15 Minute Method

I was visiting the bookstore the other day which I am want to do and found a new book by one of my favorite authors, Sam Bennett. She has a new book out, The 15 Minute Method, in which she talks about how much we can accomplish on projects important to us if we do as little as fifteen minutes a day. She offers a whole list of suggestions for projects that must speak to us. However, I have some of my own. The first batch is for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the others on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays and Sundays are reserved for rest, Justin, poetry events, and parties. Seriously, I never get much done on the weekends except live life without worrying about having to write it all down. Which (even for a writer who takes pleasure in writing it all down) is the best way to live. 

My 15 Minute Tasks MWF:

• Affirmation Cards: I start my mornings with my affirmations. It’s kind of like putting on a blankie on a chilly winter day. It envelops me in good spirits and prepares me for the day ahead.

• Check in with my friends/ make plans: Part of friendship is reaching out. And when you have a lot of friends you have to make an effort to preserve these friendships otherwise some of them go by the wayside. I have several friends I make a point of seeing once a month or once every two weeks outside of book club or birthday parties. One on one time is always important so usually I’ll meet my friends to walk around the mall or do dinner.

• Write erotica. Okay so I’m a little shy to be putting this out there. But I write romance/erotica. I will never publish it. It will never be the new Fifty Shades of Grey (which, by the way, did not engage in the proper rules of aftercare). It is just for me to enjoy and stretch my writing.

• Take/ organize photos. I’m working on index cards called “Leigh Cards” where I share my best photos. I have a good friend that is a photographer and as the weather gets nice, he’s going to help me along. I would like to explore more places locally and take more pictures of my friends.

• Personal Essays. It’s been a few years since I published a book of personal essay (The Meg). I’d like to write a book loosely between 2023 and the end of this year. I left a gap from 2018-2022 but I don’t really want to explore that area in my life even if it is just on paper. Title TBD.

• Movie log. Over the past three years Justin and I have seen alot of movies. I keep a log of movies that I long neglected until I found it in my fire proof box (I find a lot of things in there). 

• Opinion Essays. I don’t like discussing politics or current events with people I care about.  It’s just something I don’t feel comfortable doing. I don’t know why but I feel like my opinion is worth much. Here though, in this collection of essays, I’ll share it. 

My 15 Minute Tasks TTH:

• Checking in with my pen pals. I have an amazing family. Unfortunately, some of them live a little too far like my cousin Kathy who lives in Florida, my cousin Elizabeth who lives in Arizona, my cousin Amanda who lives in California or my cousin Mary-Kate who is stationed in Poland. That reminds me I need to print out my latest letter to Amanda.

• Social media time. I’m giving myself 15 entire minutes of social media which means Facebook, Instagram (where I subscribe to a lot of self-help and mental health informative accounts) and Twitter. Twitter is the only one I have under my pen name (Leigh Winters obviously). I’m always trying to amount new followers without having to show  my boobs (that was a joke).

• Reading log and writing essays. I have a reading log that I update regularly and write essays on each book. Sometimes I even draw parallels to real life.

• Short stories. I’ve been working on short stories for a while now but if I work too hard I get burnt out. 

Okay that’s alot and I’ll probably drop about five of them (keep in mind I’m also doing piano and sign language and knitting and omg why do I feel the need to be so  busy?). But 15 minutes. Sounds doable.