Day 17: Focus, being a "burst" writer, refilling the creative well
I stayed up way too late yesterday watching Netflix (I got sucked into a TV show and binge-watched) and woke up way too late today. As a result of my lack of discipline in getting to bed on time, I feel like a complete loser today.
On the plus side, my email didn’t take much time today. I only spent a little time writing the draft for my next newsletter to be released around the end of the month.
Yesterday, I started work on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) for volume 4, so I’ll continue that today. Yesterday I ended up doing some of the spiritual and romantic arcs of the volume because it helped me to do Snowflake step 6, so I’m actually combining steps B and C of my book creation process.
***
It’s a bit harder to focus today than it’s been since the beginning of the month. I’m not entirely sure why, but it might be because I haven’t refilled the creative well very much this month.
When I was under contract with my publishers, I was very much a “burst” writer and I’d work like crazy for a few days or weeks, then spend a few days reading or watching Netflix. It was either all work or all play for me. I thought it was mostly because I was under deadline, since my “burst” mode was typically right before the manuscript was due.
But now that I’m not under any sort of hard deadline, I’m still finding myself feeling that antsy-ness. I’ve rarely watched any TV or movies or even read books in the past 3 weeks, focusing on working for 6 days a week and intaking media mostly on Sundays. And now that I’ve been working hard for two weeks, it’s hard to focus on my writing and I’m feeling a strong urge to watch Netflix.
I don’t have many writing friends who are like this. A lot of them are very steady writers who write a little every day and have very predictable and consistent output. My “burst” writing is partly why it sometimes took me 1 month to write a proposal, and sometimes it took me 6 months.
I don’t really like being a “burst” writer, so I think it might be better for me to schedule some time every day for refilling the creative well—consuming stories, whether in TV/movies or in books. I’ll try that in the next week or so and see if it’ll help me focus better.
***
I actually finished doing the spiritual and romantic arcs of volume 4, and I almost completed Snowflake step 6. However, there are a few missing plot points that I have to brainstorm to figure out. I spent some time on one of them, but I’m just spinning my wheels and decided to stop there for today.
Figuring out plot points always takes me quite a while, so I hope I’ll be able to finish volume 4 tomorrow.
Time spent writing: 3 hours, 41 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 50 minutes
My takeaway for today: To try to to prevent my “burst” writing style of either all work or all play, I’m going to try to spend time to refill my creative well everyday.
On the plus side, my email didn’t take much time today. I only spent a little time writing the draft for my next newsletter to be released around the end of the month.
Yesterday, I started work on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) for volume 4, so I’ll continue that today. Yesterday I ended up doing some of the spiritual and romantic arcs of the volume because it helped me to do Snowflake step 6, so I’m actually combining steps B and C of my book creation process.
***
It’s a bit harder to focus today than it’s been since the beginning of the month. I’m not entirely sure why, but it might be because I haven’t refilled the creative well very much this month.
When I was under contract with my publishers, I was very much a “burst” writer and I’d work like crazy for a few days or weeks, then spend a few days reading or watching Netflix. It was either all work or all play for me. I thought it was mostly because I was under deadline, since my “burst” mode was typically right before the manuscript was due.
But now that I’m not under any sort of hard deadline, I’m still finding myself feeling that antsy-ness. I’ve rarely watched any TV or movies or even read books in the past 3 weeks, focusing on working for 6 days a week and intaking media mostly on Sundays. And now that I’ve been working hard for two weeks, it’s hard to focus on my writing and I’m feeling a strong urge to watch Netflix.
I don’t have many writing friends who are like this. A lot of them are very steady writers who write a little every day and have very predictable and consistent output. My “burst” writing is partly why it sometimes took me 1 month to write a proposal, and sometimes it took me 6 months.
I don’t really like being a “burst” writer, so I think it might be better for me to schedule some time every day for refilling the creative well—consuming stories, whether in TV/movies or in books. I’ll try that in the next week or so and see if it’ll help me focus better.
***
I actually finished doing the spiritual and romantic arcs of volume 4, and I almost completed Snowflake step 6. However, there are a few missing plot points that I have to brainstorm to figure out. I spent some time on one of them, but I’m just spinning my wheels and decided to stop there for today.
Figuring out plot points always takes me quite a while, so I hope I’ll be able to finish volume 4 tomorrow.
Time spent writing: 3 hours, 41 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 50 minutes
My takeaway for today: To try to to prevent my “burst” writing style of either all work or all play, I’m going to try to spend time to refill my creative well everyday.
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