So, I’ve arrived at a new chapter in my so-far nonexistent writing career. I realized I don’t do the one thing I should above all else—write. Funny, isn’t it? After reading Michaelbrent Collings’s article on writer’s block, it was so obvious. I talk about writing, think about it, listen to podcasts, go to symposiums and conferences, but I don’t actually write. At least, not consistently. I write once in a while, and then moan the rest of the time about how I’m supposed to be writing.
So here’s my new writing schedule: wake up at 5 a.m. Write for 40 minutes. 5:45 a.m.—get ready for school. Voila! My writing is done for the day first thing in the morning before I could get distracted in any way by TV, phone calls, or other people in the house (no one else is awake at 5 a.m.). I tried it out last week and it was extremely effective. Of course, it was also Spring Break and I was able to write longer than 40 minutes. We’ll see how it goes this week with school back on.
It’s just…I got so sick of missing the ONE short window of time in the evenings that I could have used to write in the middle of recovering from a long day of school, talking to people, catching snatches of what they were watching on TV, surfing the net, going to institutue, going to karate practice, Relief Society meetings…etc. I thought to myself, “FINE! That’s it! It’s Spring Break and I STILL can’t write. Fine. I’ll get up at 5 a.m. and do it first thing in the morning before anything else can interrupt me.” So I did. And it worked. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Of course it’d be better to do it in the morning. My evenings are so crazy and I get distracted so easily, why not avoid the issue altogether and just do it in the morning?
But that means I have to go to bed at 10 p.m. every night—difficult task.
It was great, though, writing every morning and finally feeling like a real writer. I loved it.
Quote from Michaelbrent’s article:
“Writing is NOT brain surgery. It is NOT nuclear weapons testing. It is WRITING. It is something that anyone and everyone can do. And along with that fact, it is also something that anyone and everyone WILL get good at. If they practice. If they recognize “writer’s block” for what it really is: their own insecurity getting in the way of a good first draft.”
Looking forward to:
Season 6 of Doctor Who (premiered last week)
Season 4 of Merlin (premieres this fall)
Next Percy Jackson book (released this fall)
Avatar: The Legend of Korra (premieres this fall)
