MAKING IT WORK, Lesley A. Diehl
Yesterday I spent the afternoon cruising
around my favorite consignment shop. As
I drove to the store I asked myself why I was taking time off to stroll the
aisles for items I really don’t need (I found three, two Vera Wang and one
Chico. Whoppee!). If you can’t tell from my delight at what I
purchased, retail therapy at a reduced
price, is how I de-stress. Yard sales
are my other choice for lifting my spirit and reducing my blood pressure. In both cases I love used or recycled
items. It means I’m buying what someone
else already found enticing enough to purchase at full price. And, no, I do not believe any item I select
has been “rejected” by its former owner.
That’s my fantasy and I’m sticking to it.
I don’t know how other writers make
their days work, but as the number of books I’ve published increase so too do
the adjustments I’ve made to the pattern of my day. I like writing. It’s a passion for me, and I don’t want it to
become so stressful and unpleasant that it’s no longer fun, so I’ve found I
have to be more intentional about how I structure my time. I do know I’m glad I’m retired from whatever
that career was before I started writing.
This is more fun. I hear about
those who hold down full time jobs, raise a family and write. How do they do it? I’m in awe.
When I did programs about writing I used
to say I did promotion in the mornings and wrote in the afternoons. Sounds so simple. With two series out already, several short
stories, a stand- alone mystery (which I might make into a series), and a
three book contract, that simple scheme for programming my day doesn’t
work. As I become more invested in my
writing, I find I need more ways to get away from it. It sounds odd, but I’m trying to keep this
writing thing fresh and creative. Breaks
do that.
Writing to deadline as laid out in my
new contract creates pressure to produce a certain number of words each
day. Once a pantster in plotting, now
I’m working from an outline, one I
violate on every page, but it still gives me some structure. I truly love my new series, but I want to
continue to find my characters and the plot exciting. To do that, I need to push away from it. Here’s what I do to maintain humor and
excitement in my work.
1.
I
walk several miles every morning and go to the gym three days a week for
circuit training. I wish I had the time
to do more, but I’ve decided not to beat myself up with what I cannot do.
2.
My
husband and I go out one weekend night to dance and have a few drinks.
3 I like to decorate. We’re working on our
house in Florida, replacing the rug in the living room with hardwood. Now I’m repainting some furniture and making
curtains. I admit this requires a bit
more retail therapy in thrift shops. We
recovered some chairs. I’m not real
creative, but I can redecorate well enough that no one runs out of the room
yelling, “my eyes, my eyes.”
4.
We’re
taking a long weekend next month and it’s debatable whether we will take our
computers (he’s also a writer). We’re
also planning a hiking vacation on the Cornwall Coast in England late summer.
5.
I
like to get out in the field and do as much research there for my books as I
can. For my microbrewing series, I
“hopped” from brewery to brewery.
Because the book set in Florida features a retired preschool teacher
turned bartender, hubby and I hung out in a lot of cowboy bars listening to
country music and dancing. In the second
book in my new series, the protagonist’s uncle is killed on an air boat
ride. Yup, I took that trip. I’ll be visiting a hunting ranch for the
third book.
To keep my creative juices flowing, I
like to keep moving, buy secondhand and engage in interesting adventures. And, oh yeah, there’s that promotion stuff to
accomplish. I wish I could say it’s as
much fun as writing but we all know I’d be lying, yet I think the same
techniques that allow me to write with enjoyment also allow me to promote with
some cleverness. At least I hope so.
What’s your formula for staving off
stress to keep your writing fresh and imaginative?
Bio:
Lesley retired from her life as a
professor of psychology and reclaimed her country roots by moving to a small
cottage in the Butternut River Valley
in upstate New York. In the winter she migrates to old Florida—cowboys, scrub
palmetto, and open fields of grazing cattle, a place where spurs still jingle
in the post office, and gators make golf a contact sport. Back north, the shy ghost inhabiting the
cottage serves as her literary muse.
When not writing, she gardens, cooks and renovates the 1874 cottage with
the help of her husband, two cats, and, of course, Fred the ghost, who gives
artistic direction to their work.
She is
author of several short stories and several mystery series: the microbrewing
mystery series set in the Butternut Valley (A Deadly
Draught and Poisoned Pairings)
and a rural Florida
series, Dumpster Dying and Grilled, Killed and Chilled (to be
released late in 2012). She recently
signed a three-book deal with Camel Press for The Consignment Shop Murders
including A Secondhand Murder.
For something more heavenly, try her mystery Angel Sleuth. Several of her short stories have been
published by Untreedreads including one (Murder with All the Trimmings) in the
original Thanksgiving anthology The
Killer Wore Cranberry and another (Mashed in the Potatoes) in the second
anthology The Killer Wore Cranberry: A
Second Helping. She invites readers
to visit her on her blog and website.
From Marilyn:
Wow, Lesley, you have me beat. We used to love to go dancing--but now it's out for lunch and the movies. I agree though, you definitely need to do something else to rev up your juices. That was a great post and I learned a lot more about you! Thanks for visting.
Comments
Your life sounds VERY busy and what you're doing to "unwind" is hopefully working for you.
Marja McGraw
Lesley, I think you have a healthy and full lifestyle. Kudos! It's so nice hearing how other authors structure their time. I'm doing lousy at structure. Great post,
Madeline
You asked the question: What's your formula for staving off stress to keep your writing fresh and imaginative? If I could answer that, I wouldn't have to read your post on "Making it work." I was hoping you would give me the magic cure. :)
But, seriously, planning and taking a vacation to the beach is my number one way of reducing stress. I like yard sales, estate sales and flea markets too, weather permitting. Oh, and I love to swim. Almost any activity outside of my normal day-to-day life rejuvenates me and that, of course, leads to more productive writing.
I never looked at shopping as a way to de-stress. Now I can indulge guilt-free. I find doing Sudoku very relaxing. And knitting. I hate to redecorate, and wish you lived closer to LI to help me decide re what to do regarding the floors in almost every room of my house. Perhaps you can set up a decorating consultant agency. Or would that be stressful?
I am one of those people who work and raise a family and try to squeeze in writing, and mostly I manage it by the seat of my pants.
The trick for me is I thrive off stress. That's when I do my best work, when I'm under the gun and losing my mind under a time crunch.
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