So often when we talk about writers, we talk about their physical spaces as being crucial to what and how they write. But it seems to me that “place” where writers write is more of an internal construct than an external construct. This idea was validated for me when I read psychologist and creativity coach Eric Maisel’s terrific book, A Writer’s Space, which I reviewed here.

In our space, he says, “Like a surgeon, your goal is to focus. You want to muster your resources and canalize your energy.”

Canalize. Is that the perfect word or what?

He also says, that we are not merely seeking “a quiet room” but also “mental health.” In other words, we are seeking that sane inner space as well as the calm external space before we even start to write. And in my experience these are both prerequisites for successful productivity.

I know that I write better without interruption (although ironically I am being interrupted as I type this sentence by my daughter who wants me to come and see her latest acrobatic trick). This is why I typically get up early to write when the house is as quiet and still as it gets (with the exception of the cats, who are typically pretty active at this time).

I also like to write when the house is empty. When Jason and Samantha are at school, for example. Or in the summer mornings, if they have gone over to the high school so Jason can work at his desk there.

I know that I am a morning person. I know that I do my best and most productive writing in the morning. When all else fails. When I have to write in the afternoon or evening, I try and remove myself to the most quiet spot in the house like the basement or out on the patio under the Redwood tree. Whatever it takes.

A lot of the movies that depict mom writers portray them running away from their life circumstances. This was the case with the film “Motherhood” (2009) with Uma Thurman.

Chaotic as home life can sometimes be when you have a family, I don’t relate to this depiction of the frustrated would-be mom writer fleeing her life because my most productive years as a writer have come since motherhood, not before.

I think the premise that makes writing and life all work together under one roof for us is that everyone in the family has creative work that is important to him or her and it is the job of each person in the family, which operates as a team ideally, to support the goals and dreams of each of the other members of the family.

I suppose this requires a lot of understanding and flexibility on all of our parts, but it has also become so habitual that it feels completely natural at this point.

So if Samantha needs help mastering her bridge back-bend, we support her in that.

If Jason needs help working on his play prep for “Les Mis,” we support him in that.

And if mommy (that’s me) needs time and space to write her book, they support me, too.

There is no room for keeping up with the Jones(es) around here. We could care less what the Jones family is doing. We are not in competition with them. Nor do we wish to be like any other family other than our own.

Though, naturally, we wish them the best of luck with all of their creative projects.

How do you balance writing time and the needs of your family?

Does everyone under your roof get to have and pursue their dreams?

How does this uphold their desire for self-expression?

And is your family happier as a result of family members supporting family members?

I look forward to your insights.

Photo by afterthetone

I am often asked by writers if I can work with them.

I can! And I do. All the time.

The only caveat is that I work with writers in fairly specific ways. I work mostly with moms who want to write nonfiction. I work mostly with women. And I only work with writers who plan to succeed.

In fact, after years of steady work, one of my students landed an agent last week. Yahoo! Several of my former students have first books coming out this year. And I could not even count how many former students were published in June, I’m sure.

On top of all of this teaching work, I actually do my own work too (somehow). In fact, on Friday, I received an offer on a third book with Writer’s Digest that I am VERY excited about. (Won’t be able to reveal details about this book until everything is nailed down, though, so bear with me.)

So, now that I am swinging back into book-writing mode, I am thinking about how I will structure my time as carefully as possible so that I can write the best book possible.

This Fall, I am offering four classes, hosting two classes for Abby Green, working with three Dream Teams, and phone coaching former students (in my copious spare time).

Often folks want to work with me who have not taken classes with me before, which is challenging because I strongly prefer to work with former students. So, if you’d like to work with me, the best way to become a former student is sign up for one of the upcoming Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff classes. This helps me get to know you and it helps you get to know me, and then we can work together better. The skills you will learn and practice will come in handy in any nonfiction writing career and the September class will be completely updated.

So, if  you are ready to write this Fall and you would like to work with me, I would welcome the opportunity to work with you.

I offer classes that can stand alone or build on each other over time. The vast majority of students who have gone on to become authors have taken repeated classes with me over time. Others are just happy to learn how to earn money writing about topics they enjoy. Hope to work with you soon:

Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff

Personal Essays That Get Published (with Abigail Green)

Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform

Pitching Practice: Write Six Queries in Six Weeks

Dream Teams (Article Writing, Advanced Article Writing, and Platform Development)

As you may know, I always offer copious free and inexpensive opportunities to learn with me. You can read about them here. I am also the author of two traditionally published books and one e-book. Over the summer I will be adding more offerings with low-price tags. Subscribe to The Prosperous Writer e-zine in the upper right-hand corner to get and stay in the loop.

Here’s to our mutual success!

~ Photo by ElyceFeliz

Over the many years that I have been in business working both for myself and others, I have had to develop policies.

I think this makes perfect sense because, after all, and as I just said, I am in business. I work with lots of different people in lots of different types of situations, and naturally, when things don’t go well (meaning in a way that is win-win-win for everyone involved), the onus is on me to develop a policy so things will go better next time.

Policies of mine have arisen from the following types of questions:

Do I work with friends and family? (I have a policy for that.)

Do I want to supply the labor for your four-hour work week? (I have a policy for that.)

Do I offer refunds for my classes if a students poops out part-way through? (I have a policy for that.)

We have a conflict of interest, will I work with you/for you? (I have a policy for that.)

Most of my policies are internal policies. Which is to say that they exist in the back of the house, where I work. I don’t broadcast them in the front of the house, where I am visible. Policies are developed and brought into play on an as-needed basis.

I have found that because I have policies, I rarely need to use them.

Something important I’ve learned in the past ten years is that people have starkly differing views on how business should be conducted. In fact, I think I’ve seen the whole spectrum at this point, from those I respect and trust and want to partner with all the way to those who are presumptuous and have decided in advance what I am going to do for them and how they are going to benefit from my efforts without treating me with any kind of respect.

The hype of how the Internet has changed everything and now we are just one great big happy family has worn thin and given way to clearer and more healthy boundaries, for me and my business.

These clearer and more healthy boundaries have helped me create a clearer and more effective business. My students definitely benefit from my clearer focus. My writing also benefits. The amount of projects I can bring to completion have gone up.

I still can’t keep up with my inbox, however. And that’s even after changing my address.

Perhaps I need a policy there. Or at least a better system.

Friends respect your policies. People who don’t respect policies have words for people (particularly women) who have them. I won’t use that word here.

Some might feel that the new laws of “transparency” dictate that I reveal all of my business policies and every detail about the way I run my business in the front of the house. But that’s ridiculous.

In fact, one of my newest policies relates to preventing seemingly nice people who are “my biggest fans” from robbing me blind.

And I can tell you how to do it.

By having policies.

~ Photo By Terry Balin

My iPhone is plugged in and charging in the kitchen as I type this blog post on my laptop in the sunroom when the phone starts to ring.

Am I going to get up and go get it?

Nope.

Because I’ve got something to say and you can bet that as soon as I pick up that phone and say, Hello?, I will lose my train of thought.

The phone is ringing again. This person is persistent. They clearly think I should answer the phone.

Am I giving in?

No.

By the way, my daughter is with my husband right now. His call has a special ring, so I would know if he was calling. And, naturally, I would answer.

Ditto if my daughter was at school, and I hadn’t programmed a special ring from the school (I haven’t yet), and the phone rang, I would immediately get off my duff and go check the phone to make sure it wasn’t an emergency call regarding her.

That’s just how working moms are. We have our priorities. They are not negotiable.

Everyone else can wait. At least when I’m focused on my work and there is nothing else so critical as to merit my immediate attention.

Writing takes concentration. Administrating my career also takes focus. Maintaining my schedule of what I choose to freely give also takes considerable time and energy. Why would I give my time, my most valuable resource, away to others?

If you are having trouble with focus, let me run down a quick list of things for you of things that can probably wait:

• E-mail reading and responses can wait.
• Social networking, including all of the usual suspects, can wait.
• Paperwork can wait.
• Chatting with girlfriends can wait.
• Planning your family trip to Disney or your business trip to New York can wait.
• Perhaps blogging can and should wait. (For me, today, it could not wait. Other days, it certainly can.)
• Sales calls coming in not only can wait, those people can be put on a do not call list.
• Anyone who thinks you just sit home and play on your computer all day can definitely wait (and needs to be gently reminded that you are a working professional with a daily work schedule and deadlines).
• People who want to create drama can not only wait, but you should put them on special rings that make doom and gloom sounds because that’s the impact they are going to have on your career.

Basically, if you are a working writer, the only people you should allow into your workday are those who respect you and your time.

You will recognize them because they  will either come right out and ask, “Is this a good time to talk?” or they will send you non-urgent e-mails that you can reply to when it’s convenient for you. Certainly, they will never take it personally or feel rebuffed if or when you say, “Sorry, I’m busy. I can’t talk/tweet/meet right now.”

And, naturally, there are plenty of situations you cannot ignore. You will decide what they are and respond to them more spontaneously.

Part of being a grown-up is not getting thrown off your game by someone else dictating when and how you should be available to them.

I was a late bloomer when it came to becoming a grown-up. I have since witnessed sixteen-year-olds who are so good at managing their time that I am in awe of their self-respect.

I would like to be in awe of your self-respect too. I would like you to be available when you wish to be available and not available when you’d really rather not be. And please don’t feel like you have to apologize for your lack of availability.

It’s not up to me how much time you spend with your arms wide open. It’s up to you.

Capitalize on your ability to choose when you are available and when you are not available. It’s the only way you’ll get your work done. It’s the only way to succeed in the long run as a creative.

Photo by dragontoller

In my first book, Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids (Writer’s Digest Books 2007) I said, “Writing is a rhythm, not a formula.”

What I meant is: Writing success comes from finding your rhythm, not following someone else’s formula.

In a recent interview over at Key Business Partners, LLC, I said: “Writing career success is all about finding your rhythm and then repeat, repeat, repeat.”

In 2010, I wrote a column for “The Writer Mama” e-zine on the topic of mom writers finding their success rhythms across all the kinds of tasks that mom writers must focus on, which include Craft, Pitching, Platform-building, and Professional Development.

So do you think I think that every writer needs to find his or her own rhythm in order to be successful?

Yes. I think that’s pretty obvious.

I have my own rhythm, you have your own rhythm, and I really don’t believe that any two rhythms are alike. I just know that a writer has got to find her rhythm and then groove in it.

But never has it been as clear to me how true this is than when I watch the participants in my Dream Teams, writing for publication and platform practice groups that began in January.

As soon as someone checks in with the group, I can tell if this person has found her rhythm and if she is groovin’ it or if she’s still struggling to find her rhythm.

You want to know why?

Because a person who has found her rhythm has momentum and a person who hasn’t found their rhythm is always trying to get some momentum going.

Now, don’t think I can’t relate to needing/wanting/trying to get momentum going. We just moved and I have been missing my momentum for a couple of weeks now.

But here’s the thing about momentum, once you’ve had it, and experienced your own groove for any length of time, it’s easier to get it back when and if you lose it.

Let me rephrase that: if you are a writer mama, you will lose your rhythm at some point. This is practically a given. You might lose your writing rhythm, your pitching rhythm, your platform-building rhythm, or your professional development rhythm–you might even lose them all at the same time, as I have recently.

But the good news is, once you’ve had any of those, you can quickly pick them right back up and move forward again. Because you know what it feels like. You have the muscle memory to get yourself back into your groove.

The purpose of my Dream Teams is to help writers find, experience, and sustain their own momentum for a sustained period of time. And then they really don’t need me busting their chops any more. At least not for awhile, because once you’ve got rhythm, you’ve got it.

And I love that. Because I am not in the business of trying to get writers hooked on me or addicted to me or thinking that I am going to be their ticket to success.

No. I am very clear. And I have always been clear that you are the ticket to your own success. The only thing I can do for you, as a teacher, is help you find your groove. And then you are on your way…

How about you? Got rhythm? Share your thoughts.

P.S. This post undoubtedly contains typos. I just moved. Cut me some slack in this department, please.

Photo by Bess Grant

Okay, whiteboards aren’t really magic, unless you know how to use them.

What do I mean by that? Well, just as traditional list-makers understand the value of getting their ideas out of their head’s and onto their to-dos, white board scribblers know how to get an inanimate piece of magnetic plastic to tell them what to do.

I’ve already discussed in part one of this discussion, how I like to doodle my way to a fleshed out idea. I know lots of people do. But I don’t stop there. Once an idea starts to get legs,  it’s time to put the initial action steps up on my office white board.

Otherwise, an idea would remain an idea, instead of getting a chance to grow into an experiment.

I keep the usual suspects on my calendar like dealines, where I have to be when, conflicts with other family members’ schedules, so I can see what’s happening when. But in order for any creating to get done (or editing or proofing or whatever), each idea needs to start as a bunch of orders from me to me.

I guess what I’m saying is that for anything to get done around here, I need a boss to tell me what to do, when. And who better to be that boss than me?

In addition to the action steps I need to take, the whiteboard often contains the list of things I’m really not that jazzed about doing. But if I want the speaking gig, I have to plan the travel to get to the event. If I want the published article, I have to work backwards through all of the steps to get it done.

Like most people, I like some aspects of each process better than others. In the past, not enjoying a step in the process might have stopped me from succeeding at all, but these days, I get it all done eventually.

I identify a few of the most pressing items each day and get them done. Not just checking them off, but simply erasing them from the board once they are accomplished.

About once a week, I take a look at my calendar and add more tasks.

Most of the time, my white board is full. One thing I’ve been working on for 2009 is having less administrative tasks and more creative tasks on my whiteboard. And what do you know, it’s working!

So, those are my thoughts on how to use a whiteboard to be more productive and to help you get all the junk you don’t want to do done. Anybody have anything to add?

Photo by emdot

The topic of how to be a constructive doodler came up on my Facebook page recently.

So, I thought I’d share a little bit of my own doodle philosophy. As part of my “How do you juggle so much, Christina?” series.

Okay, so The First Rule of doodling your way to success, is to remember that you are not Debbie Ridpath Ohi. You are not a professional doodler, who doodles with the intention of sharing your squiggles with others. You are doodling for yourself, first and foremost, to help you figure stuff out and plan.

Exception: My friend, Sage Cohen, has been privy too many of my mad doodlings over the years and she always seems wowed by them, which is kinda funny since my second grader draws better than I do.

Rule Two: I keep a big sketch pad handy, and you should too, like the kind you get at the art supply store. Lately, Borders bookstores have had some fun over-sized pads with silly covers. You might want to scoop some up when they go on sale at the end of the year.

So be messy and don’t care. Got it?

Rule three: Nobody cares what you draw with. Sometimes I’m in the mood for pencil because I like the sound on the paper. But other times I pull out the colorful pen selection. You do whatever works for you, okay?

Good.

Rule Four: When you doodle is key. I never doodle when I’m uninspired. I doodle best when I’m inspired, which for me is typically when I have so many thoughts bursting out of my head it’s like one of those New Year’s poppers (you know where all the streamers come flying out?). When linear typing is just going to be an impediment to the process, I reach for my doodle pad and get it all down.

Try it. You’ll be amazed by what comes out.

And finally, Rule Five: Act on your doodles. There is gold in them thar’ squiggles. Seriously, whatever marching orders you find staring back at you from the page, you can test them out by asking one simple question. “Would I love to do this?”

If the answer is yes, do it.

And don’t second guess yourself, because the doodles…they know stuff.

Any questions, comments, complaints about doodling?

Photo credit: “Pola-doodle” by Plastic Bat