Week One Of Writing My Book

Image via WikipediaI'm excited to report on the success of week one book writing.  This is of course the honeymoon period of it all and I am hopeful that I can keep the energy and the creativity flowing.  This has been quite a concern of mine bubbling just below my consciousness, primarily because I often feel stuck in my blog writing and am so afraid that block will surface in writing a book as well.  In fact, as I prepared to start the endeavor, I could feel myself stalling, creating more chores to complete before I started, just one more thing to do first and then I'll be diving in.  It is definitely an avoidance mentality that I face weekly in writing a blog but it is magnified at the thought of writing a lengthy book.

Here was the plan and how it played out:  I have a house in the Georgia mountains about an hour and a half away where I thought I would have fewer distractions.There I could focus myself on writing for 3 days this first week of my holiday break and potentially four or even more days next week.  My plan was to leave Sunday afternoon to drive there and begin fresh on Monday morning, writing all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. By Sunday afternoon, I was sabotaging my own plan.  I decided I had some last minute Christmas things I needed to get done and stores I needed to frequent were not open on Sunday afternoon... so I decided I would do it quickly Monday morning and leave before lunch.  Of course that didn't happen, one thing led to another and before I knew it, I made excuses that involved the compromise of writing at home on Sunday afternoon while multitasking and baking pumpkin bread!  I didn't leave until Monday afternoon around 3:00 and encountered a huge traffic accident which tied up the roadway a bit on the way.  I seriously considered turning around and heading home even though I was already 30+ minutes into the drive.  Luckily I didn't because once I arrived, I felt an immediate peace and focus of energy.  I prepared everything for an early morning beginning and then allowed myself the freedom of enjoying the evening at the mountain house to catch up on some recreational reading of blogs and watching of videos.

Tuesday  and Wednesday mornings, I was up extremely early and after my morning devotion and routine I was writing away.  I wrote steadily each morning, then spent the afternoons and evenings relaxing and refreshing some of my research through reading.  End result of two days of writing? Twenty-seven pages and 5500 words.  I'm pretty excited!

What was my lesson learned?  Make a plan that involves setting aside specific times to write.  Allow for some flexibility but don't let yourself get completely derailed.  It is so easy to get caught up in the urgent and neglect the important.  Once you've set your plan, don't allow yourself to compromise on the plan.  If you do get off track, don't give it up altogether but salvage what you can of the remaining time and continue moving forward.  Action trumps inaction every time!!!

What about you?  How do you accomplish your writing goals?  Do you set aside specific times to write?  Do you have a certain place to write?  What do you do when you get off track to get yourself refocused?