After lunch—no breakfast because Distraction was too busy to let me eat—I sat down with full intention of roughing out the first draft of my story when Procrastination wanted to play. Okay, I said, ONE game of spider solitaire, then back to work. One game became four. Then I wanted a snack. Then I had to use the bathroom. Then I needed to take that shower I didn’t get in the morning. By 4:30 Procrastination needed a nap, so I sat down at my computer and opened my file. I wrote a few sentences before Distraction pulled up a chair.

“Hello,” she said. “Let’s look up haunted mines in Idaho.”

That of course led to a site about cemeteries, which lead to a site about who was buried where. Before I knew it it was time to think about dinner so Distraction and I started looking up recipes for corn chowder. After dinner I promised I would work on my story, but then the phone rang. I had to clean the kitchen, fold the laundry, and by eight o’clock I was just too tired to write.

I was talking with another writer a few days ago, saying I accomplished so much more when I worked full time at the bank.

“Me too,” she said.

“I’m too easily distracted,” I said.

We agreed that working from home is full of caveats. A trip to the bathroom means a trip to the kitchen where a glass of water turns into an apple with peanut butter. Then flip on the TV to check the weather, when just as easily we could look out the window to see if it was snowing—we’re supposed to be writing so what does it matter?

Why do we do this? I tell my writer friend it’s because writers are creative people. They write poetry. They make sculptures and paintings. They play piano, guitar or drums. They belly dance. They are creative. Creative people like to make things then rip them apart to make something new. It’s more like play than work, and of course my two friends Procrastination and Distraction would rather play than work.

As a creative person, writing to me is like playing. It doesn’t feel like work, so I treat it accordingly. And to be honest I am a terrible boss. I don’t hold my employee accountable. I make sure she shows up at the office, but I never really check her progress. I read once that Harold Robbins was on deadline and his editor locked him in a hotel room and refused to feed him until he produced a certain number of new pages. So see, it isn’t just me.

Ah hmm. Today is a New Day. I will use a heavy hand; after all I am the boss. I will not have lunch until I finish the first draft of my short story. I will not check email and Facebook until I have my pages done. I will not play spider solitaire AT ALL, not until this story is finished. I will not turn on the TV to check the weather. I will drink water instead of coffee, which keeps me hyped and edgy. Today I will be a better boss and make sure my employee is more productive. And when Distraction and Procrastination call, I’ll tell them to go outside and jump in the snow.

What can you do to eliminate Procrastination and Distraction when you should be writing?

-Bonnie Dodge

Bonnie Dodge and Dixie Thomas Reale show off their Christmas gifts

Among the hectic days at the holidays, now is the time to also say “Thank goodness for my writing buddies.”
I say that a lot and not just at Christmas. My writing buddies are Bonnie Dodge and Dixie Thomas Reale, who are also my partners in Other Bunch Press.
Here is why they are important and why you need writing buddies.
They support and encourage me, especially on those days when I want to throw my computer out the window.
They are great critique partners. While I am good at plotting, they are good at motivation, characterization and making me dig deeper, which only helps my writing.
They understand the writing life and how it is to work on a project for months without the guarantee of a paycheck.
They are great at brainstorming ideas and ticking your imagination.
They love and respect the written word.
They are tough when they need to be, but also complimentary.
I have known many other writing buddies, but these two women are also my friends.
I have said this many times before, writing is a sometimes painfully solitary endeavor. But it helps to have people with who you can talk writing, and that helps ease the pain at making words appear on a blank sheet of paper or computer screen.
I urge all of you to find writing buddies in the new year if you don’t have any, and for those of you that do, please express your appreciation for them.

Happy Holidays!

Take time to explore information about The Cabin and support this wonderful venture.

http://www.virtualcabinidaho.com/author-quick-clips.html

Poster

Dixie, Pat and I try to schedule an annual writing retreat dedicated to stimulating new writing. This year our retreat took us to Featherville where we tackled writing exercises from The Glimmer Train Guide to Writing Fiction. When our hands tired from writing, we took in the beautiful fall colors, and later, tried our hand at carving pumpkins.

A naming exercise, that proved to be reasonably productive, involved mining telephone books, obituaries or cemeteries for names. Interesting first names are to be listed on one page, interesting last names on another. When the writer needs a name for a character the lists are matched up until the right combination presents itself. Once the right first and last names are together the chosen character’s name might give an idea of the his or her personality.

For instance — Dixie matched up Adelphia and Albedyll. The character immediately took on an attitude, probably because of the wild name. The writing exercise said to stand the character in the middle of the room, walk around her and follow her down the street.

This is what resulted: Everyone called her Adel, at her request, because her name was quite a mouthful. She went forth into the morning with purpose, marching rather than ambling so no one would think she was idle or aimless. She kicked a rock in her path, as if it had placed itself there on purpose just to irritate her. In fact some days she felt the whole world was conspiring against her to make her mad.

Bonnie named her character Doyle Lesner. She didn’t get a sense of his personality from the name but he did see quite a lot of scenery when she walked him down the street.
Doyle walked down the dusty street, passing the red hydrant on the corner. It was a bright, sunshiny day, and a kid was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk instead of the street. Rusty’s old pickup truck stopped and Rusty waved from the window, “Hay ya, Lesner.” Doyle waved back and crossed the street. He passed the coffee shop on his way to the hardware store. He glanced briefly at the stand holding real estate brochures. The stand beside it usually holding the daily newspaper was empty. As he passed the cafe, Mildred stopped filling a customer’s cup with coffee long enough to wave. The red wagon outside the cafe was filled with white geraniums. Someone was getting a permanent in the beauty salon next door. A dog barked as it chased the kid on the bicycle. The caution light was blinking yellow at the corner of Main and Second.

Pat named her character Wes Manley and here is what he did. Wes Manley sloughed off his cigarette as he walked to work. He tried to remember where he had parked his car the night before. It would come to him later in the day after his fifth cup of coffee.
Running a hand over his face, he felt patches of whiskers. His boss Sam wouldn’t mind because Sam only showered three times each week.

You might like to try this activity next time you need a name for a character or even an idea to get you started writing.

Dixie Thomas Reale

Just last week we had a conversation about a short story she wants to submit. She has been working on this story for several months now. She has even taken this story to her critique partners for feedback. Now that the time is nearing for her to submit, she is second-guessing her story. “Did I put in too much?” she asked me. “Is it going to be good enough?” she worried.

“Don’t talk yourself out of submitting,” I warned. “Send it out and get on with your novel.”

The self-doubt my friend is experiencing is normal. Many writers wade through doubts every day. Faced with a blank page, they often freeze. They ask themselves, “What do I have to say that’s important? What do I have to say that hasn’t already been said a thousand times?”

Carleen Brice, author of the novel Orange Mint and Honey, (which inspired The Lifetime Movie Sins of the Mother), recently said that as a writer she has doubts every day. “I’m working on a rewrite of my third novel, which sometimes fills me with so much anxiety I want to crawl not just under the covers, but under the bed,” she writes in a guest blog.

I know the feeling. I, too,  battle self-doubt. Instead of hiding under the bed, I turn on spider solitaire and eat up all my writing time matching suits in digital decks of cards. Why do I do this?

Audrey Marlene, in her article, “Self-Doubt – An Illogical Perspective”, says doubt can be caused by many things, including

• Feelings of inferiority
• Low self-esteem
• Feeling a lack of control over your life
• Believing you are not good enough or smart enough
• Anticipating failure even before you begin
• Rejection
• Believing that your emotional security depends on someone or something

It all boils down to fear. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of losing control. Fear prompts me to focus on what I cannot do rather than what I can do, or on what I desire. Marlene claims the best way to let go of self-doubt is to build self-confidence.

I want to be a writer, and I know that I have to push self-doubt away if I want to be successful. To help banish my self-doubt, I continue to hone my craft, and, if I’m feeling particularly negative, I’ll call a writing buddy to help get back on track. I submit. If my work is rejected, I submit again.

I’ve been writing long enough to know that every word I write isn’t golden. I’ve come to accept, even anticipate, rejection because I know that writing is subjective. I’ve learned that if someone says it isn’t good enough, I can rework the story or throw it in the garbage, where it might possibly belong.

William Shakespeare once wrote, “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”

Conquering fear isn’t easy, but it gets better with practice and positive self-talk. I will remind my friend of this the next time she claims her story isn’t good enough.

Are your doubts traitors? How do you push through them to achieve your writing goals?

-Bonnie Dodge