Step 1: Make a schedule.
Step 2: Write productively and meet deadlines. This lasts until...
Step 3: Something comes up. As a routine-loving introvert, I can be completely frazzled by something as innocent as an unexpected visit from friends or a service call by the cable guys.
Step 4: So I "take it easy"....and sort of forget to stop.
Step 5: Eventually, I feel guilty, remember all my goals, and generally scold myself before finally trying to get back to work. It's rarely successful; I spend a few days floundering back into the story, trying to retrieve my place, my drive, and the productivity streak.
Step 6: I find something that inspires me to make another schedule! Set new deadlines! Surely a different quota system will boost my productivity!
The cycle can cost me days of time, and is without doubt my worst writing habit (non-habit?). At least when I'm abusing semicolons, things that are not semicolons make it onto the page.
They say the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one. I'm not sure what the second step is, but brainstorming solutions seems like a natural progression. Here's what I came up with:
- Set alarms on Outlook Express to go off every five minutes after a chapter's due date if I don't finish the chapter by ten minutes after my deadline.
- Hire or force a friend/family member to hold me accountable for deadlines and to hassle me if I don't meet them.
- Get my roommate to hide my heater/coca-cola/candy until I've finished the day's work. As a reptile/caffine-additct/aspiring diabetic, this should be sufficient motivation.
- Be more strict about scheduling before I go to bed
- Make a new plan to get back on schedule right after an interruption instead of freaking out and diving for the nearest book or X-Box controller
- Move easy distractions out of reach after an interruption.
Clearly, the third option is the best solution here, but since I'm sure my roommate has better things to do than hide my stuff...the final three plans of action may have to suffice. Though I doubt the results will be quite as dramatic.
The biggest part of handling a writing crisis seems to be acting quickly and thinking even faster. Just like during a real-life crises. Considering how well I handle such disasters as cable guys and plumbers, this should be a piece of cake.
P.S - I'm sort-of participating in Camp NaNo this month! My goal is to finish editing 5+ chapters by the end of this week, then get 40,000 words more out of my 2008 NaNoWriMo project. Yes, I am a big fat cheater in at least four different ways - but if you'd like to join Camp NaNo legitimately in August, sign up here!
