Back in 2001-2004, my schedule of 7-9pm of Nothing But Writing, I got a ridiculous amount of work done (you've probably seen my copious LJ posts about how I long for those days to return...). It worked perfectly for me when I was generating wordcount. It works for revision too, but I had to convince myself that a good evening editing is just as positive as creating new words, just that the visual outcome is different.
For the past few years, I created a schedule on a whiteboard monthly calendar in which I'd schedule myself to do specific things: post a picture on my Tumblr, post a poem on Dreamwidth, work on Project A, etc...and it overall it worked pretty well. I only stopped it recently because my current project is solely to focus on the major revision/re-edit of one of my novels. That isn't to say everything else fell by the wayside, though--I've been posting on my WordPress site and writing poems longhand--they're just unscheduled at the moment while I focus on the main project. Still...using a whiteboard monthly calendar definitely works, because you can easily adjust it, as well as plan for other things, and it makes a lot more sense than buying a pocket planner and proceeding to completely forget about it like I always do.
If anything, I think I need to create a schedule to remind me to close all internet browsers, Twitter feeds, and so on, and only have the bare essentials while I work. I'm still too easily distracted during my writing sessions, and I know it's the "don't wanna work on it" feeling that's causing it. Mind you, I know the difference between "I need a day off" and "don't wanna" and more often than not my lack of progress is due to the latter. My distractions back in 2001-04 were few at the time: a game or two of FreeCell or Solitaire, reading the latest music magazine, or cataloging my recent cd purchases. Unfortunately in the Age of the Internets, there's a bajillion other ways to be distracted, so I've been forcing myself to close all browsers and only keep two things up--MS Word so I can work, and MediaMonkey so I can listen to something while working. It's hard, but it can be done if one puts their mind to it.
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Date: 2012-09-19 09:38 pm (UTC)For the past few years, I created a schedule on a whiteboard monthly calendar in which I'd schedule myself to do specific things: post a picture on my Tumblr, post a poem on Dreamwidth, work on Project A, etc...and it overall it worked pretty well. I only stopped it recently because my current project is solely to focus on the major revision/re-edit of one of my novels. That isn't to say everything else fell by the wayside, though--I've been posting on my WordPress site and writing poems longhand--they're just unscheduled at the moment while I focus on the main project. Still...using a whiteboard monthly calendar definitely works, because you can easily adjust it, as well as plan for other things, and it makes a lot more sense than buying a pocket planner and proceeding to completely forget about it like I always do.
If anything, I think I need to create a schedule to remind me to close all internet browsers, Twitter feeds, and so on, and only have the bare essentials while I work. I'm still too easily distracted during my writing sessions, and I know it's the "don't wanna work on it" feeling that's causing it. Mind you, I know the difference between "I need a day off" and "don't wanna" and more often than not my lack of progress is due to the latter. My distractions back in 2001-04 were few at the time: a game or two of FreeCell or Solitaire, reading the latest music magazine, or cataloging my recent cd purchases. Unfortunately in the Age of the Internets, there's a bajillion other ways to be distracted, so I've been forcing myself to close all browsers and only keep two things up--MS Word so I can work, and MediaMonkey so I can listen to something while working. It's hard, but it can be done if one puts their mind to it.
Lastly...my latest reminder as to why it's important? Reminding myself that I'm about to miss a potentially awesome opening for submissions because I don't have anything ready for it. This is a reminder that I need to step up my game, get my stuff together, whatever it takes. ;)