I wish I had more time to write during the day, especially in the mornings when I’m most creative. My “regular job” is quiet and repetitive, so I often find myself daydreaming about my “Sword & Sorcery” story-world while I’m working; my body on autopilot while my mind is in a far-away, fantastical land. Often times, I’m stealthily tapping my story-ideas into my mobile app while I’m pretending to work. I can’t help it, I have a creative mind that’s always active. In the evening of the workday, I’ve designated at least two hours of “story-crafting” time for myself, whether it be outlining, plotting, reading, researching or writing towards my story-world. That’s the only thing that gets me through my work-week. On the weekends, I have a lot more free time, so I try to get as much writing done as my life will allow. Four hours is my goal for Saturdays and Sundays; more if I'm on a roll (although, my creative-well usually needs replenishing by then). You may have noticed lately that I’ve had trouble posting Wednesday updates lately, which is either caused by work-week fatigue or by the fact that I would rather spend my limited time story-crafting instead of posting . Posting on the weekends has been easier to accomplish for me lately, so I haven’t missed any yet, although this one is pretty late on Sunday evening. I plan on getting back on the bi-weekly schedule soon. We’ll see if that is the case this Wednesday, right? It’s all about creating time for myself.
I’ve also been having trouble with my word-count goals. My writing output has been low. Oh, I’ve been doing plenty of planning and reading and researching, but not a lot of actual writing has been getting done lately. I do the “butt in the seat, hands on the keyboard” routine, and usually get about a paragraph into my writing before my Inner-Editor takes me off on some research, fact-finding tangent on the Internet. He’ll suggest that my battle scenes need more authenticity, so I’ll end up watching two-hours worth of “sword-fighting technique” YouTube videos until my bedtime comes. Important research for sure, especially for a “Sword & Sorcery” novel (I rationalize to myself), but not a lot of actual writing has been getting done lately. The Internet, for all it’s good, can be a time-suck. I came up with a solution that I’m going to try next week (and beyond if it works). I’ve decided to do all of my writing on my new laptop instead of my desktop; the difference being that I don’t do any web-surfing on my new laptop, only on my desktop. This will remove the tempting, attractive distraction of researching while writing. If I need to research a scene, I’ll just make a note in brackets to [research this] and continue writing. I have Scrivener on both computers, so I share my manuscript files through Dropbox. I cleaned off an old computer desk that I had and set it up for my laptop. This way, when I do my “butt in the seat, hands on the keyboard” routine, I won’t have any excuse or distractions from actually writing. I’ve created for myself a creative space exclusively for writing. Creating time and space. You see what I did there? Just like the blog title. =)
Steel flashed and the throng surged wildly back out of the way. In their flight they knocked over the single candle and the den was plunged into darkness, broken by the crash of upset benches, drums of flying feet, shouts, oaths of people tumbling over one another, and a single strident yell of agony that cut the din like a knife. When the candle was relighted, most of the guests had gone out by doors and broken windows, and the rest huddled behind stacks of wine-kegs and under tables. The barbarian was gone; the center of the room deserted except for the gashed body of the Kothian. The Cimmerian, with the unerring instinct of the barbarian, had killed his man in the darkness and confusion.That’s all for now. Keep the Fire Burning!
— (Excerpt from The Tower of the Elephant, by Robert E. Howard)
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Kudos to you for doing as much as you do while holding down a full-time job! Remember that sometimes the research and dreaming IS part of the writing process. That said, I totally get how the internet can be a big distraction. Your plan for handling it sounds great.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Starcat, researching and daydreaming are both part of the story-crafting process. I'm still learning this whole balancing-act of dreaming and planning and writing. It all works together in unison, doesn't it? Daydreaming leads to planning, which leads to writing, which leads to more daydreaming, etc. Rather cyclical, if you think about it. Thanks for the kudos too. I appreciate your recognition of my effort. Writing in the evenings after a long day of work isn't always easy. Hopefully, all this burning of the midnight oil will pay-off someday.
DeleteMoving to a separate creative space sounds like a great way to encourage you to get more words of your story out. I have been told that creating a specific place and or ritual before you write helps tell your brain it's time to shift into writing mode. During Camp NaNo I used a mug of hot coco after the kids went to bed to be my writing trigger, I will admit that wanting to look something up really quick has turned into an hour later many times for me, so I know what you are talking about. Good luck from a ROW80 blog hopping friend.
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle. My new sacred writing space is working great so far. I'm already seeing progress in my writing output. The only program I have on my new laptop in Scrivener and the only internet link I have is Dropbox (for my Scrivener files). Nothing else. This laptop's sole purpose is for writing (and only writing). Having a designated writing desk has made all the difference in the world. It's like you said; creating space for your "writing ritual". When I sit down at that "writing desk", my Muse sees that I'm serious about writing and we get down to business. Tappity-tap-tap! I like your trigger idea. I'll have to create some sort of similar ritual to shift my brain into writing mode. Oh, yeah, congratulations of your Camp NaNo success! I knew you could do it!
DeleteOne suggestion about the wordcount/research dilemma... how about writing a scene snippet based on your research straight after watching YouTube? That way you have the best of both tasks covered, the research and the wordcount. Just an idea. :)
ReplyDeleteI used to do the same at work - before I became a stay-at-home mum - scribbling notes and ideas and snippets as they came to me while I worked. It's amazing how our minds can be processing stuff in the background which then rears up and demands being recorded. :)
Great suggestion, Lisa. Writing practice scenes based on the research I've done on YouTube sounds intriguing. I imagine a knight teaching his squire the proper way to hold and swing a sword. Or I could describe each move on the video (freezing the frame as I went along) as if my legendary-hero was slicing through marauders on the battlefield (with those exact moves). That's a great way to combine researching and writing. I'm going to do that! And I'm also glad that I'm not the only one who scribbles story-notes at work. I'm amazed how my body can go into autopilot with the mundane work while my mind is happily traversing my fantastical universe, dreaming of story and characters and such. We creative-types were blessed with over-active imaginations, I guess. I love hearing from you!
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