Our Writers in the Storm team chose single guiding words in 2016, and 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Ellen
My word for 2020: Hope
Hope is my favorite four letter word. It keeps me moving
forward. Even in the dark days when I worry about digging myself out of the
current dilemma, the hope that all will be well lights my way.
Hope offers a lifeline, a feeling of optimism for all endeavors.
So, for this New Year, my wish for all of us is to have the hope needed to
achieve what we desire most.
Jenny
My word for 2020: Peace
Peace is in short supply in this crazy world. Hoard your own personal supply of it. Carve out your own little oasis, whether it is writing time and space, or an immersion learning with your favorite writing instructor.
Most important of all, don't allow anyone to steal your joy. Because leeching the joy from your life will also steal it from your writing.
John
My word for 2020: Trust
You must trust in yourself above all else. Trust your gut when it comes to writing, editing, and publishing. You know what is best for your characters and your book. Never give that away.
Trust others guidance and opinions along the way, but remember you always have the the last “word”.
Julie
My word for 2020: Promise
Our relationships are made up of promises and how well we keep them. Our own success often relates to how well we follow through on what we say we're going to do. And as authors, we make promises to readers that we should fulfill.
I haven't always kept the promises I've made — well, at least not in a timely fashion. I am a person of my word, but slow to finish at times. Honestly, I've missed my own deadlines more times than I care to confess.
Sometimes the problem is setting unrealistic goals, but sometimes it's just a matter of not prioritizing the promise. Yet I want to be a person of promise, someone others can count on to do what she says she'll do — whether that's writing a review for an author friend, meeting a deadline to an agent or myself, or delivering a story that measures up to the promise of the premise. So for 2020, my one word is promise.
Kris
My word for 2020: VIP
Dear Writer,
Congratulations on reaching VIP writer status! Yes, by reading blogs like WITS, you demonstrate my one word for 2020. Studying your craft hones that VIP status by doing the following:
Clarifying your Vision as an author.
Setting your Intentions for writing and3. Manifesting creative Plans for the new decade.
May you be the VIP you intend to be!
Laura
My one word for 2020: Shift
I'm writing a Women's Fiction that I hope to sell in 2020. I hope to follow this path forward. Not saying I'll never write another romance, but I'm having a blast exploring another genre!
Now we want to hear from you! What one word will guide your writing life in 2020?
Best wishes for all of you as you travel into 2020! from Ellen, Jenny, John, Julie, Kris (and special guest: Laura)
Beginnings matter! Both for New Year's and for your manuscript. Our own wonderful Laura Drake will be teaching a First Five Pages class for Lawson Academy online. This is the stuff that hooks agents, editors, and most importantly, readers—well worth your time, money, and effort to get it right!
It's the end of the year, past NaNoWriMo and the holidays, and a good time to reflect on our success. I'm speaking of "success with intention."
I see "success with intention" like this: Even if your NaNoWriMo power streak broke as mine did, leaving me hopelessly short of the 50K goal, I still have more words to polish than I had before. And although my writing power streak broke, *I* didn’t.
It is important to me not to sacrifice my health to my writing. All the success in the world means nothing if you can’t enjoy it.
Often, during the busy NaNo/holiday season, writers ignore their health. But, as I mentioned in my post about the Wellness Wheel for Writers, keeping your main writing tool — you — in shape is vital to any writer’s success.
As my New Year’s gift to you, I’ve provided five tips with resources to help you examine your physical well-being as we move into 2020.
Tao Porchon-Lynch, at 101 years old, teaches yoga and dances competitively. This award-winning indie book author, TED Talk speaker, Guinness World Record holder, and wine lover shared her secret to a well-lived life with CBS. Her memoir, Dancing Light, draws upon her creative experience, and does so with grace and balance.
After showing off twirls
with her 26-year-old partner, Porchon-Lynch tells the reporter her snippets of
wisdom.
https://youtu.be/RAqv1KMNUUU
“Never put negative thoughts in the mind, because they go straight to the body.”
- Tao Pinchon-Lynch
Does your inner critic nag you about clunky or blasé wording? Are you concerned about cutting wide swaths of your beloved story or unsure where to start?
Do you have…
Writer’s Block? Imposter Syndrome? Guilt over not hitting your writing goals?
Perhaps we can relax knowing these concerns are part of what makes us dig in to perfect our writing. That feeling that our writing is not-there yet drives us to make better words. Words that inspire and teach.
Writers crave the flow of the creative experience.
When your writing feels more like dodging potholes on a gravel road, rather than zooming smoothly across the autobahn, consider these symptoms of your creative muse rectifying your inner drive.
“Know that the dance of life is inside you and that you should believe.”
Tao Pinchon-Lynch
The Physical Section of Our Wellness Wheel
With so much time in the chair, this is the part of the wellness wheel that gives many writers the most trouble. I have curated resources for tired wrists and aching backs. Below are some quick short and long term fixes. Browse through. And maybe try a few out.!
#1 - Sample online yogis from the comfort of home.
Below are
three YouTube Yogis I’ve found inspiring and helpful. There are others, so if
the personalities or lesson are not at your level, do a search for other
options. Most of these yogis have a
homepage with more videos, where you can support their work by subscribing or
making a one-time donation. There are literally thousands of exercises
available for free to keep us limber while we write our next break-out novel.
This yogi has a casual style that enables anyone to access their creative flow. Here is a session she created for writers. Her explanations are easy to follow and modify.
Don’t be fooled by the title: “Yoga for beginners.” His ability to communicate the physiology of each pose is helpful for doing them correctly. As a surfer, he also relates his videos to specific injuries. I like the way he orders the exercises in ways that don’t feel like work (until your muscles thank you later).
Sarah Beth is a writer favorite due to her short online sessions that you can pick by 1) time you have and 2) what area of the body or stress you want to address. This linked video shows a desk routine for writers.
This WebMD article explains how to strengthen each area of your hand with detailed pictures. Here is one of their quick relaxation tips:
If your hands and
fingers feel painful and stiff, try warming them up before you exercise. This
can make it easier to move and stretch. Use a heating pad or soak them in warm
water for about five to 10 minutes. Or, for a deeper warmth, rub some oil on
your hands, put on a pair of rubber gloves, and then soak them in warm water
for a few minutes.
#3 - Play with clay.
Clay can increase your range of motion and strengthen your hands. Plus, it’s cathartic to revisit your inner child or to invite a kid or two to join you. You may reignite your muse while squishing little clay balls and creating long snakes.
Ellen Buikema explored this in her post last week and the secret for her was Feng Shui. Not sure what your workspace needs are? This link will take you to an insightful questionnaire and a few experiments to try.
Does your writing cause physical ailments? What solutions have you found to resolve them? What would you like to change in the coming year?
About Kris
Kris Maze is a writer of essays and speculative short fiction. Her YA sci-fi will be released in June of 2020. More information can be found at her website.
A recovering grammarian and hopeless wanderer, Kris enjoys reading, playing violin and piano, and spending time outdoors with her family. She also ponders the wisdom of Bob Ross.
Does where you work affect your writing? As you’ve seen from my earlier posts, it really affects mine. I believe it is related to energy.
Everything is made of energy which vibrates to different
frequencies. Ask a quantum physicist. She will tell you that atoms, the
building blocks of the universe, are made up of energy vortexes that spin and
vibrate to their own frequency signature.
Let’s narrow this down to something closer to home, that we
can actually control.
Have you ever walked into a home and felt comfortable right
away? Or, couldn’t wait to get out because something was driving you crazy?
These feelings, which we sense to different degrees, are related to the energy
of the location as well as the individuals occupying the space.
Why do I need good energy flow? I am a very sensitive person
and the feel of a room makes a big difference for me. If I am at ease I write
very well. Otherwise, I have a difficult time concentrating. I’ll give you a
personal example of feeling negative energy in a room.
Many years ago, while traveling in Southern California, we visited
the Mission San Juan Capistrano. The grounds and main structures are beautiful,
but I a felt extremely uneasy about entering the church. It was a gut
clenching, heart squeezing thing.
I talked myself into joining the line of people filing
inside and the feelings of dread continued but didn’t intensify. Parents
pushing a small child followed us into the church. When the little one wailed,
I thought to myself, I’m right there with
you kiddo. Visualizing a protective, reflective bubble helped me block off
what felt like a large amount of negative energy. I was glad to exit the
building.
Now that we are in a peaceful home, I am itching to arrange
my work area to encourage the creative flow so I can spend more time in the
creative zone. Enter Feng Shui.
Quick overview
of Feng Shui
The first time I heard of this system of spatial arrangement
for beneficial energy flow was in the Historical fiction novel Tai-Pan,
by James Clavell. The book includes a long discussion of Feng Shui regarding
the location of the home, which was discovered to be on the “Dragon’s neck.” The
Feng Shui practitioner gives recommendations to the book’s characters to help
correct this tragic placement as “That’d be horrifical, for the dragon that
sleeps in the earth would no longer be able to sleep peacefully.”
Apparently bad things happen to those living on the dragon’s
neck.
A fun quote spoofed from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: "Do
not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to
anger." I’ve seen on Social Media as: “Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for
you are crunchy and good with ketchup.”
In other words: Never wake a sleeping dragon.
Back to Feng Shui…
I found two feng shui maps (baguas), otherwise known as the 8 areas. The areas on the maps correspond to important areas of one’s life for health, wealth, and happiness. The five essential elements are wood, water, metal, fire, and earth.
Classical Bagua MapWestern Bagua Map
Directions aren’t my strongest skill anyway, but with all
the moving around we’ve done I feel directionally challenged. I’m leaning
toward the Western Bagua Map because it does not incorporate direction. It
doesn’t matter which method you choose.
If you are considering exploring Feng Shui for your home or
office, I encourage you to choose whichever resonates best with you. There is
always more than one way to work with energy.
Other
important considerations
Color
Color is important for creativity. It may not be practical
to paint the walls, so desired colors can be included in the writing cave by
using photos, pillows, wall hangings, flowers, or any bric-a-brac that appeals
to you.
Wood: Green, Brown Fire: Red, Strong Yellow, Orange, Purple, Pink Earth: Light Yellow, Sandy/Earthy, Light Brown Metal: White, Gray Water: Blue, Black
The colors for creativity are white and gray. The color of
most of the walls in our current living situation is white-ish, so I am good to
go. Light yellow and sandy brown, both earth colors, also work well. I wrote in
an orange room in a previous house. I felt very good in this room, but am
writing with more ease in a room of off-white walls, which is encouraging.
Shapes
Shapes for creativity should be rounded. The table I used in
the last house was oval, here it is triangular with rounded edges.
Décor
Decor pieces of sliver, earthenware, rocks, and crystals are
all helpful to promote good energy flow. Earthy pictures without fire or water
elements are also beneficial for creativity. Steer clear of photos dominant
with the colors found in flames. Mountains, forests, and sandy beaches are all
good.
Writing Desk
For your writing desk the recommendation is to use a command
position such that you have a visible control over your surroundings.
Optimally, this calls for having a clear sight of the doorway from your chair,
a solid wall behind, and a window with a nice view. If you can’t see the door
from your chair, try using a mirror on the wall to reflect the door. If there
is no window, use an earthy photo and be sure that you have a light source as
close to natural light as possible.
The room I am using now has some skylights so I have plenty
of natural light. I don’t have access to a window with a nice view, instead I
have a few favorite pieces on the desk and a big fluffy dog to keep me company.
Reorganizing my workspace with Feng Shui is my New Year’s
push to have a productive writing schedule in the coming months.
Now, I am curious. Do you use any special items nearby while writing to help stimulate the creative juices? Do you believe that places can carry energy, positive or negative? Has anyone tried Feng Shui in their homes?
About Ellen
Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents and a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Work In Progress, The Hobo Code, is YA historical fiction.
