Spent the last couple of days writing and revising my synopsis for Executive Demands. Sent it off to my CP's to get feedback. I smoothed out some plot issues in the first half the book, dropped a bunch of side threads and superfluous scenes and characters. I have two twists in the second half of the book. That might be one twist too many but we'll see how I feel as I get closer to writing it.I worked on it all day yesterday and today. I've noticed that sitting at my desk for eight hours writing really produces results - but by the time I'm done I feel like a wet dish rag. All I want to do is eat and have a nap. Not healthy at all. I wonder how full time writers organize their days so they don't turn into zombies. Or, maybe I'm the only one this happens to? I noticed this before and wondered if drinking too much caffeine was making me feel washed out. Both my kids were working yesterday and I mowed my lawn on Saturday so other than dropping off and picking up and running to the grocery store on Sunday I wrote all day. Then last night I sat in front of the TV and watched a bad movie. Miss Congeniality 2 - the best advertisement for never doing a sequel.
Today I skipped the coffee and I still feel lethargic with no energy to do anything else but eat and sleep. I know Nora writes all day like a full time job, I wonder what she does to keep her energy up? Maybe next time I plan an all day writing session I should plan part of it for Starbucks? Or do my exercise in the middle of the day rather than at night.
How long are your writing sessions? Do you find you have to break it up? Or get away from the desk or the house? Or does writing all day energize you?
9 comments:
I've just started giving myself afternoon writing sessions and what works for me is writing for about an hour then getting up to have a cup of tea or a healthy snack or to just watch 15-20 minutes of a TV show. I've found I can be very productive this way. I'll put it to the real test when school gets out and I'm home every day!
I wish I had an answer for you, Anne. I think your idea of putting your exercise in the middle of you long session would work -give you some more energy to sit back down at the computer.
The Day Job requires hours of computer work and I find I can't go longer than 4 or 5 hours without feeling horrible (lethargic) for the rest of the day. So I schedule my exercise inbetween. Gives me a second wind.
As for Nora - perhaps the knowledge that she's getting paid motivates her. If you knew you were sending your manuscript off for publication when it was done, you might look at sitting at the desk in a whole new way!
Lexi, breaking my session up into hour segments is probably a good idea. Some days I just get immersed in the story and don't want to move away from it.
Janet, so it isn't just me who feels like this after too many hours in front of the computer?
I'm going to schedule my day better so I don't feel so blah after a day of writing.
I write in short bursts. 15-30 minutes. Sometimes shorter. If I write all day, there's lots of stuff that happens between the writing.
I don't know how writing can be energizing. If you sit down to write 2000 words, no matter how excited you are by the story, getting words on the page is exhausting.
Cat, it's interesting how different writer's methods are. It takes me 30 minutes for my brain to start working. I don't know that I could get much done if I took it in such short chunks. But I'm up for trying a different methods to see if I can't find something that doesn't sap my energy for anything else.
Let us know how it goes, Anne - I may have to take a lesson or two :)
I can sit and write for hours if I'm in the mood and I have the opportunity, but they seldom happen at the same time. Still, I don't know that I could do eight hours at a time, maybe 3-4 max (even at work, I have to get up every couple of hours). I think getting up and going outside - or even writing in one place, getting up and walking to a starbucks or other public space to write some more.
I can write 5 hours and then my creative brain starts to shut down. But during that 4-5 hr stint I can get a lot done, usually 2 pgs/hour or more depending on the flow. Then the focus goes, the hunger sets in and I need to get up and move. That's the great thing about starting early in the AM. By the time I'd be done my 5 hrs, its lunchtime and I have the rest of the day to work on other things like marketing, editing, etc. That's if I were writing full time. As it is I try to jam as much as possible into my piddly 1.5 hrs.
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