What Happened to My Index Cards?
Once upon a time, I was very organized. When I had an editing assignment, I would write the total number of pages of the manuscript, divide it by the number of days until I promised it to the publisher or author, and came up with a per page daily rate that I stuck on an index card and attached to the first page. Same thing with my novels. Same thing with almost everything. I had daily goals.
Now? Not so much.
I know that many writers set a daily goal. I just found out one of my writing buddies does 1,500 words a day. Seven days a week. I just cannot seem to assign myself that. Yet my output is huge--just in terms of the number of words I write a year, the number of books I complete. So I'm not a slug. I just don't write every day.
I don't know what happened to me along the way in terms of those little index cards. Was it baby #1, #2, #3, or the Tasmanian Devil Baby #4, who appears to exist on a steady secret stash of coffee or something for how insanely energetic he is.
No . . . I think somewhere along the way, I just "gave in" to a sense that when I was in the zone, I would write until I dropped, and when I wasn't, I'd screw around and just be OK with not producing. That somehow, it was healthier FOR ME to not insist on a certain amount of pages. I was OK with letting it organically happen, and I guess I understood myself enough that I knew . . . sooner or later the zone would come and I would write two or three chapters a day without even trying.
So . . . along with the last post, this one is about giving yourself (myself!) permission to do it the way it works for you (or me).
Thoughts?
Labels: writing goals
posted by Erica Orloff at 1:00 PM
6 Comments:
Great way to let go of the story that being a writer has to look a certain way... as in so many pages per day.
I tend to write in spurts as well. Although the game of so many words or pages a day will definitely kick you into doing your writing if you are not doing it at all. It just works for some people and not for others.
Funny how we are all so similar, yet so very different.
Ewoh:
Like the new picture. :-)
And I definitely get that daily pages is a great thing for some people . . . but for me it would just be something to feel bad about when I didn't reach it. Because around THIS house, SOMETHING always comes up. Like today, Baby #4 . . . had a meltdown of epic proportions. A full 50-minutes shrieking and crying jag that was impossible to lull him out of, so I let him meltdown and told him when he was done, to come find me and I would try to make life a little better. Eventually, he found me and a Shrek ice pop did the trick. However, those 50 minutes? I couldn't have written a word. But it was just how his day was going. You know . . . it was what it was.
E
LOL, that's the truth! What other way is there to work?
I tell my students that they should find their own best way to practice. But then, if they don't get their assignment done, I yell at them for not doing it my way, LOL.
Poor things. But so many people stick to "my best way" when, um, their "best" way isn't working.
Thanks Erica, about the picture. Figured it was time to do something less serious... so, tada, the pirate aaarrrgggghhhh takes over :)
Yeah, life happens regardless of your plans. And I totally understand about the 50 minute meltdown... really and truly I do know about those :) And, I agree, there is no writing through that, unless you have really loud music and over-the-ear headphones.
The little ones, they need to blow off steam somehow, and they don't have the facility to do it otherwise - that is a function of learning and experience, although many adults don't seem to fare much better.
A child's world is very structural - meaning object to object relatedness - and very immediate - meaning emotional and in the moment - which does not make available many options for dealing with frustration, except for flailing, throwing and screaming. Letting him do what he needs to do is probably the best thing you can do for him.
Nothing against my mom here at all, but I think you are one hell of a fun mom and it must be just magical growing up in a house full of dreams and creativity like your children do.
Spy:
Oh yeah. MY way is best. LOL. ;-)
E
Ewoh:
That is PRECISELY his deal. The three other kids were VERY mellow kids. I never saw them so much as cry over a toy. Ever. It wasn't so much "Gee, I was a good mom" as they just came out of the womb these really mellow babies. But this little guy . . . he will wake up cheerful, climb into my bed with me to snuggle, ask for the "fish" blanket (like this morning) and, because I have NO idea where fish blanket is . . . I think the wash, he just FREAKED out. Object to object . . . object to emotion.
As for this household, it's chaotic and I DO think someday at least one of them will end up on an analyst's couch complaining that there was too much dreaming and picnicing and eccentric people and disorganized meals and not enough orderliness. Then they will probably go marry an anal-retentive who will despise his or her mother-in-law. :-)
E
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