8.17.16 - Save Time & Be More Productive with Workflows

Want to save time? Find yourself constantly scrambling and forgetting things?

Workflows have changed the way I run my business and my life. 

I wrote a post for RT Book Reviews on how my team and I do it. I hope it helps you add some structure to your day!
 

​12.4.15 - On the Universe and Resistance and the Pony Express

Earlier today, suffering from a supreme lack of focus, I wrote a short journal entry about how current events can derail a writer. Imagine my surprise when I closed out the program and saw this quote on my screen:

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” —Maya Angelou

I am always shocked when the universe gives me exactly what I'm looking for. This is what I was trying to say, exactly.

I know I’m not the only person who’s been pulled away from their normal work schedule in the past few weeks. We’ve had two terrible terror attacks, a mass shooting, plus several other local events, large and small, that have altered all of us. Whether it’s being directly affected, incidentally affected, or simply sitting with your jaw dropped at the online reactions, it’s hard as hell to work.

How do you put aside the fear and horror and sadness and write? Fiction, especially. How can our words possibly be any kind of buffer, have any kind of meaning, in the face of evil?

This is the worst kind of resistance — external events out of our control. It’s so hard to turn off the television, to step away from social media, to stop reading headlines, and put your focus back on your work. 

But the only thing to do is keep writing. You keep writing.

Novelists are the postmen of the literary world — as they pledge: 

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Which leads me to a fascinating bit of arcane history I wasn’t aware of — this quote is supposedly, according to Wikipedia, based on Herodotus referring to the "courier service" of the ancient Persian Empire:

"It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.

— Herodotus, Histories (8.98) (trans. A.D. Godley, 1924)"

Which reminded me... You know, in Colorado I grew up right down the dirt road from a old Pony Express stop, the Pony Express being the best form of communication across the Wild West prior to the invention of the telegraph. Note those cool stamps from Pikes Peak below. 

Ah... the thought process of a writer, in all its banal glory.

And just like that I am reminded why I write, why I fight against the resistance, why I try so hard in the face of unspeakable horror and loss. There is always something to be learned. In these few minutes of looking outward, my frustrations have turned to fascination of the way the universe works, which in turn leads me to the single, powerful thought: All will be well. 

As long as we are free, all will be well.

And you know what else? In the fiction world, we get to see the evil-doers thwarted by heroic people, and victims receive justice. 

So there.

12.3.14 - On Planners

Back in the saddle. 2037 today on Nick #3. Also cleaned up email, updated addresses, made a few adjustments to my 2015 planner. I’m at that weird time of the year when I can’t wait to switch over, to start my annual review process and dig into next year’s goals. I already know what my overarching theme is, and it’s beginning to leak into my last few weeks of 2014. 

Speaking of planners, the December contest is live. The prize is a Moleskine 2015 planner! See, I’m even starting to tidy up YOUR lives, too!

Personally, I am switching to a Quo Vadis Journal 21. It is a daily planner instead of weekly, the format I've been using for YEARS. I started keeping a daily logbook of sorts back in October, and realized I loved having all that space to write, record, and otherwise plan things out. So the Journal 21 it is. And... it fits into my (very old) Coach leather day planner cover. WIN!

So my combination of Day One for journaling and blogging, and the handwritten day-to-day stuff - this is where I'm heading in 2015.

What sort of planner do you use?

Freedom...Freedom...Freedom... FREEDOM!

In honor of finishing the 6th book in the Taylor Jackson series, SO CLOSE THE HAND OF DEATH, (3/11) I want to share a great productivity secret with you. I use a fantastic program on my Mac called Freedom. You set it and your Internet access is blocked for a pre-specified period of time. Hugely helpful for those moments when your mind drifts away from the manuscript and you tell yourself it's fine to check your mail... and twenty minutes later you're reading about Great White sharks... and your book is set in a desert!

I've talked about Freedom before, and how incredibly helpful it is to combat my Internet monkey mind. But it's only been available to Mac users, until now!

Sound the trumpets...

Freedom has a brand new Windows beta download!!!

Here's a link to the site.

I promise your productivity will bloom the moment you download this fabulous program.

I'm going to go drink champagne and collapse now...