Use the "F" Word to Accomplish Your Goals

The economy is tanking, the economy is growing; the world is struggling with climate change or it’s not. And on top of everything, the zombies are out there just waiting to make us their dinner. It’s enough to keep us all in a constant state of turmoil.

Of course, the economy will do it what it does, the world most likely will go on, and zombies aren’t real. But according to experts on the History Channel, the popularity of zombie stories and various other world-changing storylines is connected to our fundamental fears of having no actual control over our lives and the very real threats of terrorists, disease, environmental catastrophes, and more. So what’s a writer to do when unreal distractions make us run in various – real and emotional – directions? As suggested by Hope Clark, founder of Funds for Writers Funds for Writers, we can turn to the “F” word. We can “focus.”

I’m writing this tongue-in-cheek, of course. Clearly we’re not all boarding up our windows to keep out zombies or storing up supplies in hopes of surviving a world catastrophe. These extreme activities are not robbing our time, but we do have daily living to manage on top of our efforts to further our writing goals. Life can become a gerbil’s wheel of endless business. It’s easy to latch onto the latest advice; the latest tips that suggest how we can best take our writing ability and aspirations and turn them into a viable writing career, despite all the obstacles and distractions. Write a blog and use Facebook and Twitter to build a Web presence. Diversify with short stories or commercial nonfiction. There are varying approaches touted with equal earnest. Trouble is, if you’re working a day job, managing a family life and trying to get your writing career off the ground, the wealth of advice can be just one more distraction pulling you in different directions and diluting your productivity. So focus.

Clark puts it pretty succinctly in her newsletter.

“Pick one project that will represent you well … . Then center your world around it. Let's say . . . write a novel. When you're enticed to enter a contest, don't do it, unless it's for a novel. When you see a retreat, don't go, unless you go to write the novel. When you attend a conference, only go to further your novel. When you see a Chicken Soup that catches your fancy, only do it if you've already worked on your novel for the day. Nothing gets done unless it's affiliated with the novel,” she wrote.

It’s simple advice. Something to keep our attention and bring it back to creating what we want, whatever that may be. Focus, to concentrate your efforts. Focus, to use your limited time and energy to accomplish what best meets your needs.

This article is excerpted from Romancing the Prairie, the quarterly newsletter of the Prairie Hearts chapter of RWA.

Time to Write

I write for a living. I also edit for a living. I love my work and am grateful to have it. But it keeps me busy and I have not felt able to devote much time to working on my current WIP…for quite some time. It's been a WIP for longer than I like, but I tell myself it can't be helped. I have to contribute regular income to my household and there is only so much time in a day, week, month. Only so much physical and emotional energy within me to put out. However, there is nothing like getting a book contract for renewing my commitment to my not-yet-completed "next" book. (Pause here for brief happy dance and smiles for my new publisher, Crimson Romance !)

I Got, Got, Got, Got No Time
I’m weary of talking about not having enough time. I'm kind of bored but not surprised with myself that I’m writing about it again. I wrote a post about it last summer and discussed how those of us writers who also work jobs and take care of families need to be creative, something we're good at, in finding time to write. And here I am again, reiterating the challenge.

I'm open to suggestions for how to put time on my side. Here's a thought from Hope Clark in her October 26th Funds for Writers newsletter and website. She suggests taking a hard look at life's demands.

"We have to give up something else to make writing happen. We have selected a crazy hobby/career path/dream that is one of the most time-consuming interests on the planet. It starts as a whim, then a dream, then an urge that grows. You have to do this. You NEED to do this . . . this . . . writing.

So, for every new hour of writing, what other hour of something else will you sacrifice? Give it a name. Cleaning? Jogging? Sleeping? Gardening? Lunch?" she writes.

The P Word
Clark makes a good point, because there really is only so much time to work with. It's a likely conclusion that I have to set my Priorities to, well, Prioritize working on my book. It seems that even though, as Clark points out, we as writers often glow when we talk about what writing means to us, we don't do it. And according to Jennifer Blanchard at Better Writing Habits , being too busy to write, another way of saying not having enough time, is the number one reason writers give for not being productive with the thing they love. She, too, attributes this situation to not Prioritizing.

"Most likely you’re making time for non-productive things, like watching TV or surfing the Web. That means you actually do have time to write, you’re just not making it a priority to write," she writes.

It seems a good, stiff shaking of myself is in order. As Clark, author of Lowcountry Bribe and The Shy Writer, noted and what we all know, we can't do everything. We may have to stop doing something we feel has greater importance than our writing. She's found this out by becoming more successful with her writing.

"As my writing grew, as I had to promote a novel I never had to before, the demand for my other hours grew ravenous for my attention. How could I find more time? There went some of my gardening . . . I saw my chickens less. The house is definitely not as clean. I stopped going to the gym."

It seems obvious but nonetheless mindboggling—I have to pick what I'm going to spend time on. And if I seldom pick writing fiction, I'll not complete my beloved WIP. I have already cut back on housecleaning, so what can I cull? I'll have to figure it out. It's time.

Any suggestions?


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