When you have house guests, you make sure you show them a good time. When you have house guests who happen to be writers, you get them on the mic which is exactly what Pip and Tee did when writer and podcaster Lauren “Scribe” Harris came up for a visit, enjoyed a visit to the Madison Tea Room, and quality time with the Boom. Today on this episode of The Shared Desk, these three multitaskers sit down and talk about what they do to stay organized.
00:00 — Introduction
- Wow, get a guest in the studio and she comes out of the box swinging!
- Welcome for the first time in-studio our special guest (and recent house guest) Lauren “Scribe” Harris!
- Last time we heard from Scribe, she was with us at the Smoky Writers Retreat!
- What have all we been working on since the last show?
- Pip — Happy with the release of Dawn’s Early Light and all the blogging and podcasting we’ve been doing to promote it.
- Tee — Gives a rundown of the Facebook Frat Party
- And what exactly is the Ministry of Peculiar Pajamas?
- Lauren — Working between the lines between Starbucks, Audible.com, and her High Fantasy novel, Song of the Heretic
- Tee — Using the Ministry Protocol to cut my teeth on Logic Pro X.
10:21 — Getting a Writer’s Life Organized
- So many plates spinning for all three of us…
- Tee attempts to rattle off all the ideas we have working right now…
- Pip reveals her new idea concerning Hollywood and accent gods and demons.
- Tee is torn between where to focus his own attention between writing projects and contracting.
- Most writers are terrible at organizing their projects. True or false?
- Lauren gets scared of über-organized people
- …but she herself is wicked-organized!
- Lauren: “That’s called worldbuilding.”
- Scribe shows what a bad influence she is.
- Pip completely derails the show with a drop-in request…and then it delves into wacky fan fiction…
- Back on the project organization…
- Lauren does the longhand approach.
- Pip can’t read her own handwriting, but she still grabs random scraps of paper to get notes down.
- Tee prefers the digital approach to notes.
- Lauren uses checklists to keep on track with her day.
- Tee and Pip meltdown in front of PJ Schnyder, not in a nasty way, but just in a self-imploding sort of way.
- PJ was thinking [cue Archer drop-in]
- We were terrified by what we were facing on our To Do List.
- Tee remembers the first thing erased off the list.
- Colored “thumbtack” magnets help prioritize ideas and things to do.
- Scribe gets bored with the conversation and starts playing with Tee’s magnets.
- Pip wonders how having two writers in the same house affects our productivity.
- Before you get organized, find where your “hub space” is and hang your white board there.
- Scribe reveals the Covey Quadrant…and Tee gets an ice cream headache.
- And Tee uses that Archer drop-in again for the social media addicted ladies in studio.
- Downtime/Self-time for yourself needs to be a priority.
33:56 — Writing Advice from Crazy Uncle Charlie
- Scribe and Crazy Uncle Charlie are reunited…and it feels so good.
- Scribe has a fangirl moment. We’re not sure why.
- Pip doesn’t want to admit it…but she has missed Crazy Uncle Charlie.
- Charlie gives his own approach to organizing projects…which resembles something of a jumbles mess.
37:46 — The Wrap-Up
- And once again, the studio smells of cheese.
- Got some organization tips? A question for Crazy Uncle Charlie?
- 703.791.1701
- pip (at) pjballantine (dot) com
- tee (at) teemorris (dot) com
- Later on in April…
- Pip Ballantine will be speaking at the Library of Congress in 2 days!
- RavenCon, April 25-27
- DemiCon 25, May 1-5
- Balticon, May 22-26
- Lauren describes Balticon for anyone who may be coming to the con.
- Pip, even with her power as the Dark Goddess, can’t get fast service at the Hunt Valley bar…
- The Podcaster Cookout. It’s coming!
- And…..
- The Ministry of Peculiar Pajamas: The Pajama Initiative
- How did this idea come around?
- People want this to be a thing.
- Maybe Sunday night, starting early.
- This is an idea in progress. Bear with us.
- Pip’s glad March is done, but April is coming in hard…
- Lauren’s got another mini-writing/mini-podcasting stretch coming soon!
- The power of a Phil Rossi drop-in.
- Go out and get Dawn’s Early Light! NOW!!!
51:22 — The Outtake
Featured People in this podcast:
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Find us on Twitter at either Tee’s or Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at 703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at 703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.