Finding the Button
I write fast. Always have. But I’m also very lazy…..I put the pro in procrastinate. Has nothing to do with not enjoying the writing process, just has to do with enjoying the procrastination process.
So when the first 70 Days of Sweat writing challenge rolled around, I figured I’d give it a shot, although I didn’t expect I’d change my writing ways much. Just because…well, I’m lazy.
I didn’t count on my competitive nature, though. I am very competitive. Doesn’t matter who I’m competing with, what it’s about, what it’s for. I don’t necessarily have to do better than others, but for some reason, the thought of competition motivates me. I take taekwondo, technically speaking I’m a blue belt because they started me back at white (which I hated) even though 9 years ago, I tested for my brown and was getting ready to test for red, then I got pregnant. You put me up in front of a black belt, it doesn’t matter that I’m an overweight asthmatic with little coordination… I go after them. It doesn’t matter that I might get my tail kicked, not as long as I make them work for it.
I’m competitve. So the challenge just pushed the right buttons for me. What did I do to boost up my writing output? I already mentioned I write fast. I can put out between 1500-2000 words in an hour or so if I’m left alone. And if I focus on the computer.
So what I did…I made myself focus.
I used to write with the TV, just for noise more than anything. No longer.
I stopped playing around on email.
I started keeping a spreadsheet towards the end of how many words I wrote in one day and then next day, I try to top it.
I stopped going back to re-edit ad nauseum, because that can wait until after the book is written.
I cut my blog-hopping in half (sob).
And what happened? My writing output went through the roof. I completed one full length book for Berkley, a novella for Berkley, two category length books for two of my epubs, and I started several new projects. I wrote more in those 70 days than I had in the previous five months.
The trick to getting a book written really involves no trick. It just requires writing. Whatever it is that motivates you, whether it’s competing (even if it’s against yourself) or promising yourself something special if you meet your goal at the end of the challenge, whatever it takes, find that button, and push it. Keep pushing it.
October 26th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Woot, Shiloh, congrats on the stupendous word count.
Sven has really focused my writing. Well, for the last two weeks, anyway LOL
By plugging my daily count into Bettie’s spreadsheet, nicking Portia’s icon idea, and knowing that I have to write 750 a day no matter what, I just wrote ‘The End’ on my second Sven wip. That one had been bugging me for a couple of months. So I’m very happy this afternoon *grin*
Can we run Sven 365, please?? hehe
Kim
October 26th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Wow you write fast.
Sven helped me get over procrastinating too. Only I wasn’t aware I was procrastinating. I was over planning the next chapter to the point where it would take me days before I wrote anything. Now I just shut up and write.
http://lauraelliott.blogspot.com/2007/10/sweat-works.html
October 26th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Oh, I don’t want Sven 365. Something tells me a lot of people would hit burn out.
I am kinda hoping it become a regular thing, though.
That will kill the word count, won’t it?
October 26th, 2007 at 9:54 am
I need to stop procrastinating today!!!
It hasn’t been a total washout so far though. I did edit a novella, based on suggestions from my CP, then email it to the editor who requested it. So I have done *something*…
Yeah, I probably couldn’t do the challenge *all* the time, but fairly often… definitely!
October 26th, 2007 at 9:58 am
*LOL* I’m very competitive by nature too. Except that I’m only competitive with myself. I found this when I did my first NaNo challenge 4 years ago. It brought an ugly side of me. Let alone a lot of stress. That’s why I shy away from NaNo challenges. Hahaha!
October 26th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Great post! I have a similar problem. I love to procrastinate. I also love a challenge. I’ve made more progress with my WIP in the past 12 days than I have in the past two months. Awesome! I’ve kept myself accountable by adding my daily progress to my blog. It really helps.
October 26th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
I love challenges for the same reason you do — it brings out my competitive nature. Even if I’m not pushing against someone else, I’m pushing against myself, trying to get more stuff done. Over time, my word output has increased — and noticeably decreases when I’m not being poked to check in.
Would I want Sven 365 days a year? No, and not even because of the burn out factor. If there was no break between challenges, there’d be no push — and the push is what I need.
October 26th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I’m with Caro - I want Sven regularly, but not every day or it sort of makes him a moot point, negates the purpose, for now anyway.
Speaking or rocketing wordcounts, I made a post a day or two ago about some disparaging comments about challenges like this: the quality v. quantity debate.
October 26th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I am the same way. I have to be challenged and this has helped a lot. I just got edits back for a second book, been working on edits for another, and before Sven, I would have panicked. But now I just know to keep my head down and push.
And, I think it depends on the writer for the quality vs quantity. Some people have to edit as they go, that is how they function. For me, it slows me down and the edits I do suck. I need to get the whole thing down, take some time away from it then go back. I made the mistake of doing the editing while writing and it really has hurt my output AND quality.
You just have to do what works for you and stay with that:) JMHO
October 27th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Just knowing that I have to check in here and I’ve announced I’m doing this is a great motivator.
And I am competing with myself. I’m not fast writer so I really cannot compete with someone who can crank out more in a day than I can a week. But if I say “Okay today we are going to write more than we did yesterday” it does help.
I need to get rid of the distractions. Lately I’ve had the attention span of a flea so I need to work on not letting myself get distracted.
October 27th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
This was a very good post, Shiloh. I’m soooooo very good at procrastinating. I’m tired, I don’t feel well, I need to do this, I need to do that, and keep putting off my writing. Then when I do sit down, I have the TV on (PFFT, so not good), and check my email, check blogs. Well, I’m going to have to follow your example and use discipline… the same discipline I use for my day job as I’m a home-based medical transcriptionist. I need to start looking at writing as a career rather than just a hobby, because if I don’t, it’ll take me too long to finish a book and I just might miss out on my chance.
Thanks for the inspiration!
October 27th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
[…] Oct 27th, 2007 by Marissa Shiloh Walker has a GREAT post up on the 70 Days of Sweat site. Check it out. […]
October 27th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Great post, Shiloh! I wanted to react to Jess’s mention of the “quantity vs. quality” debate — ya know what? That’s all and nice in theory, and I thought that way for years myself. But I’ve learned something from being under deadline, and that’s that however much I agonize, however much I polish and rewrite and change, I pretty much write how I write and ironically enough, it’s often those books that I’ve turned out at speed which have fared the best with both readers and reviewers alike. Totally weird, huh?
At least until I stop to consider that maybe, mayyybe, what’s really going on with my endless quests for the perfect word and polishing every sentence till it shines like pure silver is simply me getting in my own way. Being afraid of my own voice. Trying to write to some ideal I am never in a million years gonna reach. And maybe what I turn out without second-guessing every comma and contraction is actually fresher, more vibrant, and more alive.
Maybe. LOL!
— Sierra, now back on the ball and with a shiny Sven icon on her website, yay!!!
October 27th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
“quantity vs. quality” debate
I’ve heard this mention of the quality vs quantity thing and I think too many people don’t get the idea of this kind of challange.
It’s not necessarily not about writing XXX amount of words within a certain amount of time and screw the art of storytelling.
It’s the training yourself to to write the words. Because if you don’t write the words, you’re not telling a story and if you don’t tell the story, it doesn’t much matter if you develop or refine the art of storytelling.
These sort of challenges teach discipline. For a pubbed writer, like moi, I need the not so subtle reminder to stop procrastinating and get to work cuz I got like six deadlines to meet over the next 14 months.
For the unpubbed writer, it can do the same thing, get the discipline down right. Because if the unpubbed writer is ever going to get pubbed, that discipline is key.
For the new writer who’s always wanted to tell a story… it can be the kick they need to tell it.
Writing a good story isn’t something everybody can do. If it was, then it wouldn’t really be all the special. Nobody is saying that participating in these kind of challenges is saying that you’ll craft a wonderful piece of written art. But participating in these challenges gets the words written.
And getting the words written is the one thing that every great writer has in common… they wrote the words.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Wonderful post Shiloh - just reading about how much you accomplished during the last sweaty bout of Sven makes me want to write even MORE! I was feeling pretty good about this past week’s writing - now I wanna top it. Immediately.
Thanks for the inspiration!
October 29th, 2007 at 12:03 am
[…] Friday’s Finding the Button post, Shiloh said: So what I did…I made myself focus. (…) I cut my blog-hopping in half […]