Yeah, that’s basically been my life for…gosh…since August of last year? Not counting COVID, just business stuff, now. Somehow the editing part of my business exploded and I started getting jobs way more frequently than usual…one after the other. While this was totally awesome and lucrative, it required some adjusting — from the way I structured my workday to the way I scheduled each and every job. And, for the most part, it hasn’t really let up since.
Which is awesome. And a bit rough. And then we also have COVID in there, and the usual life stuff, and my health crap and and and…
So things have been seriously off kilter for awhile. So much that I haven’t written in months. One of my editing clients, who I routinely talk shop with, asked me the other day how the writing was coming along and I had to honestly tell him that I’d written 181 words in January and that was it for the year so far. And some poetry. And in years past I’d written every single day. My least prolific year back then was around 86,000 words, back when I spent a bit more time editing than drafting. My most prolific year? 399,000 words. Four standard novels, folks.
But back then I had 9-to-5 day job. I came home, ate dinner, and wrote. Rinse and repeat. For years. It was not only a routine, but a comfort. I knew I could always go into my worlds and play. Always. And now I am struggling because while I’ve had times when I had to put writing on hold for stretches of time, this one feels like there just won’t be an end.
What I need to do is set up an actual time to sit down and write every day. Back when I worked, way back, I used to write over my lunch hour. That really worked because not only did I get my writing done for the day early, but I also found that my mood was much better when I got back to work because I’d been in the zone and was still feeling the effects. I was just plain happy! But then my boss decided to put me on the clock so I couldn’t write, and it really sucked. Sad face. Some time last year out of pure desperation I set a timer and did pomodoros (the Pomodoro Technique) and at every five-minute break, I wrote a few hundred words. It worked okay, but I found myself too frazzled. My job is chaotic on a good day anyway; adding writing to the mix in tiny intervals like this was just more chaotic. I also couldn’t really get into the story well because by the time I got going, I’d have to stop. I will still give it another whirl, though. It still could be effective to get words down, which is the most important thing at the moment. I have a few things I’d like to get written, and as quickly as possible. If there is no other time in my day, this could at least be the time to do it.
Or, set a time. Start doing it over lunch again. Hubby’s work went to half-hour lunches so he is no longer coming home, so we aren’t eating lunch together anymore. Another sad face. I could theoretically slide in twenty minutes or so of word-slinging. As long as it didn’t get too drawn out and take hours, because it would really put me behind for work. And I’m usually always behind anyway to some degree. I mean, I’m working till late at night these days. Although I think that might be ending soon. Anyway, if I get going, I can easily write 500-700 words in twenty minutes. I used to write 300 words a day, and I’d always go over. I wrote half a novel that way, back in 2007 when my parents had back-to-back surgeries. So maybe I need to resurrect that method again and see if it works. It is cool because it takes the pressure off to hit the high numbers. You can of course, but as long as you hit 300, you’re golden. So if you’re having a bad day, hit 300 and be done. A good day? Keep rolling and see what happens.
And once I got that going, the challenge then would be doing this consistently every day or on a set schedule. Because it’s the habit that’s so important. If I start and write three days, then skip a week, write three more days, skip two days, and write another three, well, that’s great, but I’m not setting a habit. I’m not making progress in a consistent manner. It is so important. For me, doubly because I need two things: a goal (wordcount or something else) and consistency. If I don’t have those, I fall flat on my face. This is why challenges like NanoWriMo are effective. Writing x amount of words per day for thirty days? Sign me up! One year a group I was in did a 100 words-a-day for a month challenge, and then extended it for a few months. I wrote something like 60,000 words those three months. Most of a book called Oubliette. I almost always went over, and I wrote every single day. I might have missed a few, but 99% were done.
So that is my goal for May. To set myself a goal and a schedule and stick to it. I have a novelette I need to fix and publish — it’s very close, so it shouldn’t take long — and then a novella for TDP that I am supposed to be writing now. And I’d like to see if I can manage it. Because writing is the thing that nurtures my soul, and without it, I feel broken. And right now, there is too much that is broken. And I need some kind of beauty that I can call my own. And I need to create again. I love poetry, but I am feeling the fiction wanting to burst out of me.
Let’s see what I am capable of doing. I believe I can. I just need to, you know, do it.