A Melodious Sonnet

Why You Need a Simple Atmosphere for Writing (+ free program!)

by · Leave a Comment

A year and a half ago, I wrote my first novel. Along with many other writers, I had taken the NaNoWriMo challenge, an incentive program designed to help you break through your writers block and simply get words out on the page. During the month of November, I challenged myself to write 50k words.

That was completed within three weeks, and one program that helped me immensely to get the words out on the page was FocusWriter. FocusWriter provided a superbly simple atmosphere for writing — and I was able to focus much better on content creation, rather than being distracted by fancy formatting.

Why You Need a Simple Atmosphere for Writing (+ free program!)

Photo courtesy of Pixabay/Unsplash | License: CC0 1.0

Today, I’d like to introduce you to FocusWriter.

But first . . . .

What Happens When You Have a Simple Atmosphere

  • Your productivity soars. When you work in a clutter-free environment, your targets for the project are clearer. You also will have a happier attitude because you can’t see the other—perhaps not as important—work you need to attend to.
  • Perfection becomes a non-issue. When you can forget about having it just perfect, you can focus on the content instead of the container. (P.S.—Simple often also equals elegant, even though we may not realize it right away.)
  • The process becomes more important that the end goal. When this happens, you can enjoy it more. Yes, you do want to keep the end goal in mind. But if you can focus more on getting words on the page than on what you want the polished masterpiece to look like, you’ll make more progress than you do dreaming about the end goal.

I’ve been using FocusWriter for several years now, on and off. At times, I prefer other writing environments better, but as far as a simple atmosphere I can’t beat this program. If you’re looking for a distraction-free writing environment, check FocusWriter out—it may just be the tool you need to get your work done well.

(Disclaimer: I recieve nothing from recommending FocusWriter. I have just found this tool very useful in my own writing life, so I’m sharing it in the hopes that you will find it helpful, too.)

You Aren’t a Failure

by · 2 Comments

(A letter to my mom. I hope you other mothers out there will also be encouraged. You’re winners, too.)

Dear Mom,

I know you’ve said before—many, many times—that you sometimes feel like you’re a complete failure. I’m sorry. I know I’m probably one of the ones that made you feel like that the most.

Even though I’m not a mother, I know it must be tough at times—especially when I, as the oldest, am grumpy. I know the others copy my example, and I try to have a good attitude. I’m sorry for the days that aren’t so good. And for all the days I complain to you.

You Aren’t a Failure

Photo courtesy of Pixabay/PublicDomainPictures | License: CC0 1.0

I’d like to encourage you, though—don’t give up! You are making a difference, even if you can’t see it right now. We’re learning. We’re growing.

Each day you show us more of what it means to be like Jesus—yes, even through your exasperated sighs. Even though you’re annoyed—and yes, even a little cross when we break one of your jars—we know that underneath you still love us. A lot.

That love can only come from Jesus, because I can’t see any other way you’d ever be able to put up with us.

We love you, Mom. Yes, we hardly ever say it, but we do love you—and couldn’t imagine our lives without you.

Even if the laundry is still in that huge stack in the corner, we have plenty of clean clothes to wear.

Even though you still have no idea what we’re eating tonight, you somehow always manage to find something delicious to fill us with.

Even though we don’t want to do our schoolwork (I’m sorry, I still hate spelling), in later years we’ll be thankful for all that hard work and sweat you poured into each of us.

Even though we don’t always take your advice (yes, I’m thinking of that time I decided to make that huge Purim meal and didn’t have enough time), we still value your input.

Thank you for being the encyclopedia and dictionary for the family. That discussion on the gestation period of donkeys and whales was fascinating.

Thank you, too, for being a good example of stewardship—even when those apples and blackberries look like a lot of work.

Also, thank you so much for encouraging me to read and enjoy stories from little up—I still have fond memories of reading books before nap time. And exploring Grandma’s Attic together.

Above all, thank you for being a good example—even on those days when you’re feeling less than perky. I hope some of that can rub off on us children one day.

You’ve done a lot to mold us children into the people we are today, and I’ll be forever thankful. Thank you for your creative spirit, your humor, and your down-to-earth practicality. I wish the world had more people like you.

Thank you, Mom. You aren’t a failure — at all. You’re a winner who should have a crown.

Thank you for everything.

Esther

3 Resources to Help You Work More Productively

by · Leave a Comment

I don’t think there’s anything I like better than a free program that helps me work more productively. And, being somewhat of a program maniac—I usually end up trying out just about every free one I hear of—this is the kind of post I love the most. If you’re interested in free, time-saving resources, then this post will fit you as well.

3 Resources to Help You Work More Productively

Photo courtesy of Pixabay/condesign | License: CC0 1.0

Today, I’d like to share three valuable l tools I use to work more productively. Two of the resources below were ones I mentioned in the two previous posts in this series—How to Prepare for a Productive Day and 7 Effective Ways to Get Unstuck Now. The other is one I’ve come across in the last month or so, and it’s been so helpful to me in this area that it deserves its place as well.

Let’s get started.

1. Workflowy—“Organize Your Brain.” WorkFlowy is a notebook for lists. Use it to be more creative and productive.

A few months ago, I was feeling pretty stressed out over the sheer amount of work I had to do yet, so I sat down and had a brain-clearing session that was (at most) 30 minutes long. In that one session I wrote down over 50 things I needed to do. As soon as they were all written down it was much easier to focus on the project at hand and finish it. Workflowy is perfect for jobs like this—you can nest tasks as deeply as you like, and you can view them all together as one good-sized to-do list. Below is an example of how it looks:

WorkFlowy Screenshot

WorkFlowy Screenshot

(Note: If you sign up to use this task-management site, use my referral code here or above. By using my link, you will get 2x the amount of free space (500 monthly items instead of 250), and you will also be giving me an extra 250 per month. Thank you!)

2. Action Item Catcher—A place to capture action items for processing or doing later. (Scroll almost to the bottom of the page to get it.)

I find this simple “catcher” extremely helpful. It takes less than a minute to write something down, and is also very handy when I’m trying to remember what I need to do and/or figuring out what I should be doing the next day or week.

3. Momentum, Browser Extension for Chrome—Daily motivation and focus on your new tab page.

Momentum is a free extension that controls what your New Tab page looks like. Some of its main features include:

  • A beautiful new picture each day
  • To-do list
  • Main focus of the day
  • Daily inspiring quotes
  • Current time (helpful if you tend to lose track of time like I do)
Momentum Screenshot

Momentum Screenshot

I love this extension. It’s basically a personal daily dashboard. It is simple, yet elegant, in design, and instead of distracting from what I want to do each day it constantly reminds me of the next step I need to take. This is one of my main to-do list programs. I love the motivation it gives each day—whether the beautiful picture, or the quote, or both—it makes getting jobs done that much more fun.

Extra: I just found out that this extension is also available for Safari—check it out here in the Apple store. It’s also available for Firefox and the Edge browser. 🙂

For Opera—I’ve heard you can use Chrome extensions on Opera. If you install an add-on named Download Chrome Extension, you can install Chrome extensions as well as Opera extensions. This means that if you use Opera instead of Chrome, there is a chance you might be able to use Momentum. I haven’t personally tested this, so I can’t tell you about results, but it may be an option for you.

I hope you’ll be able to find something to help you work more productively. I also hope you won’t feel obligated to try anything that I recommend, simply because it works for me. If something is helpful, great! If it doesn’t help–maybe you’re already doing as well as you can, or perhaps there’s something else out there that would be better.

Whatever you do in the end–stay productive, don’t give up, and glorify God!

What are some of your favorite programs for making your workload easier to manage?

7 Effective Ways to Get Unstuck Now

by · 1 Comment

This post is part two of three on the topic of productivity.

More times than we care to admit, we get stuck in an unproductive cycle of half-hearted work and discouragement at getting hardly anything done. Sometimes, it’s almost impossible to figure out how to get unstuck.

What we really need is a kick in the pants to get us moving.

7 Effective Ways to Get Unstuck Now

Photo courtesy of Pixabay/PublicDomainPictures | License: CC0 1.0

But more often than not we aren’t willing to admit that we’re stuck, so we struggle on alone. It then becomes up to us to get going again.

Just Get to It

Even if you’ve done your best in planning out your day–so you have a track to run on first thing–the motivation for getting to it sometimes just isn’t there. By setting yourself up for success as much as you can, it becomes easier to get unstuck.

Here are three things you can do to find motivation:

  1. Make a checkable to-do list. This could be optional, but when I have a game plan for the day—complete with boxes to check off as I get each thing done—those little wins are more fun. I generally would do this at the same time that I write up a game plan for the day. This wouldn’t work for all people, but I find it helpful.
  2. Use cues that are already in place. Is there a certain thing you drink at your peak creative times? Do you listen to a certain kind of music? Or do you have a certain hat you wear every time you want to be “in the zone”? Almost everyone has a certain routine they go through that makes the job easier to start. Find out what that is for you—what signals to your subconcious that “It’s time to work now!”—and go with that. Make use of the signals you already have–the job will be much easier.
  3. Just start. One of the best ways to get unstuck is to start anyway. Even though you have nothing to give to your project, work on it anyway–a breakthrough is almost always right around the corner. Start. Even if you’ll erase all that work in two minutes. Conquer the first step, no matter how small. Just start.

When You Still Can’t Get Unstuck

Yes, there are some days when everything you do still doesn’t put you on the getting things done trail.

Here are four things I do when that happens:

  1. Take a break from the computer. Computers have an amazing tendency to produce fried brains. Step away from the computer for several minutes. Take a short walk to check on the garden, read a book to a sibling, or get a drink. Take some time away to refresh and refuel. If you need to, time your break. It doesn’t have to be long—only five minutes or so—and your brain will thank you when you’re done.
  2. Hold a personal war. For writers, this might be a word war—so many words in 10, 15, or 30 minutes. If you’re working on math, challenge yourself to get X amount of problems done in a certain length of time. Keep track of how well you’re doing, and try to race against your previous record.
  3. Reduce surrounding distractions. Is there something around you that badly needs to get done, and you know it will keep bugging you until you fix it? For me, that might be an unmade bed, or a messy desk. If it will only take 5 minutes or less to fix, then do it. You’ll be able to focus better afterward.
  4. Reduce internal distractions. Is there something nagging at the back of your mind that you don’t want to forget, but at the same time if you take care of it now you’ll lose your momentum all together? Write it down. Any thoughts, questions, to-dos, or ideas. By jotting them down, you can keep your brain less cluttered and focus better on the project at hand. Later, you can come back and to attend to them. (*Be sure to read my third and final post in this series, Resources, to find out about one worthwhile tool I use to help with this!)

Creativity and getting things done is an absolute joy when you’ve had a productive day. Gaining the momentum you need to get into the zone can be difficult and time-consuming. Whatever you do, don’t spend an hour on Facebook or Pinterest—that only leads to a feeling of guilt and helplessness at the fact that you’ve lost so much time already at the beginning of your day.

Try different methods, throw out what doesn’t work, and over time you’ll find a process that works for you.

Question: What works best for you to get “in the zone”? What are some methods you’ve learned over the years to get things done efficiently?

How to Prepare for a Productive Day

by · Leave a Comment

Note: This is the first in a three-part series on productivity and gaining momentum. If you find this helpful, please leave a comment–I love hearing from you!

The worst way to prepare for a productive day is to wait until the last minute to get started. As soon as we sit down at the computer, ready to work, we are instantly bombarded with distractions. Distractions spell only one thing–disaster. If you don’t have a game plan before you’re even ready to begin, your day will not be near as productive as it should be.

It’s still fairly early in the morning. You have an idea of what you want to get done today, and you sit down at your desk . . . and nothing happens. After several minutes to half an hour of sitting at your desk, checking email and perusing Facebook, you realize you’ve been sucked into the greatest time waster in history. Again.

Hopefully, that picture isn’t of you. It is of me—way too many days. I’ve often found that when I sit down, ready to write or fix something, I end up looking at the clock half an hour or an hour later and say, “Hey! What happened?” Then, guilt sets in because I’ve wasted so much time. Bad deal.

How to Prepare for a Productive Day

Courtesy of Pixabay/merad44520 | License: CC0 1.0

If you find yourself in my shoes, I’d like to share with you how I get stuck into my work—and actually make progress toward its completion, without wasting time or becoming guilty and stressed out over the fact that so much time is gone already.

I’d like to share seven techniques I use to prepare for a productive day and get stuff done.

Getting ready to start is an absolute must. Almost 100% of the time, if I don’t prepare ahead at least a little bit, I will not be nearly as productive, and I will also not get up to speed near as quickly. Preparation—so that momentum is already sitting there, ready to be released—is a must if you want to make an impact in the time you have.

Here’s how I prepare for a productive day:

  • Find an inspiring quote. Maybe a quote for the project at hand, or for the day, or maybe even your quote-of-the-week! Find something that makes you want to sit down, dig into it, and finish the job. Don’t take more than five or ten minutes on this, though, because that would ruin the purpose. (For fun, my quote today is: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill)
  • Break it down into simpler pieces. Sometimes, our projects are just too big. Breaking it into bite-sized chunks makes it doable, instead of blowing our creative energy to bits with just the thought of its ginormous size.
  • Clear your brain. If I have a thousand things bouncing around in my head simultaneously, all my creative energy is used in solely remembering everything so that I am sure to get it all done. That isn’t healthy—it makes you feel out of control—and overall you can’t get anything done if you’re trying to remember all the different bits and pieces. Especially if you’re terrified of the consequences if you forget something. (*Be sure to come back to read my third and final post in this series, Resources, to find out about one practical tool I use to help with this!)
  • Start the night before. I know this seems a little crazy, because the last thing at the end of a long day is the worst time to be doing anything but resting. However, I know from experience that if I start the night before, I’ll be able to get into the zone much easier the next morning. Each evening, I try to:
    • Plan. Write down what I expect of myself the next day (generally trying to keep under five main projects for the day), and plot out what hours in the day I expect to get them done in—time slots help a lot in putting personal deadlines on your day.
    • Gather the tools you’ll need. As a knitter will make sure she has enough yarn and a carpenter will be sure he has enough nails and screws to do the job, you need to have all your tools handy as well. Make sure all the bits and pieces for your project are ready to grab just as soon as you get to work in the morning. It will make the day that much less complicated.
    • Do the first five minutes’ worth. For some of us, this is a ludicrous idea. We’re exhausted. The last thing we want to do before bed is work. But, really, it does help. The other day, I had a huge job waiting for me the next morning. I decided I could take just a little bit of time to work on it, and by the time my five minutes were up I realized it wasn’t as big as I had originally imagined. Remembering that realization in the morning made it that much easier to get into it first thing.

I enjoy the preparation process. When I am finally ready to jump into my project, I feel like I’ve already conquered it to some extent. When I can be productive early in the morning—without wasting time trying to get into the zone—I am a happier person.

Don’t wait until the last minute to decide what you’re going to do–plan ahead. You’ll be thankful for it in the morning..

Question: Do you struggle with losing time? How do you overcome it? How do you prepare for a productive day?