Keeping Your Butt in the Writing Chair
Posted by: Lisa in A Writer's Life, Writing/Editing Tips: The Big PictureI’ve been on a bit of a hiatus while working on some non-blog writing of my own—or trying to, anyway. Most of you know how tough it is to find the time to make progress on a manuscript while juggling a job, friends and family, and a fabulous jet-setting lifestyle. Okay, scratch that last one (for me, anyway).
No matter what your lifestyle and responsibilities, it’s hard to be energized and productive when you’re not lucky enough to be a full-time writer. The most common piece of advice I hear from successful authors is “Write every day” or “Keep your butt in the chair” or something along those lines—but that’s easy for successful authors to say. Here are a few ideas that might help make it easier for you:
- Work doesn’t always happen at your desk. Yes, you should try to spend as much time as possible adding words to the page. But when you truly feel stuck or just can’t stand sitting at your desk one more minute, try to be productive in another way. Do some research that might help you add detail and flesh out the world of your novel: read a nonfiction book about the period or subject you’re dealing with. Or go to the park with a notebook and people-watch; you’re sure to see a bit of interesting behavior or overhear a conversation that will make you want to run home and incorporate it into your novel.
- Make your writing environment a zen oasis. You really want to invest in a writing career? Invest in a super-comfortable desk chair. A nice lamp. A roomy computer monitor with an eye-strain filter. Put on some classical music or opera (the lyrics won’t be distracting if you don’t know Italian).
- Don’t be afraid to suck. Suckiness is relative, of course: the better the writer, the less sucky his or her first draft will be. But compared to the final, rewritten and edited product, almost everyone’s first drafts are not worth the paper they’re written on. So if you just can’t get a sentence or a paragraph or a passage to work, don’t decide you weren’t meant for a writing career and lose yourself in a pint of Haagen Dazs. Leave it alone for now and move on. You’ll return later with a fresh perspective and either know how to make it work or know that it can be cut.
- Eliminate procrastination opportunities. The hardest part of all, thanks to the internet, which is so conveniently located on the same device as your novel. Stop reading this and get back to your manuscript! Okay, you can finish reading this. But consider using a different computer for your writing than you use to go online. Try not to keep a TV near your work area. You know how you’re supposed to avoid snack foods by not keeping them in the house? It’s like that, and just as hard. But also just as effective.
I could go on and on, and so could many of you. So please do share your advice on how to keep churning out the words. In the meantime, I’m going to look for an article called “Keeping Your Butt in the Blogging Chair.”
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August 23rd, 2007 at 9:08 am
What kills writing for me is blogging!
At first I zipped out a blog posts every few days as a way to “de-clog” my brain and prepare it to write. Lately I have strayed even farther from writing by spending loads of time visiting other blogs.
All summer I had plenty of time to finish a writing project and I made minimal progress. SO, for me, working at another job and forcing myself to make time for my writing works better than having open-ended amounts of unstructured time.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Another good technique is having a quota system per day or week, whichever is more suitable. Stephen King, for example, writes a minimum of 7 pages per day. If this is too much or too little, it’s an individual assessment. It allows to keep something close to pressure in your mind, which makes many people work better.
Another great method of writing is doing so by hand. All of my novels have started out in random notebooks in which I write and write and write. Wherever, whenever. Once I finish the novel (or the notebook) I transcribe it to the computer, making sure to correct everything I can, add anything I want, and cut everything I must. Then I read it again and again until it’s all a big mess in my mind and then I move on and go back… Am I rambling?
As for distractions, I’ve got some problems of my own there. I’m a student, and so I have little time to begin with. My writing environment is anywhere in which I can find time to write. It can be extremely noisy or extremely quiet (believe it or not I prefer the former). What kills me is when people talk to me. No one can seem to understand that I’m working on a novel… And I’m rambling again.
August 27th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
In her book “Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers” author Carolyn See suggests 1000 words a day. That’s about four pages of double-spaced, one-inch border manuscript. If you’re not writing new material, let’s say you are editing, she suggests two hours. I followed that routine and I will tell you I would not have finished my manuscript in the time I did. And another real benefit was the sense of satisfaction I got from knowing I did my work for the day and felt free to get on with other aspects of living. It’s like exercising in the morning. You feel great and don’t have to worry about squeezing it in.
September 10th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Hock your children for coffee money.