The Gospel of Writing According to Marilyn, Chapters 9-10

Chapter Nine: Give Your Mind, Body and Soul Daily Attention

Staying focused requires you to take care of yourself in mind, body, and spirit. If you are working full-time, parenting full-time, or both (is that double full-time?), you are probably a master at giving. And when you give more than you are getting for yourself, there will inevitably be a breakdown somewhere.

Look at what takes energy away from you, what you are tolerating. Then eliminate that from your life. Are you continually saying yes out of a feeling of obligation? Are you doing someone else's tasks? Do you know how to say no?

Learn to say no so you can refill your tank.

Replenishing yourself is simple:

Avoid people and activities that drain your energy.

Breathe

Find time by yourself

Find humor and laugh

Find friends who understand you and your need to write

Get enough sleep

Eat Good Food

Exercise

To work well, you must have mind, body, and spirit in good condition. Otherwise, you will not be writing to your optimum level. You will see and say it better when you are feeling good.

Chapter Ten: Treat Your Writing As If It Were Unplanned Sex

When you need to, sneak it in.

Carry a notebook with you wherever you go. Take it with you to doctor's appointments and write in the waiting room. Take it on the bus and write instead of staring out the window or reading the newspaper. If you are carpooling and can write without getting car sick, write. Even if the writing is in ten-minute bursts, like unplanned sex, you'll feel great, and you'll see progress.

I'm fortunate to be able to focus a lot of my attention on my writing. However, even with full days blocked out for writing, my best writing comes from the brief snatches of time that I quickly write down what I'm thinking in the moment. It's a matter of staying present, of having that focus because you know it's all the time you have to get it down on paper. I think about revising it later. And during those periods that I've gone away on retreat to spend days at my writing, I found that I didn't always write more than when I am writing in bits and pieces. Because when I have full days, I want to go out and see the scenery, or talk on the phone, or a million other things I also want to do with my time away from work.

I'm the type of person who requires the stimulation of social events and being around people. I often will take my notebook to a restaurant or coffee shop and write. The white noise helps, but it's also a source of new material, new input into my world. It refills my well. It can be an adventure.

So, be bold. Take your writing material to new sources. Treat it like unplanned sex and have some fun challenging yourself to write in places that you would never have thought about before.