(This will be much more exciting if you read these posts in the voice of Gordon Ramsay. Yeah?)
If you've read the introduction on the left, you know why I'm here. I'm going to write 4k new words, five days a week, from August 1, 2013 until January 1, 2014. That's 20 weeks, 400,000 words. Make your own goals and multiply them accordingly.
I've got three days to warm up before August 1, and I'm going to use them. Since the first 21 days of any new habit are the hardest, I'm going to get three out of the way before the pressure kicks in and while the excitement is still high. I've got a number of novels I plan to complete in this time. Some of them already have a good start.
My best work is done in complete silence. I'm not a music-in-the-background kind of gal. Music tends to determine my moods and I don't want outside influences. If I'm trying to write during daylight hours, I use SimplyNoise.com and listen to the rain. Earplugs are great.
(Still reading in Gordon Ramsay's voice? Excellent.)
Things that help me write faster:
Wearing tennis shoes. (Not kidding, it's documented.)
Using Dr. Wicked/writeordie.com (especially if it's a scene I'm timid about).
Writing after my family has gone to bed. (I can write until 2 or 3 if I'm on a roll. 4 am hurts.)
If you don't know what helps you write faster, find out. Pay attention to what time you write best, if you can write in small increments of time, or if you have to have large chunks. If you're writing 200 words in 15 minutes, and 300 words in 1 hour, you're more productive in small chunks, or at least more focused. I personally have to have a minimum of an hour or it is not worth sitting down to write.
I'm also trying a new thing; separate desks/spaces for writing and editing/internet stuff. I hope to have that figured out by tomorrow when it's put-up-or-shut-up time.
*Side note: my daughter is about to have a child--possibly tomorrow--but I'm making no excuses. If I'm writing on my Alphasmart in a hospital room with the sound of a baby's heartbeat in the background, so be it.
There is no crying in baseball.
And there are no excuses in Hell.
Jean-Philippe, time to open up Hell's Writing Kitchen!
I don't need Gordan Ramsay's voice. Yours works just fine! OK, let's do it. Time isn't my luxury so my goals have to be realistic, or I quit and mope. So I'll go for the 2,000 daily WC.
ReplyDeleteI'm in! I know you said no excuses, but I am taking August off after a very intense June and July finishing my book. So, from September to January I will commit to 10,000 words a week.
ReplyDeleteFantastic, Jolene and Jenn! Help yourselves to an apron.
ReplyDeleteI'm here and excited to start. How crazy am I to start this on the same day I've decided to give up Pepsi? I'm going to lean heavy on all of you to replace that buzz and keep me revved up. I'm hungry for those fresh-out-of-the-oven tidbits of info on writing faster and holding-the-course. I'm a turtle in the production department. I'm going for 10,000 a week.
ReplyDeleteJo Ann! Good for you. I'm also going to be trying to lose weight while I do this. I figure why not get all torture done with at the same time.
ReplyDeleteAnd 10k is nothing to sneeze at. I've only done 10k in a week a handful of times. Now I plan to do it every week. So we're all reaching here.
Well, the gun went off on day one and I shot over the starting line. However, I didn't get too many laps in before my cold, nearly-dead, writing muscles cramped up and I fell short of the goal. ::sigh:: So along with Pepsi withdrawals I find I'm in need of writing boot-camp to tone up the writing muscles, especially since now I'm backpacking yesterday's unwritten words. Onward and upward.
ReplyDeleteThis is an easy program, Jo. No guilt involved. You don't have to carry anything over. Just a daily challenge. Don't worry about yesterday's challenge.
Delete(Easier said than done, of course.)