by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I pride myself on being a productive writer. I keep to my deadlines, both self-imposed and contractual. I write each day and meet my goals.
It’s rare I get knocked off track. But I sure did this week. We had a water main break. Backhoes trenched from the street to our house to replace broken pipes. We had no water. Gardenia bushes were dug up (right when they were blooming!) Sewer lines were accidentally dinged with the backhoe (ugh). To add insult to injury, the break was on our side, not the city’s side, so the repairs were on our dime.
And we had house guests. :) I felt sorry for them. Heck, I felt sorry for me.
Yeah, I haven’t gotten much done…on the progression of the actual manuscript.
But what I do when these types of things pop up, and for most of us they will, is to do other work on the book or for my business. If I ever think I’m running behind, I start losing motivation.
Here are ways I stay productive and organized during a major disruption:
Although outlining definitely qualifies as a creative activity, it seems to tap into my left brain a bit. Maybe it’s the planning aspect of it all. This may not be a major outline…it may be lists of highlights I’d like to hit the next writing day.
Promo-related activities. Newsletters, social media updates, ads, etc.
Research. This could mean story research or learning a new skill. I’m currently learning how to format my own material and how to create Facebook ads.
It may even mean editing, which I don’t ordinarily do during a first draft. But it’s far easier for me to edit than write when I’m swamped.
When I’ve got a lot going on, it’s almost as if my brain is humming with so many different ideas for what to do next that I can freeze up. In this case, brain dumping tasks can help me be more productive (and sleep at night). These lists cover everything from book-related tasks to errands to anything else I need to take care of.
In the same vein, prioritizing tasks can be helpful when it feels as if everything needs to be done at once and I’m already behind.
The water is back on, the trench is filled in, and they’ve put down grass seed and straw. Despite the setback, I feel as if I’m going to pick back up again with no problems. Let’s hope.
How do you handle major disruptions to your writing schedule?
Tips for writing when faced with major disruptions: Click To Tweet
I do what you did: switch to left-brain activities, especially those I can do in short bits of time, or which I’d otherwise find tedious. When I’m overwhelmed or overbusy I find those calming rather than frustrating.
I also try to make time for daydreaming. On the maddest days we need daydreaming the most. Even 5 minutes staring out the window (or better, sitting outside staring at the lake) makes me so much more productive that I more than make up for the “lost” time.
Joel–Interesting…same for me. I find them relaxing when I’m stressed. And usually I might find left-brain things stressful.
Well, staring out the window was bad for me in this instance, but I get your drift. :) I’ve been too wound up to daydream, but that would likely be a useful activity for me.
That really sucked, especially since the break was on your side. Bet it’s a visit your house guests will never forget.
Doing those small, detail things make for good filler when I can’t write.
Alex–I know, right? I kept hoping the city would pick up the tab, but no. We filled up the tubs with water before the water was shut off. It was….rustic. :)
Oh, Elizabeth, I am so sorry to hear about the week you’ve had! Little wonder you’ve not gotten much done. I hope it’s easier next week. I like your ideas for getting things accomplished even when you can’t really sit down and focus on your writing. I’ve found, too, that those times are good times for things such as reviewing character sketches, checking work for consistency (e.g. does the character have the same name throughout the story), and those other things that need to be done, but don’t require quite as much peace and quiet.
Margot–I like the idea of checking for continuity changes during these types of events. Usually I find that work really tedious, but that’s just the sort of thing that would make me feel productive during this kind of interruption.
I’m sorry about your bushes, that would have bummed me out.
My problem is figuring out how to jump over to the right side of my brain when I need to be creative. Heck, I’d spend all day on the left side working out logical stuff like story structure if I could.
Ken–They were beautiful! I made the backhoe guy put them back in after they were done. He gave me a quizzical look and said, “Yes ma’am. Guess you like dead bushes.” :)
Sometimes to get the brainstorming/creative thing going, I’ll pretend I’m giving a blow by blow account of my story to someone who’s dying to hear about it. Helps me to move forward with the actual story.
Yikes, Elizabeth! And with guests, too! That’s like the oven dying right before Christmas dinner, or the fridge going kaput just before you’re hosting an ice cream station for the 4th of July block party. *raises hand*
I think it’s amazing that you are teaching yourself formatting. I use Scrivener, and I know you can format your books from there, but when I tried it, all I got was a hot mess and a lot of wasted hours. I guess I’m just not wired that way. *sigh*
Hope you have no more household disasters for while! Enjoy your summer. :)
Kathy–Oh no! Did you borrow someone else’s fridge?
I have a great and inexpensive formatter, but I do have to ask him to add in changes that I want to make to previously formatted works (ads, for instance, or a corrected book list, or even typo correction). So I was thinking that I could learn the skill, especially considering the number of books I have out and that I typically put out. But I had to make lots of notes to myself so that I’d remember how to do it the next time. I hope I didn’t waste my time.
Yep, for some things, but everyone was short on space. We put ice in a cooler outside.
I would really love to learn formatting, too – after the link for reviews is available, you can put that back into the ebook at the end. And there are always little corrections that come up. ;)
Kathy–If only there were more hours in the day!
So sorry about the water problem and the cost to you. Hope things are going well for you and your family otherwise. When I get frazzled, jigsaw puzzles seem to be the best thing to relax me. It calms my monkey mind. Dancing will do it, too, but if I’m too tired, puzzles work well.
Karen–That seems like a left-brain activity to me, too. It’s funny how tapping into the left brain can be calming!
I wish I could dance. The clumsy thing isn’t helping me out. :)
Elizabeth – A trench conveniently dug in the front yard under the gardenia bushes (supposedly for a water pipe replacement) sounds like a good place to bury a body and then to be able to keep an eye on it (for a murder mystery) or in case it rises up (for a cozy zombie mystery). That sounds like perfect stimulation for a murder mystery writer’s brain.
Ellen–Yes! That would be perfect. :) We actually had a very, very frugal friend when we lived in Alabama and he did his own pipe work in his yard. But he worked during the day, so he was always digging at night. I kept thinking that his neighbors must be very, very suspicious!
Excellent zombie point! With the cozy zombie tale, I’d have to make sure that the zombie rising from the trench isn’t *too* decomposed, to keep things cozy. :)
Oh my! I thought these things only happened to little ole me. ANY change in my life (like summer vacation) throws off my momentum.
Teresa–It’s tough to keep to a schedule in the summer!
Elizabeth, this sounds like my summer two years ago–our (only) car broke down, our neighbor’s house burned to the ground, our sewer backed up all over the basement, and my father died, all within a 36-hour period–oh, and it was on and around the 4th of July, further complicating communications and repairs. It was surreal.
I relate to the other comments, the way ANY change in my life throws me off my stride, the way I can sock away images and information gleaned from things like roto-rooting, playing online Sudoku to zone out and calm down, etc.
I do not know if I could have recovered from the loss of gardenia bushes, though. You have my condolences. I also think you now have some excellent fodder for a Myrtle Clover mystery.
Meg–No, your summer sounds much, much worse! Awful for you. And you’re right…it starts getting this really surreal tinge after a while (our year 2000 was like that). And over a holiday? That’s always the worst.
And a very good idea about socking away images and characters from the experience. And general knowledge. Like….I’ve learned that water bubbling from a sidewalk is a very, very bad sign. :)
Yes, I’m kind of sick over the gardenias. They’re very dead. I’m turning into a Southern Gothic crazy woman. Except instead of a rotting corpse upstairs, I’ve got dead gardenia bushes that I made those poor men replant. I think Myrtle would definitely sympathize.
Sewer disaster? Front lawn dug up, all on my dime, with house guests? Not a problem, Elizabeth. Using both my left and right brains, I focus all my attention on the task at hand, and mix myself a generously proportioned rob roy.
Barry–Johnnie Walker is a friend of mine, too. :)
Horrendous.
Of course, throw in some bones under the bushes and the first third writes itself … Depending on the house guests .
I can think of a couple who might make the whole mess into an interesting tale. Everybody has a relative they can’t quite shut off. If that relative spent 20 in homicide in Chicago, well. Practically a series.
Jack–I think if I were my houseguests, I’d have wanted to murder the hosts. :) Sort of vile going to someone’s house and then basically having a camping experience. That might make a good twist on a mystery!
Oh crumbs … how very difficult, very unfortunate and a pain in the butt: however it all happens, gets dealt with and the warm wind comes by once again! Probably the dime aspect will appeal to challenge you … to pay it off with more books?! Mystery murder – from a bust water pipe … love the ideas above …
Glad it’s over and you’re on track or getting there once again .. cheers Hilary
This is very timely, Elizabeth. I’ve had so much on my plate lately…work projects and family…that I haven’t been doing much writing. I’ve also slacked in my book promoting. I am hoping to turn a work project into a non-fiction book down the road, but it’s going to be a while. Maybe I should call this phase “research” and be happy with it. I do, however, miss fiction writing and hope to get back to it soon. Your post is full of great tips, as usual.