Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Thirty-eight

I finished writing my 38th story of the year, a 5,000-word Mother's Day confession that I began writing December 7. The final draft is printing now and it'll go in the mail this afternoon.

3 comments:

Kevin R. Tipple said...

After going to my local writers group meeting last Saturday and hearing myself dismissively described as the group critic (implying I didn't write fiction) I came home, took a pain pill, and contemplated my own writing for awhile. I had to admit that even before my world went upside down, I was very unfocused and rather sloppy regarding getting work done.

To be productive, I have set up some folders with each folder containing one story (drafts, crits, etc) this past week. I have literally blown the dust off of several stories I had sitting around here and examined them, looking for ways to improve the work. Made notes on several.

I have set a goal to work on my own fiction stuff for at least thirty minutes each day. Since thirty minutes is pushing hard the outside envelope of how long I can sit at a time, it seemed to be the goal to set so that I got in a writing session for myself first, before I started working on reviews, etc for others back/leg willing.

The current short story I am working on went through my group in the summer of 2009 and, based on the comments from folks, landed with a thud. I have no memory of sending it through the group, but have copies from everyone with numerous notes indicating it did go through. I suspect, based on some of the stuff I wrote, that it was created sometime in 2008.

Kevin

Michael Bracken said...

Organization is a key to productivity, and anything you can do to become better organized means that you'll have more time to be creative.

Another consideration, in your circumstances, is finding ways to be creative outside the ass-in-chair-at-desk way most of us work. Options, which are potentially cost-prohibitive, include using a laptop that can move with you to where you're comfortable and using dictation software.

I did both after my heart surgery a few years ago and found both beneficial. I've returned to ass-in-chair-at-desk for most of my writing because I've been doing it this way for a bazillion years and old habits are hard to break.

But if my circumstances change, I know I can work damn-near anywhere using the laptop, and I know that I can produce a working draft through dictation.

Kevin R. Tipple said...

We do have a laptop and I am using it while sitting in the old recliner when I can sit. Sitting there gets my legs elevated which helps the swelling some and turns down the pain level a little bit.

Dictation software would be a huge plus...but, right now the rent, power bill, etc has to come first.

But, yeah, I have to find new ways to write and keep my sanity.