Code 99!

In the hospital where I work, we have a secret distress code which is Code 99. It is the equivalent of Code Blue, which you hear on every television medical drama... everyone knows it means that someone is in a Very. Bad. Way. Get the Crash Cart-- now! Since people know what Code Blue means, we've changed it so it doesn't frighten every family member in the hospital who will assume it is their person headed toward the proverbial light while they're out grabbing a cuppa.

I was a walking/talking Code 99 in my personal life all last week, but forgot to let anyone in on the secret.  I even forgot what it meant for me. Sort of missed that I could be headed for a crash. I had entirely too many pokers in the fire, too many pots on the stove ( too many cliches), and not enough time to care and charge my introverted soul. I thought surely I could survive till Sunday. Just push a tiny bit harder. Go! Go! Your day off is coming, girlfriend.

And survive I did, and I did a pretty bang-up job of getting things done, giving where I wanted to give, teaching and giving my ALL.  I strove to be a decent human being along the way (Jury is still out on that last piece).  What fell by the wayside was any real exercise but a few short walks, my dietary intake was a sketchy at best, I was seriously short-sheeted in the Sleep Department, and I had nothing that even resembled an Artist Date-- unless you consider staring at LA underpass grafitti.  

The point? By the time Sunday rolled around, I was medically unresponsive.  From my perch above my body I knew that I needed to go to Mass, wash and vacuum my car, write three hours on my novel, send out my client coaching assignments, EXERCISE, see if my partner still recognized me, write an alarming number of emails, and try to eat something that didn't come in a Kashi wrapper. Except that I couldn't move.

I had completely shorted out.  I lurched toward the coffee which just made me a very alert wreck.

I was in a bad way and I knew it. So,  I gently and lovingly let myself off every single hook that I could feel dug under my skin-- from my shoulders, the back of my neck, and every appendage. Turned off the cell phone and the alarm clock.  Did not go to  Mass.  (We'll keep that between us, okay?)  Ate well.  Ate slowly. My partner and I talked for hours in our PJs. Read the paper! Cleaned out the drawer of my bedside table. (Okay, random, BUT, if anyone needs any cat toys, give me a call. I have a few dozen extra, turns out.)  Took a nap at noon. A good, long one. I treated myself like a beloved aging aunt that needed  kid glove treatment. The day stretched on and on.  Nothing was accomplished at all-- except that I was brought back to life.

I woke up this morning, thirty years younger. Leapt to my novel and wrote many pages. Recognized I needed a brief extension on my book deadline, took a bracing breath, and asked for it. Got it. Took another nap today.  Cleaned my car with that Zen-like attention that Robin described in the story about the monk cleaning the bowl.  What was happening with me and the car vacuum was near holy.  I was completely awake.  My meter needle was back in the green zone.

I do have a point.  It isn't a new one, but it is critical to our survival as a species.  And, god knows, the world cannot function without introverts!  Do insure that embedded in each of your days is a time spent at your personal recharging station, whatever that looks like for you.  It may be reading, daydreaming, walking, stretching, tinkering, gardening, puttering, playing Scramble on Facebook.  Whatever it is, you need (read REQUIRE) the time.  Take it.  Revel in it. Claim it. Protect it.  Own it.  Do not negotiate it away in your eternal quest for productivity.

That equation is flawed for folks like us.  We're kinda special, you know?

******

Don't miss this!  Robin and I did a guest interview today over at Becky Levine's place. "PRE-Marketing: Seven Important Things You Can Do Before You Sell Your Book.  Hop on over and say hi to Becky while you're there. She is currently writing a book for Writer’s Digest, The Critiquer’s Survival Guide, due out in Fall 2009. We can't wait to get see it and report on it. Thanks for having us, Becky!

******

Mary Hershey 

Code 99 Survivor

Conference Survival Tips

Here are a list of Shrinking Violet conference survival tips. Please feel free to add your own tips in the comments. Us introverts can never have too many tricks up our sleeves where crowds are concerned!

1. Give yourself time to get oriented in the hotel and understand where your room is, the meeting rooms, the elevators, and the bar dining room are. There’s nothing worse than wandering lost among throngs of people talking very loudly.
   
   
2. Plan some down time into your conference schedule. Yes, you’ll be tempted to squeeze everything in, but then you run the risk of short-circuiting. Pick a couple of workshops or luncheons and plan on spending that time alone in your room doing some recharging; yoga, a nap, deep breathing. It’s astonishing how much even an hours break can refresh you so you’re ready for the rest of the day. Yes, you will miss something, but your focus will be much sharper for the events you do attend.
   
   
3. Consider going offsite for lunch one day, again, just to step away from the crowd.
   
   
4. Stay hydrated. The fuzzy-headed disoriented feeling from being dehydrated is not something you need to deal with on top of the crowds. Hotel air can be really drying.
   
   
5. Stay fueled up. Pack protein bars or nuts or some kind of snack that will help keep your blood sugar on an even keel.
   
   
6. Try to get your normal number of hours sleep. You’re drawing on enormous energy reserves, just being in a crowd like this. Honor the toll that takes on your body.
   
   
7. Pick an aisle seat if at all possible. That way you only have people on one side of you.
   
   
8. Consider treating the entire experience as a conference AND retreat. Pick mornings or afternoons to attend workshops, then give yourself permission to use the other time to retire to your room and apply what you’ve learned immediately, while it’s still fresh in your mind.
   
   

Originally posted June 2007

Avoiding Burn Out

One of the things we talk a lot about here on SVP is how introverts can make marketing work for them, how it’s important to find what you can do comfortably and let go of the rest. I was struck again this week by just how important—critically important—it is to find one’s comfort zone and stick with it.

I’m on an email list with some other kids’ authors and this week they started talking about burn out; as in, how incredibly burnt out they are. They are scrambling all the time, booking events and school visits, promoting their books, worried because they have to carry most of this load themselves, with their publishers providing little material—indeed, even moral—support. And they’re tired, and frustrated, and at this point in their career, they are beginning to question if it’s worth it and if writing is even something they want to be doing.

And there, in a nutshell, is why balance is so vital. It’s a juggling act every writer needs to perform, weighing the needs of a creative endeavor like writing against the business demands of publishing. The two do not mix well, sort of like putting ground up liver in your brownies.

But here’s the thing; for most writers, writing is an act that feeds our soul. The act of writing, while it may be horrendously difficult sometimes, fills some deep, creative need within us. This is a gift we’ve been given in this life, and we need to cherish that and nurture that. And that often means striking some kind of devil’s bargain with Publishing. Because the very last thing we want to happen is for Publishing to destroy our love of Writing. And it can happen.

Interestingly, just like in relationships, it is often the person who wants it the most who has the least power. The more desperate you are to be published, stay published, etc. the more subject to the random vagaries of publishing you will be.

Luckily, there are ways to structure your writing life to minimize this sense of desperation and burn out. One critical way is to find your comfort level with promotion, and do that and no more. You really don’t want to make yourself sick and run down from forcing yourself to do things associated with your writing career that you hate. Soon that negativity leaches over into your writing, which is the kiss of death.

One of my most beloved rules about writing is this: Protect the work. That is our job as writers, to protect our creative work from negative or corrosive forces. You have to come to terms with publishing and marketing in such a way that it protects your work; even, or maybe especially, from the rough and tumble affects of publishing.

You need to protect yourself, too. Step back from the edge, take a deep breath, remember cream rises, and that for most of us, it takes time to build a marketing presence in the book world.