This is going to sound like a lot of advice that I gave when I was talking about writing and Thanksgiving. There are a few new ideas, but yes, the idea is still the same. We're trying to shape writing around the real life responsibilities that you have. It's never easy and even more so during the holiday season because there's a lot more oomph to what needs to get done. You need to make sure that everything is clean for visitors, make sure that everything is festive enough, and all while trying not to stress out too much about it.
Yeah, I'm getting tense just thinking about it. You're not alone in that.
So, what are we going to do? Well, for one, there are going to be times when you need to sit. You'll have done a hour or two of work and feel like you need a break. Make sure that you have an open word document or whatever you use to write and try to write 100 words. If you can't make anything come, then just try to free write for 100 words to see if something comes. If, when you hit 100 words, you feel that you should get up to do something else, then you should. However, if you hit 100 words but want to continue, then you continue. The idea here is to write until you feel that you need to get up. So, if that's just 100 words, then that's great. If you go beyond 100 words, see how you feel when you hit 200. Then maybe 300. And so on. However, the hard stop time when you need to get up and go back to what needs to get done is when you're at the end of your chapter. Then you open a new document and go back to what you're doing until you need to sit again.
Another idea is to take the stress out of writing. Yes, you've written for x amount of days in a row and you want to keep that up. Lower what your target is, just for a few weeks, so you're still writing but it's not stressing you out. If you start writing and want to go to your original target? That's great and you should do so. But if you're starting to worry about things to get done, then hit the lower target and then go get the things done. You've still got words, even if they're smaller than you want, and you can always come back. Either at the end of the day or the next to continue what you're doing. Then you feel less like a lump and more that you're more productive.
The last is the most drastic and I actually don't fully recommend it but I'm putting it down here anyways. Give up something that you're doing for fun and write instead. Instead of binge watching a program, write for that time instead. Again, I don't recommend this because we all need to destress. Writing, for all the good things it does, sometimes doesn't feel that way. It feels like it ramps our bodies up and then we want to do a million things at once. So, if you feel like the only way you're going to get your writing in for the day is to cut something out, then you should. However, I would ask you to think long and hard about it. Are you going to start resenting your writing for having to give up what you like to do or watch? If the answer is yes or if you start to feel that way, then you should pick up whatever you gave up for your writing time. It does seem odd, that I'm recommending / not recommending this, but I feel like all the advice should be given and you decide what's best for you.
So, yes, those are my three ways to write during the holiday season when you're supposed to be prepping the house. What are your ways? Feel free to leave a comment below or poke me on Facebook or Twitter. Until next time, keep on writing!
Showing posts with label writing time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing time. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Weekend Writing vs Week Writing
Yesterday, I talked about writing time and we're continuing the theme. The title of the post might be a little head scratching, but it really is just how it sounds. I'll be discussing how writing on the weekend is different than writing during the week along with the pros and cons of both. The pros and cons, as always, will be more towards my own life than any general overview of the world. So, what might work for you is exactly the opposite of what works for me. As always, feel free to carry on the conversation in the comments or feel free to poke me on either Twitter or Facebook.
Now, we'll start with weekend writing, which is writing on the weekend. Weekend writing is a lot for those who have a Monday-Friday or any other type of job where you get a day or two off either in a block or sectioned. You're writing on the time off from your day job, possibly because it's the only time you can write due to family commitments or being exhausted from your job, and you've possibly got a schedule with it. Or you want to start making a schedule for it but just write when you can. When I worked in retail, I attempted to do weekend writing, but it never seemed to work. I was always exhausted and my days off never really stacked on top of each other. Plus, there was a high chance that I would be called in on one of the days off, so I really needed to just take a break and breathe. Writing was the last thing on my mind and the last thing I wanted to do. What I really wanted to do was just sleep and relax, so I did.
However, during the rare times when my days off got stacked and I wasn't called in, I tried to have a project ready to work on. I would get up, go through my normal morning routine - shower, coffee, breakfast - and then sit down to write for at least a hour or 1,000 words. It would be whichever came first because, there were days where I could sit down and write more than 1,000 words in a hour. There were other days where that was a chore, so it helped to get up, shuffle around the house, come back and write. So, the best thing to do, if you're doing weekend writing, is to have a plan of attack. Have a project you want to work on and set a goal for yourself. This can work if you need to edit too. Use the same time frame but say you're going to edit a chapter instead of writing 1,000 words.
Week writing, exactly what it sounds like, is where you're writing during the week. Perhaps you do have a standard job but you've got enough time that you can write for a small amount of time everyday. Maybe you wake up a half hour or a hour earlier or you go to bed a bit later or you write on your commute. But you're writing for the majority of the week. I wasn't able to do this until I was out of a job because retail was just that draining for me. The same ideas apply, with setting a goal or time limit, and writing or editing as much as you can. The thing is, with writing during the week, you're able to give yourself a bit more of breathing room. You don't have to try to squeeze as much of trying to get words in on just one day of the week. Say you have a section of a book that you want to be 7,000 words by the end of the week. You can do a 1,000 words a day and have it done by the end of the day Sunday if you don't fall behind. That's another problem with writing over the week vs weekend writing. There might be days that you get home from work and you don't want to write. Or you wake up late. Then you need to cram in more words in your day but it's not the end of the world.
In the end, it's really going to be up to your preference of writing. I like writing during the week because it's my main job, even if I haven't published anything yet, but I could go over to weekend writing if I ever needed to take a job. I've done it before and, even though it's hard, I know I could do it again. So I recommend that you try both to see which really fits for you. Unless you try it, you just simply won't know.
I want to add that I know this is really simple advice but, sometimes for me, I need to read the simple advice instead of hearing it from myself. I feel that, if even one person reads this and it helps them, then it was worth writing. I carry that over into the novels I write and I feel that it helps.
Until next time, keep on writing.
Now, we'll start with weekend writing, which is writing on the weekend. Weekend writing is a lot for those who have a Monday-Friday or any other type of job where you get a day or two off either in a block or sectioned. You're writing on the time off from your day job, possibly because it's the only time you can write due to family commitments or being exhausted from your job, and you've possibly got a schedule with it. Or you want to start making a schedule for it but just write when you can. When I worked in retail, I attempted to do weekend writing, but it never seemed to work. I was always exhausted and my days off never really stacked on top of each other. Plus, there was a high chance that I would be called in on one of the days off, so I really needed to just take a break and breathe. Writing was the last thing on my mind and the last thing I wanted to do. What I really wanted to do was just sleep and relax, so I did.
However, during the rare times when my days off got stacked and I wasn't called in, I tried to have a project ready to work on. I would get up, go through my normal morning routine - shower, coffee, breakfast - and then sit down to write for at least a hour or 1,000 words. It would be whichever came first because, there were days where I could sit down and write more than 1,000 words in a hour. There were other days where that was a chore, so it helped to get up, shuffle around the house, come back and write. So, the best thing to do, if you're doing weekend writing, is to have a plan of attack. Have a project you want to work on and set a goal for yourself. This can work if you need to edit too. Use the same time frame but say you're going to edit a chapter instead of writing 1,000 words.
Week writing, exactly what it sounds like, is where you're writing during the week. Perhaps you do have a standard job but you've got enough time that you can write for a small amount of time everyday. Maybe you wake up a half hour or a hour earlier or you go to bed a bit later or you write on your commute. But you're writing for the majority of the week. I wasn't able to do this until I was out of a job because retail was just that draining for me. The same ideas apply, with setting a goal or time limit, and writing or editing as much as you can. The thing is, with writing during the week, you're able to give yourself a bit more of breathing room. You don't have to try to squeeze as much of trying to get words in on just one day of the week. Say you have a section of a book that you want to be 7,000 words by the end of the week. You can do a 1,000 words a day and have it done by the end of the day Sunday if you don't fall behind. That's another problem with writing over the week vs weekend writing. There might be days that you get home from work and you don't want to write. Or you wake up late. Then you need to cram in more words in your day but it's not the end of the world.
In the end, it's really going to be up to your preference of writing. I like writing during the week because it's my main job, even if I haven't published anything yet, but I could go over to weekend writing if I ever needed to take a job. I've done it before and, even though it's hard, I know I could do it again. So I recommend that you try both to see which really fits for you. Unless you try it, you just simply won't know.
I want to add that I know this is really simple advice but, sometimes for me, I need to read the simple advice instead of hearing it from myself. I feel that, if even one person reads this and it helps them, then it was worth writing. I carry that over into the novels I write and I feel that it helps.
Until next time, keep on writing.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Writing Time
Happy Monday everyone! This week, like last week, has a theme and we'll be talking about writing and time. This is less doing with the idea of time in your setting, although we might discuss that, and more about the time of day to write. This is more of a personal, you need to find what works for you, but I thought I'd share what works for me. I'll also give you a bit of tips to help with focusing your time and figuring out the best time for you to write.
Now, there are a lot of people who give the advice that sometimes the best time to write is in the morning. Wake up a bit earlier and write for a half a hour on a project or whatever comes into your mind. This is a very good idea for those people who are morning people and like to get up. Me... not so much. I am very much a "five more minutes" and snooze button sort of girl. However, I had to figure this out. I tried doing, no matter what time I woke up for the day, that I would sit down and write for a half a hour of whatever came to my mind. It worked, for a few days, until I woke up late on a day where I had to leave at a scheduled time. That day, I couldn't write in the morning and everything fell apart. I didn't write for a few days until I got back into it and it was not in the morning. So, while it can work and does work, it just not for me. There were also, those few days, where I couldn't mentally focus because I wasn't awake yet. I thought it was more me than the idea, which it is, but, again, it might work for you.
Let's go to the other extreme, which is writing late at night. You're up at midnight, toiling away on the novel, and the words are flowing great. You're in the zone and then the next thing you know, it's 2 in the morning and you're exhausted. However, that chapter is written, even though it now needs to be heavily edited from the typos that make no sense. I have written a ton of words late at night. I pride myself on the fact that I always start NaNoWriMo at midnight sharp and can write at least 2,000 words before I get some sleep and write another 2,000 to 5,000 words during the day. However, this wasn't the best for me either, although it works during the magical month of NaNoWriMo. There were times, just like with the morning writing, where I just got too tired and had to go to bed before writing. I thought "Oh, I'll write more tomorrow" and then I didn't. I would be behind and try to catch up, but I never did. Or something would catch my interest, I'd go do that, and the writing wouldn't get done. So late night writing wasn't the best either.
The best time I've found for writing, for me, is during the day. It does treat it a bit like a job, but, honestly, I don't mind that. I don't have a regular job, so being a writer is my full time job. With that comes that I should be writing every day, which I try to do, but I'm not perfect. Nobody is, really, and even during the day, there are a ton of things that distract me. Or there's people calling or chores need to be done. However, it is the time that works the best for me because I am more likely to get words written during the day. I am less likely to be distracted by a movie or family time or even needing to sleep. So, it works, but I didn't realize that until I tried it. And there's no real good set time during the day. Writing happens when it happens and it just is during the day. I tried to set a start time but that kept on tripping me up. So now, as long as I get words in during the day, then it's been a writing day.
So, what works for you and what doesn't with your writing time, dear readers? Feel free to leave a comment below and keep on writing.
Now, there are a lot of people who give the advice that sometimes the best time to write is in the morning. Wake up a bit earlier and write for a half a hour on a project or whatever comes into your mind. This is a very good idea for those people who are morning people and like to get up. Me... not so much. I am very much a "five more minutes" and snooze button sort of girl. However, I had to figure this out. I tried doing, no matter what time I woke up for the day, that I would sit down and write for a half a hour of whatever came to my mind. It worked, for a few days, until I woke up late on a day where I had to leave at a scheduled time. That day, I couldn't write in the morning and everything fell apart. I didn't write for a few days until I got back into it and it was not in the morning. So, while it can work and does work, it just not for me. There were also, those few days, where I couldn't mentally focus because I wasn't awake yet. I thought it was more me than the idea, which it is, but, again, it might work for you.
Let's go to the other extreme, which is writing late at night. You're up at midnight, toiling away on the novel, and the words are flowing great. You're in the zone and then the next thing you know, it's 2 in the morning and you're exhausted. However, that chapter is written, even though it now needs to be heavily edited from the typos that make no sense. I have written a ton of words late at night. I pride myself on the fact that I always start NaNoWriMo at midnight sharp and can write at least 2,000 words before I get some sleep and write another 2,000 to 5,000 words during the day. However, this wasn't the best for me either, although it works during the magical month of NaNoWriMo. There were times, just like with the morning writing, where I just got too tired and had to go to bed before writing. I thought "Oh, I'll write more tomorrow" and then I didn't. I would be behind and try to catch up, but I never did. Or something would catch my interest, I'd go do that, and the writing wouldn't get done. So late night writing wasn't the best either.
The best time I've found for writing, for me, is during the day. It does treat it a bit like a job, but, honestly, I don't mind that. I don't have a regular job, so being a writer is my full time job. With that comes that I should be writing every day, which I try to do, but I'm not perfect. Nobody is, really, and even during the day, there are a ton of things that distract me. Or there's people calling or chores need to be done. However, it is the time that works the best for me because I am more likely to get words written during the day. I am less likely to be distracted by a movie or family time or even needing to sleep. So, it works, but I didn't realize that until I tried it. And there's no real good set time during the day. Writing happens when it happens and it just is during the day. I tried to set a start time but that kept on tripping me up. So now, as long as I get words in during the day, then it's been a writing day.
So, what works for you and what doesn't with your writing time, dear readers? Feel free to leave a comment below and keep on writing.
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