Author Archives: schatzi

Develop Your Career Resilience

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It may be that there’s nothing more disruptive than experiencing a career change. Frankly, it really doesn’t matter how big the change is – could be as major as a complete exit from a long term workplace, or it could involve subtle shifts of role assignments or responsibilities. Whatever the magnitude, career changes can leave us feeling thrilled, nervous, sad, angry, hurt, depleted, disoriented, confused, or even all of the above.

Many indicators point towards the idea that there will only be more and more of this kind of change. Therefore, career resilience is one of the essentials you will need to find and keep good work throughout your work life.

Yes – without resilience, even if you follow the tried-and-true process endorsed by a plethora of career coaches and counselors, the longevity of your sense of workplace satisfaction may suffer.

As someone who’s passionate about helping people create and bring their career visions to life, I sometimes notice that I’m apparently more enthusiastic than my clients are about their work prospects. How can this be? It seems that when they’re faced with even the tiniest barrier, they give up. And this occurs far too often and way too quickly in my opinion. Somewhere along the way, perhaps due to the very reason they contacted me, their resilience diminished.

Why is resilience so important? Well, for starters, we can all count on life routinely handing us things that get in our way of the real work we yearn to engage in.

Yet, someone who has highly developed resilience would set a limit or avoid altogether any brooding time. And, the prospect of giving up doesn’t make its way into their awareness. Without the option of giving up, what are people with resilience going to do? They’re going to face the obstacle, and trust the possibility that this is when creativity, quality, courage, initiative, and resourcefulness will likely emerge in their work. Anyone who has had this sort of experience understands the joy that will inevitably follow such an experience.

There are limitless practical tips and actions that can be taken immediately to help you develop career resilience. Here are some suggested strategies to get started.

Sustain a Practical Outlook: Resilient people are pragmatic; they know that they can control their situation and the choices they make in response to evolving situations. When a career change occurs, one thing you can do is clarify your core needs for your work, such as the core values, preferences, and talents that help you feel energized, enlivened, and fulfilled at work. Once you understand your core needs, they will become a resource for you in the midst of change. They’ll help you actively explore the change and its implications for your work. For example, you can ask yourself:

– In what ways does this change help me meet my core needs?

– How might the change hinder my ability to meet my core needs?

– What are some things I can do, now that this change has occurred, to ensure I continue meeting my core needs in my work?

Tap into your Resources: People who have high levels of resilience develop and draw from a wide range of resources. What got you through previous changes? What happened? How did you deal with it? What was the outcome? How can you take what you learned from that experience to help you now in the midst of career change?

Explore Possibilities: People with resilience prepare, in one way or another, for a number of eventualities that may come their way. Explore the future of your career direction and the specific ways in which your core needs, values, interests, and motivations can be brought back into your career focus through one of the following strategies:

– Enrich: Work within your existing job and workplace to find ways to bring your core needs back into your work.

– Relocate: Keep the job type, but decide to change your workplace.

– Move around: Keep the workplace, but decide to change your job or area of responsibility.

– Revamp: change it all – your job and your workplace.

Be Intentional: Keep your eye on your intended objective. Short term changes should not derail you from the “big picture” of where you’re going in your work life.

Having high levels of resilience offers you a different way of looking at difficulties that present themselves along your career path. The person who has resilience understands that no matter how prepared he or she is, no matter how much knowledge attained or skills developed, their most ideally suited work will bring all manner of set backs from time to time. These people inherently know that such challenges will foster their own innovation, so they greet the challenge with enthusiasm. This carries people who have resilience through tumultuous times, often resulting in their developing heightened resilience to future set backs.

By shifting your attention from what has happened to you in your work life to what you are going to do as a result of the change, you can actively participate and manage your own transition process in a way that honors your core needs and ultimately paves the way for you to experience long term career fulfillment.

Online College Courses Can Help You Stay Up to Date in Your Industry

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Traditional college degrees cannot supply you with the same flexibility and affordability that the online college can. In today’s times where vocational, professional, and even academic orientations can open a prosperous career for you, a college degree counts by far the most. A major role in such instances is played by online colleges that provide valuable and affordable courses to provide you with much better mileage within your career.

The the same education that the traditional or brick and mortar university can supply may also be counted upon if you go with an online course. If you are thinking you may not be chosen or selected for a final interview for a new job or maybe a higher position because of your online degree you should have no worries. Online courses provide you with the same high-value education as traditional school. Employers will not be concerned as much concerning the institution whereby you earned your degree from, but instead the information which you posses as the degree holder. The stigma against online schools is quickly disappearing as the popularity of online college soars.

The benefits of attending college online are vast. Many programs are available now starting from certificates, associate’s, bachelor’s, and doctorate degrees. Now you can chose the program that matches your preferences best and pursue continuing education through an online education route. Not only are there many options available to individuals who chose to study online, but the flexibility of the programs can simply not be beat. Never before has it been so convenient for a student to study at the same time they work full-time. Not only does online college offer amazing flexibility, they also save students time and money. You’ll save money on transportation costs and parking passes. You’ll save time by not driving back and forth to school each day. Many online schools actually offer cheaper options than traditional schools.

So you actually have a degree plus a career, what can online college courses offer you?

Online college courses will help keep you current in your industry. Online colleges offer certificates which can be of the same value just like any other college plus re-certifies your current position. Workplace procedures are never stand still and updating and you ought to continue with the new guidelines. Many careers require credit hours of continuing education within the most changing career fields and online education can assist you to achieve those credit hours. It is possible to take the classes while continuing to work within your current position. Since you’re already working, you can immediately start integrating what you are learning into your day to day work. Continuing your education and staying updated in your industry will likely put you in a position to be promoted or receive pay raises. When your employer sees your desire for staying on top of the industry, there’s no doubt you’ll make a good impression.

Online schools provide many good opportunities in today’s harsh workplace competition and limited jobs. Starting from a bachelor’s degree to a master’s or even advanced certified courses online can get you a promotion, show added value in your current position, and also raise your income. When choosing an online school be sure to begin a good support system together with your professors via e-mail and get in touch with the enrollment counselor about your intentions of returning to school. They will be able to point you in the right direction for the most relevant courses.

Taiji Ball Qigong Courses 3 and 4 With Dr Yang, Jwing-Ming

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“Taiji Ball Qigong courses 3 and 4” with Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming continues the learning experience that started with the first two courses on DVD 1 and the book that these two DVDs accompany. Owning the book and both DVDs, which constitutes four courses on Taiji Ball Qigong training provides one with a very extensive training resource for learning this lessor known practice found within Chinese Taiji and Qigong. The training with the Taiji Ball can strengthen the torso, condition the muscles, and teach the practitioner to use the mind to lead Qi. Additionally, it can enhance one’s Pushing Hands ability and is a stimulating and interesting practice to learn.

The programs on this DVD contain around three hours of instruction, and it is easy to navigate to different sections with the menu system when you are learning. Course Three consists of 16 patterns of stationary and moving Taiji Ball wrap coiling. These include: vertical wrap coiling forward, vertical wrap coiling backward, horizontal wrap coiling clockwise, and horizontal wrap coiling counterclockwise. The instruction is performed by Dr. Yang teaching to the camera while inside a studio. This is the kind of instruction I prefer. Subtitles are present across the bottom of the screen, though I have no trouble understanding Dr. Yang’s English. Some of the instruction has only Dr. Yang on screen, while most other times he has five students in the studio with him, and he makes points, corrections, etc. as the students perform the movements and patterns. Course Three is approximately 61 minutes long.

Course Four is approximately 112 minutes long, and brings the lessons from the first three courses together with applications, both solo and with a partner. By following along with the demonstrations and paying attention to the points Dr. Yang makes, a person will be able to add this training into their regular practice. Sure, it is always better to learn first hand from an instructor, but this is the next best thing for this little known practice.

The programs on this DVD are meant to follow those from the first DVD with Courses 1 & 2. Therefore, I strongly suggest you first learn the patterns from the first two courses before advancing to the courses on this DVD. All four courses combined with the book Dr. Yang wrote on the same topic will provide you with many hours of learning, training, and practicing. If you are interested in learning Taiji Ball Qigong, these are the resources to learn from. I recommend them highly for anyone wanting to incorporate this practice into their training.

Making The Time To Write That Novel

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Finding the time to write a novel is one of the major issues confronting writers, particularly those who haven’t been published yet. How does one justify to themselves, or to their loved ones, that they need time to write if they have demands on their time, like a job, or a house to be cleaned, a family to be fed, or shopping to do? They make the time.

To make time, one would have to sit down and plan it. If this is not done, then writing will become a haphazard event, dictated by a whim, or a passing urge, rather than a scheduled time. This often results in the book never really being finished. You do want to finish that book, don’t you? Below, I have my own suggestions as to how to make time.

  1. Think about your daily schedule, just like when you do a budget, only instead of money, you’ll be budgeting time.
  2. Then get a nice large desktop calendar, the ones that cost about two dollars. Begin filling in the mandatory slots for the week. Do you have a work schedule, or a doctor’s appointment, a meeting to go to, etc.? Then write these times down.
  3. Next, fill in the times for meals, showers, shopping, socials, etc.
  4. Now look at the times that you are free. Please don’t say there isn’t any time left! There will probably be some time available somewhere. Maybe it’ll be at lunchtime, if you are working, or after dinner, or even during the day if you’re a stay-at home parent (when junior is napping).
  5. If you are a new writer, start slow. Maybe find one hour a day and reserve that for your writing. Go ahead and write the date in the calendar. You just made an appointment with yourself. Now do it for every day of the week. You decide if you want to work the weekend or not.
  6. If you are a more seasoned writer, you will probably need more time. I find that I need a minimum of three hours a day to write. Sometimes I may also use this time doing research for my book.

Once you make that appointment with yourself, that’s the easy part. Next, you have to keep that appointment. There are so many instances when something else interferes with your designated time. I know, I’ve been there. Therefore, you need to have some flexibility. Always have a reserve time slot handy in case you don’t make your date. Although I was pretty regular and rarely strayed from my afternoon schedule, there were times that I just couldn’t stay on track. I learned to be flexible and wrote in the evenings. The important thing to remember is to not stray too far from your schedule, because it defeats the purpose.

Once you’ve scheduled your writing dates, then prepare your work area. Try and have it ready before your designated time. If you have a computer, make sure the printer has enough paper, and there’s a floppy disk available to save your Word files in. If you use a pen and paper instead, make sure you have them handy. Also, make sure you have enough lighting in the room. You wouldn’t want to strain your eyes. Make your writing area as comfortable as you can.

Now try writing for a week. How did it feel? If you’re like me, it felt great. Not only did it feel great writing, but I quickly found out it wasn’t enough time! One does need time to get into the story, to think about the dialogue, to write that chapter. Sometimes you’ll be so absorbed in your writing, that you may surpass the hour you designated, and that’s fine if you go beyond your scheduled time (unless it affects your other activities). There will be other times when you’ll sit there doodling, trying to write something, and it won’t be easy, so you’ll probably finish quicker than the allotted time.

The important thing is to write on a consistent basis. It’s similar to exercise. In order to see results, you have to do it persistently and over a long period of time. A novel can never be written in one sitting! Over the course of your writing, you’ll be learning valuable skills that can only come from experience. Also, you’ll notice that the more you write, the easier it’ll become.

As you follow your daily writing schedule, you will show your loved ones that you are serious about your work, and more importantly, prove to yourself that you can write that novel!

I wrote my first novel in 1-½ years. Being a stay-at-home mother gave me the opportunity to write during my baby’s naps, which averaged about 2-3 hours each afternoon. It is very rewarding to see your novel taking shape. If I could do it, then so can you!

Getting an Effective Sales and Marketing Training for Your Team Without Spending Too Much

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Admit it, even if you want to give the best and effective training for your sales team you still have to consider the cost of training. During this time when we all need to save for the rainy days, we need to find ways to cut on cost without compromising the quality of training we are giving to our sales people.

First of all, we need to understand that training your sales team is very important; it may be one of the most important decisions you can make as a team leader. Your people should be a constant student since every minute and every second of your professional life someone is also training and improving their skills in sales and marketing. You cannot be so content about what you already have knowing that your competitor is also trying to raise their level of competency.

But the problem with training is that it will cost you a lot. If you want to gain something you need to know that cost because everything good thing in this world has a cost.

Ask yourself the following questions before making a decision:

  • How much is my total training budget?
  • What are the specific needs of my sales team?
  • How many of my sales team needs this particular training?

These questions are important as I give you some tips on how to still get an effective sales and marketing training without spending too much. Here are some of my suggestions:

  1. Know what the specific training needs for your team are. Knowing this will minimize the time you need to spend for the training and thus save a lot on venue rental, food expense, facility rentals, etc.
  2. Identify who actually needs the training. If you are on a budget, you don’t need to let your whole sales force attend the training. You can reduce cost by letting only those who needs the training attend. However, if you have enough budget then letting them all attend won’t hurt.
  3. Do an in-house training. You don’t need to go out and rent a conference room when you have a place in your office. All you have to do is buy snacks for your staff and they can take care of their own lunch since they will eat lunch anyway even without the training.

Do not compromise the quality of your sales team just because you have a very low budget for training. An effective sales and marketing training can be achieved without spending too much.

The LeapFrog Text and Learn Review

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How many parents have to fend off their children as they ask to play with their blackberries or other PDA devices? Children just love the allure of these electronic gadgets, and they don’t want to be told that they’re not toys. The solution, of course, is to get them a cute little PDA type device that actually is a toy. That’s where the LeapFrog Text And Learn comes into the picture. This adorable little device resembles an adult’s Blackberry phone in how it’s shaped and with its full QWERTY keyboard. It’s a little larger than standard Blackberry phones or other PDA devices so that it will be easy for small hands to manipulate, but otherwise it provides a similar feel and experience that young children are sure to appreciate.

The Text And Learn provides several activities to keep children busy playing and learning on this nifty little device. All PDA devices must have a calendar app, and the Text And Learn is no exception. Children learn the days of the week as they select a day and interact with Scout, the on screen puppy character who guides them through playing on the system. When they select a day, Scout lets them know what he has on his calendar for that day, so in addition to learning about the days children are also taught about planning for the future.

There’s also a letter learning feature built in to the Text And Learn. When using this feature, children can press a letter and hear that letter read back to them, as well as learn what kind of sound it makes and what words start with the letter. A little animation on the screen will hold a child’s attention as he or she learns about each of the letters.

In order to practice the letter learning skills that they practiced with the letter application, there’s also a letter learning game where Scout is taking a bubble bath. Bubbles keep floating out of the tub, and it’s up to the child to pop each bubble. The trick is that inside each bubble is a letter, and they have to pop each bubble by pressing the letter that’s inside of the bubble. This will help children to reinforce their alphabet skills and give them more practice in using a standard QWERTY keyboard.

There’s also a shape game where the child has to guide Scout, who’s lost, to find a particular shape such as a diamond or circle. This reinforces shape recognition, and children generally find it to be a very fun game. Scout can also send the child a generic text message, and the device can be put into music mode where it plays songs as scout dances along on screen.

This nifty little gadget is a great gift for young minds just learning about and exploring their world. At around $20, it’s a wonderful gift at a price that’s certain not to break the bank. Children will love playing with their own Blackberry style device, and parents will appreciate that their children won’t be bugging them for theirs anymore. And everybody will be happy with the way the Text And Learn provides a lot of fun and educational play time.

See our Author’s box below for a current list of the Top 10 Toys of the year.

Prepping for the ABIM Exam: An Internist’s Candid Perspective (Part III)

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I’ve always wondered who actually writes the questions that end up on the ABIM exam. In my mind, I picture a Voldemort-like character leading a group of similarly dark souls, cackling each time they come up with a particularly tricky question sure to trip up some poor test-taking sap. More likely-and this is also pure speculation-there is a group of senior academic internal medicine physicians, fellows or even masters of the ACP (you know, FACPs and the vaunted MACPs that are listed on CVs) who are trying to devise a way of objectively evaluate future colleagues. But I still like the Voldemort characterization better.

On that fateful August day, test day, I felt like Harry Potter about to battle the forces of evil. After the alarm sounded on my iPhone at 6 am, I leapt out of bed, the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

The night before, I grudgingly put the books and questions away. Instead, I watched Game of Thrones clips on YouTube. In between clips, I got everything ready that, on a normal work day, would’ve been done in a mad-dash scramble in the morning. I packed my backpack with pens, a notepad, a watch, a hooded sweatshirt, and snacks including potato chips and chocolate chip cookies. My mom thought I was back in high school.

Lunch, which I also packed the night before, was one ham and cheese sandwich, one salami sandwich with mayo, crackers, a can of orange soda, and two bottles of water. Certainly I am a hypocrite, given that I normally advocate a low-sodium, low-sugar diet. But today, I wanted, and deserved, all my comfort foods.

On the way to the testing site, I blasted my motivational playlist: Eminem, Jay-Z, and Rocky movie theme music. I finally arrived at the site at 7:30 am. The employees were inside, but wouldn’t let us in. The only people waiting outside were, by the looks on their faces and the books they were flipping through, also ABIM exam takers. I asked a woman with MKSAP cardiology, “You ready for the test?” She did not respond. She must’ve thought I was hitting on her. Whatever. She wasn’t that cute anyway.

After loitering outside for half-an-hour more, the employees let us through the door. I was fingerprinted and had my photo taken, and I put my backpack in a storage locker. An employee said we would be videotaped at all times. I felt like I was getting registered for prison, but as I understand it, this is necessary to ensure the integrity of the test. Later on, some non-ABIM test-takers rolled in late. They complained that their 3-hour tests were draining. I had no sympathy for them.

When I sat down in my cubicle, there was a black felt-tip marker and a plastic-laminated pink sheet where I could scrawl some notes. A pair of noise-cancelling headphones hung off the edge of the cubicle.

I clicked on “start” and began going through the questions.

Unlike previous tests we’ve taken, the ABIM test consists of “only” 240 questions. They are divided into four blocks of 60 questions each, with two hours for each section. This gives a total testing time of 8 hours, including one hour for breaks that you can use at your discretion. For each question, I read the question stem and the answers before I would go back and read the paragraph(s) of text. This helped me put each question in context.

I had the greatest difficulties with the first block of questions. I was pressed for time, and had marked at least 10 questions with little red flags, because although I could narrow the correct answer down to two choices, I often couldn’t decide between the two. Worse still, I let my ego get in the way, and spent ten minutes agonizing over a question about eosinophilic esophagitis.

If you do the math, you have two minutes to answer each question. Given that all of the questions are equally weighted, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer, the right thing to do when stuck is to make an educated guess and move on. You should go back to the question only if you have extra time at the end.

Fortunately the other 3 sections were far more manageable. The questions varied from multiple paragraphs to one sentence in length. If I knew the answer to a short question, it was like an oasis in the desert. True to form, the questions also ranged over the entirety of internal medicine. My test, for instance, was especially heavy on rheumatology concepts.

Other people I spoke with, however, felt that block 2 or block 4 was the most difficult, or that their exams emphasized gastroenterology or nephrology. Thus, each test-taker probably has a different order of questions, or more likely a different set of questions altogether. According to the ABIM, some of the questions are also experimental and don’t count towards the final score (hopefully ones I got wrong). I wish I could figure out the exam’s exact methodology, but I fear that the punishment from the ABIM would be severe.

If I finished a section early, I would leave the clock running to take a restroom break, so that I wouldn’t eat into my one hour of break time, which I used for an extended lunch. After completing blocks 1 and 2, I decided it was time for lunch. Given that it was a hot California summer day, I ate outside, afterwards resting my eyes for 15 minutes in the hopes that I could recharge my brain.

Midway through block 3, I was in a state of flow. The clock and other distractions melted away, and I tunneled in on answering the questions like I was Michael Jordan preparing to hit the game-winning shot. At the same time, my number of bathroom breaks increased-there must be a study linking stress with increased urination.

Finally, I sped through the last 10 questions of block 4, and walked out of the testing site feeling good. I knew I got some questions wrong, and I wished I had studied certain sections with greater depth, but this was not a moment for second-guessing. I felt good enough to know that I had passed the test: At the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

The evening was a time for celebrations.

Breakfast Pays Big Dividends in Boston Schools

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In 2000, the Boston schools partnered with the Massachusetts General Hospital to conduct a study on the impact of the federal School Breakfast Program in 16 of their elementary schools. Researchers found that a simple breakfast of milk, juice and cereal provides a fourth of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of key nutrients needed by growing children. Breakfast reduces hunger in the classroom and improves the overall nutrition of the students. They found that student behavior and grades improved, especially in mathematics. Students were able to spend more time on tasks and were more creative. Attendance improved. Students demonstrated better concentration facilities and improved emotional functioning. Trips to the nurse’s office were drastically reduced.

Breakfast is by far the least expensive program for improving academic achievement, yet less than half the children eligible for the free or reduced price meals participate nationwide. One major obstacle is perception — breakfast programs are viewed as programs for the “poor kids”, a label many students wish to avoid. The other major obstacle is timing. Most schools across the country serve breakfast before the start of school — children who arrive late due to tight morning schedules or on buses that are late, miss breakfast.

Many of the schools in Boston have implemented innovative strategies to overcome the obstacles of perception and timing:

o Nearly 80 elementary schools now offer a universal breakfast — all children eat together for free. The “poor kid” stigma has been eliminated.

o Participating Boston schools make breakfast a normal and expected part of the morning schedule — no different than taking attendance.

o Boston schools serve breakfast in a variety of ways, using the method that works best for each individual school’s culture. Methods range from serving cold or hot food in the classroom from a cooler or thermal pack; grab and go, brown bag breakfasts; sending students to the cafeteria after attendance; or a combination of these approaches.

o Involving the children makes the program more successful. Children rotating being in charge of food delivery to the classroom, after-breakfast trash removal, and returning leftovers to the cafeteria instills pride and responsibility. They become part of the program, not just participants.

The Boston schools have been recognized for their efforts in the School Breakfast Program. Project Bread, the state’s leading anti-hunger organization and Boston schools partner in the School Breakfast Program, awards Boston schools that have achieved an 80 percent or greater student participation — the point at which the breakfast program pays for itself with federal dollars.

In 2002, Project Bread recognized 10 elementary schools with the School Breakfast Excellence Award. Each award is $1,000 that the school’s principal can use for any school-related expense.

The Boston schools have found that when their educators make it a priority and part of the daily schedule, it is more acceptable to the students and has a better chance to succeed. Breakfast is such an inexpensive way for Boston schools to achieve substantial academic results — especially in the children who need it the most.

Making The Time To Write That Novel

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Finding the time to write a novel is one of the major issues confronting writers, particularly those who haven’t been published yet. How does one justify to themselves, or to their loved ones, that they need time to write if they have demands on their time, like a job, or a house to be cleaned, a family to be fed, or shopping to do? They make the time.

To make time, one would have to sit down and plan it. If this is not done, then writing will become a haphazard event, dictated by a whim, or a passing urge, rather than a scheduled time. This often results in the book never really being finished. You do want to finish that book, don’t you? Below, I have my own suggestions as to how to make time.

  1. Think about your daily schedule, just like when you do a budget, only instead of money, you’ll be budgeting time.
  2. Then get a nice large desktop calendar, the ones that cost about two dollars. Begin filling in the mandatory slots for the week. Do you have a work schedule, or a doctor’s appointment, a meeting to go to, etc.? Then write these times down.
  3. Next, fill in the times for meals, showers, shopping, socials, etc.
  4. Now look at the times that you are free. Please don’t say there isn’t any time left! There will probably be some time available somewhere. Maybe it’ll be at lunchtime, if you are working, or after dinner, or even during the day if you’re a stay-at home parent (when junior is napping).
  5. If you are a new writer, start slow. Maybe find one hour a day and reserve that for your writing. Go ahead and write the date in the calendar. You just made an appointment with yourself. Now do it for every day of the week. You decide if you want to work the weekend or not.
  6. If you are a more seasoned writer, you will probably need more time. I find that I need a minimum of three hours a day to write. Sometimes I may also use this time doing research for my book.

Once you make that appointment with yourself, that’s the easy part. Next, you have to keep that appointment. There are so many instances when something else interferes with your designated time. I know, I’ve been there. Therefore, you need to have some flexibility. Always have a reserve time slot handy in case you don’t make your date. Although I was pretty regular and rarely strayed from my afternoon schedule, there were times that I just couldn’t stay on track. I learned to be flexible and wrote in the evenings. The important thing to remember is to not stray too far from your schedule, because it defeats the purpose.

Once you’ve scheduled your writing dates, then prepare your work area. Try and have it ready before your designated time. If you have a computer, make sure the printer has enough paper, and there’s a floppy disk available to save your Word files in. If you use a pen and paper instead, make sure you have them handy. Also, make sure you have enough lighting in the room. You wouldn’t want to strain your eyes. Make your writing area as comfortable as you can.

Now try writing for a week. How did it feel? If you’re like me, it felt great. Not only did it feel great writing, but I quickly found out it wasn’t enough time! One does need time to get into the story, to think about the dialogue, to write that chapter. Sometimes you’ll be so absorbed in your writing, that you may surpass the hour you designated, and that’s fine if you go beyond your scheduled time (unless it affects your other activities). There will be other times when you’ll sit there doodling, trying to write something, and it won’t be easy, so you’ll probably finish quicker than the allotted time.

The important thing is to write on a consistent basis. It’s similar to exercise. In order to see results, you have to do it persistently and over a long period of time. A novel can never be written in one sitting! Over the course of your writing, you’ll be learning valuable skills that can only come from experience. Also, you’ll notice that the more you write, the easier it’ll become.

As you follow your daily writing schedule, you will show your loved ones that you are serious about your work, and more importantly, prove to yourself that you can write that novel!

I wrote my first novel in 1-½ years. Being a stay-at-home mother gave me the opportunity to write during my baby’s naps, which averaged about 2-3 hours each afternoon. It is very rewarding to see your novel taking shape. If I could do it, then so can you!