Category: pep talk for retirees

Showing up…that first 100 words

100 words in calligraphy

Handwritten, not typed.

It’s a variation of Julia Cameron’s morning pages, but I found that setting that simple goal made it easy to squeeze them in before the dog insisted on his morning walk.

Benefits:

I always went well past the prescribed 100 and that last 50 words always seemed to set my mind in the right direction.

It felt good to start shaping my own productive habits. At times, I even forced myself to write that first 100 while my coffee and breakfast sat within easy reach. [Now that’s serious!]

It reminded me I had already created this template that I used successfully…but evidently not so successfully that I forgot about it. [Go figure.]

Next Post: More gold star moments…

Showing up…the key to my reinvention

man at MacBook laptop

Yes, while I, like a ‘few’ others, tend to procrastinate, I have been consistently showing up to my creative projects.

But I wanted to be more mindful about my work.

So I figured, why not issue myself a challenge?

I happened across this three-minute TED Talk on trying something new for 30 days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNP03fDSj1U

I shrank that to five days.

Why so few?

Four reasons:

  1. I just wanted to observe my process of mindful ‘showing up’–30 days would have been a drain.

    1. There are tons of anti-procrastination tips to try out, but I wanted to create my own, style them after my own inclinations.

  3. There’s no reason I couldn’t move beyond the original five-day target

  4. And, of course, I’m a wimp.

And so, here is Lesson 1 from my challenge…

National Novel Writing Month update: I won’t make the 50,000 word goal, but I’ve accomplished what I wanted. I’ve spent ‘quality’ time [i.e. good focused effort] on two writing projects.

Another creative reinvention project

National Novel Writing Month

Sometimes, you just need to lay down an insane, ‘stretch-yourself-beyond-comfort’ challenge.

Writers: It’s not too late. Join me. https://www.nanowrimo.org/

And hey, even if you crank out 20,000 words, that’s probably tons more than you had planned for this month.

This is an offshoot of my self-imposed ‘showing up’ challenge from three weeks ago. More on that later.

https://inventwithwords.com/2019/11/04/i-should-be-writing-duuuhhh-i-am-writing/

How to Draw Yourself Out of a Creative Funk–New York Times article

faceless man with cloud over his head

Greetings fellow creators.

The title of this piece says it all.

Author and artist Malaka Gharib shares these tips:

  1. Set an Extremely Tight Deadline      She suggests a word count or a time limit.

  2. Take Advantage of How Little Time You Have.

  3. When You Don’t Know Where to Start, Look Around.     Okay, go ahead, call it ‘eavesdropping’ or ‘spying’. Hey, no malice intended. You’re just trying to be an artist!

  4. Draw On Your Memories (Or Just Draw Your Memories)     Think of how evocative the old family album can be. Tap the power of those photos in your mind.