No-Bitch-Zone
I had one of my most productive days on Monday. I couldn't tell you why Monday was different than other days. I just moved from file to file, wip to wip, email to email. I wasn't operating on all cylinders. My knee still hurts like an S.O.B. My head still hurts--not quite like an S.O.B. I still had that Demon Baby running around here. In fact, if you want to know what a typical morning before dawn is like with him, read this. I still had a lot of personal stress. My checkbook still didn't balance. I still had more bills than money. But . . . I just had told myself to suck it up. No complaining. No sighing. No bitching. Just do it.
A few years ago, I wrote this hardcover book for Prentice Hall with one of my best friends, who is a family psychologist. I had a six-figure freelance career working from home, long before anyone had ever even really heard the term "telecommuting" or "job sharing" or any of the things that are fashionable now. She had given up her corporate office for a home office after adopting a little boy and, in the blink of an eye, her whole world changing. We had a very nice editor--a guy, very hard-driven and smart, and Type A. And I will never forget our "power lunch." In talking about work and career he said something along the lines of, "I try to convey to my kids how lucky they are to be kids, because once you graduate college and have a career, absolutely NO ONE except your parents really gives a shit about your problems." And I was struck by how right he was.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have this blog precisely because I DO care about other writers' struggles. I feel cared about by other writers here. By my best friend. By my PARENTS (he was right there, for sure). By my sisters. But in the end, I can't write your book for you. And you can't write mine. I can commiserate. But in the end, it is absolutely about . . . sticking your ass in a chair and just doing it.
Nothing magical happened on Monday. Nothing at all. But I also didn't let myself complain. I didn't sigh. It was a No-Bitch-Zone. I just did it.
And maybe that's just the secret for productivity. I don't know. I'll try bitching today and see what it gets me. :-)
Maybe, in thinking about it, Monday was so productive because I realized I really LIKE what I do. Even the really difficult times of being a writer are better than . . . well, any other job.
Thoughts?
A few years ago, I wrote this hardcover book for Prentice Hall with one of my best friends, who is a family psychologist. I had a six-figure freelance career working from home, long before anyone had ever even really heard the term "telecommuting" or "job sharing" or any of the things that are fashionable now. She had given up her corporate office for a home office after adopting a little boy and, in the blink of an eye, her whole world changing. We had a very nice editor--a guy, very hard-driven and smart, and Type A. And I will never forget our "power lunch." In talking about work and career he said something along the lines of, "I try to convey to my kids how lucky they are to be kids, because once you graduate college and have a career, absolutely NO ONE except your parents really gives a shit about your problems." And I was struck by how right he was.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have this blog precisely because I DO care about other writers' struggles. I feel cared about by other writers here. By my best friend. By my PARENTS (he was right there, for sure). By my sisters. But in the end, I can't write your book for you. And you can't write mine. I can commiserate. But in the end, it is absolutely about . . . sticking your ass in a chair and just doing it.
Nothing magical happened on Monday. Nothing at all. But I also didn't let myself complain. I didn't sigh. It was a No-Bitch-Zone. I just did it.
And maybe that's just the secret for productivity. I don't know. I'll try bitching today and see what it gets me. :-)
Maybe, in thinking about it, Monday was so productive because I realized I really LIKE what I do. Even the really difficult times of being a writer are better than . . . well, any other job.
Thoughts?
Labels: productivity
posted by Erica Orloff at 7:23 AM
22 Comments:
Right you are, Erica. The only way to do it is to do it, and nobody's going to do it for us.
That said, you know the rewrite I'm working on? Well, my agent called a couple weeks ago to see how it was going and all I could report was that I'd done more cutting than writing and I made excuses about quitting smoking and not being able to concentrate and all. He was very nice and congratulated me for giving up cigarettes...but I'm sure what he really wanted was THE DAMN BOOK IN HIS HANDS.
It's still going slow, but I am making progress. Maybe I'll get it done before he scratches me off his client roster. NO EXCUSES! JUST DO IT!!!
Any you blokes got a cigarette?
Hi Jude:
LOL! I have been in your shoes. But then . . . I have been there and some . . . burst of creativity comes. So hopefully that's around the corner.
E
Hey, congratulations, Jude! Good luck!
I find it enormously irritating that my productivity and teaching are dependent on my hormones. I'm thinking of going on thyroid supplements. Frankly, my mother was hell for years, and when her thyroid imbalance was discovered after sixty (every woman in our family seems affected), the drugs completely changed her personality. She's, like, relaxed and happy. I don't know, I hate the idea of it, but my life is way too influenced in negative ways by hormones. I seem to have limited mind-over-matter control over it.
And they're just hormones! Why do they have such power???
Hi Spy:
Have you thought of trying acupuncture? So much of the philosophy is about balance, and more and more it's used to treat mood (hormones). Might be worth a try . . . .
And believe me . . . This is a house with three women in it. (well, one is 10, but . . .) . . . I hear ya.
E
No bitching? Darn! Guess I better get my cranky ass outta here! =)
Monday was probably productive because after all the trauma of last week, your deadlines and hundreds of emails looked like a cake walk....Not to suggest you should nosedive on a sidewalk regularly just to make the everyday pressure smaller but...
Guess I better get my crazy ass outta here!
Lainey:
That's it. I purposely flung myself to the pavement outside Grand Central so I could feel gratitude. :-) How every . . . intuitive of me to know what I needed as a writer.
;-)
E
Every day my wife comes home from work and tells me about how insane the people are she works with--all their numerous problems and excuses and how hysterical they act and how everything, EVERYTHING is an excuse to not get things done.
It's the same in any job, I think. Nike probably has it right: just do it.
Sure, it helps if you're enjoying what you do, but focusing on WHAT YOU'RE DOING probably helps a lot.
Great sentiment behind this post. Over the years I have come to realize there is no secret, or magic formula to writing success. The authors who get published, and especially stay published, do so by hard work and persverance.
Erica, you inspire me, doing so much with all you have going on in your life. I've decided I need to turn off the internet at least three hours a day to work on my writing. I can get a lot done in three hours. No excuses.
Mark:
It's the Buddhist approach. Be in the moment. No future. No past. Just focus.
E
Travis:
You know, after a certain point, if you've got some talent and you're dedicated to learning your craft, you can get "good enough" to be published. But then there's this whole persistence and drive thing that makes you keep going in the face of this being a totally insane, demoralizing at times, exhilerating at others business.
E
Edie:
I srufed a lot less on Monday. Mostly aimless newsreading. I am focused on Tibet . . . and so I read on that each day, check for what's going on, what's going on with the Olympics (which I find disgusting that they're being held in China), but as for the mindless BBC newsreading and so on . . . I didn't do it.
E
But an occasional whine feels good....
But you're right. Not conducive to productivity.
christine:
Believe me . . . I can whine with the best of them. :-)
E
Dude, You got blurbed by Bill O'Reilly! ;-)
Heather:
LOL! I know. I used to edit his novels (Those Who Trespass was one I worked on for him). He is JUST like you see on TV. :-) And very loyal, I have to say.
E
Wow, Erica, I didn't know the Bill O'Reily thing! Whoot! And you truly inspire me, what can I say? It's all about butt-in-chair, I agree. Thanks for the daily pearls I always find, and benefit from. :)
Hi Ladonna:
Well . . . my politics and his . . . . (put it this way, I don't watch his show). But he happens to be quite smart. And like I said, a loyal man to the people he knows. He doesn't forget his roots.
E
This is SO true. When you write, you can go out and lie in the sun when the sun comes out. You can't take a fifteen minute break to get your rays anywhere else.
And I totally agree, it's so much just about doing it, and forgetting all the excuses and all the ways to put it off. Part of getting published I know has to do with luck. But I believe it's a tiny tiny part.
More is tenacity, and productivity. Nike had the right idea I think.
zoe:
Even after you get published, there's a big degree of just sticking with it. I think it's one of those careers that's always going to be about sticking with it.
E
Yup. Sucks huh? It should just get ridiculously easy after publication. :P
Zoe:
LOL!
If only.
E
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