Hello, folks. I've been down a couple of rabbit holes the past two months, one for RPGs and another for baseball. Both have involved some writing, but it's pretty normal for me to have writing spurts and then take off on tangents. I'd like to get a regular writing habit, but I always find things to distract me from the task.
You may recall that, back at the end of January, I entered the NYCMidnight short story contest. I had a week to write a 2500 word story to three prompts and submit it for judging. Well, those results just came back, and I'm on to round two! I came in third in my group in round one, and received very favorable feedback. So, tonight at midnight, I'll be give another assignment, but this time I have to write a 2000 word short story in three days! That's not all that bad, really, as I tend to write a pretty clean copy from the get go. I figure I'll wake up in the morning, get my prompts, and take the day to let the story come to me and evolve. Then, on Saturday morning, I'll bang it out and submit it.
Meanwhile, I decided to address the root of my writing pattern problem. I have written in short spurts for years, and always have trouble finishing longer works, like novels. I always talk myself out of going on after a week or less, and usually because I'm struggling with whether or not the writing is good, or if I'm doing it the right way, or some other thing has distracted me and I've happily let myself enjoy that distraction because I don't want to deal with the negative voice in my head.
Well, that voice is called the critical voice, and its a dick.
So I signed up for a workshop with Dean Wesley Smith called Killing the Critical Voice. I'm enjoying the first week. I've watched all the videos for this week's introductory lesson, and have my assignment, which I plan to wake up early tomorrow and complete before work. The workshop is a six week program, and I hope that by the end of it, I'll have the tools I need to get out of this two decade long habitual rut and launch myself into a daily writing habit.
Its already paying dividends in terms of my attitude. I took some time today to sketch out a preliminary productivity schedule for the rest of the month and the next twelve months. Lots of great writing ideas that I finally need to sit down and execute. It will all come down to following Heinlein's Rules of Writing and getting my work out there for public consumption. If I can get into a daily habit, stick to my deadlines, and keep on rolling come hell or high water, the next twelve months will be incredibly productive. And this is coming off my best writing year by far.
Long story short, I'm still here, I'm still committed, and I'm trying to learn to come at things a different way. The only way to get new results is to change the approach and method, right?
And yes, I'm trying to get into a nightly blogging routine. If I can just remember what is important and make sure to put it first, then everything else will be so much easier. So, that said, I'll see you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment