Current Project: Romantic Suspense
Status: Slow
Status: Slow
Well, I didn't get much done in the way of writing this month. Not a big surprise. December is traditionally a bad month for me. Getting ready for the holidays, the kids home from school, and getting prepared for January birthdays really eat into my word count. I can't imagine having a deadline this month. (Elisabeth!) I'd develop an ulcer. That is the one advantage to being unpublished. Writing deadlines are only set by myself.
In the RWR this month, I noticed a couple articles devoted to being productive. I swear I've heard or read every suggestion under the sun for increasing production and staying motivated, but this type of article still catches my eye, and I find myself reading intently, searching for those elusive golden nuggets that will hike my word count.
NaNoWriMo is probably the most widely know number booster. A ton of people take this concept and add new twists. Like 70 Days of Sweat. Write 70,000 words in 70 days and check in on a blog for posting word counts and getting advice. That doesn't sound too bad. 1,000 words a day? No problem. Hopefully the kids won't get sick. Or I won't get sick. (or sepsis) Or someone at work gets sick and I have to cover for them.
How about writing 5,000 words a day until the book is done? No days off. Ack. That suggestion made me stop in the center of the article and get my Haagen-Dazs out of the freezer. That is out of my league...but imagine having a rough draft done in 20 days. Write a book in three weeks. I can see the appeal. And the stress and ulcer would be over in three weeks.
Has anyone tried Write or Die? writeordie.drwicked.com Three levels of consequences keep you typing. If you stop writing before your preset condtions have been met, there are gentle pop up reminders for the first level, annoying sounds for the second, or during the third level your writing starts unwriting. (!!)
Other suggestions include getting away from the Internet, Twitter, Facebook, cell phones, TV, and family. I've found my most productive hours to be at Starbucks. I like that mine charges for Internet and I'm too cheap to pay. I tune out the bad music and the weekday 11:00 senior citizen gathering and just type. I like a pace of 2,000 words a day. That seems to be where I'm comfortable.
Do I dare ask for New Years goals? Is it too early? How about just tell me what daily word count you're comfortable with and what is the most you've written in one day. I won't mention the author in the RWR who wrote 26,000 in one weekend.
6 comments:
Kendra, This month is a bad month to try and get a normal word count done. Especially if you have children. When you get older with no kids at home it's easier.
A good writing day for me is 10-15 pages. I seem to work a chapter at a time(my chapters are 10-15 pages) And a good week is putting out 5 chapters. If a book is flowing it can be more than that.
I've not tried any of the things you mentioned. I tend to be highly self motivated. When the kids were still at home and I wasn't trying all that hard to be published I wrote for two hours every afternoon. It is something that I think was ingrained in me as a student in band. If you want to get better you practice (I wanted to be first chair clarinet and then I wanted to stay there so I had to practice to stay better than the others)and practice should be done every day to hone your skills.
With practice you become faster and more efficient. There was a time when I highlighted things all different colors to make sure I wasn't redundant or starting sentences the same. Now it is instinctive when I do it and I change it right then. Those are things that come with practice.
So my main thought on this is make a sign that says writer at work or working, please do not disturb and if for some reason while the kids are at school you can't get your hour or two in- you put up the sign and ask your family to respect it. If you don't set the time aside to write no one else is going to give it to you.
Thank you for the Write or Die link! I love it.
I'm not sure what my goals for the next year will be yet. I'm re-evaluating what is possible for me right now. I am so hoping to feel better with the second trimester.
I do know, however, that I have to see more progress in 2010.
I used to write twenty pages a day. That ended sometime ago and now I write whatever I write. Right now, that means zero pages. No writing, and let me tell you, it's beginning to suck big time. I'm not morning sick, I don't have a baby or small children, an outside job, big club activities, etc... I have one lousy dog and a pretty self care husband and two cats who think of me as the purveyor of all things edible and that's it. I miss writing. My mother used to say I would always write because it was who I was and I always wondered if that was true. But early on, I met a woman who retired from writing -- she simply had no desire to continue. I have the desire, I'm just deadlocked.
My, I did get the teensiest bit off track, didn't I? Sorry.
Kendra -- having a deadline in December is something every writer I know dreads. When I do, I try to take a week off, but that doesn't always work and now when my family hears the book is due Jan. 1st. they roll their eyes and say, "There goes the holiday." I hope there's a lot of eye rolling going on next year! Apparently the only thing worse than writing during the holidays is NOT writing during the holidays.
Off topic again. Oops.
Alice,
You should go hunt down those triplets. Remember them? From a few proposals ago? I think those brothers might want to come out and play while you are between contracts and could just see where their story goes until another idea you want to pitch comes along . . . .
B.
Alice,
I agree with Bethany. Give the triplets whirl. ;)
I think my most was 30 pages in one day. Somewhere around there. But when there's flow, you can't stop it. ^_^ I need to tap into that flow again. As soon as I can get this guy with the huge neon sign that says "LAZY" to get off my back. I hate that guy.
Sometimes it's so hard to be consistent and have a routine when life gets a little out of whack. It's so worth it, though, and I'm dying to get back into a productive groove. I've been such a vegetable lately. There's such a difference when you're writing and not writing. Like the spark is missing, the accomplishment. I like to feel fulfillment at the end of a day and not very many things make me feel that way. Writing does. Looks like I'll have to ninja-kick that neon sign guy and get my writer on! Aye-Yah!
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