day jobs, getting it done, inspiration, podcast, rituals, tips

On Episode 27, Hamid Ismailov reminds us how a day job can help your writing

Olivia No Comments

In today’s episode, we talked to the BBC journalist and prolific novelist Hamid Ismailov. Hamid has a fascinating day job – Editor of the Central Asia service at the BBC World Service – but he still makes time in evenings several months a year to write novels. He shared with us his system for averaging one novel for year, but still having time to daydream about your next project(s), and why he doesn’t want to quit his day job.

Tilted Axis Press photo

Hamid is the author of numerous books in Russian and Uzbek, which have been translated into English and many other languages. His most recent book is The Devils’ Dance. One of his first books to receive widespread acclaim in English is The Railway, which has an untraditional, folkloric structure and many fantastic characters. Since then, in English he has published several books, including The Dead Lake, about the area of Kazakhstan where nuclear testing had occurred previously, an elegy about Moscow called The Underground, and A Poet and Bin Laden, and many more books and artistic projects that have not been tranlsated. He was formerly the BBC’s Writer in Residence, and during that time he wrote many lovely blog posts.

We enjoyed talking to him, and we think you’ll learn from and be inspired by our discussion with him this week.

Full show notes are here.

Continue Reading

getting it done, getting started, productivity, rituals, tips

What not to do when you’re staring at the screen early in the morning

Olivia No Comments

Good morning! A post from the trenches of margin-writing today. I wanted to write you a post called something like “How to get started writing in the morning if you can’t remember what your book is about.” But then I realized that I am in that situation right now and I have no idea how to start again, and only 28 minutes to write, so I would be a hypocrite if I wrote you a blog about that. And I don’t have time to both remember what my book is about and write a blog post.

So this post is what not to do when you’re staring at the screen early in the morning and can’t remember what your book is about.

First of course, don’t start writing a blog post. Is this your book? No, it is not.

Oh well.

Second, do not let your cats sit on your notebook and cuddle up with each other. They will look too cute and then you will not be able to move them. And if you do, then they will just start eating everything on your desk, and that is also annoying.

Third: definitely do not look at Facebook. You will not find your book on there. One time (literally just one time) I had to go on Facebook to check out someone who was a fashion inspiration for a character. The rest of the time, I was just procrastinating.

(Point 3 also goes for Pinterest, although I do use it more for research than Facebook. You can see proof of this on our Marginally Pinterest page, which is not my personal Pinterest. I had a serious Pinterest addiction and have had to separate my writing account from the one about beautiful bedrooms and vegan baking.)

Another tip: don’t organize anything. Organization is a great procrastination technique, but you don’t need procrastination when you have max 1 hour to write in the morning. Organization is a great thing to do in the evening.

Fifth, don’t turn on your phone. I keep my phone on airplane mode until after I’ve written (or at least theoretically). Days when I don’t do that, my brain gets fried and it’s super hard to sit down to write.

Sixth, don’t forget to light your candles and turn on the music that makes you know you’re ready to write! That’s your ritual! Why did you forget??

In short, writing isn’t working for me this morning, so I’m going to go meditate. I’m really thinking about shifting my writing routine to the evening.

PS – I’m going to put this smug quote from an Earlier Me here for a bit of irony.

Continue Reading

getting started, inspiration, rituals, tips

Ground, Receive, Flow, Ground – a yoga sequence for creative flow

Olivia No Comments

This is a guest post from our Episode 14 interviewee, Divya Kohli of Yoga With Divya (London). We asked her to share a yoga sequence for creativity, and she has really come through with this one. It can be done slowly or more flow-y, but give yourself a minimum of 10 minutes – 15-20 is optimal – to get through it. 

Here’s Divya’s post:

 

Ground, Receive, Flow, Ground:
Ready to Write!

Yoga practice can help ground restless or scattered energy, including dealing with procrastination! Postures with deeper breathing can open our physical and imaginative centres. Sequencing of certain postures will literally ignite our internal energy – including creativity – and get it to flow. Conscious engagement with our breath can set up a steadiness of mind and clearer outlook.

Here is a sequence I’ve put together to ground, open up, release and then re-ground, taking you to a place where you feel centred and ready to engage in writing flow. Ideal preparation for when you want to get creative; but also a grounding sequence for anytime you feel a need for that.

Sequence credit: Yoga with Divya

Photo credits:  pictures are the original creations of illustrator and senior Yoga Teacher Bobby Clennell, apart from the last photo, taken of Divya while engaged in Alternate Nostril breathing.


Virasana (Hero) pose, with block

Kneel on all fours, put a block or fold a blanket and place between your heels and ankles, sit back onto the block, press the tops of your feet and toes evenly into the ground.

Now sit tall, lengthening the crown of your head upward and sense it’s poised above the tailbone. Feel even weight between both sitting bones.

Relax palms of hands up or down on the thighs.

If you feel pain or strain, add another block or raise the height under the hips to lessen tension on the back and knees. You can also place padding under the feet if there is strain there.


Ujjayi, (Victorious) Breath

After a few moments, start to connect to your breath as it is. Find it and follow it with awareness, how it’s flowing or not, wherever it’s moving to or not moving to.  Spend around a minute following your breath.

Then relax.

Take a deliberate fuller breath in and then out.

Take your attention back to your breath and start to cultivate Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath), often referred to as the ‘Ocean Wave’ breath as it sounds like an ocean wave rising and falling in the distance. Channel your breath along the back of your throat (where you vocal chords are), it will feel like you are filtering the breath as you inhale and exhale through the nose, mouth stays closed. Develop a smooth, no grasping rhythm and soft ‘hushed’ sound.

Stay here for 2 to 3 minutes.

Then relax and absorb the benefits.
If your knees or back ache, stretch out the legs while you relax and absorb the benefits. Or even lie down your back with your knees bent and observe for a while.

Maryjasana & Bitilasana, Cat & Cow movement

Come onto all Fours – stretch one leg back at time, from hip to toes.

Then return to all Fours.

On an inhale, tilt the tailbone up and send the heart through the arms, allowing for the spine to concave (Cow); as you exhale, draw the third eye (forehead) and tailbone in towards each other, curving the spine upwards (Cat).

Take a few rounds, synchronising breath and movement.

Allow for any neck releasing movements, and for circling the hips if that feels releasing.

 

 


Ardho Mukha Virasana (Resting Dog)

Sit back on your heels and stretch your arms out, allow the head to naturally low.

A great stretch for the whole body and particularly helpful with opening the back, regulating the kidneys (said to be ‘the seat of wellbeing’), stretching the stomach (to release tension and allow better flow of breath), and releasing tension from the hips, shoulders and head.

Stay for as long you like.

You can place head and arms on a bolster/cushion or block for added support.

 

Ardho Mukha Svanasana (Downward facing Dog)

To stretch the whole body, engages every muscle and joint and helps to calm the mind.

Totally fine to have the knees bent if the legs don’t straighten, or if that helps lessen rounding in the spine, or both.

Stay for 1-2 minutes.

Stay less time if feeling stiff or tired; in which case, move in and out of the pose by moving into Child Pose when needing a breather.

 

Balasana (Child) Post, regroup, release the back and shoulders

Like Resting Dog pose, only place the arms by the side, reaching back, with the palms up.

Head on the mat, or supported.

Take at least one minute here, tuning into the natural flow of the breath.

 

Surya Namaskarasana (Sun Salutations)

A classic flow sequence, hundreds of years’ old and practised by millions every day in the world as a vehicle for waking up the body, engaging every muscle and joint, and getting our Prana (internal energy, which is a mix of our consciousness and the energy of life) to flow to every part of our body.

This version keeps things simple – not much to have to remember.

Try for 3 rounds – or up to 5 if you have the time and energy.

Alternatives:

  • When lowering to the floor, feel free to lower the knees first, then the chest, then the whole body.
  • When pressing up to the floor, feel free to keep the knees and hips down on the earth.

 

 

Supported Setu Bandasana (Bridge, or… Heart Over a Roll)

Set up a yoga bolster, and a folded blanket in front. If you don’t have a yoga bolster, or one to hand, a rolled up blanket will be perfect too. Or a couple of cushions (one on to of the other) is just fine too. If you don’t have a blanket to support the head, just ensure whatever you’re using to lean back over isn’t too high so your neck and head can relax back without strain.

Sit on the support (bolster/blanket/cushion), slowly slide the legs away, and recline back, supporting the head just before it hits the blanket or earth if not using blanket.

Let the arms fall to the side, tuck the shoulder blades down the back and send the tailbone away towards to the feet.

Settle in. Ensure there is no pain. If the lower back is not happy, bend the legs and keep the flat on the earth.

Aim for at least 3 minutes, 5 is ideal for the nervous system to chill and regulate itself. This posture and set up is also great at opening the chest, releasing fear and stagnation, and relieving stiffness from the back and hips.

 

Savasana (Corpse pose)

After carefully sliding out of the Supported Bridge pose, roll onto your back.

Support your head with a folded blanket or pillow if that makes your head, neck and shoulders feel more comfortable.

Let the legs roll out, arms fall out.

Settle in.

Absorb all the effects of your practice, relax and let go.

If the mind is busy or goes into planning mode, let your attention rest on the gentle unforced rise of the belly as you inhale and exhale.

Aim for 3 – 5 minutes, 5 minutes is optimal.

Whatever time available, try not to skip Savasana as it’s when you’ll absorb all the benefits of the practice. Plus it takes at least 3 minutes for your body’s muscles and joints to let go of any tension residing there. 5 minutes is optimal.

From Corpse pose, stretch, sigh, yawn, let the neck roll to one side, then the other, then slowly bring the knees into the chest, roll to your right side, and carefully press yourself up without tensing the neck.

Bring yourself into any comfortable seat.

 

Nadi Shodana (Alternate Nostril breathing)

If you want to prop your back against a support (back of a chair, sofa, bed or put a cushion there) that is fine. Otherwise, any comfortable seat (for example, Sukhasana, Cross legged, or Vajrasana, sitting on the heels, or even siting on a chair with an upright spine).

Take one hand up to the face, and place the index and middle finger (second and third fingers) on the bridge of the nose. Breathe in and out through both nostrils.

Breath in to and out again, and close off your right nostril with your thumb at the end of the exhale.

Breath in through the left nostril for the count of 4, then close the left nostril with your ring finger (fourth finger), release the thumb from the right nostril and exhale through the right for 4. Inhale through the right for 4, release the ring finger and exhale through the left for 4. This is one round.

Repeat.

Aim for 3 minutes.

If breathing in and out for 4 is hard to maintain, drop to 3. Or up to 5 or 6 if the breath is naturally flowing for longer and you can sustain that count without strain.

Finish up by exhaling through the left nostril.

Rest both hands on your legs or lap.

Relax.

Breath naturally through both nostrils for a few rounds.

Relax.

Sit quietly for a few moments with however you feel.

Before moving out of the practice, bow to your heart and offer gratitude to something, or someone that you feel thankful for in that moment.

Stretch out the legs, and now you’re ready for whatever you want to focus on next…

 

Tips:

Go at your own pace.

Use a timer on your phone or a clock.

Enjoy it, rather than striving to get deeper in the poses.

Don’t beat yourself up over how you do the postures or breathing, and try not to evaluate your practice!

If time is short, you can flow this entire sequence in as little as 10 minutes (spend less time in Savasana and on the Nadhi Shodana).

Otherwise, 15 or 20 minutes is ideal for this sequence.

 

Finally, do go to Yoga class – real contact with a teacher cannot be matched online.

In Peace, Divya x

Continue Reading

inspiration, podcast, rituals

Episode 14 is up, and we’ve decided to ditch writing for yoga (kidding! Mostly)

Meghan No Comments

For this episode, we sat down with Divya Kohli, Olivia’s yoga teacher and friend, to talk about how the practices of yoga and writing relate to each other.

Divya teaches yoga and meditation for “the whole being”, a practice which can enliven  our bodies, minds and consciousness and help us throughout our path in life. London-based and a dedicated practitioner since 2000, she’s been a full time senior level teacher since 2006 offering community classes, retreats and bespoke tuition. A former newspaper journalist, she has a continued passion for writing… and using words like we use the breath in yoga, as a way to connect more fully.

As always, please rate and review us in Apple Podcasts, as this helps other listeners find the show.

Full show notes are here.

Continue Reading

inspiration, prompts

Writing Prompt 1: Meghan’s response & Olivia’s comments

Olivia No Comments
As promised on today’s podcast, we are posting our responses and the mini-critique comments we discussed on the show. Of course we’d love to hear your responses as well. The rules of the mini-critique are that you should pick out something positive, and then where you see potential suggestions or improvements, be constructive. Basically, like in so many spheres, the rule is “don’t be mean.”
Read Olivia’s response and Meghan’s comments here.
October writing prompt: Your boss calls you into their office. What happens next?
Anyway, this is Olivia – I am posting Meghan’s response* and some comments below. So first, Meghan’s response:
“Roz.” Margot beckoned from the doorway of her office. Her face was blank – for me, or for my coworkers’ benefit, I couldn’t tell. I unhooked from the network and stood.
I waited in front of Margot’s desk while she closed the blinds on both the office-facing window and the one that overlooked the street outside. Margot shut the door.
“There’s been a mistake,” she said. Then she disappeared.
Just — gone. I ran over to her desk and looked behind it, frantic. I crawled on the floor — maybe she was hiding under the desk — but she wasn’t there. There was no sign of her, nothing left behind, except me.
Sweat rolled down my sides from under my arms, and I sat back against the gray steel cabinet in the corner to think. No one could know. I had to get out, fast.
The handle of the cabinet dug between my shoulder blades and I turned. The drawer wasn’t closed all the way. Something [[i don’t know what – I haven’t figured that out yet]] was wedged inside. I pulled it out and slipped it in my waistband.
With one last look, I slipped out of the door. “Thanks, Margot,” I said as I closed it. “Yep, I’ll take care of that.”
I couldn’t leave right away – I needed to know if Margot’s absence was discovered, and I couldn’t look suspicious. I needn’t have worried. The afternoon crawled by and by the time I left, I was a wreck. I hadn’t done a thing, unable to face connecting again in case someone was able to read what had happened, and I had no idea how I could find out about the [[[whatever thing]]] I had found without being tracked.
As soon as I got home, I checked both rooms in my apartment, every cupboard, every corner.
So, in terms of comments:
  • First of all, I really liked how the suspense builds here, and the way the reader is drawn into a world and infers so much from the scene and the setting just from the small amount of text here.
  • I also really liked the image of the “afternoon crawling by” – it’s not a phrase I’d heard a lot and it’s a really good image.
  • I thought, in terms of things that could be done differently, I am a little bit weird in that I have a logistical mind, and so I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out where the door was, compared to the desk and the window. I couldn’t imagine it, so I suggested to take another look at that part at the beginning.
  • And finally, there were a few points where I liked the phrase, and they short cut us to the feeling we need to get, but I thought they could be more vivid. For example, “by the time I left, I was a wreck” and the word “frantic” in the fourth paragraph. What did that look like? What would it smell or sound like? And so we talked on the podcast about the importance of being in touch with all your senses in describing something.

But overall, we really enjoyed this process – although it was scary – and we look forward to hearing from you all.

 

* As we said on the podcast, this is really draft and we haven’t particularly edited it – we wanted to be genuine with you and hopefully to get you guys to participate with us in future ones!

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Continue Reading

getting it done, magic, news, podcast

Episode 7 gets real

Olivia No Comments

We posted Episode 7, and in it we open up about the ugly side of writing when you have a day job – when you can’t really manage to fit everything in, when you feel frustrated, or when you’re just really freaking tired. We know everyone feels this sometimes, so we just went with this feeling, picked it apart, and then talked about some of the things that can get us to writing.

Some of it comes down to this –

– but there’s some other stuff in the episode as well.

As always, we would love to hear how you are doing – so contact us here, on Instagram, or by email. Send us a voice memo, and we will include it on the show!

Full show notes are here.

Continue Reading

getting it done, inspiration, magic

Matters poetical

Olivia No Comments

The title of this post is totally stolen from a Times Literary Supplement podcast I listened to today, which had this lovely interview with the British theatre director Peter Brook CBE. You can listen here, or on iTunes or wherever else you get podcasts. The interview starts around 27:10, and it’s lovely.

Next week on the podcast, we’ll be talking about inspiration and motivation – what’s the difference, and what makes a difference for us. This is totally inspiration for me. I’ll give you bits of it if you are interested, but obviously listen to the whole thing if you want more.

First of all, he talks about the need to try but let go – we will have a longer discussion about this idea on a future podcast, because it’s something I’ve learned about through yoga. Here’s a quote from Peter:

There is something very subtle that can come through if we, just for a moment, try the best we can, and then quietly let be.

He then goes on to talk about what he calls “the formless hunch,” which I’ll let him explain:

I had to have gone through all the impossibilities. I had this very early on in my career, where people said to me, if you’re a young director, you must prepare. So I took it seriously. … I had a great ball doing this. But then I came into rehearsal and just saw simply that none of it was any good. And I think all one needs is to be able to say to oneself, ‘It’s no good.’ And at that moment, things fall away, and that’s what the formless hunch is about.

I really loved how he talks about the separation of the form and the meaning. He says that, for the podcast, they have a microphone, a table, whatever, but continues:

but they are not the cause of whatever good may come out of anything we say to one another. That will happen. And that’s why I say the formless hunch. People get obsessed with the form, and the form is just a starting point. It’s something we need… We need words, but words are just a form. Gradually you can find that the word is either a dead piece of useless bone, or it is vibrating because within the word there is more.

And then, the magic (bonus tip: I basically love anything about magic used in this way):

Yes you have to prepare and now, when you come to it, you have to trust the true magic of intuition, and the intuition only comes if you’ve prepared the ground and if you then have the simple good will to stop taking yourself so seriously.

 

*

We’re collecting inspiration for our podcast next week. What type of thing do you learn to hear about?

Continue Reading