I have been doing better with my writing. I am currently working on a short story. Just like the others, I have the full story in my head. It is just getting it down on paper that I struggle with.
I finally figured it out. The thing I need is 'Accountability'. That is a bit trickier because the only one that cares about my stories is me. How do I show and make myself accountable if I am the one judging my own actions? I can come up with an excuse in a heartbeat.
I compared my 'work' writing with my real work. easy. I own my own business. I work for myself. I have to work, or I don't get paid. I have other employees that also don't get paid if they don't work. The down side is, as owner, I often get paid less than minimum wage. There are times I have to deal with government paperwork and banking and stuff like that. There is no customer handing me money for those times. That is stuff I have to do with no outside compensation. That is one thing I accepted when I opened the corporation.
Comparing it to writing. There are going to be times I put in the hours with no financial gain. I have been thinking of my online classes as 'writing'. That isn't the way to look at it. That is one of the 'extra' things that have to be done in order to make things go smoother. Other corporations make products that don't give them financial gain. I don't make products, but I have spent time on jobs that don't always give me proper financial gain. Being in business is a gamble. I have to look at each story as a gamble. Just like in my business, I can say No to a job when I see there is no money to be made. Is this story something readers will be interested in?
Once I decide on my next 'gamble' I have to be accountable with my time. I now have a time clock for my writing time. When I am going to work on my story, I have to punch in for work. When I am on the clock, I treat my time just like work. I am there for work and not personal business. No checking email or facebook. Usually, after a minute of not knowing how to improve a sentence or a paragraph, I switch over to check my email, thinking I'll get back to it in a minute. That minute often takes quite a bit of my time.
Now that I have an official 'time clock' it is a physical reminder that my time is taken.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Keep the Faith.
I finally figured it out. The thing I need is 'Accountability'. That is a bit trickier because the only one that cares about my stories is me. How do I show and make myself accountable if I am the one judging my own actions? I can come up with an excuse in a heartbeat.
I compared my 'work' writing with my real work. easy. I own my own business. I work for myself. I have to work, or I don't get paid. I have other employees that also don't get paid if they don't work. The down side is, as owner, I often get paid less than minimum wage. There are times I have to deal with government paperwork and banking and stuff like that. There is no customer handing me money for those times. That is stuff I have to do with no outside compensation. That is one thing I accepted when I opened the corporation.
Comparing it to writing. There are going to be times I put in the hours with no financial gain. I have been thinking of my online classes as 'writing'. That isn't the way to look at it. That is one of the 'extra' things that have to be done in order to make things go smoother. Other corporations make products that don't give them financial gain. I don't make products, but I have spent time on jobs that don't always give me proper financial gain. Being in business is a gamble. I have to look at each story as a gamble. Just like in my business, I can say No to a job when I see there is no money to be made. Is this story something readers will be interested in?
Once I decide on my next 'gamble' I have to be accountable with my time. I now have a time clock for my writing time. When I am going to work on my story, I have to punch in for work. When I am on the clock, I treat my time just like work. I am there for work and not personal business. No checking email or facebook. Usually, after a minute of not knowing how to improve a sentence or a paragraph, I switch over to check my email, thinking I'll get back to it in a minute. That minute often takes quite a bit of my time.
Now that I have an official 'time clock' it is a physical reminder that my time is taken.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Keep the Faith.
A great post!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a time card. Let us know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI have to smack myself around to keep to any kind of schedule, but it is not that productive, the smacking. I do better when I have a public chance of humiliation for not making deadlines than when I just have to be accountable to myself.