Weekends are for catching up on laundry, cleaning the floors, grocery shopping, running errands, cutting the grass, and washing the dishes. These projects keep me moving, my hands are busy, and oxygen floods through my bloodstream. Our brains depend on the stuff more than any other part of the body. Oxygenation blood fuels our neurons, and studies suggest that blasts of oxygen can help improve cognitive functions.

Besides, simple tasks occupy the critic that stifles our shy creative side. While it is busy it leaves us free to contemplate grand plans and conjure amazing stories. My notebooks bear grass stains, water droplets, and spaghetti sauce splatters that attest to the dire need to record and capture those ideas before they disappear into the ether. The by-product is a clean house.

Where do your best ideas originate?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I loathe having nothing constructive to do. Being productive, with nice neat lines of items to complete listed on my personal agenda is much nicer. I get a rush when I can cross them off, call them done and move forward. Time wasters include standing in line, driving in traffic or having to re-working projects because of miscommunication. They top my list of anger-inducing ineffective misuses of my life. I strive to avoid those situations. Where possible, I order online, shop during off-peak hours, align my route to combine errands, and document and ask extensive questions when beginning group activities.

Coworkers have admonished me to slow my pace, so they didn’t need to work harder. Managers have accused me of cheating or lying as no one could do the task in such a short timeframe. To keep a project on track, I sometimes resort to completing assignments delegated to specific team members. It doesn’t bother me much because it beats staring at the clock and waiting for the minutes to pass.

How do you handle unproductive time?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I have a secret. It’s embarrassing when I am caught, and I discover someone is listening. Talking to myself, in my head and aloud is a normal occurrence. I assure you, my conversations are rather mundane. Where is my phone? Did I pay the bill? Should I buy lemons at the grocery store? Who is knocking on my front door? Why did I come into this room? Those are typical topics I explore almost daily.

Late at night when the house is finally silent, questions fade and grow quiet. The voice changes and my evening adventure begins. I have heard it since I was a child. It has told me bedtime stories, created imaginary characters, and fantastic worlds. It is my trusted companion. Together we work through complex issues, solving the day’s problems. I write the tales I tell myself and share them with my friends.

What stories will you tell yourself today?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Some weeks have an easy flow, everything goes as planned, events fall neatly into place and the world turns on its axis and the sun rises in the east. Then we experience periods which try our souls. We encounter roadblocks, red lights and unexpected problems in quick succession. Saying our plans are a disaster is an understatement. There is an answer to the challenges confronting you. We must work, pulling apart the snarls, creating unique solutions, and smoothing the road ahead.

The process is stressful, it requires long hours, and produces tension and anxiety. Music is a wonderful way to relax, unwind and gain the fortitude to move forward. You can’t hold stress while the music plays. Reading also works, especially as we watch our hero struggle, fight and succeed in the journey. In music and reading, we find the courage to continue.

How do you manage the tough periods?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

On countless evenings, I find I cannot sleep. My brain won’t stop, it races, obsessively testing ideas, possibilities and contemplating the question ‘what if?’ I have long since learned my lesson, there will be no rest. I relinquish my control, leave my bed and write. Other nights I am jolted from my dreams by some cosmic alarm clock, I clutch a brilliant idea like a lightsaber slashing through the dark. Once again, I stumble to my desk, power on the laptop to transcribe the dream. The stories refuse to be pushed aside.

Telling tales is in my blood, and I schedule writing sessions every day, but I give myself a break from my normal routine on the days when my brain did not register it was quitting time.

Do you write at unusual times?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

The experts disagree on how many works Leonardo created. There are generally fifteen paintings everyone agrees were done by Leonardo and a handful of others that are in dispute. It is believed there are many more works which have been lost through the years or remain unidentified. Then there are his manuscripts. Volumes of notebooks filled with his writing that span the whole of his adult life.

Learning and understanding are important, but nothing exists without doing. It is a slow steady process, the work we do every day that adds up to a legacy. The doing keeps us alive.

What will you do today?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

In business, there is a proven technique for attaining long-term improvements. Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy which focuses on continual improvement. We can apply the method to every aspect of life. It relies on small changes which snowball and over time, culminated in growth, advancement, and progress. There are six steps: Standardize, Measure, Compare, Innovate, Standardize, Repeat.

Standardize: What are you doing today? You have a process, you just might not realize it. Study what you are doing and commit it to paper.

Measure: Be objective and examine your current workflow to determine where you are efficient or inefficient.

Compare: Inspect your results and plot them against your goals to see if your present operation is moving you in the direction you wish to go.

Innovate:  Search for a better way to execute your plan. Your innovation can be big or small. Studies show that modest incremental changes get superior payback because they are easier for you to achieve and faster to integrate.

Standardize: Implement your innovative ideas and make them part of your daily practice.

Repeat: Once your modernized workflow is a habit you start the process over again. Until your baby steps lead you to your target.

How are you progressing toward your goal?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Writing to Megadeth’s head bangs or a coffee shop’s chattering of human voices with no discernible words are both doable options for me. I write to the strains of classical music, in total silence, with nature’s chirping birds, or a blaring tv program.

I find my writing regime doesn’t require specific conditions. Waiting for the perfect condition is a luxury I can ill afford. The planetary alignment occurs every blue moon which is sporadic, and I need to write more often. I must add to my daily word count goal. I adapt and create when and where I am able.

What is your preference, music? Silence? Earmuffs? A coffee shop’s din? Something else?

Maybe a little Megadeth?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Rising early is not normally on my agenda, but it can offer untold rewards. Strong, hot coffee is imperative in my quest to chronicle the sunrise. I rise before dawn when the world is still dark, before the birds break into song. If I lived on a farm, I would have to wake the rooster and remind him of his job. Together we would watch the hard, black sky yield to gray then fade to pink touched with a golden glow, revealing the mist lifting from the field. A magic-infused breeze touches my coffee mug and as I inhale, the promise stirs my soul.

Trance-like, I wander to my desk with the day’s music singing in my ear. My muse demands I transcribe the whispered stories. Transmitted through my fingertips to the hard, ebony squiggles etched on the ivory page, I don’t see black or white. I hear the song tinged in pink and golden hues; I taste the morning’s magical flavor and the emotions vibrate, twirling intimately around the words.

How do you capture your day?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

This quote conjures images of Jack London traipsing through a fall field, his shotgun nestled in the crook of his arm. His other hand holds a switch he has cut from a sapling. He whistles to a pair of bird dogs as they beat the bushes in search of inspiration. They spend the morning searching through thickets and tall grass. The dogs freeze and point, they have caught the scent.

After successfully capturing a dose of fleeting inspiration, they return to a cozy cabin, a warm fire, and a celebratory drink. The typewriter pounding lasts into the wee hours.

Where do you find your inspiration?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer