Hey readers,
Okay, time to work in some writing advice again. I know it's been a while since I've done this, and that's mainly because I feel like a huge jackass giving advice about something that routinely kicks my ass, but seeing as I'm a writer and this is my website, we're gonna give this thing a shot.
Cool. So, I've been writing for a living for about three years or so now, and I still haven't been able to get much of a routine together. I know, I know, this is kinda embarrassing, and it's something I've been working on and bumming myself out about ever since I decided I wanted to be a writer.
Now, I think there are a lot of reasons I've had trouble getting a routine nailed down. Sometimes I tell myself it's because I'm a creative free spirit that can't be contained by a schedule, and though it sounds kinda pretty and all, it's complete bull shit. Hemingway had a schedule. Roald Dahl had a schedule. And there's no way I'm more of a creative, free spirit than the dude who came up with James and the Giant Peach.
So, what's the answer then?
There's a possibility it's because I'm lazy, and that might be true, but I think it's something a bit deeper than that.
My theory: I still work like I'm in college.
What does that mean? When I was assigned a paper in college, I wouldn't start it early and chunk off a page a day like a responsible person. No, I would wait until the last day, and then I would power out the entire works...usually sometime between midnight and when the coffee shops opened up again at 5 in the morning.
Working like that was a rush, and I usually did some pretty good papers, but it built up some bad habits that I took with me when I started writing fiction.
Instead of working a steady, sustainable pace on my books, I would usually just get all hopped up on Peets and write 20 pages in a night. Then I would sit back and wait for my hands to stop shaking and marvel at what an awesome writer I was.
Except I wasn't an awesome writer the next day. Or the day after that. Because I was too wrecked from spending all night freebasing coffee and being hunched over my laptop like a troll.
Killing myself one night might equal twenty pages, but I was good for approximately zero pages for the next week. So, that put my weekly page total at 20 pages.
But, if I would have just taken a couple hours in the morning and busted out a more manageable six pages, that would give me 42 pages at the end of the week.
So, I would have been twice as productive and with a lot less caffeine abuse besides.
Jerry Seinfeld understood this and here's a super cool article about how he keeps himself writing and motivated every day.
Did you read the article? Seriously, click the link. The rest of my blog will make a lot more sense if you do.
For the past few weeks, I've been marking my calendar for every day I write and so far there hasn't been a break in the red X's. My page total is climbing pretty steadily and I haven't been up at 3 AM once. Okay, maybe once, but that was only because I had a lot of quality programming backlogged on the TIVO.
So do like Jerry Seinfeld. Get a calendar. Mark down some X's for days when you write and watch the pages grow.
AND IN NON WRITING NEWS
Here's a clip from Troll 2. Because I love you, that's why.
Okay, time to work in some writing advice again. I know it's been a while since I've done this, and that's mainly because I feel like a huge jackass giving advice about something that routinely kicks my ass, but seeing as I'm a writer and this is my website, we're gonna give this thing a shot.
Cool. So, I've been writing for a living for about three years or so now, and I still haven't been able to get much of a routine together. I know, I know, this is kinda embarrassing, and it's something I've been working on and bumming myself out about ever since I decided I wanted to be a writer.
Now, I think there are a lot of reasons I've had trouble getting a routine nailed down. Sometimes I tell myself it's because I'm a creative free spirit that can't be contained by a schedule, and though it sounds kinda pretty and all, it's complete bull shit. Hemingway had a schedule. Roald Dahl had a schedule. And there's no way I'm more of a creative, free spirit than the dude who came up with James and the Giant Peach.
So, what's the answer then?
There's a possibility it's because I'm lazy, and that might be true, but I think it's something a bit deeper than that.
My theory: I still work like I'm in college.
What does that mean? When I was assigned a paper in college, I wouldn't start it early and chunk off a page a day like a responsible person. No, I would wait until the last day, and then I would power out the entire works...usually sometime between midnight and when the coffee shops opened up again at 5 in the morning.
Working like that was a rush, and I usually did some pretty good papers, but it built up some bad habits that I took with me when I started writing fiction.
Instead of working a steady, sustainable pace on my books, I would usually just get all hopped up on Peets and write 20 pages in a night. Then I would sit back and wait for my hands to stop shaking and marvel at what an awesome writer I was.
Except I wasn't an awesome writer the next day. Or the day after that. Because I was too wrecked from spending all night freebasing coffee and being hunched over my laptop like a troll.
Killing myself one night might equal twenty pages, but I was good for approximately zero pages for the next week. So, that put my weekly page total at 20 pages.
But, if I would have just taken a couple hours in the morning and busted out a more manageable six pages, that would give me 42 pages at the end of the week.
So, I would have been twice as productive and with a lot less caffeine abuse besides.
Jerry Seinfeld understood this and here's a super cool article about how he keeps himself writing and motivated every day.
Did you read the article? Seriously, click the link. The rest of my blog will make a lot more sense if you do.
For the past few weeks, I've been marking my calendar for every day I write and so far there hasn't been a break in the red X's. My page total is climbing pretty steadily and I haven't been up at 3 AM once. Okay, maybe once, but that was only because I had a lot of quality programming backlogged on the TIVO.
So do like Jerry Seinfeld. Get a calendar. Mark down some X's for days when you write and watch the pages grow.
AND IN NON WRITING NEWS
Here's a clip from Troll 2. Because I love you, that's why.
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