Rewards One Self (Last Post in the Time Management Series)

Hey guys,

Hope all had an a amazing weekend. If you guys need a new book to help you over the mid-week slump, remember Witch & Wolf releases on March 12, 2014 on Amazon and Smashword. Pick it up, you will enjoy it. Now onto the last Time Management skill I would like to share with you guys.

Last and my favorite part of managing my time is: to reward myself for achieving the goal. Don’t have to be some expensive or grandiose thing. A simple walk outside, or even a couple days away from writing to relax with a great book or two. Could always share your reward with your lovable friendly doggie, and take it for a walk. (Okay, last two are ones I actually do for myself)

Point is after reaching a goal there needs to be some kind of reward. Helps keep you motivated to set another one and shows outwardly, and inwardly that you’ve achieved a major task. Something that I think always needs celebrating. So, I suggest you make a list of rewards that works for you.

This concludes the Manage Writing Time series. Hope you each got loads from it, as well as saw ways to apply it to other areas of your life. Wiring is amazing, but it’s not everyone’s dream. Most of these things can be used to manage time for anything.

Have a great week and don’t forget about the release of Witch & Wolf by Julia & Vickie Matthews on March 12, 2014 on Amazon and Smashword.

Let Imagination Soar

Write and Read With Creativity

Julia Matthews

Get rid of all distractions. & No Blank Pages

Hey guys,

Hope all has had a great weekend. Mine was busy. Was busy moving to a new apartment Sat. If you’ve ever moved you can image just how amazing it is that I got this post wrote. The last couple of weeks have been crazy around my place between packing, and preparing for the release last week. Both of which were great ways to put into motion the time management skills I’ve been discussing the last few Mondays. It also leads into the first one I’m discussing this week.

Get Rid of All Distractions.

Distractions while writing are sometimes hard to get rid of. If you’ve got kids, then they may never go away. If you live with a roommate, they may never go away. Yet, there are some that can be eliminated. By doing so we have created us a nice creative atmosphere.

So, I challenge my fellow writers to figure out what distracts them. If it’s an alert of an email, then disable that function on your email program. If it’s the cell phone, then put it on vibrate, or cut if off. If it’s a TV, then don’t put one in your writing area.

No matter what distracts us, there’s ways to eliminate or lower the amount it achieves doing so.

The next one that I’m discussing this week can be viewed as a type of distraction or more of a nuisance in my opinion.

Oh no, the DREADED BLANK PAGE.  I’ve dreamed of this before, and in that dream the page came to life and wrapped itself around me, squeezed me till my guts felt like they would pop out. Not a fun dream. Not one I’ want others to experience and is what got me into the habit of planning out what areas I would hopefully work on the next day. By doing this, I didn’t have to face a blank page and take precious time figuring out what I wanted or needed to accomplish in my writing that day. Helps do away with stress and nightmares.

There are several ways this can be done, but ultimately it’s up to the writer. A few ways I’ve heard of and actually use are:

-       Jotting down what part of your outline you want to address the next day

-       Stopping dead center of a chapter

-       Brainstorming for the next day’s writing time.

-        

No matter which way you chose to, it couldn’t hurt to try it.

Hope all has a great upcoming week and enjoy reading. I’m going to go finish this dreaded unpacking before I it consumed me like that dreaded blank page does.

Let Imagination Soar

Write and Read With Creativity

Julia Matthews