I have talked before about distractions. I listed the different types of them that I face on a day to day basis. Today I am going to talk to you all about writing times, protecting the writing times and routine in regards to distractions.
I write best when I develop a routine with my writing. I push all of the distractions aside and set the time aside and I write. With having kids, I usually write after they go to bed. That means that I have a lot of late nights.
I also make sure that my wife knows that I am writing and what my word goal for that day is. She knows that if I get my goal done, then I may have time to do other things. I write best when I write at the same time each day.
What does that mean for you? What type of distractions do you have to deal with each day? Write them down in a list if it’ll help you. The develop strategies to get the word count done. If the internet is distracting, but you like to listen to random music when you write, then go down to your local music store and buy some CD’s. Do you remember what a CD looks like? If not, google it. It’ll blow your mind. While you are at it, google 8-track, record player, Beta Tapes and the VHS. Just saying.
I have heard of some writers that have to take there laptop out of the house cause there family is too distracting. They act like it is a real job (cause it is you fools) and they go to an ‘office’. If you are like me and can’t afford to rent out a brick and mortar office to go to, then there are other options. I do like to go to coffee shops occasionally, but the cost of the coffee is sometimes prohibitive. There is other options as well.
The author that I mentioned before went to a friends house where he ‘rented’ out a small room and wrote there. He found that he could write without distractions there and get his word count down.
What you need to do to get the words done will be differently than me. I find that it is different from project to project. What works for one project, is different for a different one. I find that having a set goal, like NaNoWriMo works really well for me.
As of this writing, I am trying to get back into working on my Felix books. It is hard for me to do and I don’t really know why. I am trying a website called write track. http://writetrack.davidsgale.com/ It is a small website that I don’t think is supported by anyone anymore. But it gives me the ability to calculate my word count daily like the NaNoWriMo tracker. This one gives you more details in the program. It is working, but I gave myself too long to do my project. But that’s okay. It is Christmas after all.
That’s all that I wanted to talk about today.
Until next time.
N.A.Pedde
Atomic Slingshot Press 