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This blogpost was originally published as a guest post about the third volume of the 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner for Ally from Fabulous and Brunette.

My all-time office favourites

As a writer, editor, and writing coach, I tend to be working on different projects in the space of one day. It means I need quite a few items within reach at all times. Of these things, these are my absolute office favourites, those items I wouldn’t know how to live without.

Disclaimer: I wrote this post last year, and I’ve since then moved on to the Moleskine Pro Weekly Diary. Not because I no longer loved the Paperblanks business planner, but because the shop I usually get my planners from didn’t have the latter in stock anymore. I do love the Moleskine one though, so I’m not unhappy about this change.

Paperblanks business planner

Surprise! One of my office favourites is a planner… Who would have thought? I discovered the Paperblanks business planner last year, and I’ve been in love since. It works perfectly with my…

…52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner

Which is another office favourite. I use 52 Weeks of Writing to track and plan my writing goals for the week, and I use my Paperblanks planner to keep track of deadlines, appointments, and non-writing related projects, such as the editing or translating work I’m doing for clients.

‘Quote’ book

This little notebook contains all my clients, the work I did or am doing for them, the estimates I’ve quoted, the deadlines we’ve agreed to, how often we will be meeting per week or per month, and so on.

Desk calendar

This calendar was made by CopsCats, the Trap-Neuter-Return charity I volunteer for here in Cyprus. It contains pictures of our colony cats, the cats we feed and look after medically once they’re neutered and released.

The cat on the picture is Alexis, who was dumped at one of our feeding stations when she was barely weaned. A colleague and I tried to socialise her, to see if we could turn her into a housecat because she was so young, but she was still feral after two months and we had to release her again. This picture was taken eight months after.

Hand cream

I have rather dry skin and I can’t stand typing with dry hands. I’m still looking for the perfect vegan hand cream, one that absorbs instantly, so if anyone knows just the brand…

Deskbike

When I moved to Cyprus, the thing I missed most about my old office was my Deskbike. It took me ages to get one shipped to Cyprus, but it finally arrived last August!

It’s made in the Netherlands—we love our bicycles—and it’s basically a home trainer without the front, which allows you to cycle while sitting behind your desk.

Ergonomic mouse and keyboard

Aside the standing desk and the Deskbike, which I got for my health, I also use an ergonomic mouse in combination with a mini keyboard. Before I started working with this combination, I suffered badly and often from RSI, but those days are gone!

Laptop stand

A laptop stand is one of the essential items if you want to create a more ergonomic office set-up, but I love mine in particular because it also allows me to work from the couch without entirely ruining my posture and inviting neck and shoulder pain. It cost me about €30, and it’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made.

My pen, sticky note, and marker collection

Which writer doesn’t have a ton of different pens and pencils, sticky notes, and markers to make them feel much more organised than they actually are?

I do. Anything to feel in control and on top of things.

My citrine stone

According to crystal lore, it’s financially beneficial to keep a piece of citrine in the left corner of the room where you do business. Citrine is one of my favourite gemstones so I have citrine all over the house, and I often wear it around my neck or wrist as well. The biggest piece I have is just under seven kilograms, and that’s the one I keep in the left corner of my office.

Before I moved to Cyprus, it was the pride and joy of my then office. So when I left the Netherlands, I wrapped it up in scarfs and sweaters, stuffed it in my suitcase, and took it with me. Everyone thought I had lost my mind, but I’m so happy I did.

Tea

If I don’t have tea and water within reach, I dehydrate. I easily get absorbed in my work, so I have to make sure I have enough fluids nearby. It’s why I favour giant mugs. This is the biggest one I own and it holds 550 ml.

And no, I don’t mind drinking my tea cold. There’s always the microwave…

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This blogpost was originally published as a guest post about the third volume of the 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner for Sandra’s Book Club.

Three challenges writers face and how to overcome them

As writers, there are so many different challenges we face. Now we’ve left 2021 behind us, I want to share the three main challenges that came up for the writers I coached that year.

I struggle to stay accountable to myself

For some writers, it’s rather easy to keep themselves motivated. For others, it’s harder. I don’t have an answer as to why some writers need more external motivation than others, but I do know it’s become harder generally to stay motivated since the You-Know-What started.

If it has been a struggle to keep yourself motivated and moving forward with your writing, I highly suggest you find yourself an accountability partner. This could be a fellow writer, but it doesn’t have to be. An accountability partner doesn’t have to have similar goals. Perhaps one of your friends or colleagues has set some intentions for the new year and you could keep each other accountable?

Whoever you pick, make sure you are on the same page. You both need to understand the kind of motivation the other person needs, and you need to be comfortable giving that kind of motivation. I once had a client who asked me to be meaner to her when she didn’t achieve her writing goals, but that doesn’t align with who I am and the kind of coaching I do.

You also need to set some rules about who is reaching out first and how often. Make sure you’re not creating any loopholes for yourself to get out from doing what you said you’d be doing! If you want write every Tuesday morning, but you’ve been struggling to get started, it might not be helpful if your accountability partner waits until the Thursday to ask whether you got your writing done. Neither is it helpful if they text or call you while you should be writing. So think through this and figure out together what makes the most sense for you both.

I struggle to stay true to myself in my writing

I’m quite sure that this is something writers have always struggled with, simply because we don’t exist in a vacuum, isolated from people with opinions about what we’re writing. There’s also always been a writing market, with its supply and demand and publishers and agents trying to make money of our work, telling us what stories are and aren’t selling right now.

Of course, not all writers face this challenge, because there are those who are perfectly happy writing certain pieces simply because they sell well, even if it’s not exactly the genre they would have picked themselves. But there are a lot of writers who do feel like they’re stuck between what they want to be writing and what they think they should be writing instead, if they’re to make any kind of money with their work.

If you feel similarly caught between these two options and wish to return to yourself, it could be useful to grab a journal and write down why it is you’re writing. Why do you write? What does it bring you? What do you want it to bring you?

Once you’ve figured out the answers to those questions, think of what you want to be writing and ask yourself why this is. Why these particular works? Why this genre? What do you love so much about it? What does it allow you to say?

Now look at what you think you should be writing and be honest with yourself: Could writing this kind of work give you the same as what you want to be writing? Does it feed your soul in the same way? If the answer is no, you know what to do. In the future, you can use these answers as guideposts to help you decide what to do when you next feel forced to write a particular kind of work.

I struggle to set boundaries around my writing

This, too, is one of those struggles that seemed to have been here forever and isn’t likely to go away any time soon, if at all. The You-Know-What made it even harder to set boundaries, especially for those with families. I mainly coach women writers and we’ve talked a lot about how most of the extra work the pandemic created ended up in their lap. Some ended up full-time mothering again, while others lost their dedicated writing space to their spouse, who suddenly needed a home office.

The thing about boundaries is that you can only set them properly if you:

  • believe in what you’re doing, and
  • feel worthy of what you’re asking for.

If you, on some level, don’t believe you can write or have nothing interesting to say, it’s going to be hard to set boundaries around your writing time. But even if you believe in your writing, you still have to feel worthy of taking time away from whatever else goes on in your life.

For example, if you, on some level, feel that locking yourself up in a room with a sign on the door that you’re not to be disturbed unless the house is on fire makes you a bad mother, it’s going to be really hard to set and stick to that boundary. Likewise, if you feel that setting time apart to write makes you a bad partner because you could be spending that time with and on them, it’ll be hard to keep it up, if you manage to do it at all.

So before you start asking yourself what kind of boundaries you need in your life, you need to have another honest conversation first. Do you believe in what you’re doing? If not, how come? And what do you need to do to start believing in yourself? What do you need to let go of? Do you feel worthy of setting boundaries around your writing? If not, what is that based on? What do you need to do to start feeling worthy? And what do you need to let go of to make that happen?

If you’re facing any of these challenges, I wish you all the luck in overcoming them. I hope today’s post will help you get there.

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This blogpost was originally published as a guest post about the third volume of the 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner for Deborah-Zenha Adams.

5 ways to stay motivated in the new year

The past two years have challenged us all and it can be hard to stay motivated when it feels like the world is coming undone. Below, I share five of the ways I’ve kept my coaching clients motivated during the pandemic.

Know why you write

Knowing the why behind your writing will keep you motivated when the going gets tough. It will also help you decide whether or not certain opportunities are aligned with you.

If you find yourself struggling to finish a writing project, think about the why behind your writing – it helps to write it down somewhere – and how the project you’re struggling with relates to that why. Being reminded of how exactly a project fits your dreams and desires is a great motivator.

Set realistic goals

If you can dream it, you can be it, but it’s difficult to reach your dreams without breaking down your goals.

The smaller the pieces you break your big goals up into, the more attainable they are. The more attainable – and realistic – your goals, the more often you get that dopamine hit that will help you tackle the next goal and move closer towards your dream.

Take breaks to fill your creative well

It’s OK to take breaks from your writing projects, even if you don’t have much time for writing to begin with.

Just make sure you’re intentional about any breaks you’re taking. One of the prompts in Volume II of 52 Weeks of Writing suggests asking the following questions before you step away from your writing:

  1. Why do I need this break?
  2. What are my intentions for this break?
  3. When, where, and how am I going to pick up where I left once I’m back?

Celebrate your achievements

Whether big or small, celebrate all your achievements. Better yet, write down how you’re going to celebrate for each of the goals you’ve set for the year ahead.

Knowing what lies ahead of you, what is to come if you just keep going, is another great way to keep yourself moving forwards. Regular celebrating also stops us from getting stuck in negative, demotivating thought patterns that might ask us what we’re doing it all for and convince us we’re not doing nearly enough.

Find an accountability partner

Find yourself a kindred spirit in the online or offline writing community you can share your goals and dreams with. Someone who gets what you’re dreaming of and understands how you might get in your own way.

It they’re on a similar enough path as you, even better. You can keep each other motivated and accountable as you share your struggles and wins with each other.