Good Habits & Discipline

[Readingandrighting]

I’ve been writing for twenty years and got good feedback from a friend who is a poet and good marks/feedback from a creative writing course I did. I have always struggled with confidence in my work though and I struggle with discipline, too.

I’d really appreciate your advice on the discipline of writing. I want 2021 to be the year I finally put myself out there and try to get published. I’m going to start small with getting a short story or poem published.

I know in Stephen King’s book he recommended setting a daily word count but I write a combination of poetry, short fiction and have started on a novel; so that might not always work.

Is it as simple as creating a schedule and sticking to it? I’d be so very grateful for advice as this has been burning away inside me for too long now — time to act!

The best discipline I have is wanting to write the story.

When I know what is happening next and all I can think about is what I want to write, then I will find the time and write it. It's never as good on paper as in my head though.
When I'm not sure what to write, then that's when I find other things become more important.

I do find NaNo a good incentive because there kind of is a deadline too.

Is it as simple as creating a schedule and sticking to it?

I wish this unfortunately doesn't really work for me.

I think the key is finding what motivates you, personally. This will be different for everyone, but I can tell you some things that work for me. Sometimes it changes from week to week and I have to invent new and novel ways of motivating myself to sit down to write (the joys of adhd!).

-Spreadsheet of word counts that I keep for the entire year. I update this at the end of every sprint (I use the pomodoro method, sometimes 15on/5off, sometimes 25on/5off).

The spreadsheet is full of all sorts of formulas. It counts my word counts for that 28day cycle, it calculates the $ amount per sprint based on my average cent per word earnings, and it also calculates % completed based on the books and predicted WCs I've set out in my schedule for the next two years.

So for example, it'll tell me I need to write 5k today. If I write 3k, tomorrow's figure goes up. If I do 7k, tomorrow's figure goes down.

None of these formulas are because I'm particularly anal about a schedule, it's purely because I've found those motivate me to do another sprint. I enjoy trying to get the average number / day needed down, and I like seeing how much I hypothetically earned in the last 15 minutes.

-For actual sprints sometimes I'll use an app called Focus City that sits in the corner of the macbook and builds a house in your city for every sprint completed. Sometimes an app called Forest, same principle but it's on mobile and it grows a tree for every sprint. I'm that weird person who got highly addicted to FarmVille back in the day so this works for me. Sometimes I'll sprint with others in a room online (either MyWriteClub, or ohwrite.co at night because darkmode). This satisfies the high competition part of my brain, because I can see other peoples word counts in real time.

-I truly believe that any fiction writer worth their salt is a master liar. That's what we do, we tell amazing lies for money. We create false realities using only our minds. So use your skills in lying in order to trick your brain. Lie to yourself that you're absolutely buzzing to sit down and get this done. Practice manipulating your mood. Lie to yourself that this is fun, you're having fun, fun fun fun! This works when I'm having a day where everything is crap and I want to curl up on the sofa and watch Netflix.

-Read. This always, always gets me in the mood to write. Try to read some good books and some terrible books, read your competition and read authors who died twenty years ago. Read what's selling right now, even if it's not your genre. The good books will inspire you, and the terrible ones will inspire you to do it better. I read a lot of openings (the look inside feature on amazon is gold) and a lot of reviews on goodreads (when I've convinced myself I'm terrible I read bad reviews on books I've loved).

-Watch videos on writing / authoring. Author tube is pretty good for this. I find it motivating listening to others speak about writing and productivity. I like HeartBreathings, Becca Syme, Dean Wesley Smith, The Courtney Project, The Creative Penn. Just be careful you don't trick yourself into thinking your procrastination is productivity. I promise myself one video if I finish this sprint.

This is all rather jumbled but that's the main ones I can think of right now.

I am pretty prolific and have high word counts. The most important thing I've learned is that writing is exactly like running. It's not always a comfortable thought, the thought of doing it is often worse than it is, and once you've done it you feel great about yourself. If you don't write for a week, you're going to feel rusty and tire more easily. You have to work the muscle every day if possible. Day 1, 1000 words is going to feel like a huge task. But if you work your way up then I promise 1000 words will eventually start to feel like a doddle. 1000 words is eventually just a twenty minute focused sprint. But the moment you fall off and let things slip, the bigger 1000 words feel.

Hope some of that helps

Thanks @Witchend

I agree with this:
It's never as good on paper as in my head though
It often feels like more of a slog in reality than the seemingly earth-shattering ideas in my mind!

Thanks @themental

I appreciate all of your tips. I can relate to the ADHD! I’ve wondered since school if I have it (undiagnosed).

The Pomodoro Method changed my life! I’ll check out those apps and tips. Thanks again.

@Readingandrighting

One of the problems I have is it isn't a fully formed idea pops into my head. It's normally a scene, or an idea just a single one. The way I generally work is gradually over a few weeks or even months, this expands in my head forwards and backward.
It still is nowhere near a full book.
It's a list of scenes.

So I start writing. I write from the beginning and move on. But there are some scenes that are very clear in my head, and others which, even as I sit down to write, are only that I know I need to get from A to B with a bit of interest.
Then sometimes I think I have a chapter that goes from A to B simply, and halfway through I find it's actually diverting through Z, and going to take up three more chapters.
Or sometimes the opposite happens. I have a lovely scene in my head, that I think will take pages. When I actually write it down, it hardly takes any space at all, and becomes less important.

Sometimes something occurs to me part way through. In my NaNo this year I suddenly realised one character was afraid of dogs. He didn't like people to know, and he certainly didn't want to say why, which was due to an incident when he was little.
So then I go back and see where he's interacting with dogs about and put in his reactions. It's not much. He stiffens as the dog approaches, mutters "horrible animals" when it's suggested he takes one for a walk.
It's not a main part of the story, but it is part of his character.

When it feels like a slog, sometimes it's because I know I have to get through this boring bit to get to the scene I really want to write.
Sometimes it's because I'm not really sure what I want to write, and sometimes it's because I know what I want to write and it's not coming out right.

But it doesn't necessarily translate to a slog to read. I remember one story I wrote. They were climbing up Snowdon. I even used Google maps to go up as I wrote it. (if you go up one path it's raining all the way, another is beautiful sunshine all the way!)
It was a slog and I thought pages and pages of aching legs and boring descriptions. I nearly quit at that bit because I couldn't see how it would keep interesting, but couldn't just leave it out.
When I read it to ds, he loved that bit-and it was only one single chapter, less than 2k words. I could have sworn it was about 15k!

What I've learnt is, for me, the important thing is writing it. Get it written and then assess what needs changing. If it stays in my head I can go over it and alter it a million times. Once it's out on paper then I can really look at it and decide where to go.

@Witchend

I agree — getting it out of the head and into the page is a major hurdle overcome. It’s so interesting that it read well despite being a slog to write—maybe a bit of slog helps!

I struggle most with refining and editing—persevering past the fun stage and getting my bum on the seat for long enough to make it better quality. It’s always worth it though so I don’t know why it’s such a challenge — a naturally restless mind, I think!

*onto the page

I struggle most with refining and editing—persevering past the fun stage and getting my bum on the seat for long enough to make it better quality

Me too. I'm not always convinced it's better (other than typos removed) writing at the end either. Just different!

...fair point! The importance of re-drafting & editing is often hammered home but maybe it’s not always as necessary as we think ...

I suspect redrafting and editing are necessary, and with someone who knows what they're doing makes a good difference.
I'm just not convinced I do.

True! It's knowing when to stop editing, I think.

I'm appreciating this thread, as I'm determined to write something this year. It gets pretty depressing, seeing oneself as a writer without actually writing anything.
So, I've timed myself to do an hour a day. Which is working well. But it's only about 1000 words. Is that really slow?

Well I have done nothing but talk & write about writing so far; so it sounds good to me!

1 hour a day is a good start. I am going to aim for dailyish writing ... but the proof will be once I actually do it!

We should use this thread to hold each other accountable maybe with quick check-ins to confirm we wrote that day?

I wouldn't worry about whether it's slow or fast for an hour at the moment.

I don't know how quickly I write because I don't time it. I know I can write several thousand in a day if I know where I'm going, but if I don't know exactly what's happening it will be much slower, and then I think 1000 in a hour would be a huge amount.

I think sometimes it's just keeping going when it's tough. When you have that bit that isn't coming right, or seems to be going on for days. Then you need something, like saying you'll do an hour a day, just to get you through that.

I have a very long winded fantasy that I started years and years ago, that I add bits to when I want to write but am either stuck on what I am writing or don't have anything special to do. I enjoy writing it because I know the characters and world well so don't need to think about how they react-they just do, and I have absolutely no plans to show it to anyone ever so it doesn't matter how good writing it is.

Yah! The main thing is writing! I’m starting tomorrow! ... Again!!!

I set myself a minimum bum on chair time. On a bad day I might fritter it away struggling with plot, diverting myself by tidying up odds and ends or go off and critique something for someone else or re-read bits, as long as I fill the minimum time with something writing related. On a good day I just keep on writing.

Yeah anything that imposes discipline is good - bum on chair time works for me too but I'm very good at getting distracted by 'urgent' tasks and websites ... like Mumsnet.

so reading, any progress?

It hasn’t been going so well for me ... (but I have managed to polish off most of the remaining chocolate in the house!)

I’m finding it tough. My mood seems to dictate my writing to a frustrating extent. I wrote a story in a day before and my friend said ‘I can’t believe you can write all that in one day’ but what I don’t brag about are all the days like these where I feel too blah to write!

It is frustrating having a burning desire inside & doing nowt about it. But...

I’m going to do 2 hours of writing this evening with a glass of wine & telly as a reward afterwards.

Anyone in?

I've done my hour today, but go for it!
I thought we'd got through all the mince pies, then my DH saw them on sale for 25p a packet and bought more. I bloody love mince pies.
If i can do 1 hour a day - approx 1000 words. And keep on doing it. I'll have a book in 3 months.
I'm feeling pretty good, as I've managed 4 consecutive days. After months, no, years, of Not Writing. Just fantasising about Mariella Frostrup interviewing me about my brilliant novel.
Whenever I write something that my negative editor says 'mm, that's a bit off' I think that, as someone said, 1st drafts are always poor.
I also write on a manual typewriter, which I find much easier than a laptop. I plan to run it through an OCR scan to make it digital, and do the editing then.

My mood seems to dictate my writing to a frustrating extent.
I find that. Also the weather. The weather in the story often reflects what's outside.

Yeah I find that with the weather too!

Very true-Anne Lamott said that about first drafts all right!

I did one hour in the end but I enjoyed it - I started on a new story and just freewrote away! More tomorrow (hopefully!)

congratulations. It feels really good, doesn't it? I'm off to do mine this morning.

Great start!

I'm not totally sure where my character is going in this chapter. I thought I knew then the North Wind showed up and spoilt it. (it was windy outside )

as a newby (only 4 days in) I've found one of the big surprises, and benefits, is that, the more you write, the more you think about your story, even when not at your desk. I can see now why so many people say it's a good idea to carry a notebook around.
So much better than being faced with a blank slate.