Jan Christensen's Blog, page 16
March 11, 2013
END OF THE WEEK OR BEGINNING?
Planning and preparation are essential for getting things done, especially those things you really want to do.
Time management experts seem to be in two camps about when to do what.
One camp says to start your week by:
1. Cleaning off your desk
2. Clearing out your emails
3. Checking your calendar/planner to see what’s coming up
4. Review what you did last week to be sure something urgent doesn’t need to be done first
5. Write out your to-do list for the day
6. Prepare what you need to accomplish the tasks on your list (gather equipment, files, phone numbers, for example)
7. Sketch out to-dos for the whole week.
8. Do something hard as soon as you can after all this other stuff is done. This is now called eating the frog. If you get the worst, most unpleasant or most important task done every morning, it will set you up to have a great day. Read more about eating the frog in Brian Tracy’s book:
(Click on image to go to Amazon.com for more info.)
The other camp says to do most the above at the end of your week.
It wouldn’t hurt to do it both times. Especially if:
1. Things pile up on or in your workspace on your days off
2. Emails gather like dust bunnies on your days off
3. Your memory isn’t what it used to be, so you need to check your calendar/planner again.
4. You can probably skip the review either at the end of the week or the beginning of the week.
5. To-do list could be done either day—your pick
6. Same with preparation
7. When you arrive at the beginning of your week and have your to-do list all ready, you can begin quicker, fresher
8. Don’t leave anything hard, if you can help it, for the end of the week
One note about email. I do suggest checking it both end of work week and again at the beginning. Anything urgent should be handled right away no matter what day it is. And if you don’t check the beginning of every day, some of the work you planned to do may no longer be necessary. Definitely something to keep on top of.
This may seem a little overwhelming to do twice a week, but once you get into the habit of doing each thing, it won’t take long, and you’ll be glad you did.
March 8, 2013
HOW TO STREAMLINE YOUR WRITING
Here are some ideas I gave another writer who asked how to cut down a piece that is too long for today’s market.
How many characters does it have? Can any be combined into one character to do the job? Or cut entirely?
How many subplots does it have? For a novel over 90,000 words, probably too many. For a short story, zero is the correct answer almost one hundred percent of the time. (I’m talking about the average short story which is between about six and six thousand words.)
Is it too heavy on description–in today’s market, short is better, especially for short stories. Three lines maximum is often suggested as a good rule-of-thumb, but if you do fabulous descriptions, of course, you don’t want to limit yourself this way. Do be careful when writing short stories, though, not to have too many. Frequent readers usually expect short stories to be full of character and plot and little else, unless you’re writing literary fiction.
After looking at the big picture, you can go in and look at each sentence. Is it pulling its weight? Look for trailing phrases that can be cut. Often the words at the ends of sentences mean little or are redundant or obvious.
Next look at excess words, mostly modifiers, making the words they modify as strong as you can.
And if you’re done and still not down to where you need to be, either get someone who’s published to look it over and make suggestions, or hire a professional editor to do the job. Or both.
March 4, 2013
THE “NO” IN TIME MANAGEMENT
I’ve talked about having a vision, if you’re a writer, for your career. I’ve talked about having a vision for your whole life in my organizing posts.
Because without a clear vision, your life and your career can become a scattered mess. One of the big lessons about meeting your goals is to learn how to say “no.”
When someone asks you to do something, or you yourself think you should do something to further your career or life goals, you need to make a decision about whether you should or should not do it.
Sometimes the best answer is “no.” All kinds of reasons for that. Perhaps if you do it, you won’t be able to do something else that you want to do or need to do is the biggest reason to say “no.” But there are other reasons. For example, you just don’t feel right saying “yes.” Or you know if you say “yes,” you will be stuck forevermore saying “yes” to the person who asked you. If it’s against your values, no question, you need to say “no” without hesitation.
Sometimes the answer will be, “later” or “maybe later.” This is fine, but eventually you have to make a firm decision. I think women still have a bigger problem with saying “no” than men do. It’s a question of being assertive, of sometimes seeming to put yourself and your needs first. But if it has to do with your career and your happiness, why would anyone who loves or even likes you want you to take care of their needs ahead of your own?
Of course, all bets are off if the other person also puts your needs ahead of his about equally. Or if it’s a child who needs extra attention for some reason, someone who is ill, or an elderly adult.
So, it shouldn’t be an automatic yes or no. It should be thought out carefully. If you decide to say yes, then put your whole heart into it—do not begrudge the other person’s need and get sour about it. If you do, neither of you will be happy. If you do it wholeheartedly, both of you will be happy. But if you have been giving and giving to another who is hale and hearty, without that person giving back to you, it’s time to reevaluate your automatic “yes.”
Next week, When To Automatically Say “Yes!”
March 1, 2013
READ KINDLE E-BOOKS ON MOST ANY DEVICE
I want to remind everyone that you can read Kindle ebooks on most any device. Go here to find out how:
Many people are reading short stories on their phones, for example. Others can download Kindle published stories to their tablets, PCs and laptops.
Remember, I have a collection of short stories available in Kindle format. Three previously published short stories in one “ebook.”
Notice the mile marker with the number 1 on it? Soon, there will be a second volume, and the marker will change to a 2. Like magic. The first collection has some of my lighter-side mystery stories The second volume will have three darker-side, previously-published stories. Something for everyone is my motto.
Also, I have on offer four stand-alone Artie Crime stories published by Untreed Reads. These stories come in any type of format you need for your device if you buy them from the Untreed Reads store. Or you can go direct to the source–B&N for the Nook, iTunes for Apple devices and of course, Amazon for the Kindle. Easy to do by going to the tab at the top of this page and clicking on Short Fiction. The covers are all there, and if you click on any one of them, you will end up on a page just for that story with buying option buttons. And a description of the story, even some reviews if a particular story got any—most did!
It’s a new world out there for those of us who love to read. Of course, you can also download Amazon full novels and other books to any device. I still enjoy reading books printed on paper, but I also love my Kindle and my iPod (used while waiting somewhere and kept in my purse—smaller than taking my Kindle DX with me). All can be used at different times, in different places, and in different light.
If you’ve never downloaded the Kindle app you would need for a Kindle book on your favorite device, I hope you will try it out. If you do, let me know how you like it. I love to hear from you.
February 25, 2013
TIME-MANAGEMENT IS REALLY SELF-MANAGEMENT
Once you wrap your head around the idea that time-management is really self-management, time management isn’t something outside of yourself, but an internal part of your very being.
If you procrastinate or waste time, you are not managing yourself and your life as well as you could be.
Instead of asking yourself what is often suggested by time management gurus: what’s the best use of my time right now, ask yourself: what’s the best thing I can do for myself right now?
This works together with thinking about your future self. If you do what’s in your self-interest for getting things done, your future self will thank you. Everything will fall into place. You will begin to automatically do the most important things when you are at your peak during the day or evening. And you will get the more mundane, easier-on-the-brain things done at other times. You will no longer procrastinate or waste time because you realize it’s not going to get you where you want to be.
Instead of thinking about the things you have to do as being “tasks” or even “chores,” think of them as being part of who you are and who you want to become.
To accomplish this, you need to plan your life so that it gives you joy, so that almost everything you do makes you happy to be doing it, and gives you a sense of satisfaction when you’re finished. Sometimes this will require an attitude adjustment. Maybe scrubbing the bathroom isn’t your idea of something that will make you happy, but if you think about how it will help you live in a healthy environment and gets you moving around (especially is you have a sit-down job), you may find yourself tackling the chore with a little more appreciation for the benefits of doing it, or even happiness that it’s giving you a break from something else when you need one. Not to mention you will be happier when it’s all done.
[image error]Just one example of how you can manage yourself in a better, happier, more productive way. Go through all the tasks you have listed on your to-do list and find a way to translate them from chores to happy pieces that make up your life.
Call it Life Management.
February 22, 2013
WHY ATTENTION TO GRAMMAR IS SO IMPORTANT
What’s wrong with this sentence? (In previous sentences in the article quoted from, it is explained the writer is talking about great white sharks.)
“Researchers at OCEARCH, which captured, tagged and released the sharks aboard their 126-foot former Bering Sea crabber have found that the sharks swim south much faster than once thought.”
My mind immediately saw those sharks released on the former crabber. I pictured them flailing around on the deck. Then when I looked at the sentence again, I thought it was too long and complicated. I also realized that the researchers did not capture the sharks while the sharks were aboard their boat. Next I caught on that since it was the researchers who captured, tagged and released the sharks, the word “which” following “Researchers at OCEARCH” is incorrect. “Which” should have been “who.” It was the researchers who captured the sharks, not the organization they work for. Not to mention the missing comma after the word “crabber” and the needed Oxford comma. All problems could have been fixed by taking apart the sentence and rearranging everything so it both made sense and was easier to read. Making it two sentences would have helped immensely.
I do not claim to be an expert on grammar, and I’m only pointing out things that I’m sure were wrong. But if I’m mistaken about any of my points, I wish some of the experts out there would let me know. I know that learning does not end until the moment we die. I’m here to learn.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many errors in one sentence in a newspaper article, but I have to wonder. If you don’t believe me, it was here (unless they since corrected it):
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation/2013/02/18/shark-researchers-trackers/1927825/?csp=tech
I am so flabbergasted, I am now speechless, a rare event for me.
[image error]
February 18, 2013
VISION BOARDS
Vision boards have become more popular since Pinterest joined the cyberworld. One of the most popular “boards” on there is for future brides to gather together everything they come across they might decide to use in their own weddings. Writers are using them to find pictures of what they envision their characters to look like. People plan their vacations.
Imagine doing this for your whole life! What aspects of your life haven’t you obtained yet would give you the most joy? Find a picture to represent it, pin it up near your desk on a corkboard, and you will be inspired to work toward that vision.
Want to vacation in Hawaii? Put up some pictures of where you want to go while visiting. Planning a party? Dreaming of a beach house? Or just an uncluttered living room? Your novel a bestseller?* With photoshopping programs, the internet and your printer, what you can see in your mind can become a concrete picture to put up where you will see it often. You can use glossy brochure paper to print your dreamscapes. And of course, you can use Pinterest for this idea, as well. But you won’t see the images as often, probably, as when you pin them where you come across them whenever you’re in the area where you’ve put them in your home or office.
You need a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. What better way to see your vision that to put it right in front of you to look at every day?
*Find a list of NY Times bestsellers on-line, delete the first one, insert your title and name. Or, if you have an image of your cover, take a picture of the rack at the grocery checkout counter where they place the current paperback bestseller, delete one of the covers, and paste yours into the space.
February 15, 2013
HOW JOURNALISM GUIDELINES CAN HELP FICTION WRITERS
If you ever took a journalism class, you know the basics of writing nonfiction for newspapers and magazines. However, these basic tools can also help you hone your fiction into tight, sharp writing that is both clear and complete.
[image error]The basics are: Who, what, where, when, why, and how. Every journalism student has to memorize those words. Usually in that order. Sometimes one or more can be left out, but it should be a conscious decision with a good reason. The other day, for example, our local newspaper had an article about making the city greener, and explained about an organization giving away free trees in a few days. They did the who—the name of the organization. The what–a giveaway of three trees to anyone who showed up, The when–the date, The why–to make the city green. And the how–go and get the trees. They left out one vital fact, however. The where. No address, no clue about the location of the giveaway. So, both the reporter and the editor missed something really important. Oddly enough, they reported on the event after it was over (I believe this is yearly and they always give away the trees in the same location), told how many trees were given away, and—you guessed it, the location where it all took place. In this case, NOT better late than never.
The reader of fiction almost always needs all these elements, too, for the story to make sense. Leave one vital part out, and you’ve lost her. A good rule of thumb is to be sure you have them all there when you are finished with all your edits. Because you may have put them all in when you wrote the piece (or you may not have), and you may take something out that was really needed, or miss that something was left out in the first place. But if you look one last time for each element, you should be fine.
Have you gone back over a story and found you left out something vital? Let us know in the comments.
February 11, 2013
YOUR PERSONAL COMMANDMENTS
Okay, I have to admit, this idea is not unique (well, realistically, there are no new ideas—only different ways of presenting and wording them). A writer named Gretchen Rubin came up with this plan, and I thought it was interesting. For more details, go here:
Twelve seems like a lot to remember. Ten may be stretching it, too. But I’m just noodling with this idea, and thought I’d put it out there.
In a nutshell, these commandments should be about things we want to remind ourselves to pay attention to, that need improvement, or will make us happier people. For example, maybe you believe you complain too much, so one of your commandments could be “Complain not.” Perhaps you don’t count your blessings enough. That’s an easy one, “Count your blessings.” Maybe you’re a couch potato and know it would be better if you go up at least every hour and moved around for five or ten minutes. “Move you booty” would work for that, wouldn’t it? If you eat too much, “No snacking after dinner” might work.
I think you get the idea. These “commandments” are your rules to remember when you are tending toward an action that gets in the way of your happiness or well-being or is interfering with your goals in life or with your relationships with other people.
I’m not saying this will work for everyone, or even anyone. I’ve never tried it. I just thought it was an interesting idea, so I’m throwing it out there. Of course, I’m going to try it myself. Maybe start with five. I’m not sure I’d remember ten. After I get those five down pat, can add one at a time to the list.
If anyone tries this, please let me know how it worked.
February 8, 2013
SOME EDITING TIPS FOR NOVELS
Some things I learned while editing my latest mystery novel might help make the process go more smoothly for you.
Nail the weather (season especially) and the setting before doing anything else. The weather didn’t play a big part in my latest novel, so I only mentioned it once in awhile. The problem was it was fall at the beginning of the novel, and only about ten days later, it was winter. I’d forgotten which it was! Not huge because the weather didn’t have a large impact on the story, but I just know some readers would notice.
Try not to have your main character have two of anything to keep track of. My PI drives two cars–one, nondescript, for business, one, sporty, for pleasure. But it got mixed up in there when she loaned her business car to her aunt. I didn’t keep good track of what she was driving, and now I will have to search the whole document and be sure it’s the right car!
Pick your character’s names with care and try not to change them. Yes, the search feature will work here, but if you use certain names, the universal search and replace will put them inside words or at the beginning or ending, making for strange new combinations. Easier not to have to correct that.
Use the page break feature in your word processor at the end of each chapter. Then each chapter will start on a new page–nice.
Read the ending–last quarter or the third–several times. You’ve probably read the beginning over and over again, but as you get further in, you will probably read the later stuff less. Make sure everything makes sense at the end.
Print it out. I bought a ream of cheap paper and printed the whole manuscript in draft mode, single spaced. Next I corrected everything with a red pen, then printed it on the back of the first printing, after making a red slash through the other pages so if I dropped them in a heap, I’d know which pages were the newest ones.
[image error]While editing, have lots of room for three piles of paper and for a notepad. You have what you’re reading in your first pile, what needs fixing in another pile, and what’s okay in a third pile. Make notes as you go through–during the first run-through you will probably find several things that need fixing on pages you’ve already edited, so you will have to go back and find the spot(s) where you need to make adjustments. But don’t try to do it during the run-through itself. It gets too confusing.
Plan for large blocks of time with few or no distractions.
Take your time. After the first run-through, let it sit awhile and mull things over. You may need to do this more than twice–I ended up doing three print-outs, read-throughs and edits. Each edit took me part of a week, but I didn’t begin on the next one until the following week. I think this time is needed, especially if you don’t outline, to be sure all the pieces are in place, all questions answered, all details correct.
Then have someone else, preferably a professional editor, go through it for you. Only then can you be pretty sure that everything is just right. But don’t be surprised that mistakes will still be found. Hopefully they will be so minor, hardly anyone will notice.
I’m sure I’ve missed some things others may have run across while editing a whole novel. I’d love to hear them so next time, it might go even smoother for me!
