Monday, May 14, 2012

Treading Water

The last few weeks I have made little progress with my WIP and with the exercise I want (need) to be doing. The exercise I brush off with as a lack of time (read into this-- I don't want to get up early because the bed is so comfy!) The writing, well, time certainly is a factor there, too, but so is procrastination. I know where I want to go, have some of it written out, but given the choice between sitting down and writing or watching TV, I find myself choosing TV.

So, I have decided I need to set some goals for myself. Ones that have a reward for achieving and a penalty for blowing it off.  My questions to you are these:

1) What kind of writing goals do you set? Daily word count? Daily time amount?
2) What kind of rewards do you allow yourself?
3) What kind of penalty do you enforce?

Looking forward to hearing what all of you have to say. I will share my goals and all on Thursday, so you can help me be accountable.

Hope you all have a great Monday!

4 comments:

  1. Well, I'm not a writer, but I know what kind of goals work for me. Obtainable. If I was to put writing goals on myself, I'd do some easily obtainable goals initially. Then build up from there. If you want to put an hour in a day, don't start with an hour, start with 10 minutes, or 15, or even 30. But once it is a habit, increase that time.

    As for that exercise, if you find something that works, let me know. I've been avoiding exercise for way too long.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't give myself anything as formal as word count or clocked time as a goal, because that never works for me. I give myself the goal to "work on it for some time" each day. When I'm not agonizing over word count or minutes, I get totally immersed in my WIP and end up spending about two or three hours, some times less, sometimes more.

    Find out what works for you. The important thing is to do some writing each day, even if only 15 minutes.

    Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I find a timer helpful. I'll write or edit or proofread for a certain amount of time and then have 15 minutes for emails or FB or twitter. Then I get back to work.

    Of course, this is if the boys are sleeping and allow me to get work done! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mary, I feel for you. I've struggled with this for years. In January, I started a Facebook Group: Write On to Build On. There are 8 or 9 of us. Each day one of us posts the date. Then we all comment on what we did for the day. If we don't write, we owe $1 to our charity Build On. Every three months we donate our totals. It's kept me doing something nearly every day because the support is awesome. And when I don't write, it's still a win for others.

    If you're interested in joining or finding out more, let me know.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by. I love reading comments and will respond by e-mail as soon as possible.