The 2020 Daily Writing Challenge – December 16

/ JoHawkTheWriter

2020 Daily Writing Challenge

Writing is like driving at night in the fog.
You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
– E. L. Doctorow

Today is Day 351 of the 2020 Daily Writing Challenge.

Did you write yesterday?

My year-end countdown has begun, and what a wild ride 2020 has been. The adage says what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. I’m not dead, yet therefore I must be tougher right? The question becomes — How much can I accomplish before we ring in the new year?

It all starts with a well-conceived strategy, and mine includes a master list of 100 activities to help me reach my annual writing goal. It may sound impossible, but many items are almost insignificant and require fewer than 15 minutes to finish. They are micro-actions, minor jobs that, while they are crucial, they are the ones I repeatedly push to tomorrow.

My new resolution is to stop multitasking and instead concentrate on finishing one task before starting another. I have dedicated a cute notebook to collect random thoughts that often distract me from my current job. I aim to eliminate some low-priority habits and devote my time to higher valued assignments. Each evening, I will organize tomorrow’s calendar and schedule my most important activity in the top slot of my To-Do list. I pledge to complete that job before doing anything else. It means moving my daily writing session from afternoons to first thing in the morning. Well, second after my coffee, of course.

What can you achieve before the year’s end?

Let us know in the comments below.

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Time to Recognize Your Special Holiday Anxiety – Daily Quote

/ JoHawkTheWriter

its-almost-time-to-switch-from-my-everyday-anxiety-to-my-fancy-christmas-anxiety

I turned the calendar and realized we are at T minus 10 days and counting. My field-approved holiday procedures joined the smoldering embers of The Great 2020 Dumpster Fire. Any hope of returning to our regularly scheduled holiday programming died a whimpering death next to the Thanksgiving turkey. We nixed singing and dancing our way through crowded shopping malls in favor of scrolling through endless websites. We fear the dreaded Out Of Stock listing. If the perfect gift is still available, we pray for a bona fide Christmas miracle — free shipping and a delivery date guaranteed to arrive in time to slip the package under the tree.

The extended forecast is devoid of snow and promises only cold and cloudy conditions. I have queued the usual Holiday movies. At the rate we are binge-watching them, morning, noon, and night, I expect the re-runs to begin soon. Instead of decorating the entire house for countless holiday parties, we have staged an exquisite Zoom backdrop. We pretested the lighting and camera-tested the family coordinated ugly sweaters to ensure the reds read as true red and not orange or pink.

All that remains is to obsess over whether Santa has started his quarantine protocol and gotten the proper PPE, as we wait to hear if the CDC approves his normal contactless delivery process.

What are your fancy 2020 holiday anxieties?

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

The 2020 Daily Writing Challenge – December 15

/ JoHawkTheWriter

2020 Daily Writing Challenge

Writing is like driving at night in the fog.
You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
– E. L. Doctorow

Today is Day 350 of the 2020 Daily Writing Challenge.

Did you write yesterday?

My year-end countdown has begun, and what a wild ride 2020 has been. The adage says what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. I’m not dead, yet therefore I must be tougher right? The question becomes — How much can I accomplish before we ring in the new year?

It all starts with a well-conceived strategy, and mine includes a master list of 100 activities to help me reach my annual writing goal. It may sound impossible, but many items are almost insignificant and require fewer than 15 minutes to finish. They are micro-actions, minor jobs that, while they are crucial, they are the ones I repeatedly push to tomorrow.

My new resolution is to stop multitasking and instead concentrate on finishing one task before starting another. I have dedicated a cute notebook to collect random thoughts that often distract me from my current job. I aim to eliminate some low-priority habits and devote my time to higher valued assignments. Each evening, I will organize tomorrow’s calendar and schedule my most important activity in the top slot of my To-Do list. I pledge to complete that job before doing anything else. It means moving my daily writing session from afternoons to first thing in the morning. Well, second after my coffee, of course.

What can you achieve before the year’s end?

Let us know in the comments below.

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Defense from the Chaos is A Tight Schedule – Daily Quote

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 3 Comments

a-schedule-defends-from-chaos-and-whim.-it-is-a-net-for-catching-days.-it-is-a-scaffolding-on-which-a-worker-can-stand-and-labor-with-both-hands-at-sections-of-time.annie-dillard

I have a Sunday ritual. Sometimes I carve an hour from a lazy afternoon or as I watch a movie in the evening. The crucial point is, I never sleep until I finish, even if it means sitting in bed to plot my schedule. Turning the page on my calendar, I begin front-loading my week. Front-loading is placing my most important, time-sensitive, deadline-driven, most hated, or least fun chores on Monday and Tuesday.

I treat these two days as my crunch times. While my coworkers’ transition from their weekend, I close my door, hit the ground running, and eat those nasty frogs. I focus on completing my project, but I don’t push beyond my peak productivity levels. When I feel myself fading, I allow myself to switch to another task, or I take a break. Depending on the size and complexity of the assignment, it may leak into the latter part of the week. But my goal is to accomplish the bulk of the job as soon as it is workable.

Tasks assigned to Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday have less significance, and I often have nothing listed on Friday. This approach allows me to meet my deadlines with a polished presentation and absorb unexpected setbacks and emergencies. The big payoff happens when I complete my work sooner than I thought possible. In these found hours, I can launch new initiatives, develop pet projects, or reward myself, and coast into the weekend without guilt.

How do you organize your workweek?

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

The 2020 Daily Writing Challenge – December 14

/ JoHawkTheWriter

2020 Daily Writing Challenge

Writing is like driving at night in the fog.
You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
– E. L. Doctorow

Today is Day 349 of the 2020 Daily Writing Challenge.

Did you write yesterday?

My year-end countdown has begun, and what a wild ride 2020 has been. The adage says what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. I’m not dead, yet therefore I must be tougher right? The question becomes — How much can I accomplish before we ring in the new year?

It all starts with a well-conceived strategy, and mine includes a master list of 100 activities to help me reach my annual writing goal. It may sound impossible, but many items are almost insignificant and require fewer than 15 minutes to finish. They are micro-actions, minor jobs that, while they are crucial, they are the ones I repeatedly push to tomorrow.

My new resolution is to stop multitasking and instead concentrate on finishing one task before starting another. I have dedicated a cute notebook to collect random thoughts that often distract me from my current job. I aim to eliminate some low-priority habits and devote my time to higher valued assignments. Each evening, I will organize tomorrow’s calendar and schedule my most important activity in the top slot of my To-Do list. I pledge to complete that job before doing anything else. It means moving my daily writing session from afternoons to first thing in the morning. Well, second after my coffee, of course.

What can you achieve before the year’s end?

Let us know in the comments below.

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Diving Deep into Hard Work and Hoping for Success — Daily Quote

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 5 Comments

success-isnt-always-about-greatness.-its-about-consistency.-consistent-hard-work-leads-to-success.-greatness-will-come.-dwayne-johnson.

Days, weeks, and sometimes months pass, and I feel like I am going nowhere. My feet are heavy, and I struggle to extract my boot from the mire. The mud releases it with a sucking pop. Poised, my foot dangles in midair, and I squelch the urge to run, knowing that desire will not yield the results I want. I fling it forward, transferring my weight as I drag my opposite leg to join its companion. I sink, settling into the muddy mess that marks my path. A misty rain falls, an annoyance that is not strong enough to turn the quagmire into a rushing river and whisk me away. The constant drizzle only serves to hinder my progress.

I don’t possess enough courage to stop the guts to admit defeat or the backbone to beg for someone to rescue me. There is no shortcut here, only a dogged determination to keep working, keep trying, keep moving. This is where I do the work, write the stories, allow brilliant ideas to germinate, and I make plans. Everything looks dormant and dead. It is an illusion. I happily spend time here because this is where I create possibilities and earn promises of glorious rewards. A golden fist will knock on my door, and I intend to answer.

How do you get through your mucky middles?

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

The 2020 Daily Writing Challenge – December 13

/ JoHawkTheWriter

2020 Daily Writing Challenge

Writing is like driving at night in the fog.
You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
– E. L. Doctorow

Today is Day 348 of the 2020 Daily Writing Challenge.

Did you write yesterday?

My year-end countdown has begun, and what a wild ride 2020 has been. The adage says what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. I’m not dead, yet therefore I must be tougher right? The question becomes — How much can I accomplish before we ring in the new year?

It all starts with a well-conceived strategy, and mine includes a master list of 100 activities to help me reach my annual writing goal. It may sound impossible, but many items are almost insignificant and require fewer than 15 minutes to finish. They are micro-actions, minor jobs that, while they are crucial, they are the ones I repeatedly push to tomorrow.

My new resolution is to stop multitasking and instead concentrate on finishing one task before starting another. I have dedicated a cute notebook to collect random thoughts that often distract me from my current job. I aim to eliminate some low-priority habits and devote my time to higher valued assignments. Each evening, I will organize tomorrow’s calendar and schedule my most important activity in the top slot of my To-Do list. I pledge to complete that job before doing anything else. It means moving my daily writing session from afternoons to first thing in the morning. Well, second after my coffee, of course.

What can you achieve before the year’s end?

Let us know in the comments below.

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer