MY PRODUCTIVITY HACKS, PART ONE: MULTIPLE WIPS by Max Jason Peterson

Photo by Max Jason Peterson

I’ll just say it: I love having multiple works in progress (WIPs). I’m aware that my method of creating works of art (written or visual) doesn’t appeal to everyone. But for me, working on multiple projects helps me make steady progress, continue to advance my artistic skills, and enjoy the pleasure and challenge of my own creativity, without getting stuck as often as I might otherwise. It also helps smooth out some of the ups and downs in productivity I have experienced when concentrating on only one project.

Although I have lots of projects planned, I typically tend to focus on two to four that I give top priority as far as what I’ll finish first. This isn’t set in stone; I do often work on other things in between, particularly shorter works. I’m also creating both writing and art projects, which are quite different skills, so I try to work both into any given week. With art, I typically focus on illustrating one chapter at a time, so I might be painting one piece or as many as six, but all are usually part of the same theme or storyline.

To start out, don’t worry if you only have one WIP. More ideas will come as you work. Once I started collecting ideas for stories, poems, and artworks, I found myself gathering more and more—probably far too many to complete in one lifetime. This is a good thing, though. It gives me the freedom to choose to work on the things I find most compelling or relevant for me in that moment. This is important, because enthusiasm can help carry a creator through the hard parts—and there are many.

Likewise, since my projects tend to be long (novels or highly detailed paintings), my completion rate is better if I have more ideas to choose from; the ones that excite me most are likelier to sustain my interest for the long haul. This is especially important for projects that carry a greater degree of difficulty—whether that be a heavier emotional burden, a lot of research, or learning new skills. Finally, by picking the projects that inspire me the most, I hope that the ideas that rise to the top will also be those of most interest to readers, and that my energy will translate into a more memorable experience.

Given my time constraints, I can’t wait for “inspiration to strike.” Instead, I line up projects that I know will inspire me enough that I want to work on them. If a particular project isn’t speaking to me that day—especially if the thought of it makes me feel too tired to write or make art—I consider whether it’s time to switch, depending on the reasons. Sometimes it is important to just power through: like when I’ve reached part of the narrative that’s emotionally challenging or requires me to push my abilities to the limit. But it might be time to switch if I need to wait to approach the material when I have more energy or information. Maybe I need time to collect reference shots, do research, or brainstorm for better story solutions.

While these are definitely part of the creative process and not a reason to grind to a halt, switching over for a day or two until you have time or energy to complete them can help you keep your creativity flowing and help you avoid feeling stuck. I’m not saying that one must create every day: but the more times when you want to create, and are able to do so, the more confidence you’ll have that you can create when you want to. And this definitely helps when you’re facing the blank page or a challenging part of your work.

Having the option to switch really does help me cut down on artistic blocks or exhaustion. After writing an emotionally draining chapter for one novel, I might need to focus on something lighter for a while to recharge and reawaken my sense of fun. Plus, taking a break between sections of a novel to write a poem, polish a short story, or make a small watercolor sketch can be refreshing. Completing things successfully boosts my confidence and satisfies my urge to make beautiful things. This translates into greater energy when tackling new skills or longer projects. “A change is as good as a rest” for me, creatively speaking.  

Generally, I do try to work in my projects in blocks whenever possible. Though I always have something going on with both art and writing, my aim with each is to finish a certain goal before moving to another project. (With art, the goal might be illustrating a chapter, which can include multiple pieces, but they’re related.) So I try to keep going on the project I switched to until I reach a goalpost, such as to edit a chapter or write a certain amount of rough draft. I set these goals myself before starting. It’s important to pick achievable goals, because you are training yourself to succeed.

Though I believe in the power of multiple WIPs, it’s important to not simply bounce between projects without finishing your goals. Switching too often—especially if you’re doing it to avoid hard work—can prevent you from sinking in deeply enough to make real progress. Pick a project and commit to it. (If you need to switch a few times at the beginning because whichever project you selected just isn’t working for you right now, that’s fine. Just be sure to settle in with the one you finally pick.) There’s another good reason for this: each time I switch, I need to refresh my memory on all the details about plotlines, characters, facts, and what I’ve already covered. So switching too frequently is inefficient, due to this startup time, especially with longer projects that have more to reload.

However, when the time comes to switch, the change is helpful not just to my mental state, but to the quality of the project. It gives me the chance to approach the work afresh. Rereading notes and previous sections to pick up the story threads often generates new insights and better story solutions. And, as an added benefit, it’s generally helpful to get some distance from a draft before editing it; switching projects gives you the time to come back with fresh eyes.

I find it helpful to create a lineup of which projects I’m concentrating on to finish first, and the order I’m working on them. This way I always know which WIP to work on next, and often this helps me dive in without spinning my wheels so much. And because I’m expecting it, by the time I switch, I’ve often collected additional ideas for the next project that provide momentum as I plunge back in. (Note: When ideas come to me for any project, I do stop to write them down. It’s frustrating to forget them, and this also helps me get started when I return.)

All this being said, sometimes one needs to take a break from creating altogether. This, too, is part of the creative process—letting yourself have downtime to enjoy life, relax, immerse yourself in your favorite media, appreciate nature, or take comfort in loved ones. Be kind to yourself.

And enjoy your creativity!

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For more information about Max Jason Peterson (they/them), visit maxjasonpeterson.wordpress.com or the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram links through gardnercastle.com. Here’s a recent interview as Adele, but the author goes by Max in daily life.

THE FIFTEEN-MINUTE NOVEL by Max Jason Peterson

My McIntosh produced its first tiny apple.

Time is always the issue, isn't it? I'm constantly scrambling for time for all the things I want and need to do. So often I've despaired over ever being able to finish another novel. I'll stress about the amount of time required so much that after the first few sessions on a new project, I may even give up. After all, there’s so much else I need to do right now, or want to accomplish in my life.

With attention fractured and pulled in different directions, it can be hard to focus, even for blocks of time as short as twenty-five minutes as part of the oft-recommended (and justly so: it does work) Pomodoro Technique. 

But what if you don’t have twenty-five minutes to spare? What if you find even that amount of time daunting as you stare at the blank screen or page, when you’re not sure where the plot or characters are going? What if, instead of writing, you just spin your wheels about all the sacrifices needed to make time to finish that novel?

My suggestion: try something even smaller.

It may sound counterproductive. How could one possibly get anywhere by working on a novel for only fifteen minutes, or even ten?

Yet—ten minutes might be exactly what we have, at the end of the day, before falling asleep. Fifteen minutes might be available while waiting in a parking lot, on hold for customer service, or even standing in line.

For years now, I’ve been leading micro writing workshops for Hampton Public Library as Adele Gardner. These are free, one-hour sessions via Zoom. (Adele’s Writers Café; ages 18+, free, online only, registration required, which has been through Hampton Public Library’s Eventbrite, but that might change due to changes in how Eventbrite works. I typically lead several in spring and several more in fall. You can also hear about these via the Gardner Castle listserv, where I post news about my writing and art.)

For these sessions, I devise writing prompts, and then all the participants create very short pieces of fiction or poetry during a set period of time. In between prompts, those who wish may share their creations with the group. Depending on participation, we usually cover three or four prompts per session.

After much experimentation, it seemed to work best for everyone to write in ten-minute blocks. Some people are finished earlier; many are still in the middle of writing; but it’s a comfortable length of time, permitting enough space to quickly come up with an idea and create something that captures it without having too much time to overthink things. These are necessarily rough drafts, made with the intention of coming back later to add more and/or polish the work. But people have written some amazing and beautiful things at these sessions.

The length of time seems perfect for the “micro” works we’re striving for: though we’re not counting words or lines, and often run over, the aim is to make poems/flash pieces of 20 lines/200 words or less. The timer set for ten minutes lets the brain set to work quickly, on a sprint. There’s no time for the lengthier ruminations one might fall into during twenty-five minutes. One must simply get right to work. Find the first idea that catches your fancy and go!

Yes, a good poem can take a long time to finish. I recently spent over thirteen hours writing and rewriting a longer poem (over 100 lines). But often, for me, poems and short stories have seemed like a more achievable goal, because of the time involved. However, I’ve always dreamed of writing book-length fiction. So far, I have one mystery novel written but not published; but that often happens with first novels, so I need to finish the next one, and the next. However, that first one took ten years to complete! I’ve been finding it hard to even start on the next, since I don’t want to devote that amount of time. So I’ve been stymied.

Then I wondered—how long would it really take, if I approached it the way I do in my own workshops?

Since this is a novel we’re talking about, I decided to experiment and see what would happen if I tried fifteen-minute blocks.

When writing by myself, I do get distracted—a lot—so I decided to track how long I’d been working when the first urge to check my DMs or mow the lawn struck. It’s often about seven to ten minutes into a new writing session. Perhaps it takes that long for my anxieties about time to really kick in. But if I’m only aiming to write for fifteen minutes—and I check the timer and find I have eight minutes left, or only five—I can keep going for that amount.

Try it! Set a timer for fifteen minutes. Tell yourself, “It’s only fifteen minutes.” It’s just the length of a break at work, on which you can walk outside with a notebook or your phone (do some voice typing in a note or send yourself a text or email). In fact—if you’re in the middle of a marathon yard-work session, as I was last night—you will probably find a little break in the middle to be really helpful!

I’ve come up with some really interesting new angles on my characters and plot during those fifteen minutes—especially when I had no idea what I was going to write when I sat down.

Fifteen minutes can also keep you from getting trapped in a brainstorming spiral. Or it can keep a scene short, if it turns out to be something you want to experiment with but aren’t sure yet that you want it in the book.

Typically, I can write anywhere from 250-500 words in a fifteen-minute session. Most often lately, it’s at least 350+ words. Your mileage here may vary, and that’s perfectly okay. Remember, it’s only fifteen minutes. (And you’ll probably get more words per session once you start doing it every day.) Note: Your average word count per hour won’t apply here. I write a lot more in four separate fifteen-minute sprints than I do in one solid, unbroken hour. I think our brains gear up for a short sprint and we get the words out there a lot faster.

I did the math. For a fantasy novel, I’d want my first draft to be about 90,000 words before I get in there and start rewriting and editing. Even if I only wrote fifteen minutes each day, and even if I only did an average of 250 words per session, I’d be done with the amount of rough draft I need in less than a year.

When I look at it in terms of fifteen minutes a day…it doesn’t seem like such a huge sacrifice, either. I’m not really taking anything away from my family or other commitments. It’s a between-time. As long as I take my writing device or tools with me, I can make art anywhere I happen to be. For fifteen minutes, or even five.

I do try to get in at least two fifteen-minute sessions per day—one in the morning before work; one at night before bed. That way I’ll have half the year to make my draft, and half the year to revise.

Though I do also write in longer sessions when I can, I actually find I’m coming up with some of my best ideas when I sprint this way! It’s even allowing me to explore writing scenes from the points of view of side characters. Whether or not these scenes make it into the book, it’s a helpful way to explore and learn more about their character and motivations.

Of course—you’ll want to put in more time when you can. There’s research, for instance. And for at least some of the editing sessions, you’re going to want more time to consider things beyond the sentence currently in front of you. But as a start, as a means to create the draft needed to be able to start editing in the first place—this really seems to be working for me.

I hope it helps you as well.

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For more information about Max Jason Peterson (they/them), visit maxjasonpeterson.wordpress.com or the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram links through gardnercastle.com. Here’s a recent interview as Adele, but the author goes by Max in daily life.

CREATIVITY FOR THE LOVE OF IT, PART 2: FANWORKS by Max Jason Peterson

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

This is the second post in my series about art for art’s sake. Part One focuses on poetry. Today I’m going to talk about another form of creativity for the love of it that enriches my life: fanworks.

Fanworks are art forms dreamed up by fans for other fans to enjoy, sharing their love of the original creator’s characters and world. The fans who make them often introduce as many people as they can—friends, family, total strangers—to the original works that provide the foundation of their own. Though some people who create fanworks also have professional lives or ambitions as artists or writers, the majority are only interested in making art for their fandoms. Many are amazingly talented, designing things of great power and beauty. And the love shines through, touching other fans. There’s a great spirit of generosity and community here, which is important: for fanworks are paid only in appreciation and the joy of playing in a beloved universe.

Indeed, “joyful play” is the name of the game: this apt description for fanfiction comes from Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series of fantasy novels and cofounder of Archive of Our Own, a nonprofit and inclusive repository of fanworks that received a Hugo Award in 2019 for Best Related Work. A fanfic author herself, she’s among those interviewed for “The Boy Who Lived Forever,” an insightful article about fanfic by Lev Grossman, author of the Magicians series of fantasy novels—whose characters and world I celebrate in my own fanworks.

CREATIVITY FOR THE LOVE OF IT, PART 1: POETRY by Max Jason Peterson

Edgar Allan Poe

Today I want to begin talking about a particular passion of mine—art for art’s sake. In this series, I’ll delve into two forms of creativity that I deeply love, which provide great joy, meaning, and value for their creators and audience (and in my own life): poetry and fanworks. Though some creatives involved in these art forms may well be professional writers, I’m classifying these particular types of creations as art for art’s sake because they are typically not associated with providing a living wage by themselves. They can indeed lead to other opportunities, help the writer develop necessary skills or experience the pleasure of interacting with an audience, or help to spark creativity in other areas that do lead to income. But fanworks are not compensated monetarily, by their very nature; and poetry most frequently pays relatively small amounts or in copies. Thus, those who invest their time and talents in creating poetry and fanworks—while these can sometimes be part of the career of a professional writer, artist, or teacher—are generally making these works for the love of them. The pleasure of creating these works and sharing them with the audience is in fact the primary reward.  

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY, Part 7 by Max Jason Peterson

Delbert R. Gardner.
Photo by Adele Gardner

This series is dedicated to my loving father and mentor, Delbert R. Gardner, a beautifully lyrical and insightful poet and writer, who taught me how to submit my work when I was fourteen and gave me a postage allowance to do so at a time when we could ill afford it.

So far in this series, I’ve focused on using spreadsheets to track submissions as well as accomplishments. But I started using statistics to motivate me long before I switched to the spreadsheet format. If you find that spreadsheets are daunting, too much work, or just a greater level of detail than you need, this installment will share how I tracked my basic statistics in a word processing document.

While previous installments in this series do focus on spreadsheets, I hope that some of the advice about sticking with it and motivating oneself by the number of works sent out, rather than focusing on individual rejections, will still be helpful. 

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY, Part 6 by Max Jason Peterson

So much of getting traditionally published requires patience and stamina—and hard work. It can get very tiring, especially when making a sale takes so much work shopping a piece around. Part of the reason I wanted to share these strategies in the first place is to give you hope. Rather than get discouraged by the number of submissions that haven’t netted a sale, or doubting the value of your piece (or worse, your writing abilities), you can use your statistics to keep your eye on the big picture. My hope is that, in addition to helping you get past the sting of rejection to get your piece right back out there quickly, you’ll come to see each rejection as a stepping stone to the next acceptance. After all, if it takes me an average of forty submissions to sell a short story, receiving rejection number thirty-nine can be pretty exciting. Beyond that, statistics kept over time can also help you narrow in on categories in which you’re especially successful—so that you can build on that success. Take a look at what types of material (short stories or poems? Mystery or mainstream?) are yielding sales with the fewest number of submissions. That might be an area to concentrate on as you create new works and figure out where to send them. So, in this installment, we’re going to look just a little bit more into yearly statistics.

WHAT WE'RE READING THIS SUMMER! by the Sand In Our Shorts Gang

It’s July, it’s hot, (in the northern hemisphere at least) and it’s time to grab a good book to read at the beach, the lake, the pool, or in the front porch swing! The Sand-in-our-Shorts writers are here sharing their summer reads with you. Their picks might be your next vacation read— check it out!

Michael Rigg:

I’m not much of a beach reader. Sun and sand and sweat don’t create an inviting atmosphere for reading. (And sunscreen makes the pages stick together.)  But sitting at a beach house in Sandbridge pouring over a novel, with the roar of the ocean as background? Well, that’s a horse of a different color. Especially if there’s air conditioning involved. Next on my summer

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY, Part 5 by Max Jason Peterson (aka Adele Gardner)

 Happy Father's Day, Delbo G.!

Delbert R. Gardner and Adele Gardner

Growing up, I had the time of my life sharing the writing path with my father, Delbert R. Gardner, a talented writer of poetry, fiction, humor, and essays, who during my lifetime worked variously as a professor of English literature who taught creative writing, and as a writer/editor for TRADOC who felt a special mission to improve training materials for the Army thanks to his experiences in World War II. I’m writing this on the eve of Father’s Day, so I just wanted to share how much it always went to me that Dad was my writing mentor, always encouraging me, providing feedback when I wanted it that was always on a level I could benefit from while growing up, just sharing the joy of the writing life together, and also showing me all the ropes with submissions. I started submitting my stories at fourteen and had my first poems published at sixteen thanks to Dad’s guidance. We were also writing pals—sharing writing sessions; offering one another encouragement; sending out manuscripts through the post every month; celebrating one another’s acceptances and tips about editors who might like each other’s work. (And now I’m his literary executor; and it’s in that capacity that I first began using statistics to track our submissions.) Since he helped me so much, and since I got such a lucky break having such a father (in terms of being a writer, naturally; but also, he was just simply an extraordinary Dad, so loving and wise, playing with us, sharing jokes, helping us with our homework and with life—our best friend) I feel strongly about passing on some of the things I learned thanks to Dad—things he taught me, and things I went on to find out as a direct result of his influence.

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY PART 4, by Max Jason Peterson

Please note that for this post, I kept the pictures at their "original" size to be sure you can see them, since they're nitpicky Excel details.

For those who are fans of this series, I'm getting into the nitty gritty details now. If you follow along, you'll soon be creating your own spreadsheets and getting fired up by your submission statistics. For instance, today I'm celebrating having made 100 submissions of [redacted novel title]. 

For those who want to catch up or review where we are:

Part1

Part2

Part3

Please think about what level of detail would work for you. You can be minimalist or go all out.

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY, PART 3 by Max Jason Peterson

In previous posts, I explained the “why” behind my statistical method. Now I’ll provide the “how.” The following is the nitty-gritty of what my submission spreadsheet looks like (I use Microsoft Excel). But for those who don’t like spreadsheets, take heart! I will also explain how to do this using a word processing document, and even using notecards. (Both are tools I’ve enjoyed.) Further, even if you don’t intend to use a spreadsheet, I’d recommend skimming the setup details but still reading the paragraphs in between, where I explain how various measurements help me in my submissions quest. Bear in mind, as long as you understand the reason for collecting the statistics, you can find a way to do it using almost any tool, provided you get in the habit of consistently noting when things went out and came back, and when things were accepted and written.

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY, PART 2 by Adele Gardner (writing mysteries as Max Jason Peterson)

Rocco writes a story.

In Part 1, I outlined the reasons why we need to keep trying rather than getting discouraged by rejections. In essence, each rejection brings you one step closer to the goal of getting published. Your mission is to find that one editor who loves your piece. Feel free to tinker with your work as you go along, but don’t feel obliged to rewrite or scrap it based on the comments of someone who is not offering to buy it (if the editor is seriously interested & wants some rewrites in order to accept it, that’s another story).

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY, PART 1 by Adele Gardner (writing mysteries as Max Jason Peterson)

No matter how you steel yourself, rejection after rejection takes a toll. It’s easy to lose confidence and feel your work isn’t good enough—when what’s really needed is to keep trying until you reach that one editor (or agent) who loves your work. Rather than feeling rejected, take heart by using statistics to bolster your stamina. As the author of over 475 published short stories, poems, art, & articles, and as literary executor for my father, I’ll share the system that inspires me to keep submitting, even to the tough markets—and helps me think about new strategies to build on strengths that might otherwise go unnoticed.

WHEN STRESSED, I THINK OF WATER by Adele Gardner (aka Max Jason Peterson)

Recently, I immersed myself in an editing project that required me to put nearly all personal pleasures and goals aside for about seven months. While the project is entirely worth it, both for the poems themselves and the chance to collaborate with my dear friend, at a certain point exhaustion overwhelmed me. My powers of concentration and patience waned, and panic prowled about all that I could not fulfill. Amid the stress, one simple thought kept me sane: the beach. When I get through this, I'll go to the beach.

"Virginia Beach" by Ravali Yan ravali, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons