Ten Days till Christmas–Countdown! December 15, 2008

The closer the big day is to arriving, the less writing I manage to accomplish. I went shopping Friday, Saturday was a big recital day, and Sunday I prepared goodies for giveaways all afternoon. I haven’t written one word for my MS since Thursday.

But I am not upset at myself this year, because I have done more in the month of December than I ever did before and I am making progress. I tell myself I will write, but if I get distracted, I tell myself that other “working” people are taking two weeks off of work starting Saturday. So I can, too. If I want. I am not under an editor’s knife, having to get anything done. Any work I do is because I am under my own knife.

And my “knife” is a little dull right now. I usually take most of December off so I can enjoy the holidays. This year I haven’t taken as much time off, but I’ve still had fun. Now, I have ten days to finish shopping, wrapping and making goodies. And it suddenly feels like writing is not as important as Christmas preparations.

However, I am still setting the following goal for my last week of writing without family around.

*write 1 hr a day till Friday

After that, it’s a crap shoot. I may manage to get 1 hr in per day the 22, and 23 of December, but I doubt much will happen until after Christmas. Everyone deserves a holiday. Even unpaid writers!

I will be back in the saddle in the New Year. And I have a lot of goals for the new year. I also feel proud of all I have accomplished this year despite moving to a new state and starting my daughter in a new school system. I managed to finish a book, place third in a contest, and send off my MS to the Golden Heart. Not too shabby given all the changes. I have to ask myself, how much more will I accomplish in 2009 without the major distractions!?

And now, back to reality. I still have a household to run and a book to finish revising.

December Distractions December 4, 2008

Up until last year, I took the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas OFF. I enjoyed getting ready for the holidays and spending time with my friends. Last year, I changed the routine, but found myself feeling guilty every time I wrote or every time I didn’t write. It wasn’t a good feeling. This year, I decided to follow the 100 words a day advice I got from the Wet Noodle Posse. I feel that way I am not taking away time from my writing or from readying for the holidays. No more guilt!!

Writing 100 words a day isn’t really what I am doing. I am shooting for an hour a day. And it is amazing how much you can accomplish in an hour. Since Monday I have plowed through 21 pages of my MS for the revision. Spending an uninterupted hour in front of the computer means getting at least 1 scene tweaked in the MS. If I get stuck, I use another trick and write XXX so I can look for that later on in a seek/find throughout the MS. The point is to get SOMETHING done. Perfection no longer is the key. If I keep going at this pace, I should be able to plow through another 90 pages before Christmas hits.

I know that once my daughter is home for the break, I won’t get much accomplished, but I am planning on utilizing my Lark tendencies to my benefit. I’m up before everyone else, so I can chop out an hour before the lazy ones arise.