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Thursday, September 11th
Sep. 11th, 2014 10:21 amThe Daily Report
Now that I'm a bit more clear-headed and energetic, I'm doing a little post mortem on the past week or so. Pointing to the insomnia/sleep deprivation for why I've fallen behind on being ahead is an easy answer, but I think I could have managed it better except for one thing.
My process right now is to spend one day writing each chapter, about four days a week. Not every chapter is in an equally finished state at the end of its day, but they're all substantially there, and each one will have two formal look-overs/polish sessions (Monday of the week it goes up, and the day it goes up) plus at any point I can browse through the draft folder, or revisit a particular chapter if I've got an idea for improving it.
A lot of the chapters are at 2,500 words or more when I end their writing day. The shortest was 1,200 words, but it was still substantially "there". It had a beginning and a middle and a conclusion, and all the important beats sketched out.
The last chapter I wrote on my last day in Florida was only at 1,500 words, and it... wasn't actually all there. I knew where it was going but I hadn't gotten it there. I saw this as no problem, because it wouldn't be posted for weeks and it would have its two tune-up sessions. I'd added more to other chapters than this one needed.
So when I got back to Maryland, I decided to just keep going. New day, new week, new chapters.
But since then, I've been writing--trying to write, most days--past a chapter that's not all there. And I think this was a mistake. It's increased the mental load of writing each chapter, and decreased the support effect that having the safety net represented. The uncertainty of that unfinished chapter and the knowledge that it was lurking in the queue has worked against my creative process.
That chapter is in better shape now, and I'm not beating myself up over a mistake. As I said, this is a post-mortem. I'm looking at what happened so I can adjust to it. The adjustment here is: if a chapter needs more than one day to be "draft ready", it should have more than one day. It's not like the writing schedule I use now can't accommodate that.
The State of the Me
I think we're on day three of decent sleep, but who's counting?
Plans For Today
Working on the Omnibus VI (look for it next week!), and writing this afternoon.
Now that I'm a bit more clear-headed and energetic, I'm doing a little post mortem on the past week or so. Pointing to the insomnia/sleep deprivation for why I've fallen behind on being ahead is an easy answer, but I think I could have managed it better except for one thing.
My process right now is to spend one day writing each chapter, about four days a week. Not every chapter is in an equally finished state at the end of its day, but they're all substantially there, and each one will have two formal look-overs/polish sessions (Monday of the week it goes up, and the day it goes up) plus at any point I can browse through the draft folder, or revisit a particular chapter if I've got an idea for improving it.
A lot of the chapters are at 2,500 words or more when I end their writing day. The shortest was 1,200 words, but it was still substantially "there". It had a beginning and a middle and a conclusion, and all the important beats sketched out.
The last chapter I wrote on my last day in Florida was only at 1,500 words, and it... wasn't actually all there. I knew where it was going but I hadn't gotten it there. I saw this as no problem, because it wouldn't be posted for weeks and it would have its two tune-up sessions. I'd added more to other chapters than this one needed.
So when I got back to Maryland, I decided to just keep going. New day, new week, new chapters.
But since then, I've been writing--trying to write, most days--past a chapter that's not all there. And I think this was a mistake. It's increased the mental load of writing each chapter, and decreased the support effect that having the safety net represented. The uncertainty of that unfinished chapter and the knowledge that it was lurking in the queue has worked against my creative process.
That chapter is in better shape now, and I'm not beating myself up over a mistake. As I said, this is a post-mortem. I'm looking at what happened so I can adjust to it. The adjustment here is: if a chapter needs more than one day to be "draft ready", it should have more than one day. It's not like the writing schedule I use now can't accommodate that.
The State of the Me
I think we're on day three of decent sleep, but who's counting?
Plans For Today
Working on the Omnibus VI (look for it next week!), and writing this afternoon.