Author: lizabelle90

Writer | Proofreader | Editor Better Words for a Better World

Weekly round-up

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Very quick round-up this week. Last week’s goals:

1. Do at least two ten-minute sessions on three days. DONE – actually I did three ten-minute sessions on four days at least.

2. Work on the YA novel and the DLN for at least four ten-minute sessions each. DONE

3. Post wrap-up on the 8×8 challenge. DONE

This week’s goals:

1. I’m stripping this back to basics: do seven ten-minute sessions. Why? Because I feel like my stress levels are reaching breaking point, my workload is as high as (or higher than) ever and I’m honestly not sure how I’m going to get through the upcoming week. If I can manage to find ten minutes a day for writing, it’ll be a job well done.

If you’re reading this and want to comment and let me know your own goals, please do so!

8×8 challenge – days 5-8 and wrap-up

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Day 5 of the 8×8 writing challenge involved finding extra pockets of time in which to add to the writing I got done in the main session. I have to admit I didn’t manage this at all, but then I also didn’t stop at all that day, until I got home from work at 9.30 pm at night. I didn’t even have a lunch break beyond the couple of minutes it took me to actually eat my food, so I’m not going to be too hard on myself about this. I think it’s a good idea for a challenge, and may try it again on a non-teaching day.

Day 6 required me to post on social meejah about my progress with the challenge, thus increasing my accountability. I did so, as you will probably see if you click through the twitter link, above. 🙂

Day 7 required me to figure out how long it would take me to finish my current novel draft if I did one ten-minute session per day, or perhaps two or even more. I did this (I love writing maths!), and was a little dampened by the results – with one session a day I can expect to be finished some time around mid-March 2016. I mean, really, that’s only fair on ten minutes a day! But still, I have this arbitrary Christmas 2015 date in my head…Anyway, I also figured out that two ten-minute sessions a day would get me to 65000 words in late January, which feels less faraway and may be something to aim at. If not, well, a finished draft in March is better than a draft that’s never finished.

Day 8 required me to evaluate what I’d accomplished with my writing goals. See my reflections below.

 

Thoughts and reflections

Baseline: A couple of weeks prior to the 8×8 challenge, I was struggling to fit in any writing at all. When I came across the challenge, I’d just started writing ten minutes a day, out of desperation more than anything else, so I thought the challenge would fit in well with that schedule.

Results: I’ve been consistently writing more and on more days thanks to the 8×8 challenge. Most days I do at least two sessions (on two different books).

Word counts: It’s not all about quantity, but I was slightly sad that my word counts didn’t get any better through the week – I was still struggling somewhere between 120 and 180 words. This is because it does take me a little time to get into writing, so the past couple of days, I’ve experimented with doing two sessions back to back (ie 20 minutes instead of 10). The results are much better – by the second session my fingers are flying over the keyboard, and my overall word counts are well over 400 (for the two sessions combined). And 20 minutes a day still doesn’t feel like too much of a time commitment; I’m not feeling the resistance going into it that I might with a longer period of time.

Verdict: The 8×8 challenge was a great way to experiment with getting writing done in different ways and mediums – and to focus on getting words down. I feel I’m laying down habits now which I’ll hopefully be able to expand when I have more time and headspace. I can already see the seeds of this in the way I’m now doing two or three sessions per writing day, despite being up to the eyes in paid work commitments. I’m really pleased I took on the challenge!

The 8×8 challenge is run by Monica Leonelle; for more information see the twitter hashtag or check out Monica’s blog here.

Weekly progress report

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My goals for last week:

1. Work on the YA novel and the DLN for at least three ten-minute sessions each (so write on six days at least). DONE

2. On two of those days, do two ten-minute sessions. DONE. Yesterday (inspired partly by the 8×8 challenge, below) I did three ten-minute sessions. I did two on most days.

3. In the spirit of squeezing more writing into my day, I signed up to Monica Leonelle’s 8×8 challenge (#8minutewritinghabit on twitter). DONE. I’ll do a wrap-up report on the challenge this weekend.

Goals for next week:

1. Do at least two ten-minute sessions on three days.

2. Work on the YA novel and the DLN for at least four ten-minute sessions each.

3. Post wrap-up on the 8×8 challenge.

If you’re reading this and want to comment and let me know your own goals, please do so!

8×8 challenge update

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I’ve made it through day 4 of Monica Leonelle’s 8×8 challenge (#8minutewritinghabit on twitter), so thought I’d post a quick update.

Day 2: Make some notes on how it felt to write for 8 minutes and how you could improve the process (e.g. dictating instead of  typing).

Put one of those strategies into operation as you do another 8-minute writing session. I chose to make some notes on what I was writing before actually diving in. I definitely find that having a clear idea of what I’m about to write helps me write faster.

Day 3: 8×8 scavenger hunt!

Find some ways to squeeze in some writing in places like:

the sofa

queuing at the supermarket

in a park (it was cold, so I went to a cafe instead)

Result: I felt a bit silly writing while queuing for the till in Sainsburys, but I did it! I also managed some writing on my sofa and in a cafe while waiting for my sandwich to arrive.

The main takeaway, though, was how to make my writing mobile: I stuck the last few lines of my current scene in Evernote, and while I was in the supermarket queue, all I had to do was pull it up on my phone and start typing. (This app is also helping me type faster on my phone.)

Day 4: Wake up 15 minutes earlier and do your 8-minute writing habit from bed.

Result: I did it. I can’t say I got much writing done, but I did feel accomplished having already written by the time I dragged myself out of bed. And it inspired me to put in a “proper” ten-minute session once I was up and dressed.

I’ll report on days 5, 6 and 7 later this week!

Weekly report

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My goals for last week:

  • Work on the YA novel and the DLN for at least three ten-minute sessions each – six days out of seven.
  • On one of those six days, do two ten-minute sessions.

Result: I did it. Admittedly, I did the two sessions this morning, but I’ll take it as a win. 🙂

I’m really pleased, because if anything, the pressure of work piled up even more this week. I seriously need a day off, or even a half day, and there is a small possibility that I’ll manage that this weekend. And yet in the midst of that, I have managed to get some writing done.

Good writing things that happened this week:

1. I pushed on with planning the DLN, and feel I’ve made a breakthrough with a huge gap in events.

2. I finished a new scene in the YA novel.

3. Two drafts back in the YA novel, I planted a tiny descriptive detail for verisimilitude. As I was writing this week, that detail suddenly created a HUGE payoff – the kind that sends shivers of glee down your back. A true “I love writing” moment. 🙂

4. I’ve been extending the ten-minute approach to other areas of my life (mainly paperwork and cleaning), and it’s bearing dividends there, too.

So, goals for next week:

1. Work on the YA novel and the DLN for at least three ten-minute sessions each (so write on six days at least).

2. On two of those days, do two ten-minute sessions.

3. In the spirit of squeezing more writing into my day, I signed up to Monica Leonelle’s 8×8 challenge (#8minutewritinghabit on twitter). I’ve already completed day 1 (today), which was to set a timer and write for 8 minutes. I’ll report back on how the other seven days went next week!

If you’re reading this and want to comment and let me know your own goals, please do so!

Weekly update

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OK, rather than keep posting constant “OMG I wrote 200 words!” updates, I thought I’d keep it to one post. 🙂 So, my goal for the week was to work on both the YA novel and the DLN for three sessions of ten minutes each. And the result…

I did it! Three sessions each, starting on Sunday. It’s both interesting and frustrating: I’ve made a little progress, but not much. Even so, as I said last week, it’s more than I’d probably have managed otherwise. And another big benefit is that both books are fresh in my mind, so I don’t spend ages trying to get back inside the heads of my characters.

Goals for next week:

I’m still floundering in lesson planning, so am going to increase this very gradually:

  1. As with last week, work on the YA novel and the DLN for at least three ten-minute sessions each – six days out of seven.
  2. On one of those six days, do two ten-minute sessions.

If anyone reading this wants to post their own writing goals for the week, please feel free!

Another progress report

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Thursday: 10 minutes planning character motivations – nearly finished David.

Friday: 10 minutes working on the YA novel – 120 words. Not as many as previously, but I started a new scene which required lots of envisioning. Exciting to finally be in a new location in the novel!

Goals for next week:

Consolidation, I think. So work on the YA novel for at least three ten-minute bursts, and work on the DLN for at least three ten-minute bursts.

Minimalist writing

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It happens every time.

Every time I get into something resembling a routine with writing, life takes over and I lose the momentum. Sometimes it’s personal troubles (heartbreak, health worries). Other times (now) it’s taking on a scary new job that is taking up every spare minute I have and more. I needed the new job; I needed to change something about my work. But still, it’s frustrating. I put “spend an hour on novel” on my to do list each Sunday, and somehow the next Sunday rolls around and I still haven’t managed to write.

This week, I got desperate enough to try something different. At the moment, when I’m still getting to grips with the new job and doing the mountains of preparation it requires, taking an hour out to write simply looks too much. That’s an hour I could spend planning lessons, or catching up on much-needed sleep. Even half an hour looks like too much at the beginning of the week, when the pressure is greatest…and by the time the pressure’s off (Thursday-ish), I’m too exhausted. So I thought about what period of time would not be too much, and came up with…ten minutes.

Ten minutes. It sounds ridiculous – what can you get done in ten minutes? Well, more writing than I’ve managed in the past few weeks, apparently.

Monday – ten minutes on the YA novel. 191 words.

Tuesday – ten minutes on the Depressing Literary Novel (TM). Planned the motivations of one of the main characters.

Wednesday – ten minutes on the YA novel. 202 words.

It doesn’t look like much, but it’s words/thoughts that I wouldn’t have if I’d still been pressurising myself to write for half an hour a day. Obviously, I hope I’ll be able to spend more time on writing in the near future… but in the meantime I can’t express how relieved I feel to be back at it.

Ten minutes. A tiny amount of time, but enough for now.

Reading begets writing

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I’ve been doing a LOT of reading recently, and have noticed a familiar phenomenon: certain books make me want to write. They open my heart out; they leave me alive and full of the creative urge. So I thought I’d start keeping a list here, to be updated (maybe!) as I come across more:

Books that make me want to write:

Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel

The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

Hogfather and Lords and Ladies – Terry Pratchett

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

The Night Watch – Sarah Waters

Films that make me want to write:

Perks of a Teenage Wallflower (I’ve still not read the book. Really should rectify that.)

To be continued…

Thinking about writing

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Last summer my life fell apart in various different ways: relationship woes, health worries, the realisation that I needed to redirect my career, with a few other bits and bobs added in. This coincided with a huge loss of confidence in my writing ability, partly because of lack of progress and success, and partly because I truly did find it harder to write when I had so much else to deal with and think about.

Since then much has changed. I have a plan for career change, my health worries have been resolved, and I’ve relocated to West Yorkshire, partly to be closer to my lovely family and partly to save money. I am also living alone again, for the first time in ten years.

And with the additional headspace and physical space has come…writing. Not that I’d ever stopped, but for almost a year, I felt as if I was progressing at snail’s pace. For the past couple of months, I’ve been making more time to work on both my novels, with the predictable result that the momentum is gathering. I’m thinking about them, or about writing, all the time, and the stories I thought were so awful, dull or silly are taking shape.

I’m also finding that I want to talk about writing, and I’m not comfortable doing it to just anyone. So here I am, in a space that I guess people can find if they want, but which I don’t have to publicise anywhere I don’t want to.

It’s writing time again.