Journal Entry
The tyranny of the reboot after a writing absence
Today I’m failing to follow my own advice (ass in chair, just do it!), struggling to get back into working on fiction. When I got sick on the 5th all the creative work stopped as I focused on freelance stuff and caring for everyone as best I could, then getting sick myself, then recovering. By the 12th, according to my ‘writing progress’ spreadsheet, I was no longer tagging missed days for those reasons, but I was behind on some money making stuff.
So for the next week and a bit was ‘playing catch up’ and trying to get ahead. My inbox is now basically at 0, my todo list is at 3. I am no longer feeling overwhelmed. A handyman is coming by today to fix the bedroom window.
So I’ve missed 17 days of writing in a row due to taking care of everything else. On the current project, that means my daily ‘need’ of writing 400 words to finish on the date I want to finish at is now 460 words a day.
But 17 days off is a long stretch, taking a long stretch of means that when you return, you just don’t have that momentum and energy. The rock is in a divot of mud, but once you get it rolling it’s easier to keep pushing and rolling.
So I’m doing everything this morning but shove my shoulder against the rock. I did some outlining, some worldbuilding (hence the earlier post about college formats), and it’s almost lunch.
I like lunch. And the walk into town (where I have to drop my keys off so my Celica can have the plastic tray under the radiator reattached). I like my car.
So I’m not leaving for lunch until I write at least 100 words.
That’s how to start back up. A small goal. Then you promise the next day to beat that. And pretty soon I’ll be back on my 500 days or more roll. And then aim for higher (I’m a very slow writer, actually, despite impressions to the contrary, I just am very persistent and build my life around large blocks of writing time).
Filed under the topic Journal on October 22nd 2009 at 10:52 am. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this entry to keep track of comments. You can also use to trackback.
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Tobias is a Caribbean-born SF/F novelist who lives in Ohio.
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1. Catherine Shaffer on Oct 22nd, 2009 at 11:24 am
I need some kind of “writing progress” thing. I am thinking star stickers on a calendar, though. (I am Hermione.) I got a huge amount done on my mini “retreat” October 3 on my novel, and have barely touched it since, though not for lack of motivation!
2. Tobias Buckell on Oct 22nd, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Catherine: my buddy Michael Canfield did a ‘write every day and track it’ thing with a calendar like that, and had great results! Jerry Seinfeld does a big X in the calendar and tried to write a joke every day, if I remember right.
3. Tobias Buckell on Oct 22nd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Pretty happy, though, ended up getting 1,200 words in for the day, which is a nice day of work…
4. Craig Johns on Oct 22nd, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Same here. Way too many things I’m juggling with my “to do” list and lots to finish with my day job. At least next week things will slow down and I can get back to being a bit more focused on writing.
5. Steve Buchheit on Oct 23rd, 2009 at 11:30 am
I’m getting better with rebooting. I’m thinking of it as my normal writing cycle. There’s just so many days that are filled before getting to a word count. It’s more difficult to do, but I’m getting better at it.
6. Guy Wade on Oct 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Thank you, thank you very much. It’s good (though not intended in a mean way I assure you) to know that even professional writers can have issues with getting the words on the page. My wife and I have a 2-month old who is eating up a lot of attention. I am almost feeling like I can focus my mind on writing again.