How I Work

• Location:  As of now, I do most of my work in the state of Maine, in the little town of Boothbay Harbor, in my house, either on my bed or at the kitchen table depending on whether or not I think I’ll need frequent coffee refills.

• Current gig:  I’m a part-time tennis professional teaching kids ages ten and under the basic skills.  When I’m not doing that, I’m either writing a novel, a blog post, or working on Praxis projects.

• Current mobile device:  I have the iPhone 6.

• Current computer:  I have the 13-inch MacBook pro

• One word that best describes how you work:  Thoroughly.  

• What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?  Pages (what I write on), Safari (my web explorer), notebooks and pens (note-taking, idea-recording, day planning), coffee pot (coffee).

• What’s your workspace like?  Messily organized.  If I’m working at the kitchen table, I take only what I expect to need for an hour or two because I know I’ll end up moving.  If I’m on my bed, I have a collection of notebooks, pens, clipboards, books, my computer, phone, and either headphones or speakers ready to use if I need them.

• What’s your best time-saving trick?  Multitask.  My favorite is watching or listening to videos/podcasts while doing something else. This is usually something that doesn’t require too much critical thinking so I don’t accidentally miss something, like making or eating meals, tidying up my room, working out, or even painting my nails.  Everyone’s gotta treat themselves sometimes, am I right?

• What’s your favorite to-do list manager?  Old fashioned notebook and ink.  Every morning I write out what I need/want/intend to do and cross off each thing as I do it.  Still figuring out the best system for organizing my items, but baby steps.

• Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can’t you live without?  If we’re going strictly electronic, I think I’d have to say my wireless Beats headset.  Whether I’m listening to music, a podcast, or a video, they’re there to block out the rest of the world and pour the sounds I need directly into my ears.  Excellent.

• What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else?  Truthful feedback/criticism.  I’ll admit, sometimes I don’t offer it if it hasn’t been asked for or there’s nothing incredibly terrible or awesome to point out.  When it has been asked for, I’m very honest with both criticism and encouragement, because that’s what I expect people to give me.  

• What are you currently reading?  I’m in the middle of a fiction book called Ender’s Shadow, but I haven’t picked it up in a while.  For non-fiction, I’m reading The Last Safe Investment.

• What do you listen to while you work?  I used to listen to music all the time while I worked because it helped me block out the world.  Lately, I haven’t needed it as much unless there’s something going on immediately around me.  When I do listen to music, I usually make sure it’s something I know.  If I know the song, then I’m spending less brainpower listening to the words or getting surprised by something I really like or hate in a song I don’t know.  

• Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert?  I think I lean towards being an extrovert, but I definitely love my alone time.  If you’re at all familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality test, I’m an ENFP.  ENFPs apparently struggle with identifying themselves as either introvert or extrovert because they value both socializing and the quiet.  A great example of this is actually this weekend.  Saturday night I spent a solid six hours at an engagement party for a close friend.  About four of those hours was spent dancing, talking, meeting new people, and exhausting ourselves and I loved it.  However, come Sunday morning, when I had to get up to go to church with the very people I’d been at the party with the night before, I was so cranky and annoyed at having minimal to no alone time that my friends took me to Dunkin’ Donuts in hopes of improving my mood.  It still took a few hours of minimal conversation and recovery before I was done being cranky, but it definitely helped.  I have pretty good friends.  

• What’s your sleep routine like?  Irregular.  I usually stay up until 1-2 in the morning doing work, then sleep in until around 9-10, but I’m slowly trying to change that so I go to bed a little earlier and wake up a little earlier.   

• What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?  Matthew 6:26-27: Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

• Is there anything else you’d like to add?  Choose your work wisely.  Don’t sacrifice a memory or an experience for another fifty bucks in your bank account.  Live a life you can be proud of when you’re eighty.