MOOTW and AOOTW and Other Things to Eat Up Your Time

Working as a reporter at the Pentagon, I learned a lot of fun acronyms. Among my favorites was MOOTW (Pron: MOOT wuh). It’s short for Military Operations Other Than War.

When you think about it, that describes much of what the military is called upon to do: peacekeeping, humanitarian operations, disaster relief, dispute mediation, even diplomacy.

I want to propose the creation of a new acronym: AOOTW (Pron: ah-OOT wuh)—Author Operations Other Than Writing.

Like MOOTW for the military, AOOTW covers much of what authors are called upon do. And if we regularize it, we miraculously eliminate the guilt of spending time doing things other than writing.

If it has an acronym, it’s gotta be legit. Right?

Work, Work, Work

When I first started writing, I never knew how to answer the question, “What are you doing?”

To answer “writing” seemed both vague and pretentious. So, I let it be known that when I answered “working,” it covered whatever I was doing to advance whatever project I had going.

In other words, it covered writing and not writing. Very convenient. And it’s more polite than saying, “Leave me the @#$% alone!”

In fact, AOOTW covers what I’m doing right now—preparing this blog post.

Get Back to Work

You may say I should close this document and get back to what I should be doing—working on my next book. And you might be right. The readers of the FWA Blog might thank you, although blog editor Mary Ann de Stefano certainly wouldn’t. (She has slots to fill.)

But the fact is that the posts are useful to me as a novelist, providing a break and also a chance to remind myself of some concepts that are important in my writing and publishing process. (Just like, say, peacekeeping operations might remind the military of some concepts that are important in its warfighting process.)

Some types of AOOTW are even more directly useful, like classes, webinars, critique groups, and conferences.

Oh, and reading, too. There’s nothing like reading something really good to jumpstart your own quality. Even reading something really bad at least provides a list of things not to do.

Working Hard

There is also a long list of AOOTW that are essential for publication and/or helpful for sales—things like checking and posting on social media, reading articles, newsletters and blogs about writing and publishing, and researching agents and publishers as you plan your query strategy.

These are all legitimate forms of AOOTW and productive uses of your time.

Hardly Working

But how about some less conventional AOOTW? Walking the dog. Doing the dishes. Folding the laundry. Working out. Staring off into space. Even having an adult beverage.

I get some of my best ideas walking my dog. I might dedicate my next book to him (which would be marginally better than dedicating it to the laundry).

If such things recharge your batteries and provide you with some peaceful contemplation (ideally, but not necessarily, related to your book), I am hereby certifying them as Class One, Prime, Pentagon approved, gluten-free, organic AOOTW.

So, next time your publisher calls to ask where the heck your overdue manuscript is, and your voice is slurred and you can’t remember your name and you’ve been thinking about whether sunflowers grow in Iceland (but your dog is walked, dishes are done, and laundry is folded), just tell them you’re engaged in some important AOOTW.

That’ll get them off your back, for sure.

Overworked

Now, before you all write angry comments saying that I’m advising people to call themselves writers without actually writing, let me say there is more to the author life than AOOTW.

Sometimes, you actually have to go to war. I mean, to writing.

You have to do all those other things we bloggers tell you to do—put in your hours at the keyboard, make your word counts, revise mercilessly, and all that other actual writing stuff.

But, go easy on yourself. Departing from the grind has its benefits, as long as you don’t overdo……………………….

What? No. I was not mindlessly staring off into space. It was AOOTW.

That’s right…I’m working here!

AOOTW is real. Pass it on. That is all.

P.S. Preliminary AOOTW indicates sunflowers do not grow in Iceland. But hang on, I’ll check again.