This will probably be my last blog before Swanwick, and as I’m
not taking a computer with me, it’s au revoir until at least 17th
August. So what’s been going on?
Quite a lot actually. I’ve decide on a couple of things. One, to take my own advice. And two, to try practising mindfulness.
Quite a lot actually. I’ve decide on a couple of things. One, to take my own advice. And two, to try practising mindfulness.
My own advice includes starting the day with writing, as
that’s when I‘m better at it. To take it slowly and not expect to be writing as
well as I used to. Writing takes practice. F I was an athlete I wouldn’t expect
to win the first race I entered after a
long absence through injury. Writing is the same. It takes time to get back up
to speed.
Yesterday morning and today, I got up early, made tea, then
went back to pad with my pad and pen and wrote stories. One yesterday, two
today. I want to have a selection to
work on when I return from my week away. Regular readers will also know that I
like to leave stories for a while before typing them so that I’ve had time to
mull them over in my subconscious.
Now mindfulness. Simply put this means concentrating on
NOW,. Not fretting about what’s gone before, or regretting things. The past is
over. It’s up to me whether I dwell on it or not. Mindfulness also means not
looking forward to all the possible bad things that might happen. Not being
scared to take a risk in case it goes badly. It means enjoying this moment. Not
that one just gone. This one. Now.
It’s not easy. It’s such a big change for me, but it works
so I’m going to persevere with it.
I’m also going to start doing things that worked for me
before. Both of these come from HOW TO
EVERYTHING AND BE HAPPY (Peter Jones) When faced with a long list of all the things I need
to do (right now that reads finish judging a competition and write a report,
pack for Swanwick, get the course notes and handouts sorted and printed off, work
on a couple of stories, get another story or two ready for The People’s Friend,
do some work for the Writers Bureau, and that’s not including the boring stuff –
housework et al. ).
The book says make a list then mark just three things and do
one of those first, THEN you can mark another but not until. SO my list reads –
blog, Swanwick notes, read competition stories again. I should get those all
done today then I can think what to do next. It’s so much better, only having
three things to think about. Maybe try it sometime. The other thing that comes
from the book are Boxing days. These are days when you plan nothing and simply
do whatever comes to mind on the day itself.
I used to have one a month and found them very useful, but
let the habit slip when I felt depressed.
So now I’ve blogged, I can cross that off the list and add a
new item – allocate Boxing Days to the diary.
PS did I mention that, just at the right time for Swanwick,
I have a story in Take a Break’s Fiction Feast?
Enjoy the summer. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I might manage a few tweets #writingiseasy
I like the idea of a to do list with three things on it!
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