Motivation and priority

Forget vicious circles. I like to think of life as a triangle. A triangle has three points and three sides, right? Well, there is the physical, the mind life (or mental) and the spiritual. And it is good to exercise these to keep them strong and connected. After all, a triangle with a collapsed side is no longer a shape.

Photo by: sebastiaan-stam-IkzP__YsL6s-unsplash

I like to keep in shape. I walk and swim to keep the physical side going well—and, of course, drink plenty of water and eat a healthy diet. Just don’t ask me how I’m going on the diet thing! 

Next comes the mental. I’ve a desk job that allows me to contribute to the family of five’s budget (Sue and I plus three pets: Nikita, Amber, and Joey). We all have wills. It takes energy to know what to allow and what to crack down on. 

And then there’s the spiritual. I’m not just talking about God life, but the things that God uses in us to make life worthwhile for others, like creativity. God created, so it’s natural as his progeny that we create. Whether that comes out in the arts and writing, in innovation, in thoughtful acts of kindness or as a word in season to break up a disagreement or to bring hope—the ultimate source of that is spiritual. 

And when I was younger, I had shiploads of energy. As a single man living in the Canberra region, I ran, walked, rode a bike, and swam for exercise and relaxation, I played keyboards in two secular bands (one rock, the other hip hop/ experimental) as well as being part of the worship team at church, playing fortnightly. I was also on several committees. I found time to be involved in community campaigns, do advocacy, support a candidate in a state election. I published a magazine for my employer where I worked full time and collaborated to bring innovative speakers to my workplace. Oh yeah, and I still found odd bits of time to write my stuff. 

Sure, some things suffered in the process—I should have spent more time on some relationships—but that’s all part of maturing. 

Ah, yeah, maturing. There’s a good and bad part of that. The good looks at what is important to others; at what is worthwhile to build into. I drop or attenuate other things. Some of those things I am sorry to let go, because they brought me and other people pleasure.

But the other is motivation, not just giving permission to yourself, but giving it the time and energy. There is no longer time and energy for everything. If I try something new, something else may need to go. If it goes, I need to look at what that means for others. Aging speaks, as do priorities. Energy is not where it was in my twenties and thirties. There are weeks where I get through the have-tos for the day and there’s no time left for me. So, I stagger through to the weekend only to be reminded of things I agreed to and forgot about. They especially raise their ugly heads just when I think I have the time and energy to spend on something requiring quality time and thought.

Photo by: brett-jordan-UQ7Vf_rmEFc-unsplash

I’ve chosen to blog today about motivation. I no longer have the energy or time to do everything without suffering serious burn out. And most of the things I must do are not innately enjoyable, so do not refresh me. 

Motivation’s close brother is priority. Priority is so often driven by others. ‘On 

some fixed date, you said you would do such-and-such by a set time.’ So, you do it, because you said you would; and you don’t want to damage the relationship with the person you agreed with. But, meanwhile, you delay again the things that you permitted yourself to do.

But you can raise their priority. You have the access.

‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life,’ says the writer (ascribed to King Solomon: Proverbs 13:12). So, remember, no matter how busy life gets; no matter how many other things become your priority (rightly or wrongly); if you decide to write, then writing is a priority for you. As it is a priority, you are both permitted and need to give it time.

There is your motivation.

So, go write!

Your thoughts?

Marc Jeffrey is an Adelaide-based author and poet who loves to craft words in times when his beautiful wife and lively dog (Shih tzu cross Chihuahua) are asleep. He writes of hope and justice, depositing his characters in the nexus between the ‘what is’ and the ‘what if’ – while wondering if he can leave the house without waking anyone up. 

He is long-time member of the ‘Literati’ writing group, that grew out of the Tabor Adelaide Creative Writing program. When he’s not writing, Marc listens to his favourite music, which ranges from Cold Chisel to Claude Debussy

Crystallising or Crysalis?

 by Jeanette O'Hagan

January is traditionally a time for looking back at how last year went and what we would like to achieve in the new year. 

As writers, goals are important. Without them, we can flounder about aimlessly achieving little. As the saying goes, if you aim at nothing you will probably achieve it. 

There are writing goals I would like to achieve for 2022 - new books written and published, new readers, a sustainable career.  Yet, to be honest. I have been chasing these goals for ten years and I am weary.

It's not that I haven't achieved many of them. In fact, I feel blessed to have seven books and a collection of stories published already, to have poems and short stories published in over twenty anthologies, to have a small (very small) group of enthusiastic readers. It's been a blast selling books at book fairs and Cons (like Supanova and OzComic Con), to read the occasional glowing review or sell the occasional book online. I've also enjoyed being part of running the Omega Writers Book Fair (since 2016), and coordinating the admin team for Christian Writers Downunder (since Jan 2016). The sustainable career ... well, not so much, yet - and maybe never. 

But, like for most of us, the last two years have been like a wrecking ball - with the constant changing situation and uncertainty and no let up. Plus there have been personal and family challenges - the death of my much loved father four years ago, medical emergencies for my mum, plus transitioning her into an care home in middle of lockdown in 2020, parenting challenges I never expected and the loss of long-term friendship. I'm sure we can all relate because life is full of such challenges. I'm a glass-half-full kind of gal, always looking for the positives and believing things will get better, but I am weary. 

Goals are important, but so are priorities. Knowing what is important, where one should invest one's time and energy. We can't be everything to everyone. Doing so can stretch us too thin. For me, this January, I'm holding my goals lightly and I'm planning on spending time in God's presence searching for the bigger picture of what He wants to achieve in me, where my focus needs to be. 

While a natural optimist, there are times when I feel the weight of so many people's expectations or disappointments in me, a flawed, fragile human being. I feel stretched thin. I feel a failure - the secret pessimist overriding the optimist and, with her seductive voice, finding all the brokenness in my life. (Okay, so I might be melancholic in temperament.) And I can tell you, the last couple of months, shattered relationships and lost energy have given me cause to listen to that dark, seductive voice that whispers, failure, failure, failure in the early hours of the morning. This season, when things seem to be falling apart one by one, I'm left wondering what remains. And I am weary. 

Recently, as part of Month of Poetry (something I do with a group of wonderful, talented poets each year), we were given the challenge of writing a poem with two-word lines on becoming. This was my effort:

Becoming
something different
blank cocoon
apparent stasis
hiding mystery
inside deconstruction
dismantling order
disrupting function
hijacking reforming
replacing remaking
ordered chaos
designed disorder
changes everything
until time
splits open
silk walls
new emerges
moth, beetle
or butterfly
no longer worm
radically different
yet same
a continuity
shared history
brand new.

 Jeanette O'Hagan 22 Jan 2022

moth, beetle or butterfly

Writing that poem, I am reminded that each ending is a new beginning.  That sometimes, when God takes us through a process of deconstruction, it's because He is building something new, something beautiful to make of our lives and the lives of others. That I don't have to be perfect or even good enough, for He accepts us as we are, broken, fragile and failing. That the burden doesn't rest on me alone, for He carries our burdens with us. That my role is to trust (though I think He might need to help me with that). 

Trust - Priorities - Goals

And whatever 2022 brings - I know I am in His hands. 

What about you? Where are you on that journey?

Jeanette O'Hagan has spun tales in the world of Nardva from the age of eight. She enjoys writing fantasy, sci-fi, poetry, and editing.

Her Nardvan stories span continents, millennia and cultures. Some involve shapeshifters and magic. Others include space stations and cyborgs.

She has published over forty stories and poems, including the Under the Mountain Series (5 books), Ruhanna's Flight and Other Stories, Akrad's Children and Rasel's Song, the first two books in the Akrad's Legacy series. 

Jeanette has practised medicine, studied communication, history, theology and a Master of Arts (Writing). She loves reading, painting, travel, catching up for coffee with friends, pondering the meaning of life.

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Reaching for our creative goals in 2021

 

Photo by Xan Griffin on Unsplash

2020 was a bad year for most of us: The COVID outbreak, the restrictions, loss of work, weeks of being focused on the news, pondering our mortality, some even losing friends and family to the awful thing... We’ve done okay in Australia compared with many countries but still COVID took its toll on life as a whole including our finances, mental health and especially on our creativity. My friends in Victoria have done it especially tough, with three months in hard lockdown. I spent much of the year ghostwriting a non-fiction book and even with deadlines there were weeks when I couldn’t write. When I was done I wanted to get straight into a project for myself but I couldn’t. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted.

 

But 2021 is a new year. We have hope of a vaccine program for COVID and we’ve (hopefully) had some kind of break or holiday over Christmas. It feels, at least for me, that it’s time to start running again. A new year brings new hope and new purpose as we reach for our goals. 

 

You may already be doing this. If you’ve stayed focused and super-productive through 2020, I applaud you. In the comments, please share some of the things that have helped you do this. For the rest of us – those wanting to pick up again and get going afresh in their creative journey – let’s take a quick look at some things we can do to help us rock our creative goals in 2021.

 

Define your goals

 

I've never been a huge fan of the goal-setting gurus and their five-year plans. Especially not when they recommend the hyper-organised break-everything-down-into-the-minutia approach to goal setting. Maybe I should be. I know some people thrive with that level of organisation and they are a lot more productive than I am. But I get exhausted even thinking that way.

 

My writing ‘muse’ doesn’t like too much pressure. She’s sometimes like a frightened kitten – only sneaking out of her hiding place when everything is quiet to lap from a saucer of fresh milk and nibble at juicy chunks of topside steak. The pressure of high-powered goal setting immediately sends the poor thing hissing and spitting back into its dark corner under a cupboard. 

 

Having said that, I don’t work well without any goals, either. If we don’t aim toward a target, we are unlikely to hit it, right? I think it’s all about balance: having clear goals that guide our focus but don’t put so much pressure on us that we become creatively catatonic.

 

Have you thought about your goals for 2021? What's your definition of success?

 

I recently read Stop Worrying; Start Writing by Sarah R Painter. It’s a lovely book about overcoming your fears and neuroses as a writer (hint: I have lots ;)). Some books on productivity make you feel guilty – and exhausted before you get started. But Painter is so encouraging... like having a good friend grab your hand and say, 'It’s okay, keep going. You can do this!' 

 

One of the things she encouraged writers to do was to consider their own definition of success. For some it might be to one day win a literary prize, for others it could be having a book published for their family and friends to read. Others could have the goal of becoming a high-earning independent author. Success is a very individual thing and that’s okay. We shouldn’t feel pressured to have the same goals as our author friends.  

 

This is how Painter defines her own success:

 

 

Wouldn't this be fantastic? I had to copy this because her words echoed my own long-term desires – except I would have thrown in ‘and honouring God’ at the end of the last sentence. The problem is that for me you’d need an earth-bound version of the Hubble telescope to see that far into the future. I earned freelance income last year but nothing from my fiction writing.

 

It’s generally held that good goals should be both measurable and achievable. I also think that if we are to succeed in reaching our goals, they need to reflect our deepest motivations, otherwise, we’ll start out okay but fall away quickly. The ghostwriting experience I mentioned at the beginning of the post taught me a lot. I gained valuable experience, but it also showed me I don’t want to spend my writing life crafting someone else’s words. I gave it everything I had, but it didn’t satisfy my deeper desire to have my own words set loose to scurry around the universe and dive into readers’ hearts.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

 

While there are many facets to creative success for me in 2021 the most important is to get my own words down on paper. 

 

Success for me involves planning a series of books and writing at least one new novel to a publishable standard in 2021 (ideally, I’d like to write two – or three – I'm greedy). 

 

There are other parts to my creative journey. I want to encourage others, so I’ll still do some freelance editing work. I also have a YA novel that needs a publishing home (or to be published independently). I'd also like to develop the animal art side of my creative business. However, the priority is getting new words of my own ‘out there’.  

 

What about you? What is your definition of success in 2021?

 

What changes are needed to reach your goals?

 

One of the things many of us are guilty of, is saying we want something but then not counting the cost and doing what it takes to get there. If we are to reach our goals, we’ll need to make some changes. Here are some things to think about:

 

Make your creative goals a priority. 

 

As a society we often devalue creativity, but I reckon that if it's important to God, it needs to be important to us. If creativity wasn't valued by God we'd be living in a flat monochrome world, where everything functioned but there was little beauty. Instead, he gave us a world with soaring mountains, azure oceans and brilliant blue butterflies. 

 

Not only does creativity make our life more meaningful, our creativity can help and heal others. Books and poetry are powerful. Wouldn't it be fantastic if the book we wrote made someone's life better for a few hours and gave them the hope they needed to keep going in hard times? 

 

Even if we are convinced that our creative goals are important, it's easy for life to subvert them. How much do we want this? Very few of us can do everything we'd like to do, so we need to set priorities. If we're going to write fresh words this year, we need to allow time and energy for this. 

 

Make your wellbeing (and the wellbeing of others) a priority too. 

 

On the other hand, there's no point reaching our goals if we make ourselves sick or neglect our family and friends. It's important to look after ourselves and others as we go. This may mean moving more slowly than we would like or doing things differently. 

 

Make changes with both your goals and wellbeing in mind. 

 

I hurt my back badly last year working under pressure with a less than ideal desk set-up, so it's important for me to make changes that help protect my health. For me this means trying to lose some weight, moving more (hydro-exercises are my friend), learning Dragon dictation and hopefully increasing my hours of non-writing part-time work so I can afford to spend my desk-time on my fiction. This will hopefully help me reach my creative goals 😃.

 

I also need to develop regular quality time for creative flow that fits in with the rest of my life. I do my best and most focused work between 10 pm and 2 am, which is okay if you never have appointments in the real world, don’t need to work a part time job, don't have a husband to encourage and don’t suffer from a fatigue-inducing chronic illness. The late night/ late mornings are not conducive to my health and the rest of the flow of my life. If I’m to accomplish my goals, I need to change. Will it be hard? Yes. Will it be worth it? Definitely!

 

I could say a lot more here but I’m out of time and well out of word count. Now it’s over to you.

 

What are your creative goals for 2021? What steps are you taking to get there? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you are reaching for this year. 

 

 

 

Susan J Bruce, aka Sue Jeffrey, spent her childhood reading, drawing, and collecting stray animals. Now she’s grown up, she does the same kinds of things. Susan has worked for many years as a veterinarian, and writes stories filled with themes of suspense, adventure, romance and overcoming. Susan also loves to paint animals. Susan won the ‘Short’ section of the inaugural Stories of Life writing competition and won the 'Unpublished Manuscript' section of the 2018 Caleb prize. Susan is the editor of'If They Could Talk: Bible Stories Told By the Animals' (Morning Star Publishing) and her stories and poems have appeared in multiple anthologies. Her e-book, 'Ruthless The Killer: A Short Story' is available on Amazon.com. You can check out some of Susan’s art work on her website https://www.susanjbruce.com.

 

 

Priorities - Yours, Mine or God's? by Melinda Jensen

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Exsodus

 If you're like me you probably have several writing projects on the boil at any one time. You'll likely be writing regularly for your blog or website, crafting short stories for competitions or in the hope of publication, and having a bit of a dalliance with poetry. Perhaps you also love to write devotionals. Then there's your main project, 'the' book – the one you've been writing for months now, or perhaps even years. It might be fiction, non-fiction or faction, depending on your leanings and unique talent.

I'm always tempted to pick up whichever task takes my fancy at the time. You know, the one I feel like writing in the moment. That's all well and good sometimes, and it often provides a delicious taste of satisfaction and fulfilment, at least on a certain (human) level. But, as with everything else in our busy lives, we need to pause and consider whether or not our industry aligns with God's design – and that's not always easy.

Prayer, of course, is our first port of call. And then we wait...looking for subtle signs or nudgings in our spirit. At times, God gives us free reign, indulging us and allowing us to use our time to develop our creativity and skills. At other times, God has a very specific plan for us. It might be only for the day or it might be for a period of weeks or months. We can be sure though, that He has a particular purpose for our writing and a particular time frame in which to do His will.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

'To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:'

At times, we'll receive confirmation from a fellow Christian about where our focus should be, although we must always test what we hear by bringing it before God and seeking Him in earnest prayer. I received this kind of direction from a beautiful woman of God a few months ago. As an editor, publisher and fellow Christian, I felt her words resonate with me as she read some of my work and gave me direction. I now know which one of the many writing tasks God wants me to concentrate on over the coming year. (No more excuses for me!)

At other times, I only figure God's priorities in retrospect. If, at the end of the day, I feel God's arms around me, and hear the words, 'Well done, good and faithful daughter,' wash over me, I know I've been fulfilling His will. My habitual anxiety abates as I'm bathed in an incredible sense of spiritual and emotional well-being. It's like snuggling up to a newborn babe and drinking in that delicate smell of luscious soft skin and downy, sweet hair. The experience of peace and contentment is profound.

Jeremiah 29:11

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'

When we allow God's will to come to fruition in our lives, doors open and the path is laid before us bit by bit. If we ask Him, as I invariably do, to gently correct us when we go astray, He is faithful. He has pointed me back to the path many times in my life by simply stepping in and stopping me from proceeding, and then leading me back in the right direction. For the past four years, I've authored a blog about verbal, emotional and psychological abuse. From time to time, I consider it time to let it go; I feel the blog has run its course and served its purpose. But every, single time … without fail over the past year or so … each time I've considered shutting the blog down, I receive an email or comment from a new subscriber who thanks me sincerely for helping them to understand, and to embark on their healing journey. Many have been moved to tears. It's a beautiful dance between me and my best friend, my confidante, my King and my saviour.


God's will never harms us. He promises we will prosper but we need to bear in mind that His riches are not those of the world. We may earn an income, or we may not, but our spirits will be nourished and nurtured every step of the way. We'll continue to grow and learn, but most importantly, He'll be using our words to touch the hearts and minds of His people.

May this be our prayer: 

 Hebrews 13:21-21

'Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.'

Melinda Jensen is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, dedicated to protection of the environment, social justice and equality. She has had a smattering of short stories, poetry and articles published in books, magazines and newspapers. While having two fantasy novels currently underway for middle school readers, she is focused on a work of non-fiction, which she hopes to illustrate herself. For four years she has ministered to victims of domestic abuse through her blog www.killingmesoftly.co

Writerly Advice for the Everyday.

I've been thinking lately about the advice given to writers and how that advice might just be as relevant for everyday living as for turning dreams of a book into reality.

Consider, for example, the old, repeated advice 'If you want to write, you have to write. Write, write, write!'  If we translated this into advice for the everyday it might read like this: 'If you want to live you have to live. Live, live live!" 
Writers know that in order to get a novel or research project completed they need to focus and diligently choose to work, put the words down as best they can, a little bit each day. In life it is similar. There are so many distractions fighting for our attention but we need to remember what sort of life we want to live and seek to live that purposefully. It would be sad to reach the end of another year and realise the life we wanted (be it a slower pace, more attention given to the kids, a trip to The Centre) hadn't been realised because of many insignificant interruptions and misplaced priorities.  We need to choose to live, and then actually do it.

Another piece of writerly advice that could be translated for the everyday is: 'Seek opportunities to richly observe the world'. The less polite version of this has been 'Eaves-drop whenever you can'.
The creative mind needs opportunities to absorb information as well as time to engage in the process of creation. The result will be richer writing, full of diverse imagery and unique feeling. Life is very similar. If we are not careful we can go about our day to day ignoring the beauty and interest around us. I remember it clearly from my time living in Nepal, how easy it was to reside within eyesight of the magnificent Himalayas and literally forget to look at them! How important is it for us to keep seeing the world around us? To notice the beauty, the pain, the faces, the needs all allows us to interact with life more meaningfully. And, again, it is a deliberate choice we need to make.

Writers prioritise, plan and make careful decisions in order to improve their craft, but if our lives themselves are a form of creative expression (Ephesians 2:10) how much more should we be alert to opportunities to live each day deliberately and with purpose!

Penny Reeve is a children's author based in Western Sydney. She enjoys sharing her love of writing, books and story with children of all ages. Visit her website for more information or 'like'  her page on facebook.