(Or, How To Keep From Dawdling When Writing)
I learn a lot from my kids. They are experts at dawdling. They spend way more time talking about a thing than doing the thing. I keep telling them to just get it done and then they can go play. But, along the way they have to pet the dog. Grab a snack. See what the speck on the carpet is. Get a drink. And, as a last resort, use the bathroom.
This week they have been at music camp all morning. I drop them off and come home ready to work on my novel. But, when I get home, what do I do?
Let me back up a bit. Monday I dropped them off, then went grocery shopping. We have to eat, right? Then Tuesday I hit Kohls because I had a 30% off coupon. Wednesday, I made myself come strait home because, really, I was supposed to be spending ALL that alone time writing.
So what do I do when I get home? I start writing. Then I check email, Facebook, Twitter, email again. More writing. Hmmm, the house is so quiet. It’s kind of distracting. Tea time. Oh, and the dishwasher never got turned on last night, better do that… May as well throw in some laundry…etc.
Tuesday night, when I realized what was going on, I made some changes. I was determined not to whittle away all my good alone time. Can you relate? Then, the following are my tips to get your focus back:
1. Use your critique/accountability partner. I’ve got an online friend to swap pages with. We do about 20 pages per critique. Kind of like a mini-goal. We keep each other going 20 pages at a time.
2. Set daily goals the night before. I’ve learned that planning the next day’s work helps keep me on track. It gives me something to check off. Number of words written? Fix a certain story thread? Work on word choices?
3. Conquer the “Hmmm, the house is so quiet. It’s kind of distracting” thoughts. How? For me, I turn on some background music. I also read the #amwriting search on Twitter to show myself that I’m not the only one writing.
Note: if you really like knowing that other people are writing when you are, check out Olivia Tejeda’s group #silentwriters who “meet” to write at a certain time.
Note #2: Just learned today, that the #amwriting crowd has a webdirectory as well. Check out the regulars at http://amwriters.wordpress.com/
4. Remind yourself of the end goal. Right now, my goal is to have this current revision finished by the end of the month. Time is ticking away; time to get busy.
I’m opening the comments for more ideas to stay focused. How do you make sure you keep your writing time WRITING TIME and not something else? I can always use a good tip.
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3 users responded in this post
Shonna, that set the goal the night before is huge for me! If I know what I need to work on and when it is “done,” I can actually do it. If I have a general “I must write today” goal, nothing gets done. Thanks for the reminder! (And the twitter groups look interesting. After my goals are met, I’ll go check them out.
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Last week I was thinking about how long I could give myself to get more writing work out there and sold versus when I might seriously think about getting a temporary job. Then I thought, I really should throw in a load of laundry. Then I remembered, if I didn’t work at home, I’d have to do laundry at night and on the weekends. So I went back to my writing work and didn’t do any more household chores till after 5pm. This is beginning to work really well for me!
That’s funny. I just blogged about this very subject! I really have trouble focusing on one story at a time long enough to finish it. My only solution is to strap on a pair of mental blinders and just GET. It. DONE. Oh, it is no easy task!
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