Writers Need Recess, Too by Marie Wells Coutu

Marie Wells Coutu

Writers write better when they have recess.

A scientific study reported on the radio recently found (again) that children learn better when they have recess. This is not news to parents or teachers.

One website says, “Research dating back to the late 1800s indicates that people learn better and faster when their efforts are distributed, rather than concentrated. That is, work that includes breaks and down time proves more effective than working in long stretches.”*

Recess increases focus and reduces stress. As a side note, physical activity feeds the brain.

So how does this relate to writing? Your work is more effective if you take occasional breaks. I know increased focus and reduced stress helps me when I’m working on a novel. I have found that periodically I need to get up and walk around. If I don’t, I get brain fog.

Occasionally I see Facebook posts from an author who has written 10,000 words in a single day. Probably no breaks there! Perhaps under deadline, you may be forced to reduce or at least shorten your breaks. But you’ll still need to take those “recesses.”

Some authors suggest setting a timer for twenty minutes. Write furiously for that time, then take a five-minute break, get something to drink (water is always good!), reset the timer, and get back to work.

Writers Need Recess, Too

This is known as the Pomodoro Technique, developed in the late 1980s. A time management researcher based the practice on the idea that frequent breaks improve mental agility. He suggested using a timer to break work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes long, separated by short breaks. (Trivia note: The name comes from the Italian word for tomato, because an apple-shaped kitchen timer was used in the study.)

Given other research about physical activity, another approach might be to work longer (say, an hour), then take fifteen or twenty minutes for aerobic or strength exercises. Take a brisk walk, do jumping jacks (yeah, right!), or practice your ballet moves. The important thing is to get up and get moving in order to keep the creative juices flowing.

Several websites and books offer methods to help you determine the optimum time for your work sessions and recess periods. Try Googling “work rhythms” or “twenty minute break” to find lots of resources—some good, some not-so-good. But choose carefully and experiment, and you should be able to learn the work-recess pattern that works for you.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a recess. I think I’ll go do some jumping jacks. Just kidding! But a walk around the block sounds good.

What technique works for you to keep your creativity and productivity flowing?

About the Author

Thirsting for More
by Marie Wells Coutu

Marie Wells Coutu began telling stories soon after she learned to talk. At age seven, she convinced neighborhood kids to perform a play she had written. She wrote her first book, “I Came from Venus,” in eighth grade, but studied journalism in college. After a career writing for newspapers, magazines, governments, and nonprofits, she returned to her first love—writing fiction—at the age of fifty-five. Her debut novel, For Such a Moment, won the Books of Hope Contest. Thirsting for More, the second book in the Mended Vessels series, released in April 2015. Books in the series are contemporary re-imaginings of the stories of biblical women, including Esther and the woman at the well. Marie retired after 15 years with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and she and her husband now divide their time between Florida and Iowa.

Thirsting for More
Northern transplant Victoria Russo moves to the charming southern city of Charleston, South Carolina, from cold Connecticut, hoping to renovate her career, her life, and an old house. Instead, she faces animosity, betrayal, and calamity. Will she repeat the pitfalls of her past mistakes, or find the freedom and restoration she seeks?


*http://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/Children-s-Health-Wellness/why-kids-need-recess.html#sthash.zlzuwGHJ.dpuf

Planning Is Not A Dirty Word by Susan Sleeman

Susan Sleeman

Dora here. Today, Susan Sleeman offers five principles to make your writing time more productive. Enjoy, and keep writing! ~Dora

I’m one of those organized people who plan ahead. If you’re not a planner don’t stone me. Just hear me out as I believe even a little bit of planning and goal setting will increase your productivity. Honest! Published or not if you apply these five easy principles, I’m sure you’ll be more productive.

1. See yourself as a professional writer

Attitude is critical for success in this business. If you believe you’re a writer, you’ll do the things necessary to become a published writer. Set up a dedicated writing space. Even if it’s an orange crate and a chair. Then write, write, write. Whether you feel like it or not. Whether you’re turning out award winning prose or garbage. Write. Why? You’ve heard the old saying practice makes perfect. I don’t know about perfect, but writing on a regular basis grows your skills.

2. Set a Goal and stick to it

Decide which days of the week you’re going to write and set word goals. To keep up my publishing pace, I must write at least 2500 words 5 days a week. Do I always want to write 2500 words? “No,” I scream loudly. But by setting a word goal, it allows me to see at a glance when a rough draft will be finished and contract other books accordingly. Plus it keeps me on target. If I fail to hit 2500 words one day, I know I have to make it up the next day.

3. Don’t let distractions get in the way during your writing time

Easier said than done right? Especially when there’s email and social media at our fingertips. So how do you avoid spending too much time on them? I allot myself the first hour of the day as I am coming awake with my coffee to read email, Facebook, Twitter, etc and again as I eat lunch. When time’s up, I have a calendar program that reminds me to get to work. A good computer calendar program to give you reminders is invaluable in so many areas of a writing career. And you don’t have to spend any money on one. I use Mozilla Sunbird, which is a FREE program. I put deadlines and other events on the calendar and set appropriate reminders. For example, if I have a blog post or interview due, I set the due date and the calendar tells me when I should be working on it. Until then, I can put it out of my mind and concentrate on writing.

4. Set a book deadline whether the book you are working on is contracted or not

Any published author will tell you that a deadline will make you do super human things to complete a book on time. But you don’t have to have a contracted novel to do the same thing. Give yourself a deadline. Treat it as if an editor is waiting for your manuscript and stick to it. After all, once you do get that contract, you’ll have to work under deadlines. Learn to do so now when the pressure isn’t as strong.

5. Plan out your novels – okay I know this is going to start a seat-of-the-pants writer versus plotter argument, but read on anyway

When I first started writing, I didn’t plan a word. I didn’t even know where the book was going or how it was going to end. When I was able to contract with a publisher on proposal only—the first three chapters and a synopsis, I had to learn to plan my books in advance. And that’s what I did. I took the high concept, figured out character conflicts and the main story conflict as I had always done then expanded it to create a list of scenes that fit the book. Learning how to go from pantser to plotter would take a whole series of blog posts, but I bring it up for two reasons. 1. If you want to stay on the schedule you set, I believe you have to know where you’re going. If not, you’ll write, rewrite, and cut many words that will then put you behind schedule. 2. If you can’t plan ahead, you will never be able to sell on proposal and that means writing entire books that may or may not sell.

Well, there you have it. My five tips to being more productive as a writer. So what do you think? Can any of these tips help you get more words on paper?

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MISSION: PROTECT BABY

Gina Evans knows her brother was murdered—even if the police won't believe her. After catching a quick glimpse of the evidence her brother had gathered, the same criminals are after her and her baby niece. And Gina's only hope is the man she left behind. Despite the painful memories, private investigator Derrick Justice won't fail Gina and her baby. Yet now, the woman he never stopped loving and the baby he's come to adore are in a killer's crosshairs. But can Derrick trap the cold-blooded murderer before he strikes again?

SUSAN SLEEMAN is a bestselling author of inspirational and clean read romantic suspense books. Her first book, High-Stakes Inheritance was an ECPA bestseller. The Christmas Witness was nominated for the Daphne du Maurier Award and Thread of Suspicion for Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award. Susan lives in Oregon with her realtor husband. They have two daughters, a son-in-law, and an adorable grandson.