Prepping for the MANW 2017 Challenge

Less than a week before my Make Art Not War 2017 Challenge begins! I hope you’ve had your fill of Christmas cookies, nog, and coffee–wait, what am I saying? One can never have too much coffee, of course. But, if you had to give that java-flavored nectar of the gods up, how would you do it? You might make a New Year’s Resolution, but do you have a plan in place? What would you replace your coffee with?

Okay, I admit it. That was a trick question, and not a very good one at that. My point, is that in order for resolutions to be successful, something has to change. The desire you have–whether it’s making art for an hour a day or not–is the door to where you want to go. In order to head some place new, you have to leave another place behind. Making art an hour a day doesn’t seem like it’s that big of a change, but in order to carve out that time something else has to go.

My suggestion to make room for your art was take a hard look at your social media usage for two reasons: one, because it’s a commonality that we all share. Two, however, is something I wasn’t explicit about, and that’s. Back when I was in online marketing, one of the older books I read on the subject talked about how the average person is presented with over 4,000 brands on a daily basis, but only retains two or three(1). The philosophy that emerges from this, is that we are bombarded with information on a daily basis. Every update we see on social media is information presented through words or pictures, but more than that it’s not emotion-free–especially when a commenter is being a jerk, or doesn’t recognize that other people are responding and reacting to their words.

Connection is important, and for me I prefer Twitter because I also use it as a news feed. But, those online connections also occupy precious head space that needs to be devoted to thinking about what I need to do to make art.

Of course, your mileage will vary. For as much as I have a rule about bi-weekly check-ins, I can’t totally disconnect due to work reasons so those check-ins are personal. In my case, the bi-weekly check-ins are general guidelines or best practices, in part because I use Twitter as a news aggregator in addition to a social media tool. I’m not going to punish myself if I don’t keep on top of that; the guidelines are there to ensure I remain focused.

To this end, however, I’m going to use bullet journalling as a means of staying on track. (More on that later.) Your experiences, your connection will definitely be different than mine. If you’re not aware of how it impacts your art, you may discover things about yourself during the challenge. For example, you might find yourself disconnecting naturally as your focus becomes stronger and sharper on your art. That’s okay! That’s what happens when you turn your attention from what’s around you to what’s inside.

So, if you’re preparing for my Make Art Not War 2017 Challenge, think about how you’ll make room for your art to increase the likelihood that you’ll stick with it all year. If you’re not sure what to do–don’t worry! Your fellow challengers will support you, and I’ll post motivational tips every week to help keep you on track.

Just a few days to go, and we’ll kick this year-long art-making party off. Let’s make some f-bombing art!

(1) I don’t have the source off the top of my head, but if I find it I’ll link to it.

Habit Tracking through Bullet Journaling

Maleficent Queen Avatar

If you’ve heard me speak at conventions, you might have picked up on how important I feel basic discipline is to forming good habits for writing. To expand on this a little further, I tend to think of being a writer holistically, because even when I’m not writing (which makes me miserable), I’m still thinking about writing (which can cause more harm than good). But, I’m not “just” a writer. I’m a human being, planet Earth. And as a human, I have to remember to maintain the biological container a bit, as transhumanism is barely a twinkle in the eyes of scientists right now.

Translation: I may wander off with wild hair and no makeup and mismatched clothes and mac-and-cheese and whatever else is in the cupboard while in the thick of it, but that’s not necessarily healthy on an ongoing basis. That bit is the fun part. The “I’m not worrying about a f-bomb’ing thing, other than this project right now.” is absolutely fantastic, but reality often sets in. Where did that extra pound come from? Why has a tornado hit my pad? That sort of thing.

Ergo? Habit tracking. Hilariously, when I heard about bullet journaling (or bujo as the cooler-than-I kids call it), I didn’t see the point at first. It sounded like an overly complicated way of setting up a planner that wasn’t pre-printed. But, it was also an excuse to buy a new notebook (Yay!) and use my set of colored Stabilo pens (which are a-w-e-s-o-m-e, by the way). So, I thought I’d give it a whirl. Here’s a picture of the habit tracker I modified for myself, and a link to the full list of habit trackers with accredited sources:

Bohoberry.com Image to Build Good Habits

Source: Bohoberry

Here’s where it gets interesting. So, the habit tracking method that works for me is to color in each column as its own day, which means I don’t have to do an extra layer of analysis or spend additional time putting together a graph. I get a picture, after a week or two, of what’s actually going on. For me, I caught the fact that my SAD kicked in right away–which is great!

More than this, it’s helpful to look at trends for short periods of time to figure out certain habits. Individual data points… Man, so easy to beat yourself up if you don’t reach a goal on a particular day, or for a specific reason. But, part of my discipline is to track simple habits that build the foundation to my overall lifestyle. My lifestyle by itself requires a desk and a chair, which means that if I procrastinate (which does happen) I sit longer (which is not good) and that takes a toll on my body.

My categories are:

  • Out of bed at 6 a.m.
  • Clean 15 min. a day
  • Cat boxes
  • Make bed
  • Vitamins
  • Laundry
  • Workout
  • No Take-Out
  • No spending
  • Hydrate (64 oz.)
  • Floss
  • Read before bed

I also added a temporary mood tracker and a, um… bad habits tracker. Combined, I quickly figured out my limit for caffeine and how withdrawal was impacting my mood. Next month, I want to fine tune a few habit trackers (e.g. fitness and finances) to ensure I’ve got consistency there. I’m not tracking my mood as well as I’d like, but it’s there in case I need it. After that foundation is laid, then I want to use it for goal setting and see what else I could devise for writing that is a) simple to set up and b) takes less than five minutes to maintain.

The to-do lists for me in bullet journaling don’t work as well as my planner, as well as the reinforcing I do every week via other to-do lists. I rely on those anchors so I can lose myself in the work, and right now they’re a great tool since I’m still waiting on balls to drop that may never come down. My method doesn’t work for everyone, but I try to simplify everything as much as possible knowing how intense I can get. The other thing this bit does, is it keeps the shorter projects top of mind–which is what happens when a longer-term project falls apart or gets delayed.

Latest Artistic Project: Now dreaming about an Etsy store.
Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Gods, Memes, and Monsters, Tales of the Dark Eras, and Firefly: The Gorramn Shiniest Language Guide and Dictionary in the ‘Verse.
Latest Game Release: Ghouls & Revenants for Vampire: The Masquerade and Court of Shadows for Shadowrun.
Current State of Projects: Read my latest project update.



Routines Can Work With A Little Help

The Tick Weapons Lab Avatar

Yesterday, 2,400 words poured out of my brain. I wrote the ending for Traitor’s Masque, Book One of the Violet War series. The original title was Argentum, but I’m not sure it pops as much. I wasn’t revising as I was writing, but I was plotting during this period, inserting notes while I went. It was almost like I was working behind-the-scenes, raw and uncensored, to allow the story to emerge.

And that it did.

That wasn’t the only thing I wrote, however. Right now I’m averaging between 4 to 6,000 words a day. I’m definitely noticing how necessary it is to manage my time. When you do any aspect of online community management as part of your “job,” it can get really hairy and have a profound impact on what you’re doing. Like checking e-mail, any time-related task that requires constant monitoring can be another way to distract you from the task at hand. To-do lists are great, but they’re not as useful (I feel) as assigning chunks of time to those tasks. For me, that’s the best form of project management. It’s not just about getting the work done, it’s about how the time you’ve devoted to that specific line item is used.

That’s where a routine comes into play that is married to your prioritization. If you, for example, have made it a goal to absolutely put writing first? Then structure your day around that, to ensure that whenever you need to write in the day, you’ve set aside that time that no one can interrupt on penalty of death.

I mean, we do this all the time. Right? Football, favorite TV shows, doctor’s appointments, classes, etc. Take the time you’d normally spend on something else, either entertaining or not, and block it out to show up and write. Then, if you lose your focus, write down whatever it is you defaulted to. e.g. Checking your phone, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, petting the cat, ordering pizza, playing Angry Birds — whatever.

If you’re distracted and couldn’t finish that particular scene? Start another one. I’m having a blast jumping around to different points in my long-form manuscripts, because it allows me to get a fresh perspective on scenes that would otherwise be rushed or a chore. I can ALWAYS rearrange them after the fact.

My routines are blocked out into smaller chunks of time and prioritized accordingly. Thankfully, I’ve also marked off areas where I have to take free time, too. That doesn’t mean I can slack off, though, it just means that the times when I’m not writing are more valuable to me.

Anyway, you’re going to find whatever’ll work for you. Just thought I’d bring this up since many of you were jumping into NaNoWriMo next month.

    Mood: Accomplished
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: NOT ENOUGH
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: A walk.
    In My Ears: METALLICA, BABY
    Game Last Played: Tetris
    Movie Last Viewed: Harry Potter collection
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press




Monica Valentinelli >

Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

Archives

Back to Top