Read Another Book—10 of 60

And it’s been four days since I finished reading the last book, but … I read another book this week! MacRieve by Kresley Cole.

MacRieve - Kresley Cole

It’s book 13 in a long-running series called Immortals After Dark. I think I’ve missed a couple of books. I know I have 2 paperbacks I haven’t read that come before this one, but I think there are more. Ah well. It didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of this one, and I’ll get to them sometime, I’m sure.

I dumped the mini habit of reading 2 pages a day. Strangely enough, though, I have still read at least 2 pages of fiction a day since! I probably won’t tomorrow though, since I just finished this next book and I don’t really want to start another one yet. We’ll see. Maybe Friday. :)

NOTE: I decided to make an effort to read more books this year. And since I have so many unread books, I set a goal to read at least 60 of the books in my backlog by the end of the year. Here’s the log if you want to see how I’m doing.

5 Minute Sessions

I’ve been doing 5 minutes sessions this evening, and though it sounds weird to write in such short bursts, it’s really working for me. I’m on a record breaking pace (for me). :D Very excited!

Off to do more…

I’ll update later with results!

Update: I’m up to 1,266 words tonight, doing 5 minute sessions. So far my best session has been 165 words. I’m only going to do one more before I stop so I better make it good.

Well, that session wasn’t that great, and I’m ending the night at 1,360 words.

My overall average today came to 1,166 wph, which beats my previous recorded high of 1,155 wph. I did eight 5 minute sessions which together averaged out to a record breaking 1,430 words per hour. I had a session today where I wrote for a half hour without the timer counting down, and my pace dropped significantly.

This all came about because of the stuff I did Sunday, which I wrote about.

I’ll be doing this again tomorrow.

Same song too. I’ve had The Lumineers “Big Parade” on repeat and it’s really been working for me. I’ve had my best day since May 8.

I had to ditch the novella to get moving again. The frustration I’ve been dealing with over that book has been ridiculous and is probably to blame for most, if not all, of the last six months’ worth of writing woes.

I’ll revisit the novella each day after I finish my word counts for my other books and try to finish it, but I think I’m going to have to go back and delete everything after chapter three, maybe four, if I’m lucky—after I ditch chapter one and write a new one. That realization was when my frustration reached an all time high and I realized the only way to get rid of it was to accept that the novella is broken.

I guess I’m lucky that it’s the first one I’ve had that I couldn’t work out. Hey, I’m a discovery writer who outlines nothing, and this is the first book since I started that just hasn’t worked out. I can be happy about that. :)

All in all, a very good writing day. I just wish I’d gotten started sooner. :D

Ready for a Breakthrough

Earlier today, I wrote 126 words in 5 minutes. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s on pace for 1500+ words per hour and that’s exceedingly good for me. EXCEEDINGLY. My average pace is more like 300 to 500 words an hour. In fact, I’ve never written 1500+ words in an hour before. Although it’s possible I’ve written 126 words in 5 minutes before, I certainly haven’t done it while timing myself.

What led me to this today was some journaling I was doing in Evernote where I revisited the typing speed versus writing speed debate I have with myself on a fairly regular basis. Don’t bother hacking into my Evernote account, because all you’ll find is a lot of rambling notes I’ve written myself and what amounts to a diary’s worth of angst over my writing woes. Seriously.

Selected excerpts from my notes to myself today:

Typing speed versus writing speed

I know I type faster than 50 wpm most of the time. I could even time myself to see what it comes to, as I write random stuff from my brain. I voice all these words, by the way, as I type them. I wonder how much that slows me down as I write?

Anyway, off to test my typing speed. I’m going to set a timer for 3 minutes and just type and then do the math.

I got 188 words in 3 minutes. That is a speed of 63 wpm. Not that great to be honest. I thought it would be more. I definitely need to start practicing my typing with some typing exercises.

So, my top speed possible in a hour would be about 3,760 words. If I did 50% of that, that’s 1,880 words. This might be “hard” but it is totally doable. Completely and totally doable, and I need to remember that. And 1,880 is 470 words in 15 minutes.

So why can’t I? There’s no reason. I can do it. I absolutely can do it.

While I’m waiting on my coffee to brew I’m going to try this again, slower, and see where I end up.

Okay, 122 words in 3 minutes this time. Much slower, and I deleted some stuff as I was writing just to get that in there. That felt more like real writing and yet it was still 2,440 wph. To turn that into my average speed, I can only be writing at 23% of my slow speed. That’s 15% of my top speed. Which makes no sense. I have to be letting my mind wander a ridiculous amount while I’m composing for that to be possible.

I think I can hit 2,440 words per hour. Probably not all the time, but I can definitely hit it some of the time.

Here’s the thing. I think I’m chasing the wrong ideal here. I don’t think putting all my effort into trying to make myself want to write for the sake of writing is the answer.

I enjoy competition, and competing with myself is just as good as competing with other people, possibly better, because I’m not comparing myself to anyone but myself.

Okay, I’m going to do some writing. What is my goal?

I’ve deleted lots, so really I should just write. I am going for 200 words in 5 minutes. If I keep typing and stop letting my mind wander, I should be able to do that. If I managed to type at top speed I could type over 300 words in 5 minutes. That would be AWESOME.

I’m going to give it a shot.

I wonder what I might gain from forcing myself to write really really fast and not worry about it being nonsensical. Would I get better at it as time went on? So that I could in a sense train myself to write super-fast and it make sense? This is something to think about.

I just wrote 126 words in 5 minutes. That’s the equivalent of 317 in 15 minutes. That is GOOD! If I kept that up for an hour, that would be 1512 wph.

Yeah. It was kind of boring. But it was also very interesting to me, because it wasn’t hard—although I admit it was hard to keep my focus on exactly what I was writing for even 5 minutes, but I did it.

I think it’s time to start working on a breakthrough in my writing speed.

Time to Activate Strict Workflow in Chrome and Write

Time to activate Strict Workflow in Chrome and write. It’s a beautiful day outside, so I have my blinds closed. :D It’s amazing how much vacuuming of dead skin I’ve been doing, because I’m shedding. If only it was as neat as a snake skin, but no, it’s like ash, fluttering around and getting into everything.

Sorry about that visual. :D

I am at a bit of a crossroads here. It’s too messed up in my head to explain, but I can feel it. Something’s about to snap, and I know I’m going to be back on track with my writing, soon.

I feel really good today, and I want to do some writing this morning while I feel this way.

Strict Workflow blocks only three sites: two forums and a blog.

I’ve already pushed the button (a cute little tomato icon) to block them for an hour. If I close my browser, Strict Workflow stops blocking sites, but if I’ve managed to close my browser, I’m usually okay. :)

For some reason, when I feel the least bit like I don’t know what to do, I pull those sites up. The thing is, I thought it was when I was bored, but that’s really not it. I’m not bored when I’m writing—I’m having to make decisions about what happens next, and I have trouble with that. A lot of trouble. I don’t like making decisions. So I try lots of things and honestly, writing wears me out, not physically, but mentally. All those decisions! It wears me out and I get to a point where I just can’t make another decision right then, and wham, I’m looking for an easy way to distract myself.

And for a quick example of how easily distracted I am, I started writing this just before 11 a.m., did some stuff—I don’t even know what, but somehow I ended up on 4 different websites looking at infographics, and now I’m finishing this at 12:08 p.m.

So, off to write before it happens again!

Oh, one more thing. There’s been a lot of reconsidering of things previously considered going on last night and this morning. Ain’t that always fun! I’m sure I’ll have lots of useless posts today and tomorrow as a result. Avoid my blog for the next few days if you’re smart. :D

Read Another Book—9 of 60

I finished reading another book of fiction. This time I read science fiction, a book by Jack McDevitt called A Talent For War. I liked it. The mystery had a nice bite to it, and I really liked Alex (the hero).

A Talent for War - Jack McDevitt

The reading mini habit I’ve been working on, 2 pages of fiction a day, is starting to chafe. I’m not that into this habit.

I don’t like reading bits and pieces each day. It’s frustrating me—I’d rather sit down and read large passages at a time, and I’m just not sure why I even want to make myself read 2 pages a day. Well, that’s not exactly true. I thought it would make it more likely for me to read more books. It was probably working like it was supposed to, but … I don’t care.

I’ve been reading a few pages here and there of A Talent for War for almost a week, until finally I just got annoyed and sat down today and finished it. Took me 8 hours. Which I didn’t have. But because I’d worked myself into the part of the book where I just wanted to know what was going to happen, I ended up using the majority of a day I had set aside for other things to read instead.

Alrighty then. Decision time. I’m bailing on this mini habit. Reading is kind of an all or nothing thing for me, and I like it that way.

NOTE: I decided to make an effort to read more books this year. And since I have so many unread books, I set a goal to read at least 60 of the books in my backlog by the end of the year. Here’s the log if you want to see how I’m doing.

Day 23 of No More Zero Word Days

So I wrote at least 50 words again today! And promptly deleted a bunch more—not the same words, so that’s something, right? I currently stand at -35 words for the day. I’m not that comfortable ending the day on a negative again. That would be 2 out of 23 days, which doesn’t sound bad, but it sure does feel bad.

…And a half hour later…

I couldn’t end it there. So I wrote some more words and now I’m at 253 words for the night. It took 31 minutes to go from -35 words to 253 words, which is approximately 576 words an hour. I really wish I could speed that up. But I have a lot of trouble organizing my thoughts as I write fiction and it takes me a bit to get things moving, and keep them moving without veering off into very, very strange territory—nonsensical territory, to be blunt. Ah, well. I have accepted my lack of any real speed as I write, or at the very least, I’ve decided I can’t dwell on it. :)

Putting Things Off; Day 22 of No More Zero Word Days

Sometimes there are reasons for putting things off. I’d like to think I had reasons today. I did one 5 minute session this morning, which lasted 15 minutes and got me 89 words. So, yay! My daily writing streak is 22 days long.

That, unfortunately, was the only 5 minute session I did today.

I’m still recovering from that sunburn, btw, and I felt both a lot better today and seriously run down. The amount of skin peeling off my body is both fascinating and alarming. :D

I’ll be able to get back to this experiment on Saturday, although I do have a few sessions scheduled for tomorrow. Same rules apply (and will always apply): Use a little willpower, sit down, write 5 minutes, and I’m done. It’s been an interesting experiment and I’m anxious to continue it.

Day 21 of No More Zero Word Days

Yesterday was the first time I wrote, met my 50 word minimum, then ended the day on a negative. I happen to know I wrote approximately 86 words, then knocked myself down to 66, then -289, then came back up to -22. That’s where I ended the day.

Success, regardless of final count. The deleted words were not the words I wrote yesterday.  I cut some stuff that didn’t fit with the ending I’m going for in the novella. :D

I swear, some days lately, I feel like I’ve forgotten how to write.

 

Progress in Small Steps

Small? Or tiny? Tiny might be a better fit. :D

If you want to know what I’m talking about, I’m talking about what I mentioned yesterday evening, when I was planning out how I could push myself to write more without sabotaging my current mini habit or stall my daily writing streak.

I might have found the way. :D

I’m very happy with the progress of my habit building. I don’t want to mess it up, and I knew anything I came up with had to work with those mini habits I’m working on.

Yesterday, I read an newsletter article about levers, small steps, and what to do when you don’t know what to do next.

I had a realization that maybe my writing is stalled because I don’t know what to do next (I’m sure there’s more to it, but this is quite likely a major contributing factor, considering I’m at decision point in every one of the four stories I’ve been working on and I’m having trouble getting started on any one of them.)

The author suggested writing it out until you do know what to do. So I did. My novella seems to be benefiting from this most at the moment, because that’s the story that’s on my mind.

But what stuck with me yesterday when I read the article was the idea that I needed to find a way to encourage myself to write more without putting any real pressure on myself. I read this article while I was exercising, by the way, and that was probably the missing piece that coalesced later into the idea I ended up going with.

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling well. But I knew I needed to at least get on my bike and pedal for a minute so I wouldn’t derail my exercise habit. I really didn’t feel like doing it, and I was positive I was going to get on the bike, pedal for a minute and then stop. I had enough willpower to at least do that.

And yet, what happened was that once I was on the bike, I couldn’t see the sense in getting off before I read that article, and then I couldn’t see the sense in getting off before I hit 15 minutes because I was so close to 15 minutes, and then 16, then 17, then 19. I got off at 21 minutes.

This has happened before, often enough that I’ve mentioned it to other people. I am now positive that, for me, getting started is THE most difficult part of anything I do. I believe this is the single biggest challenge I face, and I feel like I’ve finally figured out a way to tackle that.

I decided I needed to take some really small steps toward writing more, and hope that my internal motivation for writing would kick once I got started. So as I mentioned yesterday, I set 5 minute writing sessions, with time triggers.

All I have to do is 5 minutes of writing. If I want to wander off after that, then I can, and that’s perfectly okay. I’ll still end up with 35 minutes of writing at the end of the day, and that’s probably going to be more than I’d end up with otherwise. And I’m hoping it will train me to get to the computer more often and just get started.

So during my first 5 minutes this morning, I wrote about my story and what should come next. That helped a lot, to be honest. Then during my next 5 minutes (which turned into 9) I wrote on the story. In the next 5 minutes (which turned into 21), I edited some earlier parts and deleted some stuff, and I think I know where to take this story to end it.

See the progress? This is awesome! I’ve already got over 30 minutes of writing in today and I still have 4 5 minutes sessions planned. I really think there’s something to this… :D

And I feel really good today. That’s nice too. :D

Day 19 & 20 of No More Zero Word Days

Day 19: 166 words

Day 20: 135 words

I avoided deleting what needs deleted, although I probably shouldn’t have.

I feel like the daily writing is going well, but I think I’m going to have to push myself a little to get to the point where I’m writing more each day.

The next thing I’m going to try is to set some super small goals scattered throughout the day to try to jump start my writing. At 8, 9, 10, and 11 AM, and then at 3, 4, and 5 PM, I will sit down and write for at least 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I can stop if I want. I’ll do this 7 times during the day, and hopefully, get myself used to just sitting down and writing throughout the day again. I’ve fallen out of all my writing habits since last August, and this is a chance to start over. I would like to try this tomorrow, and as I’m writing this, that’s my plan. I’ve even set the reminders in my calendar so I’ll be notified when it’s time to sit down.

I know I said I would avoid stating intentions and focus on actions instead, but in this case, I think it’s okay. I’m not saying I’m going to write a bunch of words, or even any words. I’m just going to use what willpower I have to sit myself down at the computer 7 times for no less than 5 minutes each time.

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a year since this trouble started, but it has, and a year is plenty of time to fall out of any good habits I had going for me and fall into a bunch of bad ones.

What I do with that tomorrow is anybody’s guess. :D

Day 18 of No More Zero Word Days

Day 18 has been one of those days that would have been, without a doubt, a zero word day, if not for my desire to keep my streak alive, and my mini sized requirement. I had just enough willpower to get 52 words out, and that was it.

I have to delete more. I have been pecking away at the novella for the last few days, thinking about some stuff, and trying to figure out where I went wrong, if I even went wrong, because maybe the problems weren’t even real and I should have just kept going way back when. I don’t know.

What I do know is that I have to delete some stuff, but I don’t want to do it tonight, because I am done.

Yes, I know I said I wasn’t going to state intentions, but I feel like I have to state this intention: I am going to finish this book. Tomorrow, the next day, or the next, but I am going to finish it. Even if that means gutting it and starting over and writing hell bent for the end.

That said, I do have a major problem. I’ve done so much tinkering that I can’t actually remember what’s in the book and what isn’t and that’s … not a great thing for me. I don’t do revisions, and I don’t do them because once I get to this point, I can’t untangle my messes. I can’t let go of stuff in my head that should be, was, or was meant to be in the book. I can’t scrub it out. I can’t unthink these things and the confusion is extremely … confusing! I’m not sure how I’m going to do this. I might have to sit down and delete another chunk and then just read through the book as it is three or four times to solidify in my thoughts what’s actually there in the book. I read about half of it today. I could do that. There was some great stuff there that surprised me. And that’s why I’m now wondering if I screwed up nearly a month ago when I deleted a bunch.

There’s just no way to know.

Day 17 of No More Zero Word Days

Finished another successful day. 168 words, I think, although I’m pulling that number from memory. I squeezed out 41, then got on a bit of a role as I tried to get the next 9 so I could call it a day. :) I was (am) in quite a lot of pain, and I’m just happy I didn’t skip writing altogether!

Undersold

I think I undersold the sunburn. I hurt so bad last night that I have no idea how I’m going to write today. Every time I move, my skin feels like it’s trying to tear free from my body.

I’m trying to see the bright side of this. About the only thing I can come up with is that at least it’s only on one side of my body. Meaning at least I can still sit on my bottom!

Day 15 & 16 of No More Zero Word Days

Yesterday I wrote 90 words by 10 a.m., just before I took off for a day of fun.

I wrote 61 words today before lunch, even though I squeezed them in right before the line started forming at the big family cookout! ;)

I ditched the change to my mini habit that set my deadline at 10 a.m. I’m considering another option, and I plan to try it out tomorrow.

Mini Habit Revisions

I’m trying to create a habit out of daily writing. I’ve been trying to do that by having one simple rule: Write 50 words before lunch.

What I find myself doing though is squeezing my writing in at the last minute because I exercise right before lunch. I’m having to stop writing just as I get on a roll.

That’s a problem, because taking advantage of the natural urge to keep going past the basic requirement you’ve set for yourself is supposed to be one of the major ways mini habits benefit you—getting yourself started with willpower and taking advantage of momentum. This happens to me almost daily with my exercise. There have been many days where I’ve told myself I’m just going to do a few minutes, and yet I almost always end up sticking it out for at least 30.

That’s what I want to see happening with the writing. But because of the timing of it, that can’t happen without me making a conscious decision to mess up my working-really-well exercise and lunch routine. I know I could just get started sooner, but … if it was as easy as that, I would have already been getting started earlier. I’m a natural procrastinator, and even using willpower doesn’t change that. My deadline is lunch, and my subconscious has already decided it’ll be done by the deadline but not a moment sooner.

So, starting tomorrow, my one simple rule will change: Write 50 words by 10 a.m.

I don’t like it quite as much, because that’s a hard deadline. The reason lunch works for me is because I can just push lunch back by however many minutes necessary to make sure I get my words in beforehand. Hard deadlines are, well, hard.

But I want to get started earlier in the mornings and I just don’t know of any other way at the moment to encourage that habit, so this is what I’m going to try.

Read Another Book—8 of 60

Another book down! I read a cozy mystery this week, Strictly Murder (The Verity Long Mysteries Book 1) by Lynda Wilcox.

Strictly Murder - Lynda WilcoxIf it weren’t for the fact that the whole reason I started this reading challenge was so I could get through the backlog of books I have to read, I would definitely buy the sequel and start it next. I enjoyed the book a lot.

I do hope I’ll get to the other books in the series sometime, since the reviews make a case for books #3 and #4 in the series being even better, and then there’s a novella too.

This reading mini habit I’ve been working on, 2 pages of fiction a day, never less, more if I want, seems like it’s really going to keep my fiction reading on track this year.

NOTE: I decided to make an effort to read more books this year. And since I have so many unread books, I set a goal to read at least 60 of the books in my backlog by the end of the year. Here’s the log if you want to see how I’m doing.