As a problem-solver, I often see one desired outcome—and the usual path to achieve that. Because it’s my usual path, I’m comfortable with it. In terms of the Change Model, I’m in Old Status Quo. (See Where Are You in Your Changes? to read all about the Satir Change Model.)
However, with all my cancer mishigas (that’s a Yiddish word that means craziness), my usual paths just don’t work. I hope, now that I have booked most of my second opinions and clinical trial appointments, my writing time and practices might return. But I suspect not.
I’ve practiced writing in 15-minute increments for years. And while I don’t ever outline, I do use a reader journey, similar to a product journey, for my books. Yet, those practices are not helping me find enough writing time right now.
I need more ideas for that desired outcome of more words on the virtual page.
But how?
As with all juicy problems, this means I need to clarify the goal or outcome first. Then, I can consider multiple ideas or paths to achieve it.
Clarify the Goal or Outcome
As a consultant, I often work with clients who have a partial view of the outcome. My clients say things such as: “I want to see results faster.” However, that outcome is a result of many other pieces of work. There is no simple “from here to there” solution.
That’s why the outcome is so important. For my writing, here are my desired outcomes:
- Write on Managing Product Development at least weekly. I can use a Pragmatic Manager newsletter for one of those posts.
- Write here for the Question of the Week. I can use a newsletter as one of those posts.
- Write on my Substack to describe my cancer journey.
- Finish the Continual Planning book. I have a reader journey that is already wrong! (This is typical for me.)
- Write a short fiction story every so often.
These are all laudable goals. While my goals are “almost the same amount of writing I did before cancer,” that looks a lot like my clients’ desires for “faster results.” There are too many moving parts. I would need to write in even smaller timeboxes to progress on all of these things. Even then, I might not succeed.
My overall outcome is: write more words, preferably in these categories. However, given my reality, I will need to rethink my desired outcome.
To be honest, that just pisses me off :-). However, if we recognize what we want, we might be able to create more options to achieve it.
How I Generate More Options
I’ve written a lot about the Rule of Three. But I need more options than that—twelve options might be good. I need to break down my writing into all the various pieces:
- How to choose what to write next
- When and how long to write
- How to consider changing my writing practices.
Choose What to Write Next
While I appreciate all my readers, I will choose what to write by the value it offers me. That’s because I have limited time. I need to make sure I am willing to invest the necessary time for that writing. Right now, because I feel so much urgency for my nonfiction, my fiction is last in terms of value to me. That said, I hope to finish a short romance this weekend.
I know, it sounds like I’m saying one thing and doing another. But I have chemo this weekend, and I might be able to get a good start on a story and finish it. I don’t think I can do any justice to nonfiction writing this weekend. That’s why it’s so important for me to choose what to write every time I sit down to write. Value changes based on the context.
When and How Long to Write
- Since the docs tend to call more often in the mornings, I’m now considering writing more in the afternoons. I might have to change when I walk, but that’s relatively easy to change.
- While I love writing for 15 minutes at a time, I’m considering decreasing my timeboxes to 10 minutes. I might be able to find more 10-minute chunks.
- Forget the chunks entirely. Instead, choose one thing to write (by value) and spend all my writing time that day on that one thing.
Change My Writing Practices
Up until now, I’ve been a hands-on-the-keyboard writer. The words come from my brain, through my hands, onto the page. It’s time to reconsider my options:
- Dictate words. I’ve tried this for fiction with dismal success—up until now. If I can straighten out the reader journey for my book, I might be able to dictate the book.
- While I never use an LLM for writing words, I might consider asking the LLM to review my current writing to see what’s missing from my current blog posts, here and on my other site. That might give me more ideas about what to write “faster.”
- I am not an outliner by nature, but maybe with chemo brain, I will have to consider outlining. If nothing else, the outline might bore me and speed up my writing.
That’s seven options. Is that enough?
More Ideas Are Not Always Better
When I reviewed these ideas, I decided they were enough for now. I clearly have experiments to conduct. And a lot more writing to do.
As you followed along with my thinking, how did you consider your ideas and your outcomes?
- Can you rethink your goal to its component parts? Sometimes that works. Sometimes not.
- How do you assign value to each of the things you want to do? That might help with choosing an outcome for now.
- Can you separate all the pieces of the work? I’ve separated which writing, the times and timing, and my practices so I have as many options as possible. Can your problem use those ideas?
More options is not always better, but when faced with Big Problems, we need ideas to achieve our desired outcomes. We all need those ideas and a little luck.