Getting back to a routine.
It’s not easy to admit when you’ve fallen out of a routine. There are many reasons why this might happen, but it happens. You’ll be trucking along doing awesome then BAM! You wonder how you could have allowed it all to just slip.
Well, I have. I haven’t written in about 60 days. I have looked at my spreadsheet in about a month. It’s not that the desire to write has gone. I do want to sit and actually write. It’s that the drive has left me. Many life events happened that have clogged up my brain and aren’t allowing me to do what I used to do; sit and write.
I’ve mentioned many of the things that are draining me as of late. Some of those things have eased, some have increased, some have stayed the same. Work is pushing into my free time, my favorite daughter is getting busier with after school events, there’s a new vehicle that’s had to go back to the shop to make it even better, training for work that’s eating up my brain space.
Sitting here I could make excuses all day as to why I’m not currently writing anything, but in the end, I’m just not. I’m making up a lot of excuses as to why I’m not doing anything. My biggest excuse is that I’m writing two different stories at the same time and both have far larger casts than I normally write. They’re all new characters that I haven’t written before. The stories are quite different (super-hero with gods, and military sci-fi). Both are making me stretch my writerly muscles and I’m resisting that stretch.
What do I need to do?
This I’ve given a lot of thought as I’ve gotten caught up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Game of Thrones. I do mean a lot of thought. Like, why am I watching TV when I could be writing? Why as I spending time doing A when I should be doing B? Rather than spending so much time reading Doctor Sleep, why am I not writing my own book? Yes, a writer needs to read, but a writer also needs to write.
I did do a couple guest blog posts. I was happy with how those came out. I did a short story. I was also happy with it. I was a guest on a podcast and that was great fun to talk about the writing I’ve done and the writing I plan to do. In the end, I’ve just allowed my writing to fall by the wayside.
So, starting today (not tomorrow, not Monday, not the first of the month) I will get my 1,100 words written. I will not focus on getting caught up, but writing forward. Yes, I’ve fallen behind my annual goal, but if I sit and start to write daily once more, I know the words will come. I’ll have days where I’ll write far beyond my 1,100 words. That’s just the way my brain works.
I had said in my last post that I would start to post my daily word counts. That will still happen. I’ll start to blog more often as well. Maybe not as long as this, maybe not as thought out as this, but I’ll start to get something into the feed more often.
For now, I need to go make some words happen, then get a jump on my day!
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
Check out @thegamesmenrpg’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/thegamesmenrpg/status/463007048574447616
Writing Process Blog Hop
Oddly I’ve never been tagged in a blog hop. Not sure why, but recently I was tagged by a close, personal friend of mine, Michell Plested to do a blog hop interview about my writing process.
Mike is also my writing partner on our upcoming project, Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty. Beyond our project (which we hope will grow into a series), he’s also written Mik Murdock: Boy Superhero, His podcast novel, Galaxybillies, and his award nominated writing podcast, Get Published.
Mike was tagged by Robert Runte, who was tagged by Joe Mahoney, who was tagged by Susan Rodgers, and if you’d like to follow further back than that, by all means, surf the blog hop (as it was intended to be surfed).
As for my interview, here we go!
Mike: You have some very aggressive writing targets. Can you talk about what they are, why you made them and how you are managing to work on them.
JR: Last year I wanted to write something I thought would be a modest number of words: 1000 words per day. When you look at that small number, it doesn’t seem like that many words. When you add them all up at the end of the year, that’s 365,000 words. When looking at a number that large, it looks daunting. For some people it looks nearly impossible. To me, it looks almost like a challenge.
I took it on head first and failed miserably. I only managed roughly 180,000 words. Just about half my original goal. I say ‘failed’, but is 180,000 words in a year a failure?
A long, long time ago I worked doing door-to-door sales. Our motto was shoot for the stars, you just might land on the moon. I don’t see hitting the moon as a failure.
This year, I upped my goal. Yes, I know that sounds crazy when I missed my goal for last year by a lot. Well, a lot of life happened last year that preventing me from writing for nearly seven months. This year, fates willing, I will have a lot more time to actually sit and write. So rather than just 1000 words per day, I’m shooting for 10% more (1100 words per day).
To get to my goal for 2014, I make sacrifices in order to write as much as possible. I watch less TV, I don’t go out to the movies, I cut back on a little sleep here and there, I cut back on the online games I play. If I’m to hit my goals, I need to spend time actually working on hitting those goals.
Mike: How do you balance having so many projects on the go? Do you work on one at a time for each one: or a certain number of hours; or a % of your writing time; or is it just a matter of focusing on each deadline as it comes up? Or do you switch from one to the other as you get blocked or bored with what you’re currently working on?
I won’t lie; I have a number of unfinished projects. One of the goals I set for this year was to revisit all those projects I left behind and either finish or toss them. I know I do the best when focusing on one at a time. That’s what I am doing. I’ve already completed one novel and a couple short stories this year. I plan on completing a few more novels and a few more short stories.
For the most part, I’ll be writing each project one at a time from start to finish. If I don’t, I know I’ll be leaving stories behind once more and I don’t want to do that anymore. So I will take on something and I will work on it until it’s done. I want to clear the deck for future projects. Having all these stray projects causes me stress that I don’t need, so I want to put them behind me rather than leave them sitting around just waiting to be finished.
Now, I say mostly and let me explain that. I’ve got two projects that aren’t 100% under my control. Those projects include the sequel to Jack Kane (guess who the co-author is). The second is a book that I’ll be working on with the other person Mike has tagged, Jeff Hite. So I’ll do what I can when I can which means I may be working on three projects at the same time. There will be some juggling going on, but that will only make the challenge all the more entertaining.
We will see how the year goes.
Mike: What is your writing process? Where on the “just sit down and write <—> detailed notes/outline” continuum do you fall? Do you revise as you go, or first draft and then revise? Any routines or rituals that need to be followed?
I sit, I type, I hope for the best.
My process has evolved over the years. I’ve been writing nearly as long as I’ve been programming (since I was 12 or 13). When I was younger, I would write long-hand (I didn’t own a typewriter) and I would just write whatever came to mind. That lasted for a very long time.
Then I decided that it just wasn’t working. My stories weren’t getting to where I wanted them to be, so I started plotting. I’d write a page or two explaining what each chapter of a book would be about. That got me closer, but still didn’t feel right.
I got those down to about a paragraph for each chapter, then eventually down to a sentence per chapter. That’s where I’m at now. I will do a very rough outline of about 40 chapters per full-length novel. My chapters are short (around 2000 words) which makes the book read quickly as well as get written quickly as well. I do my best to not go back through a work until it is complete. If there’s a major change in the story line, I’ll make a note, know that it’s been changed, and move on. I don’t go back and re-write until the work is done.
I have no rituals. I used to. When I’d sit and write I’d eat an orange or two, or I’d take a short walk to get the blood flowing. I still walk, but not before I write. Now, I sit down, open my word count spread sheet, open the scrivener doc for the story I’m currently working on, and start typing where I left off. After 30 years of writing, I don’t need to warm up any more J
Mike: You have written short stories and novels. You have podcast some of your work and you have self-published other work. From that experience, what stands out as the most important learnings and principles or advice so far?
The biggest thing I’ve learned from podcasting was that reading my material out loud helps me find those little grammatical nuances I missed when typing. Now when I do dialogue, I will sometimes say the words out loud as I type them to help me get the flow of a conversation. I’ll find those little gasps, sighs, laughs, grunts, that some people will miss. Rather than pepper my dialogue with said, asked, etc, I will put in something that people do. To me, it’s more interesting when someone wrinkles their nose before asking a difficult question rather than just having them ask. These are things I can figure out as I’m saying the words.
If you want to get good as dialogue, talk to people. Talk to a lot of people. Talk to a lot of DIFFERENT people. People you don’t know. Watch how they react to what you say. Take mental notes on their faces, their body movement, the inflection. These are things that will help you write dialog that flows smoothly and will help give a personality to the people you’re writing about. It’s those little things that people see, but don’t notice. It’ll help the reader attach a little thing to someone they know, and suddenly your character just got that much more personal.
As for self-publishing, the best thing I can say is don’t expect to get rich quick. Get on a schedule (if at all possible), put as much money into your projects as you’re able to, and put out the best possible product you can. People will forgive little editing errors, they won’t forgive a bad story.
Mike: Anything else you’d like to add on your writing process?
I’d like to say that writing is easy. To be honest, it hasn’t always been. Sometimes, as I’ve said earlier, life happens. Your brain will want to turn off, you’ll need to take a break, and that’s alright. If you get into a writing groove, you’ll know it and it will feel wonderful. If you fall out of that groove, don’t beat yourself up. Don’t try to get caught up because you feel you fell behind. Just pick up where you left off and start again. That groove will be easier and easier to find each time you get back to it.
I’ve fallen off the horse many times. It’s not how many times you fall off. It’s how many times you get back on.
In the next day or two, I will be updating this post with two people I will tag and interview. Thank you Mike for allowing me to join in. This was fun. 🙂
A Month Off
I made a conscious to take a couple weeks off. I’d been pushing it hard and fast for some time. Downtime sounded like a good thing. It was. After taking those couple weeks off, I was pumping out words once more. The break had done me good.
Alas, it only lasted a few days. Then life happened. A few times. The loss of a loved one, the impounding of a vehicle, a little bit of food poisoning. Each one puts you back a little here, a little there. All in totally different ways. Not what I was expecting, but as I have said many, many times on this blog, life happens.
So I rolled with it. My goals have slipped, but taking care of those I love is far more important that putting words on paper and getting books to market. As much as I’d love for this to be my career, it is a hobby at this point in my life. Yes, I’ve set goals and I treat it as a second job, but when making only $20-$30 a month, it’s just a hobby.
During much of that down time, I read a lot of books. A LOT of books. I also watched a lot of movies (It’s amazing just how many crappy movies are out there that have done so well over the years.). Needless to say, a lot of story has entered my head. Old ideas, new ideas, sideways ideas.
I also spent some of that downtime working on a couple of book covers. I’ll show you those over the next few weeks. Hopefully I’ll actually get the books released as well.
Over all this time off, I went from 27,000 words ahead of schedule to 27,000 words behind schedule for the year. I owe two people short stories. I owe three people blog posts. I owe myself a whole lot of words.
But I’m not worried about it. If I allow myself to worry and stress about the words I don’t have done, I won’t get them done. I’ll allow myself to fall further and further behind. I can’t worry about getting caught up. I just need to worry about getting back on track. I know the words will come. I know I can still hit my goal by doing nothing more than sitting down and typing. Make that keyboard go klickety clack as a matter of fact.
I know in my last post, I had said I was going to post word counts. I will still do that. daily if I can, weekly if I cannot. Post I will.
So I have much to do. Many words to write that I owe to a number of people. There’s only one way to get all those words written and that’s to actually sit and write them. And that’s what I’m going to do.
Until Next Time!
WOO! WOO!
I won’t bore you with the details (too much)
Hey.
How’s it going?
So, I’ve been absent from the blog for a while. I just looked, and for me, it’s been quite a while. Sorry about that.
When last we spoke I was talking about how I write so darned fast. Then life hit and hit pretty hard. Oh, I was still writing for a time and I’m still on track to hit my annual word count for the year, but things have ground slowly down to a dead stop.
I haven’t written in a few weeks now. The reasons are many, but mostly I’ve been spending time with family. This part I won’t go into details. If you’d really like to know what’s happening, ask me in person.
Even though life does happen, there is a time to move past that. I will be posting daily word counts once things have gotten back into a normal groove. That also means I’ll get back to daily blogging.
I’ve dropped the ball and it’s time to pick it back up again. At one point i was 27,000 words ahead of my annual goal. I’m not a couple thousand behind. What I know about myself is that I can get back on track and write like a fury when I need to and right now, I feel I need to.
I owe a couple of friends blog posts. if you’re reading this, know that I will be getting those posts done and to you as soon as possible (hopefully next week).
I will also get back into Twitter. I haven’t been very active over there either. I miss my twitter pals. 🙂
I will also be getting active on facebook. I’ve left that alone for too long.
I also need to get back to my writing group over at sffworld.
And then good reads. I may not have been writing, but I’ve been reading. A lot! I’ve read a dozen books in the past month. I normally don’t read that much, but it’s helped to get my brain distracted. Well, that and a couple games on facebook :).
So when I finished my giant robot book I jumped into Asteroid Bunnies. That was supposed to be a shorter book, and it really wants to be a full-length novel. So I hopped into Almost-Super Heroes. Then I looked at the 5 books I need to actually edit, cover, and get out into the world. Then i tried to figure out just what the hell i was doing. Then I started doubting what I was doing and tried to come up with a game plan. Then life happened. Then…I just put writing aside for a while.
I needed the break. I really did. My head feels clearer and I’m ready to get back at it. I have a lot I want to accomplish and a lot of words ahead of me. As I said, I’ve got 5 books written that I need to edit and/or apply edits to. I need to do covers, interior design, etc. I need to get those books out there.
March saw my best book sales to-date, and also a few awesome reviews. I need to get up off my hiney and get back to work. Them words ain’t gonna write themselves.
What have you been up to?
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
How I write do darned fast – Part 5
Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 if you haven’t been following along at home.
Yesterday I did a lot of talking about my goals. Remember, these are my goals, not goals I think you should impose on yourself. You need to figure out for yourself how fast you can write and how fast you should write. This is just a step-by-step look at how I do things. That’s all. I wouldn’t hold anyone to the level I write at (except myself that is)
So I set word count goals. I also track those goals to see my progress. What good is setting a goal if you’re not going to check up and see how you’re doing, right? So I’ve got an excel file that I use. You can use the Magic Spreadsheet (I’ve mentioned it before) and many people do. I think that’s great. I built my own because I love to play around in excel.
* NOTE – If you’d like a copy of the spreadsheet I use, feel free to email me and I will send it to you. You can modify it for your own needs, but bear in mind, it’s personalized. So many of the columns I have may not work for you and you may end up spending more time rearranging things when you could have built you own. If you like mine, use it as a guide to build your own.
So on my spreadsheet I track my progress. How many words did I write today. How many words have I written this month, this year, what does it compare to against last year, How far ahead (or behind) my goal am I? How many days did I spend working on a particular title?
As I said, it’s more than just a list of days with numbers next to the day. I also track what title I’m working on that day. I have a column that shows how many words I wrote, how many words I need to write that day to stay on target (for 2014 it’s 1100 words per day). I had have a field that shows how many words I should have written so to-date, and the actual number I’ve written to-date. This is the indicator that helps me understand how close I am to my goal. I like to get ahead in case something happens.
I also track the books I’ve written as well as the books I’d like to write. I track the word count, release dates, where in the process a certain book is. Things like that. I also track my short stories and where those stories are on submission. I have a tracking page for the total word count of all my stories.
Now let me pause here for a minute. Keep in mind that I started this spreadsheet at the end of 2011. I use it every single day. Almost without fail. even on days I didn’t write,I still opened my spreadsheet. But being that it’s been an ongoing, growing spreadsheet, I’ve continued to add to it. So as I felt the need to have additional data, or formatting, or extra pages, I added them. Yes, I understand that all I’m tracking seems a little excessive, but it’s part of the process that keeps me motivated. Keeps me moving forward. I have a lot of ideas, and this is one way I’ve been able to keep track of them all in one central location.
Another thing this spreadsheet does for me is it allows me the ability to inspire myself. When I don’t feel like writing, I can look at this spreadsheet and remember that there’s a lot I’d like to accomplish with my writing and the only way to do that is to keep writing. Write quickly. Finish something. Move on to the next project.
That doesn’t mean I’m just pounding out first draft after first draft. I’m going back, I’m editing, I’m adding covers, I’m doing the interior layouts (covers and layouts I need to do better, but I’m learning). My spreadsheet allows me to track everything I’m doing and see at a glance where any given title is in the process.
Now that I’m thinking about it, I need to add columns to where something is published. I’ll need to make sure all my titles are available on all vendors. See, typing up these posts is helpful.
At any rate, tracking my progress is a way to not just keep myself motivated, but to see where I’ve been. I can see trends and patterns. I can focus on the process with the spreadsheet while my creative side gets to run off and play in all the worlds I create. It gives the logical side of my brain something to do while the creative side is off…creating.
Will this work for you? Again, as I said, this is my process. It works for me. I’m a data guy and I like numbers and spreadsheets. You may be different. Maybe you don’t want to track everything I’m looking at. Maybe you just like to sit down, open word, and got for it. I think that’s awesome. If it works for you, keep on doing it. I’m just offering up my method.
So this will likely end my little series. I’m glad you were here to follow along. I’d love to hear about your process. What works for you? How are we similar? How different is my process than yours? Any feedback? Ideas? Thoughts on improvement? Let me know!
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
How I write so darned fast – Part 4
While this is part 4 of this series, please don’t look at this as writing advice. I’ve sort of sworn myself off the writing advice bit and all I’m doing is tell you how I do what I do vs how you should do what you do. There is a difference. I used to think there was a one-size-fits-all solution to writing (and programming for that matter), but there isn’t. There really isn’t one way to do things and that’s one thing that a writer needs to understand. Yes, there are some basic rules to writing, but those apply to structure, grammar, and things like that.
At any rate, as I said, this is just how I do the things I do. Take it for what’s it’s worth. All I wanted to point out is that this process allows me to sit and write with great speed. Not nearly as fast as some of my heroes like Dean Wesley Smith (who can rack up around 100,000 words a month) but I’m doing the best I can with the time I have.
Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 if you haven’t been following along at home.
Let’s talk about resolutions and goals.
I no longer set resolutions. I used to. Every year I’d resolve to do something (quit smoking, lose weight, eat better, write more, etc) but those were always vague things that don’t give me a path to accomplish what I want to accomplish. They never worked for me. Ever. Quitting smoking came when I just flat out said, “enough” and stopped one day. I’d have an occasional cigarette or cigar, but for the most part I was done.
Losing weight, eating right? I’m still working on those, but I’ve got a goal and a plan. The goal is to get back down to 200 pounds (at least) and I’ll be doing that by doing a juice cleanse and then eating a nearly vegan diet (not vegetarian, VEGAN! Raw vegan at that). I’ll be having 2 meals per week of whatever I want, but mostly it’ll be fresh fruits and veggies. Extreme? Hell yes. But that’s how I managed to quit smoking. It was abrupt and extreme. I’ll also start walking and build back up to running.
Write more. That I’ve also done. I started in 2011 going into 2012. I wanted to write more so I started blogging more regularly. The blogging would get my brain into writing mode and once I was done, I’d flip to the latest novel I was working on. During that year, between blog posts and fiction, I’d written over 490,000 words of my 450,000 word goal. It was amazing. Sadly, only 267,000 of those words were new fiction, but I’d hit a grove with my writing and I was happy. So 2013 I was going to try and up my fiction count by cutting back on the blogging and get to work on the fiction.
Well, 2013 fell apart on me. I didn’t hit my goal of 365,000 words. Life happens, as it has a tendency to do, and I needed to come into 2014 more focused with all the stress of 2013 left behind. I did, however, manage 172,000 words in the 5 months I did actually write and I can’t be sad with that result. Yes, it wasn’t where I wanted to be, but hey, I did make words happens and completed a few projects.
Now we’re into 2014. I’m still setting goals and what I’d like to do. For 2014 I plan on averaging 1100 words per day. Yes, I upped my word count goal from 2013 (1000 words per day average) so I’ll push myself a little bit more.
Let me explain first off what I’ve done. I’ve gone on and on about numbers, but none of that means anything to you, right? Well those numbers are my goals. 2012 was 450,000 words, a combination of new fiction and blog posts. 2013 was 365,000 words of new fiction. 2014 is 401,500 words of new fiction. 2015 is 438,000 words of new fiction.
Let’s break those numbers down because they’re pretty high. I’ll skip 2012 because it’s a blend. But 2013 I wanted to write 1,000 words per day. That’s an average, but obviously if I had been able to stick to a schedule, I probably would have hit or surpassed that goal. 1,000 words really isn’t that much. It’s just a matter of hitting a rhythm and a good streak of days strung together. Add a few good days in there and it gets even better, right?
Well, that was the plan. As I said, I only got 5 months of writing out of 2013 due to an unexpected move and the fact that the company did away with my job. Both of these sucked out my soul and made focusing on writing impossible.
Now look at 2014. I upped my goal from last year. I increased my goal by only 100 words per day. 100 words is nothing. That’s less than 5 minutes of typing. It’s a snap. Upping from 1000 to 1100 seemed logical to me because it’s not that much of an increase. Yes, I looked at 2013, but on the days I actually wrote, I hit a much higher word count. So I knew setting my goal a little bit higher would push me to actually write.
Then 2015, yes, I’m planning for the future, I want to write 1200 words per day. This is also a small increase and it might change. I don’t know yet. It was a 10% increase from 2013 to 2014, why not a 10% increase from 2014-2015? Should I shoot for 1210 words per day? We’ll rethink that when 2015 gets closer and I see how I did over 2014.
What I’ve done over the past few years is to plan how much I want to write. I set that goal, then I break it down into much smaller chunks and work on one chunk at a time. I don’t look at it as I need to write 100,000 words to make a book. I look at it as I need to write so many words per day to get to that goal in a certain amount of time. Looking at the smaller bits makes that HUGE, overwhelming goal look all the more manageable.
Next time I’ll talk about tracking and how I keep myself inline with the goals I’ve set. No, I don’t use the Magic Spreadsheet. I have my own spreadsheet. It’s taken me years to set up, but it keeps me on track.
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
A completed book!
It’s Tuesday, 2/25/14. On Saturday, 2/22/14 I finished my Giant Robot book. At the moment it’s titled Giant Robot Planetary Competition: Entry Level (GRPC 1). Yes, it’s a long title, I know.
To say I had fun writing this book would be an understatement. I had an absolute blast. I couldn’t type the words fast enough. It took twists I didn’t see coming. There were some changes that just flowed with the story until our hero thought all was lost. It was almost too much fun to have legally.
When I started writing the book it was intended to be around 80,000 words. I had 3 POV characters and it was set in my V&A Shipping universe (Vic, Joey, and the rest make an appearance). I had most scenes plotted out and it was going to be roughly 40 chapters (around 2000 words per chapter).
Well, it didn’t want to play along. I know the rules to the V&A Shipping universe, but the trouble was this is an entirely different part of that universe. So there was a lot of world building that needed to be done that I hadn’t anticipated. Introducing the giant robot technology as well as the pilot implants. The competition, the teams, the team positions, practicing with the giant robot, the actual competition and the rules, the different types of robots.
Yes, it got a little out of hand, but I did my best to drop things in there a little at a time and not just dump it all in there at one time. As I have a tendency to do, there’s a lot of conversation and internal monologue. There’s also ramifications for events during the competition I wasn’t expecting and the end was completely different than where I thought it was going to go.
So in the end, the book weighs in at 96,420 words. A majority of those words (just over 82,000) were written this year. It’s been a whirlwind start to the year and I can only hope to keep it going.
I did take Sunday off from writing. After knocking out 49,000 words in 20 days, I felt I’d earned a day off. I was twitchy most of the day to get back at the keyboard, but I refrained.
Last night I did sit down for about an hour and pounded out 1500 words in Asteroid Bunnies (the next book I’ll be writing). This is also going to be a fun book. My plan for this one is only 30,000 words, but we’ll see what happens. I’m already planning on Astel 2 after this one and then I’ll jump into Life of Lists. We’ll see how the year shapes up. I’ve got big plans and it’d be nice to hit a few of them.
I’d better get at it!
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
How I write so darned fast – Part 3
Did I think this would turn into a three part blog post? Heck no. Feel free to go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 before continuing on with Part 3.
In case you didn’t noticed from the previous two posts, I’m a bit of a rambler. I get that. It comes with being me and given that I’ve been me for as long as I can remember, I guess that’s bound to happen.
When we left off we were talking about distractions, music, and communication with those around you. Those are all great for creating an environment conducive to writing. All that stuff is important. Just like in part when when I talk about typing speed and knowing ahead of time what you’re planning on writing. Also important.
You also need to get yourself into the mindset of ‘I’m going to write’. Yes, being able to focus is one thing, but actually focusing is another thing entirely.
For example, you have a job, right? (well, let’s pretend you do have a job even if you don’t). Or you’re going to make something for dinner. (well, let’s pretend you cook). Or you’re going to do something that requires you to be all there when you’re doing that task. You don’t just walk in and hope for the best. You don’t sit at you desk or operate heavy machinery without having some idea what you’re doing or at least some level of competency. And if you’re new, you need to give that job you’re about to perform.
Writing should be approached in the same manner. You don’t just sit and hope for the best. You need to focus on what you’re doing. Yes, I write fast, but one of the reasons is I’ve freed myself of distractions so I can type without being interrupted. Even if it’s for only 10 or 15 minutes, I make those minutes as productive as possible. I can usually get 300-500 words down in a fifteen minute stretch. Why? Because I’m focused on the task at hand.
Think about your job for a minute. When you’re typing an email, or driving a forklift, or operating a machine, does a distraction take you out of that task and make you lose focus? Even if you distract yourself by letting your mind wander away from the task at hand. Are you your most productive when you’re not fully engrossed with the task you’re performing? I know I’m not.
I write code for a living. When I’m typing code and I get an instant massage, I lose focus on what I was doing and it might take me five or ten minutes to get back into the task and try to remember where I was. I’ve lost focus. Or I’ll stop what I’m doing and look my email, or look something up on the web. Again, I’ve lost focus on the task at hand.
But when I’m on my game and I’ve got that laser-like focus, I can type at great speed and things happen in my story.
Yes, yes, I said I’m a discovery writer at times and the story will take a turn I wasn’t expecting, but that does not mean I wasn’t focused on the task of writing. It means I’ve been able to get so into my task, that I’ve allowed my brain to get out of the way of the creative process. One side of my brain is engaged in getting the words on the page (the logical side), the other is focused on making the story happen (the creative side) and when you’re highly focused on writing and you’ve entered ‘flow’, this is when both sides of your brain bring everything together.
Writing, for me, isn’t about treating it like a hobby. If you’re writing for a hobby, any words you write are great! Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking those hobbyists out there. Writing is a wonderful hobby. What I am saying is that if you want to move from writing as a hobby into something you can produce large amount of content (I’m talking 4 or 5 or 7 books a year) then you can’t look at writing as a hobby any more. You need to approach it like it’s a job, but a job you love to do and are excited about doing. That means you need to focus on what you’re doing.
I would keep going on and on here, but I think I’ll save my next topic for next time. What will that be? Goal Setting.
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
How I write so darned fast – Part 2
So yesterday people seemed interested in how I write quickly. I only touched on the topic (yes, 1000 words was just touching on the topic) so I decided to include a part 2. I mean, why not? Sounds like fun. It was, after all, one of my better hit posts and hopefully shed a little light on my process and mentality when I actually sit and write.
Maybe I’ll even be a little more organized today, but I doubt it. 😛
So there comes a time in every writer’s life when they want to get the ideas out of their head and onto paper. I think that’s an awesome feeling. The desire to create is what drives a person to think they can actually sit and write a book. I mean, it’s only 50,000-100,000 words, right? That’s not that many and in a couple months it’s easy to knock those words out and have a book.
Well, it does take practice. It really does. As was proven by Chuck Wendig, you can type fart 100,000 times and have a book.
But if you want to write something that people want to buy and read, that’s a different matter entirely. But the process of getting the words down don’t have to be difficult. Like I said, it takes practice. It’s more than just sitting and typing whatever comes to your mind. These blog posts, for me, are an info dump of what’s going on inside my head. When I’m writing a book, that’s different and took me time to learn.
First thing I need to know when I’m writing something is where is it going to end. What’s the point of the main character’s story? What is motivating my character to get to the end? How is the character going to change.
Let’s look at my giant robot story that I’m currently working on. I started this one last year and I was plugging away when I realized my character had little motivation and everything was being handed to him. A ‘Mary Sue’ story. Nothing bad was happening.
Oh, sure I had ideas on how to mess with him, but overall, his life was really good.
So I deleted nearly 20,000 words and started over. Yes, CTRL+A, DEL!
I still had an idea how I wanted the book to end, it just took me 20,000 words to figure out I was starting the book incorrectly. I went down a rabbit hole and it dead ended on me. Once I understood that, everything fell into place. I had an idea for the beginning, a comfortable feeling how the middle would go, and I thought I knew the ending.
So I typed knowing the general direction of the story. Each time I’d sit and type, I knew the next scene I wanted to write and I would do that scene. If the next popped into my head, I’d write that scene. I’m a linear write. I write from beginning to end. Sometimes I will add additional chapters as needed (or delete extraneous chapters) but that’s when I’m done with the book.
Knowing what I’m going to write really helps as I’ll have already through out some of the dialogue, some of the action, but I’ll let things happen and sometimes I’ll type something that will surprise me. As I said yesterday, those are great moments.
Another big thing that I need when write is time to focus on what I’m doing. This allows my brain to wander around the universe I’ve created and I can get deeper into my characters’ heads. I can see what they see, feel what they feel, and experience, to some degree, what they experience. In order to do this, distractions must be removed from the equation.
How do you do that? First of all, DISCONNECT FROM THE INTERNET! I cannot say that loudly enough. Get off! Shut it down! Have a dedicated computer with no internet connection! Just don’t! Not for research, not for names, not to hop onto twitter and complain that you’re having trouble writing. NADA! Why? This is writing time. Not research time. Not social hour. It’s not time to catch up on what people are doing on facebook. It’s time to sit and write.
Yes, like I said, it takes practice. It also takes discipline.
You want to be freer of distraction? Tell your family when you’re going to sit and write. Turn some music on that’s conducive to a writing atmosphere, and write. If you’ve only got 15, 20, 45 minutes a day to write, you cannot waste that time doing other things. You don’t know what science to use for a scene? Insert [RESEARCH HOW STEAM ENGINES WORK] and move on! Don’t know what to name the farmer down the road? Don’t get hung up on a name Insert [FARMER’S NAME] and move on! Write forward past those things because they’re not important at the moment. Don’t get hung up on something you can go back later and fix.
Again, when it’s time to write, write. Don’t research, don’t look things up, just write. Don’t let that writing time slip past you.
This also is a time you should schedule. You want to write a lot of words? You need to treat it like anything else you want to get done. You want to rake the leaves, you plan on what you’ll do it. You want to go on a date with the Mrs? You need to plan when you’re going to do that. You want to write a book, you need to plan and schedule the time (I usually write from 8-10 if I can swing the time. Sometimes I’ll write right after work for 30 minutes in case I can’t get the time later in the evening. Planning this time helps as the wife and my favorite daughter know that’s my time I’ll be spending writing.
Wow, another 1000 words? I don’t think I’m done yet. Whew. Well, I guess there may end up being a part 3 to this.
Until Next Time!
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 