My workload has doubled since my unscheduled vacation, and I am scrambling. While everyone feigns compassion, and profess their relief that I am well, the truth is they are anxiously waiting for me to deliver my assignments. “How soon?” is the implied question. With the pressure, it is easy to consider finishing the job for the most annoying person first. The trouble with this tactic is it means I fall further behind on my high-priority projects.

Finding the desire and focus to deal with the never-ending stack of work is daunting. I can’t count on magical unicorns, fairies, or helpful shoemaker elves. When I don’t know where to start, I clean my desk. It sounds counter-intuitive, but this simple task allows me to identify, organize, prioritize, and reschedule the tasks demanding completion. I block schedule, setting my agenda with specific times, and goals.

It is a ritual I have used often. Instead of wasting precious moments staring at a blank document, second-guessing whether I am working on the right assignment, or feeling guilty for never getting around to my passion project, I am free to work. The plan grants me the ability to concentrate. With a set objective and an established timeframe, my motivation helps me power through the piles, without losing sight of what is important.

How do you tackle mountains of responsibilities?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Lately, I have felt controlled by external forces. Other people’s agendas supersede my plans, snarled traffic slows my progress, malfunctioning appliances waste precious time, and betrayed by the flu, I wonder if I am fighting a losing battle. I seem to confront a brick wall, no matter which way I turn. I could continue to bang my head against that dense and immovable obstacle, or I can find the key that will allow me to break free.

Walking amid chaos is stressful, but trying to resolve what we cannot control often makes matters worse. As difficult as it might be, sometimes we are better served by accepting the circumstances, and letting go. This doesn’t mean we like, condone, or approve of the situation; it just means we realize there is no workable method for changing things today. Instead of engaging in battles we cannot win, it may be more helpful to keep moving, manage our perceptions, adjust our outlook, and engage our sense of adventure.

Each morning a new day dawns with opportunities and choices. I opt to search for a fresh start, hoping for a breakthrough, I place my faith in my ability to preserve. I concentrate on deliberate actions and effective ways that will move me toward my goal.

How will you begin your week?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

They say 80% of Americans want to write a book. Few embark on the arduous journey, and fewer reach their target. The odds are stacked against aspiring authors. Stepping onto the path is perilous, unknown dangers lurk and abandoning the road sometimes feels like a viable option.

The prize lies ahead, not next to the trail, and not in the rearview mirror. Our compelling motivation fuels our ambition to reach the destination and attain our goal. If the purpose is important, if it emanates from the core of our being, if it is as vital as the air we breathe, it propels us forward, sustain us on our journey. With a fierce desire, the path is less daunting. The bumps are minor inconveniences, and we will win our reward.

Is your reason strong enough?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

There are a handful of activities I avoid because I lack talent. I have no sports skills. My face catches every baseball, while my hands act as inefficient shields. Dribbling a basketball devolves when the ball bounces off my shoe and bent in half, I stumble-run, chasing the careening orb across the floor. Let’s not discuss my ineptitude in soccer, volleyball, or any sport that requires me to run. I don’t sing least I set the neighborhood dogs to howling like wolves, and I don’t write poetry.

I love poems and I have memorized many, including Patterns, by Amy Lowell, The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost. I adore The Tyger, by William Blake, Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Marc Anthony’s monologue from Julius Caesar, and countless works by Emily Dickinson. I can recite a Shakespeare sonnet, and Sea Canes by Derek Walcott. I also have a deep fondness of Walcott’s epic poem Omeros, though I would not attempt to commit it to memory.

I poems I memorize, I choose with great care because I know they will live with me forever. I seek work that connects me with the poet, poems where I feel the emotions they must have felt as they wrote. I enjoy rich imagery, and subtle shades of meaning, which beacons my soul to return time and time, again.

When I sit to compose, I try to clear my mind and allow my passions to embed themselves in the words, and embrace each phrase. It only happens when my heart leads the writing, not my head. Knowing what I intend to write dampens the message.

Do you write with your feelings?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Is it strange I like spider webs? I am none too fond of the spiders themselves, but their wispy creations are often spectacular.  Add a misty morning dew to reflect the first gentle rays of sunlight, and you have something straight from a fairy tale. The webs remind me of snowflakes, extraordinary, perfect, and beautiful. If you are foolhardy and attempt to touch them, hold them, they dissolve as if they were a figment of the imagination.

I love Virginia’s perspective and the idea that fiction must maintain even a tenuous connection with the real world. Fiction, at its best, emulates a perfect moment, presenting a novel viewpoint through a fictional realm, and pristine fantasies, expressed with magnificent words. They are true figments, with each reader conjuring a version, shaped, and colored by the totality of the reader’s personal experiences. We step into a story and create a unique rendition. As minds expand, and outlooks are altered by daily experiences, do we ever read the same story twice?

How do you attach your stories to reality?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I have been off my coffee since Monday morning. That is never a good sign. Exhaustion, achy muscles, boiling hot in one moment, then teeth-chattering cold the next, have ruled my daily existence. Regular doses of white caplets do nothing to ease the pounding in my head. A darkened room, a fluffy duvet, and sweet sleep offer the only escape. Days and nights meld. The passage of minutes and hours develop a rhythm that defies the norms associated with the accepted standards.

My brain left to its own devices declares a play day. My thoughts wander down overgrown paths, exploring avenues we normally zoom past. I discover characters in unexpected settings, their dialog reveals shocking truths and unimagined motivations. My mind spins new stories, introduces me to interesting protagonists, and intimidating antagonists. The cast grows, and red yarn connectors tie them together in a tangled web of intrigue.

When I wake, I frantically scribble notes. I try to drive as many stakes as possible to anchor the richly textured tapestries to the realm of reality before they dissolve into wispy filaments that retreat to the deep recesses of my dream world. I read my hasty scratchings and smile. There is enough material to keep my writing fueled for a long time. It is a good thing I only get sick once a year.

How does sickness affect you?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Some weeks are harder than others. They try your patience. Every step you take is a struggle as you trudge forward. Failing, not reaching your stated goal, is demoralizing, and painful, and a test.

I have no intention of succumbing to defeat in the long run. I won’t be denied. Instead, I recommit to my intentions, and I write and rework my goals. Sometimes though, rest is a good idea. Tonight, I plan to relax, recharge, and sleep like a baby. Tomorrow presents another chance to win.

What challenges will you take?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I admit it. Recently, I have hit the failure button a lot. While I can meet my minimum daily word count goal, I struggle to reach my stretch goal. Since my aim is to increase my daily productivity, I need to increase the days I hit the stretch goal. Because a daily goal needs to be, well, daily.

Time to conduct a study, collect data, crunch numbers, and run them through the analysis machine. I discovered a pattern for the days I attained the stretch goal. The prior evening, I planned. Don’t worry kids, no outlines were harmed (or created) in this process.

Instead, I set the stage. Each session was different, but they bore similar themes. I prepared the tableau for the next day’s writing session. Think about throwing a party. You decide what you want to serve, go shopping, hang decorations, and make a few dishes in advance. On the day of the party, you cook. I have a new tactic. Each evening, I set the party, so the next day, I only need to write. We’ll see how it goes.

What takeaways have you learned from your failures?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I don’t like suspense. I disdain horror, splatters, thrillers, mysteries, police procedurals, or almost any story where a character’s sole reason for existence is to serve as a dead body. As you might imagine, Stephen King and the authors of his ilk do not grace my TBR list. Watching any graphic displays in the form of movies or series has also been a hard “no” for me.

I found myself in a difficult situation. My hotel offers limited TV options. Reruns of Law and Order, CSI, Chicago PD, and their spin-offs, compete with the Weather Channel for my attention. Forced to view something, I created an intellectual challenge and decided to analyze and dissect the plotlines. To do this, I needed to reassure myself the program was imaginary, and people were not harmed during filming. The themes are designed to elicit intense emotions and heighten awareness. This made unfinished threads, and unsolved plots both memorable and annoying.

We are wired to solve problems, complete puzzles, and this propensity compels our focus. Confronted with tension, conflict, suspense, unresolved questions, and personal concerns, our brains drive us to act, even if the action is only to figure out “who done it” by the end of the show.  It caused me to consider how I could use suspense to increase reader engagement and create a page-turner in my writing. Without a gratuitous corpse, of course.

Do you include suspense in your stories?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Sunday, and I am so exhausted. There’s a huge difference between laziness and exhaustion. We often declare we are lazy when, in truth, we are dead-dog tired. But are we feeling fatigued from the right activities? Are we filling our days with insignificant movements, or are we making strides towards reaching our fondest ambitions?

It is a balancing act. We push too hard, working to attain our goals, and discover we have become a workaholic in significant peril of burnout. They say we increase productivity when we rest, and recharge our batteries. However, resting on our laurels can lead to inertia, a break in our routine may derail our previous efforts, and picking up the pieces is discouraging. It’s difficult deciding what we need to do. I think I will write two hundred words and take a nap.

How do you decide when to push and when to rest?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer