I always feel that the end of August/September would be a better time for making resolutions – there’s the new-jotter, beginning-of-term kind of feeling then even if you’re long past being in school/university. Plus the weather is relatively warm so setting goals then to eat lots more salad and walk 10,000 steps a day seem more achievable than in the cold, dark days of January.
However, here we are at the New Year, the traditional time for planning improvements in all areas of your life. And here are some quotes on the subject, some cheesy and some even more cheesy.
As a Capital Writer, my main resolution for 2018 is to be more prolific in the amount I write. Mostly, I write short stories for women’s magazines …
… and I think I’m doing well if I have eight out for consideration at any one time.
But I know that several of my fellow ‘womag’ writers can have around fifty … I’ve written one novel (and three magazine serials) – others have written dozens, hundreds. It can be done. I’m not at all short of ideas but I seem to be veeerrry sloooow in executing them.
Partly this is because I’m a procrastinator. Give me a deadline and I will always meet it but leave me to my own devices and time is elastic … I try to trick myself into thinking I have a deadline with repercussions if it’s missed. Sometimes that works.
Partly it’s because I can’t help editing as I go along, even basic typos. The idea of a ‘dirty draft’ is anathema to me but I’ll have to get over that.
And partly it’s because – well, if I knew I might find a way of sorting it.
The Internet is a time-sucker (see ‘procrastination’ above) – but it is also a forum for sharing ideas and helpful stuff. So I’ve been looking at some of the sites I’ve bookmarked on the subject of getting your writing act together.
This blog by American fantasy writer Rachel Aaron tells how she upped her daily word count to 10,000 words by working out what she wants to write first, in a rough scribbly fashion with pen and paper – before she gets to the laptop.
Definitely something to think about.
And I will try to follow the advice on writing faster from the Writers in the Storm blog.
Among seven other tips it suggests finding out how many words a minute you can type and multiplying that by 60 to get the number of words you could possibly do in an hour.
Make that more doable by setting a timer for 15-minute sessions.
It’s a long time since I took a typing test (and I will look one up) but I reckon I can do about 40 words a minute, which means I could do in theory do 2240 words in an hour. A short story! Half a chapter! Although whether they are the right words in the right order is another matter – but that’s fixable.
You can’t edit a blank page. I know this. I just have to keep believing it.
Happy New Year!
Kate Blackadder
Capital Writers 