What Works

A discussion is going on over at the Nocturne thread at eharlequin, but you don't need to rush over there to get the background stuff for this blog post. In fact, it's the same discussion repeated, countlessly, on many a writer blog.

There is a whole contingency of writers who have a "page per day" goal. And that's great. Some of them post little meters on their blog to chart their progress--also great. In fact, I know precisely which of you blog readers, among my regular pals, falls into that category--and I love ya! But in the end, we tend to applaud that which we admire. And there is a risk, sometimes I think, especially with NaNoWriMo starting soon, to focus on schedules and so on, to the point of calling us schedule-less fools "scattered." Or disorganized. Or whatever.

Now, the thing is, we do revere what it is we like in ourselves very often. Case in point: Parent-teacher conferences. Two of my four kids are messy. One is exceedingly neat. One is 18 months old so he's a cyclone. But my two messy kids, when I would visit their classrooms, had teachers who made a special point of showing me how they didn't (in one case) keep their pencils the way they were supposed to. "They are supposed to line them up over here and . . . . and . . . ." And so the lessons of organization were being taught. BUT, here's the thing. At no point, did the teachers ever pause and say, "Have you ever seen your son's comics? [side note: They are AMAZING!] Have you ever seen what he writes? Have you ever heard your daughter's musical abilities?" The creative things don't fit in the round hole. So square pegs . . . well, not so applauded by the "system."

I don't begrudge the teachers and their lined-up pencils. It's a way to be. One way. I used to, when I was a younger, more passionate version of myself, come home muttering things like "Anal-retentive b****." But that's because what I applauded and lauded was creativity. One of my children drew an entire mural on a wall. I gave her the "we draw on paper, not walls" speech, but I had to admit, even to her, the scale of it was pretty amazing for a four-year-old. Then she drew a similar scene, complete with mountains and hikers and ski chalets, on my couch. My solution wasn't to freak but to think, "It is not my destiny, right now, to own expensive furniture."

Anyway, scattered, chaotic, disorganized, whatever . . . I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with my way of doing things. I've sold 25+ novels and I am still thriving. I love what I do. Yes, it's sometimes flying blind, winging it, whatever. And no, I cannot tell you week to week how many pages I write--or even if I've written ANY pages.

The point of this post is simply, as writers across the blogosphere gear up for NaNoWriMo, to say . . . you know there is a place for you as a writer if you don't follow a schedule, don't stay in the lines, if your pencils don't line up, if you have four kids, three dogs, a parrot, a python, and murals on your couch. If you can't commit to a schedule because you just never know what the day will bring. There is a place for you. You can STILL be a writer.

So . . . just applauding our differences. This is what works for me. What works for you?