A Good Time to Stop and Smell the Roses
Hi Friends,
How are ya? I’m sending this newsletter out a few days late because I’ve just gotten back from a midwinter mini-vacation where I was off the grid.
It’s so refreshing to take a few days away from the normal routine, even if you don’t travel far. This time, Greg and I visited Hudson, New York where there wasn’t much going on (I get the feeling it’s more of a summer place), but we had a great time relaxing and taking in a new landscape.
Getting Organized
While we were away, I started reading a book called The Organized Writer. I’m always looking for a better way to keep track of deadlines and administrative tasks without storing them all in my head.
As I get older, I’m finding it easier to slip into a flow state when I’m writing or teaching, but the flip side is that all the emails I mean to send just fly right out of my memory and the whole day gets eaten up by whatever task I started with.
For the most part I keep track of things with my calendar, emails, and paper to-do lists, but I’d love to find a better way (without spending too much more money). I’ve downloaded a free trial of Things (it’s nice but so expensive to buy separately for every device!), and watched a few videos about hacking the Reminders app. I’m not totally sold on either. I really want something that will let me see my calendar events and to do’s side by side. And — one major ding against reminders — I don’t actually want reminders to pop up on my screen throughout the day.
Do you have a killer app for task management? Should I just stick with my paper notebook? Is there another great option I’ve overlooked?
This Week I’m:
Reading: The Organized Writer by Antony Johnston.
Watching: Drive-away Dolls (feels like the trailer for this has run before every movie for the past 5 years!)
Listening to: Calm sleep stories. A few weeks ago I noticed a spike in my anxiety, so I downloaded Calm to see if meditating would help. I’ve done the meditations a couple of times, but the sleep stories have been the real game changer. I’ve been falling asleep faster and slept more soundly than when I was listening to free history podcasts. Partly, I’m sure this is because beheadings are not the greatest dream-fuel, but I’ve also noticed that the Calm stories are loaded with sensory descriptions that make it easy to transition into sleep. Here’s a free one I found on youtube so you can test it out:
Bouquet of the Week: Blush pink roses. Did you know smelling roses while you sleep is good for your brain?
Take a Class with Me:
On Tuesday my next class, “6 Weeks, 6 Stories – PST time” begins. In this class students will begin writing a new story each week based on a prompt and example story, and have time in-class to get feedback from fellow writers on where to take the story next. 6w, 6s is a favorite among Grub writers because it’s such a great way to generate new work. And, this session meets online from 6-9pm Pacific Time (9-12 Eastern) so it’s perfect for writers who live in other parts of the US, or who are busy during regular class hours. I’d love to see you there!
6 Weeks, 6 Stories meets on Zoom Tuesdays, February 27th to April 2nd from 6:00-9:00pm PST. Sign up at https://grubstreet.org/findaclass/class/6-weeks-6-stories-pst/
Thanks for reading!
Kayleigh