Tina Haapala, Excuse Editor

I'm not just the editor of excuses, I actually edit other writers' stuff from time to time. As a matter of fact, editing has become my one of my primary responsibilities at my day job. I'm very lucky, because I was originally hired as a temporary employee to help out doing financial things, which often involves numbers and math, and, well, let's just say its best for all involved that I stay away from that. Instead, the owner of the company asked me to look over one of his upcoming newspaper columns and I practically rewrote it. I liked the challenge to make a published columnist's work even better, and I wasn't worried that he would take offense. I was SUPPOSED to be temporary. It was clear my talents were better suited to low-calculator-use environments, so I shifted to the marketing department and have been there ever since. By editing my boss' and other people's work, I've learned a few lessons that serve me when I approach my own pages. ...

I’m writing this on December 29, and I'm thinking about the weight we put on this time of year. Your focus these next few days may be on many “lasts,” the last cigarette (THIS is the year you will quit), the last overindulgent meals and snacks (the cleanse begins on January 1), your last morning of laziness and sloth (new workout regimen starts at 5:30AM, January 1, er, 2 nd —you really can’t expect to start anything at 5:30AM after New Year’s Eve, right?). Your writing goals may be following the New Year’s Resolution script, as well. Starting on January 1, EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT. Just like last year. You will have daily, weekly, and monthly writing goals to keep you motivated, and you will start, as soon as you wake up on that first January morning. OK, well, maybe not THAT morning. It is a holiday, after all. You deserve a little break. One day will not put you that far behind. As soon as you get home from work on January 2 nd , that will be perfect. No, you won’t wa...

It’s amazing what you can get done in 30 minutes. A few weeks ago, I drove my stepson to his guitar lesson. Instead of spending my time there, losing another round of Words with Friends, I decided to try and be productive. I had a few ambitious goals for that limited time frame, but rather than think about it too much, I just waved goodbye and went about my business. It was time for an eyebrow wax. I don’t torture myself in this particular way very often, but it really was time. I rolled the dice and drove to a salon a block or so from the guitar shop. Amanda was able to help me right away, and when the ripping and tweezing was done, I still had 15, maybe even 17,  minutes until I had to head back. Do I dare? I had to go to the post office. The horror! As I walked in, I knew immediately I had pressed my luck. As usual, there was a line creeping along at lava’s pace. But wait, holy kiosk, Batman! I didn’t have succumb to the herd, I could weigh my envelope and get the...

Today was like any other day; I had to be certain places at certain times. I had appointments.  I rearranged the other tasks in the day to fit in the scheduled events.  No problem, this is life. We take the time we have in our day to do what needs to be done.   In the past month, I’ve had to take about 6 hours out of my week for physical therapy on my knee.  Of course, taking 2 hours out of my day 3 times a week was not in my “normal” routine, but once I marked it on my calendar, I found ways to make it fit.  The therapy sessions were allotted for the whole four weeks, and if I needed to make a change (which I did, a few times), I had to let them know ahead of time, so that they could also shift their own schedules around.  When we are trying to “find time” to write, it somehow does not appear. We fill our time with other tasks, rushing around, staying busy (or staying lazy, but with justification at the ready—tired, burned out, etc.), only...

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett is a book filled with lessons about race, tolerance, and class. However, weaved throughout the story of Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny are nuggets of wisdom about the writing process. It is, after all, a celebration of previously unheard voices sounding out on the written page in a time when most were trying to keep such words silent. Isn't that what all writers are trying to do? Get our message heard? So,in my next few posts, in honor of the release of "The Help" movie, I wanted to share some of the inspiration I found in this story of a book that struggled to make it into the world. Lesson One: Dedication Sure, we all know of the obstacles put in our way when we want to write. I don't have the time. Or, what would my family think if I shared our secrets? In order to even begin building the book, Skeeter had to convince Aibileen to help her. That was the first of many hurdles that race and class position would create. On...

Image: graur razvan ionut One of the biggest excuses writers have for not writing as much as they would like is lack of time. Sometimes, it is not an unheard of excuse. Most of us have jobs, families, significant others, pets, television, Facebook accounts, Twitter , eating, cooking, sewing on that button that fell off that sweater last year(etc...) to attend to. There are countless tricks we can play with ourselves to sneak by these obstacles and get to the writing table (I've written about some of them before ), but sometimes those obstacles become too overwhelming to ignore. This was the case for me last weekend. I KNEW I had writing to do, but I also had laundry to do; the laundry room was becoming a physical obstacle. Thanks to modern technology, this is a good chore to do while writing. The machine does the washing while I write, the buzzer gives me a chance to stretch while I move the load into (or out of) the dryer. And, besides, it gave me this idea for a blog post...

... or Danielle Steele... Many of us believe that we are destined to become world famous and financially secure novelists. I say, keep aiming for that goal. It is better to aim high and miss, than shoot low and make it. But until that day comes, what should you do about one of those things in the way, The JOB? Excuse Editor Tip: The Day Job Is Valuable to the Night Writer The J.O.B. It's the place you have to go, because you haven't written THE great American novel yet, or you have, and it just isn't selling like it should. Yet. So. You have a job. If you think you don't like your job, use that as inspiration to work harder on your writing when you have the chance. Oh, that reminds me. You do have the chance to write! That may be related to the job you have. Try and re-frame your dislike into gratefulness. Part of the reason you can write is because you are not spending your time looking for employment or worrying that you don't have income. Not having to ...

“I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.” If everything in our writing happened seamlessly, without struggle or challenges, we'd all be excruciatingly bored. And our writing would be as dull as the safety scissors in kindergarten class. We fantasize about the quiet room to focus on our plots, the pages filled with words ready for the world without as much as a missing comma, the publisher eagerly awaiting your novel with open arms...but if that was a constant reality, what would we be striving for? Each writing project reflects a writer's "because it's there" opportunity. The mountain climber scales a mountain with sheer skill and determination and arrives at the peak, heart pounding with the sense of accomplishment. If the same climber would have just taken the train to the top, he would feel a sense of loss. Yes, either way he gets to experience the beauty of t...

We're all guilty: We've put off our writing because of more "pressing" matters. After all, if we don't get done with X, we wouldn't be able to concentrate on our writing anyway. It's better to have our minds clear. So, we'll sit right down and start writing as soon as X is done, and of course Y, and, while we're at it, might as well finish Z... ZZZ. The next thing you know, you're wiped out from all of your non-writing tasks, and there's nothing left for your writing. You rationalize: It couldn't be helped, I had stuff to do... Excuse Editor's Tip: Instead of making excuses for not writing, make writing your excuse. Of course there are things that really must get done. I'm not advocating locking yourself in a room and leaving your responsibilities totally behind. I don't want to get emails from "writing widows" missing their significant others. However, if you've been struggling to get to your writing be...

From the desk of the Excuse Editor: First, I decided I wanted to write. That was easy enough. I'd kept a diary since I was a little girl. As a grown up, I attended a few journaling, fiction and poetry workshops. Great, my interest was peaked, my pen desperate to start moving. But, what kinds of writing should I start with? How long should it be? My workshops focused on self-expression, and I was rightly told: write whatever you want to, write what's in your heart, write what's on your mind. Write until it's done. OK. I agree. But... What if I want to share my writing? ...if I want to get published? ...and of course, what if I want to make some money? I started to research writing markets and writing contests. Sure, I could focus on writing the Great American Novel and send it off to Oprah and hope for the best. Or Ellen. Or maybe I could get the "Colbert Bump". Instead, I kept my head out of the clouds and put my butt in the chair. Using the...

We use this excuse so much, that if we added up the time we spent making it, we'd surely have added a few hours to our writing time. Look, we have to live our lives-- pay the bills, feed the kids, mow the lawn-- but if we want to be writers, our lives need to include writing. Stephen King wrote much of his first work during his lunch breaks. J.K. Rowling headed to the cafes and wrote there as a single mother. The cafe trips apparently helped her baby sleep. It was a win-win situation. Excuse Editor Tip: Log-in to your writing Dieters identify their consumption of excess calories by keeping a food log. Writers struggling to find time to write need to keep an activity log. Track a few days of your life, hour by hour. Examine the choices you are making with your time. A day with no writing-- but with two hours of TV, or a half hour of Facebook stalking? It may not have seemed like a time waster, but it put you that far back on your writing. Just as the dieter becomes aware of the...