Making time for writing is hard for everyone, but now I’m in the flip side of this and I have all the time in the world for writing. And I’m finding out that sometimes when you have too much of a good thing, it can get overwhelming too. Kind of like you are swimming around in a black abyss and don't know which direction to go.
Lisa wrote a great blog entry awhile ago about how hard it is to turn your writing brain off. I couldn’t agree with this more. But now I’m finding out it can be just as hard to turn it on. At least effectively.
When you go to a day job you have people around and you get there at a certain time and you leave at a certain time. It’s a lot easier to trick your brain into thinking you should be working. But when you are in your home, it can get challenging to motivate yourself. Maybe it’s just me and my procrastinator brain that never likes to get anything done until it absolutely has to be done, but sometimes when I sit down to write, nothing happens, even if I’ve been thinking about my story for hours. It’s like I need to clock in to actually be productive. Trick my brain into thinking, “Hey Kiddo, you shouldn’t be staring at the blank screen or re-alphabetizing your books, but actually working.”
When I had a day job, there was a lot less time, so it was easier to get focused. Which is probably why I’ve always been much more productive when I have a busier schedule.
So I’ve made a pact to do that very thing for the next few weeks. I’m going to figuratively clock in a certain number of hours each week and then clock out when I’m done. And in between, I’m going to fill it with as much stuff as possible that’s not writing related.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
In the meantime, I’m going to be trying to figure out why when writing the quote above I immediately thought to call myself Kiddo.
--Emily, Miss Querylicious
6 comments:
Hi Emily -
We start the fall session of our writing group - we will miss your insight and help. Hope you are having a great time, though.
I'm the same way. I get more accomplished when I have more to do. It's weird and strange but true.
Hey Marion,
Beth told me about the group. She seems worried about sharing. I told her everyone was nice and supportive :) I'm going to miss the group to. It was really motivating. Beth also told me you and your book are getting lots of publicity. Yay. I'm so excited for you.
Emily
Hannah and Em -- Yes! I got so much done on the weekends when I worked the Friday and Monday surrounding them, rather than on the weekends when I took off Fri and Mon to supposedly get more writing done. Of course.
Let us know how it goes, Em. I know exactly how you feel. When you have time, it's so easy to say, "Oh, look, I can clean or surf the net for a few more minutes! There's always tomorrow." But I think you have a great plan.
lol, it's all right kiddo!
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