Category: Writing

Posts about writing. Writing is my work but since I work better when I pretend work isn’t work, I mostly call it fun—even when it isn’t. ;)

Funny how negotiable non-negotiable is when you’re tired

Lynn

Boy was I tired last night. I think I used up all my energy writing up that blog post about resistance because when I was done, I almost fell asleep holding my computer.

One thing led to another and I just gave up. I couldn’t even handwrite the notes I wanted to make about one of my characters. I need to do some brainstorming on that or something because I’m really not feeling the love for him and he is supposed to be a major player in this book. {grrr}

Anyway, not going to do that again, but if I do, I’ll forgive myself like I’m going to forgive myself now. I had an especially trying two days and a home maintenance project going that involved concrete and buckets and 85°F heat, and I didn’t get nearly enough sleep the night before. It’s no wonder I conked out.

What this all means is that although I wanted yesterday to be the first day of my newly refreshed plan, it wasn’t.

If I had it to do differently, I would have started writing a lot sooner in the day, even if it was just 15 minutes here and there.

It’s a lesson, in a long line of lessons, trying to teach me to start my writing day as early as I can.

Which I’m going to do right now. :)

Facing resistance and adjusting the plan

Lynn

You know how you make a plan and then immediately feel resistant to actually following through? Yes, well, that’s been happening to me.

So instead of letting myself get too far down that hole, I’ve decided to make a few adjustments to the plan.

I wrote a long post about this and then decided to cut most of it. Suffice to say, I’ve decided I might be better served to have a minimum daily plan that is, to be honest, a little more minimum.

That’d be 1,557 words, every day. Yes. I know some days life will interfere. I still want to write 1,557 words every day, even if I have to switch projects to get them done, or write something quick and ugly just before bed to do it.

I can do this in 3 hours or less most days (based on the fact that my real, I’ve-tracked-it average is about 550 words an hour). It might take longer some days but I’m confident in these numbers—they’re real, they aren’t overly optimistic, and this can be done.

It’s really all about training myself to write every day, because I am not good with habits once I start letting them slip. Seriously, it’s the way I’m wired or something but there ain’t a lot of middle ground with me. The only habits that stick are the ones that I make non-negotiable.

Not gonna lie. This is going to be hard as hell to get embedded in my brain: writing daily is non-negotiable. 1,557 words a day is non-negotiable.

All I have to do is show up and stay the course.

I think the thing I’ll have to remember is that if the writing is going badly, I’m going to have to write shit and just accept that. Some shit is better than no shit, right? :P

Now that I’ve thought this all out, I’m ready to get started with this TODAY. :D I have 412 words written and I need to write another 1,145 words.

I like this more reasonable plan. It’s one I can start working on late in the day and still expect to get done. Here’s hoping that will stop the excuses!

(Have I mentioned that a lot of these posts are totally me just writing out my thoughts and trying to make sense of them? Because, yes, that’s what I’ve just done.)

Session two better than session one, so… incremental improvement?

Lynn

Session two’s attempt has also failed.

I wrote 358 words (537 wph). I did improve over session one though, so there was some incremental improvement.

But—oh, and there is a but—not only did I not write faster than my average (600 wph), I wasted a bunch of writing time when a shiny video caught my eye on YouTube and I watched a bunch of videos about traveler’s notebooks (which I don’t even have nor do I want!). I haven’t been on YouTube before last night in months. So I have to ask myself: Why now? Am I really so desperate to avoid writing that I’ve turned to YouTube to sabotage myself?

Frankly, I’m a little off-kilter anyway because looking at my notebook, I see that I ended session one at 10:58, yet I didn’t end session two until 12:40. Where’d that extra hour go?

UGH. I have no idea!

My plan was to finish three sessions before lunch, but now I’m starving and it’s 2:32 so I’m going to go ahead and stop for a moment.

When I come back, I’m going to do sessions three to six.

And… this ended up being my last session. I just flaked out, no real explanation why I couldn’t bring myself to finish the day.

Didn’t get there in session one

Lynn

Session one for the morning is over. I did not write as freely or constantly as wanted to. I hesitated a lot. I backspaced more than I’d hoped. I second-guessed myself many times.

I wrote 313 words (470 wph). That’s not even my average pace (600 wph), so I have to admit  session one’s attempt was a failure.

On to session two, after I stretch my legs.

Yay for that, at least

Lynn

I ended yesterday with 384 words. Considering I was up to 468 after two of my 40 minute sessions, that seems impossible, right? But nope, not impossible. I completed another 40 minute session but before I started it I deleted 349 words.

Boom, just gone.

I must have written a few hundred words there in that last session or I’d have ended the night with a lower word count than I did, so yay! for that.

On another note, today I plan to begin substituting the word “plan” anywhere I might be tempted to use the word “goal.” It’s a mind-trick I want to try out. We’ll see how it goes.

Also, today I will definitely be picking up the challenge I set out for myself last night but was unable to follow through on. I’m going to try to write as constantly as I can during my sessions, and stay away from the backspace or delete key as much as possible!, and see where that gets me. It’s going to be challenging, but if I don’t practice, I won’t improve.

Saying is not doing

Lynn

You know how you sometimes say you’re going to do something but then when it comes to actually doing said something, you just… don’t?

Yeah. That happened. I was determined yesterday to get in my time and reach 3,000 words. I wrote it down in my journal. But nope, I didn’t do it when it came time.

Yesterday’s word count was 49 words. I did finish one complete 40 minute session, but at that word count, it was more of a disgrace than anything else.

I’m trying harder today.

At least I’ve managed two complete 40 minute sessions so far and have 468 words to show for it. Of course, that’s nowhere near the goal I had for them, but gah, it’s been hard to get moving on this book. GRRRRR.

Yesterday was not great; thoughts on rewriting

Lynn

Yesterday was not great as a writing day. The details are there and there.

I ended the day with 354 words, which is better than none, I guess, but WOW. I think I like the scenes I rewrote better now than before, but the truth is, I’m not objective and I have no way to know if they’re objectively better. I meant to read through them last night but fell asleep before I even started, and I thought about rereading them this morning but decided that might not be a good idea AT ALL if I want to actually write a lot of words today (which I do).

What I did gain from this was a reminder that slow writing and rewriting both seem to introduce more errors and things in need of more rewriting than just writing something fast in the first place.

Not that I ever believed any different but the reminder was warranted. I have bad habits I need to overcome and sometimes I forget what those bad habits are.

Unfortunately, I can’t always write fast. I try but I get hung up on not knowing what to write next, or what I write next doesn’t feel right, so I start tinkering, and whammo. There I am, writing slow, or rewriting, and I’m stuck in the mire. Even when I realize that, it takes me a while to get my momentum back.

I don’t really know how to fix that. Maybe someday I’ll figure it out.

How to write only 90 words per hour—a primer

Lynn

Start with a goal. Know that you really need to make this day’s writing count.

Goals 500 750
Session Words WPH
1 57 86
2 138 207
3 -72 -108
4 118 177

Add in rewriting, then delete a few paragraphs that really don’t sound like they belong, add in some perfectionism—okay a lot of perfectionism, and throw in a dash of what-the-fuck, and there you go!

My average words per hour over 2.667 hours: 90.

At least I have a few sessions to go so maybe today won’t be a total loss. :o

Six sessions might be the magic number

Lynn

I’m doing 40 minute sessions today, that means six sessions, which feels like a Goldilocks number: not too many, not too few.

In fact, I did two 40 minute sessions this morning and both of them felt like they went by so fast that I couldn’t believe either of them was over when the timer dinged.

I definitely feel like I needed to leave myself more time to get into the zone and extending my session length to 40 minutes seems to have helped. I might even go longer now that I’m seeing the benefit. Now that I’m not drinking coffee and teas all the time while I’m writing, I’m handling the longer sessions just fine.

The only thing is that my word count per hour doesn’t benefit that much from the longer sessions.

In the past, there’s even been a negative effect. Shorter sessions definitely give me a better wph. On the other hand, I do think I enjoy writing better with the longer sessions. And since I need to like writing again more than I need an awesome wph, I think I’m just going to enjoy the trade-off.

July’s average words per day (not counting today because I’m still writing) = 838 words

Holiday! Yes, I did

Lynn

I took the day off yesterday, although yesterday I didn’t feel like I was taking the day off. Time kept getting away from me and between not feeling well and several holiday activities I participated in, I just didn’t write.

So it’s a retroactive day off, I guess. I wish I’d known that when I got up yesterday. I’d have been able to let go of the guilt of not working and just enjoy the time off.

I’m making a sour face right now. Really.

Holiday! Okay, not really

Lynn

I’m not supposed to be taking days off for the July 4th holiday this year because (1) I don’t want to go to the parade, sit in the hot sun, and smell horse poo, and (2) I kind of need to finish this book I’m working on sooner rather than later.

But… I’ve been about as productive a writer today as I’ve been a circus performer. Since I never got to take gymnastics as a child, I’ll just say now that I’m not a circus performer. In case you were wondering.

I’ve written about 237 words today and I have 07:18 left on my 30 minute timer. This session has been waiting on me to finish it since midday. It’s far from midday now. I don’t want to finish it and it’s going to be a chore to make myself (which I am planning to do, but ugh). Doing more than that is probably a dream.

This is what happens when I don’t get enough sleep.

Let’s try not to make that mistake again, okay?

Final sessions for the day

Lynn

I finished up the last of my sessions. I had hoped to reached 3,000 words but I didn’t quite make it. I’m at 2,332 for the day. I might come back later and do some more writing, because I really want to end the day at 3,000 words!

But for now, I need a break. A massive break, because my brain is tired. :D

  • Session 6 = 425 words (850 wph)
  • Session 7 = 236 words (472 wph)
  • Session 8 = 209 words (418 wph)

Totals for the day

2,332 words and 583 wph

Eight sessions instead of twelve seems to be the way to go

Lynn

Eight sessions instead of twelve seems to be the way to go! Of course, I made up the total time difference by making the eight sessions thirty minutes long instead of twenty. But it has left me fewer opportunities for distraction and here it is 11:56 a.m. and I have only three sessions to go. :)

  • Session 1 = 302 words (604 wph)
  • Session 2 = 263 words (526 wph)
  • Session 3 = 270 words (540 wph)
  • Session 4 = 312 words (624 wph)
  • Session 5 = 315 words (630 wph)

Sessions are 30 minutes long. Goal is 375 words per session, 750 words per hour.

Not there yet, but getting closer!

Total so far = 1,462 words

Nope—didn’t make it

Lynn

I’m calling it a night at 1,531 and about 3 hours. I’ve done a little more than that but totally lost track because I started adding things to the story without the timer going. So who knows the actual time spent today, but I didn’t make enough progress on my word count to worry over it.

Bringing my total for today to 1,531 words.

Tomorrow I’ll try the 30 minute sessions x 8 of them and see how that does for me. See you then. :)

3,000 – 1,355 = 1,645 words to go

Lynn

I’ve completed eight sessions now and although I’m pretty happy with the fact that I’m writing, I’m disappointed that my morning pace didn’t hold out when it came up against my story line uncertainty. I think that’s been a big deal on this particular story. I’m still very much not sure where it’s headed.

  • Session 4 = 36 words
  • Session 5 = 29 words
  • Session 6 = 199 words
  • Session 7 = 130 words
  • Session 8 = 84 words

Sessions were 20 minutes, goal was 250 words per session.

This put me at 2.667 hours of timed writing for the day. I need 1.333 hours more to reach 4 hours, my minimum goal.

For the rest of the evening, I’m switching to 30 minute sessions. I just keep running into the fact that I feel like I’m just getting on a roll when that timer dings, but doing 2 sessions back-to-back just hasn’t worked well.

Now, back to writing for me! I have a lot to do and it’s already 7:51 pm and I don’t want to be up late tonight. Here’s hoping I can pick up the pace again so those 1,645 words come quick.

A new month and a fresh start

Lynn

I’ll take whatever opportunity I can find for a fresh start. My word counts haven’t been where I want them the last few days, nor even before that but at least then I had enough time invested that I didn’t feel like a slacker, but today is the first of a new month and I plan to use that to push for my goal word count of 3,000 words.

So far, I’m on track I’m happy to say. Especially since I can’t ever tell if I’m going to write fast or slow during any one session until I’m actually writing.

Sessions are 20 minutes, goal is 250 words per session or 750 wph.

  • Session 1 = 349 words
  • Session 2 = 281 words
  • Session 3 = 247 words

Total for 1 hour = 877 words

Pace = 877 wph

Yay!

I’m going to try out a new format for blogging today. I’ll start with these smaller posts about my progress and then do a summary post at the end of the day.  I just kind of like things in little packets. ;)

 

 

Word counts for the last 6 days of writing

Lynn

Date—Words
6/25/17—694
6/26/17—1,063
6/27/17—592
6/28/17—0
6/29/17—604
6/30/17—251 (might increase, might not)

Not great by any means but I’m happy that I’ve been writing again. I’m also happy that I seem to be in a mood to push myself to improve. I don’t want to stagnate.

Today was supposed to be a day off, because I had a meeting with a friend planned. Those plans fell through, probably for the best, because I woke up with a stiff back and no will to go anywhere. :) I haven’t written much today because of that, but I’m trying now to at least do some writing before I call it a night.

 

A good night’s sleep is a big deal

Lynn

Yesterday, I took the day off. I hadn’t planned to, to be honest, but I had to be away from the house, and by the time I returned, I was done for the day. I was so tired (and a bit headachy) that the thought of opening my document and writing almost put me to sleep on the spot. So mostly I just moaned about how I needed to go to bed early, and then I did.

I went to sleep two hour earlier than the night before and about four hours earlier than the two nights before that. This morning I woke up early and didn’t feel half bad, if I do say so myself.

I don’t actually feel great right now but my words per hour rate this morning was ridiculously higher than it was any of those other days. My average after two sessions is 768 wph. Since my goal wph is 750, I consider that as good as gold. It’s definitely a mark in favor of getting to bed early. If my remaining sessions go as well as the earlier ones, I’ll reach my goals today with just a little concerted effort.

Unfortunately, it’s 2:12 pm right now, so I really do need to get back to work instead of wallowing in my caffeine-less misery. No coffee, no real teas and a definite dip in energy levels.

On that note, it’s interesting how last night and this morning kind of proved the point I was going for in the version of this post I started yesterday but never got around to finishing.

I’m trying to retrain myself to go to bed early enough to feel good getting up early (because I wake up early regardless, such as today at 6:40 am). My most consistent month ever came about when I was getting up relatively early, getting started by 7 and keeping WIFI off until noon or 2,000 words, whichever came first. It could come to that again. ;)

Another big challenge I’m facing with this is that I can’t seem to get my sessions compressed into a reasonable time period. I’m going to keep trying.

Getting to bed early did seem to help, which is exactly what I suspected. I’m an early waker and that makes it difficult for me to be productive when I stay up late and start my day either sleep deprived or later than my natural rhythms tell me to.

Tomorrow, I’m going to really push myself to write early.

As for right now, I’m going to restart my writing, focus on keeping my words per hour rate high, and see if I can make progress on compressing my sessions into a reasonable time period. :)

Plan: Take no longer than 1.5 hours for every three 20 minute sessions. :D See you back here in about (probably in a follow-up post).

Wish me luck!

Removed duplicate text

Lynn

I followed up on last night’s plan to do at least half of the minimum number of writing sessions before I allowed myself any internet access. I did six!

DAILY ACCOUNTABILITY

Session 1 (20 min): 119 words
Session 2 (20 min): 37 words
Session 3 (20 min): 103 words
Session 4 (20 min): 2 words
Session 5 (20 min): 98 words
Session 6 (20 min): -240 words
Session 7 (20 min): 71 words
Session 8 (20 min): 26 words
Session 9 (20 min): 128 words
Session 10 (20 min): 69 words
Session 11 (20 min): 96 words
Session 12 (20 min): 185 words — Of course this was my highest word count of the day. And I’m too tired to keep it up because it’s 11:58 pm and I need sleep!

My aim for all these is 250 words each. So yeah, I’m a little off the mark.

Today’s blog post title is from a note to myself on the last session I did before I broke for lunch.

The note refers to the fact that I found a 332 word chunk of text that I needed to delete, half of it a portion of a scene I copied instead of moved to an earlier place in the story. I must have forgotten to delete it after the fact, but I usually just move the text, so I’m not sure what I was thinking when I did it.

The exciting thing is that to end up at -24 words, I had to have written more than my 250 words in that last session so here’s hoping I can keep that up now that I’m back from my late (2 pm) lunch.

Well, that’s a bummer. I realized after the fact, once I’d finished session 7 that -24 was a misprint. I should have written -240!

It’s been proven a sad fact that four hours of writing takes me all day and I have no idea why or how that happens. Writing everything down doesn’t even seem to help. I can find the big things; it’s the little bits of time that just seem to disappear.

June 23 session notes

Lynn

So today hasn’t been the kind of writing day I’d hoped.

At the end of session 5, I am sitting at 12 words for the day. It hardly seems possible but the problem is that I spent so much time reworking what I had for chapters 1 and 2 that I went through four sessions before I dug myself out of negative numbers (I deleted more than I wrote).

Then I left for a while. I stayed gone longer than I meant to but I needed to get away for a while, because I was starting to hate this story.

Prioritizing my daily writing is a commitment to myself I need to keep, so I can’t let this happen again tomorrow. But tomorrow I hope to be up and about earlier after a good night’s sleep. I definitely won’t be staying up until the early morning hours tonight.

1 hour and 40 minutes of writing today isn’t great, but it’s a start.

I’d stay up and do the rest of the sessions if I didn’t need so badly to get my sleep patterns back into some kind of order so I can start early each day.

As much as I hate to admit it, because I do like staying up late, I am a morning person. I wake up before 7 most mornings and staying up until 2 am just doesn’t give me the kind of sleep I need to be at my best the next day, even if I manage to go back to sleep. It’s never truly restful once I’ve woken up to the sun.

So that’s the update for today.

Sessions logs are below.

Session

Words

WPH

1

-87

-261

2

2

6

3

9

27

4

12

36

5

76

228