We had a great discussion at my writers group on the weekend where we talked about what joy writing gives us, but also what we fear. I fear facing the keyboard and not knowing what to type. I want to write my stories, I love my ideas and my characters. I even sometimes love what I've written - but the anticipation of 'will words come into my head?' is a great procrastination inducer.
Deadlines are an obvious incentive (aka 'cracking whip'), but they are also a bit ethereal. They're 'sometime in the future' and it's easy to push aside because there's still plenty of time. I've retired from having a 'day job' and my time is pretty much my own. If I wanted, I could sit at my desk (or on my couch which is where I prefer to write) and work on my writing for eight hours. But that doesn't work for me.
I work best in 100 word sprints. It's a small, achievable goal. It's not daunting. I am so envious of those who can just vomit words onto the page but I can't. It just doesn't/won't happen. But I can write 100 words. It might take half an hour (or more), but it's not a daunting goal.
What works even better is if there is a reward for doing my 100 words. A carrot dangling in front of me to move me forward. As I'm on an eating regime where carrots aren't encouraged (too many carbs), I have found other sources of bribery ..... erm, reward.Currently I'm working on an upcycling project to turn an ugly brown chest of drawers (bought for next to nothing on Ebay) into something pretty. Once it got to the stage of being able to see what the end result would be, I was itching to get it finished. But I had writing goals to meet. So I'm not allowed to touch the drawers until I've done 100 words.
No writing = no painting.Write 100 words. Paint for half an hour. Rinse and repeat.
Works a treat.
However, the excitement of a creative project isn't the only 'carrot' in my enticement pantry. It's amazing how magnetic a dish full of dirty dishes can be, or grocery shopping, or sweeping the garage. Or writing this blog !
Even on the rare occasion that I'm totally engrossed in a scene, and could write more than 100 words, I don't. Keeping my write/reward routine going is important for my productivity. Until I started on this reward system, my word counts were all over the place and with more 'no words written' days than I should admit to.
My carrot system not only get the words down, it gets other things done. I use a bullet journal for daily to-do items which includes my daily word count so between getting my rewards and ticking things off my list - I feel a sense of achievement at the end of the day. Win Win.
Well, the next 100 words on one of my current WIPs (a vampire story set in Paris) await !
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5 comments:
Andra - I love this. I once went to a conference workshop, where a well-known author had similar problems writing. She set up a writing grid for each of her books that she was on deadline for. She would give herself permission to start at a certain word-count a day and slowly work up, then slow down toward the end, to give herself permission to set a reasonable schedule, even when on deadline. And she always worked in "rewards" of days off, vacations, and other things she loved to do. So glad you found a solution. And have fun getting your lovely furniture finished so you can move to another favorite "task." AFTER you write your words :-)
So glad you found a process that works for you, Andra. It's one of the things I like best about being an author...we each get to figure out what supports us in getting those words on the page. And, you've found rewards other than food. Excellent!
It is important to know your process and your reward structure. Every writer is different, they key is consistency--whether it's 100 words per day or 5,000. If you can't do it consistently it becomes a very frustrating process.
Interesting post, Andra. Do you get 100 near-perfect words or a rough draft?
What a lovely post and so true even if we do it differently.
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