Writers in the Storm

By Kris Maze

It’s summertime in the U.S., but it wouldn’t be the same without 2 great traditions: Barbeque and Baseball. When I think of summer, I have a longing for picnics: the smells of the grill sizzling meats and veggies while a watermelon slice drips down my wrist, laughing together while the radio plays our favorite team in the background. The last thing I want at that moment is to have a nagging feeling that I haven’t finished my writing goals.

In today’s post, we will examine how I used time management to create a schedule for my productivity goals and lifestyle. If you want to read about how I used a refocusing strategy to declutter my tasks and to prioritize my writing projects, you can find that WITS post here.

Many writers say that if they could have one change in their writing life, it would be to have more time.  These 3 Steps may not only help you find more time to write, but also make your time more productive.  Sound interesting?  Let’s get you back to your summer fun by carefully crafting your Writing to-do list.

Not convinced? 

Other reasons to dive into your Time Management Process:

1. Accountability – When you commit to a schedule, you become accountable to your dreams. And you are more likely to accomplish them.
2. Get Unstuck – Keeping a routine will help a writer skip through the natural bumps and bruises one gets on their fingers and motivation.  Plan your time and stay involved in your own writing life.
3. You’re a busy person!  Save your mental stress for the creative process and get your writing schedule under control.
4. Tiny Vampires – Tiny Time Vampires. If you don’t take stock in your most precious resource, other priorities and distractions will.
5. Be Mindful – Get more satisfaction from your writing, by being purposeful in your author journey.

In my last post, we set preposterous author goals, categorized them, and evaluated each project on our list.  We used a Gut Check to identify how we felt about finishing them and a Reality Check by figuring out which projects would be the easiest to complete.

Now that we have figured out our goals and prioritized which ones were the easiest to finish, it is time to reflect on what worked.  After a couple weeks, here are a few reflections about what I accomplished:

• My work has become more streamlined. I waste less time and batch similar tasks together.
• My stress level has decreased, and I am more satisfied with my completed work.
• My energy level is increased, and it is easier to produce better writing with a smoother editing process.
• I am checking off items and accomplishing my goals.

In success, showing up is sometimes the hardest battle or in baseball terms – you have to step up to bat to get a hit. 

Time in baseball is relative as it is in writing. A game should last nine innings, but some have a longer duration.  The longest game in professional baseball history lasted 33 innings, with 8 hours and 25 minutes of playing time! A half-inning is determined by 3 outs which can occur in mere minutes, or after the entire team rotation bats.  The slow build of the game also makes it unpredictable.

Like baseball, writing sessions and tasks can vary based on many factors, but we can manage our writing time and enjoy it.

3 Steps to Better Time Management

Step 1: Review Calendar

The first step is to look at what worked and to examine the priorities set in the last planning session.

For my scheduling, I use a horizontal planner with weekly entries.  On each week, I draw a line vertically down the center of each page.  This gives me a space on each day for what I planned to do on the left side and to write what I actually did on the right.  On the reflection side, I write the tasks I completed along with the time it took and the word count.

This took about 10 minutes.  Some of the planned tasks were too ambitious for my lifestyle and didn’t happen at all.  I took this into account in the next planning session as I used this information to better iterate my schedule.

Don’t forget to celebrate the success you had!  Any goal accomplished deserves a little self-love.

Step 2: Reassess each Task.

As I reflected on the progress of each task, I found the pieces that worked for me and added those into the next planning session. I adjusted the times and the order of tasks to better suit my goals. 

Another result of this reflection was that repeating an task makes it faster to complete. For example, many writers start a session with editing the page from the previous day.  One of my goals was to keep my writing fresh, so I began with the final editing run through before starting a new session each day.

I made notes on my calendar to help in the next step of the planning process.

Step 3: Reschedule Tasks.

With the new information, I decided which tasks would get me to my writing goals. 

This step started with figuring out which potential times I had available. I tried to be more realistic about when my productive writing happened. I also took into consideration other daily commitments along with necessary downtime.

• Early Mornings 1 hour max
• Lunch 30 minutes
• After Work 1-2 hours
• Evenings 2-3 hours

I blocked off the times I would devote to writing on my planner with colorful pens and highlighters.

When I was intentional about scheduling, I had to be honest with myself in order to make this process work.  After seeing that only one morning session resulted in a decent word count, I realized those times were not really an option.  Even though early mornings are better times for me creatively, I only attempt them on days I won’t need extra sleep.

Another example is that I can write non-fiction, like blog posts and educational materials, at night. I can also edit efficiently at night with others around me. So I would match up the tasks to the times that would set me up for success.

Now it’s time to play ball!  Relax knowing that your to-do list’s covered, and you planned times to accomplish the goals you set. Enjoy your summer, recharge your creative batteries, and finish your writing!

It’s your turn – How do you plan your writing work?  What techniques do you suggest to other writers?  What tips work for you? Please share them with us down in the comments!

About Kris

Kris Maze is an author, freelance writer, and teacher. She enjoys writing twisty, speculative fiction with character-driven plots. After years of reading classic literature, mysteries, and thrillers, she wrote and publish her own books. She also writes for various publications including a regular post at the award-winning Writers in the Storm Blog. 

When she isn’t spending time with her favorite people and pets, Kris Maze is taking pictures, hiking, or pondering the wisdom of Bob Ross. You can follow her author journey at her website at KrisMazeAuthor.com.

Look for her episodic YA dystopian fiction, Aurora and Watertown scheduled to release on Vella this summer!

Top Photo by Aron Visuals at Unsplash

By Ellen Buikema

The road to writing is rocky. What motivates people to write their stories and endure the long journey required to send those book-babies out into the world?

Many people have a book in them to write. Thoughts traverse the mind, nudging to get written. Sometimes those words find their way to paper or screen. Other times the desire to write is a fleeting whim that goes nowhere.

I recently discussed my love of bicycles and realized how my desire to ride fueled an important character trait of mine. It was the very trait that fires my need to tell a story.

My Own Writing Journey (aka the Value of Stubbornness)

When I was about eight years old, I asked for a bicycle—a plain old or new two-wheeler. I didn’t care what it looked like or whether or not it had a bell or basket. I just wanted the freedom to get out and about.

My request received a weird answer. “Sorry, Elle. If I buy you a bike and God forbid you get hurt, I’d never forgive myself.” (Apparently, if someone else bought the bike then any injuries didn’t matter.)

A few months later a much older cousin donated his two-wheeler to me.

I beheld the behemoth with a mixture of joy and fear. The heavy, twenty-eight-inch rust-brown and tan Schwinn was way too big for my tiny self. I had to learn to ride standing up because when I sat on the seat, even when it was at the lowest possible setting, my feet dangled far above the pedals.

After many scraped knees and elbows, I finally learned to balance on my super-sized bike and rode happily up and down our street.

Then came the horrible news. If I wanted to ride, I had to keep my bike in the basement and push it up the steps to use it. I begged to keep it outside. “No. We’re too close to Harlem Avenue. Someone will steal it and you’ll have nothing to ride.”

The Nightmare Basement

Our basement was the setting for many of my childhood nightmares. Dark, dreary, and DARK, it was a creature unto itself.

But I really, really wanted to ride this bicycle. My previously untested stubbornness kicked in.

Since the adults weren’t being helpful, I would help myself. I never weighed the bike but I’m fairly certain that I only outweighed the Schwinn by fifteen or so pounds. In order to lift the bike up the first few stairs, I had to use momentum. Then, through a combination of pushing, slipping backward, and pushing some more, I finally extricated my beloved bike from the basement of horrors and wheeled it out into the light.

Those hours of freedom riding that bike justified every scrape and sniffle.

What does this have to do with writing?

That stubborn want is how I feel about writing. Getting that story out of my mind and into the hearts of others is worth every emotional scrape - and sometimes very real tears. My heavy glaze of pure stubbornness has been a tremendous help in my writing.

Why do you write?

This answer is different for everyone, but here are the most common Top Three motivations:

Creativity

Some writers love the writing process, enjoying the work involved in perfecting their poetry or prose. For them, it may be the writing journey that matters more than the end.

Winning

Beating the competition, gathering prizes, standing out from the crowd, and high sales ratings can be highly motivating.

Impact On Others

Great satisfaction may be gained from inspiring others through writing. It’s a way to leave your mark on the world.

What can hold us back from writing?

This is the dark side of the writing life - those internal fears and voices in our head that hold us back. Here are the three most common demons:

Perfectionism

If it isn’t perfect, I can’t let it go.

Write. Revise. Write. Revise. This can become a cycle that won’t end because the writing "isn’t good enough." This has happened to me with writing and painting. I wrecked a lovely head of hair (done in oils) because I kept playing with it. Thankfully, oils are very forgiving. So is the writing page.

Being Overly critical

If my world-building isn’t as good as J.R.R. Tolkien, why bother?

Setting sky-high goals is self-defeating. Great world-building doesn’t happen in a few days, or a few years. Mr. Tolkien worked on The Hobbit for at least six years, and thought about it a good deal before setting pen to paper.

Impatience

I have to get this book out there as soon as possible.

A fantastic book cover will get you part of the way there but it’s what’s inside the covers that counts. Editing your own work is important, and so is getting other eyes on your work. Multiple revisions are normal and to be expected. Fine editing makes the difference between good and great.

Here is a link to 52 quotes to help you stay motivated and keep writing. I'll leave you with my favorite ones.

"You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."
―Maya Angelou

"You write because you need to write, or because you hope someone will listen, or because writing will mend something broken inside you or bring something back to life."
―Joanne Harris

Why do YOU write? What motivates you? Is there something that occurred in your life that you see as a turning point in your writing journey? We hope you can share it with us down in the comments!

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, Parenting: A Work in Progress, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon, a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are: The Hobo Code (YA historical fiction) and Crystal Memories (YA fantasy).

Find her at http://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by Albrecht Fietz from Pixabay

by Sudha Balagopal

As a writer straddling continents, I am fascinated by authors who inject foreign words and phrases into their English fiction. I believe these international words and expressions help lend credibility to a story. They embellish the narrative, bring authenticity and help transport the reader.

Some writers explain the meanings of non-English words, either in-text or in a glossary. At times foreign expressions are used sparingly, at other times more generously. Some authors repeat phrases for consistency, or as a matter of style. Regardless of their methods, when expressions from another language are used in description or in dialogue, they leap out at me.

Examples of Foreign Expressions in Fiction

Take the case of the inimitable Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s enduring Belgian detective. When I was in high school, he taught me French expressions like mon ami and mon cher. Athough I had no knowledge of French, uttering the words made me feel clever and witty.

Agatha Christie expertly used foreign expressions in creating Hercule Poirot. The detective is often overlooked and dismissed because he is non-English, and she used his manner of speaking as a tool to develop his persona.

---

‘Mon cher, am I tonight the fortune-teller who reads the palm and tells the character?’

‘You could do it better than most,’ I rejoined.

‘It is a very pretty faith that you have in me, Hastings. It touches me. Do you not know, my friend, that each one of us is a dark mystery, a maze of conflicting passions and desires and attitudes? Mais oui, c’est vrai. One makes one’s little judgments – but nine times out of ten one is wrong.’

-- Agatha Christie, Lord Edgware Dies (Hercule Poirot, Series #9)

Appropriate dialogue is a powerful instrument to lend fiction the flavor of a culture or a place to your story. Using the right words makes dialogue sing. Look at how E. M. Forster makes use of Indian words in his book A Passage to India.

---

The first, who was in evening dress, glanced at the Indian and turned instinctively away.

“Mrs Lesley, it is a tonga,” she cried.

“Ours?” enquired the second, also seeing Aziz and doing likewise.

“Take the gifts the gods provide, anyhow,” she screeched, and both jumped in. “O Tonga wallah, club, club. Why doesn’t the fool go?”

“Go, I will pay you tomorrow,” said Aziz to the driver, and as they went off, he called courteously, “You are most welcome, ladies.” They did not reply, being full of their own affairs.

-- E.M. Forster, A Passage to India (Chapter 11)

We may gather from the dialogue that a tonga is a vehicle, a tonga wallah is one who drives the vehicle. A subtle power play also reveals itself here. The last name reveals that the ladies are English, and Aziz is not.

All this is inferred from a short piece of dialogue!

Not everyone espouses the use of words from another language when writing fiction in English. In his article, Say ‘Non’ to Phrasebook Foreign Language in Fiction, Daniel Kalder writes:

“Either you render the language in English, or you render it in French. And if your readers are English speakers, then, I dunno, you should probably render it in English. Chucking in a few phrases of first-year French adds nothing in terms of meaning and is just daft.”

Granted, Agatha Christie was not Belgian and E. M. Forster was not Indian. But what if the author writing in English is reflecting a part of their own heritage, representing who they are as a people and as a culture?

Nayomi Munaweera’s novel, Island of a Thousand Mirrors, is set in Sri Lanka. She uses terms contextually, a natural exclamation here, a term there, which means the reader connects with the cultural milieu even as the story advances.

The two Tamil words she uses in the lines below lend authenticity and adornment to the dialogue.

---

Nishan must watch his friends being sent to squat at the back of the schoolroom, arms crossed to grasp opposite ears. As they walk home together, these boys say, “Aiyo, she has two eyes in the back of her head.” And only filial devotion keeps him from replying,” Machang, you should see her at home.”

(Part One, Chapter 1)

Foreign expressions are used in descriptive text as well. Take Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who uses Igbo words in her narrative. She brings Nigeria to us, her skill making the prose come refreshingly alive.

---

The goats wandered a lot around the yard, they wandered in, too, while we cousins bathed, scrubbing with ogbo that my grandmother made from sun-dried coconut husks, scooping water from a meal bucket. We bathed near the vegetable garden, in the space enclosed with zinc left over from the last house refurbishing. Mama Nnukwu would shoo the goats away from the vines of ugu and beans that crept up those zinc walls, clucking, clapping her hands.

-- Recaptured Spirits, Notre Dame Review, Number 18, 2004

The reader doesn’t need to know exactly what ogbo is, or ugu. We comprehend the scene. The author has sprinkled just two Igbo words into the paragraph to make it shine.

Junot Diaz takes it a step forward, knitting dialogue and text and sprinkling his Spanish into it. He mixes the ingredients as if tossing a salad, the sweet and the sour, the crunchy and tangy, the veggies and the berries. His scenes come alive, because of the use of his Spanish terms. The reader is instantly drawn into the vividness of his narrative.

---

You had to be careful with her because she had a habit of sitting down without even checking if there was anything remotely chairlike underneath her, and twice already she’d missed the couch and busted her ass—the last time hollering Dios mío, qué me has hecho?—and I had to drag myself out of the basement to help her to her feet. These viejas were my mother’s only friends—even our relatives had gotten scarce after year two—and when they were over was the only time Mami seemed somewhat like her old self. Loved to tell her stupid campo jokes. Wouldn’t serve them coffee until she was sure each tácita contained the exact same amount. And when one of the Four was fooling herself she let her know it with a simple extended Bueeeeennnnoooo.

--The Pura Principle, New Yorker, Mar 22, 2010

Final Thoughts

Foreign expressions are connectors. But more than that, they enrich us. Through them, the English language elevates itself, becoming a vehicle to understand other people and cultures—helping us accept differences and celebrate similarities.

To authors who incorporate them, I say: may you continue to do so.

Do you like it when authors sprinkle foreign words into their English narratives (assuming they do it sparingly and well)? Who have you seen do this the most successfully? Please share them with us down in the comments!

About Sudha

Sudha Balagopal's recent short fiction appears in Fractured Lit, Monkeybicycle, Smokelong Quarterly, and Splonk among other journals. Her novella-in-flash, Things I Can't Tell Amma, is forthcoming from Ad Hoc Fiction in July of 2021. She is the author of a novel,  A New Dawn, and two short story collections. Her work is listed in the Wigleaf Top 50, 2021 and is published in Best Microfiction 2021.

More at www.sudhabalagopal.com

Top Photo by Capturing the human heart. on Unsplash