…she’s undertaken the whole formatting/prep job for Closed Circle, which has gotten so arcane I don’t remotely understand half of it, she’s working late hours trying to get it all done, do the graphics, covers, tweak the covers so they display right; and every correction some e-mail reports sends her back through half a dozen different versions, all of which take hours to do, and she’s not sleeping. Far, far worse, these problems are driving her writing concentration right out of her head. A writer is a partly insane and delicate creature, who needs not to be totally in the real world, and she’s lying awake of nights, getting up at 3 am to apply some solution, do just a bit more work—but not the creative kind she needs to do: she’s undertaken most of the housework and done every repair job around the house to try to get it done without calling a repairman, the front yard’s a mess, and she’s exhausted. Yesterday we moved about 3 car-loads (much as our springs would stand) of rock we found on the cheap, and she placed that, to try to define paths in our landscaping, we’re ordering more, the pond needs to be drained and refilled and treated, and the bathroom still has a hole in it, the cardboard that needs thrown out is in a mass in the kitchen, and Jane keeps trying to save MY writing time by doing everything so I don’t get in the mess she’s in. Which is not damned fair. So I’m going to take a break and go tend the pond, move some rock and poison some weeds and I’m taking over the housework entirely. It’s depressing, the state the place has gotten into, and neither of us needs that. So I’m going to start moving rocks, and doing all I can to get Jane some writing time and some leisure to get her concentration back—of all things a writer can’t take, it’s being cut off from writing. And it just ain’t right.
Worried about Jane…
by CJ | Apr 2, 2011 | Journal | 26 comments
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Tell her her fans want her to relax a bit so she can write more.
I don’t know whether your financial situation allows it, but consider hiring a pro to do one or more of these tasks to keep the stress down a bit. You BOTH have full-time jobs already. I find computer-related tasks seem to consume any free time and attention (and eat into sleep) more than dealing with the physical environment – something about the nature of the tasks.
If mental healing energy can help, I’m sending prayers your way. If SQL and php expertise can help, contact me and I’ll help out where I can.
Perhaps the coming of Spring will contain a re-charge of sorts. I wish that for you both.
THank you, Steve. We can’t afford hiring it done except at extremes of technical requirement or tools we can’t afford, or we can’t afford the project! 😆 If we’d had our back yard done by pro’s, 10,000 wouldn’t start it, and we’re happy with what we’ve done for, shall we say, half of a half of a half, which now has been paid for over 3 years by not having the lawn crew anymore. [I’ve got a 960 gph pump out there lowering the water level so we can install the pump, right now, but it’s too darned windy to poison weeds. I’d get myself first.]
But oh, if we have SQL (I keep mentally pronouncing that as ‘squirrel’ and PHP [perhaps?] troubles, we will wave a flag enthusiastically, and I will shoot your name over to Jane as someone to call on.
Jane, dear heart, PLEASE throttle back a bit. You are NOT responsible for the exclusive upkeep of All Things Closed Circle, PLUS the house, PLUS your own writing. Take a morsel of time for yourself. Delegate. Ask for help. Sleep is way underrated. Accept ‘good enough’, at least temporarily; projects can be polished next growing season, on rewrite, when parts and time become available, or any number of other stopgaps. If you burn yourself out, your fans, friends, and CJ will be very sorrowful, plus it’s no fun personally.
Hey- for the housework find a maid to come in once a week. You can find someone reliable and not too expensive. From my reading, I seem to think you two enjoy the outside work more, so hand over the inside to someone else.
Alas, house-help is another expense we had to give up when the publishing industry tanked. We just don’t hire things done anymore unless we just cannot do them. THe last remaining service we had was the lawn crew, at 800.00 a year, and we figured that would ultimately pay for materials for what we’re doing for the lawn. Besides, I caught our house-help using Windex on the marine tank glass (lethal to the tank: thank goodness I caught her) and dripping Old English furniture polish on our pale grey carpet. And then she was always wanting to borrow money {I’ll pay you next week. Right.) Not to mention another one who nearly burned the house down and smoked up the ceilings, the walls, burned one cabinet black, and had just left the place. I was busy writing, seated in my little office, and when I looked up, I found the smoke level had gotten (rather neatly) down to just above my head. I ducked low, called the fire department, and got to the kitchen, where I discovered a skillet ablaze, and got a lid on it.
The insurance did give me enough to repaper the living room, paint the ceilings, and put a new backsplash on: I found a way to sand the char off most of the cabinet and refinish it…there has to be good house help out there, but I have a talent for finding the real characters……ever seen Poldark? That sort of help!
I can see why you’d be reluctant!
😆
It’s been my experience that finding good help is almost as difficult as doing the job yourself, and if money is an issue, you may just as well not bother. The cleaning crew we hired for the library after our recent construction project did a very good job of cleaning, but put the books back on the shelf upside down, backwards, and all other sorts of not-in-order. ::aghast::
As someone who runs a busy household and get tries to juggle creative time when ever possible– perhaps Jane could learn to mentally multi-task.
I try to keep my mundane tasks as mindless as humanly possible. Busywork for my hands– while mentally I’m just somewhere else, somewhere receptive to deeper thinking. Imagine it like something based on the Zen model of walking meditation, except that rather than stilling the mind by engaging with the senses, I simply drop out of my current situation–manual stuff I need to do goes on auto-pilot, while I’m completely in another place.
I keep a notebook at hand. And I use it to capture things for later use, when I have the opportunity to really work in a quietly devoted space and time. But this way–at least by my definition–no day goes by unthought on, no moment is truly wasted. It takes the angst out of being separated from what you feel driven to do–but can’t manage to do when you like.
Some of my best ideas have come this way. There is some sort of connection between doing and thinking– especially if the the two activities are not actually related in purpose.
But nothing can replace sleep. That’s really the deal breaker in this situation. Perhaps a very set schedule would help with that.
15 minutes a day consistently for chores works better than a marathon session a couple of times a week for things like laundry, dishes, picking up, vacuuming…etc. In this–a timer is one’s friend. A timer makes that time really count–its shocking how much a person can get done.
Same bedtime, same wake time, same eating time, and work broken up into manageable blocks of time–some each day will make a big difference. A Huge difference. I suggest 45 minutes on (three 15 minute little jaunts on three different tasks–(maybe loading/ unloading the dishes, folding clothes, decluttering the working surfaces of the household)– then 15 off–for every hour. That fifteen minutes off… time for a cool drink, a jot in the notebook, a peek at the internet to read mail, a little snack… A reward for a job well done as things go along prevents burnout– in all we do.
The most important thing is to clear out and clean up the heart of the home where stuff needs to be done everyday–this for most people is the kitchen and the laundry room. If these get junked up, it becomes extremely difficult to contain the chaos monster. In short order there will be clothes everywhere, nothing in the dressers and no place to cook or eat.
To borrow a term– CHAOS–Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome– will have made itself a very content permanent house guest.
So I say, sit back. Relax. Have a nice drink out by the water garden. Make a small manageable plan. Really, just an agreement to try something different tomorrow than what’s been done today. Nothing earth shattering. Flip the kill switch on the panic button. It’s going to be alright.
Well, Jane went after the plumbing part for the marine tank we’ve made 3 tries at getting [all wrong size, maleness, femaleness], and picked up the third of the rock we had yet to get. We offloaded that. I got out the wintered-over hose, parts A and B, and started the pond draining, cleaned and organized the west wall of the kitchen, excluding the pantry, put things away, organized projects into baggies with labels, swept, preparatory to scrubbing the floor, flattened boxes for recycling, buffered and dechlorinated the water going into the pond to replace the 3000 gallons (of 4000) that we drew off to water the trees and plants in the back yard and side of the house (the pump has a screw-in for a standard hose!), and Jane got the back partly weeded, watered, and helped me install the pond pump: I pumped the skimmer well dry once we got the water far enough down, but my allergies blur my eyes every time I bend over: tears from the allergies collect like a contact lens and make it impossible to focus when I’m working upside down, so Jane did that. The fish are all indignant, of course, but we’re putting in good water. I got the UV filter out, but the pump locked up. I think I’ve got it started again, but have to wait until the plug dries out before testing it. The GFO reactor we needed the part for (an algae reducer) in the marine tank finally fits, and works! and tomorrow I need to bake bread—we’ll be out—and get another 10 feet done in the kitchen. The two pond heaters are in to soak in a vinegared bath before storing for the summer. I threw out the dead one. And gathered up broken junk and threw THAT out in the back yard, including the plastic bucket that broke when filled and dumped cold algaed water all over Jane’s nearly brand new shoes.
Busy day! But I think we won!
Please look after yourselves. I know that the Closed Circle project is important to you, but the base line is that you both stay healthy and capable of dong the housework/yardwork/writing before you branch out any further. Those books can wait another week.
I wish I had a solution, but I’d reccommend against barter – that just shifts the problem from doing one kind of work to another – but you might consider offering some kind of mentoring/critique deal to provide you with additional income.
The problem with taking on extra work in the creative realm is that it tends to give you all the hypersensitivity to the tics of another, newer writer — to put it mildly. Back when I did a couple of stints teaching writing—lol—I swore I was becoming hypersensitive to the words a, an, and the…
But I appreciate the kindness of the advice. What we’ve decided is that it’s a shorter road to do the things that need doing and then write, and take time out to skate—because that’s a very important ritual thing too, to clear the mind. And then we’ll come back with a vengeance.
They’re delivering 5 tons of rock on Thursday. We get to move all of that. But first we have about 500 lbs of gravel we need to shift, once I get a calm day so I can poison the weeds, get down weedcloth, THEN move the gravel so we have somewhere for them to dump the rock!
a shorter road to do the things that need doing and then write, and take time out to skate
Yes. (I’m not always good at taking my own advice, but that doesn’t make it bad advice…)
The problem with taking on extra work in the creative realm is that it tends to give you all the hypersensitivity to the tics of another, newer writer
I mentioned it as an opportunity because I see a number of writer friends do this as an extra income stream – and I hear from the writers who found it tremendously helpful, because while there are a lot of beginner resources, finding someone who can help you sharpen your skills when you already do most things reasonably well is much harder.
I very deliberately did not say ‘I’d be happy to do some of your proofing/conversion stuff in return for a critique’ because that would only shift the problem, and I think that in this respect, your hours are more valuable than mine.
There’s nothing I’d like better than mentoring by an author I admire, but critiquing takes a huge amount of time and mental energy. I went to an in-depth writing seminar where we had two stories to critique each night, and it took between three and six hours. Every night. That was three to six hours where I couldn’t work on my own stuff. Every night. It also puts you into someone else’s mental space, which is fun if you’re looking for some entertainment, but very problematical if you’re trying to work on something of your own. Have you tried joining (or founding!) a local writer’s group? Perhaps the library or bookstore would have something, or would allow you to put up fliers. Books on writing can be helpful, but it isn’t quite the same thing as having actual people making suggestions about your actual work. And sometimes it’s easier to identify problems with your own writing when you’ve diagnosed it in someone else’s.
CJ and Jane…please don’t wreck your health, mental or otherwise, over any of this. We want you around for a long time…
Idiot me, I should have specified this was a reply to green knight…
critiquing takes a huge amount of time and mental energy
I think to a degree that’s different from writer to writer. I’m a freelance copy editor, and I find the work energising – I get to make books better! people pay me to read! – but I don’t get as deeply involved in it, and I can leave one headspace and move into my own (as long as, y’know, I’m relaxed and not stressed to the gills).
As for the writer’s group thing – I’m not currently looking for more critiques (though short ones to ensure me I’m on the right track are welcome) – I’m in the ‘just write’ phrase of the cycle where I need to take all the amazing insights on how to improve my writing, put fingers to keyboard, and come up with words that don’t have those flaws. Which is much harder than it sounds 😉
I am blessed with writer friends who have the ability to point things out and the patience to keep talking to me while I fumble through those issues on my blog… but I didn’t find them locally.
Fiding people who write your type of book (not necessary genre, but sharing a baseline on what makes a good book and how it will be read), who are at roughly the same level (or have the ability/patience to ask good questions if they are not), *and* who have well-developed critical skills – plus the honest desire to help you write better rather than stroke their own egos – is HARD. Which is, I think, why people look for writing classes or mentoring from someone who *does* fulfill those criteria.
(And yes, I can see the inherent injustice in it – because people who can afford to pay for these things have a better chance to become good writers than those who can’t, but that’s the way of the world.)
Ah, I see. Personally, I found critiquing to be useful in that it made it easier to see my own problems, but took, as mentioned, an unbelievable amount of time. Of course, I fill the page with red ink too, so that’s probably the problem. 🙂 (good remarks too, I hasten to add) And then I find myself stuck in their world for the rest of the day.
Anyway, part of the reason I didn’t initially reply specifically to your post was because this wasn’t the first time someone has made this sort of suggestion, so it was more for everyone who’s been wistfully hoping. And then CJ slipped in a reply while I was typing one-handed on the iPad, and then it looked like I was replying more to her and … blah blah blah.
Wow, paid to read. I’m totally jealous. 🙂
And I agree, it’s hard to find people who’ll really *help* with a critique, but if one can’t spend money on traveling and tuition at a speculative fiction seminar, then finding a writing group either locally or online might be the only option. Although people who simply like to read can be helpful too, once they understand you really WANT them to tell you the truth. After all, most readers have an opinion about what they read, and even a remark like “I found it hard to get into” can be helpful if you ask the right follow up questions. (Did it take too long to get to the action? Is it because there was too much info near the beginning? Did you not like the characters? Was there too much description? For instance, and for a list of common problems.) The hardest part is getting one’s own ego out of the way long enough to actually listen. 🙂 It doesn’t help if they start, hesitantly, to tell you the truth, and you immediately shut them down with your reasons for doing whatever it is they’re having issues with. (I just ended that with a preposition, didn’t I? It’s too early in the morning for me to care.)
Again, this is more for people who are looking for readers than specifically you, green knight. 🙂 Sorry if I’m going on and on. I just woke up, and have no caffeine in my brain yet….
Yikes! Please tell Jane that Wonder Woman’s job is already taken. Though, you know, if Jane has a deep yearning for a lasso or chakra or such, then hey, go for it. (Though I have a feeling those brass breastplates are a bit chilly….) Heeheehee. (Okay, possibly overdoing the humor a bit, there.)
Seriously, though, I hope you and Jane don’t overdo. Get some sleep. Things will get done. And we fans will live if it takes a day or so more than she’d like.
I owe Jane an email on something-something-something I’d opined upon. Will get that out, so she won’t worry at the loose end.
One “gets it” about artists and writers. Not only because I’m the type, but I grew up with an artist mother. Heheh. (Linseed oil and turpentine and oil paint and gesso and sawdust smells will, I swear, always bring back nostalgic childhood memories. Plus, whenever someone says, “Your mother wore army boots!” I can say, “Yes, yes, she did!”) (Not to mention, both parents were happy for me to like books, scifi, history, and languages.)
I sympathize with Jane and really understand what she’s going through. I have been messing with the site for A Conspiracy of Authors, again — and for Vision: A Resource for Writers. We won’t even talk about the work that needs done on Forward Motion. My personal sites? I wave to them as I pass through now and then.
I will say that since I took Vision to a Joomla base (and the ACOA site as well), I’m much happier. Once I figured out some of the arcane secrets for that setup, things have gone much better. There are limitations, but so far I haven’t found them to be anything I can’t work around.
But, you know, there are days when I wish I was just writing. (Oh, and Kat Among the Pigeons now has three wonderful review son Smashwords, for those who remember me mentioning it here! It’s doing well.)
It’s so hard when things look so bad you can’t stand them continuing to be so while at the same time you REALLY need to do something entirely else… Please look after yourselves.
At some point in Regenesis, Justin tells Ariane to take time off and just rest. She had been working super overtime and losing weight etc.
Let the house go for a while.
As one who has worked in the software industry for mumble years, I can assure Jane that the site will never be perfect. You have to settle for “good enough.” Most of us think that CC is already good enough. We’d all (or mostly) rather have one of those new books she’s working on than more tweaks to CC.
Take a few days off and then get back to that novel…
I’ll second Sgt Saturn having also worked in the software industry for all of my working life. The K.I.S.S. principle should be applied to every project, every page, every new “neat” or “cool” idea.
Then there are the 3 principles of managing a project within budget:
(1) It can be good, and cheap, but not fast.
(2) It can be good, and fast, but not cheap.
(3) It can be fast, and cheap, but not good.
Hear, hear. We’d all far rather that our writer friends be happy and healthy and write books, stories, poems, filk, …cereal box copy… off-color jokes in Old High Martian…
Best Wishes.