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Overwhelmed Writer Rescue: Boost Productivity, Improve Time Management, and Replenish the Creator Within by Colleen M. Story

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Overwhelmed Writer Rescue

I was recently invited to participate in a Review/Giveaway/Book Tour for the wonderful book you see pictured above, Overwhelmed Writer Rescue by Colleen M. Story. I jumped at the chance because…

  1. I want to add more books about writing to Self Help Daily.
  2. As a web publisher and blogger (with 8 blogs… count ’em, 8), I was pretty interested in the information, myself.
  3. My oldest daughter, Emily, is a writer and I knew this book could help her.

As you’d expect from a mother, the third one was the most appealing to me. Sorry not sorry.

But here’s the thing…. I absolutely loved this book cover to cover! Unlike some non-fiction books, this book read at a really fast pace. As writers and bloggers, we always appreciate that, right? The author has a captivating personality and it comes through each of her words.

While you can tell how much research she has put into her craft, it isn’t what sets this book apart from other writing books.

So, what does set it apart?

Author Colleen M. Story is, perhaps without even trying, incredibly encouraging. Yes, she is presenting a wealth of information (and wonderful tips!) and, yes, she gives her own experience from her side of the pen – but to me the most compelling effect of reading this book is the feeling you’re left with….. I can do this!

Seriously, could you ask for any more from a book?!

{Continued Below}

Embrace Your Life

Advice, Most Excellent from Overwhelmed Writer Rescue

Who Needs this Overwhelmed Writer Rescue?

Published Authors. If you are an author who has seen their work (book, e-book, article, poem) published, congratulations! That is an incredible accomplishment and I am sincerely proud for you. You know more than most how overwhelming the whole process is. This book is still for you, however. In fact, I whole-heartedly believe it could make the process easier the next time around.

You’ll pull out a lot less hair this time.

Future Authors. Okay, confession time. My own family doesn’t even realize this but I’ve had not just one but TWO books in limbo for a few years.  Somewhere along the way, life got the upper hand and the books just sort of sat there. I still believe in them with all my heart, I simply set them on the back burner because there was always something on the front burner demanding my attention. Like 8 blogs.

After reading the inspiring words of Colleen M. Story and taking killer notes as I read her book, I have figured out that this whole “back burner” scenario is a crock. When cooking, I use my front burners and back burners simultaneously. There is no either this or that. I don’t say, “Well, the fried catfish and okra are on the front burners, the potatoes and corn won’t make it to the table – after all, they’re on the back burners.”

Why does everything always go back to food with me?

Armed with outstanding advice and much-needed encouragement, I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and tackle my neglected books in limbo. Both of them – one at a time.

Bloggers. I have been a web-publisher and blogger for far too many years to count. One thing that has always frustrated me is the fact that, even though most of us writer literally every day of the week, we aren’t often looked at as writers.  That’s like looking at a carrot and saying it isn’t a vegetable because it isn’t as expensive as yams.

Again with food.

We are writers. We write. Therefore we are writers.

If you are a blog publisher, you will love this book to Starbucks and back. The information and inspiration are as much for carrots as they are yams.  Trust me on this, Overwhelmed Writer Rescue is as much for you as any other writer.

{Continued Below}

Put it all together

Book Description:

FIND THE TIME, ENERGY, AND CONFIDENCE TO MAKE YOUR CREATIVE DREAMS COME TRUE.

Do you feel like you’re always behind? Do less important tasks frequently flood your schedule and sink your creative motivation? Are you frustrated and out of touch with your inner artist?

After 20 years experience in the writing industry, author Colleen M. Story extends a lifeline to pull you out of the sinking swamp of “busyness” and back into the flourishing creative life you deserve.

Today’s demands on writers and other creative artists are overwhelming. Not only must you produce the work you love, but build and maintain a platform and market your finished products to the world—all while holding down a day job and/or caring for a family.

You teeter on the edge. What waits on the other side are burnout, exhaustion, and a complete loss of creative motivation.

“Overwhelmed Writer Rescue” provides practical, personalized solutions to help beginning and experienced writers and other creative artists escape the tyranny of the to-do list to nurture the genius within. You’ll find ways to boost productivity, improve time management, and restore your sanity while gaining insight into your unique creative nature and what it needs to thrive.

Ultimately, you’ll discover what may be holding you back from experiencing the true joy that a creative life can bring.

{Closing thoughts and a Book Giveaway are below!}

Colleen M. Story

About the Author:

Colleen M. Story has worked in the creative writing industry for over twenty years. Her novels include “Loreena’s Gift,” an Idaho Author Awards first place winner, New Apple Solo Medalist winner, Foreword Reviews INDIES Book of the Year Awards winner, Reader Views award finalist, and Best Book Awards finalist; and “Rise of the Sidenah,” a North American Book Awards winner and New Apple Book Awards Official Selection.

As a health writer, she’s authored thousands of articles for publications like “Healthline” and “Women’s Health;” worked with high-profile clients like Gerber Baby Products and Kellogg’s; and ghostwritten books on back pain, nutrition, and cancer recovery. She finds most rewarding her work as a motivational speaker and workshop leader, where she helps writers remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers.

Colleen is the founder of Writing and Wellness (writingandwellness.com), a motivational site helping writers and other creative artists maintain their physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being throughout their careers. Sign up for your free weekly email containing tips for living your best creative life at: www.writingandwellness/newsletter.

To find more information on Colleen and her work, please see her website or follow her on Twitter. She loves to hear from readers—feel free to use the “contact” form on either her website or Writing and Wellness to get in touch with her.

In Closing… What Makes This Book Extra Special

I’ve put my finger on what it is that makes Overwhelmed Writer Rescue by Colleen M. Story EXTRA special and it’s simple. She doesn’t give tell you how to manage your time, awaken your creativity, and get things accomplished based upon what works for others – she guides you as you discover how to manage your time, awaken your creativity, and get things accomplished based upon what works for you.

That, as they say, is where the magic happens. We don’t improve in any area of our lives by mimicking what others do. We have to do what works for us, or it won’t stick. Through fascinating information and interactivity (which I love by the way), the author allows the reader to find what works for them, individually.

I recommend this book 110 percent. – Joi

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter

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How to “Find” More Time for Reading Each Day

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We often hear people say they wish they could find more time to read. The problem is we’ll never really find more time to do anything – we have to make the time. Unfortunately, this usually means giving up (or at least cutting into) the time we devote to other things. Whether it’s cutting out an extra hour of sleeping or television viewing, the time will appear, as if by magic,  if you make it appear.

The time may actually be…. oh I don’t know… an arm’s length away. As in right there in our hands!

One of my favorite ways to “sneak in” extra reading time is about as simple as it gets – I keep whatever book I’m currently reading within reach at all times. If I’m meeting my husband and/or daughters for lunch, I carry it in my purse. This way, if I beat them there, I can read a little while waiting.

During an especially fascinating Golden Age of Hollywood biography or Agatha Christie mystery, I’ll actually leave early to make sure I have 15-20 minutes of reading time in the parking lot. Hercule Poirot and I have solved many a crime in the Olive Garden parking lot.

Another simple way to find more time is to cut into the time you spend sleeping – whether that means setting the alarm for 30 minutes earlier or turning in 30 minutes earlier, that 30 extra minutes can be invested in a great book. If you were to do both, you’d suddenly have a whole hour each day to devote to reading.

Of course, you’d have to make sure you actually spent your new-found time IN a book and not ON your phone.  In fact, a shocking study by musicMagpie.co.uk has revealed the number of books people could read if they simply reduced their digital intake over a month.

In the 23 hours we spend on our phone social networking, we could of read one of the following 5 books:

  • The Handmaid’s Tale
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
  • Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
  • Jane Eyre

With today’s generation now being more digital than ever, is it time to take a short break a few hours a day? My answer is a resounding YES!
Again, just be sure to make sure you pick a book up when you put the iPhone down. It’s easier once you’re in the middle of a great book… when that happens, it’s harder to pick the phone up than it is to put it down.

The infographic below will blow your mind – it makes you realize just how much time we spend plugged into our phones.

Enjoy the infographic (click for the larger version) – I’m off to another adventure courtesy of Agatha Christie.  – Joi

Find More Time for Reading Infographic

Infographic Credit: musicMagpie.co.uk

Are You Trying to Do too much?!

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Quote About Trying to do Too Much

If you’re a parent, you know where I’m coming from when I say that, as a mom, I give out a great deal of advice.  If you’re a parent, you also know where I’m coming from when I half-jokingly say, “Sometimes they even listen to me!”  A recent conversation with one of these young people left me thinking about this question, “If I had one piece of UNCOMMON advice that I could give someone, what would it be?”  By UNCOMMON, I mean advice other than my “somewhat expected” mini-sermons like:

  • choose your life partner carefully (because 95% of your future happiness will ride on this choice)
  • spend time with your loved ones and tell them you love them every chance you get
  • don’t nit-pick!
  • develop a close relationship with God and keep it that way
  • eat healthy foods
  • get plenty of rest
  • do the things that make you the happiest
  • never ask someone to do something for you that you’re fully capable of doing yourself

And on and on.

I tired to think outside of the traditional advice box (or off of the traditional platform) and see what I could come up with. The answer came almost immediately and, given the fact that we live in a world that says, “Do this!… do that!… do everything!” AND given the fact that those of us who write about self help are often the ones with these very words on our lips… the advice I came up with may seem contradictory.

My number one piece of UNCOMMON advice:  “For crying out loud, don’t try to do everything!”

Have you ever fallen in the trap of trying to do too many different things? Or have you ever tried to put on too many different proverbial hats? It’s exhausting, at best, and unhealthy, at worst. Trying to have a hand in too many soup pots and a foot in too many doors leaves you:

a. looking like a perfect fool

b. too busy to truly enjoy life

Ironically, it’s also woefully unproductive.

We’re all only human – we can only give our undivided attention (where the good stuff is conceived) to so many tasks.

The more things we try to do, oversee, or take care of – the more diluted our attention becomes. Diluted attention is the place where mistakes and half-assed results are conceived.  It kind of reminds me of a big batch of freshly-squeezed lemonade I made this summer. The first day, it was out of this world. It tasted like summer and it was just crazy delicious. In an attempt to extend its life, I added more water to the pitcher a few times. Each time, the great flavor was diluted or literally “watered down.”  That’s what we do, in effect, when we have too many things going on.

We take something that could be awesome and add to it until the awesomeness is threadbare.

It’s common sense, really. The fewer things on your “to do” list, the more time you have to devote to each.  When we try to do too many things, we spread ourselves too thin and aren’t able to give our best to anything.  We become watery lemonade without a lot of flavor or oomph.

Many people simply try to do too much and, whether they realize it at the time or not, they aren’t getting the most out of themselves by doing so. These are the same people who search for magic answers on Google  – “how can I manage my time better?” and “time management tips” are frequently searched because TRYING TO DO TOO MUCH is a popular way to go through life. Not effective, but popular.

And people wonder why they’re so stressed!

It actually isn’t even a time management issue, when you think about it.  We’d all do well to remember that we’re given the same number of hours in our days and days in our weeks that were allotted to Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King, Jr, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson…   As Chinese author and teacher Lin Yutang said, “Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone… The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials,” possibly the difference is these people knew what to eliminate and what to keep.   They had a beautiful clarity and singleness of mind which allowed them to..

  1. get things done
  2. live fully in the moment
  3. change the world

I think we’ve covered #1 and I’m not going to even pretend to know the secrets for #3 – but you KNOW I have to spend a few minutes with the second one.  You know me, I’m way to feely-feely not to want to shine a spotlight on this one, right?  I couldn’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve seen the following scenario play out:  I’ll find myself in an especially remarkable place (the mountains of eastern Kentucky, downtown Nashville, the banks of a gorgeous lake, a Julia Roberts movie….) and as I’m soaking the experience up with my every pore, I’ll notice people all around me looking down at their phones, iPods, notebooks, games, or devices I couldn’t possibly identify without either a cheat sheet.

The moments pass them right by because their next “Status Update” was too important or because they just HAD to know what so-and-so had to say about such-and-such.   And it’s not just kids, either. You’ll see people of all ages looking down when they really, really, really should be looking around. Live in the moment, see what there is to see… THEN tell everyone about it or THEN see what everyone else is up to.

Eliminate the nonessentials.

Rachael Ray is another name that comes to mind when I think about singleness of mind.  This fantastic cook and cookbook author will be the first to tell you that she is a lousy baker. She doesn’t make desserts, she buys them. Why? She has chosen what she considers to be essential and has eliminated the nonessentials.  How do you suppose that’s working for her?

The main reason people don’t get things DONE is because they’re trying to fit too MUCH into 24 hours. 

Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew and, other times, someone throws more onto our plate than we have the time or inclination to handle. What happens more times than not when our plate is too full? We walk away because we either aren’t sure where to start or we feel so overwhelmed that get a headache!

So what do you do when there’s simply too many things for one person to deal with?  Repeat after me, Something’s gotta give!  Oftentimes a good, honest, realistic assessment of everything you’re trying to do will show you the things that can easily be removed… things you’ll never even miss.

Just be careful not to try to pull something into the vacancy a few days down the road.

We could all take a “Lin Yutang” Approach:  Get a piece of paper and a pen. Make one column that says ESSENTIALS and one column that says NONESSENTIALS.  Beneath each, list 5 things that fall under that particular category.  But don’t miss the whole idea and leave out time for things you enjoy under the essentials.  Things that bring you relaxation and bliss are possibly the most essential things of all.

One final thought.  I firmly believe that age is mostly in the mind.  And if someone says, “You’re only as old as you feel,” I quickly nod in agreement. However, let’s  be completely honest and open for a minute.  As we grow older (and each year we all grow older… whether it’s in our 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s or beyond) – we’d do well to realize that we need to approach life a little differently.  We may need more sleep than we once did – or we may even require less. There will be some things we can do better than ever and there’ll be some things we simply can’t even think about any more.

The way I look at it is this: When you pass 40, you’re in an especially beautiful place. It’s a place where you can set your own pace.  Where some people drop the ball is they try to suddenly UP the pace.  They seem to think they have to do all they did when they were younger and then some.

Again…. and people wonder why they’re stressed.

“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone… The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.”  Take an honest look at your essentials and nonessentials, you may find that a lot more time, energy, and enjoyment suddenly open up.

~ Joi

More Wisdom from Lin Yutang:

Find wonderful Books by Lin Yutang on Amazon.

v

Ten Minutes to Better Time Management

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I’ve been a fan of the Ten Minute Trick for many, many, many years.  T.M.T. and I have washed dishes, written articles, done yoga, walked on the treadmill, read Shakespeare, done homework (I told you it’s been many, many, many years), dusted, ironed, built websites, cleaned closets, swept floors, gardened, lifted weights…. Okay, okay. I got carried away. I have never lifted weights.

It works like this:  Whatever task you have at hand, you commit a mere 10 minutes to it’s execution.  The GOOD thing is you can get a lot accomplished in 10 minutes. The GREAT thing is, once you’ve begun, you inevitably will complete the task – even after the 10 minutes are up.  In fact, I can’t  remember many times when I abandoned an uncompleted enterprise simply because 10 minutes had passed.  Algebra homework would be an exception – what can I say, when the brain’s fried, the brain’s fried.

Next time you have a task looming in front of you, taunting you, don’t take the easy route (“I’ll get to it tomorrow.”)  Instead, take a look at the clock and commit 10 minutes to the task. You’ll either finish the task within 10 minutes, decide to stick with the momentum and finish it even if it takes an hour or more, or you’ll put a dent in it, saving the rest for another time.  Even if you don’t complete the task at once, you’ve made the work easier (and shorter) for your return.

My favorite time to call the Ten Minute Trick into play is with the treadmill. It can seem like such a commitment to tie myself to huffing, puffing, sweating, and chugging water, but when I approach the whole experience with the mindset of “knocking out ten minutes,” I lace up my shoes, throw my hair up, and grab my ipod. Then we’re off!

The funny thing is – not once… not once have I ever stopped after 10 minutes.   In fact, I did the same thing earlier today. I got my playlist all ready to go (the Oak Ridge Boys’ “The Boys Are Back” is a girl’s best friend on the treadmill), thinking that I’d walk for ten minutes.

35 minutes later, I’d gotten an excellent workout.

Try the 10 minute trick. You’re going to love it.

Time Management Tips: How to Live on 24 Hours a Day

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As you’ll notice (if you look at the dates on my posts on Self Help Daily), I’ve been in the boxing ring with time management lately – and losing.  At the end of the day, sometimes I feel like someone needs to stitch me up.  The clock (time management’s lackey) insists on giving me just 24 hours a day.  More Time!, I demand. Take what you have!, it deadpans, without so much as glancing in my direction.  Always the same old response.

I won’t bother you with the details of my busyness (I’ll just say that I don’t have a daily to do list, I have to do lists).   Running a web publishing business from home while being a wife, mother, AND working on my first book leaves me craving more hours in the day the way I crave more coffee in my cup and more chocolate chips in my cookies.  It certainly doesn’t leave me feeling like a time management ninja or the queen of time management tips.

Normally, the writing, editing, typing, designing, cooking, cleaning, shopping, baking, and reading fall into their respective places pretty well – but lately things have just been whackadoodle (Kentuckian for nuts).  A lot of it has to do with the upcoming holidays.  I’m even having trouble concentrating on one of the things I love the most online – wordpress plugins (plugins are life).  As wicked cool as they are, they just can’t compete with trying out new Christmas cookie and Thanksgiving pie recipes, decorating with Christmas loveliness, or shopping for my beloved family’s gifts. There should be a whole set of time management tips geared just for the holidays?

My cooking blog is also exploding, quite honestly – there are countless review requests, recipe requests, and so forth.  Seriously, some of my blogs could keep three people busy, let alone one.

So much to do!  Even when you love what you’re doing, sometimes you can feel overwhelmed when you’re up against the clock.  It won’t even give an inch, no matter how much I plead or blackmail.

To manage time effectively and stand a chance of adhering to time management tips, we should continually shine the spotlight on our activities – hold them accountable for themselves.  A few questions to periodically ask ourselves:

  • How did I spend my time today? Did I balance work with play? Am I a well-rounded individual who doesn’t  allow herself/himself to become all about either work or play?
  • What activities did I choose to engage in?  Some activities are a given (work, cooking, cleaning, laundry), others we choose. There’s a difference… and part of the answer lies right here.
  • How much time did I spend on each activity? Could some of this time have been cut?  Cut time leads to found time – it leads to the extra time we all crave at the end of the day.
  • What were the results of these activities? Is there anything to show?  Did the time produce an outcome that I can feel good about?  Was the time spent “quality time” with a loved one? Did I accomplish something?  Did I get somewhere?
  • Was my mind stretched or challenged by any of these activities? Did I give my mind junk food or healthy nourishment?  Do I read about the same things or do the same activities over and over? Am I creating mental fitness or tearing it down?
  • Were any of the activities I engaged in within the last 24 hours relaxing? Here’s a funny thing about relaxation that I learned from my husband.  He works full-time outside the home.  He also runs two websites for his company and oversees two of the websites in our web publishing business.  In addition, he’s looking at a couple of other online ventures.  At the end of the day, after supper, he generally heads off to our home office to research, read, write, take part in web conferences, create, and so on.  Once I told him that I was worried about him working too much.  I told him that working all day and then coming home just to work more couldn’t possibly be good for him – I wondered where the relaxation was.  He got a really quizzical look on his face (as he sat at his computer surrounded by books, with about 6 different windows open), and said, “This is relaxing.”  He actually unwinds at the end of a day’s work with… you got it.. work.  Of course, he does have a television in the office and if UK basketball, Andy Griffith, or St. Louis Cardinal’s baseball is on – his computer chair takes full advantage of it’s swivel!

A few nights ago, I wanted to make a huge pasta supper – with mozzarella garlic bread and the works.  I decided to create a pasta sampler type meal, so I made some pasta with a marinara basil sauce, some with a browned butter mushroom sauce, and one pasta had three different cheeses.  To keep each sauce from burning (while keeping it warm), and to ensure that my pasta was al dente, I had to rearrange the pans often on the burners.  After the mushrooms sauteed in the butter sauce, it needed to make room for the marinara sauce… when the pasta was perfect, it had to get out of the way for the cheese sauce – and so on.

Personally, I’ve found that we have to approach our daily activities  in a similar way – sometimes, something simply has to take a back burner.  You don’t have to let it go completely, of course, you just have to say, “You sit right here, I’ll be back for you in a minute.”  Whether it’s a preference to update your blogs daily, a rigid exercise routine, frequent tweets, or a favorite television show.  Sometimes you have to realize that you can’t do everything and do it well – something has to get off of the front burner for a few days.

If I were to give all of my attention to the browned butter mushroom sauce while ignoring the pasta – the meal would have been ruined. And pointless!

Take a look at your daily activities and see if there’s anything you’re overcooking on one burner while under-cooking on another.  After all, in every sense of the word we pretty much dine at the table of our own creation.  Good, bad, underdone, creative, delicious, bland, forgettable, remarkable, outstanding – we have no one to blame or credit but ourselves.