Category: Check This Out

Check This Out- The Pomodoro Method

If you’re getting into the thick of your editing process, you’re in danger of running into one of two walls. Maybe you’re getting immersed in the process and forget about other things, like eating or personal hygiene. Or, you’re so daunted by the whole process that you’re waiting until you’ve got ‘real time’, to get into it.

Here’s the thing. You don’t need more than a small snippet of time, so long as you take it every day. And you shouldn’t even try to devote too much time on it, or you’ll burn out.

I recently found a new tool to help with both of those things. Actually, I’ve got pretty bad adult ADD, and this is helping me with literally everything in my life. It’s called the Pomodoro method.

Here are the basics. You set a timer for twenty five minutes, and work like hell on whatever your project is for those twenty five minutes. You do this with a pad of paper next to you, to write down anything that might pop into your head while you’re working. I mean things like random story ideas, ‘oh, I have to do this soon,’ to do lists, and whatever . The website suggests keeping a journal, but I just use a legal pad, and transition stuff into my bullet journal.

After twenty five minutes you take a five minute break. Stretch, get some coffee, use the potty. After four 25 minute sessions, take a longer fifteen to twenty minute break. Keep track of how many sessions you get in.

So, the names a little crazy. It’s the Spanish word for tomato. The creator started this out by using a tomato shaped timer.

I love this method. I’ve been getting so much more work done since I’ve started using it. As already stated, I have ADD. It’s very hard for me to focus on one thing for long. My brain just starts racing if I’m only doing one thing at a time, and this helps. Instead of telling myself ‘you must focus until this project is over’, or worse, ‘I’ll just go and fill the dishwasher real quick’, I work for the whole session. If I think of something I need to do, on this list it goes, to be dealt with after I’m done with whatever I’m doing.

Check out pomodoro this week. And let me know what you’re doing with your sessions in the comment section below.

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Check This Out- Special Edition to say Goodbye To Girls with Slingshots

I found out something sad today.  One of my favorite web comics, Girls With Slingshots, is coming to an end on the next few months.

It’s actually the second web comic I read that’s coming to an end.  The other one is called ‘Shortpacked’, but that one’s not about writing, so I’ve never featured it on this blog.  But GWS is one that I’ve had on my list for awhile, and somehow never got around to telling you about.  Now, it’s almost too late, but there is still time.

The main character is a girl named Hazel.  She’s a writer, and at the start of the strip she’s an unemployed writer.  Eventually she gets a job at a newspaper, then a magazine.  One of the most touching moments early in the strip is a conversation she’s having with a friend on the phone.  He’s telling her not to be discouraged, that she’s a great writer and she’s going to make it.  “But,” she says, laying in a field under a star filled sky, “What am I going to write about?”

Which one of us hasn’t felt that way, at some point in our writing lives?

Don’t think it’s all serious, though.  Hazel’s got a talking cactus, a crew of insane friends that includes a dominatrix librarian, and a slight substance abuse problem.

So, check out Girls With Slingshots.  It’s a great time to get started, because the creator, Danielle Corsetto, is keeping the site updated by reposting the story from the start with new color and fun additions.  Even though it’s ending, it’s a great read.

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