Recharging Your Batteries
I’m going to come at this topic from the angle of a writer, but it applies to everyone and every endeavor.
Being knocked out for 6+ weeks getting seriously ill and then recovering, the last thing I thought of was writing, even though I had just agreed to pen a new book with a specific deadline. Things were so bad at one point, the thought of watching an episode of The Office was like asking me to scale Everest. Occasionally, I would look at my laptop and know that a few thousand words were in there, waiting to be expanded upon. Then I would see my pillow and collapse on it.
Cut to now and I have no shortage of energy. The drive is getting there. A shortened attention span is hopefully just here for a visit and will soon hit the bricks. There is a book to be written, and I need to get in the proper headspace.
That calls for a recharge. Even though my body is willing, the mind, the will, the drive, needs some bulking up. Daily ra-ra sessions are good ways to get your ass in gear. What am I doing to get myself in the mood? Pretty much what I’ve always done.
I love podcasts. And I love the work of Ernest Hemingway. His aesthetic helped teach me to keep my writing lean and clean. So, it’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of One True Podcast, a deep dive into the works and deeds of not just Hemingway, but other artists of his generation. Hearing Hemingway scholars and other esteemed authors discuss the process, meaning and real-life circumstances around his stories and books always gets me going. I missed a few episodes while I was down and out and have enjoyed catching up.
Writer’s Digest still gets delivered to my house every month. When I first subscribed in the 90s, it was my glossy bible, one I hoped would lead me to the Land of Published Authors. All these years later, with over 40 books under my belt, I’m still reading WD, always learning, always being inspired. I like to read an article or interview just before I sit down to write. Another publication that helps in this regard is The Writer.
Reading as much as I can gets the juices flowing. I don’t just read books in the genre that I’m writing. Life is too short to pigeonhole myself. I drink from a fountain of variety, picking up things both consciously and subconsciously from the great, good, and even bad books. When I read what others are putting out there, it motivates me to finish my own stories.
Last but not least, I look for shows or movies to watch that are in the genre I’m focusing on. If it’s horror, I’m on Shudder or Tubi or combing through my personal library of movies, just absorbing all the bits and pieces. For, say, a book set in the old west, I’ll fire up The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, the Lonseome Dove series, or Silverado. If I want to add a little comedy, I’ll pop in The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Big Lebowski or Dr. Strangelove. You get the idea. I also have a whole section of movies just about writers that I’ll hit every now and then to remind myself why I do what I do.
Way back in the day when I worked in telecom customer service, I would blast heavy metal in my car to psych myself up for another day of problems and getting yelled at. When I saw Dwight on The Office do the same before sales calls, I nearly fell off my chair laughing.
The big question is, how do you recharge your batteries? Is it spending time with your favorite guinea pig? Chopping wood? Hitting the treadmill? Or just vegging out on the couch? Reply in the comments here and I’ll pick some folks to win a signed book. Bring it on!
The Guilt Free Writing Break
Write every day.
That was what I heard from working writers over and over again. It was in just about every book and article I read. In every lecture and interaction.
Write every day.
So, I wrote every day. Even when I was sick, or exhausted, or just plain not in the mood. Sure, I snuck a few days off (like Christmas and my birthday) here and there, but there was always this steady march marked by word counts, deadlines, and desire.
I did that for the past fifteen years, and all those dreams I had when I started scribbling came true. In that time, I published 35 books, from a children’s picture book with Random House, to a slew of horror novels with Samhain Publishing, Pinnacle (Kensington), Severed Press and more, and incredible ghost-writing gigs.
Feeding the beast that was my muse (a rather pleasant lass who is demanding but has my best interests at heart) was my prime directive. If starved my muse or got skimpy with the day’s meal, that old bastard, guilt, would tap me on the shoulder. I hated guilt and would do anything to avoid him.
Then the fall of 2023 happened. I moved my family out of state for the first time in our entire lives. And while we were in the process of boxing up our belongings, my wife’s doctor told us he was pretty darn sure she had some kind of blood cancer, so let’s do every test known to man to find out what it is.
There we were, surrounded by our belongings in a beautiful house, two states away from her doctors, filled with joy, trepidation, and creeping fear. We decorated like crazy for the holidays, hosted friends and family, traveled for tests and fretted over results that were always inconclusive. On top of that, I was adjusting to working remotely and had a deadline to meet for a ghost-writing project.
It was exhausting. The silver lining is that we loved where we lived and weren’t being robbed blind by New York prices. I somehow managed to finish the book in January of this year, around the same time the doctor said it probably wasn’t cancer, but he did find rheumatoid arthritis (just another tagalong disease to add to Lupus, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and several others). In our special way, we were relieved.
And I was plum pooped.
Whenever I tried to write, I couldn’t get past a few hundred words. It was if I’d never written in my life. All those skills and word muscles I’d developed over the years went to flab. Guilt sat atop my laptop screen, wagging his finger at me.
Then my muse popped in and said she was tired, too. She promised the flow of ideas would always be there. Let’s just take a break. And if during that break we both decide we’ve done our part, that was okay, too. Reinvention, taking on new challenges, are the core of the human experience. A bibliography of 35 books was a kinda cool achievement and about 33 more than I thought I’d ever write.
I took a break. I settled into my home. My wife’s health, which is always in a precarious balance, improved, so much so that we’ve had the best run since my writing odyssey started. We went out like the old days. We spent our time in the sun at the pool. We went to drive-ins. We turned our house into a home and explored our community, making new friends and finding sweet spots to eat, shop, or just enjoy nature.
Best of all, that bastard guilt was nowhere to be found. I watched my muse lock him in a trunk and toss him out to sea. I relaxed, I read, I enjoyed all that extra time with my wife and family.
After a wonderful eight months, not knowing if I was ever going to write again, I’m back in the saddle, on my own terms. I have a new ghost-writing job that will be a lot of fun. I have a proposal out for a pretty cool drive-in theater tie-in that I hope will make a ton of readers smile.
I’ll go where my muse takes me, except we’re older and wiser now. I’m starting to think guilt is a younger man’s game. I’m officially in my ‘I’ve got zero fucks to give’ era, and it feels great. The sands of time ain’t slowing down, even though I am…just a tad. That’s a natural thing in your mid-50s. Nothing to bemoan. Rise and grind can kiss my ass.
If you’re kicking your own ass and fretting over word counts, likes, subscribers, reviews, take a good long breath. Life is too fleeting to get caught up in the artificial madness. When you exhale, get back to writing, or don’t. Maybe find time to rediscover why you wanted to be a writer in the first place. Find that love, that passion, that compulsion that lit a fire in your soul. Or maybe there’s something else that has been calling to you, but you couldn’t hear it over the wall of noise you built around yourself.
Do what makes you happy, and be happy with what you do.
Sometimes taking a break is the only way to find out exactly what that is.
The Hustle of Balancing Life, Work and Writing
It’s Sunday morning at 9:00 and I’m already tired. But no matter how tired I feel, this old man is not taking a nap. I’ll be going at it full force until my head hits the pillow. Why? Because I want to…and maybe a lot of ‘because I have to’.
I may have written and published over 25 books, but that doesn’t mean I get to coast. No way. Not until Stephen King and I can trade investment secrets. Writing, or better yet finding time to do it, hasn’t gotten any easier. Like most scribblers, I have a day job. At age 50, I embarked on a totally new career, shucking 20 years of experience and clout to do something I would enjoy. The day job takes up about 11-12 hours of my day, Tuesday through Saturday. It’s mentally and physically demanding. People half my age bail when the going gets rough here. Oh, and I get to work on Saturdays for the first time since I was a stock boy in Gristedes supermarket back in 1990. Yay me for missing out on a lot of fun.
Because I get home later than ever now, I had to adjust when I write. Fortunately for me, my ability to sleep in was broken long ago by my children (who are now adults). So instead of writing a night, which I did for almost two decades, I’ve had to retrain myself to become an early morning writer. It wasn’t easy, but I knew if I didn’t push myself, I would miss every deadline, both professional and personal. And I had to learn to write in bed so as not to clunk around the house and disturb everyone.
On workdays, I wake up, write and answer emails and do a little marketing for two hours. Then it’s time to get ready for work and head off to my one hour commute.
What about weekends? Take today for an example. It’s a gray Sunday, my first day off. What do I do? Wake up at 5:30am. I watched an episode of Mars on National Geographic because I want to write about the series. I then read for thirty minutes, a little for pleasure and a little for work. The sink was full of dishes so I cleaned them and started a load of laundry. I cleaned the bathroom and saw the toaster oven was in need of some TLC, too. We’re (finally!) shooting new episodes of Monster Men today, so I put together a list of things to do for one of the episodes. Now it’s time to write on the old blog and chain, get in at least 1,000 words on my new book, SLASH, and prep the house, aka – the set – for Monster Men. We’ll record for several hours, watch a movie and then I’ll be hosting a live viewing party of THANKSKILLING with my special hellions on Patreon. By the time that’s over, I’ll be in bed, dead to the world until tomorrow before dawn.
Within all of this craziness, I’ll be with my family, the most important people in my life. Those of you who follow this blog know my wife is disabled. When I was writing CREATURE, she was sick with pneumonia. Cut to a year and three months later and she’s still not over it. In fact, we’re waiting for the CDC to deliver special medication formulated just for her, as her compromised immune system just can’t do the work it needs to do. Being with her and my girls is crucial, which is another reason why I write when they’re asleep. When I get home from work, it’s dark out and I’m tired as hell. Better to spend that time recharging the love battery by hanging out with them.
I can attest, spinning these plates does not get easier as you get older. Some days, it sucks. It sucks real hard. But I love my family and I love writing, and heck, I even like my job, so for me, there is no other choice. Whenever I’m about to bitch and whine about doing something I hate or dread doing, I think of this : If I was laid up in a hospital bed right now and unable to ever be healthy or get up again, I’d trade everything for a chance to do that thing I think I don’t want to do. Would I rather go food shopping in a packed supermarket than have terminal cancer? If the answer is shit yeah, it’s time to shut up and tarry on.
Despite all of this, don’t feel like you have to tackle the world each and every day. Carve out time, even if it’s only ten minutes, to recharge. Meditate, read, do air guitar in your car to Metallica, make a dump cake. Find your zen. Watching the laundry spin is a personal favorite. Kinda like watching the flames dance in a fire.
I have big ideas and projects for 2019, as I’m sure you do as well. Now’s the perfect time to plan and figure out how to make them happen, and the best time to do so. It ain’t easy. But neither is Sister Mary Margaret Bernadette. There is one vital thing that nun knows how to do – get into a habit.
What new habits or changes to existing ones do you need to hit your goals? What is the one thing you want to accomplish in the next year? What are you major stumbling blocks? We can kick some ass if we decide to kick it together. Spill the beans right here, tell the world and make yourself accountable. It does wonders.
Looking For An Editor Or Writing Coach?
The new year, with all its resolutions, is just a few weeks away. I’m going to tick one of my resolutions off the list right now with this announcement that I’m starting an editing and writing coach business. If your goal is to have a completed manuscript or get published in 2018, we can kick some resolution butt together.
Writing is a lonely endeavor. Writers need support and encouragement (along with a stiff drink every now and then). Getting to THE END isn’t always easy. Neither is polishing that manuscript into a diamond. All successful writers have a stable of people with critical eyes dissecting their work well before you ever see it in print.
The big question is, why me? Well, aside from having written and traditionally published over 20 books in the past decade, I’ve also been senior editor for a trade magazine, have coached and edited several books for struggling authors and secured their first book deals.
I may have railed against the nuns in school who drilled grammar, spelling, reading, and writing into my thick head, but I thank them now. And so can you.
So, what kind of services am I offering?
- Setting goals and accountability to meet them
- Sounding board for ideas and turning them into action plans
- Feedback and editing
- Deciding whether to publish traditionally or self-publishing
- Agent and publisher searches
- Writing query letters
- Building author platforms across social media and blogs
- Creating fresh and consistent content
- Creating mail lists and vital newsletters
- Finding reviewers
- Curating sources of inspiration to keep you writing
If your goal is to become a working writer, you want help from someone who’s not only been there and done that, but is still doing it. My advice and expertise is current, which is vital in publishing since it has changed dramatically over the past five years alone!
Hunter Shea 