Checking in for ROW80 with some thoughts on downtime, resting, drifting.

I think my time of needing lots of rest is winding down.  My body still needs rest (recuperating from a hip/leg injury now), but my mind is perking back up.  It even gave me an answer about the writing software question I’ve been pondering.

As so many answers do, it started with asking the right question.  The question wasn’t what features the software has or even whether I can use it on multiple computers or from my flash drive.  The question was, “What do I want my writing time to be?”

The answers: I want it to be something I can do pretty much anywhere I am, on any computer.  I want it to be easy to open up and get started on writing without a lot of setup.  I want access to my notes and pictures I’ve saved while I’m writing.  I want the mechanics to be something I don’t really have to think about.

I’m going to move my writing back to how I used to do things.  A notebook, index cards, scraps and bits of paper clipped and tucked into my notebook, Word.  I would still like to learn more about the writing software I’ve been looking at, but I’m making that something separate from my actual writing.  I am not going to try to move my story into one of the programs to keep working on it.  Sure, I may not be as organized as some writers who use the cool software.  But I’m pretty sure by taking things back to my beloved, old fashioned pen and paper I will actually be writing.

Interestingly, I realized that while I want to move my story writing back to pen and paper, I want to do more journaling digitally.  Not blogging–actual journaling.  I used to keep a LiveJournal, and I am thinking about restarting that.  I would like a place to write about my plans for my stories and my coaching and my life in general.  This used to all go in my journal, but life is different now, my schedule is different now, and I don’t seem to manage to do nearly enough journaling to be useful.  But I spend most of my day in front of this computer.

If I open up a journal page every morning and do a quick journal entry about what I hope to do during that day I think it would help me focus my mind.  During September, 2011-June, 2012 I had about half an  hour every morning while I waited for my work to arrive, and I used to make a quick to-do list for the day.  I feel as if I got a lot more done during that time because I knew what I wanted to be working on.  I don’t have that time anymore becaue that schedule has changed, but if I have a page open to jot down the things I want to do as they come to me, I can type them in amidst doing my work and then have a map for the rest of my day when the day job work is done.  I’m going to give this a try and see what happens.

Plans for the rest of this week:

• Get all Ordinary Girl notes and printouts in one place
• Start a morning wish list practice
• Check in on more ROW80 blogs

A quick ROW80 check-in just to keep in touch… I have been resting a lot the past couple of weeks.  I kept telling myself I shouldn’t need all this downtime, that I should get back to doing things. And then I remembered that those are silly things to tell myself.   We need as much downtime as we need.  I’ve been sick and stressed out a lot this entire year.  So why shouldn’t I need a lot of rest?

The main form my R&R is taking is reading.  A lot of reading (currently I am devouring Seanan McGuire’s October Day books and loving them so much!).  And you know what?  It feels great!  And it is reconnecting me with my writer self, reminding me why I write–because I love stories.  So not only am I getting some good destressing, I am getting lots of ideas for my own work.

I am also working to set up a good writing system for myself.  I write in multiple places on more than one computer, so it’s been a little hard to find a system that works for me.

I really want to love Scrivener–I may still end up loving it if I can find a good way to use it that doesn’t make it too easy to mix up which version of a story I’m on and that doesn’t make the program really sluggish.

I also have Liquid Story Binder. I tried it out a few years ago and liked it, but it’s really hard to see on my netbook which is currently the only computer I have at home.

I looked at a bunch of writing software over the past month, and I’ve narrowed it down to these two.  I’ve been poking at both of these programs, and I think my next step is going to be to just load them both on my flash drive and work through the tutorials and then make my decision.

I haven’t been doing that much journaling, and I want to change that because I know my mind feels clearer and sharper and more settled when I fit it in.  I have been looking around at various things in my life and gently noting things I would like to give attention to.  I am remembering, finally, to use my coachign training on myself to do the things I want to do.  It’s funny how easy it is to walk other people through ways to help themselves but how hard it is to do it for yourself.

That’s about it for this meandering check-in.  I guess if you want some quick take-aways it’s these: let yourself need and want what you want and don’t throw a bunch of “shoulds” in there, and go slowly and gently so you can really figure out what you want and need and the ways to get it.

See you next time!