(If you already checked into the post below, no worries! That’s still awesome. I’m just late in getting this post up.)
So how do everyone do yesterday?
In full disclosure because I think successes AND failures are beneficial to everyone–the failures help us improve and the successes keep us chugging–I’m going to state that yesterday did not go as well as I hoped. There were two specific reasons. I’m using them as guidelines for the future. Now that I know what hindered me, I can work to fix it! So I’m going to tell you what stopped me from reaching my 1k goal and how I plan to fix it today. I hope you’ll get something out of this.
For those that reached your daily goal, CONGRATS! You rock! For those that didn’t, I’d love to hear why and what you plan to do differently to avoid the same mistake.
Yesterday there were two big things that messed me up:
1. The first was time, in that I was lacking in it. This is not something I can control (Or is it?). But in my case last night, it was kind of my fault. You see, last night I worked until 7:45pm and planned to rush to the subway to make the 8:15 bus home to NJ. Except…I accidentally got on the subway going in the wrong direction and I wasted more than an hour traveling to Brooklyn instead of Upton Manhattan. Doh. (Side note: reading is DANGEROUS, people! Don’t believe all that hype that claims it’s good for you, boosts vocabulary and ignites imagination. The facts are clear to me: reading makes you stupid. If I had not been so engrossed in a book, I would have been paying better attention and I would have gotten on the correct subway.) I didn’t get home until 9:30ish and I still had to eat dinner. And um, watch LIFE UNEXPECTED since I’m in love with Baze. Then there were phone calls to Grandma (because my parents are on vacay and I wanted to check on her) and my boy, who is away in Utah skiing with his brother and Uncle. By the time I finished all that, it was nearly midnight and I hadn’t written a single word. I am not a night person, so even though my body was awake, my brain had long settled in for the night. So…I failed last night. I chose sleep over writing. BUT!!! I have a plan to fix this today!
2. Switching gears. The other thing that hindered me from starting at midnight is simply that I’m just not in the mindset yet of the new story. I have an outline ready to go. I know exactly how the scenes, especially the first ones, play out. I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know my characters over the last few months. But for the last week or so, my brain has been entirely consumed with my retelling because I’m back on the query go-round and have been in Blurb-land, synopsis-land, agent-research-land, etc. So I found it a bit overwhelming to have to start back on the other story, the one that seemed so distant to me at Midnight. It was daunting, and so I chose to wimp out and avoid the challenge instead of face it had on.
SO HOW WILL I IMPROVE?
1. TIME: First, I hope hope hope I will not make the same subway mistake tonight, but I make no guarantees. :-\ Time is already stacked against me tonight because I have a standing date with friends in my apartment building. Every Tuesday we alternate apartments, order take-in and watch LOST. When the show is over, we discuss it. I love these nights. Assuming I get home at normal time and then my friends come over, I’ll have the same problem last night as settling in to write around Midnight. So today I have a different strategy. I want to reach 1k (or maybe 2k to make up for yesterday). I plan to do it in short bursts. I can use my lunch break. While at work I plan to mull over sentences and commit them to a document one at a time. I think if I do it in small increments, I can get it done without it taking out a large chunk of my time. This week is just difficult with my 10/12-hour work days and so I need to make adjustments to stay on track. If the short bursts don’t work, I’ll sacrifice reading time and write during my commute on my alpha smart.
2. Switching gears: This one is more difficult because I still need to be focused on both manuscripts this month. But I plan to fix the problem my tackling it the old fashion way: with the power of thought. Today at work, I will think on the new manuscript. I will allow the scenes to solidify in my head before I transcribe them. I think getting back into the head of my protagonist will help me get excited about this story again. I AM excited about it, but I also don’t want to be daunted by it! I plan on set a schedule, like at work I can focus on one manuscript and at home (when I have time), I can focus on the other. Or maybe it’s a morning/afternoon thing. Or a lunch break vs rest of the day. Either way, I think setting a schedule will help me here. I’m better with routine.
So that’s my goals and ways to fix them. How about you?
