“So you have such a positive
attitude, how do you give yourself a jumpstart to get your butt in the chair
and get writing?” The other day I was
asked this question, and I decided it would be a great blogging subject. How do we push ourselves into our offices to
write? Heaven forbid there are enough
distractions and other things you could be doing – besides sitting in your
quiet office, all alone, with your thoughts and a white screen staring back at
you. Exactly how do we give ourselves
the strength to say it’s time to write?
I truly believe writers are special people. Yep we truly are! I think the hardest things for us are our
other responsibilities. We have family,
friends, housework, the JOB, yard, cooking, shopping, and of course church (in
my case) and the hubby. The list goes on
and on. In between all those
responsibilities and distractions we must ‘make’ the time to write.
I don’t know if you’re like me – BUT – the other ‘stuff’
must be done in order for me to
concentrate on what I really want to do, write.
It’s not a hobby or what I do for fun.
Let’s face it, we love to write – but it is work.
So I need the house clean, the dishes done, the bills paid,
and even my office must be clean before I can sit in front of my computer. Now that’s a bit easier these days since my
kids are out of the nest. J
But I started writing when my kids were three and five+ so there you
have it, I understand it both ways.
I don’t recommend three cups of coffee so you feel awake –
that will just give you the jitters and make you feel unsettled. A nice glass of ice water (or flavored – no
calorie water) is what I recommend. Get
it right away so you don’t have an excuse to ‘leave’ your office and get
side-tracked. Yep, I know all the tricks
… or mistakes. You might even fix
yourself a plate of celery sticks, carrot sticks, or even pea pods so you don’t
get those chocolate cravings.
If you tell yourself you ‘should’ be writing, yet you’re
sitting on the couch trying to muster up the energy and drive to go write – ask
yourself one thing – “What is my deadline date?” What?
You don’t have a deadline date?
That is not good! You MUST have
goals and deadline dates or you’ll never accomplish what you want in life. That doesn’t just apply to writing, but in
this case it does.
You need to sit down and look at your work in progress and
answer these questions:
·
What
genre am I writing?
·
World
count for this work?
·
How
many chapters will I have?
·
Now-
how long will it take me to write a chapter?
·
Add
a month in for unexpected distractions/responsibilities.
·
What
is my writing schedule?
·
Finally
– what is the deadline date to finish my book?
You do this one thing and I guarantee you’ll get more books
written than you’ve ever done before. I
always correlate it to this. If you’re
planning to go on a trip to Montana, you know you’d get maps and plot it out,
you’d look at places to stop along the way to enjoy, there are hotels, costs to
estimate, car to get in shape for the trip, etc. If you just jumped in your car you might end
up in Alaska! Well, planning to write
your next book is pretty much the same thing.
Don’t treat your writing like a ‘hobby.’ I hate it when people say, “that’s such a
nice hobby.” I stop them and say, “This isn’t a hobby - it’s too much work for
that. Writing is my passion and I do it
because it’s something I love and it gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Don’t accept negativity – it’ll start making
you feel negative – and you’ll start treating your writing like a hobby. Once you start doing that, you won’t have the
drive and excitement to go to your office and write at all.
Think about your story while making breakfast, working at the
office, going for your daily walks (or like me up Sander’s Hill twice a day
during my breaks – it’s a humdinger).
Work out ideas, plots, and twists before you even get to your home office. By the time your ‘scheduled’ writing time
approaches – you’ll be raring to go and you’ll be itching to sit down and start
typing.
Get your background music going and you’re READY! One thing I always do, to get myself back
into my story, is to read the last two pages I’d finished from the day/night
before. This helps me get into the
characters; where are they, who are they talking to, and what is their current
situation? That way I can continue
without missing a beat from where I left off.
Next thing you know – two hours have passed and you’re shocked how many
pages you’ve just finished. When you push
away from the computer you’ll have a feeling of satisfaction and pride. You’re suddenly anxious and excited to write
again tomorrow! You can do this . . .
day after day. Oh – and book after
book! J
You can find Rita Karnopp at:
(publisher) http://bookswelove.netCheck out Rita's Whispers of the Native Soul Series
Whispering Sun ~ Whispering Wind ~ Whispering Spirits
More excellent advice, Rita. Just Do It!!
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