I have prided myself the last several months on keeping up with my blogging schedule of posting twice a week, even when I'm not doing so well working on other writing projects regularly. My reasoning is that this is good practice for keeping a regular deadline and for exercising my writing muscles.
Even when I'm not feeling particularly clever or creative, I rarely have trouble coming up with things to blog about. Since I try to make my blog posts always relevant in some way, I don't want to just rant or share random useless information.
This week, however, I'm not feeling motivated and have nothing in mind that I want to share or explore through my blog post. My dilemma makes me wonder if it is better to force myself to come up with something to post, even if it's not interesting or well-expressed, or just give myself a day off.
Conventional writing wisdom says we should make ourselves write even when we don't feel like it or don't know where we want to go with our particular WIP. That's fine if you do so with the understanding that you might get in a zone and produce something brilliant OR might write crap that simply has to be thrown out.
Can't really do that if you make yourself write and post something on your blog. If all you are capable of producing at the time is worthless blather, it's not worth posting. You are only wasting your time and worse, your reader's time.
So this issue has given me something to think and write about and it might be a useful topic for others to think about. But what if it didn't and wasn't? Is it worth the effort to try and if I create something worthwhile, publish the post, or be unsuccessful in writing a post worth sharing and just not publish it?
I'm inclined to think the former is the best course. If this were an article or story for a publication that had to be completed (and well-written) by a certain deadline, I would certainly try every way to accomplish the task. Like a lot of things in the writing life, it's difficult, but worth doing.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly .com
Showing posts with label deadlines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deadlines. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Productivity Under Stress
My writers group (Living Writers Collective) started a facebook group to keep in touch with members about projects and struggles and to share inspiration and encouragement. One member posted 101 items to blog about. It's for blogging in general, not just for blogs about writing or books, but most can be applied to anything. One of the suggestions was "How to stay productive when _______________."
Tonight I'm there. Had an awful event in my family and everyone is reeling and it's one of those things where you can't do anything to help the situation. Hardly a time to feel creative or productive. I have been cleaning the house and doing laundry like mad just out of my need to do something. I decided to take a break before I physically exhaust myself and to do something else productive - blog.
I am once again trying to stay on a schedule of posting something twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays). Although I can write my blogs at anytime and have them post on future dates, I still have to write them. I hope having a deadline will help me deal with my lack-of-self-discipline issues.
Helen, the heroine of my book series, often has situations she doesn't know how to deal with or has to bide her time when acting on something. The most common way she deals with that is to write. Since she's a ficitonal character, she has no trouble totally losing herself in her project and it keeps her mind off her problem and keeps her productive.
It's possible this might work for writers in the real world. Somewhere in one of my stories, Helen notes the fact that in her ficitonal worlds she creates the problems and therefore usually knows how to solve them. That could make a writer feel like they are productive and at least able to be active in finding solutions, even if not able to in their real life. A good form of therapy anyway, if it works.
I don't know if I could do that. I've never tried. I tend to automatically think, "I couldn't possibly write now, while I'm panicked/depressed/upset/whatever." But my current situation makes me want to try it. And since this is not something that's going to go away anytime soon, I will certainly have the chance.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Tonight I'm there. Had an awful event in my family and everyone is reeling and it's one of those things where you can't do anything to help the situation. Hardly a time to feel creative or productive. I have been cleaning the house and doing laundry like mad just out of my need to do something. I decided to take a break before I physically exhaust myself and to do something else productive - blog.
I am once again trying to stay on a schedule of posting something twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays). Although I can write my blogs at anytime and have them post on future dates, I still have to write them. I hope having a deadline will help me deal with my lack-of-self-discipline issues.
Helen, the heroine of my book series, often has situations she doesn't know how to deal with or has to bide her time when acting on something. The most common way she deals with that is to write. Since she's a ficitonal character, she has no trouble totally losing herself in her project and it keeps her mind off her problem and keeps her productive.
It's possible this might work for writers in the real world. Somewhere in one of my stories, Helen notes the fact that in her ficitonal worlds she creates the problems and therefore usually knows how to solve them. That could make a writer feel like they are productive and at least able to be active in finding solutions, even if not able to in their real life. A good form of therapy anyway, if it works.
I don't know if I could do that. I've never tried. I tend to automatically think, "I couldn't possibly write now, while I'm panicked/depressed/upset/whatever." But my current situation makes me want to try it. And since this is not something that's going to go away anytime soon, I will certainly have the chance.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
About This Blogging Thing...
I have a writer friend I admire very much, who blogs twice a week on a schedule, almost without fail. I like knowing when I can check her blog and be assured of something fun and enlightening to read. I have another writer friend who I admire very much who blogs on no set schedule, just whenever she feels like it, has time or has something to say. I love checking her blog and it's a nice surprise when she's written something new.
I think blogging is good. If nothing else it is a chance to practice writing, conveying ideas and putting thoughts into words. Even better if you have something worthwhile to say, in my case passing along information that might be helpful or encouraging to writers.
Being someone with very little self-discipline, I have a difficulty making good use of what little writing time I can eke out of my crazy life. I have been trying to make and keep a schedule, but I'm not doing so well. I thought it might help to plan to blog twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I managed to do that one time. Then last week's Thursday blog didn't get done until Sunday and Tuesday's was Wednesday and Thursday's was Friday...
So I'm not sure this is helping me. It's good to make myself write when I don't feel like it, but I suspect that I am using blogging as my writing excercise instead of working on the novel revisions I have to do. I could adopt my other friend's practice of blogging regularly, but not according to a strict plan.
I have another writer friend who is doing a blogging project and blogging every day for 30 days, but I also know she's writing several at once to post on different days. I could try that, but does it defeat the purpose of writing excercise or does it work like an assigment where does it not matter when you write something as long you get it finished by the deadline?
Maybe I should stop debating this and go work on my damn novel...
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
I think blogging is good. If nothing else it is a chance to practice writing, conveying ideas and putting thoughts into words. Even better if you have something worthwhile to say, in my case passing along information that might be helpful or encouraging to writers.
Being someone with very little self-discipline, I have a difficulty making good use of what little writing time I can eke out of my crazy life. I have been trying to make and keep a schedule, but I'm not doing so well. I thought it might help to plan to blog twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I managed to do that one time. Then last week's Thursday blog didn't get done until Sunday and Tuesday's was Wednesday and Thursday's was Friday...
So I'm not sure this is helping me. It's good to make myself write when I don't feel like it, but I suspect that I am using blogging as my writing excercise instead of working on the novel revisions I have to do. I could adopt my other friend's practice of blogging regularly, but not according to a strict plan.
I have another writer friend who is doing a blogging project and blogging every day for 30 days, but I also know she's writing several at once to post on different days. I could try that, but does it defeat the purpose of writing excercise or does it work like an assigment where does it not matter when you write something as long you get it finished by the deadline?
Maybe I should stop debating this and go work on my damn novel...
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
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