My goal for ROW80 was to spend 6500 minutes and get several things done. So here I am 62 days in, and I've exceeded the goal in minutes, but only got one thing done.I still have about two weeks left, but I don't see myself finishing those other projects, so I'm postponing them to the next ROW80 challenge in January.
So here are some thoughts for what I want to do with the next two weeks:
Recent Posts About Writing Speed
Passive Guy and Dean Wesley Smith recently talked about writing speed issues, both in response to posts by other writers who had recently boosted their productivity, and had neat analyses about how they'd done it.
I found these posts to be energizing, even though in the the first case the person had sent her writing into hyperdrive by doing pretty much what I already do.
But she did it in a more conscious way which took better advantage of the methods. I'm thinking, since it already fits my habits, it may do me some good to be more systematic about them. This is one of the reasons why I'm not setting a fiction writing goal for the rest of this ROW80 -- Instead I'm going to use the time to look closely at those posts and my own habits, and shift gears for the next dare. I'll write a blog post about that later.
Blog Posts and Blurbs
I've said "I'll write a blog post about that later" quite a bit lately.
And I'd like to do a blog tour in late January, AND I need to write better blurbs and catalog copy for Man Who. So it seems to me that the best thing I can do is to catch up on all those promises, and then get ahead with more article writing. I can put my whole brain into it for a while, and write in a frenzy.
For that reason, blog posts and articles will be what counts for the rest of the dare. Furthermore, because I write blog posts anyway, I'm going to raise the goal. An average of two hours a day, instead of 90 minutes. I think I can beat that, really, but I have a third thing I want to spend time on:
Reading (and Viewing)
If nothing else, I need to read my own stuff. I want to get The Man Who Did Too Much published this month. Possibly by Christmas, but certainly by New Year's Eve. And as a part of my prep for the next dare, I want to do some concentrated reading and note taking on Devil In A Blue Bustle, the next Mick and Casey.
But I also have a HUGE piles of books to be read. Since the advent of Kindle, I've been reading more steadily again, but I have too many books I'm eager to get to.
I also have to get back in the swing of the movies -- particular classics. I gotta keep ahead of Karla -- whose schtick is insight into human behavior via movie metaphors. While I didn't write The Man Who Did Too Much with specific movies in mind (I just let her come up with parallels as the situation arises) I don't think it would hurt to load my brain with movie motifs for the plotting of the next one. AND, though I certainly once knew as much as Karla does about old movies, I have forgotten more than it's likely the rest of you will ever know. (I grew up in the days before IMDb and home video, and being a movie buff in those days required that ones brain become a complete database of it's own.)
To that end, I'm trying to watch several classics a week. Starting tonight with Bridge On The River Kwai. Might watch The Dawn Patrol too. Lots of lurking under the surface on human nature in war movies. Anyway, I think I'll set that goal to five a week.
Goals in Summary
Starting Thursday:
- 1800 minutes of blog posts, blurbs and other non-fiction writing.
- Three classic movies a week
- More reading
- Prep and plotting for the next dare
For the remainder of the month, I will keep posting the updates on Sunday and Wednesday, and will post 2-3 other posts a week.
On Thursday I will write about "What Is An Artisan Writer?" and invite you to think about what it means to you as well.
See you in the funny papers.
5 comments:
Sounds like you've got things really organized!
And thank you for posting the links about upping our word counts. That's something I need to work on. Will definitely check them out.
Thanks!
I had heard about the post about writing 10k a day. While I admire anyone who can do that on a regular basis, I'm not sure I could do it myself.
But it's nice to try once in a while.
-Nellie
Thanks, Stacy and Nellie:
I think the thing to remember about both of those posts is that they were by people who write full time.
The 10,000 word day is like running a marathon, imho. Or even a half marathon. Sure it can be done, and some can do it over and over again. But it requires a lot of prep and training and dedication....
But for a marathon, running that distance all in one go is the goal. So it's worth the sacrifice because you can't do it at all if you don't go the distance.
There is nothing in writing that requires you to go that distance in that time unless you have a deadline, so it's not worth the sacrifice most of the time to go that far.
But looking at what it takes to get that far is a good way to get a clue as to how to go further than you do now.
10k a day. Hmm. I think my fingers would fall off, my brain would ooze from my ears, and I'd never be sane again (assuming that I'm sane now).
Good luck with the new goals :)
I have typed that much in forum posting, commenting and email in a day.
But no, I'm not aiming at 10k in a day. I'm just going to aim at better than I do now.
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