Keep Your Hands on the Keyboard

I used to believe that when my kids grew up I would have no trouble writing.  But while I have more time now, I am still so busy that I have difficulty keeping my focus on my writing when I do sit down at my computer. It turns out that my kids were just one distraction among many.  So I'm brushing up on how to keep focused to make the best use of the time I've got.  Here are a few things that help, if I will apply them consistently.

• Schedule writing time and make a chart to keep track of word count. This drives home the point that this is a job and inspires organization and control. My boss wouldn't let me get away with being a slouch, so why should I indulge myself?
• Do research first and leave blanks when more information is needed, rather than interrupting the flow to find the answer.
• Write a synopsis/outline/loose outline/list of scenes to point the story in the right direction when the flow of ideas fizzles out. This is for SOTP writers, too.
• Read over the last scene you wrote at your last writing session just to get the juices flowing, but DO NOT stop to make edits. This is to help you pick up where you left off.
• Do not stop to look up details such as the name of the protagonist's dog, the color of her vehicle, her street name, etc.  Leave a blank and fill it in during the editing which comes much later. OR type up a list of these details and pin them to the wall behind your computer screen so you can glance up for the answer without removing your hands from the keyboard.
• Clear your writing space of distractions. Personal effects on your desk or walls are fine unless they remind you of your last vacation when your toes were in the sand and you get a sudden craving for fish tacos and start thinking of what you should make for dinner. Leaving things out in your peripheral vision can steal your attention.
• Keep creature comforts close at hand to discourage you from being tempted to get up and retrieve them.  Kleenex, a drink or snacks of choice, Chap Stick, whatever you need, keep it nearby. Your cell phone does not count as a creature comfort.
• Get comfortable.  Invest in a chair that keeps you from pitching forward toward the screen in a slouch or doesn't cut off circulation in your legs because they don't touch the floor.
• Turn off all electronic devices - except the document you are working on. All social networking is taboo while writing. 
• Set a timer signaling a break or the end of your writing time.  Promise yourself you will not get up until it rings and resist the urge to hold it to your ear frequently to make sure it's still ticking.
• Leave a scene/sentence/word/idea unfinished at the end of the writing time so there is a thread to pick up for the next session which makes it easier to get back into the story. Scribble down the basic direction, in case of forgetfulness.
• If all else fails, at least keep your hands on the keyboard.

We all have to learn tricks that keep us focused on our stories and that make the best use of our writing time.  Can you think of suggestions to add to my list? We'd love to hear!

Topic of the Week: Crossing the Finish Line

7 Tricks to Meeting Word Count Goals

This guy looks like he's about to puke. Writing a novel (and evidently, running a race) is excruciating work, requiring countless hours of solitude and brain work. Throwing up is the best response to that kind of exertion.

But notice, he is crossing the finish line.

And you can too.

Like this:

1. Set a reasonable but challenging word count for each day. (None of this will work if you don't start here.)

2. Pay someone to call you every day to ask if you've reached your word count for the day. Short on cash? Some will do this for chocolate. I would.

3. Learn to write in noisy places. Take your laptop or your pad of paper to a coffee shop, bingo parlor, or bowling alley (advanced writers only) to develop your focus. Ear buds with soothing music work like a silencer. Use them as you would training wheels.

4. Avoid your email, FaceBook, or any other online time-sucking site until you've reached your word count. Try a week-long break from social media. You'll be shocked by your productivity.

5. Think of your writing space as a bunker. Keep an emergency first aid kit and seven days of nonperishable food items stocked by your desk. Hurricanes are not considered a grace period. Sorry. Don't forget duct tape and a generator. No phone reception, sorry again. Turn off and unplug, people.

6. For the gambler in you: Set up a partnership with someone who is dead serious about reaching their word count each day. Agree on a goal. Let's say you spent too much time oohing and ahhing  over friend's pictures on FaceBook, and you missed your word count. That means you owe your partner, who bypassed all social media, a certain amount of money. I know two writers who pay $125 for each missed day. It doesn't have to be that much, maybe $10. But it has to hurt a little. Ouch!

7. Celebrate each day's accomplishments. Meeting a word count takes brain power, and you did it! Self-care is very important for writers. Be deliberate about meeting with real-life people, the kind you can hug. You'll be renewed for the next day's challenge.

How do you get those words on the page? Anything to add?

Lessons from a Siamese

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One of my favorite comics is 'Get Fuzzy' by Darby Conley in which Satchel, the compliant, gullible pooch, is abused by Bucky, the conniving, misguided Siamese. Bucky steals money from his owner's wallet to buy things on eBay and dabbles in writing.

Snoopy (Charles Schulz) was a struggling writer, too. I've clipped comics of his endless rejection letters and attempts at "It was a dark and stormy night." I often felt Snoopy's pain, but Bucky's forays into writing are strictly mercenary so he gets no sympathy from me.

On my fridge I have posted one panel in which Bucky reasons that if monkeys on typewriters could produce Shakespeare, then squirrels on word processors with Spellcheck would produce a script for Two and a Half Men. In today's comic, he has written a novel that falls woefully short of the word count, so Bucky adds a descriptive word (greenish) to make it longer. Today he struck a nerve.

Word count is a booger. Smart writers will do their research in advance to see which publishers (a) buy the types of novels they write, and (b) determine the word count the publisher requires. If life gets in the way of your writing (translation: work, family, illness, etc) it's possible that enough time can pass before you complete your manuscript so that publishers will either have changed their requirements or stopped publishing altogether. It's happened to me, and I don't think I'm the only one.

So, let's say you've been to a conference and met with an editor, and the great news is that they are interested! The bad news is that your manuscript is too short. They need 10,000 more words. Yikes. You, of course, agree. You can do it. Then you go home scratching your head. The story is done - finis. It's tight and polished. You've said everything that needed saying. Do you really have to 'pad' it to meet the publisher's guidelines? You could insist that the story is complete as written, but you would most certainly not receive a contract.

By the time you present your manuscript to an editor, you've completed the editing process many times over. You've macro and micro edited, performed search-and-destroy on unnecessary words, cut stagnant scenes filled with description. The last thing you want is to fill the story with fluff and look like an amateur.

Besides, wouldn't it be a betrayal of your art to pad it for the sake of a sale? You could view it that way, or you could see it as an opportunity. Here's your chance to develop some minor plot points or delve more deeply into a specific character trait important to the story. You can insert some of those scenes you cut during the editing phase, or come up with some more definitive, compelling ones. You have the freedom to strengthen any part of the story without word count consideration, as long as those words survive the ensuing editing gauntlet.

Ten thousand words is really a gift, when you look at it this way. That's about 300 words per page, or 3.5 pages per ten-chapter manuscript, give or take a few pages. Not as big as it seems. Once you feel the wind in your hair, you may actually have to reign in your word count, instead of struggling to fill it.

What are your challenges with word count? Do you struggle to fill it or end up chopping volumes in the final draft? We'd love to hear!