The first several books I wrote - well, I had no trouble starting them, but after about a dozen, even though I had a title and knew what the book would be about, I slowed down. Came to a standstill........
It's not like I had a brain freeze, more commonly known as writers block. Indeed no. I'm always full of ideas for books. I even have a folder with a list of what could come next. Most of the time, at least with my first few books, I wrote by the seat of my pants. They call it pantser. I'm not a plotter, or I wasn't before now. Now, I'm all for plotting because I've become a procrastinator. As I write this, I'm suddenly aware of what my roadblock or tree-that-needs-to-be-removed may be. It's the subject matter. Anyway, before I share anything about that very hot topic, let me go on with this post. To remain on track, or get back on track, I looked up what other writers do to not procrastinate when a tree is down in the middle of their writers road. They make a plan to follow. At least Stephen King does and one website even gave me a list of what to do. It's stuff I've always sort of done, but now need to become more serious about it. Are you ready to get organized? Here's a schedule: 1. Find a time of day. 7am onward is me. I organized my files/folders to make sure I had what I might need close at hand. 2. Create your own writing calendar. Oops. Still need to add that one. 3. Prioritize your projects. List of your ideas in order of priority. The novel I'm writing! Write an outline or a step-by-step ideas. Did that, and cheated by using AI to outline for me. I hate making outlines. Don't want to learn and why should I if an AI can do it probably better. Create milestones and deadlines. A chapter a day sounds good. I've done that sort of thing before, Wrote a book at my first Na-No-Wri-Mo a few years ago. Nowadays I'm too busy writing to bother with Nano. 4. Have a plan for writer’s block. Daily writing prompts or do stream-of-consciousness freewriting. Either one works for me. 5. Set a daily word count goal. A minimum word count. Usually 3000/chapter and if I write two, then the tally goes up to six or seven thousand. 6. Find a writing space. Set it up so it’s ready for you to write when you sit down. Happy day. My sofa is curved sort-of white leather. I have three Aussies so it's never really white. More like, dog dirty muddy footprints, but they wipe off. 7. Keep your writing files organized. Save in Google Docs [done] or Microsoft Word [yup] Keep them in folders labeled with the working title. Will do. 8. Start blogging. Start a blog. I did that, as you can see, if you're reading this. Build a following that you’re accountable to. Huh. What the hell. Now I have to learn to use mail-chimp or some such to do the email thing. Yuk. Dedicate a portion of your writing sessions to blog entries. Got it. 9. Join a writing community. Find inspiration with other writers. Find a local writer’s group, and writing workshops. Love Meetups. One favorite is in England - 8 hours ahead. The 0730 meeting is 2330 for me, Not going to happen. I'm in bed by 2100 at the latest. 10. Start right now. [Already done] Now with the blog written, I can get on with my story, Descent into Hell. ~
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