Yesterday, I started my new Kimberley Freeman novel “Ember Island”. I have 30 000 words a month to write for the next four months, and in my planning for how I’m going to accomplish this, I had to assess my weaknesses and the threats to my writing time (Hello, Interwebz). The big threat to this project is that I am travelling a lot through November, including two long-haul trips; there’s Christmas in December; and school holidays with my kids home for 4 weeks in Janaury. It would be all too easy to throw my hands in the air and say “I don’t have time to write!”
So I need strategies, and over the summer, for the benefit of all mankind (at least those who write), I’m going to be trying out a range of strategies to make “keep going” a reality. See, for example, the photo of my notebook here (excuse my knees and toes in the shot; it is customary for me to work in bed or on the couch). There are twenty-five numbers in the table, and combined they add up to 30 000 (my goal for November). On 25 of the 30 days of November, I have to pick a number and write that much. There are small amounts, for days when I am tightly scheduled, and big amounts for when I have the luxury of time.
A very timely post for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) – the blogosphere is a buzz with it!
Ah Dr Kim, impecable timing! Just this morning I asked myself how I can stop distracting myself with from my studies – Facebook being my weakness. While I don’t have 30K worth of words to write, I have notes to prepare for an exam and assignments to finish. I know I can modify your system to suit my needs and what joy to be able to cross off completed tasks. Thanks for the helpful advice. S
I love it Kim – it’s pragmatic and so doable. Good luck. Want the verdict when it’s all over….
Pingback: Dipping a toe in NaNoWriMo « Joanne Schoenwald
Really… just looking at those numbers says it all… looking at it as small chunks rather than that big scary 30 000. Great idea.
Fantastic idea & so timely. Thanks Kim.
We all struggle with the same issues – thanks for this tip, definately worth trying 🙂
ooh ! ooh!! I’m copying – literally I copied the numbers…and I am going to try the big numbers first ( ok well some of them)
Nice knees too!
Pingback: Keeping Going is Sometimes Super Hard (via Kim Wilkins) | Literarium – The Blog
Pingback: NaNo milestone: 20K « Ellen Gregory
I liked this so much, I wrote a program to automate the daily word counts. Usefulness AND procrastination!
omg! how does it work? share!
I wrote a really neat version in Python…but no normal people go anywhere near Python. So I wrote a much less neat version in Javascript. I’ll send you the file.
I should’ve done something similar for the National Month of Writing but even knowing my aim for 1667 a day didn’t help me write! I always felt like my writing was kind of boring and wasn’t sure where the story was going.
that’s because you didn’t plan. you can’t wing nano. you have to plan.
Pingback: Hot stuff | Rebekah Turner
Pingback: Project-based writing | Charlotte Nash
Reblogged this on Rachael Ryan & Callie Asher and commented:
A prolific and talented author with some handy advice!
Pingback: Playing Bingo in 2016 | Kali Napier