The Perfect Writing (Head) Space

I have found my perfect writing environment. Actually I have been using it for some time but it was only recently that I realised how well it did work. My writing habits slipped momentarily to writing of an evening, but they are back to mornings. And sometimes if I am very lucky I get to write both of a morning and an evening.

My body seems to have realised that morning time is best for me and my eyes spring open three minutes before my alarm goes off. They do this every morning, weekend or week day. The number of times I press the snooze button is dependent upon a combination of how tired I am and how cold it is outside the covers.

When I do get out, and it’s usually only 10 to 20 minutes after the alarm does go off, I go straight to the study and turn on my heater. Then make tea and back to the study. I find that as soon as I sit down at my desk I am ready to write, or edit as the case has been lately.

It only occurred to me how effective my space was when I realised how productive I was for that hour. When I thought about it, there was no lead up time, no fiddling with pens, trying to find motivation. It was all there in my routine. And I do sit and work.

The only delay to all of this is how long it takes me to get out of bed. The earlier I get up, the more time I have. If I managed to get out as soon as my alarm went off I would have a full hour and a half before the morning madness starts. The getting dressed, finding school shoes and library books, packing bags and lunches and making sure I don’t walk out the door in my slippers.

There was a time I couldn’t settle, I would be up and down and my brain would not engage. I even wrote myself little notes to help motivate me of a morning (see kitchen door). Now it seems so easy. I just had to work out my place and routine. And now that I know I can, I think I can do it anywhere I need to, or want to. The procrastination monster doesn’t even get a look in.

Happy Scribbling

So Close

I can see the end and so I spent my usual blogging time on the weekend editing. And then I went out to a poetry reading. It is not usually the type of thing I get to, other writers reading their work and I did enjoy it. But I didn’t read any of my own work even though some of those I was with did.

One of the guest writers was presenting her newly released memoir and the other read his poetry focused on the body. At a forum like that I love the variety; that everyone has written something so different, that they see the world differently and then how they express their version of the world.

But I can’t seem to focus on much of anything outside of my editing at the moment.

I promise a better update next week and hopefully good news.

Happy Scribbling

A Revised Life

It seems a little ironic that my last post was all about how well I was writing and how it was all coming together and then I haven’t done much of anything since. I don’t want to start with poor excuses. I was knocked over by a bug (the viral type) and really I didn’t feel too sick, just the sniffles and a cough. But it also drained all energy.

So very little was done other than what absolutely had to be to keep life ticking over, such as clothe, feed and bathe child, dropping and picking up said child from school and the day job. At the end of two weeks everything was a mess and I hadn’t even thought about writing, let alone done any. I didn’t even manage to pick up a book to read.

It then took another week for me to really feel human again. And then of course I started to feel guilty about not writing and stressed about the amount I wanted to get done. I find the more stressed I get about my writing, the less I do. So I have made some decisions to reduce this stress and thus increase the writing.

The first is to focus mainly on one writing task. The most important one at the moment is the editing of my first manuscript. This is because it is the longest project I have been working on and I can no longer justify to myself spending a further 12 months working on it. It needs to be finished and I have set myself an absolute deadline, in chalk, and now on the web...16 July 2011.

I know that this is achievable so my main focus is to achieve it.

I will continue to blog because I have found that useful and interesting and some small part of my ego hopes that I am reaching other writers and helping them...But I am going to reduce it to one blog post a week. Reduce you laugh, as I haven’t posted anything in weeks. My initial aim was three a week, so I think one for a while will keep me on track and means more time for my editing. I can always increase it as things change.

This year is slipping away quickly. How are your plans and goals going? Are they on track or needing reviewing?  I am hoping that by the end of July I will be ready for a big swing in my goal setting.

Happy Scribbling

New Found Focus

My new focus seems to be working. I think the break away from everything was what I needed. I have come back at it with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. I am seeing ideas for my first draft everywhere I go; even my daughter being silly and trying to make up slang has given me some new names for characters, creatures and the like.

Writing this fantasy story is something very different from what I have written before. Although I read quite a bit, initially I found trying to come up with strange and unusual (or fantasy appropriate) names difficult. I had even downloaded a name creator program but the names it produced were simply mixes of already famous names. So no help at all.

I am pulling different things together all the time. A textured artwork at the local museum gave me the idea for a textured wall in a cave, then an altar, which led to a special cave, and then a whole new scene and a key to the magic my main character has discovered. I am still amazed how the smallest of things can sometimes spark an amazing idea.

I am trying to remain focused on my two main projects, blocking out any thoughts of my dusty cottage. I am spending a solid hour editing first thing of a morning and it is moving along well. I am not trying to push through any particular number of pages, just working away to try and make it as good as I can. And I have managed to keep my desk area clear, which really helps. I walk straight in with my cup of tea, sit down and start work. There is no hunting for pages, not trying to find a space to work. It means I am able to make the most of my time. I also know the following day that everything is as I left it, my notes are there and I’m not trying to find where I was at in the manuscript.

So all very positive at the moment and hoping it continues.

Happy Scribbling

My Goal Setting

I do regularly set goals and revisit them, but I usually set more that what I can reasonably achieve. I tend to go for the top range of what I want to do rather than what I can. This may not be a bad thing. It is important to set goals that stretch you a little, you have to aim that little bit higher.

I would love to be able to work from home on my writing full time. It is my ultimate long term writing goal. But in the meantime I have a daughter (and her life), animals to feed, a mortgage to pay, housework to do, vegies to grow, fish to clean, friends and family and a full time and busy day job.

So for the moment I need to fit writing around the other parts of my life, or some other parts around my writing. Some of this is very easy to do, for example the vacuuming can wait while I draft a blog entry, the bathroom can wait while a write another 1000 words of a first draft. The one thing that cannot wait or be pushed aside is my daughter. And if she has had a bad day, or is having one of those evenings when she won’t go to bed, feeling unwell or just needs Mama, then my writing plans for the evening are shot. I just have to make the most of the time I do get.

I have refocused my current writing goals to the three most important ones. Refocusing does not mean simplifying or reducing the amount of work still to be done but focusing on fewer projects.

Blogging – to post three entries a week - ongoing.

·         To share where my writing is at, advertising, improving skills and helping other writers with tips, hints and my learnings.

·         With photos of the kitchen door.

·         Spend half an hour each day drafting blog entries, and then edit and post three times a week.

Novel 1 (HTDTN) - to complete and submit for publication this year.

·         Complete by December 2011

·         Edit for one hour every day – I need to do this properly so I’m not setting a page goal to reach each day, just a good hour and to work appropriately within that hour.

·         Complete course – using novel for course so as it gets better assignments can be sent off.

Novel 2 (Snow) – complete first draft this year. Complete by December 2011

·         Write 500-1000 words a day, aiming for 3000 words a week.

·         If I maintain that pace I could be finished by September.

This would total 2-3 hours of writing a day. I think that sounds reasonable for most days. I just need to work out how to allocate that time. The first thing is that some things are going to be sacrificed and at the moment the main sucker of my evening time is the TV.

At one point I was checking what I really, really wanted to watch and then mark it at the beginning of the week. If it wasn’t my show then the TV was off and I was doing something far more productive. I think I need to get back to that. And then when I am watching I can use that time for the mundane tasks, like ironing, and folding and packing of school bags.

I am now feeling better focused on what I want to achieve and how I can. I will need to revisit these goals again to assess how well they are going and whether time frames need to be moved or more time needs to be dedicated to writing.

Happy Scribbling.