On budget for the fifth day in a row, I'm starting to make this a bit of a habit. I shouldn't get blase about it though, 114,000 and 23 writing days still to go. As you may have guessed today is a great day at 6,000 words. I could have stopped at 5.15pm and gone and played Fallout 3, yes I restarted that over the weekend, but I kept going. I'm glad I did.
I listened to a couple of Writing Excuses podcasts over the weekend. The first included Peter Beagle and was titled Getting Into the Writers Mindset. I was looking forward to this, it seemed an excellent subject for a writer trying to make a living out of it like myself. I've got to say, it was disappointing. He rambled. A lot. I'm sure for a longer, more entertainment based forum he would be a fantastic person to listen to. It didn't really work for Writing Excuses. Brandon Sanderson and Howard Taylor did try and keep it on topic, but Beagle pretty much ignored them. It was a shame.
I did take one thing out of it though. Beagle said that when you write for a living it is a job. You get up and sit at your typewriter in the morning and stay there until the end of the day, no matter if you're stuck or not. I'm guilty of this. I can hit a slight bump that throws me off, I can't think of the right word or the story isn't quite there in my head. I'll walk away and do something else, normally non-work related. Beagle said you should stay there until blood is dripping on the pages and I think I get what he's saying. If you're sitting at a desk in an office or digging holes for a living, you can't walk away because something isn't working for you. You have to stay and fix it. How is that any different from writing? So that's my new plan. I don't move from the keyboard.
Hmm, maybe it wasn't that bad an episode after all. It was a bit frustrating to listen to though. Several times I had to refrain from shouting at the computer for Beagle to get on with it.
The second episode - Hiding the Open Grave was excellent, some of the tips are certainly being used in Revolution. It even gave me a good idea for a fresh angle on an old story.
For motivation I've found little goals with rewards are quite useful. At the moment I've set myself a goal of half an hour exercise and 5,000 words for today and tomorrow. If I meet that, and I have today, then I get to go and see Taken 3 at the cinema. It's silly, but I do feel really good about having reached the halfway point.
Total now at 36,000 words.
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