slogging through

[eimarra]

Some of you might remember that, in November, I really struggled to make my word count for NaNoWriMo. Although I did manage -- barely -- it was by shameless padding. I wrote authorial notes, I wrote other notes having nothing to do with the story, and I stuck a short story in the middle of the book. I took all that stuff out afterward and was left shy of 37k, and even that includes some outline notes about what's supposed to go where.

I wrote a bit more on it during January -- 2,250 words, but got caught up on other projects in February, like getting my mystery ready to submit, working on crits, and planning Sundered Sword. Meanwhile, I notice more zombie books being sold, and I start to worry that I'm going to finish up Jim Bob and his zombie coonhound too late, that everyone will be tired of them by the time my manuscript is ready.

I did what anyone who knows me would expect me to do: I set a ridiculous goal to try to finish Jim Bob up during March. I wrote 28k on him during the last week of November -- a couple of 20k weeks (or even 4 10k weeks) ought to be doable. I joined Book-in-a-Week and set my goal for March 1-8 as 70 pages (that's 17,500 words). I managed 2,500 words on the first, 50 on the second, and nothing since.

Love the characters, still like the idea, but I can't get excited about the writing. On the one hand, I know that doesn't make any difference. Words I have to drag out read just as well as those that just flow. On the other hand, when I'm not excited, and I keep putting off doing the writing but telling myself I ought to do it, I wind up procrastinating everything in my life. This is not a good thing.

I do want to get it written. I have way too many unfinished manuscripts on my to-do list, and as I said, the appeal for this particular one may have a limited lifespan. But trying to force myself isn't working. Thus, I'm trying a different tack, I think. I'm going to go for 100 words a day on the story. Maybe at some point, it'll take off. Maybe some days, I'll write 200, 500, or even 1,000 words. But the goal is to just plug away at it for now. I'll revisit the goal at the end of April/beginning of May to check on how I'm doing and decide whether I need to change my approach. At that point, I expect to be over 47k. We'll see how this goes.

(Yes, I am aware that if I keep the goal at 100 words per day indefinitely, it will take me over a year to complete the book -- 14 months, give or take. At this point, that's still faster than the rate at which I have been working.)

I know I didn't invent the problem of not being motivated to work on a specific story; I'd be surprised if every writer doesn't face it from time to time. How do you deal with it? Work on something else? Push through the block? Stop writing for a while? Go for a walk? Something I haven't thought of?

Comments

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

You didn't mention tearing out hair and whining to spouse. I understand drinking too much is also popular, though I've never tried it myself.

Your minimal goal sounds like a good way to keep going. If you can't do even that, your brain is probably telling you something else is wrong.

[eimarra]

Hmm. Didn't consider the hair. ;-) Spouse tends to shrug when I discuss issues with my writing with him (though he always passes information on to friends & colleagues when I make a sale). I'm a featherweight when it comes to drinking -- a beer and a half is too much, so I tend to avoid it. Guess that lets me right out of the "traditional writer" school.

Your minimal goal sounds like a good way to keep going. If you can't do even that, your brain is probably telling you something else is wrong.
Thanks! And hmm. That latter hadn't occurred to me. Well, I'll see how the next couple of months go.

[avferreira.livejournal.com]

You know this has been an issue with me for a while. I have a series of go to techniques, they generally don't work for long, but they do give me a boost here and there:

. change media and place: get away from the computer, take a notebook, and write as much as I can
. challenge myself: set an egg timer or this one (http://www.online-stopwatch.com/) for 15 minutes or half an hour and see how many words I get; set it again and try to get more
. listen to some upbeat music before I start writing
. write nonlinearly: open a few sequential chapters, write a sentence in each, go back to the first and do it again
. make a pause on the writing and read about writing - preferably books that don't take themselves too seriously (Stephen King's On Writing and David Armstrong's How Not To Write a Novel are two of my favourite for these)

Bonnie's right, though, not being able to write might mean that there's something not working with the book. I'm going through that with CDL - just had to set it aside because there was something not right and I wasn't seeing it.

Good luck figuring it out.

[eimarra]

Thanks for the suggestions. Been a while since I read On Writing -- or anything light, for that matter. My most recent writing book has been How Fiction Works by James Wood, and it's slow going. The other I've been at off and on is The Fire in Fiction by Maass. Also not light. So I might try that suggestion, and maybe some of the others.

I've given myself months off, essentially, and if there is a fundamental flaw, the time away hasn't helped me see it. So we'll see how the slow dripping of water on stone works.

Thank you!

[hoshikaze.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the 100 words a day on the novel. Depending how that works you could write a bit on that novel some days and work on more fun projects on other days. Sometimes carrying some of that positive energy from another project might help. (I read in Holly's Mugging the Muse she did something along those lines. She had a tougher novel to work through, and she let herself have a certain allotted time to work on a fun new project. So the time spent on fun new project help her get through the tougher novel).

With liking the characters, maybe you could take a break from the actual draft and have fun doing journals for them in the meanwhile. That might help bring some excitement back to the draft once you are ready.

I have had two novel first drafts fizzle out before they were finished. One was for nano 07 when I was without a boss at work (working for 2 at the day job killed my energy). The other one was a random novel I hadn't really planned and was more excited by the title than anything. Other than those two I'm pretty good about finishing novel first drafts. It's the revision I tend to get stuck on, and I've told myself no more new first draft novels until I do a complete revision pass on another. So nano 10 will be depend on what I do with current novels. But nano is a good motivator - it got me to catch up on the outlining lessons for 2yn.

When I do get stuck with drafts I find it helpful to step away from the computer for awhile and let my mind wander. I might go for a walk, do the dishes, or simply let my eyes wander over an interesting pattern (like the 1 inch tiles in the bathroom when we were still in the apartment) and see pictures in the patterns. Something to think about a different topic then where I am in the novel scene. I think trying to hard to figure out a scene/action can make a block worse. Stepping away and thinking about something else really helps me. Once I make a point of thinking about another topic I let my muse wander back to the novel when she's ready. For minor "oh no what now" types of deals it's only taken a few minutes, other times/situations it can take awhile longer. Heck, even sleeping on something is good.

(And ya, I rambled a bit, getting a little tired)

[eimarra]

I've been managing 250 words a day (mostly) on another project that's fun but that's really low priority. So I figure maybe 100 words a day on this one should be practical.

I'm not as good at you at finishing first drafts. I get distracted. I've only had one that stalled because I really didn't know what I was doing with it -- the infamous NaNo where I tried to pants it with a brand new idea 4 days in. The others get set aside because life gets busy or a new shiny jumps in . . . so I have a lot of "finish first draft of X" on my goals lists. I'm trying to avoid adding more of those that stay on for a year or two or more, hence the desire to work this through now.

And your post reminds me that my muse likes it when I play with color -- markers or fabric or yarn. (Or when the weather's right, planting flowers.) Maybe I should make time for that this week.

Thanks for the help!

[hoshikaze.livejournal.com]

I'm glad my rambly post helped :) Good to hear about the words on the fun project.

Drafts are one of my frustrations, with being able to get through a first draft relatively easy it's a pain to get stuck with the revision. (With my focus for this writing year I'm going to work on the revision process - the 'stack' of first draft novels isn't going to get me published anytime soon).

Color is fun. If you want to try something new, the Kumihimo braiding disks are really easy to do the basic 8 strand braid on. When I got mine at the local bead store the clerk said yarn works on them, which I'll probably try at some point. My embroidery floss was handier. I do want to pick up my knitting again, and a braid might be a neat finish stitched onto something.

[eimarra]

Good luck with getting through your stack of drafts for revision! I know that's tough.

The braiding disks remind me of a knitting toy I had when I was young, that made these long strips that weren't used for much more than sewing together in circles for potholders or making little rugs for my dolls. I don't imagine the technique's the same, but it's neat to see that there are so many variations for what one can do with yarn -- and with the end-products.

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, it's best to just set a WIP aside for a week and work on something else. At least, that's what I've found.

[eimarra]

You're right. Sometimes, that is the perfect thing to do the trick!

(Sadly, this one's been aside longer than that and still isn't cooperative.)

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Dang! I hate it when that happens :(