From my archives
The
concept is sound, I thought. I would use
April to launch my novel writing project.
Now April 20, 2015, I am less sure.
The outcome is not what I expected.
The plan that I expected to outline hasn’t happened. The start point has not emerged. Planning may just well be another term for
procrastination.
I
know what’s going on. It’s fear – plain
and simple that has me stalled. And the
cure for that is to begin. I have no
plan but I don’t need one. Many of my
stories have been written without a plan as I use the D&D method. Discovery and Decisions in turn has served me
well in the past. And many of my stories
have been written without a plan.
One
of my writer friends describes writing as involving bum glue -place butt in
chair in front of the writing project and work.
I have heard the advice ‘Stay in the room’ -work through the
difficulties. So here I go: in the room and on the chair.
April 2016.
Fear isn’t particularly simple, but it
is manageable. I expect to have some
fear/anxiety/nervous energy about writing and I have decided to welcome it. Calmness might be seriously over-rated. Calmness might be the opening theme for
boring. In the past year, I have learnt
a few more things about planning as well.
·
I now use sub-goal
plans. These sub-goals are tiny steps
that I give my attention to.
·
I enlist accountability
buddies. At the moment, a friend and I
are exchanging weekly logs that include the plan and the outcome.
·
I step back and view my
actions as if from an outside observer.
Today, I see that I have checked my weekly log and I am writing a blog
essay. And the outside observer things works too as I imagine what I would do if I were moving towards my goals. What I imagine often makes it onto the list of things to do.
·
I take another angle if
a goal is eluding me. I was stalled in
the goal of ‘make an outline’, so I borrowed one and made modifications.
