A Mid-Year Resolution:
May. 25th, 2010 03:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capri0mniIt hasn't become a habit yet, but I'd like to cultivate it as a habit this summer:
At least once a day:
Yes, it means I'll end up with a metric buttload of unfinished stories. But right now, I'm stuck in the rut of thinking that if I don't think I'll be able to finish something, it's not worth even starting.
And this way, when the next Screnzy or NaNo comes along, I'll have buttload of random vignettes to read through, to spark my brain when the dreaded Writer's Block comes along...
So far, I've done this three times, total (The bit with Christopher and the pebble-that's-really-an-egg, and once yesterday, and once today). I remember reading (or maybe hearing) somewhere that it takes six weeks of everyday-doing to turn something into an ingrained, automatic habit. I hope this becomes one of those habits. And after ten minutes becomes a habit, I can step up to 15, then 20, 30, 45, and so on.
I have a hunch (or a hope) that writing against the clock (especially a tightly set clock) will help me get into the habit of jumping in right away and writing something, and just going with it. If I made this resolution to write for three hours every day, instead of ten minutes, I fear I'd spend most of that time staring at the blank page and panicking.
I remember writing everyday-ish like this when I was a teen. I was a lot happier as a teen than I am now. I think this writing habit (or lack of it) has a lot to do with my happiness quotient.
At least once a day:
- Get out my minute timer,
- set it for ten minutes
- start an entirely new scene or snippet of a story, without premeditation
- stop when the timer stops, even if that's in the middle of a sentence, or a word.
Yes, it means I'll end up with a metric buttload of unfinished stories. But right now, I'm stuck in the rut of thinking that if I don't think I'll be able to finish something, it's not worth even starting.
And this way, when the next Screnzy or NaNo comes along, I'll have buttload of random vignettes to read through, to spark my brain when the dreaded Writer's Block comes along...
So far, I've done this three times, total (The bit with Christopher and the pebble-that's-really-an-egg, and once yesterday, and once today). I remember reading (or maybe hearing) somewhere that it takes six weeks of everyday-doing to turn something into an ingrained, automatic habit. I hope this becomes one of those habits. And after ten minutes becomes a habit, I can step up to 15, then 20, 30, 45, and so on.
I have a hunch (or a hope) that writing against the clock (especially a tightly set clock) will help me get into the habit of jumping in right away and writing something, and just going with it. If I made this resolution to write for three hours every day, instead of ten minutes, I fear I'd spend most of that time staring at the blank page and panicking.
I remember writing everyday-ish like this when I was a teen. I was a lot happier as a teen than I am now. I think this writing habit (or lack of it) has a lot to do with my happiness quotient.
