June 5, 2009

Just this week, I read two smart ideas for quickly breaking through a writer’s block. One I already tried–it worked! Another I read this morning in my new writer’s magazine. Here they are, in a nutshell, for you to put to the test.

Technique No. 1

In the July Writer Magazine, New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman was asked if she ever had writer’s block. Her answer, in part, revealed a very simple idea that worked for her–and should work for anyone. “I didn’t believe in writer’s block until I had it–twice in terrible periods of my life. Both times the only way out for me was to start writing… “ Hoffman said. “I decided I would write five pages a day and not look at them for three weeks. Part of having writer’s block is feeling it’s worthless or you’re worthless and you can’t do it right. [You have to tell] yourself, ‘I’m just going to write, and I’m not going to look at it. I’m not going to judge it.’ By the time you look at it, there may be something inside of it you can use.”

And you’ll certainly be past your block if you’ve written daily for three weeks!

Technique No. 2

The second block breaker I read about this week–the one I tried that worked–was in The Now Habit book by Neil Fiore. It has to do with changing your self-defeating thinking that leads to your self-defeating behavior. He says most of us who procrastinate tell ourselves that we MUST finish this manuscript! It’s better, Fiore says, to ask the question “When can I start?” “‘When can I start?’ is the catchphrase of the producer.” This phrase needs to“automatically follow any worries about finishing and being overwhelmed; it replaces agitated energy with a clear focus on what can be tackled now.”

“Finishing” is off somewhere in the vague distance, but if you just keep on starting, the finishing will take care of itself. You can always take one SMALL step. A single small step is something you can accomplish now. Just focus on that alone. Do it over and over–and eventually you’ll finish. I tried that technique this week on a project I had put “on hold” by procrastinating on it so long. I worked only 30 minutes at a time, with a nice reward afterwards. It wasn’t hard. I just reminded myself that I only had to START…I didn’t have to FINISH anything.

Keep It Simple

While both of these block breakers sound too simple to be effective, that’s the joy of it, I think. Too often I look for something big, something new and momentous to try. In reality, the simpler the better.

Give these ideas a try and let me know what you think. Do you have other easy block busters? Be sure to share those too!

January 30, 2009

My goal was to have a book outlined by January 31, and this morning I’m feeling the pressure. I worked and reworked the plot elements, rounded out characters, dumped ideas that didn’t fit, and listed plot complications that would give any heroine cardiac arrest. I’m so tempted now to rearrange those random plot steps into scenes and call it done.

And yet…

I know it’s not what it should be. I haven’t taken the time to explore all the possibilities to make it stronger. A couple of important secondary characters still seem “flat” to me. I don’t really know what their stories are. But the self-imposed deadline looms, and we all know how important it is to adhere to deadlines!

So, like all seasoned writers who want to avoid work, I spent some time this morning thumbing through magazines and a new book Children’s Writer Guide to 2009. I found my answer in a couple of articles there.

Take the Necessary Time

In an article by Jane Landreth (”Making a Good Idea Great”) a quote caught my attention: “Give yourself time to brainstorm and move in various directions, even if they don’t seem to be related at first. At the same time, begin to pull the idea into focus: Listen to it and play with it. Keep putting words on paper, keep adding ideas. Look for complications and possibilities and levels, but begin to see the shapes that form…For an idea to work well, it needs to grow, to complicate itself with more ideas that extend or enlarge the first.”

One suggestion that Jane made I tried on a couple of scenes.  She said, “Rewrite a scene to change the tone in a significant way–from anger to humor or from predictable to shocking, perhaps.” It totally changed my ideas about a secondary character.

An Ounce of Prevention

In another article in the same book, Sue Bradford Edwards (”Fight the Good Fight Against Writer’s Block”) reminded writers that taking the time now may well save weeks of revision work later. She reminds us that when the words won’t come, it may be because the prep work that should have been done in the first place wasn’t completed. One writer mentioned that she needed to “think about things to the point of feeling totally comfortable with the material, time period, characters, and the desired style, voice, and story.”

Big sigh. I see my book’s problem now. Back to the drawing board!

July 11, 2008

I’m a sucker for daily reminders from various websites. I get writing reminders, fitness reminders, and blog notices. Today in a couple of fitness emails I realized the solution to a writing problem I have this morning. First, there was an email from SparkPeople on getting fit called “Success is an Attitude.” A woman wrote: “I plan to lose 50 pounds over a year. I am not setting myself up for any big disappointments by trying to lose too much too fast. Every day is a new day. Every day can be a successful day.” Smart lady, I thought.

Then I read an article from Runner’s World about “The Ten Rules of Weight Loss.” The first rule said, “To lose 10 pounds of body fat a year, you need to eat 100 calories less per day. Cutting too many calories from your daily intake will sap your energy level and increase your hunger, making you more susceptible to splurging on high-calorie foods.”

Ah-ha! Do you see a parallel with writing? I sure do. My natural tendency (like this week) is to grit my teeth, buckle down, and write 5,000 words every day for two weeks to finish a project. Who am I kidding? I can maybe keep up that grueling schedule for several days, but soon I’m depleted, with back and head aching, and I want to eat everything in sight and vege out through a couple of chick flicks. Then it takes me a week to make myself write again, thus averaging out my writing to something like 1000 words per day. Why not just write 1000 (or 500) easy words every single day? That would be a breeze! They’d add up, I wouldn’t get that familiar neck and hip pain from sitting too long—and I would meet the deadline.

I need to take the attitude of the lady who planned to lose fifty pounds by losing one pound per week. What was it that she said? That way every day is a new day. Every day can be a successful day.

December 16, 2007

In keeping with our December discussion about writing more in 2008, let’s talk about group challenges and friendly contests. (See the list of upcoming challenges at the end of this post.) For several years I’ve heard about National Novel Writing Month (which takes place every November), but this is the first year I’ve participated. The challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month. The National Novel Writing Month website has grown to where thousands of writers worldwide participate. There you’ll find radio pep talks, places to sign up for supportive emails, an email program and profile set-up so you can get to know the other participants (in your home area and around the world), special outside events, hundreds of forums, and more. Each day you post the number of words written that day.

Did I succeed at writing 50,000 new words in November? No, I didn’t. I was gone some and didn’t get a lot done over Thanksgiving weekend. I also started my new novel a bit prematurely and had to take several days out to re-do some plotting. However, I DID manage to write over 19,000 new words on a novel that had been “sitting on the back burner” of my mind for four years. I also revised about 10,000 words of that novel after re-plotting. I hope to participate in NaNoWriMo again next year, but I will spend more time outlining ahead of time so I can hit the floor running on November 1.

If you missed NaNoWriMo last month, are you stuck on your own till next November? Not at all! They have a page called I wrote a novel–now what? There you will find other NaNoWriMo challenges and spin-off challenges for throughout the year. I’ll list a few of them below. (You can find others at the link above for writers of films, comics, and songs.) Read through them, think about your writing projects for 2008, and choose several challenges. These are really motivating, whether you are working with a contract deadline or not. They are especially helpful if you are trying to meet a personal deadline. Both the challenge and companionship are worth a million bucks!

Which challenges below will you be signing up for?

NaNovFinMo - National Novel Finishing Month (December). Goal: 30,000 words.
JaNoWriMo - January Novel Writing Month (January). Goal: 50,000 words, or whatever goal you set.
NaNoEdMo - National Novel Editing Month (March). Goal: Commit to 50 hours of novel editing. JulNoWriMo - July Novel Writing Month (July). Goal: 50,000 words for a new or unfinished manuscript.
Book in a Week - (Begins on the Monday of the first full week of each month, lasts one week). Goal: Write a novel.
NaNoMangO - The artist’s alternative to NaNoWriMo (November). Goal: Draw 30 pages of sequential art in one month.
AugNoWriMo - August Novel Writing Month (August). Goal: Write a novel in one month.
NaNoPubYe - National Novel Publishing Year (Year-Round). Goal: Get that NaNoWriMo novel ready for publication!