Eight Weeks to a Complete Novel: Write Faster, Write Better, Be More Organized by Becky Clark

Author:Becky Clark
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Writing
ISBN: 9781734689303
Publisher: Lazy Girl Enterprises
Published: 2020-03-05T05:00:00+00:00

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RECORD-KEEPING

I HOPE by now you understand the importance I place on keeping track of everything.

The only way you’re going to know what’s working for you and what’s not is by keeping meticulous track of everything each time you sit down for a writing session.

You won’t have to do it forever, so don’t get lazy and shirk this duty up front. Know that if you refuse to do your record-keeping, you definitely won’t know how to get faster with your writing, where and when and how you work best, and whether you’re on track with your eight-week process.

Write down EVERYTHING your first few times through the eight-week process. Of course, you’ll want your basic stats on your Tracking Calendar, but you also need to know where you wrote and when, how you felt about it, things you’ll do differently next session, what worked, what didn’t. What were you afraid of? Did your fears come true? Was today’s writing easier or harder than you expected? Why do you think that is? Were you distracted? Were you interrupted by outside forces? Write down everything.

But you’re not going to consider any of these things until after your writing session is over. During your hour (or whatever amount of time you carved out), all you’re going to do is outline, or draft, or edit your manuscript—wherever you are in the eight-week process.

At the end of each session, though, you’re going to take five or ten minutes to debrief with yourself … in writing.

Get a spiral notebook or a fancy journal or just open another file on your computer dedicated to this. Write the date and time then commence journaling your thoughts.

Don’t worry about complete sentences or think too hard about what you’re saying, just dump what’s left of your brain into this journal. A bulleted brainstorm list, or solid block of stream of consciousness works great. Jot down whatever comes to mind. What was hard? What was easy? What do you feel good about? What was distracting? Did you stick to your plan? Step off your path? Were you a whir of in-the-writing-zone activity? Anything and everything that comes to mind.

You will have experimented with where you write, so check in with yourself. Was it a mistake to write at the coffee shop? Did you get more words sitting at your desk than when you lounged on the couch? Did the study carrel at the library provide you with sufficient blinders so you could focus, or was it more like a claustrophobic deprivation chamber?

You will have experimented with when you write. Did you get more words when you wrote before work or late at night? 10:00 a.m. vs 2:00 p.m? When you concentrated for a full hour or when you did three 20-minute sprints? How was it when you tried to write on your lunch break at work?

You will have experimented with how you write. Are you still trying to edit as you go? (If so, KNOCK IT OFF!) Have you tried using the placeholder

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