I’m going to start this discourse off on a positive note and say that Week 3 has been a slightly productive week. I’ve put a tentative schedule together for the writing of the book, which will include 2-hour work days on Sunday through Tuesday and 30-minute work days on the remaining days (except for Saturdays). Whew! Now that that’s been determined, let’s see if I can stick with it. If not, no biggie. I can adjust the schedule as needed. The main goal is to make sure that I’m getting the time requirement in per week, which adds up to about 7.5 hours a week of writing (at the minimum). Let’s just say that my writing requirement will be all in a day’s work, split out over the course of the week. For week 3, I did fudge on the schedule somewhat, mainly because I was smack dab in the middle of determining what it would look like, so I wasn’t able to implement it right away. Basically, I gave myself a pass for last week and will probably do the same for week 4 while I work out the kinks.
On to the exciting news for the past week… I am happy to report that I have the majority of my introduction, or preface, to the book written. I have one section written in my notebook that needs to get typed into my rough draft on the computer and one section that is formulating in my mind but hasn’t taken shape in my notebook or on the computer just yet. I’m highly anticipating its inclusion to the Writer’s Block this week. Just mark my words on that one. I have also narrowed down the chapter subjects I will include in this book, and I have tentative titles in mind. However, I have a feeling that the finalized titles will take on the personality of their chapters, so I’ll have to wait until the chapter is born before I give it its title name. Kind of reminds me of parents who wait to name their child after he or she is born to get a better feel for the name that best fits the newborn’s personality at the onset of life post-womb.
I do like how I’m feeling with this whole writing thing… somewhat accomplished and a little more like the ma’am with the plan. I want to keep this momentum going forward; but hey, let me tell you about several things I learned this past week about my writing habits:
- I thought I would be using the convenience of my voice recorder to assist with capturing my thoughts for the content of this book. However, I’ve found that my
talking voice is drier than my writing voice; and I’m going for lively, not dry. What is that phenomenon called (when your writing voice is different depending on the medium in which you’re communicating)? Maybe there’s no term for it, but I’m experiencing it, whatever it is). So, I’ve decided to free flow with the handwriting instead of trying to transcribe my awkward voice recordings. For the writing of my book, I guess I’m fluent at penmanship of thoughts more than verbalization of thoughts. - I don’t navigate as well with typing my thoughts out at the computer. I can do it at times, like right now as I’m typing this blog post. I did write some things down first in my notebook before starting, but I’ve also been free styling here at the computer for a third of this content. So, I can computer type my thoughts occasionally, but I’m old school and tend to work more effortlessly with pen to pad. Guess I should stick with what works best for me at this point.
- Location… location… location. I also initially thought that I’d do more productive writing at my desk in the home office where the computer is. Well, I was wrong. I do my best writing in a comfy recliner in my living room. It’s probably not ergonomically-correct to be sitting in a recliner while writing, but it’s where I can comfortably put the petal to the metal and GO! I thought that my voice recorder was going to be my bestest friend in the whole wide world when it comes to the writing process, but it’s going to take a back seat (or maybe not even be in the car at all) when it comes to my recliner.
- I have to write when the inspiration to write hits me. This is why I will not assign a certain time within each day to write. I can’t control when the light comes on and inspiration comes to me. It seems like I do my best writing early in the mornings though; but honestly, I can find myself writing throughout the day at various times. Unfortunately, I’ve been burning the midnight oil lately with my writing, which is not healthy. I’m working on trying to turn my schedule around to accommodate the time I write to be earlier in the day rather than later. We’ll see how it goes.
These realizations were eye-openers for me. I’m sure that they don’t seem like earth-shattering discoveries to you; but for a newbie writer, they’re golden. And now that I know these things, I do believe I’m more firmly positioned to write in a mode that will be uniquely suited for my most effective and efficient output. So, here’s to the writing discoveries I’ve uncovered and those that will surface along the way.
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