try out the translating a story into several different languages in succession (a suggestion from the fall Writersfest), but I lost something in the translation. Literally. Somehow I cut off the beginning of my story. But I’d like to try it again, maybe this time with something shorter, like a poem.
My stitchery guild meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, so we met last week, but several of us decided this wasn’t enough so on the alternating weeks we’re going to have an informal stitch-in at the local library. So, stichery gathering this week.
I keep trying to tell myself that there’s no law that says I have to be at the gym right at 6 a.m., and that I’d only be a little late if I did my morning pages first. Of course that’s assuming I’m awake enough to hold a pen. But I’d like to give it a try.
I think I’ll also try getting my retreat notes typed out, just so I don’t miss any, like I did last week. Unlike previous years, though, I don’t think I’m going to copy them into my writing journal. Seems a little like overkill, to have them both places.
But there’s something I should add to my list – give a little more attention to my writing journal. Mostly what I’ve been writing in there is the odd quote or two. Maybe I’ll start writing a weekly flash prompt or something.
It’s a thought.
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