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Wherein I ramble about books, movies,
music, TV shows, my life, and occasionally, hot emo boys.
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Current WiP
My ValentineGuide sequel = DONE
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
workshop wednesday - discipline
Sometimes it can be hard getting to the finish line. Without a contract, we don't have deadlines unless we impose them. We don't have somebody cracking the whip over us. In effect, writers are their own bosses. Working in your jammies all day is a perk.
This past two weeks I've been tested as I never have been. I'm not one for self-discipline. I'm a creature of impulse. I do things for reasons I don't entirely understand. I write in fits and starts, sometimes with such singleminded passion that I don't want to eat or sleep or bathe until the muse is finished with me.
Sometimes I'm a slack-ass. I just want to watch a movie, take a nap or play one of my gazillion computer games instead of anything productive. When I get like this, I could go weeks without writing anything. I try not to do that, try to reserve it for the downtimes when I'm cleansing my mental palate after completing a project, but I'm taking a rest before beginning something new. Typically I break for two weeks after wrapping up a book, though I have screwed around for as long as month before getting back to work. Good times.
Now I'm on the cusp of completing a project, 8800 words to go. I'll write at least 2200 more words today, maybe as much as 3300 if the writing is good. Tomorrow I will wrap things up. More than once, over the last fourteen days, I wanted to say fuck it and screw around instead. Not that I don't love writing, but this schedule has been grueling. But I stuck to it.
To do that, I dangled little carrots (and yes, I fell for it). Once I met my goal for the day, I could do something fun. Watch a movie, whatever. My incentive for completing the project is a nice dinner out with my husband and new handbag from a store at Mundo E that imports delightfully gaudy purses from India. I'll post a pic of the one I buy as a reward for finishing.
How do you guys keep yourself focused?
This past two weeks I've been tested as I never have been. I'm not one for self-discipline. I'm a creature of impulse. I do things for reasons I don't entirely understand. I write in fits and starts, sometimes with such singleminded passion that I don't want to eat or sleep or bathe until the muse is finished with me.
Sometimes I'm a slack-ass. I just want to watch a movie, take a nap or play one of my gazillion computer games instead of anything productive. When I get like this, I could go weeks without writing anything. I try not to do that, try to reserve it for the downtimes when I'm cleansing my mental palate after completing a project, but I'm taking a rest before beginning something new. Typically I break for two weeks after wrapping up a book, though I have screwed around for as long as month before getting back to work. Good times.
Now I'm on the cusp of completing a project, 8800 words to go. I'll write at least 2200 more words today, maybe as much as 3300 if the writing is good. Tomorrow I will wrap things up. More than once, over the last fourteen days, I wanted to say fuck it and screw around instead. Not that I don't love writing, but this schedule has been grueling. But I stuck to it.
To do that, I dangled little carrots (and yes, I fell for it). Once I met my goal for the day, I could do something fun. Watch a movie, whatever. My incentive for completing the project is a nice dinner out with my husband and new handbag from a store at Mundo E that imports delightfully gaudy purses from India. I'll post a pic of the one I buy as a reward for finishing.
How do you guys keep yourself focused?
Labels: Workshop Wednesday, writing
The jammies... the obsessive bouts of keyboarding when something flows...the periods of screwing around--um, usually on blogs-- just because its not coming so easily...and the carrots I dangle.
Yep, I fall for it too. "If you just edited these ten more stinky pages, I'll let you start something new, or crack that book that's been calling to you." :)
I've never given myself the grueling sort of test you have. The HBB just doesn't allow for it. But I do insist on spitting out 2000 word a day, minimum. That's nothing when I'm on a roll, when I'm not, its tougher, but it least it keeps me in the game and aiming toward 'the goal' Hopefully the 2 a day habit will compensate for the descipline that doesn't come naturally to me.
I've been a terrible slacker. I'm trying to kick myself back to work. Oish.
I wish I could reliably spit out 2,000 words a day. I try to hold my feet to the fire for 500 a day, though sometimes, I wind up throwing out all of them (like this Monday!). That's not to say I never get 2,000 a day. I've pulled off as much as 4,000, once, but never more than that.
Of course, I don't JUST write. I have a full-time job, but since I also do THAT from home, I have two occupations that require me to discipline myself to work. The paid stuff is a bit easier because there's actually someone tapping a foot at the other end waiting for me to spit something out. And I'm really much productive at home than I ever was when I worked in the office.
So, switching that over to writing isn't tremendously difficult. It helps when my CPs breathe down my neck for a taste of what I've written. That makes me feel I have a deadline of sorts.
And, of course, I procrastinate by visiting your blog and commenting. Not to mention blogging on my own. (I should be writing my scene RIGHT NOW! But I still haven't done my Wednesday blog post, so I'll probably procrastinate some more by doing that *g.)
That said, I do need to find some balance. I've been doing this fulltime since July, and the concept of balance is still foreign. Sometimes I mess around just to thumb my nose at myself. Then it's back to work the next day. Seems to work for me.
Tomorrow I'm slated to write 5400 and that will be it. Fin. I'm so excited I could pee.
Hehe, Lainey, you and I have a lot in common!
You have a sequel to write, Sara! *cracks the whip* I would so buy Duff's story. I love when a bad boy is tamed by the right woman. *shiver*
Jac, I admire you for working two jobs at home. My goodness, you have to be more organized than me.
I totally endorse the "no editing while writing" thing, Carrie. I learned early on that if I let myself get going I would edit the hell out of one chapter and lose my forward momentum, and never finish anything. I'd rather have a finished POS that I can fix than a perfect first chapter that will never go anywhere.
It's not organization that helps me get stuff done, though. It's the fact that I'm hyper, driven, and easily bored. I HAVE TO occupy my mind (and my fingers) pretty much ALL the time or I go insane. That's one of the reasons I kept working my paying job after we had kids; I couldn't imagine how I'd occupy my brain if I didn't work. But that was before I started writing again.
Now, I know how I'll occupy myself without a paying job. Unfortunately, we are now in a position where I CAN'T give up my job unless we sell our house and (possibly) one or two of the children. The good news is that my husband could soon be making double his current salary. If all goes according to plan, I'm quitting in 2008. Just in time for disorganized #1 son to hit middle school. To say I'm probably going to need the time not working frees up is likely an understatement.