Lately, life has been a flurry of activity, appointments, deadlines, and demands. I rush from task to task, hurrying to complete each item by its appointed deadline. I pivot, twist, change directions and comply with new requests, additional information, and tactical adjustments.  Even my writing time has become one item to cross from my list, morphing and threatening to become more work than fun.

This is not acceptable. Time for a reset. Sunday is my rest day. Today I will take a break, breathe, and clear my schedule. No writing, no lists, no alarm clocks, no worries. A morning coffee, open space, a change of venue, and an opportunity to let my mind run wild. Today, it is dedicated to fun.

Do you remember why you started writing?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I keep hearing we should push past our limits, work harder, longer, smarter. Put in more, add extra effort, kill it at your day job, dedicate hours to your passion project, steal downtime minutes to double down on the side hustle while you somehow juggle a personal existence, me-time, and work-life balance. Phew.

The whole mess leaves me feeling apprehensive, frustrated, and exhausted. I have pushed myself to do my best, do it all and move outside my comfort zone. The result is I became more stressed and more anxious. My productivity fell, my enthusiasm evaporated, and I was irritable and angry. Pushing beyond my limitations drove me straight to burnout. And to what end?

Limits exist for a reason. They protect us from unrealistic ambition, work overload, and total shutdown. No matter how many times they say it, you can’t give 110% for days and weeks or year. Learning, truly mastering your subject, requires immersion, hands-on commitment, and space to appreciate the excitement for your dream.

Let me escape the programmed fate of some device-driven, optimized, maxed-out hustling, and artificially balanced being. Yes, sign me up for waking when I am rested, for rediscovering the joy of internalizing knowledge, and for connecting with friends who help me see the best parts of being human.

Have you gone too far?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Friday night dinner plans are a pleasure.  I look forward to the ritual. I meet my friends, to enjoy a wonderful meal while we catch up on the week’s happenings. We tell jokes, laugh and celebrate the highs and lows life throws at us.

Please don’t force me to wake before dawn, turn on a bright screen, and write. I am not a morning person, in fact, I bear no resemblance to anything remotely human until after my second cup of coffee. My grunts and groans are unintelligible, stringing two words together is an impossibility, concocting coherent sentence… well, that’s not happening. I have learned to avoid my weaknesses.

But I don’t consider it a sacrifice to write on Friday night. It is pure bliss. Ordering carry-out is decadent, no cooking or cleaning lets me kick back, and indulge my passion for writing.

Do you write on Friday night?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I enjoy writing flash fiction and short stories. Attempting to write a story with a beginning a middle and an end in exactly 100 words, is a real challenge. Every word must pull its weight, helping to develop the setting, mood, plot, character arc and everything else that makes a story successful. Concise, compact writing is the order of the day.

Like William, I use my daily flash fiction to try new things, explore the art of storytelling, test genres and have fun. I take the germ of the idea, write freely, then edit, edit, edit. I spend more time editing than I do writing the piece. Once my warm-up flash fiction is complete, I can start the days writing goals.

How do you structure your writing day?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I remember laying in the grass with deep darkness painting the sky. Millions and trillions of lights stud the canopy. I oriented the heaven’s guidebook above my head and located Ursa Major. There I identify the Big Dipper. Using the bowl’s pointer stars, I trace their alignment to the North Star, Polaris, at the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. It is a pulsing yellow supergiant, and while its intensity varies, I can locate its position with ease.

Letting the stars point me in the right direction, I turn to find Cassiopeia, Perseus, Pegasus, Lyra, Hercules and Draco snaking its way between the bears. The fall and winter skies are my favorite. Orion hunts just outside my bedroom window, he and his dogs Canis Major and Minor stand guard keeping me safe. Now I live in a large metropolitan region, where bright light obstructs the view of celestial objects. I sense their presence even if I rarely see them. I have lost the lesser-known stars as they fade, masked by the glare.

Tonight, I wonder if my inability to see every star in the sky limits my options and prevents me from seeing the whole array of opportunities. Do the limited choices force me to choose?  Compel me to act? Light pollution has blotted out dim alternatives and the pool of possibilities is smaller.

Orion’s call is plain and strong, I trust he has my back. He protects me, guarding me, as I ignore everything else and focus on my North Star. When morning sunlight streams through my window, my path forward is unmistakable.

Are you following your true North?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I love being in the spray, speeding across the lake’s surface with waves crashing into the hull. The boat slams into the trough, bouncing hard, water sprays, the motor turns, and the propeller spins driving us forward. I am anxious, exhilarated, and aware of the dangers lurking in each swell.  If we capsize, chances are, I will drown because I cannot swim. I don’t let it stop me. I take precautions.

Sailing fascinates me.  It is intuitive that sailboats, with the wind at their backs, can easily reach their destination.  But how do they return, when it blows straight at them? Shooting into the wind is a misnomer which requires physics. You place the boat’s centerline at an angle to the wind, catching the sail, while the wind’s force and the water act on the keel to send the boat racing forward diagonally to the desired harbor. Alternating from a port tack to a starboard tack sends the vessel in a zig-zag course home.

I see similarities in reaching my goals. Some days I run with the wind, moving faster than the gale with little effort. Then the breeze changes and my progress demands tacking and jibing to advance toward my target. I could blame the air currents for my shortfall, or I can work with what I have, set my course, and adjust my sails.

How are you doing on your goals?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Labor Day Weekend is a pivotal marker. It delineates the end of summer, the return to school, shorter days, cooler nights, and it reminds us we must buckle down and get to work… tomorrow. For now, we revel in our last hurrah.

One more splash at the water park, a BBQ and lawn games with friends and family. We enjoy a parade, a final open-air play, or concert followed by fireworks and ice cream. We watch little ones fall asleep in the car’s back seat as we brave the traffic jam and slowly make our way home.

What are your Labor Day Rituals?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Evening temperatures drop, and chilly air promises autumn is approaching. My neighbors ignite their firepit, they raise a glass and toast the day. A block away, the Friday night high school football crowd roars. I light a candle to celebrate my favorite time of year.

There is something soothing and about candles. Their yummy scents fill the house, calm my mind and I smile. When you smile, the world smiles in return. A Swedish study revealed when test subjects were shown an image of a smiling person and the researcher asked them to frown, the subjects imitated the face in the photo, smiling instead of frowning. Your smile is contagious, and it changes everything.

A smile makes us more attractive, lifts our mood and the moods of other people, and it extends our life expectancy. And can we talk about the awesome party a smile gets rolling? A smile floods our brains with neuropeptides, dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin. Drugs, baby. They are all-natural, 100% organic, create no negative side effects, don’t require a prescription or a dealer, and… wait for it… they are FREE.

Buddha was a smart man. By sharing a smile, you get huge benefits and you can transmit happiness to random strangers. Chance are, they will smile at the next person they meet. With any luck, your smile chain may travel around the world today.

Are you smiling yet?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I’m home alone when I hear a strange noise downstairs. It’s a break-in, the neighbor’s crafty cat. No, I see three black-suited men who I’ve noticed following me this week. Wait, maybe it is a homicidal maniac with a knife. In reality, it is the dishwasher beginning its pre-programmed cycle. The next morning, as I shower, I overhear two peasants discussing their plans to depose the evil king. Driving to work a voice concocts an elaborate story, the narrator describes the setting, while the characters inform me of the challenges they will face.

No, I am not crazy. Yes, I hear and speak to voices. They fuel my active imagination and provide details for the stories I write. I depend on them, using them as an essential part of my writing process. They are integral to discovering my character’s motivations and desires. They direct the plot and they challenge me when I want them to do something out of character. I use these internal conversations to get into their head.

When I sit down to write, the words flow. Telling their stories makes them happy. There is one voice I avoid. I know it almost before it speaks, the voice of self-doubt. I smash it with my boot, squash it like a bug.

Do your characters speak to you?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I have fallen into a trap. I love learning, reading, researching, investigated, studying methods, structures and discovering tested results. There is always more to discover, one more how-to book another master study video packed with useful tips, proven formulas and essential processes.

My head swims in data, opinions and good advice. I need help to escape the onslaught of self-proclaimed gurus and charming charlatans whose main goal is beguiling fools. Their intent is separating suckers from their money while offering regurgitated axioms lifted from their peers. Thankfully, I have finely tuned BS detector, and have seen my share of long copy sales forms, Call to Action ploys and countdown clocks.

When did learning devolve? Goggle grants us easy access to popular answers to any question asked. How many questions do we have to ask before we realize we learn best by doing? Hard work, effort, and failing are life’s finest teachers. If you claim to be a painter, you must pick up a paintbrush, dip the bristles in paint and apply it to a canvas. A would-be gardener should have dirt under their fingernails. A comedian ought to consider telling a joke or twenty. Perhaps a writer might want to entertain the thought of stinging a few words together.

Like George Carlin’s saleswoman, helping kind of defeats the purpose. Doing the work creates a deeper understanding of the rules, it provides tangible context and we experience the consequences of our decisions.

When do you jump into the doing part of learning?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer