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Share Your Writers Life with Me.

So 11am writing sessions are officially a thing in my life. It worked out wonderful. This whole mini adventure of amping up my daily writing habits reminds of writing. I maneuver people places and spaces around till they fit together nice and snug.

I didn’t expect this journey would take me to midday writing. I didn’t even plan sharing this experience at all. But I’m so glad I did because it’s really got me waking up in the morning feeling excited to write and be alive. This time of year is usually when I start crawling out of my hole but this year, I have no pregnancy, a toddler sleeping through the night, a new job in the works and the energy is just booming. So I’m not crawling out of the hole this year, I’m sprinting.

My physical energy has been held down for like 8 years yall! 8 years! I seriously leaned on writers heavily during that time. I hope I can provide something lean on for others who are in the dark.

Let’s get back to writing, don’t forget to make time for your writing. Allow writing to add to your life. Let it make you excited and frustrated and challenged. Let it pull you along. Float on it and pull it along. And then share all of it with me please. I wanna hear about all your writers life stories.

Writing and My Peak Hours

Aright last post about tweaking my morning routine.

I tried working on my novel right when I woke up in the morning but it was nothing special. Felt the same as working on it before bed. However, what was nice about working on it in the morning was that it’s one less thing to do before bed. So I think I’ll do morning pages and meditation and then work on my novel midday. I feel best when I start my day with my morning pages and I also feel better when I have less writing goals at night.

When do you write?

Morning? Weekends? Midday?

I know everyone is different when it comes to writing times and rituals. One thing I learned from writing over the years is that you should figure out when you are at your peak alertness throughout the day and block that time out to focus on your creative pursuits. I haven’t done that in a long time (mostly because of momming). 11am is my peak time it’s also when my little needs to eat, and it’s the time of day I’m finally ready to bang out a lot of my work work. But I think I can set an alarm to make sure I’m getting that time to focus on my novel.

So for tomorrow I’m going to try

8am Morning pages and Water
9am Meditation and visualization.
930am Tea and Work-work
11am the novel
12 then lunch
1pm work work.

Little Adventures

Ok I played a game first thing when I woke up. No distractions. And it was pleasant. I think I’m gunna try and work on my story first thing in the morning. Right now I’m editing. Not too in depth but checking for continuity and for places that should be removed completely, burn and never seen again. Just kidding. I save numerous versions of my work so the ideas are retrievable at this point.

I did look around to find if there was any benefits to writing first thing in the morning. Here’s what I found:

According to www.craftyourcontent.com,

To begin with, writing immediately after waking up, especially about things that you’re grateful for, can put you at a higher energy level. You’ll feel more positive toward life, and less likely to give way to negative thoughts. You’ll also become more generous to other people, which brings you even more happiness in return.
Writing also helps you to reduce stress. Research suggests spending 20 minutes per day writing about positive things can lead to a decrease in anxiety. So if you’re currently in deep stress, start your day with a positive writing session. You’ll find yourself in a much calmer state for the rest of the day.
www.craftyourcontent.com,

I could use a little decrease in anxiety. Having a mourning routine has made me significantly calmer inside and out. I hope I can maintain it.

I also found this from writersinthestormblog.com

There is one major reason to wake up early and it is this: you set the tone for your day with purpose and intention.
When you start the day on your terms, not only do you have more control over your day, you’re also more likely to have positive emotions at the beginning of the day and by extension, the rest of the day. Both of these benefits will have an extremely positive influence on your writing.

I have something new to try: Working on my novel in the morning. These little adventures are fun.

I Accepted the Challenge

Yesterday, I wrote about doing puzzles as part of a morning routine. I never thought of using my brain so early in the morning. I usually drink water, journal, then make my tea afterwards. Every writer has their own routine. Hemmingway said,

I write every morning as soon after first light as possible.
https://prowritingaid.com/writing-routines-famous-authors

I have journaled right when I woke up but I don’t work on my stories right when I wake up because unconsciously and now consciously I know that that writing is eerily close to puzzles and the thought of doing any kind of puzzle upon waking sounds like a bad time to me.

But after reading through a bunch of morning routine lists and finding that many of them spoke of doing a puzzle to wake your brain up, I decided to give it try. I challenged myself to do a puzzle before I even got out of bed. And hey, it could be playful.

On that note, have you ever realized how important game play is for us adult human beings? According to NBC News, “The most obvious benefit comes from play that involves physical activity. When done frequently, it strengthens your heart, boosts your lung function and lowers your risk of developing coronary heart disease. Not only that, physical play like sports and exercise, also reduce your stress hormones (e.g cortisol and adrenaline) and trigger the release of endorphins — your feel-good hormones — which elevates your mood and helps you relax after a stressful day.

Laughter, which is present in many kinds of playful activities, releases those same feel-good hormones. The act of simply laughing with others will also foster a sense of camaraderie and strengthen your relationships, too.

At work, play increases your productivity levels and makes you more creative.”

So when I tried out the puzzle. I was laying around for a bit moaning and groaning about the terrible sleep I had. (I had the strangest nightmares) I leaned over and grabbed my phone to play a game. Of course I got distracted by all my notifications (which I feel defeats the whole purpose but I kept going anyways). I eventually made it to the games folder and decided to play a Zen matching game. It was actually really nice. I think I’ll try it again tomorrow and try my best to focus at the task at hand.

So I’d say, you should give it a shot if you haven’t tried a puzzle right when you wake up yet.

Morning Challenge

I woke up this morning kinda tired but ready to start my day off on the right foot. I wanted to start off trying to think. It was tough hahaha. I don’t usually think about much when I first wake up. I just wanna not think and let my brain just do its own thing.

I’ve been thinking, on the list yesterday, one of the healthy morning habits was doing a puzzle. I don’t know that I could do that before I got out of bed. I do my morning pages right in bed. But to reach over and grab a puzzle right when I wake up doesn’t sound like much fun at all.

And so you know what, I’m going to try it out. Tomorrow morning I’m going to try and do a crossword before my morning pages. Mostly because it sounds challenging for me. Life’s too short to turn down a good challenge.

I wonder how this will go.

Healthy Morning Habits

Tomorrow I wanna wake up rested and ready for my healthy morning habits. I’ve started working through Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way.” workbook book again. I also have been trying to meditate and visualize before I start my day. It has really helped me prioritize the things that are important to me. I also drink water then make myself a cup of Green and decaf black tea with sugar free vanilla syrup.

How do you start your day?

I had to google some other healthy morning habits. Here’s a list.

Make your bed
Stretch
Write/Review you daily To Do list
Focus on your positive energy
Healthy Breakfast
Yoga
Take a walk
Listen to music
Create a routine
Brain Exercise
Meal plan
Read

These are all really great ideas. I think I might add yoga to my morning routine.

Sources

https://www.self.com/story/morning-routine-habits

https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living-photos/10-ways-to-improve-your-morning-routine.aspx

https://bostondirecthealth.com/primary-care-blog/7-ways-to-start-your-day-with-a-healthy-morning-routine

Innovation

Innovation
a new method, idea, product, etc. dictionary.com

I define the innovation process as a great idea, executed brilliantly, and communicated in a way that is both intuitive and fully celebrates the magic of the initial concept. -Pete Foley
https://www.ideatovalue.com/

I like innovation. It reminds me of Disney. It also makes me feel alive, progressive, and adventurous. Even if I don’t yet or have not yet experienced it. Makes me feel part of the world that got to experience something new first hand. Life can fall into so much monotony that when something fun and new is introduced to me it lights up my life.

Escape Room and Writing

I shared my inspiration yesterday but I forgot to mention what led up these thoughts.

So I haven’t written about it here yet, but I started a non profit called Inspiring Youth and Mentors. We support youth and mentors with adventurous programs and services. One thing I’m pretty excited to be planning is a city wide escape room. Since we are the escape room now, I started watching YouTube videos on escape room creation and development. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to connect game development to writing my novel.

So the first two videos that lit up my brain was a talk from Laura E. Hall

and Adam Clare

They both share their passions about escape room games. Both of these videos made me think about my novels in a different way. First, that creating aha moments were possible as creators. I thought aha moments were some magical divine inner shift that couldn’t be intentionally created in novels. Second thing that they both said was that the escape rooms should be fun for the puzzlers. This wasn’t as much a revelation but more of a reminder to have fun and in a way, this idea gave me permission to create something fun and solvable. But what they both said was that puzzles should be solvable. Impossible puzzles are not fun. They’re mean. So of course James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake comes to mind. And how it’s said that he was so angry that his closest writing friends couldn’t solve his puzzle. Maybe Joyce was the ass creating a possibly unsolvable puzzle but at the same I do enjoy reading both Finnigan’s Wake and Ulysses. I enjoyed downloading the key researching youtube, listening to the books read in the Dublin accent. I also had to get all his books to try and see what led to Finnigan’s Wake. The point is I have fun with it even though I know I’ll never solve it all.

I don’t know if I can cross over everything from these videos into writing but I did take away a lot from what they had to say. Way more than I initially thought which was zero expectations when it came to writing my novel. What can I say,

Inspiration is out there!!

(in my best Disney’s “Up” voice)

Thanks for reading.

Sharing my Inspiration

I’m hoping tomorrow is full of productivity. It feels best when I get a lot done on Monday’s because I feel like it sets me up for a good week ahead.

I know tomorrow will be a decent writing day because I got a good idea for my novel. It’s a small detail that I appreciate. I’ve added a part to the novel where my main character, Christian, thinks about a painting titled “Woman with a Vase of Flowers” (shown below) by one of my most favorite symbolist artists Odilon Redon.

Woman with a Vase of Flowers — https://www.clarkart.edu/artpiece/detail/woman-with-a-vase-of-flowers

My main character, Christian, the painter (turned writer) in my story becomes obsessed with an interesting phrase that was inspired by this painting. “A woman with roses.” I’ve decided to add a coincidence or a possible reason to her obsession just to keep things consistent. In my stories, I don’t like to give away all the answers. I like to leave some space for imagination. But at the same time, I do want to challenge my readers and provide the chance for them to have aha moments. What takes priority to both of those desires, is that my reader is entertained enough to escape from the harshness of reality.

I’m still working through the title. I switch between “Her Triptych, A novel “A Triptych A Novel” “Triptych” “Living Waters A Triptych” Sooo many options.

For an update, I’m working through Part two. This part is Sci Fi Fantasy a little different from what I’m used to writing (Lit fic and magical realism) but not too far off from my interests.

I’m excited to get to work on my novel tomorrow.

Let’s See How it Goes

I’ve been working through my fear of abandonment when it comes to work. Every kind of work: housework, career work, relationship work, etc. I have this fear that I’m going to be left along with all the work to do by myself. And at face value, it seems like a good healthy fear. On top of that, I’ve been through things and put myself through things that brought this fear to reality for me. I’ve always acknowledged it. It’s not like a hidden fear. It sounds something like, “Well, I’m not going to be the only one doing the work, Nope, I’m not going to be taken advantage of or even I don’t see them doing it.

It’s all negative self talk. Lies. It keeps me from taking the action I need to take. But let’s go back for a moment. Before I started my inner work, I had terrible boundaries. Awful. I was exhausted from saying yes to everything. I had priorities but by the time I got to them, I was exhausted. Now back to today. I’m a boundary setting guru! Ok not guru that’s too far. No, but seriously though, today, I’m a lot better at managing my time (it still needs work) and a lot better at maintaining the time I have set aside for my priorities. My discipline isn’t fueled by the anxiety that comes with perfectionism (aka fear of failure).

So why am I saying all that. I think it’s ok to let the fear of abandonment go when it comes to putting in work because I trust that I’m not going to abandon myself. The work that needs to be done is an investment for my future self and for my family. I trust that I am capable of managing my time in a way that keeps me mindful of my health. And I trust that I’m going to be open and authentic with myself and take the time I need to heal if someone takes advantage of my hard work. So I’m really truly ready to release the wound that comes with work.

I’ll have to always be mindful because like I said in my last post, healing yourself is never done. Today, I’m so ready to move forward and have a healthy fear when it comes to house work, career work, and all the work. I’m ready to release all my limitations give my best efforts to those I love and pour my work into all the things I care about most.

Let’s see how it goes.