Monday, July 13, 2009

Bad Writer! Bad, Bad Writer!

I've been bad. Yup. Really bad.

You would think that I would get all kinds of writing done during the summer - since I have time to do so. But no, I've been playing hooky. Tooling around in the garden, playing online games, surfing the net for "research." The result? I have a sum total of 5500 words written for the summer. That's a far cry from "I'm going to complete the first draft of my WIP by the start of school."

I get like this when I start writing a new novel. I find myself thinking about it quite a bit - dialogs in my head, plot details, etc., but when I sit down to write my brain goes other places - none of them in my story. One of my writer friends said, "your story is cooking. Let it simmer." But my head says it's more of a lack of discipline. My summer days are not structured like my school days. I am most productive with structure.

I'm going to take the housekeeping advice of the FlyLady and apply it to writing. In short - get down to business. Get dressed down to shoes and go to WORK. Set aside time to get the job done, and do it!

6 comments:

PJ Hoover said...

Hope it goes great!

Trisha Pearson said...

Maybe you just needed a little vacation. Good luck in getting down to business!

Mrs. Random said...

I can't help you get down to business, but I can provide distractions. That's just how I'm gifted ;)

Adrienne said...

I tell myself if I just work on something for five minutes, it's better than not working on it at all.
Often that'll trick me into working much longer...

Anonymous said...

I'm of the simmering variety, too. The ideas are cooking, even if they arent' making it to the page yet!

Nora MacFarlane said...

Thanks all - I'm back in gear