Avatar photoSteven Savage

Schedules, Order, and The Zone

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

With the coronavirus lockdown, it was challenging to keep up with my writing, especially my novel “A School Of Many Futures.” My life had been disrupted, my girlfriend’s life had been disrupted, my co-workers were dealing with changes, and there was the omnipresent specter of death. Not the best time to feel creative.

But I wanted to write, despite not having much of the right mood. There was something there that wanted to, writing is part of me, and I didn’t want to give up.

So here’s what I did – and something I found that surprised me.

What I started doing was scheduling writing time and/or goals. Each day more or less I tried to write, my Worldbook having a goal of writing 2 questions a day, and for my novel usually an hour on it (or an hour replotting). I admit for a stretch of weeks I was at best meeting 80% of my goals, but it was better than zero, and I was still writing.

It was a slog for awhile. You can kind of guess the reasons for it as you’re probably experiencing them or have experienced them. Still, work got done, and it was pretty good work.

Then I noticed something. I was getting more ideas, especially for my novel. I began noticing techniques that fired my imagination. I was getting inspired despite the slog, following the schedule . . .

. . . except I wasn’t. I was inspired because of the schedule.

I realized in time that because of the coronavirus crisis I’d lost touch with my inspirations. If I had just written because I was “in the mood” I’d never have written. But following a schedule meant I was always in touch with my writing even if I didn’t want to be or care.

And in time, that awareness led to inspiration and ideas and being viscerally aware of my work. Instead of writing when in the mood, the schedule kept me writing and let me more easily find the writing mood where inspiration flowed.

If you’re having trouble being creative in something, try this. Don’t wait for the mood, just make plans and do your best. Keep at it, but don’t beat yourself up if it’s not perfect. See what happens when you spend time on it.

It worked for me in time, but first you have to put in the work.

Steven Savage

Why I Wrote It: The Art Of The Brainstorm Book

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

This book has a pretty simple origin – I wanted to write about my Brainstorm Book technique.

In short, for awhile I’d been keeping what I called a Brainstorm Book. I used this notebook to write down ideas, think them over, save them, or action them. It’s pretty simple stuff, but I’d built a system around it, and that system worked. I had found a way to keep my inspirations going, analyze them, and bring them to life effectively.

(I still fondly recall a gentleman who brought his kids to a con I spoke at, and then heard me, and used my idea not for writing, but for security reviews).

I’d done some blog posts about my Brainstorm Book system, but had updated it over time, and figured it was best as a book. That’s what I’d like to talk about.

Here’s why I figured my Brainstorm Book techniques fit, well, a book.

THE BOOK STRUCTURE FIT: The way a book is organized just fit the system I had. Sometimes things are just best as a book (print or otherwise, for sale or otherwise).

IT FORCED ME TO ORGANIZE MY THOUGHTS: This was a side effect. I figured the structure of a book fit, then I realized how I had to organize my thoughts better.

A BOOK WAS ACCESSIBLE: I had enough information and ideas to share, and these were concepts that people would want to review over and over. A book encourages review and re-review, and I didn’t want people to have to come back to my blog.

IT FIT MY OTHER WRITING: I had been writing about creativity, so this book was perfect for the series. Plus it encouraged people who looked at my other works to check out this system and get ideas.

I’m pretty happy with the book. People can get access to my ideas in a useful form, and apply things that helped me. Sure, it’s not my bestseller, but that’s not the point.

If you have something in another form – blogs, videos, etc. consider what other forms it could be in. Sometimes a good idea is best realized in something other than its original media. In this case, the Brainstorm Book was a good example of that.

Steven Savage

Not Back To Normal: Health

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Awhile ago I posted how even applying the good lessons from the coronavirus will change life and the economy – in this case, work from home. Sure we learned a lot of good things, but applying them would involve massive changes to our lives. So now I’d like to talk health.

It may seem that we’ve sort of learned the obvious lessons about the coronavirus – social distancing, masks, and all that. But let me be blunt.

Avoiding people when sick, washing your hands, masks during periods of disease would have been REALLY GREAT IDEAS TO DO ALL ALONG. I say this as a person who over the years has found his co-workers dragging in diseases and infecting entire teams.

Now imagine in a future where we’ve got the coronavirus vaccine but also we apply our lessons about health. A dose of hypochondria from the coronavirus may motivate us for many years, but we’ve also learned some damned good behaviors for, say, cold and flu season.

But what would those involve?

WORKING FROM HOME MORE: I’ve covered this, but bluntly, during periods of disease more people should stay home, work from home, etc. That of course means all the things I’ve mentioned before – but also “seasons” of sudden shifts in how people work. That’s going to be disruptive, leading to things like changing office arrangements, hours, or even part-time use of buildings.

USE OF MASKS: Handy things, really. Despite the bizarre politicization of basic health behaviors, I think masks are here to stay. I’m already seeing fashionable masks. So I expect more mask wearing – and more politicization, sadly.

BETTER HYGIENE: Well there’s little downside to this, but more hand-washing, house-cleaning, etc. is a good idea. That means more products for such in demand, with potential runs or shortages or over-purchases. I suppose the biggest impact is dermatitis.

RULES FOR BUSINESSES: We’ve learned the benefits of social distancing, but imagine these coming back in every cold and flu season. Or “senior hours” being maintained at stores simply for the health benefits. This means some businesses may restrict themselves seasonally.

BUSINESS CHANGES: I can’t even begin to predict all the impacts, so simple to say the coronavirus has led businesses to consider other models, such as many restaurants acting as grocery stores. Some of these changes have permanent health benefits, and may stay around or become seasonal.

CHANGES TO GATHERINGS: Imagine big conventions, sporting events, etc. and how they’ll change now that we’re more health conscious. Temperature checks. Moving events to avoid disease seasons. Mask requirements. Some things may not make sense anymore to even keep.

PERSONAL HABITS: I can’t see myself returning to a gym for months if not a year – and now that I’ve changed my workouts do I want to? I’m not sure I need to, so how many other personal habits will I change? Will others change? What businesses does that affect?

PERSONAL EVENTS: When’s the next time you want to host a 20 person get together? I think people may shift to more health-conscious events, smaller gatherings but also more virtual gatherings. I suppose its a good time to work at Zoom or Discord.

MORE ATTENTION: Coronavirus is a damned scary thing and its got people paying attention to medical issues. That’s good. It also means more hypochondria and more attention to conspiracy theories and more doctors rolling their eyes.

A NEED FOR MORE MEDICAL PEOPLE: Alone a lot of doctors and nurses and first responders are burnt out and tired. We’re going to need more people to help them, replace those we lost or who are retiring, and to deal with increased demand from a wounded and concerned public. There’s career options here, but also for sad reasons.

A DESIRE TO RETURN TO NORMAL: Which won’t happen. The US coronavirus response was dismal, and revealed our health system and general health habits were the same. Some people will want to go back to normal, and next cold and flu season, even with a coronavirus vaccine it won’t go well.

So I’m glad we’re probably more aware of health. I’m really hopeful to see a coronavirus vaccine in the next 18 months if not sooner, and perhaps protective measures before that. But I’m also aware applying the lessons learned will be a shake up.

We’re not going back to the way we were. That way doesn’t apply, but also kinda wasn’t so hot.

Steven Savage