Are You in a Hurry?

[Philip Overby]

I get the sense I may not be the only one that feels this way, but I tend to feel like I need to put time limits on my goals in writing. Either by keeping up with word counts (which helps me) or feeling a need to get something published by a certain date, I always feel pressure to hurry up and get something done. I know very well that writing isn't a fast craft by any means and it shouldn't be rushed for any kind of time specific goal (unless you have a deadline to meet.)

Do you give yourself deadlines or goals to meet? Such as the Mythic Scribes Blood Pact group which is designed to get people motivated to be published by 2014, do you have any time related goals as a writer? Do you feel they help you or demotivate you? Do you feel like you need the pressure to write quickly or do you appreciate more of "I'll finish it when I finish it" approach?

P.S. One great thing about writing is there is no limit on age to become successful. Tons of great writers didn't become successful ever or until after they were dead, and others labored many years until they reached their goals. I'm coming up on my 32nd birthday, so I'm having my yearly, "When am I going to finish a novel and send it out there?" moment.

 

[Chilari]

I think a time limit is necessary. A "one day" approach never gets anything done. Set yourself a goal and a deadline and suddenly it's easier to find time for it. For my part, while yes I have signed the Blood Pact, my current approach is to try to write something every day. Mostly that's just a ten minute freewriting session at the moment, though I did write a scene when particularly inspired a couple of days ago. I'm working on something, slowly, and I'm building up the world and the characters in these freewriting sessions a day at a time.

I've got different layers of goals. In the short term, it's writing every day. In the medium term, it's completing, editing and publishing a story. And in the long term it's making a living from writing and writing-related activities alone. No boss to answer to, no long commute or 6am alarm, no clock watching as I wait for hometime. No hours away from home missing my fiance, wanting a cuddle or worrying when he's having a Bad Day.

Though as far as the age thing is concerned, if I become successful I'd very much like to be young enough - and alive enough - to enjoy it. What's the point in success if you're not around to benefit from it? So it would be quite nice to at the very least have sufficient income from both my job and writing(-related activities) by the time I am 30 to be able to live in a nice house with nice carpet that isn't worn through and new curtains and double glazed windows and a dish washer. And I'd quite like not to have to rely on my current job 100%, what with job stability concerns and low prospects for a pay rise.

So yes, I'm in a hurry. A bit of one anyway. I'm not going to rush things because I think I'll do more harm than good by publishing something that isn't up to par in June instead of something worthwhile in December. But I do want to publish. I feel I'm ready, or at least almost there. I got Ailith's Gift published in Myths Inscribed, that's got to count for something. So for now I just need to produce something and polish it, check it through beta readers, edit some more then publish. And I think it's not unreasonable to try to do that before the end of this year. I've got almost twelve months, after all.

 

[BWFoster78]

Phil,

I think it depends on where you are as a writer. If you are at a point where you're seriously ready to start publishing and wish to try to make a career of it, you're going to have to have time-based goals. If you want to do it as a hobby or if you're still learning, there would seem to be little advantage to it.

 

[Philip Overby]

Phil,

I think it depends on where you are as a writer. If you are at a point where you're seriously ready to start publishing and wish to try to make a career of it, you're going to have to have time-based goals. If you want to do it as a hobby or if you're still learning, there would seem to be little advantage to it.

I'm ready to start really giving it a go this year. So writing everyday will have to be a necessity and not negotiable. I don't really consider myself a hobby writer, but I've been published several times, some for poetry, some for stories (online and print), however I've only been paid for my writing once when I won a contest. Getting to where I'm getting paid (no matter how much) for my writing is my goal for now. It's not so much about making money per se, but about getting my work in some professional markets.

Chilari, I think I'm similar to you. I'm working towards short-term goals at the moment and then working my way up. As long as I'm working towards something, I feel confident that I'll get where I want to go.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I'm a mix.

I don't really care or stress about how long it takes me to bring a work from conception to completion. However, at the same time I have very strict daily writing goals which help to keep progress moving and avoid any scenario where nothing ever gets completed.

 

[Anders Ämting]

I wouldn't say I'm in a hurry, rather my lack of productivity is very frustrating. I have given myself this next year to at least complete a first draft, but the problem is that deadlines are functionally meaningless for me - I have serious problems getting motivated and I can't just set a date and expect that to change anything.

 

[Butterfly]

One of the things I learned from Nano - I need these monthly goals to give a kick you know where. If I just go with the alternative, that 'It'll be done when it's done,' or that 'I'll do it when I'm ready,' it will never get done.

 

[Penpilot]

Yeah, I'm in a bit of a hurry. I was supposed to have the third draft of my current novel done in October and ready to send around by new years, but I found a few rough patches that slowed me down, and as I'm writing this now, I'm just polishing the final scene to the draft. My goal is to have the read-to-send-out draft done by the end of January. But best laid plans... haha.

Any way, I think it's healthy to set reasonable goals even if you don't make them. They give you a target to aim for. Otherwise it's too easy to put things off. It's all about the baby steps.

I always try to temper my impatience with the thought that it's going to take as long as it's going to take if I want the story to be what I want it to be. But for me, to avoiding the eternal editing phase, I have to know when I'm spinning my wheels on something or making true progress. If it's the former, it's time to move on from the scene or even the whole project.

 

[Addison]

Limiting is a good thing, if you do it right. I started limiting my time about a year ago after I spent three straight days working and writing. (This is without sleep) After I finally slept I read over what I wrote. I'm not ashamed to say it, it sucked.

I'm not joking. It started good, strong, colorful, then phbbbttt! Flat lined! Meh, there were a few places where it perked, but it was still dead. I deleted seven and a half chapters of dead stuff. And it was dead because I pushed it. What I thought was an imagination high was just me being.....very awake I guess. But I did a guess-timation and found that if I write in two or three our blocks then my writing stays sharp and bright. Any longer and it goes down hill.

So setting a limit to your writing time can keep your writing fresh, colorful and your mind sharp and keep new ideas and developments coming.

 

[saellys]

I hoped my co-writers and I would finish the second draft of Camlann by the end of January. It's not going to happen, and it was probably unrealistic (we're over halfway done, though!). But while I've been in a hurry, I wouldn't say I've been hurrying. In fact, I'm taking extra care when I write chapters that don't thrill me, because I don't want them to seem rushed.

 

[ThinkerX]

I do have a time limit of sorts...actually a couple of them.

First, I'm looking at starting a major 'real world' project come spring, which going from past experience will likely occupy the bulk of my time for a year. I really should have begun it last year, but put it off. That project starts...between it and work, my writing time drops dramatically.

Second...I turn fifty in a few months, and my energy level just ain't what it used to be twenty years ago. Combined with my big real world project...I'm going to be a near zombie. (Been considering hiring out more of the RW project than I did the last time because of this, but that would hurt money wise...though I might be able to do it.)

So...the goal is to try to finish up and send off two or three of the novella length stories before the big project starts, and maybe some of the short stories. But once the big project starts, even if I hire a lot of it out, my writing time goes way down.

Once the big project is wrapped up, I might have a lot of writing time. I might actually *have* to write for a living, situation depending.

 

[wordwalker]

True story, of a contract worker who works irregular months:

• 2010, I started my idea for Shadowed and my biggest job at about the same time-- and after many exhausted "1 chapter a week"s, finished the book, something I hadn't done in 15 years.
• 2011, busy with the contract. Lots of writing ideas but nothing happened.
• 2012, much of my time was free to write The High Road... and it took me 6 months to get through Chapters 4-6 because I kept rewriting them.

The only writers I've ever heard of who didn't need some kind of structure to do their best are the ones so in love with the process they can't keep away from the keyboard (and that's usually a "honeymoon period" that they find will need discipline in time). Without that, there are just too many ways to slide back into Wannabe-dom.

We all need it. Maybe it's measured in time, or words, or finished products. We're writers because we CARE about our stories enough to get through hundreds of hours nobody else can understand, but that doesn't make it easy and there's no shortage of cracks to fall through.

I don't think anyone's ever found a different way to get the writing done and keep doing it.

 

[Leif Notae]

I think the problem here is that "we" (a generic trap to fall into for all of us) often berate ourselves for not hitting a targeted time and date. We often think it X doesn't happen, then I am a failure and I should go write the scripts for the drive-thru windows at Wendy's.

That's not the case. The anxiety you are feeling, the pushing you are experiencing... That's all external. You want to write a book and get it published to validate you are something, yet you are doing more to be a writer than just waiting for the market to pick your book or hiring an editor at ungodly sums to shred your dreams.

Take the time to step back and look at the bigger picture. Stop listening to the outside people (myself included) who make value judgments and understand this is a marathon, not a race. You'll word when you can word, and your words will carry the weight they need to and will be discovered by someone, ANYONE, who needs to read them.

Even touching one fan is better than dreaming that you can touch millions and never taking the action.