Yesterday's Word Count: 205 New Words My writing friends will tell you that I get caught up in the organizing, planning and plotting of a book so much so that the damn book itself doesn't get written. This is 100% true. So I've been thinking lately on how to keep myself focused on the actual goal - putting words on paper. That's not to say that organizing, planning and plotting aren't about getting the book written. It would be stupid of me to remove those aspects of my personality from writing. I need the process, but I have to make sure the process doesn't take over.
So, the first step I'm taking is right here on this blog. I'm going to post my daily word count and any other writing efforts here every day for the previous day's activities. Check out my first report at the top of this blog post. Not only will I be tracking this for myself, but the feeling of publicly posting my progress should help me stay more focused on the actual words on paper. I mean you can't fix a blank page is a common (and sort of annoying) phrase for a reason.
Secondly, I've committed myself to an April Writing Madness Month. Again, I did this publicly with my fellow writers over at The Romance Writer's Revenge. See a pattern here? I know myself. Something about feeling like I owe it to other writers not to drop the ball on this thing really helps me focus. Yes, I know I'm not writing for them and shouldn't feel like I have to prove something to anyone, but I'm not stupid enough not to know that if something pyscological will work to push me along then I should totally use it! And it's not really about proving anything, but instead feeling like others are going through this same process with me.
Those are my first two steps toward hitting my goal of finishing this first book. You'll see more as the weeks go by, although I hope this book gets done and I can move forward with editing goals.
What about you? What do you do to stay focused on putting words on paper? Not just the process, but the actual butt in chair words on paper goal?
Lately I've just been sitting down and typing, or writing in a notebook, and next thing I know my brain is engaged and I don't have to coax it into writing. Sometimes it's notes about my WIP, or ideas for a blog post. The tricky part is convincing my muse that the writing is more interesting than what is going on out there in the internet world. LOL
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