Living a Balanced Christian Life (and other funny jokes) ... a devotion from Dianne J. Wilson

If you're anything like me, you spend most of your time juggling many things, wondering if you should have them all on your plate and trying to figure out how to 'balance' it all. Sound familiar?

Sometimes I feel like I'm limping along on a flat. Who am I kidding - most times.

I've attempted to fix my life pizza-style. You know, rearrange things into equal time sections so that everything at least gets a touch. That's not realistic though, so I whipped it all about into some sort of redeemed Mazlo's Hierachy... God first, family second, then church... oh wait. Is it meant to be church then family? I just can't get it straight. But where do you fit a book deadline into that? Or car repairs? How about elastics that need to be stitched onto a ballet shoe? Does that legitimately belong in family?

I've winged it too... on-the-fly-allocate more time to those things that are apparently more valuable than others. But you know what? All it takes it one cat with a fur-ball who decides it's time to let it all out over the lounge carpet to blow my priorities out the water. Or a kidlet who forgot about a speech that has to be done for tomorrow. Or a dropped bottle of ketchup-slash-tomato sauce... Fill in the blanks.

I've come to realize what I was missing from the whole equation. To run smoothly every wheel needs an axle, a central point that is constant. For us, that's Jesus. Once He is securely central, the origin for each thing that captures our time and energy... then our lives run balanced.

Here's the funny thing - there will be seasons of complete and utter 'unbalanced-ness' for each of us. A deadline, a new baby... whatever hits your life with enough force to shake you wonky. But when Jesus is smack in the middle, somehow the wheel can still run smoothly.

How can it though, when the spokes - AKA all the demands on us - are sometimes so unequal? Ask any cyclist how bumpy a ride with spokes like that would be.

Here is the secret... Jesus is a magnificent spoke equalizer. He doesn't just stand on the sidelines, barking orders and smacking his forehead when we get it wrong. He is right in the middle of our mess, His grace, the elastic that reaches the bits we can't get to. He stretches and holds on our behalf when our internal elastic is so frayed that our mental and emotional pants are falling down.

Right now for me, life is a stretch. I single-parent during the week, miss my hubby between weekends, try my best to mommy my girls, work, do home & pets and chase my deadlines. Some days I feel like something has to give or I'll conk out. But you know what? I just need to stay cuddled up to Jesus. He has all these things that pull at me, these spokes... He has them all. Where I fall short (so so short) He doesn't. And He's got you too.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She is writing the third book in YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed. Book 1, Affinity is releasing on the 8th of June 2018.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Writer Burnout

I'm writing this post on my phone as I've been staring at the screen above for just over half an hour now. Seriously, Windows 10? Your timing is the pits.

But it did get me thinking about us writers and what it takes to avoid burnout. I'm currently about a quarter way into a three book series on deadline. I feel like I've been on deadline forever. Over the last week, I realized I'm tired. (Genius, I know!)

But here's the thing. There are different ways to handle this. My default is to fall off the rails. By this I mean - all I want to do is NOTHING. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Don't talk to me about dishes or deadlines or hungry kids or or or. Now unplugging to this extent does have value, but it is also a bit like unplugging your flat cellphone from the electricity so that it can rest.

I'm slowly learning to recognise the start of my edges fraying. What can I say, I'm a slow learner *facepalm*. I'm also shifting the way I do downtime.

Cut back on the busy-busy? Yes. Unplug from my power source? Nope. I'm not talking about working hard to 'push into' His presence. Burnout is not the best time for fasting and flagellation.

I'm suggesting curling up on His lap. Taking time to hear Him whispering love into your stretched soul. Allowing your mind to wander through His field of dreams. Let them take your hand and spin you through some new dance moves. Breathe. Be. Fly.

Working on updates. Do not turn off your PC.

This is a good time to allow the Lover of your Soul to download new updates. Do not turn off your PC!

I don't have burnout nailed, but I have learnt not to unplug.

How do you deal with burnout?

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She has just signed a three book contract for a YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Deadlines looming? No sleep ahead for you? Read this.

 

If you are a writer with a day job, a family, a life (or any combination of the three) you will find that deadlines have a way of ganging up on you. For those times when you’re faced with multiple due dates in the same week and feel no sleep is the only answer, here are some tips to get through with your sanity and relationships intact.

Before: Prepare

1. Recruit your support team.

Or at the very least, warn those at home! The people you live with are the ones who will be seeing less of you, picking up the slack on the jobs you normally do and putting up with your sleep-deprived mood-swings. If you can, give them a start and finish date so that they know for how long life will be weird. Plan a special catch up treat for all of you on the other side. Help them understand why meeting these deadlines will not only be good for you, but for them too.

2. Postpone and plan.

Put off anything that is not essential until after you’ve met the crunch. Make a list of all the things you won’t be getting to and keep it in a safe place. This is an important step! Use this time to get to know your natural rhythms. What time of day are you most productive? When does your energy lag? Pay close attention, and learn the patterns so that you can make the most of them while clobbering your deadlines.

3. Organize your environment.

Now is a good time to throw out unnecessary clutter, tidy your desk drawers, and pack away anything that you won’t need. A cluttered work area can be overwhelming when you are tired, but keeping your space tidy during your deadline crunch will help your mind to feel ordered and function more efficiently.

It is a proven fact that our brains don’t operate at 100% when we haven’t had sufficient sleep, but there are ways to work around this. Build in backup plans. An easy example is to have a specific place to always hang your car keys. This will save you hours of frustrated searching when your fuzzy brain can’t quite remember. If you are normally a messy person, train yourself to live tidily. It may seem like a small thing, but the point is to make your life as simple as possible while you focus on your deadlines. Living tidily means being able to find your stuff without spending precious working time hunting through piles of clutter.

During: Persevere

A single all-nighter is a sprint, but an extended period of sleep-deprivation is a marathon and needs to be handled differently. Pace yourself, listen to your body, and split up your work into smaller, manageable sections. You will achieve more in short, focused sessions, with breaks in between, than longer sessions that cause you to fall asleep sitting up, drooling on your keyboard. Pay attention to the following.

1. Refuel your body.

Just as your car won’t run on water, your body needs proper fuel. Avoid junk food: chips, sweets, and energy drinks. Instead, opt for healthy options: seeds & nuts, fresh fruit and vegetables, and healthy, light, regular meals. Choose water over fizzy drinks.

2. No sleep? Take naps instead.

If you can’t afford a full night’s sleep, never underestimate the power of the humble nap. Your productivity will suffer if you keep working for too long without any sleep at all. If you struggle to wake up afterwards, take a quick shower, walk outside in the fresh air, and splash your face with some water; you’ll soon get to know what works best for you.

3. Get up and move.

Stretch to de-tangle your muscles and ease stiffness from sitting in the same position for hours. Get your heart rate up by running in place, skipping or doing jumping jacks. This gets the blood flowing to deliver fresh oxygen to your whole body and mind. If it makes you feel daft, don’t worry—we all feel silly leaping around by ourselves at three in the morning. Ignore your ego; your body will love you for it, and it will bring you closer to conquering your deadlines.

4. Include motivators.

What makes your brain buzz? Play music that gets your feet tapping, or let your favorite tv show run in the background. If that is too distracting, line up the (healthy!) rewards at the end of each section. Find those things that switch you on and shamelessly bribe yourself.

5. Avoid driving.

Any pill that makes you drowsy comes with a warning for you not to drive or operate dangerous machinery while you are under the influence of that medication. Deadline crunching on no sleep can be just as lethal. Organize a carpool, or take the bus or a train. You might even be able to sneak in some z's while travelling—bliss!

After: Recover

1. Take time off.

Schedule time off to find yourself again. Get some decent sleep, and reward yourself for your hard work. Give your brain time to recuperate. Don’t be shocked if you find yourself feeling completely demotivated, directionless or even slightly depressed. Be gentle on yourself as you recover; give yourself plenty space to regroup and recharge. Beating yourself up will only delay your recovery. It won’t take long to find your groove again.

2. Prioritize time with loved ones.

Make reconnecting with your support crew your chief priority. Spend time catching up on all the tiny details that you may have missed. Give them your focused attention. Turn off your cell phone, and leave the laptop shut. Go for long walks, cook meals together, do all the things that you said no to while meeting your deadlines.

3. Take out your “postponed” list.

With a brain that is still in recovery, you will be grateful that you made a list of all the things that you postponed. By now, some of them will need your attention. As you feel up to it, find your list and work your way through it one item at a time. Having a list in hand will help you get out of the post-deadline-slump in small, easy steps.

Does your family still love you? Did you meet your deadlines? Congratulations! You successfully faked it 'til you made it while running on no sleep!

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She has just signed a three book contract for a YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

How to stay sane and meet your deadline - 3 ax sharpening tips for writers

I'm writing this post instead of working on my current WIP, book 2 of the Spirit Walker series for Pelican / Watershed. I'm currently 700 words short of 70K, aiming at about 80K when complete. My deadline is the end of February. 

This is totally do-able, unless (like me) you write at the speed of tortoise.

In that case, you have a legitimate excuse to freak out. (Pats you on the head and hands you a cookie.)

But, fear not! I have discovered some handy tips that will help us.

You remember the old story of two lumberjacks who were having a little manly-I-have-more-hair-on-my-chest-than-you tree felling competition? The smart one stops to sharpen his ax, the less smart one is delighted because he just keeps going and is obviously going to win. Until smarty gets back into action with a sharpened blade and annihilates his buddy's tree score completely. That didn't end too well for less-smarty.

This is how I've sharpened my writing ax over the past few weeks.

Get Organised (Unless you started out organised, in which case skip ahead to number 2.)

I've been using The Box (as pictured above) for a while now, but it got a little shabby and disarrayed and I ended up with little clumps of notecards in my handbag or in a pile next to my bed, or doubling up as bookmarks. Not really the best way of tracking a story. So I took an hour last week and made some new dividers. I also decided to keep all three of the books that I'm brooding on in there. This is useful as I can jot down thoughts and ideas even for those that are on the back-burner.

As you can see, I've kept it uber-simple. Each book gets four sections:

• Plot - one card with notes for each scene or major plot point.  
• People - characters in the story
• People Groups - racial, organisational, teams, families etc.
• Theme / message / verses / symbolism - story backbone, theme, any symbolic things that are included

Just having my notes sorted has done wonders for the spaghetti state of my brain.

Boring Manual Labour (Gardening, dishes, hanging laundry, vacuuming floors)

If you are stuck in your story, the best plot-laxative is to put aside your writing for a short while and do something practical that doesn't really need your brain to get involved. While you are up to your elbows in soap suds, your mind will be running free and spitting out ideas faster than you can say New York Times Bestseller. 

Read, Pray, Worship

Jesus has the best ideas. I write because He created me to be a writer and told me to get on with it. So when I'm stuck, where do you think is the best place to go? God has given us access to His glorious Holy Spirit oil to get our writing cogs unstuck. Sometimes I find the light-switch in the Bible, or when I'm talking to Him. Some of my most profound moments of inspiration have come during moments of loving Him and being loved in return. Those have happened on Sunday's in church, or in my car while driving, quietly at home in my room or even smack in the middle of a month-end grocery shop surrounded by people on their own missions.


Take time to sharpen your ax and watch the deadlines fall all around you. How do you manage deadlines and low inspiration?

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She is neck-deep in a three book contract for a YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Deadlines... any survival tips?

Narelle here. I'm filling in for Jeanette, who is hard at work on her next contracted novel and has a deadline looming.

We all have deadlines in our lives. I remember, during my university days, all my essays would fall due at the same time. The week or so before the deadlines was crazy as I grabbed every spare minute I could find to work on my essays. I have deadlines at work, with certain tasks that need to be completed by the end of the day. I also know two or three hours before my work day ends whether or not I'm ahead or behind on my schedule. I'm also a great believer in the old saying 'Make hay while the sun shines' because you never know what disaster may strike that throws out your carefully planned schedule.

I'm yet to receive my first publishing contract and enter the world of published author deadlines. I have author friends who talk about how a deadline on a contracted book can be all consuming, and their lives revolve around getting the book finished and submitted to their editor. They often juggle multiple book contracts and have revisions to complete whilst they're working on their current book. Deadline pressure isn't necessarily a last minute phenomenon and they can feel the pressure to write a certain number of words per day or week for many months before their book deadline.

Every three months I undertake a 'Book in a Week' (BIAW) challenge with one of my writing groups. I set a target word count goal for the week and focus all my time and energy on achieving my writing goal. BIAW can give unpublished authors an insight into what life is like for published authors working on a deadline. I've learned to be self-disciplined, organized and I set aside time to achieve my daily word count and self-imposed deadline.

I've heard writers pre-cook meals, ignore housework and clear their schedules to meet their writing deadlines. I set the alarm on my phone so I don't miss important appointments or lose track of the time and forget to collect my kids from school. I write a weekly 'To Do' list so I can manage and keep on top of all the writing and other commitments in my life.

Do you have any survival tips on how to manage the various deadlines in your life? I'd love to hear your thoughts.