...

[silensy]

Okay, so I quit my job in July. And it's now been just over a month of unemployment and not a whole lot of words added to the novel that is that reason I quit my job.

Goals, though, they're not met by arbitrarily just setting them. You have to break them down into reasonable chunks.

I'm not looking to hit NaNo pace. 2000 words a day is doable but needlessly difficult when you're stuck. I don't really like word counts at all.

Instead I want to do something more like a don't break the chain kind of thing. Writing every day, for at least an hour (at LEAST). Even if I end up killing those words later because they suck.

What sort of writing techniques do you use to keep yourself motivated?

Comments

[frogmajick.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of outlining. By outlining I break things into bits and then can write on just that bit. When I have enough bits I go back and revisit them and work on trasitions and ties to make them flow. Sometimes the bits make up one single chapter, sometimes they make up more. It just depends on what I want to accomplish.

[silensy]

Outlines! I love them. I want to hug and squish them.

At least at first. Then I get needlessly picky with them and spend all my time on the outline instead of writing. I need an off switch.

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

My friend Sarah, aka matociquala, often has writing craft posts. Might be hard to find under other things she writes.

One of the things I'd recommend is if something is blocking you, if you're stuck, then work on another part of the book. You don't have to write linearly! Or write some background for a character or two. Just putting words to paper might help.

[silensy]

Writing out of order doesn't work for me because if I keep a tough bit, I won't go back to write it. It just gets more and more insurmountable in my head until I abandon the whole thing.

I wish I could jump around. Writing a fun bit as a reward for writing a hard bit would be a good motivator.

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

Engaging with someone. Seriously. A person who is there to read the words you write each time (every day). Who will say "I like this, give me more!" or "Not sure, try again?" and who will essentially work with you to keep you motivated and going.

But also? For me, writing IS a job. I write every day. Doesn't matter what I write, but it has to be set hours and it's a job. There's non-work writing, for sure, and it's fun, but there's also work-writing, which is meant to get things done.

[silensy]

Writing groups really are super good for that. I keep meaning to look up one that's local. Strangers are helpful that way.

Job=writing is what I'm trying to get back into the mentality for, definitely. Old Job turned into so much managing/editing instead of writing that my words every day muscles got flabby and weak, like a tiny baby.

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

I remind you that babies, they have got BITING down gooooood! ;)

Try for an online mailing list as well, maybe - Del Rey had one which I was on for a while that seemed very good, for example. That's where Jim Butcher got his start, which I remember seeing happen! :)

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

OH! Also!

THIS!

http://www.theartistsway.com/

:D

[azzinita.livejournal.com]

How I write:

a) coffeeshops. especially when I was unemployed, I had to earn that cup of coffee and bagel,m so I would have to write at least 2,000 words. Treat writing like your job, and a coffeeshop like your office. Changing scenery is extremely helpful to me, and if you find the perfect place, you can start to write like whoa.

b) outlining. If anything else, I make up a list of scenes (not unlike a log list of old) and go from there.

c) free write. some of what you come up with will be unusable, but some of it will be magic.

d) if you're like me, go to grad school and get insomnia. I write a LOT when it's 2 am and I can't sleep.

[nystana.livejournal.com]

Deadlines help immensely.

I joined a writing lab just to force myself to turn out pages. I've also joined a few contests that have pushed me to finish my writing assignments.

Most days - when I write, it's every day for at least the first half of the morning but I'm a binge writer. I sit at a desk, coffee shop, work space and just write for hours on end. I usually don't stop until it's time for bed. I write for long hours on some days and some days I have to take some R&R or I'll crack. It's all about what works best for you but what I do is different from what you're doing so I guess listen to the novel experts over what I write here.

Best of luck to you lady. :) Can't wait to read it!!!

Wow.

[archangeloz.livejournal.com]

OK, first of all, I haven't read any of the comments above. So if I repeat advice, I'm sorry. But secondly, you quit your job?!? You're awesome! Way to go on taking those steps that I just keep talking about. You're inspirational.

Thirdly, I'm a big fan of exactly what you said: give yourself a time that you have to write everyday. The best way for me to do it is to set that time as the same. If you just have to write an hour a day, that hour can wander all over your day, making hell of your schedule. If, however, you have to get up, have coffee and write every day from 7-8 AM, then you can get other things done.

Getting other things done, for me, was always a source of inspiration and then I'd want to go back and write more, as I'd had some ideas. But even if they didn't come, I still had my writing done and out of the way.

Also, if you're working out at a gym, or on your own, don't allow yourself to do it unless you've written. If you have plans with friends, don't go unless you've done your writing. If you don't have plans w/ friends, invite them over for a potluck. Give yourself something you have to do your writing before, so that you feel that pressure. It's not a bad thing.

Keep us in the loop!

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

'One more paragraph, and then you can have a cup of tea. Good! Now 500 words. After 500 words, you can write a tag. 1000 words, can you do 1000? That means you can go to the pub tonight.' And so on. Basically, even my subconscious requires bribery.

[cloudtrader.livejournal.com]

I can't write fiction in the comfort of my own home. Just about every non-school related thing I have written has been done inside a library or on a train commute or whatnot. For me, being at home is at once too comfortable and too distracting.