First Day of Holiday Writing.

So, for the past two months I've been telling myself that if I were writing full time I would get so much more done. I would have time to read, do my writing, exercise, update my blog, perhaps start one or two others, etc. But realistically I knew there was a good chance I would get even less done than I do now, because now I have to write in my spare time or else it won't get done. However, with a whole day ahead of me, what is one hour of TV, a bit of time surfing the net, going up the street to shop?

Therefore, I decided for the next week I would test out how I go writing full time. The aim is to get the full 10,000 words everyday, as well as updating my blog (and fixing up those weird formatting issues I had in earlier posts, sorry about those), do some exercise everyday, edit my first novel with the recommendations by the reviewer and prepare it to be sent out into the big bad world of publishers.

I took the weekend off entirely from writing, catching up with my mum on Saturday and my best friend on Sunday, as well as reading lots (getting all inspired by 'Unlimited Power' by Anthony Robbins, though his section on nutrition is atrocious! His argument that drinking water does not hydrate the body it just drowns it, instead what we need to do is eat food rich in water is a little difficult to handle. However, his exercises on mental imagery can be quite useful.) and getting some knitting done while listening to podcasts. Went to bed all ready to start today as the first in a week of focused writing. The plan was/is to test out different strategies and methods.

Woke up not quite so focused, but still got myself out of bed at the time I said I would (it was 8.30, but that is pretty good for me on a holiday). I followed some of Robbins' advice on nutrition just to see (he suggests eating nothing but fruit until midday... I made it an hour before making myself some raisin toast as well, but still, it was an attempt), and did my prayers with a bit of meditation chucked in there. I also tried some breathing exercises Robbins' suggested.

I then sat down to write, planning to do a four hour stint (with my usual break every hour). First hour got just under 2,000 words done, and felt like I had no flow. Then had my raisin toast. Second hour felt easier, but still just got under 2,000 words. Probably didn't need anything else to eat, but got some cheese on corn thins just in case. Third hour got cut in half when I realised I needed to go up to parents' because my dad and sister were arriving back from Sydney and we hadn't done father's day yet. So only did half an hour, and got 1,000 done. Then caught the train up to my parents, and had 45 mins when everyone was away from the house to sit down and do some more. Probably could have written on the train, but decided to knit myself into a meditative state. I also walked home from the station, which should have helped. I got around 1,400 words written before my brother came home and I gave up. Admittedly I did then watch two episodes of TV shows, which I could have spent writing instead, but one of the joys of going to my parents' is that I can catch up on some of the TV I miss by not watching any at my place.

I admit that there might have been another slight motivating factor in going up to my parents' place. My little sister and dad drove down my new car for me! My aunt has upgraded, and instead of trading her car in, she instead has donated it to the Poor Writers Foundation (all donations gratefully received!). It is a 2001 Holden Vectra, which has been kept in wonderful condition. It looks fantastic (drives slightly like an old lady, in that you press down the brake and it asks you 'did you say something, deary?') and it is mine, all mine!

Yes, I have had cars in the past: while living in Japan my brother and I had Gloria, who was amazing (he originally had a Skyline bought before I came over, but it died, like totally. So then we got Gloria). During one of my degrees I ended up with Bud, the Toyota Corolla who was older than I was. I eventually gave him to my sister in exchange for her bike because I was living in the inner suburbs... and they both cost about the same. And no, it wasn't even a particularly good bike. When I lived in the UK I had Sven, the Saab. He was very faithful and I loved him as he was the first car I picked and bought for myself. He also traveled all around England and Scotland with me. But for the past two years I've been carless, borrowing or stealing one off siblings or parents when in dire need, and just riding with shopping bags stuffing up my steering the rest of the time. (Riding a bike with full shopping bags off the handle bars is not as easy as it looks, let me tell you).

My new car is also going to let me go to romantic and inspirational spots within a few hours drive of Melbourne to help me in my writing this week. I will also need to go to the less inspiring VicRoads department to get the registration moved over into my name, and probably have to fork out for a roadworthy, new registration, and insurance. But still, can't complain when the car itself is free.

Possible names at the moment are Vikki, Valerie and Vlad (because it's a Vectra). I want it to be Vlad, but I don't know if I'm just trying to make it more masculine than it really is. Maybe I should just accept and embrace its femininity. Will it drive slower if I call it Vikki?

Now that I've written an ode to my new car, let me get back to talking about writing.

Based on today's efforts, the get straight up and start writing gets words on pages, but does not utilise flow very well. The flow sort of kicked in a bit in the second hour, but the first hour was pretty painful. Of course when there isn't a lot of choice, it is much better than nothing. And for anything less than a three hour writing session, doing much more prep would probably be a waste of time.

I'm also not really recommending eating just an apple to get you going in the morning. Mental effort appears to require a bit more input.

The other methods I want to try out:

1. Getting up super early (like around 5am) writing for a few hours, then sleeping in the afternoon, and writing again until late at night.  I used to do this sometimes with essays, because I found at 5 in the morning I had much less to distract me, and it was so early that my mind didn't register it as early, so I didn't feel all that tired, just in a weird focused state. Also, I love afternoon naps, much better than going to sleep at night.

2. Starting like I did today, but going to the gym first.

3. Try the full Flow Method again.

What I'm looking for:

- ease of writing: ability for mind to just fall into the state where you are no longer focused on forming words etc., but your fingers are just racing to keep up with the images that are playing out in your head.

- speed: I'm looking for over 2,000 words an hour.

At the moment speed is very important, because it's taking most of my spare time to meet my targets, so anything I can do to meet my targets faster would be great.

However, on the days that I have off, ease of writing is also a major blessing. Facing four to five hours of just sitting down and writing is much easier if the writing is coming naturally and you can fall into a meditative state.

That's all from me tonight. Will keep you updated with my test results.

Yours,

Buffy. 

1st August, 2012. One Month In.

I realised that as it is the 1^st of August, I am one month into my challenge. More importantly, while I'm not typing fast etc., I am finding writing 10,000 words not so hard, as I can sit down a write for longer periods of time without feeling overstretched or tempted away. This is all demonstrated by today's challenge.

Today had all the makings of a disastrous writing day. I stayed up till 1am last night because I couldn't put down my book until I had finished it. So I woke up late and groggy. After I finally got out of bed (using a game of Settlers to negotiate with myself) and had breakfast, it was 11.35 when I went to start writing. This was a seriously bad sign, as it meant I would need to write through the afternoon and fight the nanna nap temptation. (Just to give you an indication, current score lies generally in the vicinity of NN: 532. Buffy: 10.)

Just over the last week (sort of since I started keeping a record of my writing sessions) I've found that agreeing to sit down for a set number of hours, but breaking every hour to get a new cup of tea and have a bit of a stretch, works really well. I begin each hour by recording everything that might affect how I write in the coming hour and then at the end of the hour I record how many words I've written and how easy/hard it felt. It's slowly getting me the data I need to perfect my writing performance. Luckily I have another 4 years and 11 months to work it all out.

So today in my first hour I felt like I struggled a bit, sitting back with my arms crossed trying to ponder, then remembering I can't stop to ponder, I must ponder on paper. However, when I had finished that first hour I found that I had written 2,422 words. (Okay, I know when I first started I was like 'oh, I can write 3,000 words an hour'... don't know what I was thinking, that was a lie. I can do between 2,000-2,500 depending on how much flow I can muster.)

I then suddenly remembered I had to ring my brother, which totally could have waited, but seemed like a necessary thing at the time. So the second hour didn't start until 1.15pm, and I feared the gap would affect the flow I had developed. However, I actually really got into it and kept writing until 2.40, so got 3,157 words done. Halfway there for the day which was pretty exciting. Next hour started again at 2.48 and I polished off another 2,479 words. 

The fact that I had managed to keep writing, even though I had broken the flow to make a phone call, and had managed not to get overcome by tiredness and the need to take an afternoon nap was pretty amazing. But then my little sister was coming over, and instead of trying to get as much done before she arrived, I ended up reading 'Born to Run'.

Yes, I started reading, even though I knew in my heart that Jenny would want to do something, and I wouldn't get back to write that final hour. I let it go anyway. And as it happened, Jenny did want to get a video out. But we started so early we were done by 7.30pm. And by 8pm I was back at my computer. And by 9pm I had completed over 10,000 words for the day! I'm now up to 60,946 words in the story, and can see the end in sight. I have also worked out one or two scenes I want to put in earlier.

So, managed to overcome getting out of bed late, breaking the flow to ring my brother, the need to have an afternoon nap, and coming back late in the evening after a reasonable day of writing. And to be completely honest, I have no idea how I fought all these temptations with so little effort. Usually any one of these would spell the end. But I think my mind must be getting used to this writing idea. It's being trained to just pick up and carry on whenever.

Coffee in the second and third hour also helps, I think. And not really being offered better options.

But I will need to investigate this further. It will be on my list of things to look out for: how to get temptation to lose its sting.

I'm now going to jump into bed with a clear conscious and read.

Good night all.

Buffy.

Time To Get Serious, Time To Keep A Diary!

Well, have been having varying success with my writing this week. As mentioned, Sunday was a wipe out word count wise. Monday I did roughly 8,500 on the third book in my trilogy (which might turn out to be longer than a trilogy, still waiting to see). Tuesday did a sad little 3,000 as I worked well in the morning, but then came home after work and gym and just needed to read. Was feeling all dried out and in need of some relaxation. Wednesday I made my 7,500 which would have been great, except it was my day off so I was aiming for 10,000. And today I did okay in the morning, coming in at just under 3,000, but this evening had a personal training session at the gym later than I usually go, and then somehow cooking dinner ended up taking an hour, so I didn't get down to write until 9.30pm. So have only managed 5,000 words today.

So, have decided: it's time to get serious. In the mornings I'm varying between 2,000 words on a bad morning, 3,000 usually, and 4,000 on a good morning. But I am writing for generally the same amount of time, but sometimes I'm just a lot more effective (Okay, once or twice I've got to 2,000 and decided to fall back asleep, or take some time to read, but those few instances aside). The evenings are similar. I can sit down for the same amount of time and get a 2,000 word difference.

I've talked quite a bit about the flow and how useful it can be. I've outline a basic method for making sure it comes to your aid. But now I need to go even more hardcore. I need to know more than just 'exercise, eat, work'.

Based slightly on something Dorothea said, I've decided I really need to investigate what makes me write well and what holds me back on a practical daily level. So, I'm going to try and keep a diary where I rate how well my writing session went and analyse the factors that led up to it: how well did I sleep? Did I go to sleep particularly early or slightly later? What did I eat before hand? Do I work best after a meal of protein or carbohydrates etc. And particularly: what I was reading at the time?

This was the focus of Dorothea's message, to identify writing that makes you want to write. There are some authors that you will absolutely love, but they don't inspire you to write for yourself. And then there are authors or genres you think you despise, but they always send you running to pen and paper, possibly just to prove that you can do it better. In becoming more systematic about the process and identifying everything that makes me work best, I will be able to maximise my performance.

Athletes from all around the world are currently gathering in London for the Olympics. And they have spent the last few months, if not years, analysing every part of their life so that they can be at their best to go those few seconds faster. I'm going to treat my writing the same. If I work out that having some protein before I write means I can write an extra 1,000 words in that session, and I have two sessions a day, that means for each fortnight I could write at least an extra 20,000 words, which is two whole extra days off!

So, I'm going to start my process of self-examination on Saturday (unfortunately tomorrow's writing is going to have to be stuffed in around a variety of other things, as I can't see me having a block of time that I will be able to sit down and write, but I will do my best all the same.)

If I find out any amazing secrets, I will let you know.

For anyone else thinking of becoming serious about writing, I recommend the exercise as well. But I would say do it after you are at the stage of writing everyday. It's like when I go to the gym and see people wearing compression tights, but still only doing a walk on the treadmill. The pants really aren't going to help you unless you are working close to your maximum. Finding out that you can write 10% more if you drink tea instead of coffee won't be a big benefit unless you are actually writing, and writing a substantial amount. Until you have trained yourself to do, say, 1,000 words a day, spend more time focused on that. See my previous post for exercises on how to increase your writing.

The thing that has sparked my sudden desire to learn more is that I currently feel I'm spending every possible moment writing just to meet my targets. So getting more for my efforts and being able to finish a bit early would make a huge difference.

Just to give an overview for those of you who think I'm being a bit melodramatic:

I get up between 6.45-7am (which I know is not super early, but since I have to have 8-9 hours sleep, I'm really pushing it), get breakfast and a cup of tea and am sitting down to write around 7.15am. I then write until about 9.30am, when I need to get ready for work. I get home from work between 5.30-6pm, go straight to the gym and do 30mins work out with 15 mins of stretching before coming home, having a shower and cooking dinner. I usually get to sit down to write again around 7.30 and I write until usually around 10pm, by when I will hopefully have hit my target for the day. I then suddenly remember I also have to write my blog. I spend another half an hour plus doing that, before getting ready and falling into bed. If I manage to finish my writing early, I like to curl up in bed and listen to podcasts while doing my knitting (yes I am an old lady in training. But at least I've almost finished my new throw rug, while it's still cold!)

I manage to fit in reading: a few minutes while I eat my breakfast and dinner, the two stops I go on the train each way, and for about 20mins in my lunch break.

This also might explain why on my days off I tend to collapse.

But soon I will know the secret for amazing writing, and then I will take over the world! Or at least keep creating my own ones to play with.

Until later.

Buffy. 

Misguided Beginnings and Finding the True Path

Well, shot myself a bit in the foot, but appear to have been able to limp back. To fully explain, I'm going to leave my entry for yesterday unedited (which I didn't get to post because of internet troubles, but I've worked out a way around it now, I think). And afterwards I'll tell you about today.

Starting from Scratch.

I am sorry Ben, I ignored your advice to my own detriment.

Instead of continuing on with the final book in my trilogy, I decided to start something completely new. Within minutes I realised that these next two weeks are going to be a serious test of my dedication to the challenge.

I started on the next book on the list, which is really the prequel for another story I have wanted to write and have quite a few notes on. All I knew about this story was that it was a historical romance which ended with her escaping from France with him, and them getting married. Not really a lot to go on. I didn't even really have a starting image (I just have the end image of the wedding), so couldn't even begin by describing that and seeing where that led me. (also, these two characters are the parents of my main character in the next book, so don't even know what they are like.)

So I started a few different ways, and realised they were more a brief summary of my main characters, rather than an actual story. So then tried just starting a scene: you come in with him being told by the hostess of the party that uninvited guests are always welcome, when they are my Lord Averley. I thought it would be a debutante party for hopefully my main character, and it is her mother greeting my main guy.

But he couldn't come here for her, because they have not already met. So he's come to meet up with someone else.

That led to secret messages and I soon found that I was in trouble of just making him the Scarlett Pimpernel, who has already been wonderfully written. But I did want him to have a purpose other than being an aristocrat, and decided it would be fun to write an adventure book, that just happened to have a very satisfying romance in there. So, not the Scarlett Pimpernel, what else is sure to involve adventure? Thought about smuggling, but then couldn't think of a way to make sure he was also honourable. So hit on spy. James Bond for the 18^th Century.

I started to write a new opening scene where my main character is escaping from a village earlier that day with secret documents.

Then came the huge problem. What are the secret documents? Who are they from? Why are they secret? I can write with enough detail about English society around that period, as long as I get to stay vague as to what year it is and what is happening other than the Gunning Sisters having been a hit and Mr. Brummel is leading society. But first of all, this was France, and second, if he's going to be a spy, might actually need to know something about politics and international affairs at the time!

This caused me enough angst that I almost threw away the idea. Instead, I went to grab a cup of tea.

On my way back, I glanced at my bookshelf and noticed Matthew Reilly's 'The Seven Ancient Wonders', and thought that archaeology is something I know a bit about and remembered (possibly from Lara Croft Tomb Raider the second movie) that Napoleon was supposed to have mounted a expedition to Egypt. So what if my main characters get in a race with Napoleon to find some ancient Egyptian artefact that would change world history?

I started to read up a bit on Napoleon's expedition, which really just pointed out to me how very little I knew about the period, and so did what any writer does when stuck, went and had a nap.

In my dream I started working out a brilliant story and writing it down, but on waking up realised it wasn't quite as good as I thought it was. (It did involve my main female character passing herself as Chinese, Indian and then French. But totally worked in the dream.)

So came back to the computer and started doing some random history searching for what was happening at the time, which just reinforced that I knew nothing. So tried to continue writing the story as vaguely as possible, thinking that if I got something out, then I could check out the details etc. later. I know this is not the desired way for historical writing, but remember my aim is to write first drafts to see if I like the style, not spend weeks doing research and then finding out I suck at writing action sequences.

So have now been working for many hours, and have a total of just over 3,000 words, which still hasn't really helped me know where to go or even when I'm setting it.

Now I have become caught in an awful time pressured loop: can't write until I have done more research, don't want to do research because I have no idea what I'm writing and can't waste time researching anything that might not be useful.

I still think there might be something in doing a Napoleon race to save the world from Egyptian artefact, but not sure.

I would need to work out how they could actually know anything, since this is really at the very beginning of Egyptology and very little was known. Then I would also have to work out what Ancient Egyptian artefact I was going to get them to find, and its powers.

Though, instead of starting in France, if I start somewhere I know like Oxford, could get myself going before needing to seriously panic. Not much at Oxford has seriously changed in the last three hundred years, I should be pretty good (except for the girls, need to take out the women, of course).

So, the next two weeks are going to be interesting. My biggest fear is that I just won't be able to make myself keep writing when I don't know where I'm going and don't have anywhere near enough research at hand. Can the academic in me let go of the reigns to let the creative youth just make it all up and then in the second draft check out if it all works? Also, I am now 10,000 words behind, if I don't use anything I've done today. So it is going to be a long two weeks, but hopefully fun.

So that was the end of my post for yesterday.

This morning I woke up, had breakfast and sat down to write and got struck by fear. In the night I had thought of a few ideas, a few starts, but it was no good. I realised that my Muse just wasn't with me. He might be with me on the idea in the future, but right now wasn't really interested. He wanted to complete the trilogy I had started. Wrap it all up nice and sound while it was still fresh in my head

(Yes Ben, God agrees with you.)

So I then moved over to my final book (I think), in my Sally Hunt trilogy, and started writing. I knew very little about this one, except of course all the characters. I won't tell you the end of the last book, in case I can convince you to actually read it, but basically it was a bit of a shock, even to me (I thought it was going to happen in this book), and left me starting this book from a totally different place.

However, managed to get 3,400 words done before gone to work and tonight, with full use of the flow (joined a new gym and had a really yummy dinner) I got up to 8,465. So, will need to keep working at the super pace as I'm one 10,000 word day behind, but my Muse has not abandoned me!

Will be interested to see how I manage to wrap it all up. I know there must be something big, but the big thing I was expecting already happened in the last book! So, like all of you, I will just have to wait and see.

And if you think an Ancient Egyptian/18^th Century romance/adventure novel could work, let me know. All ideas welcome. Also, if anyone could suggest any good books to read about the period, that would be great.

Finally, just to let you all know what a sense of humour my God has: have been praying for either a motorcycle (cheap, but fun) or an old MX5 (hey why not be outrageous? I look really good in a convertible, except the end of my nose tends to get sunburnt and then peel, but still). I thought either of these two would add to my eccentric image which I want to cultivate as a writer. What is the point of spending the majority of my time locked away writing if when I come out I don't get to be weird? Well, guess what? Just got given a free Holdon Vectra, circa 2001. Might not be adding to the 'eccentric' element of being a writer, but my inner 'impoverished' writer is loving it. So big thanks to my Aunt Louise! (She is also writing a book, though hers is all serious. But when it comes closer to actually coming out, I'll tell you more.) 

Day 2: Balancing Writing and Work.

Yesterday I did 10,000 words, which was a first and super amazing. But today I had to manage 7,500 words along with going to work.

 

After yesterday's success, I had an awful sleep.

For those of you who know me, you will attest to the fact that I have seriously weird, in depth dreams. I sometimes dream I'm me, sometimes I'm someone else, and sometimes I'm watching from an external perspective. I have had dreams that cover weeks or months, and others which are just a flash of an image.

Last night I had a totally new type of dream. It was as if my mind just could not create any more images. I've had dreams where I have been blind before, which is annoying (and you wake up with sore eyes from trying to see all night), but this was not that. All I could see for the whole night was flashes of light. I tried today to explain it to Jenna at work, but had absolutely no idea what it was.

Sitting down to my laptop again tonight in the dark, staring at the bright screen, I suddenly realised. I was dreaming of staring at a blank computer screen. (Even now, though I've turned the screen right down, and have been trying to type with my eyes closed as much as I can, I have a head ache from an entire day looking at the damn thing.) I feel that this is somehow not a good sign.

So, after that weird night I woke up groggy and not at all wanting to write. But I got up, made myself a cup of tea, and got back into bed ready to write. I decided not to have creamy, hot, sweet porridge, as the potential for that to send me back to sleep once it settled in my stomach was just way too high. Sadly, this also seemed to affect my ability to get into the flow. I struggled away for just under two hours, trying to connect the one sentence with the next one. In the end, for all my efforts, I had 1,954 words. It meant that I still had another 5,546 to write that night when I got home. Though I did give myself a shake and remind myself that Stephen King only writes 2,000 words a day, and just look at how many books he's published!

At work, it was my first day back after my holiday, so found a wonderful 60 emails and a pile of work waiting for me to fix up. Add to that my growing discomfort with my computer screen, and by five pm I was very happy to go home.

On the way home I just kept thinking: I had over 5,500 words to write, the beginnings of a headache and no imagination left in me. I needed every bit of flow I could get.

So I just followed the routine. I went to the gym and did half an hour of cardio fitness (am starting to believe that listening to upbeat music while at the gym, instead of watching TV, helps with the runners high at the end, and consequently the flow). I did a short stretch because I couldn't find a spot to stretch in the usual room, so had to do it surrounded by all the muscle guys lifting weights and grunting. I then came back, made a ham and cheese toastie (never underestimate the power of a ham and cheese toastie) and jumped into a hot shower. It was then straight into bed with my laptop, cup of tea, block of chocolate and sadly also a bag of chips (I was congratulating myself that I had appeared to cut down my chocolate in take from half a block a day to a third of a block, until I realised that I've suddenly increased my in take of chips from nothing to half a bag. Really don't think I'm winning in this.)

But anyway, the thing you all want to know: did it work?

And the answer is yes! Was in bed and writing by a bit before 7.45 and by 10pm I had written an additional 5,694, bringing my day's total up to: 7648!

And not only that, they were the easiest 5000 words I've written in the past few days. 

So, all I can say: all hail the flow!

So, quick update, my sequel currently stands are 49,338 words. (and as I typed that, I suddenly thought how I could use something I just wrote to explain something I was getting stuck on. Go brain, you are really picking up.) I have to admit, coming home today, I thought I might have to rethink the whole thing because it just wasn't working. But I shall not give up so easily now!

Well, good night from a tired, but happy, Buffy.

Day 1 of Writing: Final Word Count

Well, so as not to upset any more super cute Lynxes, let me post my final word count.

It took until 10.10pm (though that included going food shopping (milk and chocolate to be exact), dropping books at the library, catching up with a friend for supper and having a 4 hour nap... which some might argue is not so much as nap as a serious state of unconsciousness, but whatever), but I have 10,018 words! Totally new words, new ideas to the story, all actually in sequence.

So, first appraisal of project: 10,000 words is a lot of words. Not just typing wise, but it is a lot of different thoughts and scenes. It involves a couple of chapters. Have found that the flow works for sections, but once you finish a scene or chapter, the flow appears to break up a bit, leaving you floundering for a few minutes as you try to work out what happens next. So today was not just four hours of writing, and didn't feel like this wonderful mystical experience, but looking back over what I've done, I'm pretty damn happy with it.

Bonuses to writing so much: I can see that it's going to help a lot with the coherence of the story, less likely that I will forget what happened previously, etc (though I do need to go back to my first book and check some details).

Am hoping that I'll sort of train up like a marathon runner so it becomes easier and easier to write in big chunks. Right now I don't feel mentally exhausted or anything like that, it's more that I feel dry, like my mind is searching for a cool, fresh glass of water. So will need to work on ways to quench that.

Back to my day job tomorrow for the first time in a week. Also try to knock out another 7,500.

Will let you know how work and writing turns out.

Yours,

Buffy.