creative writing – Atomic Slingshot Press

COVID 19 and Loneliness

With most people being locked in their houses, going on months for some, a sense of loneliness has spread across people. People are going crazy as no one can interact with anyone. It’s like a bar that needs to be filled up, Sims style.

Being a bit of an introvert, it didn’t take much for me to be content. For me, when I was working at a real job, I had a certain amount of social interaction with my co-workers. After I was laid off and I went back to school, I had some from my class-mates. I was able to use them to fill that bar.

With COVID, I haven’t talked to anyone I met in university. My need for social interaction is not coming from anyone I met there. Which is fine as the level of social interaction was face to face and not online. Most of them I talked to on campus.

In the course of both stages of my life, I spent some of it online. My online writing contacts were there. Is it enough to make me feel fulfilled?

Not really. Writing to someone in a chat is different than in person. There is video chat, but it still is not the same.

The reason I talk about this is not to complain about what I am going through. There are some that are going through worse time. This is to talk about how I didn’t see the social interaction I was getting. I thought I didn’t need social interaction.

This is not true. I need social interaction, like everyone else. I also doubt anyone who says they don’t need social interaction. Those scenes in I am Legend with the Will Smith character so lonely that he is talking to mannequins as if they are real. For the longest time, I never truly understood the scene. I never understood how a person could get so lonely that he has gone nutters.

Being locked up in my house, I can see that happening. Of course, my life is nowhere as secluded as the fictional character. Humans are social creatures, and we can’t get away from it.

In conclusion, I wonder how you have been reacting to being secluded in your home? Which secluded movie character do you identify with?

This journey is not something I can do alone. It takes support from many people for it to become a reality. The easiest way is to visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. They are available in all countries and for free on Kindle Unlimited. I do have a tip jar set up at Ko-Fe, where you can buy me a coffee. Or you can also visit me on Facebook. Your help and support are much appreciated.

Scraping the very Bottom

This blog post is not about running out of ideas as I don’t have that problem. It is also not about running out of money as I try not to talk about that.

This post is to talk about November 2018, but this isn’t about politics. I don’t talk about politics on this page.

In November 2018, I had hit rock bottom. My writing had flat-lined in terms of quality. I had no idea which mistakes I was making. I know I was making them, but I had no idea why or how to fix them.

I was also unable to write any length of work. I had seven different novels partially written, and I was unable to figure out how to fix them.

In short, I was ready to quit. I was going to give up and toss the towel.

I had written some novels, I knew I could do it again, but I was unable to figure out how to do it again.

Statistically, there is a higher chance for a novelist to quit as they are unable to finish the novel. However, I was getting into the part where I was going to quit due to the lack of progression.

For anyone reading this, who feels the same. This is not the time to throw in the towel. Think about all the time spent getting to the stage you are at. This is the time to double down and try again. It might be time to take a course or two. Or to spend money on an editor or critiquer.

This is not the time to quit. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

This journey is not something I can do alone. It takes support from many people for it to become a reality. The easiest way is to visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. They are available in all countries and for free in Kindle Unlimited. I do have a tip jar set up at Ko-Fe, where you can buy me a coffee. Or you can also visit me on Facebook. Your help and support are much appreciated.

Being Creative and Dealing with Distractions: Interwebs

Last week, I talked about the giant distraction creatives have to deal with called Children. However, they are only one of the many distractions we have to deal with. The big one I have to deal with is the internet.

Easy access to the plethora of human knowledge and the trillions of cat videos. This is an immense distraction that keeps me from writing as much as I’d like.

I understand it is a problem, and I can stop anytime. I just don’t want to.

In all seriousness, here are five methods I use to mitigate my internet addiction.

Five Methods to Keep Distractions at Bay.

Turn off the internet.
Go to a coffee shop/ library.
Keep track of internet time usage.
Take away visual and use it for noise.
Limit research.

Turn off the internet.

The easiest way to keep the distractions at bay is to turn them off. The internet is addicting, and it’s easy to want to do a straightforward thing, but get distracted by something on the internet. For those with no ability to limit themselves, turning it off is the best way to go.

For those that don’t know, at the bottom right of the computer is a simple internet button. Two clicks on that, and the internet is dead. For those that can’t control themselves, there is an ability to have your significant other enter a parental control password. Then not only is the internet off but then the creative must beg for the password.

Go to a coffee shop/ library.

One way to remove oneself from the distractions called the internet is to go down to the favorite coffee shop and sit there for a few hours. This is good if the internet is too accessible in the home. Coffee shop internet is never very good, being split between an untold number of different people. This is the perfect spot to get some work done.

This doesn’t mean to only go to a coffee shop, five dollars a day in coffee gets expensive. There are also libraries, which are good places to go to. There are also parks, malls, universities, etc that are all good places to go out to get work done.

Keep track of internet time usage.

For those with a good amount of will power, keeping track of internet usage time and turning it off when the set amount of time is up. I’m not this type of person. I can’t turn on and off the distraction. I don’t have enough will power.

But I know of a few people who can. They must have the focus of a God. It must be a great thing to be able not to get distracted by the internet. I assume its a learned skill but the amount of willpower needed sounds immense.

Take away visual and use it for noise.

One method is to let things play in the background. The idea is to turn on noise, music, commentary, etc. This is to train yourself to control the noise being played, especially for those that work in a noisy environment. By playing something in the background, the idea is to have something interesting to keep the focus on the noise, but not enough to maximize the tab and watch the video.

This is the method I tend to do more than any of the others. I will listen to music, but I’ve also been listening to documentaries while I work on my writing. I use headphones and they block other distractions from keeping me from getting the work done.

Limit research.

One of the greatest issues is squirrels. This is when the creative stops working and to do some “quick” research. This starts with good intentions but quickly goes off the rails. The creative needs to look up one issue, and then they blink for a few minutes to discover hours have passed. They have been watching cat videos for hours.

I’ve been here, I look up one detail on space travel. I blink to discover I have been watching police chase videos. This is a bad thing for getting anything done. To keep from doing it, I limit my research by either writing notes to do the research later, or by keeping it to the topic I need to lookup.

This journey is not something I can do alone. It takes support from many people for it to become a reality. The easiest way is to visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. They are available in all countries and for free in Kindle Unlimited. I do have a tip jar set up at Ko-Fe, where you can buy me a coffee. Or you can also visit me on Facebook. Your help and support are much appreciated.

Being Creative and Dealing with Distractions: Children

Some creatives must have uninterrupted time to be productive. They need the time, or else they can’t get anything done. Their process has been described as pushing a boulder up an icy hill. Near the top of the mountain, the slope shallows. It is at this point where they are the most productive. The longer the creative stays here, the farther along with the project they get. But the time it took for them to get there takes time, which is subjective to the creative.

On a typical day, the creative spends hours in the productive zone, where they only stop when exhaustion takes hold. At that point, they slid back down to the start, where the next day, they start again.

However, on a non-ideal day, one of the pitfalls that a creative need to navigate is distractions, usually by little non-furry creatures. Every time those little beings bug them, they lose focus and end up sliding back down the hill. This restarts the process and can stall the entire day.

This is a problem with me. I have two kids who tend to be distracting and want my attention. They are kids, after all. They get hungry, tired, cranky, and want to spend time with me. I understand there need.

But how do I get things done? I wrote over 527k words last year, and I plan to write over 600k words this year. So far, I’m on track to make my goals.

Five Methods to Keep Distractions at Bay.

Significant other.
Easy distractions.
Wake up early/ stay up late.
Write around their schedule.
Train self to work with distractions.

Significant Other

One way to keep on task is to have a blocker. Setting up a set amount of time to get the work done and having the significant other to handle the walking distractions. This works if you have someone willing to help you with that task. Not everyone has someone ready to help or available to help.

Easy Distractions

This gets easier as the kids get older. Books, TV, computers. They are all critical ways to distract the kids with something to get some words done. Plug in a two-hour movie with some popcorn and then get to work. Getting the distractions understanding that they need to leave you alone is the cornerstone of the method. Having an easy access bin of snacks for them to munch on is also helpful, though be prepared for mess and overeating of the snacks.

Wake up Early/ Stay up Late

This one takes some sacrifice of the well-deserved sleep. This means to get up an hour earlier while the distractions are sleeping to get a few hours of work done. Or, for those night owls, it means to stay up late and get the work done in the twilight hours. This still means a sacrifice of sleep, but every hour helps. Sacrificing time watching Netflix or the lunch break at work is another time to use.

Write around their Schedule

School, dance lessons, swimming lessons. The longer, the better. This means spending money in terms of dance lessons, etc. If they’re in school, this is 6 hours of free time. Keep this time safe, and don’t let anything steal this time. If there is money in the budget for some type of lessons, use this time to get some words done. Dance lessons are an hour in length, which is a large block of undistracted time.

Train Self to Work with Distractions

The stereotype of having the perfectly clean creative space and the hours of no distractions isn’t available for everyone. My writing space is in the living room. I can’t just shut the door and block out everyone. My significant other does have her own tasks to do. This means that I have had no choice to learn how to get productive once more distraction one and distraction two are whining. This is hard and doesn’t always work, but it’s the best long term solution.

This journey is not something I can do alone. It takes support from many people for it to become a reality. The easiest way is to visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. They are available in all countries and for free in Kindle Unlimited. I do have a tip jar set up at Ko-Fe, where you can buy me a coffee. Or you can also visit me on Facebook. Your help and support are much appreciated.

How to keep going when you don’t want to?

All this week, I have been down with what had started as a cold and now is bronchitis. It sucks.

But. I don’t get sick days. I have to produce every single day, or I won’t get things finished. There’s no one else to do this work for me. There is only me.

How to do it? How to keep going?

Motivation doesn’t do it. If I was only motivated, this post wouldn’t be getting written. I would go back to bed and not worry about it.

Motivation only lasts so long and will fold when confronted with real obstruction. Motivation is like eating pasta; it only lasts so long.

Discipline

Discipline will carry you forward through the hard times when the only option motivation tells you is that it’s okay to take a day off.

Discipline is like eating a hearty, filling meal with meat, vegetables and carbs. It is where someone feels full hours later and doesn’t want seconds or thirds.

Being Sick. Or what to do when you don’t feel like it.

When sick, many smart people tell me that it is okay to take a sick day. It is suitable for mental health, physical health and all of that. You will remember that a month ago, I had burnt out.

For me, I have a minimum daily word goal. For 2019, that number is 150 words. (That number will be increased for 2020 and will be discussed in another post.) No matter how I am feeling on any particular day, I will get at least that much. This won’t allow me to make my monthly or yearly goal, but it gives me the chance to recharge.

Which is also why I count my goal monthly. This gives me a day (or week) to freak out and write to make the yearly goal.

I do this for two reasons.

One.

I have yet to take a day off since the last week of December 2018. I don’t want to lose the streak. Some days, it is the sole reason I turn on the computer and hammer on the keyboard.

Two.

I have this fear: despite almost a full year of writing every day, that if I let a day go, then I will come up with an excuse for tomorrow. Then the next day, and the next.

I did this before. I have been successful for NaNoWriMo before, and I have never capitalized on the momentum. I have always taken a break, which turned into a leave of absence.

What does this mean for me?

Despite being sick and wanting to go to bed, and as soon as I hit the publish button, I will be looking at the story and will be writing. There will be some honey tea, some pain killers, and some butt in my chair.

What does this mean for you?

Call this “a push.” If there is something, you want to get done. Whether it is writing, getting in shape, drawing, working on small business, or whatever it is. Stop making excuses. They are all bullocks. Set a minimum daily goal, and preferred goal. If life gets in your way, and you can’t make the preferred, then get your minimum goal. Make up for it another day.

If you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavours, please sign up for my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. Your help and support are much appreciated.

First Week of NaNo.

As you may be aware, I’m attempting this year’s NaNo. But in my household, I’m not alone.

There is a youth program for NaNo. Where kids can pick there own goals to write their own novels. It teaches them the ability to work on a longer project. Its something many adults have an issue with as writing a book isn’t a sprint, it’s an endurance race.

My daughter, age seven, is going to write a 1000-word story about her favourite pokemon. My son, age nine, is witing a 5000-word science fiction short story about Zero-G dodgeball.

This is impressive for age. I’m proud they have started this project, and it didn’t take any coaching from myself. My son wanted to write a 50k word novel. I told him to begin with 5k this year and then increase it for the next. He is nine, after all.

For me, I’m not attempting the 100k. That goal evaporated. I’m trying to do 75k. This would be a 1.5 NaNo and double what I usually do each month. So far, I have managed to make my 2500 daily word goal.

Wish me luck? The month has only started.

Right before NaNo. Burn out.

This is going to be a short blog post. Sorry.

Nearly 300 days into this journey and I have hit a wall. Like a freight train running at full speed.

Well. Not that bad.

A week ago, I burned out. Everything became too much and I didn’t want to do any of it. I have school things piling up, the words are slipping as I struggle with starting Felix #3. Yes, that means I have finished writing Des #3 plus trying to catch up with my editing and my NaNo goals right around the corner. It was inevitable and I’m surprised I lasted this long.

Writing nearly 300 days in a row and accumulating over 400k words written, that’s an accomplishment.

So I took some time to myself. I didn’t loose the streak. That’s still going. Barely. This month, my count is going to be very low, but I managed to keep the 150 word min. Even though I didn’t want to. I still struggle some days to get words down.

I’m taking it one day at a time. As long as I get 150 words, then the day is a success.

I will be doing another post on burn out later. Once things clear up.

Stress, the creative flow, and being an “Artist.”

Being a Creative, (my wife would say artist) I have to deal with many different forces that want to dominate my time. These can range from getting groceries, going out to shop for things we “need,” giving out discipline to my kids as needed, being a father by playing with them, being a good husband for my wife, and trying to get my work done.

All of that causes stress.

For Creatives, this stress can be interpreted in one of two ways. It can either stiffly or encourage. Too much of it causes a creative drought that hampers creatives in their artistic aims.

I’ll start with the later of the two.

Some people thrive with deadlines, daily counts, and such. They use that stress to give them a fire to get things done. They may use the line, “You’ve got to be the hardest worker in the room.”

They will have a breaking point, however. At some point, they will run into where they can’t handle things. They will break and burn out. This is different depending on the person.

For the first, some people are stifled by the least amount of stress. They can’t handle any and will quibble at things like deadlines and daily tasks.

They get things done at a slower rate than those that love deadlines. They like doing things on their own timetables. They hate being told what to do. It just causes stress.

This, of course, is a sliding scale. Some can handle more stress than others.

The important part is to recognize where you are at and how to either use it to your advantage. Or how to avoid stress to increase your productivity.

Until next time, if you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavors, please sign up to my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. Your help and support are much appreciated.

Motivation vs Discipline

Being a creative, I hear all the time that people aren’t motivated to do artistic endeavors that day. It’s a sad thing as they don’t know the difference between motivation and discipline.

Meaning of Motivation from Dictionary.com:

The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

Meaning of Discipline from Dictionary.com:

The practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.

So what is the difference?

Motivation is only a desire or willingness to do something. While discipline is a practice of doing something. Discipline is the reason why someone will get up at 5 am to go for a run. Discipline is why a worker goes to work for “the man,” as getting fired is the most likely punishment.

If a person is only motivated, then it is easy to put off the unwanted task. Motivation can be ignored as there is nothing behind the motivation. The second part of the definition of “discipline” is that it uses punishment to correct disobedience.

So what happens if a person doesn’t go for a run that morning? Simple, they don’t improve, and then get behind in their training. If a person is only motivated, then it’s easy to shrug it off. A disciplined person will hate the idea of not improving. A disciplined person sees a lack of training as a failure.

For me, it isn’t motivation that keeps me going each day. It’s discipline. There’s no one standing over me with a whip making me do this. I’m working so hard with my writing because I want to. It’s my choice to improve my writing, and it’s my choice to use discipline to help me make my goals.

My discipline is to keep the writing going. I have managed to write 356k words and 251 days in a row since the beginning of the year. With my blog posts, it’s the fact that I have managed to write one every week. Those three facts have kept me going, especially on days like today, where I don’t have the motivation to do anything.

On days like today, where I have no intention to do anything. Where I’m tired, grumpy, and completely and utterly unmotivated, however, I am also disciplined. I have been doing this for 251 days in a row, and I’m not going to stop now.

If you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavors, please sign up to my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. Your help and support are much appreciated.

Figuring out your Dreams

This blog post isn’t about those that have a dream. It is for those people spinning their wheels, hoping one day they will do something great. This is also a follow up on last weeks post about feeling like you aren’t able to accomplish anything, yet you are working very hard at doing so.

The last point that I made that they aren’t thinking about their future. There thinking doesn’t go beyond next paycheque. People spend there time thinking about the ‘now,’ and not how to turn the ‘now’ into a better ‘tomorrow.’

Dreams are meant to inspire and push a person to become better in some way. It may be wanting a better career, or to own property, or to get those six-pack abs. But for those people without one, it almost feels like being in purgatory grasping at straws hoping to find a way out. Or digging a hole, wondering how to get out of it with the only solution being to keep digging.

How to get a Dream?

This is the million-dollar question. It’s also a fundamental question that no one really thinks about it. Either you have a dream, or you don’t. Those who have goals don’t understand how someone doesn’t have a dream. Those who don’t have no idea how to get it.

I find that most people have some sort of dream. Something deep within themselves they want to do. It is usually something hidden and secret. The fear is that the goal is a fragile thing that will shatter if there is any sort of attention placed on it. It is, therefore, best to keep it secret and hidden.

However, a hidden dream cannot grow a tough outer shell unless it has the attention to do so. There are haters in the world; people that either want to see the world burn or are jealous of what you want. In some cases, it is cause they look down upon you and don’t think that you are going to succeed. These people usually have no problem telling you what they think.

By being open with the dream, it gives you the chance to defend that dream and realize how much you want it. Cause if a hater can talk you out of it, then how was it what you wanted in the first place. It will also show any holes in the plan. These holes need to be plugged before they fester and rot the idea from the inside out.

For those who don’t have a dream, even one deep down inside; they have never thought about it, perhaps it is time to find one. You will find that once you have decided upon a dream or a goal, the necessary discipline, and motivation to push the ball forward is easier to muster. It is easier to make sacrifices if there is a carrot at the end of it all.

This is a hard process.

The first thing you need to do, whether you have a secret goal or no goal. It is to forget about the reasons why it can’t happen. Unless your goal is a truly impossible feat like living on Mars, then ignore the reasons why you can’t do it. I’ve seen many people with severe handicaps accomplish their dreams. They do wonderful things despite many reasons why not.

There is a paralyzed sailer wanting to circumnavigate the globe. Or wounded soldiers with an outlook on life that amazes me. These two are just a small example of people accomplishing things even though they have lots of reasons not to.

With the excuses out of the way and forgotten, the next step is to look deep into yourself. Not what your family wants. Or what your mother, father, brother, sister, wife, or kids want. They are unimportant at this point. They may or may not be valuable in the future, but that’s another question. The important part is to figure out what you want without excuse on why you can’t. An unsupportive family is the most significant excuse for people.

Once you have that dream in your head, it is the time to do research. This step will never end as if it is something that you genuinely want, you may become obsessed with it. This part is also essential as the do-gooders in your life will try and chop you down. You will need to have informational support to keep you upright.

Also, it is essential to develop a plan of action on how you could achieve the goal. (But that is a subject for another post). This point it’s also time to see if it is at any way possible to accomplish. It might mean going back and rethinking things in a more realistic light or figuring out a smaller dream that does the same job. Having a desire to own a real estate empire may be out of your reach, however, owning a rental house to start is an excellent first step.

This is the point where those who already had a dream and who had been hunting for one converge. It’s time to tell someone about the goal. You’ll find those critical people in your life are going to be supportive of you. Some may not, and that’s a loss for them. If you are worried some people aren’t going to be supportive, then it may be a time not to tell the nay-sayers.

Out of all those mental steps, the critical point is to dream big without any inhibitions. Once you get to the research phase, then it will be time to see how you can accomplish the goal.