So, despite dropping out of the A-Z challenge two weeks ago
(*waves to everyone who is completing it today * Congrats!) I admit I’ve been
slacking a little on the writing front.
Some of that is laziness on my part *slaps wrists * and some
of it is having a crazy busy week with real life responsibilities.
I’m trying to get focused again this week though.
One thing I have to balance is when and when not to write.
I not only have to juggle real life responsibilities, but
sometimes I also have to admit when life is getting a little too much and take
a few days off to recuperate.
As I’ve mentioned on my blog before, I
think writer’s block is a myth. But I do think you can burn yourself out by
taking on too much (see me trying to do the A-Z challenge on two blogs) and
need to take a break from time to time.
What I sometimes struggle with though is knowing the
difference between when I genuinely need a break, and when I’m just being a
lazy arse.
This is when I have to "Patrick Rothfuss it", and
I recalled this brilliant quote.
"Writers block is a myth. The myth stems from the
belief that writing is some mystical process. That it’s magical. That it abides
by its own set of rules different from all other forms of work, art, or play.
But that’s bullshit. Plumbers don’t get plumber’s block. Teachers don’t get
teacher’s block. Soccer players don’t get soccer block. What makes writing
different? Nothing. The only difference is that writers feel they have a free
pass to give up when writing is hard. When writing is hard, I grit my teeth and
I do it anyway. Because it’s my job. Or sometimes I don’t. Sometimes it’s hard
and I quit and go home and play video games. But let’s be clear. When that
happens, it’s not because I’ve lost some mystical connection with my muse. It’s
because I’m being a slacker. There’s nothing magical about that." -
Patrick Rothfuss, Feb 23rd, 2011.
As part of my "Patrick Rothfussing it" and not
slacking off, I made myself a lovely little timetable this week; detailing what
I should be doing between when I get
up at 7:30am and when the kids go to bed at 8PM (after that the time is mine
and I can use it for whatever I want; be it writing, playing video games or
bumming around online). It helps that said timetable can be placed on my
beautiful Nexus 7, so if I’m tempted to play Simpsons Tapped Out, it’s there to
remind me what I should be doing.
Of
course, all this is subject to change, and I have to be flexible if
something unexpected comes up - like Youngest coming down with chicken
pox or the ASDA delivery forgetting some of our groceries - but when
things go smoothly, this is the schedual I'm trying to stick to this
week.
Another thing I’ve done this week to organise myself, and
hopefully make my writing more productive, is created a table (yes, I love
tables, okay?) of the 8 chapters/ 18k words I’ve written so far; each one
listing the chapter, page numbers, word count and a brief summary. I’m hoping
this will help with editing, so I can clearly see what needs cutting or
rearranging.
I've asterisked out the summaries, because I don't want to reveal too much about the story before it's complete, but you get the general idea. Going by the three-act structure plan I have, I estimate I've got about 2-3 chapters left to write in act one. It seems to be working out well so far, and I have a little
tidying up before I'm ready to move onto act two.
What are some ways you organise your time and your writing?
I’d love to hear other tips!
Hope everyone is
having a good week. I’ll be hopping around your blogs shortly to catch up on
anything I’ve missed, but please feel free to let me know in the comments if
there’s something important I should check out.
