Lessons from Author Crush Month

          One thing I’ve noticed as I read our Author Crush guest blogs is that routines are inevitable. Even when I think I’m not organized or methodical, I WILL have a routine. Even if it seems as though I’m procrastinating and ignoring the work, like Tosca Lee and others, that seemingly non-routine IS the routine. Even when, like Zilpha Keatley Snyder, I write pretty much when I want to, I still have habits, like her keeping a notebook, that support the writing. (And sometimes sabotage it, but that’s not the focus of this article. ) That’s really all a routine is. A habit. The key is to form those habits and routines that best support my writing, that propel me into productivity, not away from it. As Lauraine Snelling stated, I need to find what works for me and then work it.

          In reading last month’s Author Crush blogs, I have discovered several authors who seem to share with me similar styles of working. The difference is they are productive. Me? Not so much. Yet. I’m realizing the reason behind that lack of productivity is NOT lack of discipline, but lack of trust. Trust in myself. I convinced myself I was doing it all wrong. That kept me looking for better and better ways to organize my time and work. I try to force myself to write when the words don’t make it into my mind, much less out of my fingers. Or I insist on too high a word count for each day’s work. Or, after a few successful low-word count days, I “raise the bar” and place ever-increasing word-count expectations on myself. I didn’t consciously realize it until Liz Curtis Higgs mentioned her 5000-word day and its aftermath, but my consistent habit of raising my target word count is not the best way to motivate myself. Consistent success is.

          In January, I set a goal to write 115 words each on two different projects every weekday. I felt guilty and failure-ridden that I had to “back up” to such a tiny word goal. I felt like a slug next to Kitty and Shonna’s more ambitious goals. Intuitively, though, I knew that’s all I could really do. Any larger amount and I would be tempted, as I had many times before, to not write that day because of . . . any number of good, bad or ridiculous reasons. But I could easily force myself to write 115 words. And I did. Every weekday. Even the week I was sick and wanted to stay in bed all day. Even the days (twice in 4 weeks!) when I was reformatting and restoring my misbehaving computer.

          Except for a few stutters in the beginning weeks of January, I have added to each of these projects. One is a personal journal whose end product is still unclear; the other, a cookbook, is nearing completion. Maybe. This has all the earmarks of a never-ending project. I’m getting definitive glimmers of how to proceed, though, and that means it’s time to reassess my January goals.

          Instead of upping my word count and adding even more projects, though, I’m going to trust that I’m on the right track to my best process and add small, easy to reach goals. I’m also going to add in some flexibility. (Just a little. I don’t want to make myself so flexible, I flop back into non-productivity.)

          My continuing projects will be the journal, the cookbook and blog posts for this site and my personal website. My new projects are to write a manual for Time Tracker, the software my husband wrote to help me track my time (I hope to offer Time Tracker to our blog readers for beta testing in a couple of months.) and some short homeschool stories that have been blossoming in my mind lately. (Yay! Fiction is finding it’s way back into my schedule.)

          My goal is still to write 115 words each weekday on two projects. The difference is I get to choose from the above list of projects which ones I work on for any given day. This might mean I don’t open some files for weeks, but that’s okay; I can evaluate and assess my goals at any time if I decide a project needs more “face time” from me.

          Taking my cue from our Author Crush guests, I think I’m well on the way to discovering my best process and work it. What about you? What is your best process? Work on one project at a time or cycle through two or more? To write everyday or give yourself a one or two-day break? To give yourself an easily attainable goal or a must-stretch to make it goal?