Write That Novel: Making Time to Write

Hello adventurers! It’s that time again — another update on my fiction work in progress, and what I’m learning in the process of this thing we can banging out a novel.

If you’ve missed the first few posts in the series, you can catch up here:

I set out my goals and come up with a timeline.

I finally learn to outline, and fall a little bit in love with Scrivener

Unsurprisingly, historical novels require a lot of research. I’ve found some unexpected places where that happens.

So, with all that said, what lesson have I learned in the past few weeks?

When it comes to writing, I am my own worst enemy.

Write that Novel: Making Time to Write

My motivation slipped

I hate admitting this (but that’s the whole point of this series) so here goes: some days, it’s really hard to make myself write.

All of my work (copywriting, acting, and writing fiction) is 100% percent self-motivated. I don’t have supervisors checking up on me. I don’t have anyone handing me work. I have to motivate myself to go out and find it. I have deadlines for clients, yes, but only when I have gone out and found those clients.

This isn’t by way of excuse. It’s merely to explain that sometimes, when my brain is tired and I’ve written four articles already that day… I don’t want to keep writing.

Love the Pinterest map feature, but prone to using it to waste time.

I originally had this post titled “Finding Time to Write.” But the issue, of course, isn’t finding time to write. There’s plenty of time there.

The real trick is making time to write, and making that time a priority.

How I switch on my fiction-writing brain

To manage that slip in motivation, I’ve had to change how I work. I know from experience now that I can’t do half a day of work for clients and then immediately switch to my own projects. So I need to do one of two things. Either:

1. I work on my WIP first thing in the morning. Generally, I’ll do this before I even check my email, though sometimes I’ll give my inbox a quick scan to make sure there’s nothing urgent. If I make my word count first thing in the morning (generally before breakfast, even, though always with a cup of tea at the ready) then I’m golden.

And unlike the reverse, I have a pretty easy time going from fiction-brain to business-brain. Does anyone else find that to be the case?

Or,

2. I do my client work until lunch, take a break to eat, then pack up and head to either a coffee shop or the library. The change of location helps me reset my focus and restart the level of creative thinking that I need for working on fiction.

I also find that, when I know other people can see my computer, I’m less likely to waste time. I don’t hang out on social media or check my blogroll. I just open Scrivener and work.

Managing a daily word count

I’ve found that I really need a daily word count.

This gives me a definite goal to work toward. And if I’m writing first thing in the morning, it gives me a clear point at which I am done and ready to move on to other work.

For the first few months, I was sticking with 1000 words a day, but this month I bumped it up to 2000. At first that felt like a HUGE change — I mean, I had doubled my output! It was really hard for a few days… and then it stopped being so hard. 2000 words takes me about 2 hours when I’m focused, 3 if I’m a little spacier or having trouble with a section.

I don’t absolutely get there every day. In fact, last Saturday I didn’t write at all. My brain needed the break (and my oven really needed cleaning). But most days of the week now, I sit down and write at least 2000 words.

Updated timeline

In spite of that, I’m not going to finish the first draft by the end of May.

This is due to a number of factors. The slip in my motivation is one. My health is another — for about a week and a half there, any sort of typing was physically painful, and writing by hand was even worse. I focused on meeting deadlines for clients, and I fell very behind when it came to my WIP.

Plotting out changes in Scrivener

I’ve done some major adjustments to my plot, rearranging a few things to make it tighter. This led to cutting out about a 10k word section, which is ultimately for the best but painful to do. But that means that I have to rewrite the parts before and after that, so that there actually is a plot in that section, rather than just a hole.

When I first realized I was behind my own timeline, I was really bummed. But now… it’s okay.

Because I’m not stopping. I’m not giving up on this novel — it’s just taking a little longer to get done. And at the rate I’m going right now, it should be finished by the end of June if not sooner. I just need to hang on to this new groove and keep plowing forward.