Time Off is Rarely Time Wasted—Even for a Writer

by Edie Melson

Time off is a GOOD idea.

I’m not always the brightest bulb in the batch, and what others learn quickly sometimes takes years to sink in. But one thing I have learned is this:

Time off is rarely time wasted.

My natural tendency has always been all or nothing. I go and go and go . . . and then I drop. Not really the healthiest way to do life.

I think part of the reason is that I’ve always equated down time with wasted time. But I’ve discovered that downtime, instead of being wasted, is when those create reserves are refilled and renewed.

It’s really hard to get water from a dry well.

In recent years I’ve worked hard to rewire my automatic responses. I’ve forced myself to build time off into my schedule. And I’ve been a much healthier and happier version of me.

Here are some of the things I’ve implemented that work for me

Weekends off are now the norm, not the exception!

• Weekends off are now the norm, NOT the exception. I just function best on Monday, if I have Saturday and Sunday for rest and relaxation. That means little or no time on the computer on those days. I’ve learned that if it’s urgent I’ll get a text or a phone call. Everything else can wait. One other thing I’ve learned by taking weekends off—if I don’t, pretty soon EVERY day feels like Monday.

• Families come first. My good friend, Lynn Huggins Blackburn said it best. “Sometimes writers don’t write—they bake cookies.” I wouldn’t trade the years I had as mommy to three growing boys. No best-selling book in the world would have been worth passing up that time. The same comes with hanging out with my parents now. Time is limited, and I try to never forget that.

• Relationships matter, and beyond that, they need nurturing to survive. This goes beyond the obvious family relationships. I’m talking about friendships here. Time spent going to lunch, or on the phone. By spending time with the people I care about, I show them they are valued.

Yes, this is Scarlett's dress from Gone With the Wind.

• Field trips are time well spent. I took time to visit a museum over the Christmas holidays. No one could go with me, but I just wanted to go. I couldn’t have given myself a better gift. Take time to explore the cool places nearby, you won’t regret it, I promise!

• It’s okay (even encouraged) to have hobbies that have NOTHING to do with writing and/or reading. Many of you know I love to knit. I also love to do other crafty things. Beyond that, I have a group of craft-minded women that I meet with occasionally. We sit together and work on projects and creativity seems to just hang in the room. And none of these women are writers. But I always come away with a renewed enthusiasm for writing.

How about you? What do you like to do to unwind? Share your tips for renewing and relaxing in the comments section below. Who knows, we may decide to visit a museum together and have a cup of coffee!

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains ChristianWriters Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for SouthernWriters Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Don't miss her new book from Worthy Inspired, WHILE MY SOLDIER SERVES.

Social Media Tips for the Holidays

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Let’s face it, the holidays are fun, but they’re also hectic.

It's important to not abandon our social media profiles and blogs during the holidays, but we also need to work smarter, not harder.

By planning out some holiday social media updates in advance you save your sanity and keep the momentum going. 

Here are some ideas for fun social media updates:

• Share your favorite holiday recipe and ask your friends/followers to share theirs. 
• Ask your followers to give you tips on sanity savers during the holidays.
• Share a crazy holiday faux pas and ask others to share theirs.
• Share some of your favorite holiday reads.
• Ask for decorating ideas.
• Share a holiday tradition and ask for others to chime in.
• Ask about favorite holiday movies.
• Share your favorite Christmas carol and ask your friends to share theirs. 

I think you get the idea.

Tips to Organize Updates & Get Them Ready to Go

It's as important to have the updates easy to access as it is to have them ready in advance. For me, I like to use a combination of ways to keep them organized. 

• Set up a folder on your desktop and label it holiday updates.
• Inside the folder, I have several subfolders: 
• A Word document of text updates, complete with links if I want to send them to a specific blog or site.
• A Word document with quotes that I might want to use on a meme.
• A folder of images (make sure they're legal to use. If you're not sure here's a link to a blog post about finding legal images.) I think would make good memes.
• A folder of finished memes ready to share.
• A calendar/schedule for sharing the memes. This can be in a Word document, spreadsheet or another type of file.

By already having these updates ready, you can relax and not have to spend valuable time creating them.

You can also plan some blog posts in advance. The holidays are a good time to plan a giveaway. You can also plan a holiday cookie recipe exchange and a holiday potluck recipe exchange for your blog. The easiest way to do this is through a Meme. I use Linky to do all my memes. Here's a blog post to Get Started with Memes.

Now it’s your turn, share some holiday conversation starters, and blog post ideas.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains ChristianWriters Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for SouthernWriters Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Don't miss her new book from Worthy Inspired, WHILE MY SOLDIER SERVES.

Tips to Adjust Your Writing Schedule and Enjoy the Holidays!

by Edie Melson

The holidays can be stressful

The holidays can be a stressful time for anyone. But for those of us who work from home, the juggling act can be a minefield of unreasonable expectations and disappointments. And turning off your computer for a month and half isn't the answer. It's hard to restart a productive routine after taking a month off.

Today I want to share some tips to adjust your writing schedule and enjoy the holidays.

Observe. Refill your imagination tank. When you’re at a Christmas party or the mall, take a small notepad and notice something interesting about everyone there. Maybe it’s a small quirk (like a woman who constantly tucks her hair behind her ear or a new turn of phrase – like Oh for Crying in the Sink. I thought I’d die the first time I heard Susie say that)

Set small goals to stay on track

Set small goals. I struggle with my weight because I love to eat – especially baked goods. Now I have a rule for every Christmas treat I eat, like a cookie, I’m going to write 250 words first. Or Finish a blog post, or write a portion of a devotions. Something productive. I learned this one from a  friend of mine, Lynn Blackburn

And on this, rethink your blogging schedule. Maybe you should reduce the number of posts you put up during the holidays. Truthfully it won’t hurt your presence because people have less time to read blogs during December.

Use the buddy system. I have several writer friends with whom I have a standing agreement. Anytime I’m in a jam for a blog post, I’m welcome to steal something they’ve written on their sites.

Catch up on your reading

Catch up on your reading. Visit those blogs you’ve been meaning to read. Find a book on craft and read it. There’s lots of waiting that goes on during the holidays, use it.

You can also use this time to read books in your genre and/or hang out on Goodreads making a to-be-read list for next year.

Rest. Set realistic goals and give yourself a pass on pounding out thousands of words on your WIP. Enjoy your family and friends. You’ll be fresher and stronger when the New Year rolls around.

Now I'd love to hear from you. What are some things you do to readjust your schedule and enjoy the holidays?

Don't forget to join the conversation!

Blessings

Edie

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains ChristianWriters Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for SouthernWriters Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Don't miss her new book from Worthy Inspired, WHILE MY SOLDIER SERVES.

The Writer’s Biggest Enemies—Time Thieves

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

As writers, one of our most valuable resources is time—especially time to write. We dream about it, plan for it, even run away to find it. Yet it’s often ourselves who stand in the way of having the time we need to write.

Today I’d like to share some hidden—and some not so hidden—time thieves.

The Writer’s Biggest Enemies

1. Multi-tasking. This one is a biggie. Yes, we have a lot of things we must do from, writing, to editing, to marketing. But it’s not an efficient use of our time if we try to do everything all at once. By not focusing, we often set ourselves up for failure.

2. Unlimited web-browsing. We definitely need to build an online platform, but spending hours surfing the web isn’t the way to do it.

3. Not scheduling your time.

3. Not scheduling your time. The way to get all the various tasks done that need to be done is by scheduling our time. Find the most creative time and guard it for your writing first. Then work around that time for the other tasks you have to do.

4. Avoiding the hard stuff. It’s only human nature to want to do the easy things first. But that’s not always the most efficient use of our time. Come up with a schedule, then do the tasks that are scheduled, whether they’re hard or easy.

5. Talking instead of working. Writers are like anyone else, we’re passionate about our craft. But we need to make sure we’re spending time practicing our craft, not just talking about it.

6. Not networking.

6. Not networking. We shouldn't spend all our time talking about writing, but that doesn't mean we should isolate ourselves. Others can give us much needed perspective and insight into things we're struggling with. 

7. Using cheating as a reward. It’s great to build in rewards, but make sure the rewards aren’t sabotaging your progress. For example, if I’m on a diet and I lose five pounds, I don’t want to reward myself with a calorie-laden meal. With writing, if I make my word count goal, I want to build on it, not take the rest of the week off.

8. Thinking only about the big dream. Sure we all want to write a blockbuster. But that isn’t my only goal. I have lots of goals that will lead up to that one. Don’t be a big-picture writer and lose out on the chance to fulfill your dream.

9. Over planning. Yes, we need to make plans, and follow a schedule. But if we’re so concerned with the process of planning, we’re wasting valuable time. Write down your goals, come up with a schedule and then GET TO WORK.

10. Not learning. With writers, like most creative endeavors talent is a good start. BUT diligence trumps talent every single time. Doing the hard work to learn all that’s involved with becoming a professional writer will get you much farther than even a huge amount of talent.

These are the biggest time thieves I’ve found. What would you add to the list? Be sure to share your thoughts below.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains ChristianWriters Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for SouthernWriters Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Don't miss her new book from Worthy Inspired, WHILE MY SOLDIER SERVES.