I usually need a certain amount of time spent thinking about upcoming scenes before I actually have anything to say.
Lately I've been very tempted to play hooky from the thought process during my 45 minute each way commute, and instead of pondering I listen to podcasts - namely, the 'Stuff You Should Know' from HowStuffWorks.com (Chuck rules!).
And by tempted I mean, I listen to the podcasts rather than ponder. I have very little will power, especially if I can justify an activity as even potentially educational, which of course these podcasts are.
I wrote 200 words this morning, 1000 at lunch (an all-time record) and then around 600 tonight. Tonight was all padding, though not all of it turned out to be useless.
What would happen, I wonder - if I didn't stop writing 1667 words per day when NaNoWriMo ends, but I just keep doing it forever? I wonder this every year, but have yet to actually do it. Perhaps even 1000 words per day - that would give you a full sized novel in just over three months.
Day 18 - Total Words Written: 30,312
Words Left To Be Written: 19,688
I find it's a very bad thing to get caught up too much on word counts. Forcing yourself to write when you're not in the right 'place' leads to bad writing...and stopping just because you've reached an arbitrary word count can be a total waste of creative energy.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Forcing yourself to write when you have nothing to say is typically just a frustrating waste of time.
ReplyDeleteBut there's forcing the art and then there's forcing yourself to commit to doing it on a regular basis.
I have dozens of little ideas every day, but rarely am I stuck with a grand inspiration that makes me cry out "I must do this!" and run to the keyboard.
If I'm in the habit of writing every day, especially with Invisible Lizard's idea/approach of writing multiple novels/stories at the same time, I would get a lot more done.