Friday 2 August 2013

Problems with concentration





"So, now I'm gonna write and I won't go on Facebook, or Youtube, or..."
And thirty minutes later you still haven't even opened your file, or took out your pen and paper, or even your typewriter (although, if you'd use one, you probably won't use the PC.)

Problems like these happen all the time, regardless of what you're doing.
Why are they happening? Perhaps you're a lazy git who just doesn't want to. Perhaps you're afraid to discover. Or maybe you're in a great position at a video game and you want to beat it. Or you like to eat and...

Well, you get it. There's isn't a specific answer, because not everybody is hardwired the same.
The only answer is to write down (uh-huh) why exactly you're doing what you're doing then and see it for yourself.
Maybe you can't change on the spot, maybe not the day after, but change will happen.
And when it'll happen, you'll be smiling.

Thursday 1 August 2013

Cruel side-effects





About three months after I started writing, something happened. I tried to write a novella of about 22.000 words in a month for JanNoWriMo, a similar site to NaNoWriMo (for those that don't know, you have to write at least 75,000 in November to pass). Despite being at my inception, I managed to do it, but afterward, I felt so depleted that for the next two month I only wrote a flash fiction piece.

I felt tired and depleted whenever I wanted to write. Actually, my whole energy went away and lacked it for almost five month. Quite a lot, I know.

And now, I am a little glad that I encountered that because it made me stronger as a person. It made me want it more. During the break, I read blogs, tips and books on various subjects which made me discover some things about writing and the writing business and I may not have had the time to do it while I was writing.
But the most important thing I discovered is that you shouldn't push it right from the get go. Well, unless you feel like you can and it's not really a strain, but I wouldn't advise it.

Nowadays, I trick myself into writing at every step. Whether it is a mail, a message or what I did and ate that day. It all adds up.
Also, I made myself a thing where I write six words a day; two in the morning, two in the afternoon and two in the evening. While sometimes it's annoying because I cut it mid-sentence, it makes me think and write differently.