This was recently a point that came to mind when my day job kicked into overdrive and I found myself putting in long hours every night for the last two weeks. Normally I write a little bit every night without fail, but this last two weeks it simply wasn’t possible to write when I came home. Mostly I just did a couple things to prepare for bed and then passed out. You’d think that two weeks of not writing wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but as I found out Monday night when I finally sat back to write I could feel the difference.
Similar to the three months I took to correct the grammar and editing issues of book one, Flight. In-between finishing up book one and beginning book two I had a hard time sitting down to begin the story up again. I kind of wished I hadn’t put so much focus on making the corrections to book one. It would have been better if I balanced my time between correcting the mistakes on book one and still writing a little bit every night on book two. Making corrections and tweaking paragraphs are not the same as creating new content. Another important point I wish I’d heard ahead of time, which is why I’m pointing that out here.
If you read any of the writers’ forums or many writer blogs you will hear 300 as being the magic number of words you should write every night. It might sound like a lot, but normally once you get into the groove that is an easy number to surpass. At least on most nights it is. Some nights I’ll be working on a specifically tough piece which takes me longer to put down on paper, but in many ways it’s a good measurement of what you should aim to do nightly. Generally if you follow the advice you’ll have your story finished one way or another.
Even though I spend a lot of time making sure I work on various aspects of the story line in my head while I’m driving, or stuck in traffic like I was yesterday for an extra hour on the way home. Everything you do ahead of time to plan out where you want the story to be going helps to keep in sync so that when you sit down you’re ready to actually put some words down on paper.
Tuesdays are supposed to be my World of Warcraft night. Although the Winter Gaming Group isn’t supposed to officially start up until November 17th or so, some of us from my work were playing ahead of time. After the last two weeks, to be honest all that I want to do is curl up with a cup of coffee, my furry blanket and a cup of coffee to get some good writing time in.
Similar to the three months I took to correct the grammar and editing issues of book one, Flight. In-between finishing up book one and beginning book two I had a hard time sitting down to begin the story up again. I kind of wished I hadn’t put so much focus on making the corrections to book one. It would have been better if I balanced my time between correcting the mistakes on book one and still writing a little bit every night on book two. Making corrections and tweaking paragraphs are not the same as creating new content. Another important point I wish I’d heard ahead of time, which is why I’m pointing that out here.
If you read any of the writers’ forums or many writer blogs you will hear 300 as being the magic number of words you should write every night. It might sound like a lot, but normally once you get into the groove that is an easy number to surpass. At least on most nights it is. Some nights I’ll be working on a specifically tough piece which takes me longer to put down on paper, but in many ways it’s a good measurement of what you should aim to do nightly. Generally if you follow the advice you’ll have your story finished one way or another.
Even though I spend a lot of time making sure I work on various aspects of the story line in my head while I’m driving, or stuck in traffic like I was yesterday for an extra hour on the way home. Everything you do ahead of time to plan out where you want the story to be going helps to keep in sync so that when you sit down you’re ready to actually put some words down on paper.
Tuesdays are supposed to be my World of Warcraft night. Although the Winter Gaming Group isn’t supposed to officially start up until November 17th or so, some of us from my work were playing ahead of time. After the last two weeks, to be honest all that I want to do is curl up with a cup of coffee, my furry blanket and a cup of coffee to get some good writing time in.
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