A Multi-tasking Writer’s Best Friend!

By Morgan Tarpley Smith

I think you will agree with me that - while I’m very grateful for the 24 hours that God gives me each day - there are just too many things that are left undone. There are always more things to do around the house, for work, with friends and family and with my writing to have much leisurely time to do much anything else.

So I’ve been faced with quite the conundrum for some time now. As an amateur novelist, how do I follow the advice of countless other authors to read, read and read some more… If my days were already crammed full with other responsibilities, how in the world will I read? 

Then, I made a discovery that I feel like I should have realized years ago. And since that breakthrough a few years ago I’ve been able to read dozens and dozens of books with my prior average being about one to two a month. I’d feel so bad for my ever-growing TBR pile, and the answer to this dilemma is now on my phone in an app and what I call a multi-tasking writer’s best friend—audiobooks!

I didn’t know about Audible until I saw an ad for it on Amazon.com and checked it out. I signed up for a free one month trial membership, got hooked and now I’m a proud and very happy member! It’s quite the bargain in my opinion at $14.95 US per month (which includes an audiobook credit a month), and the rest are heavily discounted. There are also several other plan options as well.

Plus the added bonus is that since it’s an Amazon company if I order a paperback or Kindle edition of certain qualifying books then I can get that book as an audiobook for under $5. There is also an email update you can sign up for through the site that sends you a notice to what the Audible Daily Deal is for that day.

For optimum use of Audible, I downloaded the Audible app to my iPhone as well as downloaded the audiobooks straight to my iTunes account. It really couldn’t be easier. And once I’ve downloaded my audiobooks to the app I use my iPhone to listen to the books. I plug up my headphones, slide the device into my pocket and get cleaning or organizing. It turns tedious tasks into dually productive ones, and I can’t imagine how I’d get by with reading more books per month without using this service.

Of course, there are many other options for listening to audiobooks besides Audible.com and CDs, so here are a few to investigate:

http://websearch.about.com/od/booksandprintedmaterials/tp/Free-Audio-Books-The-Best-Ten-Websites.htm

https://www.scribd.com/audiobooks-join?source=google&medium=cpc&campaign=Audiobooks+-+US&adgroup=General&keyword=Audio%20books

http://www.audiobooks.com/learn_more

http://www.loyalbooks.com/

http://www.audiobooks.org/

https://www.youtube.com/user/audiobooksfree

Do you enjoy listening to audiobooks? If so, do you use another audiobook source like Audible? Do you use audiobooks to multi-task?

Morgan Tarpley Smith

Morgan Tarpley Smith is an award-winning newspaper reporter and photographer in Louisiana. She is also an inspirational adult and middle grade novelist. 

Besides writing and traveling to over a dozen countries, her interests include acting, genealogy, photography, and essential oils (Facebook:Pura Vida Louisiana). She resides in Louisiana with her husband and is expecting their first child in 2018.  For more information about Morgan, connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Goodreads.

The Opposite of Multitasking

I used to think I had a touch of monomania. That is, an obsession with one idea or subject, or an intent concentration on or exaggerated enthusiasm for a single subject or idea. Enough to where I’d become distraught if my productivity was disrupted, causing my environment to feel imbalanced, making it difficult to function normally. In other words, I got uptight.

 

I’ve come to realize over time that I’m a person who is just passionate—not about everything, but I have specifics that ignite my ticker—and I can really focus on them. The fast-paced society in which I live has taught me to multitask, to juggle gazillions of things at once. Yet this society is not something that makes demands on me as much as I make demands on myself to keep up with everybody else.

When I thought about this the other day, something popped into my mind, a Bible verse, Luke 18:17. “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” This makes perfect sense to me in an allegorized sort of way. Let me explain.

Most children live in ignorance of evil. At least, we hope. They have a single focus on the one they depend on. Life is simple. Their emotions are open and basic. Children don’t really multitask. My young son will often focus on one thing at a time with such concentration that I’d be fortunate to get him to look at me if I called his name.

If children don’t multitask, why do adults? We often say we multitask. Some say we’re experts. However, in the process—and I’m convinced I’m not the only one who has experienced this—we lose a bit of control, operate with a touch of that “scatterbrain syndrome.” For instance, if we take a call while continuing to read something on our computer screen then didn’t catch what the person on the other end of the receiver just said, we have them repeat it and we also have to reread what we’ve just perused. How about we send an email while forgetting to attach the all-important file to it, a document that was the purpose for the email in the first place? Let’s say we’re preparing dinner and stir the pot perfectly on the stove yet forget about the biscuits burning in the oven. Maybe multitasking isn’t in our genes, after all.

I can juggle stuff. I can juggle a lot of stuff. I’ve been conditioned. But I’ve never thought it’s the intended way of life. As in worship in church, I’d prefer to, well, worship, rather than dwell on ten thousand things that can invade my mind at that hour. I desire to recede to a single focus. Focused-tasking. Focused-tasking empowers concentration, reduces stress, and grants the fruit of instant results by seeing one thing accomplished at a time rather than a pile of unfinished business that grows without ceasing.

The opposite of many things I tend to be. One of them is multitasking—although I have tried my share. I currently strive to create an arrangement where I can focus on one thing at a time, yet get it all done, efficiently, instead of bouncing back and forth, up and down, like a ping-pong ball. Who wants smacked upside the head with a paddle? Whack!—this item is due. Whack!—have to finish that first. Whack!—back to the item. Whack!—back again to that. Whack!—back to item. Whack!—back to that. Whack!—item. Whack!—that.

How exhausting. No wonder I hear so many complain of fatigue and illness. “...like a little child…” Such a straightforward phrase with a sole focus, yet I’ve heard people say the simplistic concept is too difficult to comprehend.

Probably because we’re too busy multitasking.

Tessa Stockton is in the midst of make-believe multitasking, while she celebrates the release of her latest novel, suspense/thriller, The Unspeakable.

 

 

 

Spontaneous Human Combustion

Sometimes I have too many pots on the stove. Writing in multiple genres, editing, involvement in political actions, performing arts/fitness programs, volunteer work, domestic engineering (ha! ha!), raising an energetic, testosterone-laden boy and managing to coddle a husband who wants and needs my attention, leave me often feeling like I’m about to ignite. And that wouldn’t be pretty. Wait!—let me think about that—no, that would not be pretty. Besides, who wants to scrape little-miss-dancer-chick off the floor—before or after combustion?

Desiring to grow a set of octopus arms in order to have a hand in everything I believe I’ve missed my true calling: professional juggler. How did I get myself in this predicament? And to think, I’ve pondered going back to school to top it off.

Truthfully, the more items to tackle the happier I am. I suppose I relish busyness and even thrive in chaos. The stay-up-all-night-to-get-stuff-done doesn’t even bother me much (ehem…as much as it does those around me). It’s not altogether my fault. Ask members of my kin and they’d tell you the same thing about their own lives. Furthermore, it’s what society often demands from us these days.

Survival is for the fittest, they say. What they didn’t mention is that training is a lifelong commitment. So, it’s good to take a moment or two to remember how to breathe. Inhale, exhale, inhale…oh, right—exhale. And if it ever gets to be too much, you’ll probably find a tidy pile of ash right next to the 24-hour coffeepot. If that happens, just remember I wore a smile on my face.

A former contemporary dancer and missionary, Tessa Stockton, who also found involvement in politics and human rights groups, wrote The Unforgivable (RisenFiction April/2011)—a love story entangled in the aftermath of Argentina’s Dirty War.  www.TessaStockton.com