Routines Can Work With A Little Help

The Tick Weapons Lab Avatar

Yesterday, 2,400 words poured out of my brain. I wrote the ending for Traitor’s Masque, Book One of the Violet War series. The original title was Argentum, but I’m not sure it pops as much. I wasn’t revising as I was writing, but I was plotting during this period, inserting notes while I went. It was almost like I was working behind-the-scenes, raw and uncensored, to allow the story to emerge.

And that it did.

That wasn’t the only thing I wrote, however. Right now I’m averaging between 4 to 6,000 words a day. I’m definitely noticing how necessary it is to manage my time. When you do any aspect of online community management as part of your “job,” it can get really hairy and have a profound impact on what you’re doing. Like checking e-mail, any time-related task that requires constant monitoring can be another way to distract you from the task at hand. To-do lists are great, but they’re not as useful (I feel) as assigning chunks of time to those tasks. For me, that’s the best form of project management. It’s not just about getting the work done, it’s about how the time you’ve devoted to that specific line item is used.

That’s where a routine comes into play that is married to your prioritization. If you, for example, have made it a goal to absolutely put writing first? Then structure your day around that, to ensure that whenever you need to write in the day, you’ve set aside that time that no one can interrupt on penalty of death.

I mean, we do this all the time. Right? Football, favorite TV shows, doctor’s appointments, classes, etc. Take the time you’d normally spend on something else, either entertaining or not, and block it out to show up and write. Then, if you lose your focus, write down whatever it is you defaulted to. e.g. Checking your phone, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, petting the cat, ordering pizza, playing Angry Birds — whatever.

If you’re distracted and couldn’t finish that particular scene? Start another one. I’m having a blast jumping around to different points in my long-form manuscripts, because it allows me to get a fresh perspective on scenes that would otherwise be rushed or a chore. I can ALWAYS rearrange them after the fact.

My routines are blocked out into smaller chunks of time and prioritized accordingly. Thankfully, I’ve also marked off areas where I have to take free time, too. That doesn’t mean I can slack off, though, it just means that the times when I’m not writing are more valuable to me.

Anyway, you’re going to find whatever’ll work for you. Just thought I’d bring this up since many of you were jumping into NaNoWriMo next month.

    Mood: Accomplished
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: NOT ENOUGH
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: A walk.
    In My Ears: METALLICA, BABY
    Game Last Played: Tetris
    Movie Last Viewed: Harry Potter collection
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press

Day 7: Goals and Establishing a Routine

Dec09WM7Well, it’s the end of Week One for our December 2009 Writing Marathon. Today, I ask you to reflect on your goals and see how you’re doing. Did you write a lot? Not enough? Did you end up doing penance like I did for your lack of writing?

Admittedly, I didn’t get a lot done out of the gate. Why? Well, partially because Week One for me was about getting back into a well-balanced routine. The tricky thing, though, was that I was pretty far behind on my housework. (Six months behind.) Not to mention, December decided to sound the Winter trumpet with colder temperatures and snow — just last week it was fifty degrees!

You see, I find that I’m more productive when I have a clean house, a decent workspace and a creative hobby. Why? Well, when I have these things I’m no longer distracted by “the things I should be doing” because they are already done. Once the house is already clean, I find I write more. Then, when I do get a break off the computer, I already have “something else” to do like learning how to knit or focus on my artwork. This balance definitely has some other benefits, too. (Like decreasing my stress!)

Now that I forced myself to get some of that back log done, this week I’m adding in an additional layer to round out that balance. Today, I start the Couch-to-5K Running Program from Coolrunning.com.

Even though I didn’t get a lot of original writing this past week, I did take stock of what speculative fiction I do have to help me focus what I’m working on. Turns out I have quite a few marketable stories I could revise, and I do have a few other “plans” I can sort out. However, the novel revisions are a big time sink, and they force me to not publish or submit anything new. Going back to the whole “I typically write-for-hire” conversation, that’s pretty scary to me. After all, if I disappear from a publishing schedule for six months, would you still remember my author name?

Still, the time for asking questions about where I’m at in my career is over. It’s time to get serious.

Original Goal: Revise a little bit every day, average about three chapters a week.
Week One Summary: Figured out how to incorporate back story and cut exposition without having to rewrite novel. Wrote four days, revised most of the first chapter.

And so, I begin Week Two.




Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

Archives

Back to Top