Sunday, July 14, 2013

You Should Be Writing

The trick is getting those words on paper. It’s not a first draft until it’s out of your head and on to the page. Unfortunately shaking your head over a blank piece of paper doesn’t work. (Yes, I have tried it and got nuttin but a few pebbles, an old commercial jingle and a few scattered thoughts)

You have to write or type those words onto the page one by one, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph until an entire page is filled. Then another and another until The End.

The only way to do that is to make time to write. Daily word count goals can be great motivators. So are those great “You should be writing!” memes and posters. Encouraging us to find those little spaces of time to carve out a few words, even on the days we think it’s impossible.

A scheduled block of time to sit down and write is the best option. Yet sometimes there are distractions (Facbook… damn you Candy Crush) or interruptions (Mommmm can you…(insert item/ food/ thing to get or look at here).

 It is up to us to make sure that first draft gets all the attention it needs by taking the time for a few words
when that special writing time isn’t available or near long enough. Are you in a long grocery line or a coffee line? Pull out your phone, start the note pad app and start jotting down the next scene or ideas for it at least.

You’ll be surprised how many words you can pop out that way. Or, waiting for your order in a restaurant, I usually get at least a page out of that. The point is even if there aren’t blocks of time to write, we can get that first draft out of our head and onto paper if we grab a pen during those pauses in life.

Just as you can’t wait for inspiration to show up you have to club it. You can’t wait for the perfect time to sit and write. You have to grab it when it appears, even if its one word at a time.

Update Goals for Round 3 Week 2:
1. 1000 words a day on novel
1k a day did not happen. Still there was writing done every day. The second chapter of Outlaw Born is nearly finished.

2. Finish out this class to the next exam
The text for this section is a lot longer than I expected. I was also assigned to visit a local historic attraction and write a report about the business side of it. I am scheduled to do that next week. Yay! I wuve museums. See School really is fun!

3. Fill two more boxes of stuff to leave my abode.
This one was nailed. Two more boxes of things no longer welcome in my house are waiting by the door to be evicted on our next trip into town.

New Goals for Week 3 ROW80
1. Write on Outlaw Born every day and finish chapter 2
2. Get to that exam this week
3. Two more boxes of stuff to be evicted 


How do you steal time to write?  Do you have a favorite You should be writing poster or motto? 


3 comments:

  1. Making use of every spare moment and using it wisely is key. I carry a notebook in my purse and jot notes down when they come to me.

    Best of luck with your writing goals this week. It can't be easy when you're preparing for a move. Although you could mine the experience for plot ideas, I suppose.

    Anyway, I hope you have a good week! :-)

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  2. I used to carry my smallest drop spindle and some prepared wool with me wherever I went, so I could whip that little baby out and get a few yards spun while standing in line, or waiting for the doctor to call me in, or for the show to start, or whatever. I don't carry my spinning anymore, but I do have my smartphone with me all the time now. I have no excuse not to pull it out and write in spare moments. I don't know hwy I don't do that ....

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  3. Congrats on your successes last week. WTG

    It's Bubble Worlds for me. I do not care to relay - or learn - how many hours it has consumed.

    Keep on plugging . . . and a big CONGRATS for continuing to write in the midst of moving. That is not always easy.

    Have a great week. TTFN

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