I did finish CampNaNoWriMo, meeting my goal of 30,000 words. :) :D I'm very proud of myself. It feels good to be writing almost every day.
I learned that like most jobs, I need a break every few days. Once a week I could not write. It wasn't a block, it was that I needed some time away from the work to cultivate new ideas and not grow weary.
It's okay to not feel like writing when you've been diligent in writing every day. Sure, there were days that I did other things, like go to the zoo, or to a theme park. It is summer after all! But there were also days I did not write and did not have a good reason, simply that I didn't feel like it. Allowing myself this time off did not cause me to leave writing forever. If anything, it made me come back stronger.
I read, I listened to music, I colored, all other artistic pursuits in lieu of writing, but keeping myself creatively engaged. I grew jealous of other wonderful authors whose books were great reads. I found new bands to dance or rock out to. I watched some shows while coloring in printed sheets of adult coloring books. I also planned school lessons, made file folder work for independent work stations in my classroom (laminating queen!), and I did research for lesson plans.
Then I went back to writing.
One thing that motivated me was Twitter. I loved tweeting my progress and getting favorites, Re-tweets, or new followers every day. I followed many new writers, myself. I wanted to be able to Tweet my progress to people whom would understand and at least care a little. People understood what Camp Nano was, what writing to a goal felt like, and celebrated with me; which was a great feeling.
Connecting with people is a good thing. Feeling part of the big wide world is a good thing. It keeps us grounded. Having motivation is a great thing. It's all how you use it and how you see it. If you want to get lost in twitter for hours, you can. It's not nearly as bad as opening up pinterest, but you can read tweets or post tweets for an entire day. That is not productive, usually. Using it to motivate you to keep writing is productive.
Measure your breaks. Take them, enjoy them, but when they are over, get back to work! Find what motivates you, even if its a different thing every time, and use it to reach your goals.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
I learned that like most jobs, I need a break every few days. Once a week I could not write. It wasn't a block, it was that I needed some time away from the work to cultivate new ideas and not grow weary.
It's okay to not feel like writing when you've been diligent in writing every day. Sure, there were days that I did other things, like go to the zoo, or to a theme park. It is summer after all! But there were also days I did not write and did not have a good reason, simply that I didn't feel like it. Allowing myself this time off did not cause me to leave writing forever. If anything, it made me come back stronger.
I read, I listened to music, I colored, all other artistic pursuits in lieu of writing, but keeping myself creatively engaged. I grew jealous of other wonderful authors whose books were great reads. I found new bands to dance or rock out to. I watched some shows while coloring in printed sheets of adult coloring books. I also planned school lessons, made file folder work for independent work stations in my classroom (laminating queen!), and I did research for lesson plans.
Then I went back to writing.
One thing that motivated me was Twitter. I loved tweeting my progress and getting favorites, Re-tweets, or new followers every day. I followed many new writers, myself. I wanted to be able to Tweet my progress to people whom would understand and at least care a little. People understood what Camp Nano was, what writing to a goal felt like, and celebrated with me; which was a great feeling.
Measure your breaks. Take them, enjoy them, but when they are over, get back to work! Find what motivates you, even if its a different thing every time, and use it to reach your goals.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
2 comments:
Many writing experts swear by the WRITE EVERY DAY RULE! I believe our bodies and our minds tell us when we need a break. I know that I always return from a break with an intensity for writing that was lacking before. I agree that Twitter helps. I enjoy connecting with other writers and non writers on Twitter but admit that even after a year of really putting an effort into Twitter, I still feel like a newbie who doesn't have the secret code or doesn't know the secret handshake .
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