T.J. BROWN BLOG

Part of organizing your life is learning exactly what works for you. By trial and error and much money spent on shiny new organizers, I’ve learned that I’m not an organizer kind of girl. I like the idea of them, but the practice always drops off around the middle of February. For a long time I thought this indicated that I was meant to be a flake forever and ever.

I was wrong.

I just had to find the right combination of tools that worked for me. I discovered that I’m a weird combination of tech geek and an old school paper pusher. I don’t know why that’s so surprising—I love reading both hard cover books and on electronic devices.

For my calendar, I use Microsoft Outlook and my android. But my to do lists are done on a sheet of notebook paper that sits on my desk all day. On Sunday I write out what has to be done for the week. Then I make a to do list every morning based on both my calendar, my weekly list, menu, workout schedule and work schedule. The next morning, I toss the previous day’s checklist and start a new one.

My writing schedule is done on a year at a glance calendar and I have a notebook for blog planning.

For my household cleaning schedule, I use Martha Stewarts free printable check lists, and yes, I have a weekly list and a monthly list. (Hey, don’t judge!)

I also use notebooks to study and make research notes, though I do my actual research both online and with traditional books.

I think part of the reason why I use paper for so many tasks is that I’m on the computer quite a bit. Sometimes I just like to write stuff down and see it written on an actual sheet of paper. But that’s just me. Maybe the next generation won’t use paper organizing at all… but I think they’ll missing out on the joys that paper and ink can bring, not to mention the trip to the office supply store and all those lovely, brightly covered notebooks….

Like gazillions of people around the globe I want to start 2015 off better. Better than I was before. Better… stronger… faster…

Like the six million dollar writer. Huh. I wish.

Though resolutions are often sneered at, Chuck Wendig, writer extraordinaire, puts it really well on his blog, 2015 Resolution for Writers, where he writes that all human culture is basically artificial, but none the less significant to us. Yes! Personally, I like making goals. I enjoy dusting off last year’s goals, shuffling them around, playing with them, streamlining them, honing them.

I especially like achieving them.

I have a lot of goals this year but the main theme for the year is organization—because someone, whose aim in life is to do ALL THE THINGS, can’t afford not to have her shit together. And there are so many tools now to help me organize ALL THE THINGS so they won’t fly off into oblivion like My Little Pony on crack.

One of the many things I want to do this year is go deeper into my study of the writing craft. Continuing education is important, especially as I get older and I forget more things. I was putting together a lesson plan for a college class I teach and was again awed by the intricacies of the craft of writing—the loveliness of stringing words together to create a story.

So this year I’ve resolved to break out the craft books and study writing like I’ve never studied it before— scene, structure, plot, character, etc. I’m pretty excited and in honor of my year of organization, I made the following list of books I hope to read, (or reread), and study.

Break into Fiction by Mary Buckham and Dianna Love
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
Write Tight by William Brohaugh
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King

I broke out a notebook/planner for my writing studies and separated sections into topics like plot, scene building, characters, etc. As I read, I’ll put my notes under the appropriate topic and include the book and the page number. I think it’ll be easier for me to look up specific information that way.  I’m going to start with Break into Fiction because it comes highly recommended by my friend and author, Shirley Jump, and I’ve done an intensive with Mary Buckham that was phenomenal.

I can’t read any more than that because my schedule is pretty full, but I’m stoked for my independent study. My goal is to deepen my understanding of my craft. Too often, I read or hear something amazing and then I forget it on my way out to the garage to get something that I’ve also forgotten…

What was I going to say?

Anyway, that is one aspect of how I’m organizing my year. Are you trying to organizing your year? Have any good craft books to recommend?

image courtesy of Adamr at freedigitalphotos.net

Velvet Undercover is almost in the books so to speak and I have thrown my energies behind Fall River, my latest adult novel. I’m hoping to have that finished by mid December so my agent and I can revise it and get it out to editors come January. Then I’ll have copy edits on Velvet, as well as gearing up for my latest undertaking–earning that university degree. During winter term, I’ll be studying and trying to test out of some classes. Come spring, I’ll be enrolled in the university’s prior learning experience program, which is like testing out of a class, but instead of testing, I’ll be writing essays to prove that I already have the knowledge I would have gained had I taken the class.

Then there’s my day job, teaching 60 k-5th grade kids for three hours on a variety of topics and themes that I GET TO MAKE UP! So far this year, we have done Brussels, (during which we had an amazing sax player come in because the saxophone was invented by a Belgium dude), Pirates, (we had Heidi Shulz, the author of Hook’s Revenge in for that one) and national parks, (among many others). I really love coming up with new and creative ideas to teach because I get to learn about them myself. It’s so much fun!

Oh, oh, oh! I’m also teaching adult novel writing for Portland Community College’s community ed program and I really, really love it. So much so that I decided that I want to teach adults on a regular basis, which is one of the reasons I am going back to school to get my degree.

And yes, I am still running, cooking and eating too much food.

So I’m busy and while I’m busy being busy, there are things that  sort of slip away without me realizing it…Like spending time with friends for one. I have several friends whom I haven’t had lunch with for ages.  I have other friends who I need to have coffee with. I am trying to juggle all the things, but sometimes it feels like all the things are juggling me! So upfront, blanket apologies for anyone who feels like I’ve put them off, or let them down. I love you all and don’t really mean to.

Maybe I can’t really do ALL THE THINGS. I even have people who scoff at my mantra or even ask me with a certain amount of derision, “So how is ALL THE THINGS going for you?” Especially when I screw something up.

I want to ask them… precisely which of the things should I give up? Running and exercising? I’ve had cancer twice and need to take care of myself. Making good, quality homemade food? Ditto. Teaching adults? Sorry, I love it and it is great for my future career. Teaching kids? I love the people I work with and it helps pay the bills. Novel writing? I might as well stop breathing. Am I crazy to try to get my degree at my age? No.  It’s important for my future and my family and I think I have something left to give. A degree will help me give it.

So I’ll continue to try to juggle all the things… And sometimes balls will get dropped, but I will joyfully pick them back up and be grateful all the way to my toes that I have balls to juggle at all. (Okay, did that sound kind of weird and dirty, or is it just me?) But I do want to apologize for those people who feel like they have been dropped… I love you all!

I’m doing a time tracking exercise for my college course.

What I’ve discovered: Time management isn’t an issue because I aint got no time to manage. Take away my hour of collapse time with wine and a book or TV at the end of the day and I’m going to get really, really grumpy. I tracked my social media time and it totals about 30 minutes in little spurts throughout the day. Usually when I’m eating or during work breaks.

I tracked my time for three days and it looks a little like this:

5:00-6:00 Am: Wake up, get coffee, check emails, make daily to do list, get more coffee, check social media.

6:00-7:30: Household chores– unload dishes, do dishes,  make bed, fold any clothes, general straightening, have breakfast or snack if running. Check to see if there are any last minute preparations to make for school.

7:30-8:45: Run or work out

8:45-9:30: smoothie, coffee, respond to emails, set up work for the day.

9:30-1:00 Work, write, prep dinner, homework, meditate, household chores like dusting or vacuuming, etc.

1:00-2:15 Shower, get ready for work,  last minute things, grab food.

2:15-6:30: Go to work, work, come home from work

6:30-8:00: Finish making dinner, eat, clean up after dinner. Spend time with hubby, drink wine.

8:00-10:00: Last minute items for the next day, respond to email, read watch TV.

10:00 PM: Go to bed, listen to classical music on phone, play bejeweled until I’m tired.

Shampoo, rinse, repeat.

That’s just a typical day. Sometimes I have a ton of errands to run. Weekends are different, of course, and on Wednesdays, I write with friends at Panera.

The only spot where I can shave off time is that hour or so that it takes me to function and really get with it. So what college has taught me so far? I don’t really have time for college.

Unless someone has a way to make a 26 hour day. That would be cool…

Keepsake: Something that serves to keep alive the memory of a person or event

I have a hope chest full of keepsakes of both my own childhood and my children’s. My father made me the chest when I was a teen and it is one of my most treasured belongings, along with the desk he built for me. These are keepsakes. They remind me of the wonderful times I spent with my father.

But recently, I realized that I have a figurative hope chest as well. We’ll just call it Pandora’s Box and in it, I find all sorts of wrongs that have been done against me. I’ve always been pretty good about letting stuff go, but apparently, there are a few things in there that I’m hanging on to. Resentment against my parents, friends and family.

These aren’t keepsakes. They aren’t things I should treasure. Maybe they even hold me back from becoming the person I want to be, or the writer I want to be.

Action: Cleaning out Pandora’s chest, one festering item at a time. Or maybe all at once in a spiritual bonfire.

Image Courtesy of PONG at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Juncture: A particular, and often important, moment in time.

I was having a conversation with a dear friend, who, after many years of serving her family, is making major life changes and trying to figure out what it is that truly fulfills her. My advice ? Be careful what you wish for. Well, not exactly. Actually, I told her to be prepared for anything. That old hackneyed expression of finding yourself, especially for women, and especially for women in their forties, can mean many things. It could mean a complete career change. It could mean working full time and going back to school while juggling aging parents and grandchildren. It could mean moving across town or state or even to another country.

Like most things in life, it rarely means easy.

But it does mean recognizing a crucial  juncture in your life and taking advantage of it, which is why I’m going to go back to school to get a degree in English Lit and New Media. The time came and even though it makes no sense, I recognized the moment. I don’t know how it will end, or if it will really end, (see my post on connections), but at least I recognized the beginning.

Action: Be aware of important junctures in my life and take advantage of them.

Intentional: Full awareness of what you’re doing. Deliberate, purposeful.

The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates

I’ve watched many people who seem to be stuck on the proverbial hamster wheel, making the same mistakes over and over and never seeming to learn from them. I’m convinced that these people do not have the ability or the desire to examine their lives. I am also convinced that the more you examine your life, the more you begin to live intentionally. In my last blog, I wrote that I am beginning to really see my own life in a bigger way–what action leads to what consequence. This kind of awareness comes from looking at the events of your own life with a clear eye, not to blame, but to understand. Once aware of these patterns, it’s easier for me to look at my actions as part of the big picture. Knowing this, I want my actions to be intentional.

I think writing has really helped me see these connections. As I mold a story and develop the plot, I want every action to have a consequence that leads to another action, etc, until I finally arrive at the end of the story.

Isn’t that what life is like?

Action: Think before speaking and doing!

Harvest: (n) The quantity of an animal or vegetable product gathered at the end of it’s season. (vb) to Catch or collect a crop or natural resources for human use.

My tomatoes are coming on. The taste of that first tomato sandwich is like summer distilled for me. Nom. Though fall is the typical time for this type for harvesting, the type of harvest that comes from the old adage, you reap what you sow, can come at any time. I used to hate that saying because it was almost always used negatively,like a substitute for I told you so when some sort of catastrophe struck. But I’ve learned that the natural cause and effect of you reap what you sow can be positive, as well, and it’s a never ending cycle of reaping, sowing, harvesting. It’s like that movie Signs–each act or happening had consequences later. You may not be able to see them, but they are there. Right now, I am harvesting the benefits of running. My lungs are crystal clear, my cardiovascular system is strong, I can do physical work for much longer periods without getting tired. I can look back and finally see what led me to this point.

1. My mother smoke while pregnant with me.
2. I am patterned because I was raised in a house of cigarette smokers.
3. I start playing around and occasionally smoking cigarettes at age 13.
4. At age 14 I am addicted to tobacco.
5. I quit and start again for the next 30 some odd years.
6. At age 47 I am diagnosed with throat cancer.
7. At age 48 I take up running.
8. In the past year I have run two 5ks, one 10k and am training for a marathon. I ran ten miles last week.

Negative can lead to positive

Another example:

1. I learn to read at age 5
2. I write my first story at age 6
3. I fall in love with reading at age 8.
4. In the third grade, I read a biography on Louisa May Alcott and decide I want to be her. Since I can’t be her, I climb up into an apple tree and decide  to be a writer like her.
5. For the next thirty years I write on and off. I am NOT Louisa May Alcott. (But I am living my life and having experiences which later affect my writing.)
6. I start writing nonfiction for money.
7. I get lots of rejections and keep going.
8. Soon I’m in national magazines and am a contributing editor for Disney online.
9. In 2008  my first novel is picked up by Simon and Schuster
10. In 2011, I sell Houdini’s Daughter which becomes Born of Illusion.
11. I’m still not Louisa May Alcott.

Positive leads to negative leads to positive.

This concept of reaping and sowing and harvesting leads to perspective, which is not only helps curb my negative reactive behavior, but is also one of the keys to living a life of peace and gratitude.

Action: Look for the patterns in my life, especially when I am about to embark on a worry trip. Also, make some homemade ketchup.