The Power of A Good Morning Routine

 

Jack Canfield, originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, calls the first 60 minutes of his day his "Hour of Power." His Hour of Power includes 20 minutes of exercise, 20 minutes of meditation, and 20 minutes of uplifting reading. 

Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, believed in written affirmations. He writes his goals down 10 to 15 times a day. 

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer for Facebook, rises at 5:30am and focuses on getting her children ready for school, dropping them off, and answering emails before arriving at Facebook's office at 7:00am.

Arianna Huffington, co-founder of The Huffington Post, spends her first 30-60 minutes setting her intentions for the day. 

These successful people--and many others like them--firmly believe a good morning routine is crucial to their effectiveness and ability to achieve their goals. Your morning routine will set the tone for your entire day. It does not need to be complicated. Consistency is the key. 

What is your current morning routine? Does it energize you or zap your energy? What would you change if you could?

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of four children’s books including, A Christmas Kindness, released by 4RV Publishing. A blogger and book reviewer, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com and her children’s book blog at https://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com

Three Tips to Banish Stress

Your editor is screaming for the changes to the article you promised her two days ago; the kids are yanking on your arm because they are bored; and you still haven’t figured out what’s for supper tonight.

Is it any wonder you have a tension headache?

According to a National Health Interview Study, abut 75% of the population feels stress every two weeks. Stress can affect your eating habits, sleeping patterns, blood pressure, skin appearance, and weight. In extreme cases, it leads to death.

So, what can you do about stress? More than you think.

Stress Trigger #1: I can never accomplish everything on time.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, then you are probably spending too much time thinking instead of doing.

Tip: Create a to-do list. Write down everything you have to do over the next week and view it with a critical eye. Does everything on this list really need to be accomplished next week? Is there something that could wait another week? What tasks have deadlines cannot change?

Prioritize your tasks. Then work on them one at a time. Don’t think about the next thing on your list. Concentrate only on the task at hand.

If you will miss a deadline, don’t pile on additional stress by waiting until the last minute to let the editor know. This will keep you from wasting time worrying over what she’ll say.

Stress Trigger #2: My family believes I dedicate too much time to my writing career.

Finding the perfect balance between your home life and career is never easy, but there are many things you can do to gain the support of your family.

Tip: Have a family meeting. Explain to your family why pursuing a writing career is important to you. Share your dreams with them and what you hope to accomplish.

Ask for their help. You can’t do this on your own. Once you’ve shared your reasons for choosing a writing career, let them know how they can support you.

• Share household chores
• Respect your writing time
• Run errands

This only works, however, if you respect your family time. Create a writing schedule that works best for you and stick to it. At the end of your writing time, shut off the light and close the door. Your family will be more willing to help if they know that once you’re done for the day, they are your top priority.

Stress Trigger #3: I keep putting things off. Then I get stressed trying to finish by the deadline.

Procrastination is an issue for many writers. Reasons for putting things off vary: over commitment, lack of confidence in your abilities, and allowing distractions and interruptions to steal your writing time, to name a few.

Tip: Learn to say “no.” If you over commit, then you will feel stressed and put things off. Frequently turning in projects late can damage your reputation and cost you repeat business. Saying “no” does not make you a rotten person. You are only saying “no” to this one thing. That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to help the next time someone asks.

Self-doubt, fear of failure, and fear of success are actual issues for writers because they deal with rejection. Use positive self-talk and focus on your strengths. Write a list of all your strengths and pin it above your desk. When you wander away from a project, read the list and then get back to work.

Two excellent resources that discuss ways to handle self-doubt and fear are You Are More Than Enough: Every Woman’s Guide to Purpose, Passion & Power by Judi Moreo and Page After Page by Heather Sellers.

Don’t let distractions and interruptions steal your writing time. Schedule a time each day to return phone messages and check email. Your writing time is for writing. Don’t use it to wash the dishes or run errands. Let your family know they are more than welcome to interrupt you for a genuine emergency, but they have to respect your writing time.

Reducing stress is not only good for your career, it’s good for your health. Take the time to identify what triggers stress in your life and never shy away from asking for professional help if you need it. You owe it to your family and your career to stay healthy.



Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of four children’s books including, A Christmas Kindness, released by 4RV Publishing. A blogger and book reviewer, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com and her children’s book blog at https://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com

Take Your Time and Do it Right

As head coach of UCLA's basketball team, John Wooden won ten NCAA national championships in a twelve-year period. Well known for the short inspirational messages he used to encourage his players, some consider the above quote to be one of his finest pieces of advice.

How can we apply Wooden's advice to our writing?

Focused on completing a project and submitting it to a publisher, writers can forget the importance of taking the time to do it right — yours truly stands guilty as charged. Expect cruddy first drafts. We frequently hear, just get it out. While that is true, don't rush editing.

Not all writers are fans of editing. You're forced to kill your darlings, tighten your prose, remove passive voice, switch out weak adverbs for strong verbs, and a litany of other instructions that threaten to make your head ache. Self-editing is a learned art form. I'm still in class. It's way more rewarding to edit someone else's manuscript.

Speaking of working with editors, this might shock you: if your editor asks you to go over a chapter for the third time, it's because she believes so much in your story she wants it to be even better than you think it can be. The word choice, the sentence structure, and the way a chapter ends can be the difference between a reader turning the page and putting a book down unfinished. An editor is part of a team dedicated to preparing your manuscript for publication.

So, what can an author do to help?

Don't rush self-editing

My technique is:

• Take the cruddy first draft and pretend it doesn't exist for a month.
• First round of edits: read it aloud to pick up inconsistencies and typos.
• Second round of edits: improve word choice, correct grammar, and reduce repetition.
• Third round of edits: focus on punctuation to make sure it's right.
• Ignore the final draft for a day or two and then read it aloud again to make sure you didn't miss any glaring errors.

Write a great query letter

The dreaded query letter. Can you imagine my eyes rolling into my head? Writer's Digest has a great list of dos and don'ts for this. You can find it here. Two hundred fifty to three hundred fifty words doesn't leave a lot of room for error. Practice makes perfect.

Once your manuscript is accepted, be open-minded

Publishers understand this is your baby. When a publisher accepts your manuscript, they see its potential. Be open to your editor's suggestions. Step back and be objective. Embrace the process, even when it seems to take a long time. That time will be well worth it!

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of four children’s books including, A Christmas Kindness, released by 4RV Publishing. A blogger and book reviewer, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com and her children’s book blog at https://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com

Writing through the Hazy Days of Summer

Summer will soon be upon many of us. For some, that means the regular schedules have eased a bit, there are fewer activities, school is out, and vacation brain has settled in. For a writer, this can come with a few challenges:

1. Spend the day at the beach or write
2. Take the kids to the park or write
3. Tackle spring cleaning because you were too busy before or write

Can you see how this leads to not being productive? 

It doesn't need to be that way. Here are three tips to keep you writing through the summer.

Get up Early

Ugh! I said it. Better to get the hard one out of the way first. I'm not a morning person. Let me stay up until 3 AM and sleep until 10 AM. I'll be happy. The problem is that by the end of the day, I'm dragging. Who wants to be creative when they are exhausted? 

Think about what time your family rises and get up an hour earlier. Brew your coffee or tea and spend the first hour writing. You'll be surprised how much you can accomplish.

Find a New Writing Spot

Writing from home is convenient. What often happens, however, is we take up our writing time with household chores or getting distracted by our children who aren't usually around in the middle of the day. 

Pick up your laptop or pen and paper and find a writing spot outside of your house for a few hours. We are lucky to have several local cafes here, but the library or a park would also be a great spot. 

Join a Writing Group

Our writing group has been an immeasurable help in encouraging me to write more regularly. Not only are we required to bring a writing sample each month, being around other writers is a huge source of motivation. For tips on how to find a local group, click here.

If you're still struggling, here are a few writing prompts to try:

• My dream vacation is...
• I became a writer because...
• My favorite thing about our city/town is...

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of Little Shepherd, A Christmas Kindness, Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving, and Amos Faces His Bully. A blogger and book reviewer, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com and her children’s book blog at https://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com

Three Steps to Meeting Your Goals

At the beginning of year, many writers create a list of goals. For the first few weeks we are all gung-ho and working feverishly. Then something happens. Life gets in the way. On top of that, our calendar is filled with unrealistic goals or goals that aren't specific, timely, or measurable enough to accomplish them. We get discouraged.

How do we stay the course? How do we work our goals into our daily schedules and make them happen.

Look at your calendar and find an hour. Maybe it won't take that long, but give yourself time to truly consider the goals you have set. Bring your calendar and your list of goals with you. I prefer to do this outside of my house--libraries work well.

STEP ONE: Review your goals one at a time and make sure they are S.M.A.R.T. 

In order to move forward, your goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Let's say your goal is to publish your first article in 2019. That's great, but it's too vague. A S.M.A.R.T. goal would look like this: I will publish my first article by the end of 2019; researching my topic and writing the article by February 1, having a final draft by March 1, and performing market research in April to begin submitting to select magazine publishers by May 1.

Why is this important? Deadlines are marks on the calendar. They are dates you can see and shoot for. Just as important, instead of having to wait until that article is published to feel like you accomplished something, you have these targets along the way that keep you motivated.

STEP TWO: Break down your S.M.A.R.T. goals into small tasks.

Now, let's take that S.M.A.R.T. goal and break it down into small tasks. The to-do list to research your topic might look like this: perform online research, set up interviews with experts, conduct interviews with experts, and visit the local library for additional resources. Then you need to estimate the time necessary to complete each task.

STEP THREE: Time block your calendar.

Pull out your paper or electronic calendar. It's time to get serious. The best way to accomplish your goals is to structure your time so you work most effectively and efficiently. Time blocking will help. There are plenty of online templates to make this easier. I prefer a weekly planner in half hour increments.

The first thing you do is plug in all the things you know you can't change: the day job, picking up the kids from school, exercise time, doctor appointments, etc. The empty blocks are where you tuck your small tasks in. Maybe Monday morning at nine you have half an hour to perform online research. Wednesday at noon might be a great time to call or email those experts to set up interviews.

What's the best part about time blocking? It shows you where time is being wasted, so you can reclaim it.

If you want to meet more of your goals this year, create S.M.A.R.T. goals, break them down into small tasks, and then time block your calendar. You'll be glad you took the time to set yourself up for success.

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of Little Shepherd, A Christmas Kindness, Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving, and Amos Faces His Bully. A blogger and book reviewer, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com and her children’s book blog at https://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com

Expect the Unexpected

I embarked upon a writing career when I had a toddler and an infant at home. What was I thinking? How was a mother of two little ones going to find time to write?

Here's the trick: you don't find the time, you make it.

One of the things that is helpful is to have a plan, but to be flexible enough to expect the unexpected. Whether it is a sick child, a new project, or a shortened deadline, when you're trained to expect the unexpected, you can take it in stride and still accomplish your goals.

• Sit down and look at your to-do list. Anything that isn’t a priority should be assigned a new due date immediately. Don’t take these tasks off your list or you’ll find reasons to keep pushing them aside.
• Review each item that is a priority and see if you can still meet your original deadlines. If you know it will be impossible, contact your client(s) immediately and request an extension. Professionals don’t wait until the due date to inform clients they can’t hand in an assignment. Hopefully your clients are fine with a short extension so you'll have wiggle room to deal with your unexpected issues. 
• Track your time. This will keep you focused on the task at hand. It also identifies areas in your schedule where time is being wasted. If you’ve just been dealt an unexpected project, now isn’t when you squander the moments you have.
• Consider timed sessions as a way to get to the end. Agree to work in 15 minute intervals. Set a timer, begin, and stop when the buzzer goes off. Breaking your task down into smaller chunks will make it easier to handle, allow you to judge your progress, and keep you focused.

Once the unexpected wrinkle in your carefully planned schedule is over, take a few moments to think about it. Was it truly unexpected? Is there a way it could have been avoided? Sometimes procrastination or allowing ourselves to get pulled away by distractions creates those unexpected moments that cause stress.

How do you handle the unexpected? Any tips you can share to make it easier?

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of Little Shepherd, A Christmas Kindness, Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving and the recently released, Amos Faces His Bully. A blogger and book reviewer, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com and her children’s book blog at https://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com

Tips to Balance Writing Time and Marketing Time

One of the things I often hear from fellow writers is that marketing takes a substantial amount of time, which means less time for writing. Many feel there is no easy way to balance writing time and marketing time.

Here are a few tips that might help:

Add Marketing Time to Your To-Do List

Without a list, you can lack focus and organization, which means time slips away and you’re not even sure where it went. Daily and weekly to-do lists keep you on track, and they motivate you to keep going.

See where you can add fifteen minutes to half an hour of marketing time to your daily schedule. I find that after I drop the kids off in the morning is my best time because my phone isn't ringing with real estate calls and there's no one in the house except me and the furry beasts.

Create an Online Media Kit

Every published writer needs a media kit. A media kit should include: a long and short bio, author photographs, novel covers, book trailers, excerpts, audio clips, links to previous interviews, and a schedule of events. If you write articles, it should include a list of those articles, where and when they appeared, and direct links to any articles that appear online.

By having this information available on your website and in PDF format, you’ll save time when you contact people for interview and book review requests. Even if you’re still waiting for that first sale, it’s a good idea to have a biography and quality photo available for those who request them.

Use Social Media Effectively

I have numerous social networks that I post to multiple times a day. Can you imagine how long it would take if I had to post to each site separately? By using Buffer, Hootsuite or TweetDeck, I can create one post that is submitted to all my social networks at once.

Support Local Schools and Events

Who says marketing can’t be fun and fulfilling? With tightening budgets, schools are often looking for guests to come and interact with students. When my girls were younger, I held writing workshops at their schools. I would speak to the teacher about their current course of study and then tie my workshops into that.

One year, I visited during National Poetry Month, which is held in April. The kids had also been studying Colonial America and the America Revolution. My two-day workshop was on using your senses in writing and on how to develop your powers of observation. We started off by reading excerpts from classic children’s books and seeing if the kids could point out the senses the authors used. Then the students pulled items out of a bag and had to use their senses to describe it. On the second day, they observed me reciting “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and we discussed their observations. Finally, they put all they learned into practice by using their senses and power of observation to write a short story based on a field trip they had taken earlier in the year to an early American settlement. The kids enjoyed it and they shared it with their parents, many of whom asked about my work. It was great exposure to teachers as well.

When my first book came out, I held a book signing at my church during their annual Christmas Bazaar and Tag Sale. I got a chance to sell my book, and a portion of the proceeds went to the church--a win for both of us.

Marketing is part of the business of writing. Using these tips will help you strike a better balance between the business and creative sides of your career.

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of Little Shepherd, A Christmas Kindness, Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving and the recently released, Amos Faces His Bully. A blogger and book reviewer, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com and her children’s book blog at https://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com

Timely Tips

God allocates each of us twenty-four hours a day, yet it’s never enough.


Writing may begin small, as a hobby. We love it. We spend any extra hours writing more and more, longer and longer. God puts the longing in our heart to get our written words into circulation where others can read them.


At some point, the hobby changes into a career. We submit our words, and a publisher releases the finished product to the public. We learn that now, we have two jobs; writing and promoting beside any other demands.


Below, find tips to redeem your time.


1. Use a timer for social media.


Start by timing yourself on a normal day. Discover how many hours you spend on all the different types of social media. Don’t discount this. Online promotion is critical to our success. I counted four hours a day that I surfed Facebook, Twitter, two e-mail addresses, and several blogs (mine included.) Some days when I had weekly or monthly obligations on guest blogs, that time swells to five or six hours.

How could I stop? I needed a presence, but I didn’t need an obsession.

A small kitchen timer works magic. I subscribe to a time allowance for each type of social media that adds no more than two hours a day. Now, I have two to four hours more for writing.

2. Use traveling time to plot.


In Texas, crisscrossing a couple hundred miles every other week isn’t unusual. My northeastern friends might ride trains or subways. Some may fly a lot on their day job. However you travel, when you’re not driving, utilize this time.


Bring pen and paper, Notebook or IPAD. Plot your next book. Jot down a chapter by chapter outline. Let your mind run free as the scenery passes your window.


3. Set your alarm five minutes early to brainstorm in bed. 3.


When you first come awake, you’re in never-never-land for a few moments. During that time, think on a plot problem or ask yourself how your character would react to a situation.


During these five minutes, your brain floats into creative mode with ease. You have yet to turn on your editor thoughts. Great progress can be made at this point.


4. First things first.


Most writers claim social networking interrupts their writing more than anything else. My suggestion is write first.


Resist the temptation to see if you have an e-mail answer from someone until you’ve written a set number of words, or until you’ve finished your synopsis, or whatever your goal for the day might be. Do the most important thing on your list first.


Use the social media as a reward. Try interval posting. Write 1K words and congratulate yourself with thirty minutes of surfing the net.


5. Be a list maker.


At night, make a priority list for the following day. Number one for a Christian might be quiet time with God.


Number two, would be WRITE unless life sends you an emergency.


***Note*** a dirty floor isn’t an emergency. A sick child is.


If you work a day job, this formula would still work but could involve waking up earlier, or beginning your list after work.

List promotion goals next.


Then, go to housecleaning, filling out tax forms, paying bills, or whatever your list includes. Prioritize every chore you do.

6. Have a stop time to read.


Stephen King said, If you don't have time to read, you don't have time or tools to write.


Allow for a stop time on your day. Read in the genre you write. Read in genres you never write. Read writing craft books and magazines. Read inspirational books. READ to prepare for your next day.


7. Help me, help me.


Do you have family that could help with housework? Friends that might run an errand for you? Can you simplify meals? Does your hubby know how to mop?


Incorporate your need for exercise by folding laundry with your small children. Break for a long time of sitting at your computer by running the vacuum. Use that creative imagination of yours to solve this riddle.


8. How do I say no?


Plan ahead what you will or will not do. If you’re given no time, tell the asker you need to think about it. Never answer “yes” on the spot.


Plan ahead how you will handle interruptions because they will happen.


Try some or all of these time-management tips. Incorporate suggestions of your own. More than anything, whether you work another job or not, writing must be viewed as a career, not a hobby.

Time Management Woes by Katie Hines

Right now, I am both a writer and an editor, a wife, and a mom who is an empty-nester. Of course, that doesn’t mean family matters don’t come between me and my writing/editing, because they definitely do. In some ways, I feel like my children are young again as I spend time babysitting my two preschool grandchildren--boys, and my are they busy! I also have the regular duties of things that must get done. You know, the obligatory cleaning, cooking, shopping, and laundry, etc. Whew, and you thought staying at home was a cinch.

I’ve read on the internet and in emails different ways to manage your time, from making lists, to mental lists, to setting aside blocks of time, and so forth. Whichever I decide to try first, I’ll just dump some laundry in first. Slacks needed for tonight go in the dryer, and my husband’s permanent press shirts go in the washer.

Now I can concentrate. At first, the whole list thing sounds good, so I try that. Excited about the possibilities, I dutifully create a list and record on it all the activities I want to accomplish. Then I promptly get overwhelmed by the length of it! What to do? I decide I will make two lists: one for the writing/editing, and one for household and wifely stuff. But I still get overwhelmed because now there are not just one, but two lists staring at me.

What to do? I decide that I would put one of the lists in the drawer, so I don’t have its beady little eyes piercing me all day long, and its mouth yammering for me to pay attention to it. Problem is, whichever list I am working on, I am still conscious of that one whose priorities I haven’t even touched upon.

Forget the lists.

How about blocking out times for writing/editing, and another for family/house related activities? Sounds good, doesn’t it? But herein lies the question: Do I concentrate on household things first, or write first? No matter whichever one I choose, the other is going to hover in the back of my mind. Then I get serious. And doggone it, I am going to write first, then work on house and family.

But here comes another problem: Do I read my writing emails first, or actually write or edit first? If I read through my emails first, then I don’t feel like writing at the end of it because I take the time to read the articles and blogs, all of which can consume a lot of time. Scratch the emails. I decide to write first. Open computer, open Word. Open document. Sit and stare. Where is my muse? Turns out, I haven’t had any coffee, so I go make some and drink it thankfully.

Sit back down, open my computer again. Open document. Am sitting and staring again. Geesh, muse, just show up, okay? So, in order to jump-start my muse, I backtrack in my document one chapter, and reread what I’ve written. Fortunately, that is enough to get me going again, and I begin to write.

Then another problem occurs to me. I haven’t set a specific amount of time to write. So, how will I know when I am done? I could just write until I got “written out,” but that’s not always good because sometime you have to persevere to get past a tough spot. Sigh. I decide on a time frame, and begin to write again.

My cell phone rings.

The dilemma: Do I answer the phone and stop writing for a little bit, or do I ignore it and keep writing? I peek at the screen. It’s my eldest daughter. My fingers hover over my keyboard. The phone keeps ringing. What if she has an emergency? What if she just wants me to keep the boys? What if she’s just saying “hello?” I agonize. I have voice mail. I decide to not answer it, but wait for the voice mail signal to come through. Nothing. Guess it wasn’t important after all. I turn off the cell phone. I reread the last paragraph.

I hear a buzzer. It’s the dryer, letting me know its cycle is finished. If I don’t get the clothes out now, they will wrinkle, and I’ll have to do them all over again, or worse, iron them. Okay. I leave my computer, and head to the laundry room. The clothes are dry and I’ve averted a wrinkle catastrophe by hanging them up. Unfortunately, it takes longer to wash the clothes than it does to dry them. It took me about five minutes to hang the clothing up, so in about five more minutes I’ll need to go put the freshly washed clothes in the dryer.

Back to my computer.

Now where was I? I reread the last couple of paragraphs, check a detail earlier in the story, and am in the middle of typing a new paragraph when the washing machine beeps. Doggone, I HAVE to have those clothes dry and ready for our evening out tonight. Harrumphing just a bit, I leave my computer and go put the wash in the dryer.

Back to my computer. Again. I’m staring cross-eyed at my document, wondering what is going to clamor for my attention next. All of the sudden, a Skype picture pops up, superimposing itself over the document I’m working on. It’s my youngest daughter, checking in from college. I haven’t talked to her in two weeks. I chat with her a few minutes and we catch up.

Looking at my document. What can go wrong now? I stare at it. My muse has disappeared, along with my desire to even try to write. So, I work my way through my emails and associated blogs/articles.

I glance at the clock, and realize my favorite daytime show is about to come on. Deciding to further manage my time, I take a TV break. I’ll get back to my story later today, after things have settled down. Maybe. Whatever. Tomorrow is a new day, and I'm sure it will go better than today.

Closing my computer, I head to the living room. Surely, nothing else can disrupt my schedule now. I’m worn out from such a busy day of writing...