Nicholas Bate

On Writing, 42

Unless you are already a brand name it is harder than ever to get your novel published. But it is easier than ever to release it to the world; market forces will then decide.

Scary? Of course.

Go write. 

Support your Local Blogger

Productivity Tools (many free) from David Seah. 

How to Escape from The Cubicle now it has become The Bunker.

1. Re-configure the cubicle/bunker. See life in the cubicle/bunker as boot-camp training to make you as tough as you can be. Relish it, it's not for life.
2. Wander the grounds. Get out of the cubicle and make yourself known. Don't hunker down in the cubicle trying to avoid hassle: you'll just be be forgotten. Volunteer for stuff and do amazing work. Maybe somebody will give you a job in the library or the hospital from where it is a whole lot easier to escape.
3. Do what Jason Bourne would do. Never let anyone at any stage faze you. Look around and there is always a solution, always a way e.g. out of the the crappy meeting in which you are sitting.
4. Get a map from those who have escaped. Others have done it. What did they do? How did they do it? Copy the excellent strategies and tactics of practitioners.
5. Do press-ups every 45 minutes. When your opportunity comes you will need to run hard, scale walls and swim in cold water. Get and stay very fit indeed. Now.
6. Be beholden to nobody and no thing. They are wearing you down with the Zoom meetings: you know that. Anyhow: look what it has done to the jailers. 
7. Look out of the windows. Sure they are sealed and need a good wash. But look beyond that, out at the horizon: that's your goal. Not the next deep PPT deck.

Zen & The Art of Cubicle Freedom Protocol here. 
The Escape Manual here.

 

1. Re-configure the cubicle/bunker. See life in the cubicle/bunker as boot-camp training to make you as tough as you can be. Relish it, it's not for life.
2. Wander the grounds. Get out of the cubicle and make yourself known. Don't hunker down in the cubicle trying to avoid hassle: you'll just be be forgotten. Volunteer for stuff and do amazing work. Maybe somebody will give you a job in the library or the hospital from where it is a whole lot easier to escape.
3. Do what Jason Bourne would do. Never let anyone at any stage faze you. Look around and there is always a solution, always a way e.g. out of the the crappy meeting in which you are sitting.
4. Get a map from those who have escaped. Others have done it. What did they do? How did they do it? Copy the excellent strategies and tactics of practitioners.
5. Do press-ups every 45 minutes. When your opportunity comes you will need to run hard, scale walls and swim in cold water. Get and stay very fit indeed. Now.
6. Be beholden to nobody and no thing. They are wearing you down with the Zoom meetings: you know that. Anyhow: look what it has done to the jailers. 
7. Look out of the windows. Sure they are sealed and need a good wash. But look beyond that, out at the horizon: that's your goal. Not the next deep PPT deck.

Zen & The Art of Cubicle Freedom Protocol here. 
The Escape Manual here.

Support Your Local Blogger

Patrick Rhone has great books which will help.

Tuesday: How to Get What You Want, 21

1. Start.
2. Ask.
3. Start again.
4. Ask again.
5. Learn from errors.
6. Plan.
7. Plan more.
8. Plan even more.
9. Ask several people.
10. Persist.
11. Stay focused.
12. Get up early and work at it.
13. Read ten books on the subject.
14. Keep your sense of humour.
15. Start afresh.
16. Ask further detailed questions.
17. Revise the plan one more time.
18. Tear it all up and start again.
19. Know you are on the right track.
20. Accept it isn't easy.
21. But know that it is what you're here for.

 

1. Start.
2. Ask.
3. Start again.
4. Ask again.
5. Learn from errors.
6. Plan.
7. Plan more.
8. Plan even more.
9. Ask several people.
10. Persist.
11. Stay focused.
12. Get up early and work at it.
13. Read ten books on the subject.
14. Keep your sense of humour.
15. Start afresh.
16. Ask further detailed questions.
17. Revise the plan one more time.
18. Tear it all up and start again.
19. Know you are on the right track.
20. Accept it isn't easy.
21. But know that it is what you're here for.

Support Your Local Blogger

A fab book by Michael Wade is here. 

Always Helpful, 131

Your competitors are now deferring decisions to ‘the autumn, to the fall, to after the vacations’.

Not you. Between beach, barbecues and staff absences you are maintaining a flow of critical decisions to build a stronger, flexible and competitive business. 

On Writing 41

Get up early and write.

Stay up late and write.

Write on bus, boat and plane.

Write when feeling good. And write when in a bad mood.

But write. 

Stop Press. Free. 36h.

Meet Molly. Novel. Parable. Good read.

Free. Amazon kindle. 36h. 

Today. Assume.

1. Every e-mail costs you a 1000
2. Every frown 100
3. Every PPT slide 500
4. Every donut/doughnut/cookie 50
5. Every meeting over 3 people and/or over 45 minutes 100 x number of people
6. Every use of the lift for anything less than three floors 750
7. Every 60 minutes sitting without stretch, stand, walk and water 150

and you are working to a VERY tight budget.

 

1. Every e-mail costs you a 1000
2. Every frown 100
3. Every PPT slide 500
4. Every donut/doughnut/cookie 50
5. Every meeting over 3 people and/or over 45 minutes 100 x number of people
6. Every use of the lift for anything less than three floors 750
7. Every 60 minutes sitting without stretch, stand, walk and water 150

and you are working to a VERY tight budget.