Clear the Clutter

My Cygnus Books www.cygnus-books.co.uk/magazine/ email sent 16th March 2011 had a lovely piece on clearing the clutter:

Spring is here, and with the fresh spring breezes, snatches of sunshine and green shoots in the soil comes the perfect opportunity to spring-clean your own life, brushing away the cobwebs and throwing out the clutter.

If you were de-cluttering your house, you might go through each room and if there’s anything in which you haven’t used or thought of for the last few months, then you can put it in a box, ideally to be thrown away. Do the same with your mind: take a pen and make headings of all the ‘rooms’ in your mind, for example, “Money”, “Family”, “House”, “Things to Do” etc. etc. Write down everything you can think of, then go outside for a few minutes to clear your head. Return to the list: how many things had you remembered? Cross off those points which you have listed unnecessarily until you have reduced the list to the things that really matter. So many of our thoughts are needless worries, it is vital to recognise these thoughts as clutter and either deal with them or throw them out immediately, before they get caught up with the more important considerations.

There’s nothing like the present, so take the opportunity of Spring time, turn over a blank page and only fill it with the things that really matter.

Ideas are everywhere....

Monday and Tuesday this week I found myself attending a two day Induction for my new job. I was less than looking forward to it, but took along my notebook and a copy of Writing Magazine in case there was chance for a quick read. As it turned out there were only 9 of us on the course so reading my magazine might have been noticed, but during lunch on the first day I made the effort to speak to some of my fellow attendees and was so glad I did!

Turned out that one of them was training to be an embalmer which, in itself, was fascinating but this lead to a conversation - at times quite humorous - about life and death, funerals and even hamsters testicles! I was so glad I had taken my notebook and in the afternoon session made copious notes - not about issues of Diversity as the instructor probably thought - but rather all the ideas I had collected in my lunch hour!

Just goes to show what a smile and 'Hello' can do!!

Have more than one idea....

Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other.


Geoff Dyer - Quoted in Writers' News March 2011 www.writersnews.co.uk/

Fatigue...

Fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment. We rarely get tired when we are doing something interesting and exciting.

Dale Carnegie; writer of How to Win Friends and Influence People (1937).

If you don't enjoy it, then Stop!

Had a really good afternoon yesterday at the Poison Pens and came away feeling glad I made the effort. I read out 2 poems; a recent one written for a competition and an older poem I wrote a few years ago but have not done anything with. The comments from those present made the trip worthwhile but also I had a really great time. It's always good to meet up with people who share the same interests; not only writing, but also reading, and we also had a good laugh. We have recently lost one of our members due to illness and Keith made the comment that if you don't enjoy writing then stop. Life has taught me that time is precious and I couldn't agree more, but at the moment I do enjoy my writing and I do feel I benefit from it and attending the group.

There were 8 of us there yesterday and 6 of us shared something. It's great to see what other people are writing and I do feel that listening / reading, and then discussing others writing actually helps with my personal writing. It also spurs me on in a perverse way as well. Congrats to Barbara who has just about completed her non fiction book Forgotten People (see:www.barbaracoopercareby.co.uk/) and will be having a launch party in July which we are all looking forward to.

We also discussed the Lincoln Book Festival taking place in about 12weeks time (see:www.visitlincolnshire.com/site/site/events/festivals/lincoln-book-festival)
Another launch party to attend....

When you say Yes, you are saying No...

Loved this from Jurgen Wolff's February Brainstorm and Focus e-bulletin (see: www.timetowrite.blogs.com)

If you're a people pleaser, you find it hard to say no. Most of us hate to disappoint others. The result is that we say 'yes' to too many things. But when you say yes, you're also saying no. Whatever time you devote to the new "yes" activity will mean "no" to anything else you could have done in that time. And there will always be more to do than there is time to do it.

ACTION: Look back over how you've used your time the last few months. Did you make time for the things most important to you? If not, what did you say 'yes' to that took time that could have been better-spent? Would it make sense to say 'no' to that from now on--at least sometimes? If someone else is involved, share your reason: "I've enjoyed spending time working on the committee, and now I'm going to take some time to work on my novel."

Literature....

"Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none."

Jules Renard

quoted in Writers News www.writersnews.co.uk

November 2010