Wanda Kay Knight
I have to admit that I am not an organized person—not at all. I keep my house clean and I like things tidy, but my car is a mess and I tend to get caught up in my everything else instead of doing what I need to do. Then, I become a furious rush of activity and make everything appear like it was clean and sparkling all along.
Now, the truth is that I feel really good when all my tasks and goals are finished. I love it when my house is clean. I love it when I have finished enough exercise to keep myself from feeling guilty. And once I get started, I have a hard time stopping.
Well, it’s the same with writing. Once I get myself to sit down and write, I have a hard time putting it down. I love it. I come away from a writing session or even a writing marathon with a sense of relief and excitement that I have accomplished a goal. And furthermore, if I could just stay awake all night and keep writing, I would do it (until the next morning when I have to start the process of getting started all over again).
For any others out there like me, I have one suggestion that seems to work. The one thing that kept me consistently writing was meeting with a group of would-be authors once a week with the specific goal that we have to read something—just a page or so—but something each week. After we read, we accept some criticism, listen to the others, and come back in one week prepared to it all over again.
Sometimes in those weeks between meetings, I would only get a couple of pages finished. Other times, the story would take over and I would write furiously and get pages and pages done. But, that once a week meeting really did force me to do something each week, and that was enough to build on until I finished. I found that I needed to be held accountable once a week—every other week did not work.
And, if you hate meetings (as I do), and avoid them at all costs; you should know that for some reason, this particular type of meeting with a few other people constructed around a defined goal was quite pleasant with just the right amount of motivation.
And so, as I begin the process of writing book two, I know that it is once again time to find a couple more would-be authors and once again meet once a week. For me, it is bonding, creative, and motivating experience, and without it, book two just might not get written for a long, long time.
Now, the truth is that I feel really good when all my tasks and goals are finished. I love it when my house is clean. I love it when I have finished enough exercise to keep myself from feeling guilty. And once I get started, I have a hard time stopping.
Well, it’s the same with writing. Once I get myself to sit down and write, I have a hard time putting it down. I love it. I come away from a writing session or even a writing marathon with a sense of relief and excitement that I have accomplished a goal. And furthermore, if I could just stay awake all night and keep writing, I would do it (until the next morning when I have to start the process of getting started all over again).
For any others out there like me, I have one suggestion that seems to work. The one thing that kept me consistently writing was meeting with a group of would-be authors once a week with the specific goal that we have to read something—just a page or so—but something each week. After we read, we accept some criticism, listen to the others, and come back in one week prepared to it all over again.
Sometimes in those weeks between meetings, I would only get a couple of pages finished. Other times, the story would take over and I would write furiously and get pages and pages done. But, that once a week meeting really did force me to do something each week, and that was enough to build on until I finished. I found that I needed to be held accountable once a week—every other week did not work.
And, if you hate meetings (as I do), and avoid them at all costs; you should know that for some reason, this particular type of meeting with a few other people constructed around a defined goal was quite pleasant with just the right amount of motivation.
And so, as I begin the process of writing book two, I know that it is once again time to find a couple more would-be authors and once again meet once a week. For me, it is bonding, creative, and motivating experience, and without it, book two just might not get written for a long, long time.
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