 by Francine Puckly
After several stumbles, a close-call coming through the ceiling, and one broken finger, I decided it was high time we installed a floor in our attic instead of walking around on beams and occasional planks we strategically placed to hold our storage boxes. Having the floor installed meant I had to clear a space for the workers to lay at least half of the floor before shifting everything to the other side to install the rest. And clearing the space meant I had to come to terms with stacks of empty cardboard boxes we were saving for storage and gift giving, boxes and bags of baby clothes and blankets from my 14- and 11-year-old children I couldn’t part with years ago, and hoards of holiday decorations teetering on disaster. Anyone who has tackled 900 square feet of clutter knows the heart palpitations it can inflict. And I put this off until the last bitter moment when I received the call from the contractor saying he would be there first thing the next morning. To fully understand the level of my anxiety when surrounded by so many boxes, let’s be clear that my grandmother, God rest her soul, was a full-fledged, Guinness-World-Records-setting pack rat. The one memory I have of her two-bedroom townhouse (the rest of them I’ve clearly blocked) is my walking through a box-filled kitchen into a box-filled family room with an 18-inch path to navigate to the stairs (lined with boxes) to use the bathroom (also filled with boxes). In fact, the day my mother and father arrived to move my grandmother, she had done no packing or sorting. My mother sat down on the front step and bawled, overwhelmed with the task in front of her that had to be completed eight short hours. Years later as I assessed the attic mess in front of me, I finally understood my mother’s anxiety and was sobered by the fact that I had done this to myself. While I had not hoarded quite as much as my grandmother, I still had a seemingly insurmountable task in front of me. No coward soul am I, Emily Brontë whispered in my ear. So up to the overheated attic I went. I started by chucking 47 empty boxes from the corner—which we desperately missed this past holiday season…who knew?—and the cats and kids ran for their lives as they dodged falling objects from the attic opening. This was followed by pulling down twelve boxes of baby clothes, several old window blinds and curtain rods stored years ago “just in case”, a giant box of my baby clothes from several decades earlier, fourteen years of my children’s artwork, boxes of letters received from friends and family in high school and college, and several boxes of holiday decorations that hadn’t been used in at least six years. Ruthlessly I sorted, sorted, sorted. So much collected over the years because I couldn’t make decisions. In the writing world, I have done this to myself as well. I’ve hung onto old drafts of manuscripts because I might need to refer to them “some day”, and I’ve collected stacks of craft books, notes from teachings and lectures, and magazine articles which are old news at this point in my career. I hang onto these collections as if they will provide some sort of solace in the days, weeks or years to come. They won’t. I finished the attic in November, and keeping with the notorious theme of the New Year—a time to clear, de-clutter and organize—I have set out to conquer my ever-expanding writing space with cute folders and boxes, and, more importantly, the recycling bin. Do I need it? Do I love it? Do I use it? So as I belt out, “Should all manuscripts be forgot, and never thought upon…”, I clear the space and open the way for new ideas and new writing in this New Year.
0 Comments
by Francine Puckly
My husband and I purchased our home just over 14 years ago--new construction nestled amongst dense trees. It presented a landscaping challenge that left me anxious and overwhelmed. A few years into my efforts, I had successfully completed gardens for the perimeter of the house and the front walk—they were not quite up to professional standards, but they were respectable. The rest of the untamed property, however, taunted me whenever I stepped into the yard. It would take days or weeks to landscape and even more hours to maintain each season and each year. I did the only thing that seemed logical. I sought out a landscaping company to do it for me! A local landscape designer visited, and we walked around and talked about ideas for each area. I was encouraged about the possibilities, but in the end I could not afford to have him complete the landscaping for me. He did, however, leave me with the best piece of advice I’ve ever received: you can’t tackle the entire piece of property at once—if you do, you’ll work a little bit here and a little bit there but nothing will be complete—so start small. Pick one tiny area to garden and don’t get sidetracked by anything else. While I wanted to conquer the entire lot, I knew deep down that he was right. I could do a little plot. That was easy, right? So I chose to tackle the area just below my writing window--a section of our property I stared at every day from my desk while trying to conjure up plots and evil characters. I fondly named this my Writing Garden. A few daylilies, a couple hostas, a lovely fuschia spiderwort. Each week I watered the plants deeply, tended to the weeds, and trimmed the spent flowers. In the fall I added a potted mum to spice it up and dropped in a few spring-blooming bulbs. Each year I added a new plant or two to the left or right of that plot. Ten years later I have an enormous garden that showers me with blooms from April to October. It took time, but it’s beautiful. This landscaping advice sank into my writing over the years as well. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I remember to start small. One scene—often my favorite scene—from which I build characters and setting. A small seed sown in the rich soil of my mind. The entire project will take weeks, months or even years to complete. But I will start with one tiny plot. One flower, one hosta. One character, one scene. And it will grow into something fantastic.  by Francine Puckly
This time of year when we think of carrots, most of us think of cute, furry bunny rabbits nibbling away on someone else’s garden produce. But for me, carrots are the incentives I dangle a few inches out in front to motivate me. It’s gotta be something that makes me want to do the difficult but necessary work to finish various goals and projects. For the past nine months, I dangled a pair of ridiculously-priced, but fabulous nonetheless, pair of Brighton sunglasses in front of me as I toiled away on yet another complete rewrite of my first manuscript. The sunglasses are an insanity purchase I could never justify without putting myself through hell and back. I wasn’t permitted to acquire them until the manuscript was in respectable condition. Unfortunately, the longer I write, the higher my standard of “respectable” becomes, even if it’s not yet up to the industry standard. Although I loitered in the Brighton store on various occasions during the past nine months and tried the sunglasses on no less than a couple hundred times, I never bought them. Until Tuesday. Monday marked the final push to complete the manuscript. A frenzy of reading and scribbling and re-typing changes to a manuscript I can recite in my sleep. The foggy finish left my family without meals and an unfortunate missed taxi-service, but I ended the day at 11:30 p.m. with a complete manuscript and a terrific feeling of satisfaction…because I was going to get those glasses. Despite my sleep deprivation, there was a slight lilt in my step as I entered the Brighton store the next morning. The salesclerk was ecstatic that I hadn’t come to drool. A few minutes later, I walked out the door with my sunglasses. And I haven’t looked back. And I don’t feel one ounce of guilt. It’s the first time in my adult life that I established a material goal and didn’t give in. It felt fabulous…so fabulous that I’ve established the next goal. It’s an even tougher goal for me with a higher reward: a fabulous dress. Where will I wear it? I have no idea. But you can bet I’ll buy it, perhaps months in the future, when I’ve completed the next milestone.  by Francine Puckly
Like many of you, I launched into the new year with new energy, new hopes and new goals. This would be the year I finally embraced a healthy balance of novel writing with other creative pursuits such as reading a book cover to cover in one sitting, scrapbooking or decorating cakes. This would be the year I stayed physically fit, ate well (foregoing a sample of the aforementioned decorated cake), and slept often. This would be the year I whiled away the hours with my family, sipped chai tea with friends, picked out a tune on the piano, kept my house in order and completed several manuscripts. Yup. The goals seemed realistic on January 1st. After all, these were the important things in life. These were the things I valued. It made sense to make them my priorities. Tonight I sit in a middle school cafeteria scented with stale chicken nuggets and French fries while my butt goes numb ever so quickly on a plastic, circular seat. I wait for my daughter’s rehearsal to finish and watch a March 1st storm whip snow horizontally outside the window. As I see the flakes swirl by, I start to think my goals and enthusiasm have blown away with the storm. When I’m tired and numb (quite literally…remember the plastic chair?), it’s easy to start beating myself up about what I don’t do. I usually only allow myself a year-end assessment of accomplishments, but tonight…why not a two-month rundown of the things I have accomplished year-to-date? Success #1: Manuscript time. I’m “dating” two writers simultaneously. Lest you get some distorted idea of my personal values, let’s be clear that our dates constitute sitting across from each other for three hours while working on our respective manuscripts. No talking. No excuses. But an occasional mug of chai tea is thrown in. I go out with each of them once a week so that it keeps the relationship (and manuscript) alive. My husband and I, however, haven’t been out together since our anniversary in September. Maybe he should write a book. Success #2: Order. Despite trying really hard, I didn’t burn down my house yesterday when my oven locked shut and cooked my zucchini bread at 800˚ F. The added bonus was that this confirmed the smoke detectors needed new batteries. So check that off the Daylight Savings Time To-Do List. I also had to scrub soot off the outside and inside of the cabinets, so everything’s neat and orderly again in the kitchen. I’m thinking of setting fire to the family room next week. Success #3: Scrapbooking and photo management. I love scrapbooking, and I think the reason I’m so passionate about it is that I get to tell a story with photos instead of words. It takes time from my manuscripts (which induces guilt), but some days it’s worth it. Like today. My daughter graduates from middle school this year, and her baby and school activity photos were due to the yearbook staff today. Yes, I knew about this six weeks ago, but first of all, I’ve been playing the field a little bit, haven’t I? And that takes a lot of time. And secondly, I worked in manufacturing for years, and the Just-In-Time inventory philosophy is permanently entrenched. So I spent the morning digging through boxes of her baby photos—reluctantly skipping over the picture of her lying buck-naked on a blanket after her bath—and sent two conservative photos off. In addition to that little task, I’m compiling a scrapbook of the holiday photo cards we get each year from our friends. Wanna see someone age quickly? Line up ten years of photo cards. So, look at that! Chalk up a few successes. Slap a couple pats on the back. But what about those detailed goals? You know the ones. The ones about changing daily habits and routines and sticking with them…Well, those aren’t going quite as well. I hyperventilate over rituals I still can’t seem to develop, slips in my diet or fitness goals, and the litany of things added to my daily, weekly, and (soon-to-be) monthly to-do lists for writing, family and home maintenance. But when these heart palpitations hit (daily between 12:37 p.m. and 1:49 p.m. and again late at night), I brew a cup of strong tea, meditate on the good, and re-read my 2012 aspirations. Because tomorrow may be the day I read a book cover to cover or decorate a cake (baked in somebody else’s oven). You just never know. Until then, I’ll go out on a date or two, place my butt firmly in a non-plastic chair, and work on my manuscript.  by Francine Puckly
A new year. A blank slate. An empty calendar. With the holiday drain behind me and a relatively quiet month ahead of me, I sit down during the lull of New Year’s Day and begin my dreaming for the year ahead. A deep breath, a freshly brewed cup of chai warming my hands, my favorite pens and loose-leaf paper. These are my companions as I lay down my 2012 aspirations on paper. I learned early on in this writing journey that I cannot establish my career and writing goals in a vacuum. My love of family, music, photography and travel are intertwined with my writing life. My annual goals must encompass my personal and other creative goals. In addition, one-year goals feel too small to a procrastinator like me. One year isn’t far-reaching enough to encompass the larger creative projects and life goals I have. When I consider the size of the mountain I’m climbing on my way to publication of long manuscripts or in saving enough money to take a safari, I have to look beyond twelve months to put these plans in motion. I begin with three-to-five year goals. For me, giving myself these extra few years allows for vision. I don’t feel as constricted or filled with the same level of anxiety that short-term goals often induce. I dream bigger and better because the timeline is “so far out there” I don’t have to worry about the reality of each step…yet. So I sip my tea and let the questions roll in front of me. First, what was good about this past year? What were my accomplishments, and most importantly, did I astonish myself this year? Did I break out of my shell and try something new? Did I achieve a goal that I thought was impossible? Were my disappointments avoidable or just part of the journey? What goals were unrealistic? And are there any goals from last year that aren’t worth pursuing anymore? Once I have an understanding of the recent past I can look forward. Where do I want to be career-wise in five years? Will I have one or two manuscripts ready for publication? With respect to travel, will we have taken the trip to Montana as well as vacationed in Spain? What is an affordable and realistic timeline? Then I consider my passion for photography, music, and outdoor exercise. I enjoy these activities and am happiest when they are part of my daily and weekly life. I make sure they are incorporated into my calendar along with other activities. I break these five year goals into relatively solid yearly goals for the next several years. Only then can I begin filling in the details or activities necessary to meet my 2012 goals. These goals translate into quarterly, then monthly, and finally weekly tasks. All of the activities should move me toward the December 2012 goals, keeping an eye on 2013 and 2014 as well. These goals and tasks are my guiding beacon in the months ahead. My planning process is not rocket science, but this exercise is something I look forward to each year. I steal a couple of hours away from the holiday hubbub to make myself and my dreams a priority. Just for a day. Just for a week. Just for a year. Because in front of me is a new year, a blank slate, an empty calendar, and a small list of carefully chosen and achievable goals.  Zinnias - Hyde Park, London by Francine Puckly
As many of us step into the final days of preparation for Hanukkah and Christmas, I personally stare down the draft of a young adult manuscript I had hoped to finish by year-end. Each day that passes finds me more and more frazzled and bewildered, due in part to the physical and emotional drain of the holidays but also the physical and emotional drain that accompanies a long-term project. My days feel wobbly, and I’m in a constant state of trying to establish balance. My goals partner, Martha, encourages me to plug ahead by saying, “If life is balanced, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough.” Several times a day this reminder sustains me so that I can keep moving toward my goals. As I’m sure it is with most of you, my life isn’t balanced. Sick and injured children, an unexpected death of a family member and his funeral, and the general chaos of holiday shopping and entertaining have left me dragging into the final writing weeks of 2011. I’m disappointed that I probably won’t hit my annual writing goals, but I must move forward regardless. And this movement begins with my secret writing spot. I have promised myself (and my goals partner!) that I will report to my writing location each day between now and Christmas Eve. One solitary hour a day. I expect most days I will work on my manuscript, but alternatively I might meditate or write holiday cards to dear friends or read from the current novel I’m savoring. But this daily commitment to be creative will sustain me through the final days of my project, as well as the holiday season. I will come close to hitting my writing goals, but more importantly, I will be rewarded with an hour of balance in my unbalanced world.  Two new writing partners in my life: Cora and Sid by Francine Puckly
The holiday crush is upon us. The buying, the eating, the merry-making. But what about my writing? This time of year it typically falls into the oblivion. “I have too much to do. I have friends to see and presents to wrap. I’ll pick it up January 2nd and make a fresh start in the new year.” But in the deep, dark crevices of my soul, these excuses are just that—excuses. I’m disappointed when I sell out to the holiday hubbub. This December my goal is to push myself creatively instead of financially. I am rallying to finish yet another draft of my first young adult novel. I have a vision. I have outlines and other necessary infrastructure. But that’s only the first hill to climb. After that, I need time. Yes, I have the same twenty-four hours in a day that Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa had, but I repeatedly divide it into little chunks and spend it frivolously. I can blame it on the mundane tasks I must tackle each day, but that’s really not my problem. My problem is that I’m easily distracted. A five-minute phone call derails me for thirty minutes. Making a decision about dinner could take twenty-five minutes, even with the duplicate frozen meals I’ve stocked in the freezer. Vacuuming takes forty-five minutes because I discover a magazine on the floor I didn’t quite finish…it’ll only take a second. My solution? I have had the great honor of finding a writing partnerand a goals partner. Two different writers. Two very crucial roles. Two people who have gifted me with renewed hope that I’ll finish this mountain of a manuscript. My goals partner, Martha, is a fellow writer from my critique group with whom I must check in weekly—every Friday morning at 7:45 a.m.—whether I’ve written a word or not. And I can assure you, the thought of getting on that phone call having done nothing panics me. Not that she’s an ogre. Not that she’ll hurt me if I don’t do it. But I will have disappointed myself by having to say, “I didn’t get to anything this week.” Martha also helps me set realistic, achievable goals. When left to my own devices, I say things like, “This week I’ll write 40,000 words, paint the family room, sew new curtains, host a dinner party, and bake and frost a three-tier cake.” My goals are more sensible now. “Write for thirty minutes each day” or “Finish chapter three” or “Draft three scenes that I’ve marked ‘missing’ in the manuscript.” And no cakes are getting baked and frosted. Eventually I’ll hit those 40,000 words, especially with the help of my writing partner, Sonja. Sonja is a fellow writer who invited me to sit in her writing space once a week. We settle in at a glass table across from each other and work on our own manuscripts. We share hot tea, almonds, dried fruit, and our love of writing. Words are exchanged before and after, but never during. No distractions. No excuses to go see what’s taking that dishwasher so long or to make that phone call to the vet. Does it help that Sonja’s writing space is a renovated choir loft in a church-turned-art gallery? Yes, indeed. It’s a beautiful, soul-sustaining gem of a space. But most importantly, it allows my writing to be the priority for a few sweet hours. So this holiday season take heart and take time. Let the gift of your manuscript be the priority. Finding time and setting goals take a little creativity, but figure out what will work for you. Dangle a reward carrot and recruit another artist to help you through. The shopping can wait, but the manuscript or illustration shouldn’t have to. by Francine Puckly I spent much of my teen and twenty-something years with running shoes strapped on my feet, jogging down lonely stretches of dirt roads in search of the satisfaction and peace that come from solitude and extreme exertion. Most days it only took a mere four or five miles to find that satisfaction, but other days it required eight or ten miles before I was beaten into submission and had chased the demons of doubt from my life. The logical outcome of all this running was competition—putting my running “out there”, so to speak. And while I completed in numerous 10k’s and half-marathons, I never conquered the ever-dreaded marathon…until 2009. That January I set off on a five-month training program to gear up for the Vermont City Marathon, held in Burlington, VT over Memorial Day weekend. I wanted my training to have minimal impact on my family, so my alarm sounded each morning before dawn. I ate a “sensible” breakfast and set off on foot down the road. I resisted using my iPod as an escape. Instead I slogged through the miles, just me and the road, a few zero-degree mornings, and the occasional rogue bulldog trying to get me to increase my pace and heart rate. Training isn’t glamorous. No crowds line the streets to cheer you on or hand out orange slices. No music plays at mile-markers. You don’t get to wear a fancy new t-shirt. And nobody wraps you in a blanket when you’re done. It’s just you and your determination to complete the self-imposed task at hand. Day after day after day. People ask you why? Why are you doing this to yourself? You answer, “Because.” These same well-meaning people suggest more productive ways you could be spending your time. And most importantly, they wonder out loud why you would do something that requires so many hours of your time when you end up right back where you started. But you persevere despite your own doubt. And then the time comes to put yourself “out there”. To run the race. And of course it’s raining. And of course the conditions are not what you trained for. But you get out there anyway, slogging away the miles, fighting the demons in your head that say you can’t do it and that you’ll never finish. And then something miraculous happens. You DO finish. And the only other people who can share in your emotional and physical exhaustion are fellow runners hobbling over the finish line with you because they were crazy enough to do it, too. I now spend most of my adult life with a pen stuck in my hand and wide-ruled paper in front of me or with a laptop screen pulsing in my face. I cannot use the internet or e-mail or Facebook to escape the task at hand. I must flesh out characters and settings and plots, oftentimes ending the day in the exact same spot I began it. I head down lonely stretches of days in search of the satisfaction and peace that comes from solitude and extreme exertion. Writing isn’t glamorous. No crowds line your driveway awaiting future book signings. No heavenly harps play when you finish a chapter. You wear grungy sweatpants and t-shirts that you’d better not sport in public in case you get into an accident, and nobody brews you a cup of tea at the end of the day when your head is spinning with information. It’s just you and your determination to complete the self-imposed task at hand. Day after day after day. It takes months and sometimes years. And then you have something. You have stamina and resolve, two under-appreciated commodities. And you have a book. And then you must put yourself “out there”. You must run the race you’ve been training for. And of course it’s raining rejection letters. And of course the conditions (public sales pitches) are not what you were training for. But you get out there anyway, slogging away the miles, fighting the demons in your head that say you can’t do it—until you reach the elusive finish line of contracts and negotiations.  With my family the night before the Vermont City Marathon, May 2009
|
Francine PucklyFor more blogs, check out Francine's past blogs on goal setting and other writing topics at www.24carrotwriting.com. Archives
September 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed