Sigh.
I feel like I'm trudging up a steep hill. I spend each morning going through job leads. After I send out my resumes I then do a "no-no". I browse Facebook and YouTube.
I should be writing. Instead I put it off and never get back to it. I've drifted away from the usual blogs, writing friends and so on. I want to write but I just feel like I'm lost in a cloud somewhere. When I do open my manuscript I peck at it, a paragraph at a time. Distractions pull me away and it's so hard to start back at it.
Last night I googled "Vampire Children" and came across one of my plugs for the book I put on a random web page about vampire children. I posted it in 2011. Almost four years ago! I've had my books online for four years and STILL I haven't gotten anything else put up online. Book 2 needed changes and I'm still doing it. Myths and Multi Mart are half finished.
I need to get my but in gear!
Showing posts with label Procrastination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Procrastination. Show all posts
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Monday, March 25, 2013
Stop Being a Spoiled Brat by Chas Hathaway
Here is a great article on just writing. Just getting off your but and realizing that procrastinating till the "right" moment never works. Just do it.
It's from Chas Hathaway on the Author's Think Tank site. Give it a read.
It's from Chas Hathaway on the Author's Think Tank site. Give it a read.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
End of the World As We Know It; Dangers of too much world building
Originally posted on 2/7/10 for the
Charge of the Write Brigade.
Last time I wrote about the joys of world building. I went on to explain the fun of creating your own world and how to build on that for many future stories.
Today I’d like to touch on the dangers. Yup. There are dangers. Not danger in the sense of the word where your mouse will bite you if you click it again. I’m talking about distraction and procrastination.
Yes, those two evils that destroy a writer’s potential. Two of our greatest adversaries lurk within world building, waiting to strike.
A friend of mine has an amazing imagination. He’s inspired by many writers to sit down an pen the great American novel. He lives on the other side of my state, too far to visit. Because of this distance, we keep in touch through nightly chats on the phone. I respect him a great deal and expect him to soar if he put his mind to it.
Some nights we discuss writing and our mutual progress. When ever he speaks of his ideas I’m entertained to great concepts involving wonderful plot twists and well thought out characters. He tells me of histories and back stories and future plans where multiple novels revolves around generations of heroes and villains.
But in every story, on all the many worlds he’s discussed over twenty years of discussions (not always nightly, but that’s still a long time) I know there is one question that will always have the same answer.
“Have you actually begun writing this book?”
“Well no. It’s all just in the planning stages.”
Now to be fair, he did write two short stories and a chapter. But this makes it worse in my mind because I now know he can do it. I know all these great ideas are more than wishful dreams. I realize he can do something wonderful with them if he’s just sit down and do it.
As writers, we can’t help but create worlds. It’s in our blood. It’s a wonderful ability and our main super power. But there must come a time where we sit our butts down and WRITE THE DANG NOVEL. We need to call a time out, take these ideas and actually begin the sentences, paragraphs and ultimately the chapters of our projects.
We can get distracted in the big picture and caught up in our creations. We love how it all fits together. It’s so amazing! We want to take out outlines or notes and run right out and shout our incredible discovery to the masses.
But they won’t ‘get’ it. It’s raw. Sure, our friends, family, fans and support groups may even sit beside us in eager anticipation as we expound upon our creations, but it don’t mean jack if it never becomes an actual story.
Anyone who has actually written a novel knows that your plans change during the telling of the story. The characters’ voice alters things. Sometimes they won’t play as instructed. If you never begin, how will you discover these changes?
So why do we do it? Are we to afraid to start? Maybe. Is our time limited? Definitely.
What do we do about it?
Set a time limit or goal. Make a plan like “I will build for a week or a month, then begin writing this monster.”
Write something about your world. Start a scene to get in the flow. You don’t have to keep it and it doesn’t have to be in chronological order. Set a time and jump in.
So if you’re trapped in your own worlds, jump on to a chair and just write.
Charge of the Write Brigade.
Last time I wrote about the joys of world building. I went on to explain the fun of creating your own world and how to build on that for many future stories.
Today I’d like to touch on the dangers. Yup. There are dangers. Not danger in the sense of the word where your mouse will bite you if you click it again. I’m talking about distraction and procrastination.
Yes, those two evils that destroy a writer’s potential. Two of our greatest adversaries lurk within world building, waiting to strike.
A friend of mine has an amazing imagination. He’s inspired by many writers to sit down an pen the great American novel. He lives on the other side of my state, too far to visit. Because of this distance, we keep in touch through nightly chats on the phone. I respect him a great deal and expect him to soar if he put his mind to it.
Some nights we discuss writing and our mutual progress. When ever he speaks of his ideas I’m entertained to great concepts involving wonderful plot twists and well thought out characters. He tells me of histories and back stories and future plans where multiple novels revolves around generations of heroes and villains.
But in every story, on all the many worlds he’s discussed over twenty years of discussions (not always nightly, but that’s still a long time) I know there is one question that will always have the same answer.
“Have you actually begun writing this book?”
“Well no. It’s all just in the planning stages.”
Now to be fair, he did write two short stories and a chapter. But this makes it worse in my mind because I now know he can do it. I know all these great ideas are more than wishful dreams. I realize he can do something wonderful with them if he’s just sit down and do it.
As writers, we can’t help but create worlds. It’s in our blood. It’s a wonderful ability and our main super power. But there must come a time where we sit our butts down and WRITE THE DANG NOVEL. We need to call a time out, take these ideas and actually begin the sentences, paragraphs and ultimately the chapters of our projects.
We can get distracted in the big picture and caught up in our creations. We love how it all fits together. It’s so amazing! We want to take out outlines or notes and run right out and shout our incredible discovery to the masses.
But they won’t ‘get’ it. It’s raw. Sure, our friends, family, fans and support groups may even sit beside us in eager anticipation as we expound upon our creations, but it don’t mean jack if it never becomes an actual story.
Anyone who has actually written a novel knows that your plans change during the telling of the story. The characters’ voice alters things. Sometimes they won’t play as instructed. If you never begin, how will you discover these changes?
So why do we do it? Are we to afraid to start? Maybe. Is our time limited? Definitely.
What do we do about it?
Set a time limit or goal. Make a plan like “I will build for a week or a month, then begin writing this monster.”
Write something about your world. Start a scene to get in the flow. You don’t have to keep it and it doesn’t have to be in chronological order. Set a time and jump in.
So if you’re trapped in your own worlds, jump on to a chair and just write.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Auld Lang Syne
Originally posted on 1/3/10 for the Charge of the Write Brigade.
I suppose you know what this week’s article is about. Check out the calendar and you’ll know straight away. Yearly resolutions. Yeah, I know. I feel the same way, too. Why bother? I mean, we’ll just break them. I’m not the type to make resolutions because I know I have a difficult time following through. I’ve always though, “Why set myself up with a goal I know I’ll fail?”
The thing is, I seem to have a problem. I say I want to sit down and write. I push away distractions and refuse to play games of take part in online groups because “I need to use my free time to write”, yet what do I truly do? When I sit at the computer I check my email, glance at a few sights and then nothing. I might browse the web. One thing I never do is make the time to write.
I have time on Saturday and Sunday mornings, before the distractions wake up. If I simply used that time, who knows how far in my writing I’d get?
For some reason it’s hard for me to get started. Once I begin to type, I go like a mad man. The ideas flow and I can’t get them on the page fast enough. But getting started? That’s the hard part.
What I need is a regimented set time and place. I need to say “It’s 7 am, Saturday morning and this is my computer. It’s writing time!” Then I jump in and begin. What if I did that? What if I actually created a writing habit?
So now you know my resolution. It’s simple and it’ll help be become a better writer. I profess to want a future career in writing novels, yet I don’t force myself to work on some kind of deadline. You can be sure if Annabelle did land an agent and publisher, I wouldn’t be able to fart around the web. I’d have to write “x” amount of pages a day and accomplish a lot more than my new resolution allows for.
You can’t hand Christmas lights on your roof until you master climbing a ladder. By creating a set time and place to write, and sticking to it, I’ll learn to master the first rungs.
Enough about me. What are your writing resolutions?
I suppose you know what this week’s article is about. Check out the calendar and you’ll know straight away. Yearly resolutions. Yeah, I know. I feel the same way, too. Why bother? I mean, we’ll just break them. I’m not the type to make resolutions because I know I have a difficult time following through. I’ve always though, “Why set myself up with a goal I know I’ll fail?”
The thing is, I seem to have a problem. I say I want to sit down and write. I push away distractions and refuse to play games of take part in online groups because “I need to use my free time to write”, yet what do I truly do? When I sit at the computer I check my email, glance at a few sights and then nothing. I might browse the web. One thing I never do is make the time to write.
I have time on Saturday and Sunday mornings, before the distractions wake up. If I simply used that time, who knows how far in my writing I’d get?
For some reason it’s hard for me to get started. Once I begin to type, I go like a mad man. The ideas flow and I can’t get them on the page fast enough. But getting started? That’s the hard part.
What I need is a regimented set time and place. I need to say “It’s 7 am, Saturday morning and this is my computer. It’s writing time!” Then I jump in and begin. What if I did that? What if I actually created a writing habit?
So now you know my resolution. It’s simple and it’ll help be become a better writer. I profess to want a future career in writing novels, yet I don’t force myself to work on some kind of deadline. You can be sure if Annabelle did land an agent and publisher, I wouldn’t be able to fart around the web. I’d have to write “x” amount of pages a day and accomplish a lot more than my new resolution allows for.
You can’t hand Christmas lights on your roof until you master climbing a ladder. By creating a set time and place to write, and sticking to it, I’ll learn to master the first rungs.
Enough about me. What are your writing resolutions?
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Working For a Living
Originally posted on 11/15/09 for the Charge of the Write Brigade.
Cindy Speer’s article on Friday really hit the spot. She wrote about Split Focus and I’ve got to confess I suffer from the same situation. Some days it’s so hard to focus on writing. I hear the kids in the other room or the TV. Maybe there are things in my life that I find myself dwelling on and can’t hear the muse.
It’s not like I don’t want to write. I still have my goals and dreams. I want to be a professional author whose tales entertain and inspire. Sure, getting the right agent or a publishing contract is harder than winning in Vegas, but I still must try.
Despite this desire, I find myself procrastinating. Why is it that it’s so hard to start writing and so hard to stop? I suppose it’s a demon I’ll always have to fight.
At any rate, I’ve got to put my nose to grindstone and my shoulder to the wheel. Sometimes writing is hard work. Yuck. Work.
Downstairs, while I continued in my relaxing activities upstairs, sewer water seeped into the carpet and soaked the walls of a few rooms. This meant work. Sure, a contractor removed the black water, and another has begun to put up new sheet rock to replace the old, but the wife and I need to help. We have a goal to get the ruined rooms replaced before Thanksgiving and we’ve got to jump in where possible to help meet that.
This means sheet rock dust in the eyes. Sometimes life blows dust and causes your vision to get blurry. I don’t like it but if I don’t put up the sheet rock, I don’t make my goal. So I jumped in and started at it. After some chalky mess I look around and behold, the room looks nicer.
Sometimes you need to set apart time to sit down and work. You might get dust in your eyes like discovering a scene wont work out how you want it too, but you’ll also find gems.
So how do I “jump in and work”? Friday I found myself with time to write and a desire to browse the web. I stopped what I was doing, opened Windows Media Player, and cranked up “Dies Irae (Requiem)” by Karl Jenkins. Suddenly I saw the big fight scene I needed to write. I opened my file and began to write.
Some days music doesn’t help. Some days a quiet walk inspires me. Whatever inspirers you, do it and get in the mood and write.
Good luck and remember my favorite catch phrase...
Just write.
Cindy Speer’s article on Friday really hit the spot. She wrote about Split Focus and I’ve got to confess I suffer from the same situation. Some days it’s so hard to focus on writing. I hear the kids in the other room or the TV. Maybe there are things in my life that I find myself dwelling on and can’t hear the muse.
It’s not like I don’t want to write. I still have my goals and dreams. I want to be a professional author whose tales entertain and inspire. Sure, getting the right agent or a publishing contract is harder than winning in Vegas, but I still must try.
Despite this desire, I find myself procrastinating. Why is it that it’s so hard to start writing and so hard to stop? I suppose it’s a demon I’ll always have to fight.
At any rate, I’ve got to put my nose to grindstone and my shoulder to the wheel. Sometimes writing is hard work. Yuck. Work.
Downstairs, while I continued in my relaxing activities upstairs, sewer water seeped into the carpet and soaked the walls of a few rooms. This meant work. Sure, a contractor removed the black water, and another has begun to put up new sheet rock to replace the old, but the wife and I need to help. We have a goal to get the ruined rooms replaced before Thanksgiving and we’ve got to jump in where possible to help meet that.
This means sheet rock dust in the eyes. Sometimes life blows dust and causes your vision to get blurry. I don’t like it but if I don’t put up the sheet rock, I don’t make my goal. So I jumped in and started at it. After some chalky mess I look around and behold, the room looks nicer.
Sometimes you need to set apart time to sit down and work. You might get dust in your eyes like discovering a scene wont work out how you want it too, but you’ll also find gems.
So how do I “jump in and work”? Friday I found myself with time to write and a desire to browse the web. I stopped what I was doing, opened Windows Media Player, and cranked up “Dies Irae (Requiem)” by Karl Jenkins. Suddenly I saw the big fight scene I needed to write. I opened my file and began to write.
Some days music doesn’t help. Some days a quiet walk inspires me. Whatever inspirers you, do it and get in the mood and write.
Good luck and remember my favorite catch phrase...
Just write.
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