posted
Is it okay to post about being unhappy that I'm not working on my novel? Who else can I complain to; they already think I'm nuts!!
Its hard not to think about my fun project when I'm sitting in front of a computer, writing and editing boring technical documents all day. I'm supposed to be a software developer, not a tech writer, but they've got me pegged!
posted
Wow, I don't know about this as a topic. It might be too tempting for people to join you with their own whining, and then how much writing would they get done?
posted
I just rewrote the second and third chapters of my new novel, then proceeded to write the fourth and fifth. That on top of sending out another half dozen query letters to agents.
Yeah, easy to whine about not writing when we should be. Not too helpful, though.
I understand its tough to focus sometimes. If that's the case, organize notes, write a short story, write a flash story, critique a story. Anything but whining. Anything you do that improves your writing is good. A lot of my spare time goes to reading blogs by writers. It helps.
posted
I totally agree, I just got a part time job, it pays well and I can work at home, so I shouldn't complain. But it seriously cuts into my writing time *sigh* ~D
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posted
If you all knew what's going on in my life, you'd probably not believe I already wrote over 120,000 words this year. That's a cop-out. Should be closer to 200K by now.
Posts: 2 | Registered: Aug 2010
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posted
We all have problems, don't we? Whenever I feel like throwing a pity-party, I always think back to Stephen King, before CARRIE sold to paperback for $400,000. A school teacher for nine months a year, worked in a dry cleaner during the summers, and had to write balancing a kid's desk on his knees in a closet in the trailer the King's lived in. But he still found time to write a couple of hours every night. Impressive.
posted
Sometimes I have to remind myself of a few things to keep myself productive. Basically, it all boils down to how I manage my time. With everything I manage in my life--family, job, finances, entertainment--time is something I make choices with. Some of those choices are good ones, and some bad. Some are choices that any decent and responsible person will make, as in putting family before self, while others are purely selfish.
The important thing that I remind myself of is that what I spend my time on is my choice, good or bad, and that it is often possible to make time for something like writing by just changing my priorities a little. For example, I've caught myself watching several hours of TV or playing video games, and then wondering why I haven't been as productive with writing. Upon reflection, I realized I was making a bad choice with my time, so I started turning off the TV and started writing instead.
I've also come to realize that it really doesn't take that much time to be a productive writer. I can generally create at a rate of about 20 words a minute, and generate 1,500 words in just about an hour and a half, which I do daily. The less time I have to write in a day, the more organized I have to be before writing to remain at that rate of 20 words a minute when I am writing.
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I've bounced from a few barren years to a fairly prolific last year---but my "life" doesn't seem to affect it. Probably I'd write the same amount if I, say, didn't have to haul my butt to a soul-degrading job. Recent turmoil at said job (ever been threatened with disciplinary action for doing something exactly the way you've been told to do it?) covered a few months of this period, during which my production level rose a little.
I think maybe if something bigger came along, it might bring things to a screeching halt.
posted
I have to give myself daily targets else I wouldn't write at all. I can very easily get distracted with others things and can go weeks without writing a thing. Then I go weeks when all I do is write every spare minute. Both have thier draw backs but I try not to whine about it. I do privatley, to myself but I try not to inflict it on anyone else.
Anyhow, I've written about 154,000 words in the last two months so pretty pleased with myself - which is more than I wrote in the two years before.
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