Happy New Year I'm deep in the planning stages for 202 so I thought I'd share my process. My day job is lucky enough to have an arts program attached to the organisation - so we can be involved in choir, a writing program, musical instruments available anytime, as well as creative arts for children - the focus of our business. When the writing program was announced I jumped on board. It seemed simple enough - anyone who wanted to write could join, and we would meet after work for 2 hours once a month to talk writing and support each other electronically (and in person) in between. There was homework and sessions were moderated by a well-known Brisbane author. I was in. Four months later, I was out. Free, accessible, supportive, high-level mentoring - was I nuts? No, it wasn't the right group for me at that time because I was at a different stage of my career to the other writers in the room as the only published author other than the moderator. The biggest difference: They had writing goals (some had never written before) while I had an annual work plan, with deadlines, mini-goals and I was time pressured as a result Before I made the decision, I sat down and looked at everything I do outside of day job working/travel and accounted for where I spent my time. And the decision came down to could I justify another two hours to talk writing, or would I be better off spending the time writing? I chose writing and I also made some of the other non-negotiable things in my life a bit more efficient. Did it work? 2019 was my most productive year for a long time. Most of those projects will come to fruition in 2020. So what's the difference between a work plan and a goal? A goal is what you want to achieve. A work plan is the extra detail that tells you how it is going to be achieved. It's breaking it down into manageable chunks, it's identifying those barriers to writing, and scheduling writing around them. It's scheduling those barriers as well, so they don't impact writing time. It's showing up for a writing shift the same as you would a day job shift. To make sure it's all written down in one central place I use a Personalised Planner that has everything: house, writing, running and social in one place. This helps me identify "pressure points" and then I schedule the writing around them. I use my phone's calendar for the day to day. This method won't work for everyone, but it does help me to get more organised. And more organised = more words. That's a win. July-August-September is what I call my "refilling the well" season - I have a big day job conference that I work towards all year, then the annual Romance Writers of Australia conference and I fit in a writing retreat as well. So heaps of travel, food and friends. It's frantic - I had a one day turn around between the day job conference and the RWA conference - essentially tipped my suitcase contents into the washing machine, onto the line, and then back into the case. My highlights: Catching up with my two buddies Nikki and Dan - both in Perth during the day-job conference and a week later at RWA. We've done a bit of work together (all online) so it was nice to catch up for real. Shared a special moment in relation to that project and wished this Moet bottle was for real. Romance Writers of Australia - Melbourne 2019 conference - was awesome as always. As I have developed as a writer, my workshop needs have changed and now I am more likely to be in an editing workshop, a self-publishing workshop or a specialised topic, rather than general romance writing. Every year, I come home with lightbulb moments, and energised by spending time with my writing buddies. This year the weather was attrocious - hail at 10am, windy, so I didn't get out much, but I did get to the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria. While the warriors were the focus, the complementary artwork - both sculpted and painted - was breathtaking. My last trip was a visit to the beautiful Bunya Mountains for a writing retreat. I've connected with a new group of Brisbane based writers and we are now annual retreaters - but with a difference. We use "Varuna rules". So we travel up together, have dinner together, and generally ignore one another during the day while we work, and again after 10pm. (If you're interested in Varuna and how it structures retreats, check the Varuna webpage for their residency FAQs).
This year, I was lucky enough to share with two other writers who've been working with me on a combined project and we spent the weekend sharing our manuscripts for continuity. It's fascinating how the stories have come together in our "shared world" and I cannot wait to get these works ready for publication. Awesome house, awesome views, awesome wildlife. Bunya Mountains is pet free for visitors, so its been a long time since I'd visited, and I wished I could have a week up there - the house was well set up for it. The only downers were the threat of bushfire, made worse by the howling wind, and the loss of writing time from the drive - It's a bit too far for a 3 day working retreat - so next time it might have to be four days. But all in all, a productive and fun weekend. |
Fiona Greene AuthorWhen you set out on a journey and night falls, that's when you will discover the stars." Archives
November 2022
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