Weekly Word Counts
MMM: 0
KITD: 0
TBS: 0
Total: 0
Editing hours: 0
So. Not a great writing week. Or a writing week at all, really. Believe it or not, at the beginning of the week, I was rarin’ to go. I had goals, ideas, and…let myself get sidetracked and distracted and discouraged. Before I knew it, that was that. No words, no editing, just a head full of story stuff still waiting to be written, and a serious case of regret.
I have weeks like this, and I hate them, even though I know they’re going to happen occasionally. I consider it a personal failing that I can’t meet my goals, especially when they’re so low in the first place. 500 words a day takes 30 minutes to write. *Half an hour.* That’s all. And I frittered every single half-hour I had this week away on thinking I should write, knowing I could write, and just…not writing.
Part of my problem was also that I didn’t do my prep work last weekend – just didn’t have time. I uploaded all of the previous week’s writing to my laptop, but didn’t clear out my Neo and set up the files for my current drafts like I usually do. Which shouldn’t even make a difference, but apparently it does. I need to make sure I do that on weeknights so it can’t possibly be pre-empted by whatever’s going on over the weekend.
Also, half an hour is actually a lot of time, but it doesn’t feel like it when you’re staring it in the face. It’s even more time when you don’t have some general idea of what you’re going to write – where the story’s going that day. This is where being an outliner would come in handy, but I’m not, and never will be, so I think next week I’ll try something new (hey, when things aren’t working, mix it up!).
I have reminders set up before writing times to “motivate me”. But they’re simple, saying something like “Writing time: [draft name here]”. I think I’m going to add a note to the reminder the night before with where I left off, and where I need to start that day. Maybe a question to answer. Something to grab my brain and give it a problem to solve on paper, that will make it really want to engage with the writing process, rather than…being lazy. And also something to switch my focus from whatever I’m doing at the time back to my draft.
Yes, I play mind games with myself. Because they work. What good is knowing how your mind works if you can’t use it to your advantage once in awhile (or daily)?
Heck, maybe I’ll set that reminder to go off twice per day – once in the morning before my shower and once before a writing session time. Then my subconscious can chew on the problem all day while I’m working, and maybe have an idea of what needs to go on by the time it’s time to write that night.
We’ll see how that works. And hopefully, I can get some editing done this weekend. I may need to revisit how I’m doing that, too. But one thing at a time.
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