Organization & My Brain!

[Mattie]

I'm one of those people that don't like schedules, to do lists, outlines, and at this point where I'm basically forced to start doing this. Only problem is after filling in everything today, I started stressing looking at it all. And the thing is when I don't look at it like that I start wasting time instead of doing.

Usually I just know everyday to spend a few hours on each task and get stuff done. I don't have problems talking to people, or not doing something that has to do with my projects. I just keep hearing people tell me I need to have a calender, planner, outline. I know it's a good habit to get into here, because I have too, but why is it stressing me to look at it. Maybe because I didn't look at until today.

And looking at organization tools to use is just stressing me out more. I'm thinking this monthly calender is not something for me to look at every day. I only used a daily/monthly calender at school for due dates.

And then I'm just wasting time looking for what to use and watching videos on organization and calenders. The only purpose I've ever needed a planner for was appointments.

So, hmm....I would like to quit wasting time on this part, because I could be using my time more wisely for the last two hours. And that's what is getting me more mad, I could have something done in the last two hours instead of worrying about organization and tasks.

 

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[Mattie]

I must be weird or something. I just go straight down the middle. And skip all the side stuff on both sides. And just seems like this is slowing me down.

 

[Damage Inc.]

I'm in the same boat as far as the "organization tools" and digital calendars/lists just causing more chaos and stress. Over the last few years I've tried basic excel sheets, complicated excel sheets with importance rankings and leverage ratings on each task, mind mapping software, etc. None of that stuff works for me long term and I always come back to a hand written daily to do list. I also have yearly goals and monthly goals on printed out paper that I look at and check off at the end of each month. And I put my commitments/appointments on a regular physical calendar. I'm very list oriented and very visual to begin with. Maybe you would be less overwhelmed keeping it simple too. One set of yearly goals/tasks, one set of monthly goals/tasks, and a basic daily to do list with reasonable and attainable goals (admittedly I don't make a list every single day). Have you seen the fastlane to do list that MJ made? It's pretty solid maybe that would help you.

 

[Mattie]

I absolutely agree with your suggestions. It's almost like thinking to much about it, and wasting more time then necessary trying to organize and seems like a waste of time. Ha ha! I just spent the next two hours checking out the programs you're talking about, and don't have time to sit there and mess with that stuff. It's just better for me to know the goals for the day and shoot for the moon. And Like you said above. Monthly and yearly goals. If I have appointments I can understand that part and having to be places.

And yes I'm visual like you. Simple sounds more appealing. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

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[Mattie]

Hmm...solved one mess today that I now can keep organized and straightened out. Writeway Professional.

Have you seen the fastlane to do list that MJ made? It's pretty solid maybe that would help you.

I"ve seen it, but I don't know where to find it again.

 

[SlowlaneJay]

You can get MJ's list here:
http://www.viperionpublishing.com/productivity

Though if you're an INSIDERS it's free.

 

[Mattie]

Thanks Slowlanejay. Appreciate it. I'll probably be back in there in few months. Is the MP3's the same as the book, or something different?

 

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[Tobore]

You are not alone.

I find this hard to do, too.

Maybe because using a productiivity tool/organized calendar is against my beliefs.

I think its good to plan but over-planning sucks mostimes. It will end up stealing more time instead of saving any.

Maybe you should try to stick to what works for you.

I try to make daily goals and keep records. I find this time-saving and worry-free.

 

[Mattie]

I wasn't really telling the truth last night in the middle of my frustration. I had flash backs today of running a group home, nursing notes, med charts, grocery lists, doctor's appointments, psychiatrist appointments, dropping six people off everywhere every day, and made schedules. Think I just haven't done it for a long time, I wasn't thinking about it straight. And in my degree I had plenty of classes. I think sometimes, I just have to stop and remember what I already know and what I've already done and apply it here in a different way.

I think too, I was watching some people on YT and there really obsessive of being organized and listing every detail of their life. Stuff that is just naturally done every day.

Thanks for commenting. I probably will just keep it simple.

 

[SlowlaneJay]

Thanks Slowlanejay. Appreciate it. I'll probably be back in there in few months. Is the MP3's the same as the book, or something different?

I assume so.

Really Mattie, you're overthinking this. Figure out what you want accomplished by this time next year. Figure out what has to happen this month in order to do so. Then break it down by week, and finally by day.

Now, what's the one thing that you need to finish TODAY in order to achieve your weekly goal?

Do that.

Every day, before you do anything else, consult your weekly goal and figure what has to happen today to move towards it. Then do it.

I would just keep this list in a little excel file, anything too fancy and you'll end up confusing yourself. Mine looks like this:

Keep it simple. When you find you need time-tracking and whatnot, THEN invest the time and money in sourcing an organization tool. But for right now, just get the ball rolling.

 

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[Mattie]

Really Mattie, you're overthinking this.

Thank you again. Yes I agree. Excellent advice.

 

[RogueInnovation]

You can do it as a mindmap:

Just draw a big circle, put your tasks in, and circle around a task you can do, defer, trash.

I find lists ineffective simply because TASKS CHANGE.
They change every day, and every hour, until your list is massively obsolete.

So to organise I just literally use a spread sheet, I have almost 300 pages in it filled with stuff, and I just move stuff around and adjust.


Once you have ANY KIND of manipulateable record, you no longer need a "list", you can just look over it and highlight the stand out task, as inspiration (not obligation).

Once you have records, you just simplify them, so they aren't AS MESSY, but you never rob them of soul.


And if you need to do stuff, you turn off all distractions, sit, calm yourself from your struggles, pet yourself, be encouraging, start small, until you are pleasantly getting through the task.


I disagree with lists, I think its all a bit of masturbation.
You just need plasticity, that doesn't require heavy thinking to adjust.
If you have that, organisation is natural, and will evolve to fit you, rather than you, kicking your #ss to fit something thats obsolete the moment its written.


Your GUT is your most powerful tool.
Organisation is just about, moving things around so they feel better to you.
Be a "bad girl" about it, give it some spice, some spunk.
By that I mean, iron man doesn't give a darn about lists, not exaaactly, he knows what is important and when and is somewhat contemptuous.

If it works IT WORKS

Don't be boring.



Make it exciting.
And like Jay said.
ONE thing now, a few main IDEAS for later, and a few goals to keep you on track for the next 6 months. But! Rules are meant to be BROKEN.
Its just you don't break them with boring lazy stuff, you try to break them with BETTER stuff.

Like, if I was doing you.
Today, find the best gummy bear to go with my hack and slash session
1 month, (half a dozen tasks)
3 months, something cool is done
6 months, book is edited
Year or 2 Branding of self and mission clarified

Ancilliary planning
3 months, smack people around until cool ideas pop out
6 months, I need a new brain, locate transplant
Year, I need to steal someones someones eyes and have a thousand monkeys work on random solutions

You do not have to make lists OTHERS understand, just YOU.

Evolve, refocus, be awesome

Things will grow




Personally, I do it liiiike,
Find wiggly bits,
Find the main ideas,
Simplify and locate the core,

Leave core there to help me focus while working, adjust and better the core, adjust the main ideas, move search range for wiggly bits into a better area.

Make sense?

I don't do LISTS, because not even computer programs work well via lists, they work like I just said, refinement, research, mapping and tracking.

Thats all you need.

 

[kph200]

@RogueInnovation hardcore post. Rep+

 

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[Mattie]

Biggest Organization Problem I was having is three years of ideas, notes, and rewriting my novel, research etc. I solved that one yesterday buying Write way, and Started putting Characters in their and already like it. From Circumstances it started on Note cards, then ended up on word pad, and then office, and not just have to go to those three locations and put it in this program and can move it around and see what works, but still keep stuff everything in one place and move it around. And not forget what I said five chapters before when you're in chapter twenty. http://www.writewaypro.com/

And of course no knowing what I was doing when I started and wasn't in the situation at the time to do it right, I did write everything down I wanted to do along the way. It's just moving it around in the program and seeing what I want to use. And frankly I probably have a series more then just one novel in this 185,000 words.

And it's deciding whether I want to break it up into Novella's or keep it Novels. I prefer Novels over Novella.

Main huge project solved: Organization is key for this part. I do something similar with my characters from one of my Case Management classes for behavior patterns/addictions for my characters family. As in wealthy vs. poverty. I don't know if I have the name right, but I think it was a Geo Map we used to call it. And then of course a family tree of Characters. Time Line of events in their lives. And funny thing when you do those three things you get all kinds of stories and Ideas going.

Mind Maps to me are more for getting ideas and story. Which I have to many ideas and have an abstract mind. I see the layers and dimensions of things. Different perspectives, Different angles of the same thing.

Characters and the human mind is multidimensional layers of different things: Many different Beliefs systems influenced by different systems, events in their back story, key players that have influenced them, and why they make the choices they make. We're more of a kaleidoscope living in a Kaleidoscope world of diversity and light and darkness. You turn that Kaleidoscope there is always a different perspective depending who is looking through that lens.

It's just setting dead lines and keeping it simple for the rest of my projects besides writing. I'm never out of any ideas. I know you just take any object, person, place, or thing and look at it from different angles and creating a project.

Some ideas or good ideas. Some you keep and throw away. I think what I hear most people saying is to keep things simple and make them concrete. The simple things.

The hard part is making abstract into concrete and simplify. I'm very visual and tend to over think things like they said.

 

[Grinning-Jack]

Sometimes I need put out my goals when I have to do very imported stuff at that moments. Yeah, i have a list of my goals for 1 year. But not my schedule for each day. I think a schedule is for men that have a daily job.

 

[Mattie]

Well just for example how schedules don't work. Yesterday made one. After the first two were finished, ended up finding my Writing Software. Since this is big important piece of the puzzle whether I'm writing non-fiction, fiction, or short stories, I believe it would be useful to break the schedule to learn the program so I can be more efficient in productivity. What did I miss? Well learning more on writing. And seems it was more important to learn the program. After a little bit about the program, went back to the learning about writing.

I think basically putting five or however many tasks you want to achieve in one day would be good and check them off. And does it really matter in what order they happen as long as you're doing what would be the main priority at the particular point in time. And you know obstacles come along in life. Like what if your kid needs something if you have one, or your spouse, or just for the sake of the point the cable goes out and you do all your work on the internet. It breaks your schedule.

And of course being a nurse aide, hmm...when you report to the office they get things done, but they never stay on schedule because they're being interrupted on the phone by patients, nurse aides, or family. And the schedule they give you is wrong some times and double booked with two aides. There were a few times two of us showed up at the same place.

Just in pay roll I feel sorry for the guy that waits for all the time slips and he's supposed to have it done by a certain time and it doesn't always work that way. I suppose it's good to a degree, but schedules aren't flexible unless you choose to make them flexible.

I laugh because the stupid reminder goes off and I'm in the middle of something, and I rather finish it then stop and go on to the next thing.

 

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[Mattie]

The worst thing is when you work for people that have it so organized and structured on time frames and you get intimidated at first, but learn just to move faster. I've been in that situation and mastered it by the minutes of the day and it just becomes natural movement, but really hated it.

 

[RogueInnovation]

Here are some tips for organising a story I've picked up:

(over arching story)
-Through line (look for and highlight very clearly one through line, that strings up all introduced ideas in a chapter or section... don't just use summarising sentences or one liners, but overview the whole piece and get the right line)
- Intruige (you cannot propose marriage and religion to a reader right away, so just start off intruiging and pull upon their curiousity, so they step a little deeper each page, rather than just grabbing them by the throat and shoving the book idea at them... Be aware that they might be cautious, or lost in the beginning and give them an easy "in" to the story, without tasking them with complexity too soon)
- Simple premise (instead of pounding away at an audience with reasons why they should love how much you are giving them, TIME IT, keep all ideas as lead ins, and organise how these important ideas are told. It is too easy to spam readers with ideas as they come to you, but it leads to writing being like a big pile of spaghetti and meatballs. If you lead into an idea properly you will be FORCED to CHOOSE between your ideas, and when you have to be selective it forces your writing choices to be better)

(internal organisation)
- Always try to connect like concepts and give them all ONE root (if you have two different concepts that are roughly assosciated, it will stick out like a sore thumb if you don't address them together or have a relation between them clearly identified... loose ideas gathered together are far less effective than looking at the few options you have and mixing them into one united front)
- Try to make repeating themes clearly pronounced by giving them lead in and space where no other things are introduced (if you don't care about your themes you will tend to just splash them around, but if you are certain the theme is the right one, you will center it and make it quite clear and consistent)
- Give the audience the BEST context you can think of rather than "leave them to decide", because its easier for them to play with it if you are decisive (people hate THINKING while being entertained, they like to judge, or feel, and to FEEL or judge, you have to pick an exact context... It can feel tedious giving people context, but it really makes the reading a more enjoyable experience)

Basically, you have to cut down on not making choices.
Don't LEAVE it up to the audience, because its like talking to a woman and expecting her to lead, or tell you what to do, like nice guys do.
You have to be a bit daring, and tell them where they want to go, so they can decide.

Your writing clarifies, the more you take responsibility for the interpretation.
When you start off in writing, you try to BUY OFF the audience.
But what needs to happen, is you need to GIVE them less, so they can experience MORE.

People WANT to be lulled into a security, or allured into a fascination, but they do not want to interpret the story with bold honesty etc IF they are paying for it.


The more you make things definative, or CANON, the more people get excited.
Its this kind of direction that limits the complexity of the story and helps it be much more manageable.

(character introduction)
- defining traits (tropes that will help the reader see where the character is going need to be within reach)
- first impression (rather than starting with actions the character is going through, or what they are doing, remember that actions are unimportant, what is important is what they TELL YOU about the character... writing an intro to a character can't always be seductive, you just have to TRUST that the character will be interesting by how they contrast with other parts of the story or other characters)
- limits (give them limits, socially, luck wise, strengths wise etc, so that their character doesn't wildly change to suit your whims. It will keep you honest with them. Sometimes, a character just WILL die and not see a way out, you have to be very aware that you can't write as if you can change the rules any time you want, or people will feel cheated because you just wrote them out of the scenario rather than gave them a window into a real scenario)

 

[Mattie]

Thanks Rogue I appreciate you're suggestions. What I've notice though is there are different styles of writing. As you can see here on the Exc. from my workshop as the instructor corrected: Short Story Vs. Novel Writing which you're talking about or Genre (Pop Fiction) Vs. Literary. So, It depends on what I'm writing and what piece. This is more short story and Literary Fiction. Where every word, sentence has to mean something, almost like screen writing. Where Novels you have time too explore and go in more depth.

Ex. 3

Instructor Response
First Short Story

Dawson takes the stage, the microphone screeches. The sound test, begins for the night. “Welcome to Dawson’s pub.” He says. Heat from the lights bring out the sweat. Wire strings tighten, his fingers twist the knobs, and the pick is in his mouth. Acoustic guitar is his favorite instrument. This is already known by the quality writing before and it is purely narrator distant POV when your nicely in scene at close range.

“Hey buddy. What is up tonight?” Lucy puffs. Smoke rolls from her cigarette into his hazel eyes. She writes with a black marker on his shoulder, “Have your cake and eat it too.”

Dawson pretends he didn’t notice the seven words. Love is such a big deal to her. He unwinds the chords to the speaker and hooks them up. “Why don’t you stand by the back door and wait for Georgia.” He says. He hands her a big yellow envelope. “Give it to her.”

Lacy hands Dawson a frosted mug of beer. “Best stuff on the house.” She says. “Made it myself, fermented, poured right from the tap, and watched it foam up.

Dawson laughs with a slick smile. “Fermenting a beer takes more than a back-up singer drooling over a spout.” He says. “Takes a few months, and you were at the tap for three minutes.”

“A woman can dream.” Georgia steals the yellow envelope from Lucy’s hand. “This is for me and there’s no more wasting time.” She says. “Let’s see. Did he choose you, the high-pitched back-up singer, or me the awesome lead vocalist?”

Dawson steps between them. “Neither.” He rolls his shirt up. “Have your cake and eat it too.” Good.

Short story two

“Hi. This is Jade. I saw you in the window last night. I was wondering if we could talk.” Samantha watches the digital number change to the second message on the answering machine. It’s been eight days since his death.

“This is Jade again. I wanted you to stop downtown and pick up my vinyl records. Melony saved them for me at the antique shop.” The red blinking light signals the third message.

“Jade here. Where are you? I’m on my way. Smack. Bang. Shots echo through the phone. Sam? Heavy breathing. Silence.”

Samantha bursts into tears, sirens flash in front of her house in the darkness, gun shots fire, and she rushes over to the tall Victorian window facing the street. Car 94 has a man handcuffed, the officer grabs his arms, the crowd stands by and watches from the curb.

Samantha searches the sidewalk for a sign of Jade. Eight days ago she was told he didn’t survive. The same place another man smashed into his car. The phone rings. Samantha waits for the answering machine to pick up. “This is Jade. Pick me up at the hospital on Fifth Avenue. The ambulance driver took me to the wrong hospital.”

This is difficult to pull off easily when the presentation is shifting in time, and the time is not easily established. The surprise could be maintained by telling the events without the recording and see how it goes. For me, I need a solid time line for every sentence, I get engaged in the story and enjoy it without having to try to figure out what’s going on when.

Short story three

“Love forgets you when you’re sleeping.” Roses wilt on the side of the vase. Louisa breathes hard through the oxygen mask. Eyes closed, her silence bothers Frank.

“How long you been married?” Julia asks.

Julia’s brunette hair is clipped to the side with a silver barrette shaped in a heart.

“We’ve been married eight months.” He says.

Louisa’s hands fold nicely over her chest.

“She’s a sleeping beauty. Been in this coma for two months.”

Louisa never moves, stiff as a board, cliche, avoid and there is no response.

“Heaven is a state of mind. Didn’t know we’d be living in hell this early in our marriage.” He says.

“What would you do different?” Julia asks.

Frank wrestles with the wedding ring on Louisa’s finger. Slides it off and hands it to Julia.

“I would have never married her.” He says.

Julia slides it back on Louisa’s finger. “Why would you say such a thing?” She combs out Louisa’s hair, kisses her on the cheek. “That’s awful.” She says.

Frank kisses Louisa’s forehead. “When you’re sleeping you miss the love.” He says. He rests his head on her chest. “She took all these sleeping pills and wanted to escape to a safer place.”

“You mean when she was awake, she was sleeping. Missed your love, even though you were giving it to her.” She says.

“That’s right if I never married her, she’d be thriving, and she would have never swallowed those pills.” He said.

Louisa starts coughing, the ventilator needs to be pulled out. The nurse rushes in, and removes the tube. A few minutes pass bye. She sips a glass of water and Louisa reaches for Frank. She kisses him on the cheek, and whispers “I love you.”

Short story 4

Melanie sits on the stool watching Albert dance. It has been a year since they met, the lights flash, the speakers blare with the latest indie songs, and beer is on the house.

Albert the playboy, the millionaire sweetheart, this is the man everyone adores. Gentle with the touch of his hand, smooth, sly with his words, and the art of seduction. He moves after his prey, hunts her in the midnight hours, watches and observes her every move.

“Bought this vinyl record for you.” He says. “Have you changed your mind about giving me a chance?”

His brown eyes dig deep in hers, she swerves her head, darts her eyes across the room to Soldier Boy Adams. “No thanks. I’m one of those angels that might shine, I’m a flashlight in your darkness.” She says. )

“Why Adams? He’s an army guy with a broken down dodge. I could buy you anything in the world.” He says. His wallet shows how much dough he has. Hundred dollar bills. He flashes his watch, he orders the next round of drinks for everyone in the house.

“Sure you can buy me anything in the world and drive me around in your fast Lamborghini. The one thing money doesn’t buy is love. You’re fast, but never driving in the slow lane. She hands him back the vinyl record. “I don’t need this speeding ticket. Thanks anyway.” She says.

“Fast enough babes, Slow enough to give you’re a ride to heaven.”

Good dialogue.

Short story five

Tulips wilt over the vase, lack of water, lack of sunshine, the dark room would smother anything alive. Mice run around in circles searching for crumbs of cheese. Crackers are broken on the floor, the television blares, and the radio displays the digital time.

Lara slumps over the arm of the sofa passed out from the night before. Curlers in her, caked on make-up, and crimson smeared lips. Whiskey bottles line up on the coffee table, ashes are dumped on the floor, and the mice well they got out of her son’s cage.

Clara and Hubert were Robert’s pet mice. Pink beady eyes navigate her nostrils.

Lara smacks her nose, wakes up and stares right at Clara. “Oh My God. Get away from me, you dirty rodent, who let you out?” she says.

“Robert! Get out here and get rid of this.” She says. Lara stands on the table with the fly swatter gripped in her hand. “You come near me you’re dead. You hear me?”

Robert rushes around the room trying to capture Clara and Hubert. “I swear I didn’t let them out Mama, the tube is broken.” He says.

Lara jumps off the table. “You got them critters, those things were chewing on my nose hairs.” She touches the scratch marks on her face. “See here.” She says.

“Yes, Mama. If you didn’t get drunk all the time, they would have never bothered you.” He says. He holds Clara and Hubert in his hands. Ha!

Short story six

“I was wondering if you could tell me something. Why did you do it?” The psychiatrist asks. He looks over to Jesse on the sofa. The DSM V rests on the end table.

“I did it because I thought I could scare him. I wanted Jackson out of the house.” Margaret says. She bites her nails, crosses her legs, and stares out the window. “Nice bird feeder you have Mr. Walker.”

The golden finch dips his small head up and down, and picks up the small pieces of bird seed. Leaves dance on the thin branches. Spring time is always a good season for new beginnings.

“This is your last session today. You haven’t drank for a year until yesterday.” He says. “Jackson is out of the house now, but will you drink again?”

Jesse holds up a handful of sobriety tokens. “No sir. I slipped. I worked too hard for all these, but he hit me. He hit me so hard. I was dying inside when he took my baby son away, and told me I’d never see him again.” She says.

“We’ve talked about this before. You have to keep your boundaries and you must never drink. Stay away from him, will you? If you listen to me, you don’t have to worry about losing your son.” He says. “This is a new beginning for your life. Make a fresh start and leave the booze behind.”

“Yes, I can fly.” She says.

Great. I’m impressed with the imagination you show. Keep developing conflict in your writing. And very good imagery.

Different Ex. 2
Clifford Boner was a rookie on the streets, new to the force, and naïve he walks down the dark alley without back up. The chain length fence marks the property line, reflects the street light into his eyes, and the Doberman barks and alerts the gang members inside the Victorian home someone’s near on the property. Yes! Great!

Smoke Dog walks out on the porch, his tobacco shines an orange ember, (tip of his cigarette? maybe for clarity) the whites of his eyes peek out into the night under the brim of his Yankee’s baseball cap.

Clifford grabs his weapon from the pocket of his leather jacket.

Strobes of light shoot up in the sky, Smoke Dog shoots off a second round. The emergency flare alerts the rest of the gang in the neighborhood there is an intruder. Change to: there is an intruder in the neighborhood. Keep looking for awkward syntax and rhythm (both in the prose and the ideation) on revision.

Smoke Dog lurks in the corner of the porch waiting for Clifford Boner to make the wrong move. His long legs push the porch swing back and forth while he holds his 40 caliber in-between his legs. Any move is the wrong move.Pony Dog stands on top of the roof next door, signals to Smoke Dog on the porch across the alley with a mirror, that Clifford is right there, three feet away. Good.

Smoke Dog fires five shots, reloads, and fires two more. He didn’t think twice. He laughs without hesitation.

Clifford stares Smoke Dog in the eye in fear, rests his head on the roots of a tree that breaks through the sidewalk. Breathless he gasps for air, and glances into the stars. Memories of his wife and kids bombard his thoughts, the beauty of their smiles, the tenderness of their embrace comforts him. Fingers grip his gun, but he’s too weak, exhaustion sets in, he can’t fire back one shot. Cold one minute, sweaty the next, his body feels the shock. Dying by the second, his words escape him. He’s made a grave mistake. Yes. A great improvement.

Smoke Dog kicks his side, watches Clifford die in silence, and waits for the right opportunity. Fifteen minutes later both of them search down his body. Both of them steal his wallet, his watch, and a diamond ring from his pocket. Death smells of white sewer.

“What do you say? We have a PIG here, brother.” Pony boy says. He flips through the family photographs, yanks out the twenty dollar bill, and throws his wallet in the sewer on the curb of the street. “We could be spending some hard time for this one.”

“Shut your mouth brother.” Pony Boy says. “We aren’t (maybe “ain’t”?) talking to no one about this.”

“You got that right Homie.” Smoke dog says. “This is all about money and street credentials. This poor loser don’t have no brains popping up on these streets. What’s wrong with him man.”

“What’s wrong with you, killing a cop?” Pony Boy pops him one in the eye. “You stupid brother.” (maybe “bro” for :brother”? In dialogue, you want to be sure each character is speaking from his or her own world view. Pony boy seems like an opportunity to increase quality in the writing by using a consistent vernacular.) He says.

Smoke Dog punches him in the gut. “I am doing this for the money.” He says. “You’re the one that signaled to me. I should pop you one brother. Keep your mouth closed.”

Wow. You’ve done it well. One point about storytelling. Look to insert suspense and mystery in the writing. This is often done when conflict situations occur. Think about Clifford dying in silence. Dead people make lousy characters. Why not keep Clifford alive until the end of the scene even if he says nothing, doesn’t move, and we don’t know his thoughts. Suspense to the end! He’s there and he’s alive and he’s a better character alive than as a corpse. And when he dies, dramatize it. It’s an important moment and you miss an opportunity when you have him die silently.

I suppose you're say something similar to what he the instructor said: And of course I need to choose Literary fiction or Genre because it's not the same thing and I suppose that is what I'm trying to figure out at the moment to take the leap of faith with Literary or follow the crowd and do Genre Fiction.

Thanks for your comment. It seems you have all the experience and material to do great work, and you have an authorial attitude for how to approach and present your material that will serve you well as you continue. As you write, it can be helpful to seek a clear purpose for what you write, not just the novel (or short story) but for every chapter, paragraph, sentence, even word choice. Looking at broad purpose, you’ll come up with a theme and meaning for your writing. Try to make it as clear as possible: dependency destroy lives, incest is immoral, seeking truth is important to human existence; etc. More than one is often involved, but only one should dominate for excellence in most works. Then, as you seek purpose in shorter context, you can carry broader purpose and theme, but you’ll be looking for specific story-related purposes: does this sentence advance plot, build character, create images, clarify timeline, assure consistency in voice, etc? All this may seem superfluous, but the habit of thinking like this helps strengthen the writing and the storytelling for the reader. It relates to (as you noted in your comment) creativity and imaginative thinking to write great prose stories. Nonfiction is different. In nonfiction authors make their points through relating to and describing real events and real people and depending on accuracy of occurrences to evoke reader reaction, events and people that have caused an emotional response or some enlightenment that has changed (the author’s) life. So in nonfiction creative imagination is curtailed to the presentation of story material rather than creating story material for specific story purpose–a purpose that will produce an emotional reaction or intellectual enlightenment in the reader through objective story action and conflict/action/resolution. The nonfiction writer is evoking emotional reactions and intellectual enlightenment through abstractions (I hate rather than in scene action that shows the hate emotion, for example) and is prone to move a reader through narrative discursive rumination. This is often perceived as an author writing from the soul but it is frequently not as engaging, readable, nor does it have the impact of objective in scene revelation through creative imagination. There are exceptions for certain stories to be told, but failure to recognize the principle frequently results in inferior writing and storytelling for most stories.

I applaud you; it’s a hurdle you are already addressing. You have the skills and the heart to use your valuable (and exciting and significant) material to maximum advantage; I wanted to emphasize that to achieve the significant responses with your writing, don’t resort too often to telling what it meant to you and how you perceived your world experiences caused you reactions. Instead, explore all the elements that make you feel the way you did and do. Almost always it is best to seek to fully understand your reactions, analyze the causes for those reactions, and then seek the knowledge (as you already are!) as to how the great writers learn to make readers feel the way they, the authors, want them to feel. Of course you will use life experiences as all writers do, just don’t be a slave to those experiences so opportunities to create significant stories through imaginative characterization and storytelling are ignored. Storytelling and craft are the tools for significant story success–authorial human understanding of generation of story material; effective narration; consistent and unique voice(s); purposeful dialogue; uninterrupted engagement; objective decisions about desires, motivations, and emotional responses; and readable prose. These produce reactions that are different than memoir and nonfiction, and usually, although harder to achieve, give better results for what you–and all authors, I think, want to achieve. From your comment, I know you understand this and are on the way to achieve it. I wanted to support you and wish you the very best as you proceed.

 

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[Mckenzie]

I assume so.

Really Mattie, you're overthinking this. Figure out what you want accomplished by this time next year. Figure out what has to happen this month in order to do so. Then break it down by week, and finally by day.

Now, what's the one thing that you need to finish TODAY in order to achieve your weekly goal?

Do that.

Every day, before you do anything else, consult your weekly goal and figure what has to happen today to move towards it. Then do it.

I would just keep this list in a little excel file, anything too fancy and you'll end up confusing yourself. Mine looks like this:

Keep it simple. When you find you need time-tracking and whatnot, THEN invest the time and money in sourcing an organization tool. But for right now, just get the ball rolling.

Hi @SlowlaneJay , great advises here! How did you created this excel sheet? Would you kindly post a template? since I'm not very good at excel. Thanks heaps in advance

 

[SlowlaneJay]

@MCK I don't think I'll share it, sorry. The template is based off of MJ's Millionaire To-Do lists and I'd feel wrong about giving this away (unless @MJ DeMarco is cool with that, in which case I'd be happy to post it).

But the point isn't that Excel is powerful. The point is that setting and working towards goals is powerful.

You don't have to do this in Excel. Build it in word. Or even MS paint! Or just buy an unlined notebook and sketch out your goals every morning while you eat your Cheerios.

 

[RogueInnovation]

Dawson takes the stage, the microphone screeches. The sound test, begins for the night. “Welcome to Dawson’s pub.” He says. Heat from the lights bring out the sweat. Wire strings tighten, his fingers twist the knobs, and the pick is in his mouth. Acoustic guitar is his favorite instrument.

Ok, well, writing this you have to DECIDE on what you want to say.
- Where is the audience viewing from? Omniscient 3rd person? From inside his head? In a close up?
Personally these are things someone in the first row might see, if paying close attention, or if they know him well?
- What time context is this exactly? Memory? How he lives and breathes?

A screech comes from the microphone as Dawson takes the stage. "Testing, testing, 1, 2.. 3".
"Welcome to Dawsons Pub" he pronounces rebuffing the pressure of the crowd of locals before him. Small beads of sweat dot across his brow under the heat of the lights as he tightens his strings, pick held between his teeth. An eagerness fills him up from within as he handles the fine wood of his acoustic guitar - his favorite instrument - ready to play a slow and sombre tune to warm up the crowd.

- Your version left me in the woods, soooo, I had to decide where he was (a mediums sized pub, big enough to have events that require lighting, local, filled with enough people to make him sweat) I also had to decide why he was sweating and why the fact he likes guitar is mentioned beyond aesthetics (I chose that it was just a central image to juxtapose his love of guitar and give him a hearty swagger or confidence).

There are two clear images here to question, the pub, him. You explore the pub via audio, then by the visual of him being on stage, then the crowds effect on him at the micro level, you try to create a kinaesthesthetic feel of the guitar as he prepares it to play.

But you leave those details up in the air hoping that the STYLE of how you are transitioning will bind the images together and give the readers context, and neglect to make exact all these details.

In mathematics there is a concept called isomorphism, it basically means that if you view something from a different angle it looks different to the observer.
The ANGLE at which you frame all the details is as important as the stylistic flare used to introduce them, because if you don't give them a specific angle it becomes like an optical illusion.

Readers will not be able to understand what shape it is, unless you give them clear context, so that they know WHERE the point of view is, and where it is coming from. And if you are creating a juxtaposition, it needs to clearly have a purpose.

As it stands, each of your descriptions is a blank cheque
And you do not have a lot of money in the bank
And you are telling the reader to do the budgetting
And not make you go broke.

You caaaan't do that, its just not feasible to leave all these angles open for interpretation, you have to spend on a sentence or visual exactly what you think it is WORTH in the whole context of the story.
Otherwise, I will get tired and frustrated as a reader, not because your story is bad or your vision isn't interesting, but because the writing was interupted by an arduous accounting of events.


To break this habit you have to realise that you can't just, leave every sentence as russian roulette, or a dice throw, you have to pick and CHOOSE the PERFECT time to leave things ambigously defined.

As a reader, I don't know Dawson, and I don't give a darn about him sweating, so I'm like "yeah yeah, dude at a microphone... wait where the f#ck am I? A Pub? What pub? Oh my, why do I get a close up of his mouth, because he loves guitar, stupid Dawson"

As a writer you have to be understanding of my impulses as a reader, I want to know where I am, I don't want to make love to Dawsons face without context, and I'm not particularly interested in his hobbies and passions... Yet!

So in this way you are being prematurely intimate to obscure the fact that you don't want to define context or angle or make it objective. You want the context to be intimacy, as in "I don't care, I figure out the story with my love", but no one will start loving your story, until they are given context. People can't fix a bad movie with love for what it could be, they can only do so much, and as a writer you have to leave a good story within reach for them so that they can then put their own love into it.


You are anxious about people liking the writing and it is showing because you don't trust the audience. You are hoarding the context so that YOU can blame the audience when they get an interpretation wrong.

But thats a sensitive way to go about it, and when writing, you need to be a leader of minds, you need to be clear and give people things they can do or achieve.


The effect of the anxiety is that you want to flood the audience with potential angles so they will magically land on the right one. BUT YOU FORGET that even in YOUR MIND you have not decided yet. So really, you are giving me an IDEA to play with, but not a story.


To change writing from an idea, you have to ask defining questions, and give each definition a precise and well budgetted weight so that the writing doesn't get over saturated.


Your talent is for underlying stylistic structure.
You know when audio is effective, when a juxtaposition will bring about a certain atmosphere.
But the audience can't see it, because you are not OUTLINING it clear enough.

Audio intro
Pressure in a Pub atmosphere
Tactile juxtapositions to show substance in his actions

But you let them wander and stray.
Rather than really push the boundaries and keep them as clear elements.
And when you under serve your strengths, people can get disinterested (because people are people).


If I'm WAITING to gorge upon a stylistic and richly described story, I don't want it interupted by uncertain angles. I want to see those aspects given prominence within the context.



I'm not KNOCKING the writing, I get that you feel like it is TOO MUCH WORK and BREAKS YOUR FLOW if you do these things I suggest, but I know you can pick up the skill of context and properly weighting each feature of your writing AND remain fluid.

And I say it, and am willing to explain it in detail, because it is one of the ONLY THINGS holding your writing back from blooming.

Once you get it (even if it takes 6 months) it will be worth it! Because you will KNOW clearly in your bones, that you can TELL any darn story you want to and help people love it. Which I know is your true desire.

 

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[RogueInnovation]

Injection, Surjection, Bijection - as it applies to writing and isomorphism

I know its lame talking about math while talking about descriptive writing, but abstract algebra, is actually very similar to writing a complete cinematic description of a scene. And by analysing it you can make the writing less abstract and more manageable, which helps you ORGANISE IT.

The same organisational process is relevant in business too.

If you watched the whole video (I assume people don't) it describes what bijection is, aswell as injection and surjection.
Injection is where ALL comparable points of interest, are displayed AGAIN from the next angle of observation.
Surjection is where ALL comparable points of interest, MATCH.

A Bijection, is when all comparable points are displayed AGAIN and MATCH the previous points.

To write with correct context, your writing MUST have these qualities, and reduce mismatching or odd numbering where you have evidence for one thing and another constantly shifting.


If your writing is NOT INJECTIVE and SURJECTIVE it means that there is TRIVIAL information in the piece that will CONFUSE READERS.

You must always be aware when you double up on, or give a solo description of a recurring point of interest, because if you do this incidentally or by sheer accident, it comes across as messy/confused.


Isomorphism is important to writing, in that it allows a person to appraise a scenario from different angles, but you have to do it in such a way that it isn't depending on changing angles to make things "interesting" because that is about as fun for audiences as shakey cam in action sequences.

And no one wants to watch a movie filmed by a guy with parkinsons or terets.


You have to protect the consistency of your writing as much as you protect its content.



How this plays into business is similar.
Often you will have a task, but the angle at which you come at it will change (making a list obsolete, but not the underlying task) you need to be able to make an instant bijection of a task so that even if the angle has changed, you do not create mismatches and pointless tasks.

The better you get at making tasks bijections, rather than just abstract relations that randomly match at whim, the EASIER tasks are to handle.


You might think this is all BS, but its not.
Its the simplest concrete example of EXACTLY what must happen to be organised.

Lists become obsolete, just like your writing can become obsolete, UNLESS you learn to keep the isomorphisms in a manageable context.

You are a smart person, so I hope this helps, and you can figure it out.

 

[Mattie]

I thank you Rogue for your in depth evaluation. And I'll watch the video, but not a real fan of algebra and understand you're a quite intelligent man, but sometimes you get over my head because you're always watching that kind of stuff and I want keep things simple so I understand what I'm doing. In other words your brainy which is good to a certain extent, but can be inhibiting in the progress of others. For the most part I understood what you said, but the video is a bit off the deep end for me and sure I can get it if I watch it a few times. It won't hurt me or anything.

These were just the first exercises of the workshop of course. The first actual story I gave him was torn apart quite a bit. And I think what I'm figuring out is what he talks about in being a self learner versus what writers are being taught today. You both can be right in your advice. I'm just getting into this fiction stuff in depth so my expectations aren't to high at the moment, ad just from the first story to the exercises above it had improved to his standards. I wasn't really trying to impress anyone really writing these exercises. I was doing what he asked in the course where he's the only one that reads it. And one thing he does say is when you're in the writing groups like Watpad etc., this is a bad thing because you're all learning at the same time and teaching each other bad habits of writing. And I do have to say reading a bunch of books on Amazon the books aren't high quality literature and the more I learn the more I see it.

I believe this is just part of the process, and I would agree that Classics and older literature is losing it's ground today in 2015. And that is one of the debates in the literary community.

This thread really was intended for Organization in business but fortunately it's gravitated toward writing. oops! That's why I made the other thread for writing.

Thanks for your advice and all is appreciated.

 

[Brentnal]

I'm one of those people that don't like schedules, to do lists, outlines, and at this point where I'm basically forced to start doing this. Only problem is after filling in everything today, I started stressing looking at it all. And the thing is when I don't look at it like that I start wasting time instead of doing.

Usually I just know everyday to spend a few hours on each task and get stuff done. I don't have problems talking to people, or not doing something that has to do with my projects. I just keep hearing people tell me I need to have a calender, planner, outline. I know it's a good habit to get into here, because I have too, but why is it stressing me to look at it. Maybe because I didn't look at until today.

And looking at organization tools to use is just stressing me out more. I'm thinking this monthly calender is not something for me to look at every day. I only used a daily/monthly calender at school for due dates.

And then I'm just wasting time looking for what to use and watching videos on organization and calenders. The only purpose I've ever needed a planner for was appointments.

So, hmm....I would like to quit wasting time on this part, because I could be using my time more wisely for the last two hours. And that's what is getting me more mad, I could have something done in the last two hours instead of worrying about organization and tasks.

I had the same problem as you, i have tryed a couple of organizational tools but they all suck.
What works for me is an app called Checklist +. I put my main goal inside there and my to do's, and in my room on the wall is the end goal.

This is simple/no nonsense. Wake up check your goals, adjust the checlist, take action, repeat

 

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[Mattie]

This is simple/no nonsense. Wake up check your goals, adjust the checlist, take action, repeat

Thank you appreciate your suggestions.