top of page
  • Writer's pictureRobert Zangari

How to stay creative during a crisis, pandemic, natural disaster, and home schooling…

A week ago, I was talking to Arthur—the owner of this blog—and we got onto the subject of time management and productivity during this COVID-19 pandemic.  He asked me, “How different does your work load look today verses fourteen days ago?  Do you think the gloves and mask have come offyet?”  I had to think back to what was fourteen days before our conversation.  It felt like the 937th day of March.  In reality, itwas roughly March 20th.  We had just experienced a major quake in Northern Utah, a 5.4 on the Richter scale, which also resulted in the release of a hydrochloric acid cloud from the Kennecott Copper Mine that lingered over the Salt Lake Valley.  It was a very eventful morning and I decided to document it by taking a picture of my “workspace” for the day (see the picture below).



I was making progress on writing The Dark Necromancer, Book Two of Tales of the Amulet and didn’t want to get interrupted by another quake.  So what’s an author to do but get comfortableunder a table on a Nugget cushion?  If you don’t know what a Nugget is, google “nugget couch”.  They’re great.

Also, earlier that week I had begun the home schooling process for my seven year old daughter.  Needless to say, we were bashing heads on all the math processes.  I don’t understand common core, so, she’s learning how to carry the “1” the proper way.

Looking back, that was a really stressful week.  But I hit my word count goals despite all the potential distractions.  In addition to all of that, I was also running a Kickstarter campaign for the Audiobook of A Prince’s Errand, proofing the audio files Michael was sending me each day, and prepping my companion novella to said novel prior to its release at the end of March.

The following week I continued to meet my writing goals while also playing through the entire single-player campaign of Doom Eternal.

Both weeks had very different distractions, but I stayed on task.

In all honesty, my writing didn’t have any “gloves or masks” on.My productivity over the last few weeks hasn’t changed.  I’m still hitting my word count goals and I’m also making progress on a prequel novel I had set aside a couple months back.

So I got to thinking, why didn’t my productivity decrease?  I haven’t boiled it all down yet, but here’s what I have come up with so far:

First off, hope.

Not just a “oh, I hope this gets better soon,” type of attitude, but a firm belief that things will get better.  Dwelling on the upheavals doesn’t do anyone any good.  I can’t control any of what is happening beyond my immediate sphere of influence (and even that is limited with three girls rampaging through the house—at least my office is safe… Well, mostly).  I can only control me, my thoughts, and my emotions.  As long as I can keep those in check the fire of hope burns on.

But hope isn’t the only thing that’s kept my productivity up.

Secondly, discipline.

I’ve been writing fiction for nearly nine years now, so I’ve had some time to cultivate some habits.  One of those is writing consistently.  I have a dedicated time that I spend writing each day.  Those are my focus hours, and all I do is work on my current manuscript during that time.  Despite everything that’s going on, I still hold to those focus hours (that picture is starting to make more sense now, doesn’t it?  I’m not crazy—well, not entirely).

Now I want to share three things that have helped me stay on task these last few weeks.

A lot of us (if not all of us) are stuck at home doing monotonous things.  That is the perfect time to do something called, pre-writing!  What’s pre-writing?  It’s essentially playing the story out in your head while doing something else.  My writing mentor, David Farland, does it all the time.  What I’m about to share I learned from him.  Pre-writing is an excellent way to get you excited about writing that next scene.  

Think about your day. If you’re not pre-writing you are doing the following ineffectively:  Washing the dishes?  No, that’s pre-writing time!  Changing a stinky diaper?  No, that’s pre-writing time!  Supervising your kid’s school work?  No, that’s pre-writing time!  Playing a video game?  No, that’s pre-writing time! If you are doing something that is NOT mentally taxing, then you should be pre-writing.

So, how do you go about pre-writing?  You have to be able to mentally detach yourself from what you’re doing and dive into your fictional world.  It’s escaping, essentially.

Now let’s divert a moment.  I’m sure you’ve heard the analogy of our brains containing boxes—I’m going to butcher this so bear with me, it is 3:00 AM.  We have different boxes for different things.  Most guys have something called a “nothing” box—women have it too, but they don’t visit it often.  If you’ve ever had a partner, spouse, or significant other they’ve probably asked you, “what are you thinking about?”  I’m sure a few times you’ve answered, “Nothing.”  For some people that’s sort of a default—hopefully that’s not the case for us creatives.

A few months ago we had some gentlemen from our church over for a visit and they brought up this analogy.  My wife burst into laughter.  She boldly declared, “he doesn’t have a ‘nothing box’, he has a ‘Kalda box’ and it’s huge.  He practically lives in it!”

She’s not wrong.

If I’m sitting in my chair in our family room staring off into space and my wife asks me, “what are you thinking about?”  The answer is often related to my books.  I can count on one hand when I’ve answered otherwise, and those answers have always been related to our daughters.

So, what does that have to do with pre-writing?  Your “nothing box” is the default space where your mind goes during monotony.  Your goal is to turn your “nothing box” into “<insert your book series, world, universe, or whatever name you want to call it> box”.  You can do that by proactively thinking about your stories while doing something else.  It takes time and mental effort to cultivate that habit, but eventually you’ll be plotting a new scene while mowing the lawn, or seeing a particular moment play out in your mind while picking up after the kids.

If you don’t know how to go about pre-writing, start out with transporting yourself into your setting.  If you’re washing dishes, imagine what it would be like washing dishes in your story.  Imagine what it feels like, then what sounds are around you as you’re washing, and then visualize where you arewashing those dishes.  If you can visualize yourself in that scenario, then you can visualize your next scene.  Play it out in your head, open your mind’s eye and see what is happening to your characters.  When you can transport yourself at will, that’s when the magic of pre-writing happens.  And that’s exciting!

Another thing I attribute to my productivity is more religious in nature.  I recognize some of you might stop reading here, and that’s fine.  Before I begin any writing for the day I kneel down at my desk and offer a vocal prayer to my Father in Heaven, telling Him what I intend to accomplish and asking for His grace to accompany me as I set out on my task.  Whenever I have asked for that divine aid I have received it, especially during these last few weeks.  I know that those prayers have been answered, and any emotional burdens I’ve had concerning our world’s current state of affairs have been made light.  

Being able to find joy in our “new normal” is crucial for maintaining moral and productivity.  For me, I am the most creative when my mind is at ease and at peace.  I call that mental state my “writing groove,” and it often comes to me when I’ve done something that brings me happiness.  Being able to identify what brings you happiness, and embracing it is critical to thriving during these difficult times.  The answer is going to be different for everyone, and it’s going to take some soul searching.  I know what makes me happy, and I am striving to inject that into my life in a well balanced manner.  So far, it’s working.

Those five things have helped me the most, although they are probably other factors that have contributed to my productivity these last few weeks.  I’ll probably post another article here when other things come to my mind, but I felt I should write this up while it was fresh.

I know our new normal looks and feels daunting.  The world is struggling but that doesn’t mean you have to be struggling.Please, don’t allow the current state of affairs to throw you off your creative-game.  

On a final note, here is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite novels.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

—Frank Herbert, Dune

Stay safe and flatten the curve.

Sincerely,

Robert Zangari

13 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
Post: Blog2_Post
bottom of page