All my experimentation and money spent on index cards and software has not been in vain. I’m going to share with you the system that I have evolved to suit my way of working in the hope that it might help other freelancers like me.

You will need

• A large cork board
• A large assortment of different coloured pins (I have about 50 of each colour)
• A marker
• Some labels
• Possibly some coloured tape or sticky notes that are the same colours as your pins (these are to indicate deadlines)
  

  It should start to look something like this.

1. Take the marker and divide the board into eight rows (for days of the week and a label) and as many columns as you can fit across it.
2. Label the bottom seven rows Monday to Sunday (or Monday to Friday if you strictly don’t work weekends …  as if!)
3. Use the top row to add labels for each coming week. These will need to be removable so you can update it with fresh weeks every so often.
4. You are ready to go.

How to use it

There are a few simple principles to grasp:

1. Each pin represents an hour’s work. When you take on a new job you need to estimate how many hours it is going to take you and set aside that number of pins (I write at about 500 words an hour and copy edit at about 1,500 words an hour).
2. Use different coloured pins for different clients or jobs.
3. Populate the “calendar” with the pins, showing when you are going to do each hour’s work. Each of my days has space for nine pins (nine working hours). Loosely, the first pin is 8am-9am and the last pin is 5pm-6pm (with an hour off for lunch).
4. Use a specific colour (I use white) to block out days when you are not available and hours when you have appointments or non-work commitments during the normal working day.
5. Indicate your deadlines with a piece of tape (or even a dedicated pin) in the colour for that job.
6. You can play with the pins as much as you like but there is one rule: red pins can’t go past the red deadline, and so on.

Advantages

This system works for me because there is something about physically moving pins around that really helps me to understand how my time is distributed in a way that paper or a computer screen never does. I can tell at a glance if someone phones me up and says “can you do it by Tuesday?” If a job takes less time than I expected I can just subtract a few pins. For each hour of work completed, that pin gets removed and put to the side so progress towards completion can be seen instantly (and taking a pin out is a nice feeling). If something else needs to be slotted in, it is very easy to arrange the pins around it.

Handy tip: take a photo of the board with your phone camera and set it as your screensaver/background so you can carry it around with you.

There is lots of flexibility and scope for creative variation, but here are the basics.

It is not until you start using it that you realise the elegance of the system. Give it a go!

Related articles

• Time Management – Working from Home (workfromhomehelps.wordpress.com)
• Some Thoughts On Time Management (n0elle.com)
• Time Management Myth (briggsblogs.wordpress.com)
• Time Management for Small Business Professionals (pbsmartessentials.com)
• Three Tips: Time Management (lifestyletea.wordpress.com)

I like well modulated grammar. I appreciate the clarity and accuracy that comes from applying the rules. I also enjoy seeing those rules creatively and consciously broken. Language lives; usage comes and goes and I embrace innovation. But (and, yes, these days it is fine to start a sentence with “but”), there are some things up with which I will not put:

A BIG THANK YOU

“A big thank you” what? It hangs there like “a wrinkly elephant”.

Okay so, “A big thank you to all our supporters …” from whom? What are people trying to do with this phrase? It is so passive that the wonderful verb of thanking someone has become a wrinkly elephant of a noun that nobody will claim to own.

Fine, then, “We would like to say a big thank you to all our supporters.” Better, but that’s still a bit like saying, “we’d like to say a wrinkly elephant to all our supporters.” And why the conditional? Is there a problem?

“We would like to say a big thank you to all our supporters, but it sounds silly.” I agree with that.

Maybe if the big thank you is what you want to say then it should be in quotation marks? “We would like to say ‘a big thank you‘ to all our supporters.” That doesn’t make sense either, it just adds a dollop of sarcasm.

I’m reminded of the parson in church, “Lord, we pray for all the people in the world and we especially pray for the widows and orphans.” That’s not praying, that’s just telling God that you are praying – WHAT do you pray for the orphans?

Maybe expressing the wish to issue “a big thank you” is a way of avoiding actually thanking anyone in the same way that the parson who prays for widows and orphans never actually prays for them.

Well, I just want to say “a big wrinkly elephant” to all who read this blog.

Thank you for reading it, thank you for commenting and interacting with me. I’m grateful to you all and I just wanted to express that somehow.

Related articles

• Grammar Pet Peeves Part II (robincoyle.wordpress.com)
• Literary Pet Peeves (goldenbookwyrm.wordpress.com)

http://handcraftedproject.com/

Frederick Alexander is one of the heroes of what I have called “the experimental approach to life“. His thorough exploration of his own body’s habits lead him to discover that the feedback our senses give us about how we are moving (or not moving) is not always accurate. From this he went on to develop the educational method known as Alexander Technique that is unlike any other physical therapy and which has applications to every area of life. It is so powerful I think it should be on every school curriculum because of its effectiveness in preventing chronic spinal injury alone.

I’d like to blog more about the things I have learned in this area but, for now, here is one of the simplest and most effective practices to ‘take home’ from it. Fifteen to Twenty minutes of “semisupine” a day will make a huge difference.

Put Your Knees Up!

The way that you lie down and get up again – yes the actual act of lying down and getting up again as well as the position you lie in when you are down can really make a difference. Active Rest is a practice of Alexander Technique that realigns and relaxes the spine, improving posture and awareness of the space the body occupies. Doing it for as little as 15 minutes a day makes a noticeable difference but you will enjoy it so much you will undoubtedly find more time for this simple practice.

During active rest also known as the !”semi-supine” position you lie on your back and bend your legs so that your knees are above your hips, this has the effect of rotating the pelvis and stretching the spine, counteracting the accumulated compacting effect of gravity on your body.

Traditionally, in Alexander Technique, the head is rested on a book or two to achieve a comfortable alignment in the semi-supine position. You will need to initially experiment with getting this right for you. Too many books and your neck will be forced upwards, too few and your head will tilt back – you are aiming for your natural line of sight to be perpendicular to the floor and ceiling.

To experience the benefits of active rest you can’t just fling yourself into position but need to think carefully about getting down and up again in the right way.

1. First place your books on the floor at your feet and stand facing them. Take two paces back and one to the side.

2. Go down onto one knee as if you were about to propose. Lean forward onto your arms, keeping your back straight and bringing the other knee down to put yourself in the crawling position like a baby.

3. Gently roll over by putting your backside on the floor in front of the books and allowing the rest of your body to follow so that you end up on your back with your knees up and hopefully your head resting on the books.

4. Place your feet on the floor, keeping your legs bent.

You are now in the semi-supine position so relax and enjoy it. You can put your arms out to the side with palms flat or rest your hands on your midriff with your elbows touching the floor. It may be an unusual sensation but it should be comfortable. You will notice your back elongating and may need to move your hips away from you in order to keep your head on the books. Don’t fiddle with the books or move your head if possible, rather adjust your hips if you need to.

During active rest you can do what you like but it is really helpful to imagine yourself melting down into the floor, feeling heavy, and letting all your weight go down through the points at which your body is touching the ground. You can focus on your breathing, feeling your diaphragm rise and fall and slow down. Just take the time to become aware of yourself and the space you occupy, the sounds you can hear and the sensations you can feel.

Try it for fifteen minutes. When you are ready to get back up, it is important not to rush things. You will be reversing each step you used to get down. If you hurry this you can easily undo all the good you have done so roll over onto one side and then onto your front on all fours. Bring one knee up and straighten your body before standing up in a gentle fluid movement.

Active rest takes practice but once you incorporate it into your routine you will begin to look forward to it and enjoy the improved sense of balance and posture through the day. Use it to restore yourself in the middle of the day.

Alexander Technique has variously been described as an educational method and even a state of mind. It works primarily in very subtle ways by allowing your body to rediscover the suppleness and grace you had as a child before you were told to “sit up straight” and “keep still” or picked up the bad postural habits we all carry through life and think are normal. If you are interested in learning more then it is recommended that you find an Alexander teacher near you or explore the numerous resources available on the Internet.

Related articles

• Here Are Some Exercises You Can Do At Home To Learn Alexander Technique (lukeford.net)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you are anything like me you have a vague sense of desperation about how cluttered and busy your life is and an equally vague idea that at some point you will go about simplifying it. The problem is knowing where to start. I have found myself wishing that someone would just take me by the hand and lead me through each room in my house in turn and help me to rationalise and minimise. So, Lorilee Lippincott’s book 3-2-1 Stop came along at just the right moment.

In fact, Lori’s approach goes a lot deeper than just de-cluttering the material environment, she takes the reader by the hand through the attitudes and aspirations behind our desire for simplicity, too. This is not simplicity for its own sake but simplicity with purpose that is rooted in our dreams. It is about making emotional as well as physical space in your life.

I think it is Lori’s conversational style and her generous and candid revelations about her own journey that make this book such a pleasant trip. It is exciting, too, because right from the first page you catch her infectious expectation that things can and will change for you. Beginning with some ground rules about attitude, Lori tackles the problem of “stuff” in the first section of the book. She gets down to brass tacks within a few pages. It’s not rocket science, it’s not merely theory, it’s common sense seasoned by experience and practice. Most of her practical recommendations are things I have half-heartedly attempted at some point in the past but I have benefited from having someone saying, “do this” then “do that” – once again, small steps. She even makes you take a step back and think about furniture. She then goes on to look at some of the typically problematic areas for simplification, and this includes personal areas such as money and past regrets.

These words come from someone who has actually walked every step she takes you through and that makes them personable and authentic. This book has become my “manual” for spring cleaning this year (and beyond) and it has renewed my commitment to a minimalism that is liberating and intentional.

Visit the website for 3-2-1 Stop Running and Start Living. 

View all my reviews

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think everyone needs to read this book in order to get a better understanding of what is behind that tiny word, “Iran”, when the newsreader says it.

Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek journalist, was arrested following the Iranian election in 2009. Beatings and solitary confinement ensued as the regime attempted to extract a confession from him that he was a spy.

In spite of the agonising circumstances, he had been expecting to return to the side of his pregnant fiancée in London in a matter of days, Maziar writes with warmth and flashes of humour that betray enormous strength of soul. He comes from a family of dissidents whose love for their nation has forced them to defy three generations of tyranny. His father and his sister and numerous friends were incarcerated and tortured under successive regimes and Maziar uniquely weaves their story into an account of the recent history of Iran since the times of the last Shah.

This is not just a book about his imprisonment and eventual release, it is an insightful and authoritative analysis of the tensions within Iran and a snapshot of a generation that is ready for a change that was quite brutally denied them in the last election.

The author is at pains to bring a journalistic fairness to bear even on his captors and tormentors and the human elements of his relationship with his interrogator are poignantly told with a sense that the man who beats him is, himself, a puppet of the regime. This objectivity gives the author the moral high ground at every turn. The paranoia and ignorance of the authorities is starkly contrasted with his attempts to speak the truth. At one point he is interrogated about his relationship with the dead playwright Anton Checkhov, who they are convinced is another zionist spy.

The Iranians have a beautiful and ancient culture and many of the kindest and most well mannered people I have ever met are from Iran. It is tragic that this is not reflected in all the “bad news” that comes from that part of the globe and it is important that we do not respond with the same blindness that grips the current regime. Please read this book.

“Then They Came for Me” is published by Oneworld.

View all my reviews

Related articles

• Iran orders retrial for ‘CIA spy’ (bbc.co.uk)
• Former Iran detainees: Publicity helped their case (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Photo credit: El Chupacabrito

So I got tagged by Gillian of skybluepinkish …

She’s posted 7 sentences from her current manuscript, “The Dorothy Summer” (check it out), and now it’s my turn:

• Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
• Go to line 7
• Post on your blog the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are – no cheating!
• Tag 7 other authors to do the same

Most of my stuff is less than seven pages (I put up a fresh short story nearly every week at “Stories from the Borders of Sleep“). However, with minimal preamble, here are the seven sentences beginning from the seventh line from the seventh page of my most advanced work-in-progress, a phantasy novelette entitled, “The Coat and Ring”.

Like a man who has been in the sun all day and who through the night gives off the radiance of what he has absorbed, I felt a strong glow from him. It was impossible to tell his age for his skin was well weathered by the elements rather than age, and he gave off an air of rude health. As he looked at me, I also had the impression that he was about to pounce on me and overpower me in a playful attack, like a young cub intent on tussling one of his brothers into submission.

I introduced myself and asked how he came to be there at Terence’s table on this particular night. I wished to discover if Terence had a continuous traffic of guests to whom the same attentive hospitality was shown or if I had stumbled into some sort of occasional celebration.

Selwyn looked at me with slight amusement under his moustache once again and took a few moments to answer me, as if he was weighing whether to play a joke on me or not.

Delightfully random …

So I’m handing the baton on to a few of my favourite writer bloggers (who may or may not appreciate being tagged), but I recommend you check them out anyway:

Valerie Storey at http://valeriestorey.blogspot.co.uk

James Tallet at http://thefourpartland.com

Rolando Garcia at http://phantomimic.weebly.com

Mandy Eve Barnett at http://mandyevebarnett.wordpress.com

Curtiss Ann Matlock at http://curtissannmatlock.com

Marly Youmans at http://thepalaceat2.blogspot.co.uk

Lisa Wright at http://wrightales.com

Amberr Meadows at http://www.amberrisme.com

Related articles

• lucky seven (skybluepinkish.wordpress.com)
• Lucky 7 Meme (showard76.wordpress.com)
• Lucky Seven Meme (butterflydress.wordpress.com)
• Lucky 7 – Seven lines from new works (evahudson.wordpress.com)

Research tells us that “doodling improves concentration” so we should all do more of it.

The world is not enough.

Boxed Bird

Fife and Drum

Background

Surprised Horse

Devon Coast

Want more? Here is a link to my other doodle postings.

Related articles

• doodle art (doidoidagr8.wordpress.com)
• Doodle 38 | Bicycle Fun (doodlepack.wordpress.com)
• Doodle of This Week and Last (doodles.typepad.com)

Not surprisingly, fairies rule. But, not for much longer? While gnomes hold a steady baseline there seems to be a rising interest in trolls and goblins. In fact, if they joined forces they could push the fairies into obscurity any day now. The vulnerability of fairies is shown in a distinct downward trend in their popularity over the last six years – at least as far as Google searches are concerned.

Should we be worried about these developments? What do you think?

I’m rooting for the little green guys and their under-bridge dwelling allies, to be honest, but where do their hopes lie?

A quick look at the breakdown by country shows that is is in South Africa that the goblins are finding their strongest support and, oddly enough, the Belgians don’t give a stuff about fairies and prefer gnomes by a long way.

It would also seem that, according to some school children, goblins have been making trouble in Zimbabwe lately.

If you fancy hearing a story about the war between the fairies and the goblins that took place simultaneously with one of our world wars you can have a listen to the story, “Two Handkerchiefs” at Stories from the Borders of Sleep.

Finding this reed brought back a whole load of memories. There was a time in my life when I suppose all my dreams were in the 26 inches of black resonite that made up my clarinet – I wanted to play like Artie Shaw so very badly that I used to dream in swing. One evening, in a dream, I took to the stage with Louis Armstrong and we swapped riffs all night. It was amazing.

But this reed stands for everything that stood between me and jamming with Satchmo because the reality is, however much we picture that perfect sound, liquid phrasing and pure tone, it all has to come through this rough piece of wood. Every musician, no matter what their instrument, has had to overcome the brutish and mundane aspects of making a sweet sound.

As much as I would like to romanticise my affair with the clarinet, the battle with reeds and mouthpieces in particular put a dampner on things. A perfect reed would go limp in the days leading up to a performance. My unsatisfactory backup reeds would have to be broken in or painstakingly sanded and trimmed, often to the point of being unusable. A wayward reed would deliver a squeek at the wrong moment and ruin everything. To overcome these trials takes a special sort of perseverance that I am not sure I ever had. It was always easier to transfer my allegiance to another instrument until its particular  technical challenges would hold me back. As a result I play a range of instruments to a mediocre standard.

One evening, I took a flute down to the river Thames which flowed about 200 yards from the bottom of our garden. I thought it would be swell to stand in the reeds and play as the sun was going down. But my mouth and fingers were so cold I could barely get a tune and I returned home quite discouraged.

Now I am a bit older I have a better grasp of the fact that the beauty we can imagine in our heads will never be achieved without a lot of perseverance, application, discouragement and messiness along the way. It’s a hard lesson but, once we have learned it, I think we can find that the difficulty has its own sort of beauty.

Click here for more “Things Found” posts or listen to the Story of  “The Wisdom of Things Found” at Stories from the Borders of Sleep.

Related articles

• Flyin’ High (telescoper.wordpress.com)
• A Recipe for Success-Acting is a work in progress (kiariddicktaylor.com)