Okay, I have been thinking about the subject of New Years resolutions since writing my last post. I have been feeling unmotivated the past few days and have spent all day in my head searching for the reason and trying to figure out how to get motivated. I hope taking on a fiction project for the new year will give me some of the motivation I am seeking.
The reading I have been doing lately is also in hopes of lighting a fire under my ass in the fiction department. I have been reading the type of fiction I want to start writing in hopes of it rubbing off on me in some way. I also have not turned to my usual sources of writing motivation, so maybe that is effecting me also.
I usually turn to one of two books when I need to start writing; The Writing Life by: Anne Lamott and also A Moveable Feast by: Hemingway. I think now though I may have added the third book to this list of sacred text; The Triumph of the Thriller by: Patrick Anderson.
We will see how well it works in about a week. I have found that while I am actually doing the writing I can not read too much fiction or it influences the work I am doing. So I think I am going to finish reading the Silva novel while I outline the novel. I may continue reading because I am working in a genre I am not familiar with.
My usual writing routine however is to hand write my first draft, then type and then do revisions on a computer. I can not usually write at home, so I usually go out and work. My best writing is done at coffee shops and bars. The office will not work either because there are too many distractions. So I think I will start going to the coffee shop across the street from it to work. I also need some music on my MP3 player so I can tune out everything. be more zen about it all. I have to be careful on my music choice though. I can not work if the music has words, so I am limited to classical, techno, and jazz. So I need to start working on getting some music together for that.
I need to be very simple to get work done. I do not need much, but the things I do need have to be just right; the right kind of pens, a new notebook, the outline index cards, my MP3 player with good music on it, and a book. Anything else I have with me will only distract me.
One of the other distractions I have to avoid when I am writing is also the most difficult for me; the Internet! It is also the reason I can not write fiction on a laptop really. This is why I am trying to get money for a NEO Alphasmart word processor.
Okay I am going to quit ranting about this for now and go start on the outlining for the novel. I promise to keep you, my dear readers, updated on my progress.
The reading I have been doing lately is also in hopes of lighting a fire under my ass in the fiction department. I have been reading the type of fiction I want to start writing in hopes of it rubbing off on me in some way. I also have not turned to my usual sources of writing motivation, so maybe that is effecting me also.
I usually turn to one of two books when I need to start writing; The Writing Life by: Anne Lamott and also A Moveable Feast by: Hemingway. I think now though I may have added the third book to this list of sacred text; The Triumph of the Thriller by: Patrick Anderson.
We will see how well it works in about a week. I have found that while I am actually doing the writing I can not read too much fiction or it influences the work I am doing. So I think I am going to finish reading the Silva novel while I outline the novel. I may continue reading because I am working in a genre I am not familiar with.
My usual writing routine however is to hand write my first draft, then type and then do revisions on a computer. I can not usually write at home, so I usually go out and work. My best writing is done at coffee shops and bars. The office will not work either because there are too many distractions. So I think I will start going to the coffee shop across the street from it to work. I also need some music on my MP3 player so I can tune out everything. be more zen about it all. I have to be careful on my music choice though. I can not work if the music has words, so I am limited to classical, techno, and jazz. So I need to start working on getting some music together for that.
I need to be very simple to get work done. I do not need much, but the things I do need have to be just right; the right kind of pens, a new notebook, the outline index cards, my MP3 player with good music on it, and a book. Anything else I have with me will only distract me.
One of the other distractions I have to avoid when I am writing is also the most difficult for me; the Internet! It is also the reason I can not write fiction on a laptop really. This is why I am trying to get money for a NEO Alphasmart word processor.
Okay I am going to quit ranting about this for now and go start on the outlining for the novel. I promise to keep you, my dear readers, updated on my progress.
