Is anyone else counting down the days until all the NaNoWriMo prep stuff begins in October? We’re already seeing a little bit here and there, but I cannot wait for the prepping to really take off. Maybe it’s because I’m so excited for this year’s novel and want to be as ready as possible, or maybe because I am determined to be more involved with the community this year.
The importance of putting yourself out there and interact with other writers, letting them know who you are, is something I was reminded of this past week. There have been so many distractions that I almost forgot for a while. So making interaction part of my weekly schedule is on my to-do-list. I’m trying to get better at a lot of things this month – and so far, it’s working.
But there is a long way left to go. Now that I have committed to only working on Spiralling and the outline for the Perrinne Legacy book one (which I am so close to finishing and it is awesome!!) my brain has regained the ability to think about other important things. Like marketing myself and improving blog content. I want to get more focused with the blog again. For a long time, I’ve simply been writing whatever is in my head on a Saturday morning because of not taking time to come up with anything specific during the week and then plan for it. I’m getting motivated to change that.
Something spectacular happened this week. My goal is always to write 1000 words per day, and I do reach this most of the time, but this week I have reached it every single day. My monthly goal for September is to do 25.000 words of Spiralling Draft Two, and I’m kind of ahead. Considering how stressed out and behind I was this time last month, that is a very pleasant surprise.
I feel like I’m getting stabilized these days. I’ve realized the importance of making those 1000 words every day, and take the time to do it. If I’m home in the evening and haven’t reached the goal yet, I will stop whatever I’m doing and get back to writing until I’m there. Even if I’m watching a really good TV show at the time. If you knew how insane I am about my TV shows, you would know why that is a big deal. Seriously, for someone like me Netflix was the most destructing invention of our time. I say that with love.
I have also started tweeting my daily word count. This is something I’ve thought of for a while, and I hope I can keep this up because it’s extremely motivating and actually kind of fun. There’s accountability when you have to tell the world whether or not you reached your goal, and I work pretty well with accountability – when it’s self-inflicted, anyway.
So that’s two things that are helping me sit down and write, which after all is the most important part of being a writer. If you don’t have a finished book, all the other things are kind of meaningless. But there are other things, and they are very important, too. The thing is, I know from experience that when I put too many things on my plate at once, the quality of everything suffers. For this reason, I will remain focused on meeting daily word count goals and being active on twitter (the one social media platform I understand and know how to use) for a while longer.
The second those things become a seamless part of my daily schedule, I will commit more brain power to improving this blog. Specifically, to plan ahead for blog posts and have more consistent content. I look forward to doing all that, but right now it’s just not the best use of my time. Spiralling Draft Two is coming along so well, and only having that and the Perrinne Legacy outline to think about has done wonders for both. I am not willing to jeopardize that quality right now.
So I’m afraid you’ll have to be a little patient with me – these posts are going to be slightly random and rambling for at least a few weeks/months more. When I finally get to devote real energy and time to this blog, I sincerely believe it will be worth it. So that’s something to look forward to!
Now I’ve really got to get back to this whole writing-thing. Happy productivity to everyone this weekend! I know you can do whatever you set your mind to – just remember to prioritize. You can’t be great at everything at the same time. But you can be great at everything.
Rain S.
Writing Up My Serotonin 