paper graffiti

I only managed 265 words last night before my Friday night plans intruded on my writing, but I plan on making up the rest of the goal today in addition to my Saturday goal.  It’s really not that much more.  I just feel good about writing even a little yesterday, so that I don’t break my stride.  I really like seeing my writing counts progress in the sidebar of this blog, and it goes away if I miss a day!

I’ve got some actual blogging planned for this weekend as well…I set up a great day planner system that I want to share (it has a writing bent, I swear!), I’ve got some new writing software I’m trying out, and I’m starting to get excited for NaNoWriMo 2008!  Stay tuned.

Word Counts - Today: 92 | August: 2,528 | 2008: 15,342

My biggest goal, my lifelong dream, is to finish writing a novel.  After all, you have to finish it before you can publish it, right?

I am great at starting things, and I think if life didn’t get in the way, I would be great at finishing them too.  But sadly, that’s just not the way things usually work–I can’t quit my day job and devote myself to being a full-time fledgling author, even though I would love to do nothing more.

I have responsibilities, and I have a life away from the computer, the notebook, and the novel.  I can’t ignore those.  My life interrupts my dreams frequently, whether it’s a health issue, a big project at the office, or an occurence beyond my control that is just plain more important than blogging or writing.

I get so used to having to set aside my novel–my dream, my goal–for the important stuff that I let the little stuff start getting in the way, too.  I’ll find myself surfing the Internet, watching Project Runway, or organizing my iTunes collection instead of writing.  Once I let myself stop treating it like it’s important, it falls by the wayside and it’s hard to get back on the wagon again.

Not only am I getting back on the wagon, I’m getting in the driver’s seat.  There are things in this world that I can’t control, but the one thing I know I can control is ME.  I used to be good at setting goals, meeting them, and exceeding them, so i know I have it in me if I just put my dream first for a change.  I think we have the tendency to put off our dreams because they don’t feel tangible or realistic, and usually only realize that it’s time to push towards fulfilling those dreams when we might not have another chance down the road.  I do that all the time, and it stops here.  I’ve been inspired by too many successful, driven people lately to let my suddenly acquired sloth-like habits get the better of me.

I’m setting some goals for myself to get back up to the high volume of writing that I used to be able to attain without even breaking a sweat.  I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month for 4 of the last 5 years, but I haven’t ever made it to 50,000 words in November, so I’m going to prepare until I’m blue in the face, and then write my butt off until November 31.  So I have a schedule for myself:

• By the end of this month, I will have written 12,500 words–1/4 of the National Novel Writing Month goal.  That means that for the next 12 days, I have to write 1042 words per day.
• In September, I am planning on doubling my word count to 25,000 words.  That should get me in the groove to make the big push in November.
• In October, I plan on writing 25,000 more words, as well as doing the outlining, research, and planning for my November project.  I make the bad habit of going in cold to a project because I am just so excited to get started, and it usually ends up coming back and biting me in the ass.

This writing will be my NUMBER ONE priority–more important than blogging, more important than surfing the Internet, more important than fall TV (thank goodness for DVRs).  As much as I love doing all those other things, I’m never going to get a book written if I don’t start putting it first.

Take that, life!

Word Counts - Today: 1,063 | August: 1,063 | 2008: 13,877

Finding what tools work for you as a writer is kind of like trying to find the perfect bag–it’s going to take a lot of searching, a lot of trial and error, and you may have to settle for something functional rather than flashy.  I’m always on the search for the perfect bag (fine leather goods are one of my vices!), but I have been lucky enough to find one thing that really works for me as a writer.

I am always exploring new software that does everything but write the novel for you; I really like being able to do quick searches of my notes, keep a detailed database of facts and plotlines, and have many digital copies squirreled away in case of file management apocalypse.  But, like many other writers I know, I also have a love affair with the analog tools.  I’ve written about my secret passion for paper before, but I have to say that I love index cards even more than I love my fancy notebooks or my favorite, beat up Dr. Gel pen.

Index cards have been a big hit on the Internet in the past couple years.  The “Hipster PDA” (a stack of cards bound by a binder clip) and its many incarnations are super popular among the organizational crowds, but I’ve never really gotten into using them in that way.  When I’m writing, I use index cards for a number of different things:

1. Quick character reference - When you’re working with a lot of characters, it can be easy to forget exactly who is who.  I try to keep an electronic database that holds all the details, but I also use index cards to capture quick sketches of each character.  I include name, a brief physical description, and any integral plot points they’re involved in.  When I’m writing, it can be distracting to have to stop, switch over to where I’m keeping all my character information, look it up, and then get back to where I was before.  Flipping through index cards is a lot easier and quicker.

2. Plot points - I tend to write in “chunks” that center around a particular plot point.  A lot of the time, I’m not a linear writer…I will get inspired to write a certain bit of the story and I just can’t resist.  I use index cards to help organize my thoughts and get the plot points to flow together.  As with my character cards, I will create a plot card for each plot point that I’m working with.  I keep it brief, make any notes I need to that refer back to my draft (page numbers, characters, questions, etc.) and then I can rearrange them to my heart’s content.  I’m a very visual person so this helps me a lot when I get stuck.

3. Snippets - I have a habit of thinking of almost fully formed “snippets” when I’m doing mindless tasks like driving, cooking, showering, or cleaning.  Lots of the snippets are dialogue, expository “filler” for a scene I’m working on, or even just an idea about the plot or for a future story.  I try to capture them as quickly as possible, so here come the handy index cards again.  If it’s something related to a project I’m working on, I can file it where it needs to go in the story, and if it’s something that I can use for inspiration later, I can tuck it away until it’s needed.  I also use Evernote for this purpose and intend to transfer many of my snippets into the software when I get the chance.  Maybe I’ll even scan them!

Index cards are cheap, easy to use, and they are a universal tool that can be whatever you make of them!  I have taken to punching mine with the 3×5 card setting on my Levenger punch, and then I thread them onto a couple of Levenger Circa discs to keep them all together.  It works like a charm–I even cut out some plastic covers from an old filled up spiral notebook I had in my office.  My notes are protected while they’re rattling around in the bottom of my bag, and they’re easy to take out and reorganize thanks to the Circa discs.

What’s your favorite writing tool?

Word Counts - Today: 7,725 | July: 8,341 | 2008: 12,814

Right now my head feels like it’s about to explode.  I just got out of a long design session (almost 45 minutes longer than it was planned for!) and I think I’m on information overload.  We’re discussing the creative approach to take for an eLearning course, and there is so much to consider that I feel creatively overwhelmed.  It’s not unlike how I feel when I’m working through my writing projects.

Last night when I was live with Cali Lewis, I talked about how scary it can be to write a novel.  It may seem easy at first, when the ideas are flowing and you’re really excited about the project, but when you are trying to figure out intricate plot points and character motivation, it can be really hard to buckle down and make your creativity work for you.  Ideas can go in all different directions and you can get completely off track from where you intended to be.  That’s what I’m working through on my main project right now.  I got off on a tangent and now I’m having to rein myself back in and get back on the plot path I need to be on to move my story forward.

At work, I’m trying to get all the creative ideas our team came up with to form something more concrete that we can present to the client, and that can be really hard too.  I was in kind of a tizzy after the meeting because I just felt snowed by the task, and confused already with what we had discussed.  So what do you do in a situation like that?

My first inclination is always to analyze things further and get them straight in my head so that I can push forward.  But if I want to get things back under control, that’s NOT my best path to take!  The more I analyze, the more confused I make myself and then suddenly I have no idea where I wanted to end up, let alone what path I wanted to take or what I intended to accomplish along the way.

What works for me is taking a step back, letting things settle down before I tackle them again, and then approaching the situation from a different angle.  For instance, in my writing project, I’ve stopped actually writing for the moment and I’m going back and shoring up my outline, fleshing out some things, and doing some research to help me with a character I’m stuck on.  At work, I’m taking my lunch break, and when I’m done, I’m going to take some design templates and start plugging information in rather than trying to deal with the mess of notes I took during the design session.  That will help me determine if we’re on the right path or if we need to make some tweaks.

What is your action plan when you get creatively overwhelmed?

Word Counts - Today: 0 | July: 616 | 2008: 5,089

Lately I’m suffering from PFDD–project focus deficit disorder.  Typically, I try to focus on one project at a time; one story, one blog, etc. and then move on to the next once the first is completed.  But lately, the ideas are flying at me full throttle and it’s hard for me to decide which one I want to start working on first.  The lightbulb isn’t just turning on over my head–I’ve got every lamp in the room on at the moment!

I know, I should have worse problems than having too many good (I hope!) ideas.  But having that creative bottleneck can be an artist’s biggest challenge–which painting to start, which book to write, which story to pitch, which song to finish the chords on.  I have been faithfully writing my ideas down and stowing them away to come back to later, but then my current project starts losing some of its sparkle when I think about the even BETTER story sitting in my queue.

I subscribe to the David Allen methods of Getting Things Done–I’m not great with GTD, but one of the tenets that has stuck with me is the one that says if you can complete a task in under 2 minutes, you should just do it NOW instead of putting it on a list to do later.  I don’t always get things done in 2 minutes, but I knock a lot of things out of my inbox with that general rule.  When it comes to writing, I force myself to work on my current projects with this in mind: if I’m working on a project that is 20% complete, it’s a lot closer to 100% than a project that is 0% complete.

To get myself jazzed about the project at hand, I try to mix it up a little.  If I’ve been slogging through a chapter, I skip around and start outlining another chapter, or even go through and read what I’ve already written–reading my finished chapters lets me reconnect with my characters and my story as a reader, not a writer, and allows me to get some valuable space from the work and some insight into what a reader might find interesting.  I do anything it takes to move the progress forward just one percentage point.  The more I write, the more I see the progress forging ahead, and that makes me want to write even more.  Pavlov would be proud.

Even though I try to stay focused on my current project, I still can’t deny the siren song of a new idea from time to time.  There is one that I’ve been thinking on for the past couple of days that I will probably spend an hour or so on, getting some plot points down in writing and crystallizing a few ideas.  I don’t want to lose valuable thoughts just because I’m doggedly focused on another project!  Then I can use my excitement about the new project to spur myself to finish the first one.

What do you do when you have too many ideas, and just not enough time to do them all at once?

Word Counts - Today: 0 | July: 616 | 2008: 5,089