D - Daily Goals

This post is about a lesson I first learned with NaNoWriMo, in 2008. And with Script Frenzy. It comes back every time I need to get something done but keep procrastinating on it.

Small daily goals will make the task possible.

It’s silly how easily I can write 1000 words in a day yet if you were to ask me to do 7000 in a week, I’d spend the first half writing nothing and panic in the second half. I might succeed, but it won’t be smooth sailing. And they certainly won’t seem as good as when I do 1000/day.

The same is true with editing. I need to know what I want to accomplish each day (“one scene” or “three pages” or somesuch), or I’ll procrastinate and laze about and do half a page before calling it a day.

There’s a reason behind it. Small goals are easy bites to chew. Rather than looking at the large picture, you’re looking at the immediate and simple target. You hit that target every day and before you know it, bam, you’ve made it to the big goal!

Some writers function best in big chunks, but I’m definitely not one of them. I work better with the easily attainable objectives. One step at a time. I might not have made it to a 50,000 words total in March, but I bet I wouldn’t have written half of what I did without the daily target goals.

So if you’re having troubles reaching your objective, try this! It works wonders for me, especially when I have folks to berate me when I skip a day.

The equation is simple: Daily Goals + Cheerleader Team = Success.

Discipline and Me are the Best Friends (Or Not)

Replace "drawing dinosaurs" with "play SimCity 4" and you have me, this week. In fact, I am at the "Don't do any of the stuff" stage.

This image, by the way, is taken from this post of Hyperbole and a Half, one of the most hilarious blogs out there. If you haven't read it already (I see it linked often), you should check the post on grammar mistakes on the internet. It usually makes me laugh so much my belly hurts.

I'm impressed by how little I've accomplished this week, despite feeling overwhelmed by all I have to do. I haven't written a single word since I returned from my weekend's trip.

Does this mean I've given up? Of course not. Over the weekend I should go through the "Become overwhelmed by guilt for my total lack of responsability" and start the machine.

Twelve days left. This is far from over!

March is Butt in Chair Month

I haven't touched my five days. I've barely thought about it, and when I did, it was to reflect on how much I missed the writing. I had no time. Study. Work. Study and Work. The boyfriend. Work again (seriously, I think half my workplace was ill at once).

Life getting in the way, in short.

I realised something during those five days, however. I never miss writing as much as when I can't do it. This is good, in a way. What is less good is that when I have plenty of time to sit down and work on the novel, I do something else. I procrastinate.

March rolls around tomorrow and I'll have 15,000 words on White Echoes. I wish I had triple that amount. Especially since Script Frenzy will keep me from doing much in April (except the script, of course, which is for the Shiny New Idea I had at the start of the month)

What does this mean? March is Butt-in-Chair month. By the end of the month, I want to be at 50,000 words. This means a little over 1000 words every day. I can do this. There may not be November's frenzy, but I have my writerly friends around, and they know how to kick my ass into gears.

Discipline is essential for a writer. There will always be tons of things happening in my life to keep me away from my WIP. I might as well learn to deal with them right away.

So bring it on, March! I'm ready for you.

Edit: After receiving some feedback from friends, we decided to make this an 'official' event. If you want to join, pick a goal (it can be any side project) and jump in! We'll be tweeting with the #MarchisBIC hashtag.