It seems wrong, somehow, how many little tricks I need to keep myself motivated. I mean, it's not like I have a job cleaning toilets or something. I get to write. I get to create stories. I mean, it's practically the best job ever. You'd never know, considering how hard it is to stop procrastinating and just get words on paper.
I'm going away for a month. I leave in 15 days. Above my desk is a sign that says: "GRACE STEARNS YOU HAVE 15 DAYS TO FINISH YOUR FIRST DRAFT!!! TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE AND GET WORDS ON PAPER!" I change the number of days every morning with new sticky notes. It's a small thing, and yet I have put more words on paper in the last week than in the three weeks previous. Whatever works.
The other thing I do is reward myself with little pieces of chocolate. Cadbury Thins break into three pieces. I get to have one piece every time I finish about 400 words. (Only one bar per day though. Ha!!)
I have also, in the past week, become a huge fan of the to-do list. I have a big notebook on my desk and in the morning, while enjoying coffee and breakfast, I scribble down the things I want to accomplish. Today's list reads something like:
write 1000 words
work for C.
yoga
JdV followup
emails
blogs
etc etc.
It's mostly the same list as yesterday's, but damn, it feels good to cross things out.
I am a woman who enjoys the small things, that's for sure. Like the daily line through "Write 1000 words."
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Schedules
Okay, I'll admit it: I love routine.
Now, we're not talking 9-5 office job routine. Or even get-up-every-day-at-the-same-time routine. But I am a creature of habit.
An average day looks like this: wake up (usually some time between 8 and 9:30) and stumble to the computer. Check email, drink the coffee so lovingly prepared by my husband, get up and eat a bowl of cereal. Work during the day--writing, reading, catching up with the occasional television show, once a week I have a 'phone call day' where it seems I do a lot of talking on the phone. At some point in there I eat some lunch. About an hour before my husband is due home I think about making dinner. The evenings are spent with him.
Of course, this is only when he's at school. He's been off the past four weeks and my whole schedule has gone off into a wild and wacky course of madness. I still get the sleep and the coffee and the email and the cereal, but the work has been shot to hell. I'm not complaining, per se, because I loved having him home, but... work. Work needs to be done.
Today I am going to get to page 230. (I'm at 228.) And then, hopefully, I will get past 230 to 235 and then perhaps even near 240. I'd like to hit 60,000 words today!
Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to blog that I did so!
Now, we're not talking 9-5 office job routine. Or even get-up-every-day-at-the-same-time routine. But I am a creature of habit.
An average day looks like this: wake up (usually some time between 8 and 9:30) and stumble to the computer. Check email, drink the coffee so lovingly prepared by my husband, get up and eat a bowl of cereal. Work during the day--writing, reading, catching up with the occasional television show, once a week I have a 'phone call day' where it seems I do a lot of talking on the phone. At some point in there I eat some lunch. About an hour before my husband is due home I think about making dinner. The evenings are spent with him.
Of course, this is only when he's at school. He's been off the past four weeks and my whole schedule has gone off into a wild and wacky course of madness. I still get the sleep and the coffee and the email and the cereal, but the work has been shot to hell. I'm not complaining, per se, because I loved having him home, but... work. Work needs to be done.
Today I am going to get to page 230. (I'm at 228.) And then, hopefully, I will get past 230 to 235 and then perhaps even near 240. I'd like to hit 60,000 words today!
Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to blog that I did so!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Writer on Writing
"If you wish to be a better writer, write."
--Epictetus
But here are a few other things I've found helpful over the years.
1. DON'T EDIT. Not at all, if you can help it. Not until the entire first draft is done. It is always so tempting to fuss and fidget with a sentence instead of getting new words on paper.
2. GET WORDS ON PAPER. 50-100-250-1000... set yourself a doable *daily* goal and then do it. Daily. Writing is a muscle that gets flabby and out of shape faster than anything else. The operative word is doable, though. If you have a day job and a busy social life or a husband and fifteen kids, you may not be able to get 20 pages a day written. But you'll still probably have time to write one. It's like when you start any exercise program---you may want to run a marathon, but if you try running a marathon on your first day of training you will become utterly discouraged and you'll fail completely...and never want to run again. And when you meet your daily goal? (It's good to set weekly/monthly ones too) Do something for yourself. Maybe for your daily goals you buy a box of gold stars and stick them on a calendar every day you make it. Weekly? Maybe a food/drink treat. Monthly? A manicure. Or a new book.
3. Don't worry about what other people think. In later drafts, you can have people read and tell you where the plot holes are, or what needs fixing, or what doesn't make sense. If you ask for any of that too soon in the process, it is easy to become discouraged--or distracted. At the same time, it is great to have another writer friend you trust, who you can talk to about being a writer. The highs, the lows, the great inspiration you had, the day you sat and worked even though you wanted to do something else... it's not about telling them all the details of your story, necessarily, it's about knowing there are other people going through similar things. Writing is a lonely job. It's always good to have friends who know what that feels like. (It's important this writer friend and you are not competitive, though. Support each other, yes, even challenge each other... but don't compete. The second half of my novel was written while I had meetings with another writer friend once a week. She was just starting her first novel at the time. We didn't even read a word of each other's stuff until after our second--maybe third--drafts were done! But we supported each other like CRAZY. I miss that now, having moved so far away.)
4. It's fantastic when inspiration happens, but if every writer waited to be inspired before actually writing their 50-100-250-1000-???? words for the day, no books would ever get written. Writing is a job. You have to do it even if you're having a bad day. You have to do it even if you feel like everything you're writing is absolute garbage. Words on the page. That's what matters. Quantity is for the first draft; quality is for editing. When that first draft is done, done, done.
5. Lastly (I kind of feel like I could go on forever, but I won't! Ha!) here is a tip that works AMAZINGLY WELL for me, especially when I don't feel like working: Set a timer for ten minutes. Pick up your pen or put your fingers on the keyboard, and DO NOT STOP WRITING until that timer goes off. I've written about this before. It still holds amazingly true.
And a book rec: Seven Steps on the Writer's Path: The Journey from Frustration to Fulfillment by Nancy Pickard and Lynn Lott. It is one of the best books on creating art I've ever read.
--Epictetus
But here are a few other things I've found helpful over the years.
1. DON'T EDIT. Not at all, if you can help it. Not until the entire first draft is done. It is always so tempting to fuss and fidget with a sentence instead of getting new words on paper.
2. GET WORDS ON PAPER. 50-100-250-1000... set yourself a doable *daily* goal and then do it. Daily. Writing is a muscle that gets flabby and out of shape faster than anything else. The operative word is doable, though. If you have a day job and a busy social life or a husband and fifteen kids, you may not be able to get 20 pages a day written. But you'll still probably have time to write one. It's like when you start any exercise program---you may want to run a marathon, but if you try running a marathon on your first day of training you will become utterly discouraged and you'll fail completely...and never want to run again. And when you meet your daily goal? (It's good to set weekly/monthly ones too) Do something for yourself. Maybe for your daily goals you buy a box of gold stars and stick them on a calendar every day you make it. Weekly? Maybe a food/drink treat. Monthly? A manicure. Or a new book.
3. Don't worry about what other people think. In later drafts, you can have people read and tell you where the plot holes are, or what needs fixing, or what doesn't make sense. If you ask for any of that too soon in the process, it is easy to become discouraged--or distracted. At the same time, it is great to have another writer friend you trust, who you can talk to about being a writer. The highs, the lows, the great inspiration you had, the day you sat and worked even though you wanted to do something else... it's not about telling them all the details of your story, necessarily, it's about knowing there are other people going through similar things. Writing is a lonely job. It's always good to have friends who know what that feels like. (It's important this writer friend and you are not competitive, though. Support each other, yes, even challenge each other... but don't compete. The second half of my novel was written while I had meetings with another writer friend once a week. She was just starting her first novel at the time. We didn't even read a word of each other's stuff until after our second--maybe third--drafts were done! But we supported each other like CRAZY. I miss that now, having moved so far away.)
4. It's fantastic when inspiration happens, but if every writer waited to be inspired before actually writing their 50-100-250-1000-???? words for the day, no books would ever get written. Writing is a job. You have to do it even if you're having a bad day. You have to do it even if you feel like everything you're writing is absolute garbage. Words on the page. That's what matters. Quantity is for the first draft; quality is for editing. When that first draft is done, done, done.
5. Lastly (I kind of feel like I could go on forever, but I won't! Ha!) here is a tip that works AMAZINGLY WELL for me, especially when I don't feel like working: Set a timer for ten minutes. Pick up your pen or put your fingers on the keyboard, and DO NOT STOP WRITING until that timer goes off. I've written about this before. It still holds amazingly true.
And a book rec: Seven Steps on the Writer's Path: The Journey from Frustration to Fulfillment by Nancy Pickard and Lynn Lott. It is one of the best books on creating art I've ever read.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
A list of inappropriate questions:
Most people have little voices in their heads warning them when a topic of conversation is unsuitable. And yet so few people actually listen to that little voice. So, for the edification of those who cannot seem to keep their mouths shut, I present a list of inappropriate questions.
1. Why don't you have a boyfriend? (Alternatively: When are you going to find a boyfriend?)
This seems like the most obvious question not to ask, and yet, it still gets posed to single girls worldwide, making them feel sad, lonely and somehow like lesser-beings-of-the-universe when, in fact, they are merely single. Sometimes happier single then they might be with a boorish boyfriend who cares more about boys' night out than couples' night in. Maybe she's holding out for someone better suited to her, Big Mouth Who Speaks Without Thinking (hereafter: BMWSWT). Maybe she doesn't want a man just for the sake of having a man. Maybe she feels sorrier for you than you do for her.
2. When are you getting married?
The moment you're in a relationship longer than five minutes, this is the de rigueur question. But here's the thing, BMWSWT, if the person (yes, usually the girl) you ask this question of knew when she was getting married? She'd be a fiancee. And the last thing she wants (especially if, God forbid, she's been in the relationship longer than a year... or two... or even ten) is some obnoxiously nosy BMWSWT pointing this out. You may ask this question when she's wearing an engagement ring. (Question 1a: Wow, how big is that diamond? Also always inappropriate!)
3. When are you having babies?
It never fails. As soon as the ring has been acquired, and the aisle has been walked, ten minutes later the same BMWSWT jumps back into the Inappropriate Question Fray with "When are you having babies?" When you KNOW a woman is pregnant, you may politely ask when she is due. If you know her. If you know her well. You may never, ever ask a married (or unmarried for that matter) woman when she plans on getting sprogged up (to steal a term from the Brits). It's so unbearably vulgar. Maybe she's never having children. Maybe she can't have children, and you've just dug a knife even further into her heart. Maybe she's too damn poor to pay for US medical insurance, and the thought of paying thousands upon thousands of dollars to give birth to her own child--let alone buying diapers, cribs, and hell, paying for that baby's health insurance--is enough to send her into agonies of depression. Did you think of that, BMWSBT? Did you? No, you did not, or you would have kept your Big Mouth shut. (Addendum to 2: Yes, she knows she's getting older. Yes, she knows she should have kids soon to prevent birth defects and lower the risk of any number of fetal problems. Yes, she knows everyone around her already has children. Yes, she is aware she only has a finite number of viable eggs. You know what? She is SO not as stupid as you seem to think she is, BMWSWT!)
So, there you have it. A list of inappropriate questions. Others include, but are not limited to: How old are you? Or the always classy How long have you been together? Followed by an expression of shock when it's been longer than, oh, six months and no engagement ring is weighing down the left hand. This exchange inevitably leads to question 1, above. And, as a special note to people talking to writers: please refrain from What's your book about? and When are you getting published? and Writing? Can you even make a living from that?
Please, please... don't be a BMWSWT.
1. Why don't you have a boyfriend? (Alternatively: When are you going to find a boyfriend?)
This seems like the most obvious question not to ask, and yet, it still gets posed to single girls worldwide, making them feel sad, lonely and somehow like lesser-beings-of-the-universe when, in fact, they are merely single. Sometimes happier single then they might be with a boorish boyfriend who cares more about boys' night out than couples' night in. Maybe she's holding out for someone better suited to her, Big Mouth Who Speaks Without Thinking (hereafter: BMWSWT). Maybe she doesn't want a man just for the sake of having a man. Maybe she feels sorrier for you than you do for her.
2. When are you getting married?
The moment you're in a relationship longer than five minutes, this is the de rigueur question. But here's the thing, BMWSWT, if the person (yes, usually the girl) you ask this question of knew when she was getting married? She'd be a fiancee. And the last thing she wants (especially if, God forbid, she's been in the relationship longer than a year... or two... or even ten) is some obnoxiously nosy BMWSWT pointing this out. You may ask this question when she's wearing an engagement ring. (Question 1a: Wow, how big is that diamond? Also always inappropriate!)
3. When are you having babies?
It never fails. As soon as the ring has been acquired, and the aisle has been walked, ten minutes later the same BMWSWT jumps back into the Inappropriate Question Fray with "When are you having babies?" When you KNOW a woman is pregnant, you may politely ask when she is due. If you know her. If you know her well. You may never, ever ask a married (or unmarried for that matter) woman when she plans on getting sprogged up (to steal a term from the Brits). It's so unbearably vulgar. Maybe she's never having children. Maybe she can't have children, and you've just dug a knife even further into her heart. Maybe she's too damn poor to pay for US medical insurance, and the thought of paying thousands upon thousands of dollars to give birth to her own child--let alone buying diapers, cribs, and hell, paying for that baby's health insurance--is enough to send her into agonies of depression. Did you think of that, BMWSBT? Did you? No, you did not, or you would have kept your Big Mouth shut. (Addendum to 2: Yes, she knows she's getting older. Yes, she knows she should have kids soon to prevent birth defects and lower the risk of any number of fetal problems. Yes, she knows everyone around her already has children. Yes, she is aware she only has a finite number of viable eggs. You know what? She is SO not as stupid as you seem to think she is, BMWSWT!)
So, there you have it. A list of inappropriate questions. Others include, but are not limited to: How old are you? Or the always classy How long have you been together? Followed by an expression of shock when it's been longer than, oh, six months and no engagement ring is weighing down the left hand. This exchange inevitably leads to question 1, above. And, as a special note to people talking to writers: please refrain from What's your book about? and When are you getting published? and Writing? Can you even make a living from that?
Please, please... don't be a BMWSWT.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
More On Resolutions
I think this blog has become, of late, LadY of letters, alas.
Still, I'll keep plugging away and hoping my compatriots materialize.
I've never been a fan of New Year's resolutions, but I understand why they exist. The changing of the calendar seems to grant a carte blanche. All those mistakes made last year? They're gone! The things you wanted to do but didn't? You can do them now! That five-ten-fifteen pounds you gained? Lose it! (I get a kick out of how the only thing on television on new year's day are endless 'diet/health/weight loss/exercise program shows.) The new year is untarnished, perfect. Still, always the little voice in the head says "This will be just like last year. You'll eat well for two weeks, you'll exercise for one, maybe you'll read more books in the first month, or write more words, but what will really change?"
Perhaps that little voice is mine and mine alone, but such is the lot of the perfectionist.
Experts say if you make a resolution of any kind, at the new year or any time, the key is to make that goal small, realistic and attainable. Have a plan of action built into it. Instead of saying, "I want to lose weight" say "I want to train for and run a 10K in six months" or "I want to practice yoga three times per week." Think about what you gain (fitness, toned arms) rather than focusing on needing to get rid of something (the obnoxious layer of tummy fat/jiggly arms/cellulite).
Change can seem intoxicating, I think, but for me it is also scary as hell. I am not good with change. Oh, I'm as adaptable as the next person (maybe even more so... changing schools half a dozen times in your life will do that to a person) but I don't like it.
Being stagnant never made anyone happy, though.
So, even though I posted a list of things I want in 2008, I know very well I didn't (and still don't) have action plans in place for most of those things. First up?
1. Buy a printer
2. Find five books I like/seem to fit the same genre as mine and find out which agents represented those books.
3. Finish query letter.
4. Send query letter to those five agents.
Rinse and repeat as long as necessary.
At least it will be taking baby steps along a long road that, like most roads, may seem scary when you're standing at the fork, but, hey, it's just a road.
Still, I'll keep plugging away and hoping my compatriots materialize.
I've never been a fan of New Year's resolutions, but I understand why they exist. The changing of the calendar seems to grant a carte blanche. All those mistakes made last year? They're gone! The things you wanted to do but didn't? You can do them now! That five-ten-fifteen pounds you gained? Lose it! (I get a kick out of how the only thing on television on new year's day are endless 'diet/health/weight loss/exercise program shows.) The new year is untarnished, perfect. Still, always the little voice in the head says "This will be just like last year. You'll eat well for two weeks, you'll exercise for one, maybe you'll read more books in the first month, or write more words, but what will really change?"
Perhaps that little voice is mine and mine alone, but such is the lot of the perfectionist.
Experts say if you make a resolution of any kind, at the new year or any time, the key is to make that goal small, realistic and attainable. Have a plan of action built into it. Instead of saying, "I want to lose weight" say "I want to train for and run a 10K in six months" or "I want to practice yoga three times per week." Think about what you gain (fitness, toned arms) rather than focusing on needing to get rid of something (the obnoxious layer of tummy fat/jiggly arms/cellulite).
Change can seem intoxicating, I think, but for me it is also scary as hell. I am not good with change. Oh, I'm as adaptable as the next person (maybe even more so... changing schools half a dozen times in your life will do that to a person) but I don't like it.
Being stagnant never made anyone happy, though.
So, even though I posted a list of things I want in 2008, I know very well I didn't (and still don't) have action plans in place for most of those things. First up?
1. Buy a printer
2. Find five books I like/seem to fit the same genre as mine and find out which agents represented those books.
3. Finish query letter.
4. Send query letter to those five agents.
Rinse and repeat as long as necessary.
At least it will be taking baby steps along a long road that, like most roads, may seem scary when you're standing at the fork, but, hey, it's just a road.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Happy New Year!
Belated Happy Holidays to all, and also, belated happy new year! I've been in Halifax since the 24th, and between all the family get-togethers, internet time has been scarce.
I'm not so big on resolutions, but I do fare well with deadlines, so in 2008 I would like to...
1. Keep my online literary journal on a regular publishing schedule.
2. Drink fewer calories. I don't drink soda, but I do drink alcohol (sometimes as if it's going out of style) and that needs to be cut down on. I realize that I've been slowly gaining weight over the ten years I've been legally allowed to drink booze. (And, unlike just about everyone else, I didn't drink before I turned 19.) and I've also gotten into the bad habit of drinking vanilla lattes again. So. Fewer calories in beverages.
3. Only eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.
4. New York has been good for my overall fitness level, what with the walking everywhere, but I'd like to take more walks and see more things and try to get back into a yoga/pilates home routine.
(You'll notice all of this isn't exactly the 'lose weight' resolution so many folks make. It's not really about weight loss, though some of that would be nice...it's just about unhealthy choices leading to feeling unhealthy and all that jazz.)
5. Send my finished novel into the Big Bad World.
6. Be more grateful for the things I have without dwelling so much on the things I don't.
7. Participate in Script Frenzy in April and NaNoWriMo again in November.
8. Finish current NaNo manuscript/polish/edit/rinse/repeat.
9. Travel somewhere I've never been.
10. Do a better job of keeping up with blogs/email/phone calls/friends.
11. Keep track of everything I read over at http://movedbyfancies.blogspot.com/
That'll do for now.
I'm not so big on resolutions, but I do fare well with deadlines, so in 2008 I would like to...
1. Keep my online literary journal on a regular publishing schedule.
2. Drink fewer calories. I don't drink soda, but I do drink alcohol (sometimes as if it's going out of style) and that needs to be cut down on. I realize that I've been slowly gaining weight over the ten years I've been legally allowed to drink booze. (And, unlike just about everyone else, I didn't drink before I turned 19.) and I've also gotten into the bad habit of drinking vanilla lattes again. So. Fewer calories in beverages.
3. Only eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.
4. New York has been good for my overall fitness level, what with the walking everywhere, but I'd like to take more walks and see more things and try to get back into a yoga/pilates home routine.
(You'll notice all of this isn't exactly the 'lose weight' resolution so many folks make. It's not really about weight loss, though some of that would be nice...it's just about unhealthy choices leading to feeling unhealthy and all that jazz.)
5. Send my finished novel into the Big Bad World.
6. Be more grateful for the things I have without dwelling so much on the things I don't.
7. Participate in Script Frenzy in April and NaNoWriMo again in November.
8. Finish current NaNo manuscript/polish/edit/rinse/repeat.
9. Travel somewhere I've never been.
10. Do a better job of keeping up with blogs/email/phone calls/friends.
11. Keep track of everything I read over at http://movedbyfancies.blogspot.com/
That'll do for now.
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