Each week I read through the check-in/page reports for the Seventy Days of Sweat Challenge at Alison’s blog. This week I’ve seen a bit of panic. Heck, being about six weeks from a book deadline I feel panic. In fact, I’m fully into “what was I thinking” mode. But, you know what? We’re all going to be okay. For a few seconds, hold off on the panic. It’s time for a reality check. Here it is…ready? The Challenge is not meant to drive you nutty. Really. It may feel that way, but the purpose is to inspire and motivate.
When Alison first approached me with the Seventy Days of Sweat idea, I liked it. The idea of pushing each other and fighting full-scale procrastination as a group is a fabulous one. Later, I had a moment or two of…well, let’s call it concern. Having a weekly word count scared the beejesus out of me. See, the idea of setting up a system where people committed to writing XXX number of pages per day worried me because I feared folks might get obssessed with the number versus staying focused on the writing – a very bad thing in my view. Frustration and guilt over not writing an arbitrary number of pages on a certain day seemed like the perfect way to stifle creativity and promote neurosis. But it doesn’t have to be. Rather than wallow in angst I say we overcome it.
What I’m suggesting you do is think about the page count for about two seconds when you first sit down, then push that part of the Challenge into the back corner of your memory and write. Don’t worry about the page count again until the end of the day when you’re done writing. Do not think about page numbers while writing. Think about writing while writing. Plot, characters, motivations, conflict are all “okay” thought topics while writing. Number counting is not.
Think of this project like losing weight. Most of us at one time or another have needed to lose five, ten, twenty, fifty or more pounds [i.e., write a short story, novella book or whatever]. We fight it at first, insisting that we accidentally shrunk our clothes or somehow broke the scale [i.e., refuse to sit the butt in the chair to actually write]. Then the real world smacks us and we have to get serious [i.e., meet a contract deadline or need to submit with query or need to revise at editor's request looms]. Having faced reality, we hit the gym or hire the trainer or start walking or whatever [i.e., we format the pages, pick a working title and start typing]. Some days we stay away from potato chips and remember to stop at the gym on the way home from work [i.e., get a chapter or scene done]. Other days we cave in and eat that candy bar or skip the gym [i.e., play on the internet but never open the computer's word processing program]. After watching our diets and attending a few classes, we step on the scale and have lost…all of about lost six ounces [i.e., the chapter is not done or not perfect]. This is the point where we can give up and not reach the goal by dwelling on the “all that work and very little return” theory. Or, we can figure out that losing the ten pounds gained on a brownie binge will not go away just by virtue of not eating brownies for a week [i.e., the book isn't going to write itself and certainly isn't going to get written by whining] and push forward. In doing so, we realize the immediate numbers on the scale [i.e., page] are not the whole story. From there we learn what foods do and don’t work [i.e., figure out the intricacies of your plot], change our diet [revise], get into the habit of exercising [i.e., write every single day] and keep the focus on the overall goal of being healthy and not just losing XXX number of pounds in XXX amount of time [i.e., understand that some days you will write more than others]. That greater understanding, taking a long-range view, gets the job done [i.e., the book written].
In other words, worry less about the number and focus more on the overall goal. You will be more productive on some days than on others. That is just a fact. Sometimes the words won’t come. Other days the words will be crap. That’s all okay. Write and revise. Make writing a priority. There’s no secret decoder ring just as there’s no magic weight loss pill (despite what some commericals might tell you). This is hard, steady, tiring, but very rewarding, work. You know what needs to be done – you need to make a commitment and stick with it. Do it.
And don’t say you don’t have time. You have time. You may not think you have time, but you do. There are writers out there who get the job done despite illness, debilitating pain, runaway children, emotional difficulties, floods, stress, high-powered jobs, children, divorce, money woes, death and every other issue you can imagine. They make the time. You need to make the time, even if it’s only a little time. It’s your dream. No one can do it for you and, honestly, no one can destroy the dream faster than you can by not working at it.
Now, continue to hold off the panic and get back to writing. But first, go check in at Alison’s blog. You check in and you’ll be entered to win this weeks’s prize. Free books, a writing journal and some other goodies can be yours!
Get back to work.
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I’m enjoying the challenge, believe it or not. The set deadline and weekly check-in certain seems to be getting me into my chair and getting my work done. Drafting has always been easy for me, but revisions are another story. Using the challenge, the revisions are moving along much faster and better than I’d hoped. Having the ticking clock is forcing me to keep moving, not malinger over paragraphs and let self-doubts over single words set in.
by Caro July 29th, 2007 at 6:14 amWonderful post, HelenKay! The best habit ever is to write when you’re writing. How come it sounds so easy when it’s not easy at all. Especially when your evil internal editor wants to confound, confuse and derail?
by Jo Leigh July 29th, 2007 at 7:33 amWonderful timing on this post. I was starting to get the page number neurosis myself, and you’re right, nothing can stifle creativity (and even the will to BE creative) faster.
Thanks for the inspiring words, and the reminder to let all the concerns of deadlines go when diving into the writing groove.
by Morgan O'Friel July 29th, 2007 at 7:41 amThank you for this post, I needed it this week. After reading all of the posts on Alison’s Blog I felt like a slacker. I have only written 12 pages since Wednesday and 9 pages were written during an amazing surge of passion for my story. I have caught myself looking at my page count more often since I accepted the challenge and the fact that I get disappointed whenever I don’t meet my daily personal goal I get discouraged. So again, I thank you for your wonderful post, it makes me feel better.
by Patty L July 29th, 2007 at 7:50 amExcellent post! Love the weight loss analogy!
by Larissa July 29th, 2007 at 8:05 am[...] ALSO…if you’re participating in the 70 Days of Sweat challenge (or even if you aren’t,) go check out HelenKay’s post today. It’s an excellent reminder on writing without obsession…but getting it done! [...]
by Larissa Ione - Blog July 29th, 2007 at 8:09 amThanks for the great post, HelenKay! I think we all get trapped in the idea of what we should be doing, page or word count-wise a day, and don’t just give ourselves kudos for writing everyday, no matter what the output may be.
That said, I’m off to write!
by Meagan Hatfield July 29th, 2007 at 9:06 amGreat post! I can so relate to the ups and downs of weight.
by Christina July 29th, 2007 at 10:37 amAmen! After beating myself over not meeting my NaNoWriMo daily word count I had to realize that it was the writing every day that was more important and what I really needed at the time.
Great post, hopefully it’ll help others with their panic.
by Melissa July 29th, 2007 at 11:37 amThanks for the good post. Forget the word count! I just want to develop the habit of writing every day. You are right, the word count will come.
by Sandy L July 29th, 2007 at 5:45 pmi learned a long time ago that turning on the part of my brain that counts freezes out my muse. that is the balliwick of the editor. I knew this when I accepted the challenge and put the emphasis on establishing a daily habit. i’ve already bested my previous record of five days by sticking with it this time for three whole weeks. every day.
a glimpse into the story world I am working on can be found in my Friday Snippets and further commentary about what I’ve accomplished because of the challenge is appended to the end of this past Friday’s installment.
so i am not going to allow a sense of failure to settle on me if i don’t meet the 70K by the end as I have done with NaNoWriMo the last three years. Because the progress i’ have made has been immeasurable.
so thank you for confirming for me that this has got to be more about the habit of writing than about counting words or pages.
by Joy Renee July 29th, 2007 at 6:21 pmA very good post. You might remember that I’ve had a bit of trouble with this since you were kind enough to give me those words of encouragement…was that just last week? I went through this before a few months ago when I made a similar commitment with a friend of mine, and I knew when I signed up at my tendency was for stuff like this to make me nuts. But I did it anyway because as much as I make myself crazy, the commitment to getting stuff done really does help me in the long run. This weekend was my DD’s birthday and, neurotic by nature, I’ve been making myself crazy getting ready for that. I took a few days off from writing. If it hadn’t been for the challenge, I would have written those days off, maybe even taken a few more mental health days to get on track. But because there was a check-in yesterday, I sat down last night and didn’t get up until I had what I needed to catch up. It wasn’t very hard and I felt good about it.
Sorry to take over your comments with this giant reply. I guess I wanted to say that as much as the Challenge has made me crazy in various ways, it’s definitely been worth it. Thanks again for the post.
by Susan B. July 30th, 2007 at 5:19 amI really needed to hear this today. I spent a lot of time obsessing about the number of words I typed yesterday. It can drive you crazy! I am getting better about turning off the internal editor, but I so want to feel productive and sometimes that just is not the case. I feel better about that now. Thank you. I don’t want to force this story as it is my first novel. I do, however, want to finish it! Before I’m on social security!
by Pamela Bolton-Holifield July 30th, 2007 at 6:34 amI totally relate to the weight loss thing because I’ve been dieting for like years until I just decided to forget it.
To throw another dieting analogy, most people do well on diet (lose weight, etc.) but gain everything back because they think that eating right and exercising are temporary stuff. But the people who not only lose weight but keep their new bods are the ones who realize that it’s a lifestyle change and that even if they fall off the wagon, they need to get back to it the next day.
by Angelle Trieste August 2nd, 2007 at 5:24 amnkashdin@verizon.net
nancy kashdin
517 park place apt 106
elmira, NY 14901
Call me inept, but I really don’t know if the mail means e-mail or address.
I can’t imagine writing with a deadline on the number of words writen counted. Seems like creativity would compete with that, Yet, often, people manage to do both. Good Luck!
by Nancy KASHDIN August 2nd, 2007 at 2:41 pm