Write, Write, Write! When?!

I\’m preparing for NaNoWriMo (see previous post) and trying to decide what time of day is the best for me to write. Here\’s how this is going:

Mornings – This would seem like the perfect time for me to write. My son is out of the house by 6:45 every morning. It\’s quiet and I have about 30 minutes before I need to get ready for work. However, mornings and my brain don\’t get along. The alarm echoes \”hit snooze\” instead of \”get up!\” I lay in bed letting the smell of coffee waft over me. Snooze…

Afternoons – My regular 40 hour work week doesn\’t allow for much time to write. Lunch would be the best time but where? The lunch room is crowded, noisy and frankly smells funny. My office is quiet but interruptions are frequent. Writing in my car has always felt awkward.

Evenings – This depends on which one, or does it. I planned to list my evenings and why I can\’t write that night but Thursday is the only evening that is truly booked. Hmmm.

Well, my 30 minutes this morning is gone.

When do you write?

NaNoWriMo? Sure!!

I work full time. I am involved in a writing group. I am attending an exercise course after work twice a week. I am also attending school for my BBA once a week which includes a team meeting every Saturday. I just purchased a bass guitar with hopes of fulfilling a few selfish dreams and I have a teenager to attend to when he\’s feeling sociable.

NaNoWriMo?? Why not? It\’s just 50,000 words in 30 days which apparently averages out to writing at least 1667 words per day. This is my first NaNo and hopefully not my last. I\’ve been thinking about my novel, DIFTY, for more than 10 years. It\’s evolved into an entirely different story from its inception. I\’ve structured the story and weaseled out plenty of \”if this, then that\” ideas. I have notebooks and programs filled with information about characters, plots and subplots. The written story? I\’ve managed to eek out about 2200 words.

It\’s time for this story to see more than the inside of my brain. While I\’m sure the inside of my brain is fascinating, there\’s so much more for these characters to give to the world. I created them. I gave them life. The time has come to set them free.

Procrastination Averted!

Here it is.

It\’s taken me all day to get this far. I chose a user name, created the blog and updated the formatting over the course of 6 hours. Finally, I\’m writing. Procrastination wins again, for a little while anyway.

I\’ve discovered something very important about my procrastination. I will only procrastinate a specific thing until something comes along that\’s more daunting or necessary. I began creating this blog to put off working on DIFTY (my novel). Then I put off completing the blog to get school work together. Now that I have all of my books for class here beside me, I\’ve put them off to write this blog. See how that works?

This is a fantastic discovery for me. This means all I have to do is find something less enjoyable that needs to be done. The less enjoyable thing will propel me towards the thing I really need to get done… writing!

Well, that\’s how it should work … in theory.

How do you curb procrastination?