I've been off the radar for a little while. I haven't been slacking off... not completely. I've just been really bogged down with school. I'm in my senior year of college, and although I've been going long enough to be a doctor I'll only have a bachelor's degree in Writing.
I wanted to write up a blog for a couple of reasons. First, it's been way too long. Second, I wanted to remind everyone how important it is to still write every single day, no matter how busy you get. My time has been severely cut lately. While I might be able to count academic writing as part of my actual "writing" I don't do that. Why? Because I don't get the same joy out of the process.
So if you're facing a serious lack of free time I suggest trying some of these methods to revamp your writing schedule:
1. Pick a new time of day to write
If you find your usual ritual of waking up early and hitting the keyboard isn't cutting it anymore then try finding a new ritual or method. My big change was afternoon writing. I was used to going to the coffee shop or library and sitting down with my scripts or pitches and not being interrupted for hours. That's not happening right now, so I've had to switch to writing between classes and in the evening. It sucks for consistency, but at least it gets done.
2. Don't be too hard on yourself
You should still be hard on yourself, but not at the jump off a bridge level. I used to set a word goal every day that I would try to hit. For a while it was 2,000 words minimum. I just don't have time to do that right now. So usually, especially with scripting, I set a minimum page requirement. With scripting that's pretty easy. I give myself a goal of three to five script pages a day. Not terribly huge work, but not that small either.
3. Just write -- even if you feel like you can't
I've never really had writer's block, but when I'm stuck on a story and can't figure out what to do I just start working on something else. That way I don't lose momentum and when I work my way out of the problem in the first story I can jump back in. Now this might not work for everybody out there. I know lots of writers who can't switch back and forth. I just know that it works for me, so it might work for someone else.
4. Do a warm-up
This has helped quite a bit. I tend to write something else first before diving into my bigger projects. I write the Alternative Comics Beat article for Cosmic Book News. That's a great warm-up because I get to talk about comics without actually writing scripts. I get my head in the mindset of what I think a good comic book can do and then jump off that springboard I've built for myself.
I hope this helps someone who is stuck in any kind of writing rut and has had their free time cut short. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any other good suggestions or any questions. I'm going to try to post daily or at least every other day from now on.
Thanks for reading!
