Maybe You Share This Problem? (A Love Letter)
And maybe you can help?
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Hi lovies,
I have a problem.
I wonder if maybe you struggle with the same thing. Actually, I know you do, because we all do, and my problem is just one aspect of a larger struggle we all face. How to allocate our time. More to the point, how to allocate our time in the deluge of information we face daily. (Yes, there are other pulls on our time, family being the one that comes to mind most readily. But that’s a topic for another day. Today I want to talk about the info onslaught.)
Here are some statistics to get us started. According to this source, the average brain processes 74 gigabytes of information a day, the equivalent of 16 movies, or 200,000 words, or scrolling on TikTok for 200 hours. What’s more, every year we take in five percent more information than we did the year before.
And I am ravenous for all that information. Ravenous, I tell you. At any given time, I have thirty or more tabs open on my chrome browser. I subscribe to lord knows how many Substacks. And that doesn’t count all the other newsletters I get. (God has not yet created a mailing list I don’t want to be on, especially if it has to do with writing, knitting, or embroidery.) My laptop desktop is crammed with folders on various topics. And don’t get me started on the piles of paper in my office.
The above-cited article also states that each of us create reams of information as well. Choose me, that’s me. I write tons in my journal that is of vital pertinence to my WIPs, this Substack and many other earth-shattering pieces. But that mass of information has a downside, and that is the issue of how to process it all? One day this week, I woke ready to write. To work on a scene in my WIP. But I had so many notes in my journals that I also felt I need to spend time transfering them. Precious gems of brilliance, I tell you, that must not get confined to the plastic tub where old journals go to die. I dithered: what to do? Which to choose? Spoiler alert: I didn’t do either. I took the path of least resistance and checked my email, which was rife with interesting Black Friday missives.
That is what happens to me when I am overwhelmed. I do nothing.
But. I must get these ideas transferred. I must get organized. So I tell myself I should just do it, just spend all my creative time getting myself organized. But then I' fear becoming that person. The one who continually puts off her creative work until some day. The day I am totally organized.
On the other hand. If I unleash myself and dive into my WIP headfirst, as is my usual style, then my disorganization will not be solved. And the issues with my WIP won’t be either. Because this is my pattern: get idea, fall in love with it, decide I must write it NOW, start it without proper prep, and then when it falls apart I spend hours writing about it in my journal.
I need to find a balance between all that glorious freewriting and getting that gloriousness in a place where I can access it. In other words, organized.
This is a first world problems. And I do believe in a no-whining-on-the-yacht rule. But I need a better way to think about things. So, I’m reversing things today and asking you for advice. How do you deal with the information overload? With processing information, both bits you’ve written yourself and things you’ve gleaned from the vast information network we live in? I’m all ears.
Love, light, and good writing
Charlotte
P.S. I sent my monthly prompt post yesterday. Click here to get you some prompts for December! (Paid subscribers get a handy PDF to print out.)
P.P.S. Please, for the love of God, if you have any tips, share them with me.
Resources and Events
For my local Portland readers: My sister the uber-talented (I’m not just saying that because she’s my sister) Christine Rains is exhibiting at the Wild Arts Festival sponsored by the Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon). She’s selling calendars, prints, and greeting cards featuring illustrations of her favorite Northwest hiking spots. This festival has amazing, beautiful and creative ideas for gift giving with a nature theme, all created by local artists and expressed in many unique ways. The festival is Saturday and Sunday, December 7 and 8 at the Wingspan Event Center at the Hillsboro Airport. Bonus (or at least I hope you think it’s one): I'm helping at her booth on Saturday morning. Stop by and meet us and buy stuff! You can visit Christine's website for a preview of the work you'll be able to purchase.
"Everything has a potential for new possibilities.” Liked this blog post and it’s a message we all need to remember (though I’m not a fan of writing everything one sentence at a time).
My friend and biz partner Debbie Guyol shared this link of books NPR loved this year. It’s a treasure trove, and you can sort according to genre.
I had a discussion with my friend Angie about “big books” when we were in France (she was our guest speaker) and she recently shared this post on the topic.
Books
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett. Emily, genius scholar of dryadology, or the study of faeries is cranky and determined. When a marauding pack of faeries appear at her university (Cambridge in 1910), she must help her sometime beau (she is in his eyes, but she has little time for romance) Wendell find answers to his heritage. Because he is of the Fae himself. This is the second book in the Emily Wilde series and it’s great. A bit of a slow start as things are established (the first one was for me, too) but once it gets going, it’s a page-turner. And Fawcett is a fine writer.
Summer School, by Dominca De Rosa. This is a novel about a writer’s retreat set in a villa in Tuscany. (Any ideas why I wanted read it?) Dominca de Rosa is the pen name for Elly Griffiths, who writes the Ruth Galloway series and other mysteries. I believe all of her de Rosa books are out of print, but many copies are available at resellers. (Mine is a tattered library reject with a plastic cover I can’t remove, and browning, near-crinkly pages.) It’s a fun read, not as sophisticated as her mysteries, but I’m enjoying it. Update: Debbie informed me, as she does, that Dominca de Rosa is actually the author’s real name and Elly Griffiths her pen name. Who knew? Also, I ended up really loving the book.
Workshops in England and France
Information, including dates and cost, for our 2025 England workshops is now listed on our website. And heads up! Due to distractions beyond our control, we’ve moved the deadline for the early-bird discount to December 1. (Commit today with a promise to send the deposit and you’ve got it.) We’ve had several writers indicate strong interest in joining and a couple of sign-ups already, so we recommend registering soon.
I’ve just updated our France page as well!
And if you want a taste of the adventure that awaits, you can read my posts about this year here, and here, here, here, and here.
Other places to connect with me:
My website (badly in need of an upgrade)
Our workshop website
My original blog (now for archive purposes only, no longer updated)
Astrologically, Mercury retrograde is a great time to get things reorganized, to reset, review, reorder, revise, rework, revisit, refresh, revamp etc and not so much pushing forward with new work. Mercury retrograde happens three to four times a year for about three weeks at a time. It's happening right now Nov 25-Dec 15 -- I find that these times give permission to clean things up and get set up for the next work cycle-- everything has its season and I've found this a helpful way to balance my own conflict with wanting to work and needing to get things in order -- you could also make up your own schedule for this if astrology is not your thing!
Do one small thing a day. Do a new small thing every day for a week. That usually breaks my cycle of unproductive chaos.