There are times when I get a sense from writers of huge progress being made on manuscripts. NaNoWriMo (in November) is one of those times.
Then there are times when I hear writers are struggling (holidays, summer travel time.)
Honestly, there’s just never a good time to write a book. Life is busy, writing involves quiet reflection…it can be hard to fit that time in.
But since there is no good time to write a book, you might as well write yours now. :)
Jane Friedman had a great post last week on Writer Unboxed on adding structure to your writing life.
I especially like Jane’s advice about making a weekly and daily goal. She has a link for a free download for a goal sheet. One thing I like about the goal sheet is that it acknowledges that there are impediments to reaching that goal and makes you list them so you recognize them in advance.
I also completely agree with Jane’s advice on naming specific tasks to accomplish. For me, the more specific I can be, the quicker I can make my goal. Instead of listing “finish next scene,” I’ll say: “have sleuth question witness, write setting description for the local park, make sure motivation for sleuth’s actions is clear,” etc.
The only thing that I might change a little is that instead of 30-60 weekly, dedicated minutes (which admittedly might work for many), I’d say 5-10 minutes a day, whenever they can be snagged, for those who just can’t find that 30-60 free minutes in their weeks currently. To write only 5 minutes a day, you do need to be slightly more organized and know what you’re planning on knocking out that day (don’t spend your five minutes rereading what you wrote the day before.) At least you’re making daily progress.
How do you stay on task during busy times?
Sometimes specifics help for me too (usually they do). I also find the ‘just do it’ factor sometimes works as well.
It’s especially useful if your brain is acting fussy, like a cat who begs to go outside but then just won’t step past the threshhold. You can then say “okay, if you don’t want to work on the list, then you have to do something else, and you have to start NOW.”
It also helps to say “I’m going to work for 10 minutes,” or some other short time. It’s easy to do JUST ten minutes… and then once you’ve got your brain to knuckle down, you can keep going.
Elizabeth – This post really strikes a chord for me, because right now is one of those busy times for me. It’s hard to squeeze in even ten minutes at times. What I find works is to figure out what time of day is the most productive time of day – and try to fit those minutes in then. The more “charged up” one is feeling, the more productive one is.
Agree. Specific goals help with focus and provide a clearer sense of progress. They can also keep big tasks from becoming overwhelming.
Deadlines help, so it’s great to have a crit group and a schedule for when your next chapter or pages will be read by them. I love that specificity idea, thank you!
Hm. There may never be a good time, but the exam period is definitely the worst of time so how do I cope? Right now I don´t. Instead I try to take some small ´career steps´ by editing, publishing flash fiction, preparing a guest post round etc. And in June things will be better (is my mantra).
Camille–I can *always* manage 10 minutes. Longer is sometimes just not possible!
Margot–Good point! Mornings are usually my time.
Hektor–Writing a book can seem like such a huge task that it’s nice to have it broken down into manageable bits.
Linda–I love deadlines! Self-imposed or otherwise.
Dorte–Small is good–and still keeps you moving forward.