Centering and Focusing

by Paula Gail Benson

Lately, I’ve been facing days with a lot of tasks coming to me at once. I’ve had to clarify the order and set priorities. Unfortunately, I’ve often been told all matters are urgent and do the best I can. So, I do, and hope for the best.

After a flurry of activity, writing is a much stiller, calmer course. Its quietness in fact can be disconcerting and make me wonder, am I able to do this? Can I be alone with my thoughts and create when no one is imposing requirements upon me?

The empty page becomes a frightening thing because it makes no demands upon me. It simply reflects the demands I make upon myself: to produce, and hopefully to do so brilliantly.

When I dispel the feeling of possible failure and convince myself to write, I begin to recognize what a gift it gives me. The time and words are mine to explore. I can center myself on the topic I select and then focus on the elements as I uncover them.

Thanks to the Internet, I can stop briefly to look up definitions; historical, mechanical, or scientific facts; or verify that I’m remembering something correctly. Then I push myself back to my waiting page and develop what I’ve determined to create.

At this moment, I don’t let the pressure of finishing or summarizing make me frantic or turn to AI. These will be my words carefully considered, my discovery new and fresh.

I may be able to visit a place I’ve never seen or return to a familiar spot. Like an actor, I can walk around in a character’s shoes, focusing on what I might fail to notice in the hustle and bustle of everyday existence—maybe even regretting that I might not ordinarily see it.

With pen in hand, I feel the flow of the creative process through my body. I guess I feel it also when my fingers are poised over a keyboard, just in a different way.

I am centered. I am focused. I pursue the creative process alone, but hopefully I will share the results of that process with others.

How is it for you when you come to write after being involved in another experience?

THE MODES OF A MYSTERY WRITER

 By Korina Moss

I can’t help myself – I’m one of those people who always makes at least one New Year’s resolution. Wishful thinking, perhaps? I prefer the term hopeful thinking. This year, one of my resolutions is to have more work-life balance. 

Now that my son is a college student, it’s just me at home, so the only schedule I have to adhere to is my own. Sounds divine, except it allows me to get into my modes. Yes, I meant to write modes, not moods (although they can be pesky too). I have work mode and relax mode and I have a hard time transitioning between the two. (This doesn’t include veg out mode, which happens pretty much every night.) When I’m working on a book, which has (thankfully) been continuous over the past three years, it’s mentally all-encompassing for me. I’m always thinking about it, even if I have to push it to the back of my mind. I’ve been mentally living in my series’ fictional town of Yarrow Glen with my protagonist Willa and her Curds & Whey cheese shop crew since the spring of 2020, and it’s not easy to pull myself out. 

This is especially true when I’m in crunch mode, as I was just a couple of months ago when my deadline for Fondue or Die, book 5 in my Cheese Shop Mystery series, was fast approaching. I’d been in a concentrated writing mode for the four months prior, trying to turn my sketchy outline and underwritten first draft into a worthy manuscript. As the deadline got closer, I was also in heavy publicity mode for my newly released book 4, Case of the Bleus. Last fall, I had three out-of-state appearances, plus book signings, and all the extra online marketing that comes with a new release (blogs, interviews, and podcasts). So, I was in crunch mode squared. 

Signing books at the St Louis Cozy Con

Once my manuscript was submitted and the publicity machine wound down, I immediately turned to thinking about book 6, wanting to get an outline done before the Fondue or Die revision suggestions would come back from my editor in mid-January. I had a couple of weeks to brainstorm and outline before my son came home for his college semester break. Then I promised myself (and him) I’d take a break for the holidays. I even took time off from my early morning part-time job. 

Book 5 in my Cheese Shop Mystery series

The first few days of switching off work mode, I felt mentally restless. I was so used to the constant thoughts of my books or my social media marketing, it was a tougher transition than I’d expected. I made an effort to post and scroll on social media significantly less frequently. I told myself it was okay if I didn’t keep up with everything that was happening in the mystery writing community. Although the habits were hard to break, what a relief it was! I was so much more mentally present. I stayed up late and slept in! (Not compared to my 19-year-old son, but both times were later for me.) I fell into a happy relax mode. My son and I made some short overnight trips and had a great holiday break, and when he left for his ski trip with his dad, I felt rejuvenated and ready to get back to work! 

Macy's in Herald Square, NYC

Alas, my relax mode was no less stubborn to leave behind than work mode had been two weeks prior. My alarm clock was waking me up at 5:45 AM, but I was not ready to relinquish my newfound mode. The book I’d been outlining was tapping me on the shoulder to come up with those final chapters, but my muse was also in no hurry to get back to work. Now that it’s been a couple of weeks, slowly but surely, I’m easing back into it. My New Year’s resolution for more work-life balance may be a little harder to achieve than anticipated, but then again, I’ve always done too much hopeful thinking. 

Did you make any New Year's resolutions for this year?