Wednesday, September 9, 2009

You know what helps?

With writing every day, that is? Two things:

1. Plan it/Post-it: The night before, I decide what my reasonable project for the next day is going to be -- something that I could write around 500 (crappy) words on. I also see if I'm going to need to consult any resources to write those words. Two articles? Dig 'em out and put them by the computer. Then I write myself instructions for the next day on a virtual post-it for my computer desktop, so it's the first thing I see when I turn on my computer.

2. Turn off, tune in, write: The next morning, when I sit down to write (first thing), I turn off my internet connection. I can do all that (e-mail, blog, whatever) after I've finished my little post-it task. I've been doing this for three days straight now, and I've discovered that the e-mails I've gotten overnight are rarely so urgent that they can't wait two hours.

These are two things that won't come as particularly revelatory. But this is the first time that I've actually done them, and... it works.


Today's word count: 882, though in the form of notes that will have to be shaped later this afternoon.

4 comments:

Another Damned Medievalist said...

I really need to do something like this. Thanks you! Also, my word is nouns

undine said...

I love these ideas, especially the first one.

The History Enthusiast said...

I got a lot of writing done this summer but have since fallen out of the "groove"; this will help me get back on track, so thank you!

Good luck with the rest of your writing!

Anonymous said...

I have to do something like this with reading or I never find time to do any of that and the to-read pile grows and grows. Of course having a nine-to-five I can't imitate your practice exactly, but I do make sure to have read a chapter of something before I get buried in admin. at home.