They may not be good work habits, but they're my work habits

So, I'm taking a stab at this NaBloPoMo thing again. Thirty straight days of blogging. I wish I could do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), the original from which all the other Na's spun off, but I can't fathom putting 50,000 words or more down in that amount of time. Perhaps if my writing habits were more efficient, I'd try. But they are not. They are disgusting.

To wit, here's a typical writing session:

1. Open Word document. Read last paragraph written. Sigh. Take a sip of (coffee/tea/water/beer/wine).

2. Write sentence. Delete sentence. Write paragraph. Feel deserving of break. Check Facebook.

3. Go back to Word document. Read last two paragraphs. Write three more. You're on a roll. Until. A glitch. A bad spot of dialogue that needs fixing. You need to think on this. Check email.

4. Pour more coffee/tea/water/beer/wine. Check out boots on Zappos you've had your eye on. Sigh. You didn't carve this time from your day to shop, after all. Click to Word document. Oh yeah. Bad dialogue that needs fixing. Attempt to resolve. Still not right. Go to Google reader and peruse blogs. Remember book you wanted to put on hold at library. Put that book, and five others, in queue. Return to Word document. Finally correct horrendous dialogue so it's coherent. Get up, go to cupboard and fetch one-pound bar of Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate. Break off two squares and eat quickly. Break off another square. Try to savor.

5. Back to the bloody Word document. Sigh. You're tired of these characters. Who cares anyway? You'll never get this manuscript published. You're wasting hours, days, years of your life chasing something that won't happen. Wish someone was around to talk to. Text best friend.

6. Force another three paragraphs out. It's like juicing a boulder. Read what you've written so far that session. Feel shock that it equals a whole page and is decent.

Instead of NaNoWriMo, I'll just bore you with my life's November minutiae. Because somehow, even though writing fiction, which I claim to love and need, is often about as enjoyable as eating a handful of chalk, I seem to be able to, when necessary, tap out a blog post with few distractions.

Hope to see you around these parts. As always, thanks for reading!

Comments

[Karen (formerly kcinnova)]

Nothing wrong with minutiae! I'm not even attempting NaBloPoMo, let alone something as big as NaNoWriMo. Your work habits are better than mine. I prefer to sleep on a simple 3 stanza poem before reworking it.

[Cactus Petunia]

Bravo! Way more efficient than my writing sessions...

[Laura from the Chi]

Yes! I love November! Juicing a boulder is exactly what writing is like for me too, despite also claiming I love and need it. This is why I literally never finish anything I start writing. The editing in my brain never stops. So I stick to poetry. That, I can finish and walk away. Usually.

[Jennifer Jo]

"It's like juicing a boulder." Amen.

[V-Grrrl @ Compost Studios]

I never knew we had so much in common, ha ha ha. Are you sure we're not related? (And what boots are you crushing on on Zappos?) Looking forward to reading your posts.

[margie]

we are doing it as well. the writing is currently stalled because i am making new file folders for all our papers, reorganizing the drawers in my desk, getting up to check on the A's paint job on our little white soon to be green cabinet. not distracted AT ALL. note, we are both retired and don't really need new file folders, with labels, printed. lol

[Bev]

"Juicing a boulder" ha! It's not only about writing. I'll use it to describe much of life. Like getting my grands up and ready for school this week while their parents are out of town...giggle!

[Karen]

Your work habits work, which is more than can be said for some people.. cough cough.. people like me. There is no way I could pump out quality posts every single day. I need a day or two off to recharge the creative juices. Then again, if I had a boulder to juice, I wouldn't be lacking in creativity! Keep it up!!

[Pam-a-rama ding dong]

I love love love this. Juicing a boulder, my new favorite phrase. Your work habits look suspiciously like mine, which I find oddly comforting. I did manage to finish NaNoWriMo one year with those work habits (add to the list a shocking amount of time spent on the Nano boards)... but that was pre-kids. Now, no. Just no.