Slightly impaired blogging

Today has been pretty much a bust - over the day yesterday the proto-cold that I think I picked up in Vermont, and lovingly nurtured by not getting enough sleep, has developed into a charming head cold, all concentrated in my sinuses and throat and making me feel wobbly and light-headed. So I've been becoming intimately acquainted with the contents of my DVR (TiVo for my cable system) and (sort of) enjoying a brain-dead day (though I really hope this eases off tomorrow so I can get something done).

I wanted to follow-up to the writing post I made a few days ago (okay, almost a week? Time flies, yadda yadda yadda). I really appreciate everyone's input, and even though people all had fairly different answers, I thought it was interesting that a few themes emerged:

• setting fixed times for writing, either an actual time of day or just a length of time - Nels sets a timer, lucyrain used the length of time her laptop battery lasted, and What Now? wrote until she had accumulated a certain number of words.
• changing location - Laura (Geeky Mom) and Tiruncula talk about going somewhere without distractions.
• doing something to start that gets the creative juices flowing - a bunch of other people, like Dr. B, Dr. M, and Jane, mentioned blogging or other informal writing.
• not getting caught up in whether or not the writing is any good while you're doing it, which Ancarett, Pilgrim/Heretic, and Tiruncula emphasized.

Though I think the prize goes for af for talking about cleaning glasses with post-its.

Recently, I have been using a timer myself, and making a chart of every 30 minutes of sustained work; I set the timer and have to sit and write until the timer goes off, and then I can set it again or decide to do something else. I have found this pretty successful, although it's easier to do at home when I'm sitting at my desk in the dining room and can use the timer on the kitchen stove, than sitting in my office at school. And I've also been heading to a local coffeeshop, or our great public library, when I need to get stuff done; that lack of distractions (like all you wonderful blog people!) is a big thing for me.

I think one of my goals for the next week is to figure out which times during the day I can set aside and devote to writing. Like What Now?, I have a hard time dealing with unstructured time, so I think I need to set some structure for myself.

But before that, I'm looking forward to tonight's shot of what LDH calls green whiskey, AKA NyQuil. I have to get it in liquid form because it tastes so vile, but oh! what a lovely rush after that first hit.

Updated to add: D'oh! I meant also to point everyone to this post about writing, "50 Strategies for Making Yourself Work," which I found via 43 Folders. Think I'll go take some more cold medicine now...

Comments

[Pilgrim/Heretic]

Love the writing strategies link! It reminded me of a technique I used to write the dissertation that I'd forgotten about: candles. I tried writing entirely by candlelight now and then, because that made the whole activity seem so much more interesting (and vaguely medieval). Then I got in the habit of keeping a single candle burning on my desk, but only while I was writing: if I stopped, even for a few minutes, I had to blow out the candle. It was a nice, positive visual reminder to keep myself on task.

I'm still a little suspicious, though, that all the focus on tricks and strategies helps to confirm the notion that Writing Is Really Hard. Not that it isn't, but again, we all chose our fields because we're somehow inspired by them. If we trained ourselves to the habit of thinking "Oh boy, today I get to write about the stuff I like!" instead of "How can I bring myself to face this terrible, overwhelming task?" that itself could make a difference.

P/H's comment above, and some of the ones on the earlier post about writing, worry about the drudgery aspect of writing to a schedule or clock. Although I see the point of these comments, I have never seen writing schedules/time blocks etc to be a punishment or a chore. I just see that in my life, sceduling is necessary to make it happen. I see it as similar to scheduling "date night" with one's SO. You schedule it so that you make sure that things that are important to you and that you enjoy actually DO happen, not because it's some kind of horrible chore that you would rather not do.

[New Kid on the Hallway]

P/H, the last part of your comment makes me laugh b/c I think it pretty sums up the difference between us!

I *do* actually *like* writing, but it's very hard to get away from the fact that I'm required to do it for my job. I really like unnamed's comment above, though, about how schedules aren't drudgery, and that's true - when I write regularly I really do enjoy it (overall), and a schedule puts me in that position.

Plus, I think it's important not to think of writing as something that's only about inspiration/passion - Boice's stuff talks about how (like Ancarett said) one shouldn't write to burnout, and how it should be a regular, almost every-day activity, rather than some kind of highs-and-lows dramatic thing.

[Pilgrim/Heretic]

I think the "date night" analogy is great. I don't see writing schedules as drudgery at all; I just think sometimes we get too caught up in the search for the magic trick that will make the pages pour effortlessly from our hands. Routine is important, I think, even more than inspiration: I enjoy teaching, but if I only taught classes when I really felt like it, I doubt if I'd go all that often. Good teaching ideas come because I have to be in the classroom; hopefully good writing will come because I have to be at my desk!

[profgrrrrl]

Thinking to self "if only ..." about the strategy that says to keep 5 or even 10 manuscripts in the mail at all times. Damn. I'd love to just have 3 written and circulating at once.

Writing regularly has become important. And I'm so glad you've been writing about writing here, because reading it all has been helpful. :)

[Celandine]

Most of my writing in the past year has been fiction (although that has to change Very Soon Indeed), and that gets written when I get inspiration, mostly. I chip out time from other tasks to do it - it's usually NOT a chore, although sometimes I will get the "oh goodness, I haven't written a new chapter of X story in ages, I really need to work on that", and then feel like I have to write even if I'm not inspired to do so.

I don't think that's very helpful.

SO has expressed support of the idea of me trying to write original fiction, btw! Which I would definitely like to do.