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Anybody else find you have to force yourself sometimes, but once you do, you pick up the momentum again?
Yes! That's exactly how I finished my third book. I don't write everyday--sometimes not for long stretches of time. But when I have my break that's when I'll write a novel. This year it was really difficult and I went for three out of the six weeks without really having any direction. But I think if I let myself not write on any of those days, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere with it. (And when the break ended it took me an extra two weeks to finish it; but I wrote every single one of those days--a couple days under 1,000 words. It was a desperate sort of writing those two weeks--I just desperately wanted to finish the darn thing! I'd write every minute I could get and be quite exhausted at the end of the evening).
OK, I'm back in discipline mode, which means I'm making sure I'm writing every day, even if it's only 250 words.
Anybody else find you have to force yourself sometimes, but once you do, you pick up the momentum again?
Exactly right. One of my all-time faovirte novelists, James Lee Burke, says that he MAKES himself sitdown at the keyboard everyday for at least an hour, like going to a job; he HAS to show up, even if he stares at a blinking cursor and nothing comes.
I've also learned that it's crucial to take full advantage of the times when the muse is upon you. Write for as long as you can during those wonderful and all-too-brief periods, because you just know that it's not going to last for too long.
Exactly right. One of my all-time faovirte novelists, James Lee Burke, says that he MAKES himself sitdown at the keyboard everyday for at least an hour, like going to a job; he HAS to show up, even if he stares at a blinking cursor and nothing comes.
I've also learned that it's crucial to take full advantage of the times when the muse is upon you. Write for as long as you can during those wonderful and all-too-brief periods, because you just know that it's not going to last for too long.
Thank you. Good advice to be reminded of from time to time.
I'm only writing my first novel now (at 9800 words!) but I can definitely relate mightqueen801. Writing consistently is...well...hard! hahaha Coming up with ideas, plot, and characters is fun and easy! Can't have one without the other to be a successful novelist, I suppose.
P.S.---does anyone know how many books a first-timer would have to sell in order to quit their day job? hahahaha
Exactly right. One of my all-time faovirte novelists, James Lee Burke, says that he MAKES himself sitdown at the keyboard everyday for at least an hour, like going to a job; he HAS to show up, even if he stares at a blinking cursor and nothing comes.
I've also learned that it's crucial to take full advantage of the times when the muse is upon you. Write for as long as you can during those wonderful and all-too-brief periods, because you just know that it's not going to last for too long.
Couldn't give rep to you again, but I wanted to thank you for this post--I remembered this and MADE myself sit down one night when I didn't want to, and I set the timer for an hour. I only stared at the screen for about five minutes before I got going. It was an effective method and I will use it again.
Agree completely about the muse. When the thoughts and scenes and dialogue comes in a rush, you have to catch them because they won't come back.
So glad to see others are struggling with the same things I am! I kinda up and decided to write a book (well, it's been brewing for awhile, but now I have 3 good book ideas so I finally sat down to start one) but I'm getting bogged down in writing rules. I work as a lab tech and have therefor been very technical-minded for years so it's very hard to coax out the creative side for any length of time. I've been trying to brush up on some of the writing basics, like character composition, and that's made things worse! Arghhh...I only have 2 paragraphs written! Good luck everyone, I feel your pain!
So glad to see others are struggling with the same things I am! I kinda up and decided to write a book (well, it's been brewing for awhile, but now I have 3 good book ideas so I finally sat down to start one) but I'm getting bogged down in writing rules. I work as a lab tech and have therefor been very technical-minded for years so it's very hard to coax out the creative side for any length of time. I've been trying to brush up on some of the writing basics, like character composition, and that's made things worse! Arghhh...I only have 2 paragraphs written! Good luck everyone, I feel your pain!
Great advice above about putting yourself in your reader's shoes - and if it's unncessary info for what comes later, get rid of it! (for some reason I couldn't quote it). That is so hard when you *believe* it's important to the sense of the story - but maybe, then again it's really not..Right now that's a problem I'm having with one of my chapters!
I'm very private, and kept pretty quiet about my blog, because I didn't want anyone to read it! I'm someone you'd never see on reality shows
The most difficult thing for me is to trust, and let others into my mind, as I feel that people will know me, when they read my personal writing, and I didn't want that. I used to be that way about technical writing also, so submitting term papers was really a hardship for me! Even though I love writing, and do well at it.
I hear ya. And how.
And you're smart for being cautious, methinks.
Years ago, before blogging really exploded, I kept an online journal. It wasn't topic-specific, like so many blogs are now (cooking, gardening, politics, etc.). It was more the daily detritus of my life, personal essays, reflections on the news, tales of commuting, random snark, and the fairly regular political rant or satire. On the service I was using, about 200 people had "buddied" me and I used to get anywhere between 5 and 25 comments on an entry. I was nominated for the Diarist Awards twice, and pretty soon even people from other services came around and started reading regularly. All in all, it was really neat. The name of the blog was a made-up word, so that if you Google it, everything attached to it comes up me. I had a brand!
And then came the weirdos.
[Key Monty Python and the Spanish Inquisition: NOBODY EXPECTS THE WEIRDOS!]
There was the fellow who started sending inappropriate e-mails to my friends and me. There was the fellow who decided it was okay to pass judgment on certain aspects of my personal life. That fellow then took it upon himself to create a sock puppet account and start leaving graphic photos in my comments and my friends' comments, and it became enough of a problem that the site owner, who never got involved with the users, stepped in.
Enter password protection.
That was five years ago. I've tried to go back and use my brand on other sites, but then I started getting hits from searches with my ex-husband's first name, my real name, and the unique Web name. Great, now it seemed that my ex in-laws were poking around.
Or maybe it was the weirdos again. When you add that to employers or prospective clients Googling and trying to pry into the personal lives of their professional contacts, forget it.
So now most of my blogging is password protected, and what isn't password protected, no one in my "real" life knows about. When acquaintances ask me what kind of writing I do, I point them to my professional stuff only, either my website where my clips are or the magazines where some of my articles have been posted online.
A lot of people would say, "So, let your ex in-laws gawk!" But no, I don't want them or the weirdos to know what's in my brain.
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