productivity

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Jilly: Incubating Again

IncubatingHow was your week?

I’m writing this post in advance, as today is the day after RWA Nationals. If everything has gone to plan, I’ll have spent the last eight days doing research for a future book, touring the Naval Base at Coronado, talking story with Kay and Jeanne, pitching Alexis, meeting new people, stuffing my brain with workshops and treating my body as a temple to ice cream and cocktails 😉 .

If all has gone well, I’ll be fried. I’m sure I’ll have much to report. Later. Today my plan is to sleepwalk to the airport, board the ten-hour flight home, close my eyes and let my mind wander.

While I’m decompressing, here’s a neat piece on the value of allowing time for ideas to incubate. Continue reading →

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Justine: Messy vs. Neat Workspaces Equals Better Productivity or Creativity?

9061771 - interior fashionable room rendering

A clean, Zen-like workspace may improve persistence.

Yesterday, Jilly talked about the barrage of ideas and inspiration she’s had in her writing life (and how it’s perhaps a bit out of control), and on Wednesday, Elizabeth told us about how she’s been cleaning office lately. Both of those posts have got me thinking about my writing environment and how distracting it is.

I once read an interview with a writer who has a very cozy reading room, so she can be comfortable and enjoy her books. But the room where she writes is very Zen-like in order to avoid distractions, and I’ve decided I need to take that on if I’m ever going to get this book finished, because instead of sitting down and looking at words on the page, I look at the plethora of junk that’s filled my desk (for example, right now on my desk, in addition to Continue reading →

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Jilly: Nothing But Good Times Ahead

Nothing But Good Times AheadLess than two weeks to go, thank goodness. Not to my birthday (fast approaching), Christmas (bah, humbug) or New Year’s Eve (for followers of the Gregorian calendar), but to a positive turning point for my well-being and creativity. At 11 minutes past five o’clock on Saturday 21 December, the sun will be at its southernmost point in the sky, which means that for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere we will be experiencing the shortest day and longest night of the year. Continue reading →