Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Winning The Battle
You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.
-- Margaret Thatcher
Terri's reminder to us that a writer's process can change very much when you cross that oh-so-hard hurdle of becoming a gasp! published author had me commenting that I don't currently think to much about how much my output will need to increase. That's mostly because for the most part I've been losing the battle to write lately.
It's a battle I've lost and won many times over the past few years. My victories have been small ones though. Limited. Fleeting. Eventually I surrender and let the craziness of my life fly its flag victorious.
There are months I take back my lunches and write a good 500-1000 words a day. And there are months, nay, multiple months in a row where I'm lucky if 100 words get added.
But I continue to battle on. I will never give up until the winning days outweigh the losing ones. That will be when the shift for me from writing without thinking about the future to writing with the future in mind will happen.
Because The Iron Lady is right. Not every war is won or lost in a single battle. In fact, everyday that a writer puts words on paper is a day you won the battle. To find the time, inspiration and sanity(!) to get your story down is a victory. Each and everyday.
Does your battle tally show more wins than losses? What helps you win that battle from day-to-day and week-to-week? Do you approach getting words on the page as a battle or have you won the war and its now become conquered territory? Are you like me and have multiple battles going on in your life at the same time?
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12 comments:
Right now, the only way I manage to count victories is with constantly shifting my focus. Write/edit/revise/promote...I feel like a warrior who keeps going because I'm not trying to do it all at once.
I think.
There are days when I wonder if most of my basic battles are done...now it's all about taking all the victories of words on the page and bringing organization and peace to the kingdom.
I'm not sure how I feel about it.
When life was crazy, I got more done...maybe???
And crew, yesterday was Scape's birthday!
Happy Birthday, Scape!!
I need to get words on the page every day. Okay, not every day. Because some days I can't. But every week. I need to push forward some every week. It's not that I just want to, I HAVE to.
In that way, I feel like I've won a lot of battles. Every day that I push back against the insane around me to find a half an hour or an hour to write, I feel like I've won.
I think I'd be more effective as a writer if I could getting a little more silence during more productive times to produce more words. Right now, my silence happens late at night when I have to brush off my desire to hit the hay with my desire to put words to page. It'd be nice to have a more productive, during light hours, time.
For me it depends on the week, and this week has not been good so far. I need to write this book but switching from editing back to writing, and starting over with (somewhat) new characters is proving difficult. My characters determine my story, so when the characters aren't talking, there's no words going onto the page.
I'm working very hard to woo them into sharing. We'll see if they respond to my courtship. Well, they have to respond or I have to write the story without them. This puppy is under contract.
And Happy Birthday, Scape!! Hope you had a glorious day.
I think for me it depends on the stress in my life. If I have work being steady and relatively conflict-free; and my family life (and friend life) is conflict-stress free--it's easier to carve an hour at night out to write on my story in some way. Making an effort to be thinking about story every day helps--keeps your mind in the game.
And yes, Happy Birthday, Scape!
Sorry I'm late! Early morning fires to put out at the job.
Thanks for the birthday wishes - it was a great day.
Mo - I think your battles might be more related to editing and marketing & promotion. You my dear, are a prolific writer.
Marnee - I've been amazing by your progress the past few months. Very inspiring.
I've actually made a deal with myself and the hubby last night. I've set aside a minimum of 30 minutes at night that are mine to write. 9-9:30. Those are my minutes. That's to start. I'm also going to finally try to take back the lunch at work too. But at least I know the hubby will make me stick to those 30 minutes to start. :)
Happy birthday Scapey!
I hope it is a most excellent one (minus all the battles that need to be won) and relaxing.
I feel like I'm always losing battles with my writing. It's a roller coaster ride for the most part. The up and down, the upside down and through the dark tunnels. And more often than not, my stomach drops out and I spend the rest of the time trudging along feeling like I want to sit down on the bench for a time out. But I know if I stop going, I might not get started again.
Camp NaNo is NOT going well this month. April is always the never ending parade of craziness in my life. Camp NaNo and NaPoWriMo together- not a smart idea.
Terri - thanks again for Monday's post. Still swirling around in my brain. I'd love to hear how you're courting those new characters into talking!
Hellie - Yep. My issue right now is that my job is never under control. It's non-stop chaos and crazy all the time. 2nd job is more stable but pays nothing really - more of a hobby that covers some expenses here and there.
It's how to win that words on paper battle no matter what life is doing to my day that I'm working to figure out.
Terri sayeth: My characters determine my story, so when the characters aren't talking, there's no words going onto the page.
I hear ya. Currently, the problem for me is the wrong characters start talking. Like I want to work on the UF, but characters from the SF romance are all chatty. Or worse yet, the fan fiction characters are drowning out everyone else.
Lately, though, I don't find the muse/characters. Whoever wants to get on the page, gets on the page. *Throws hands up, surrenders.*
"I don't fight the muse/characters." My fingers are like typos ninjas.
And happy birthday, Scape!
Thanks! I love that phrase "typo ninjas" - totally stealing it for my personal use. :)
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