Wednesday already

[ksmith]

Only 866 words yesterday, 384 words short of goal. Discipline is a problem. I didn't have DSL when I wrote the first four books. Didn't have iTunes either, although that's not as bad a distraction as being able to go online with the tap of a touchpad.

Don't tell me to disconnect the cables and give them to someone to hide. Until I get into the speed zone--where I'm not seeing anything except the finish line--I'll still want to go online and if I can't go online, I'll feel deprived and I am no fun when I'm feeling deprived.

It's something I need to work out on my own. When can I go online, and for how long.

Hi. My name's Kris, and I am a 'Netoholic

Hi, Kris!

I've been working on finishing up two chapters that have been flapping in the breeze since forever. Not crazy about one, but the point of the current exercise is to just get the words down. The second one, I like better. The only problem is, whole chunks of wordage are going to need to go out the window because things are moving too slowly, and Jani is in a situation where she would not be moving slowly.

The first half of this book will need so much rewriting, it isn't even funny. I'll also need to lose about a third of it, and won't that be fun?

But hey, I know the ending. The last fifth or so, she said as she crossed her fingers, should not present too much of an issue. The spadework that will be required to make the front four-fifths match up with it, however, is the reason why I needed long, unbroken stretches of time.

I need to go into the office for a few hours tomorrow, drat it. Need to wrap up next year's goals.

Comments

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Hummm....if you finally need some feedback, holler. I am having trouble writing, but I seem to be able to comment effectively.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

My concern is that it isn't fit to be read yet. There's a whole section in the middle that I think needs to be condensed big time. I just had to write some things out of my system. It's almost as if I've become very good at writing 20 manuscript pages of Not Much Happens. This could be, however, the fault of the fact that it's taken me over a year to write what I have so far. When things stretch out that long, you tend to lose track of things. Scenes may seem longer than they really are because it took weeks to write them.

This Life Event stuff is for the birds.

For this book more than the others, I may have to write the ending, then go back and work up to it.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

You're not the first I've heard about whose writing cratered on the shoals of Life Event. Ru is barely back into the groove, and there were others as well. That sort of extended "feeling around for the scene" writing sounds like a common stage for all of us to pass through.

I sure hope a Life Event doesn't hit me too hard right after I recover from this crap. I want to keep writing once I get it back.

Pollyanna, that's me.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

That's one thing that concerns me, that I'll have just gotten back in the groove when something else will hit and I'll derail again. Because I learned the hard way that sitting at the keyboard and trying to force it doesn't work. It comes back when it's good and ready and contracts and career plans be damned.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

It comes back when it's good and ready and contracts and career plans be damned.

Unfortunately, yes. I can tell you that wanting it isn't enough--I must wait until the synapses say Go.

This occasionally derails an hour or two, when my writing self sends up a flare, or a bottle floats by with info in it...then I write like a fiend for an hour or so, until the ability vanishes again.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

My sympathies. I ended up giving my husband the DSL router to take to work. It was the only way I could stop wasting time online. In my case, it was more of a relief than a sense of deprivation.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Problem is, I also have dial-up access. I would get online somehow.

I will lick the last of that white powder off the glassine paper, oh yes I will.

I need to learn to moderate, like I'm not doing at the moment. Some people are very good at telling themselves "I will check email at 8am and 5pm and that's it." I need to reach that point soon, like in the next week.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

What I discovered about myself was that I was in a state where I couldn't moderate. After a long time, I realized it was okay that I was in that state of immoderation, that it didn't mean I was a bad person who MUST change my habits rather than remove temptation, that it was just how it was. That's when I started giving my spouse the DSL. I accepted that, for the time being and for whatever reason - reason not being important - I needed the white powder out of the house, as it were. That I was unable to reach that point (of moderating my own behavior), at this time of my life, and that while I would hope it would change later, for now cold turkey (during the day) was the only way to go.

Naturally, when the DSL got home I would rip it out of his hands and plug straight in, but that's another story.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

What I discovered about myself was that I was in a state where I couldn't moderate.

Was this because you had reached a difficult stretch in a particular book, and looked for any excuse to set it aside? Or is this simply the way it is with any book no matter what stage you're at?

Naturally, when the DSL got home I would rip it out of his hands and plug straight in, but that's another story.

*Envisions aireon's husband opening the front door via remote control and tossing the DSL router into the house to avoid spousal assault.*

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

btw, as yet further proof that we are twins raised apart, "Head Over Heels" is one of my favorite songs ever.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I really like that song. I've never delved too deeply into TfF's body of work, but the songs of theirs that I like, I *really* like. "Shout." "Head Over Heels." "Mad World." "Everybody Wants To Rule The World," which I keep envisioning as a Broadway song & dance number for some odd reason.

[moon-happy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have stretches like this. The good news is that if I keep plodding, something happens! Like, sometimes the ephiany and I know exactly what to do, or I look back and say, "Ah, all that needs is ______ and it will be perfect!" But it sure is a lot more fun when what's getting typed FEELS like really right and really good.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I've experienced the same thing. I liken it to being trapped in a hallway-like space that's dark and closed at both ends. Then all of a sudden the walls and celing blow out, and I'm standing in the middle of a brilliantly-lit room.

Sometimes my fingers trip over themselves, I'm typing so fast. Other times, a phrase dumps onto the page, and I stare at it and the realization hits that this ties up everything that's gone before and leads into everything that will follow. And I didn't even work it out consciously. Which is a big reason why I sometimes feel like a passenger on this happy journey through Bookville.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hi Kris!

Good luck getting yourself up to your writing pace.

I got DSL back in November after years of resisting due to the potential for extreme internet addiction. So far I've found it hasn't impacted productivity one way or another. Freecell, on the other hand....

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I used to be a Freecell addict back when I had the PC. Then the game started locking up on me. I took it as A Sign.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Sadly I once heard a very good explanation of why playing Freecell while writing is actually good for creativity--had to do with engaging left brain/right brain. Thus Freecell was moved from "guilty pleasure" to "helps me tap into different section of my brain to figure out why this scene isn't working" and well, it's just been all downhill from there :-)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Oh look, there's a freeware Mac version available. Oh look, I just played my first game of Freecell in years. Oh look, I just won a game...

Happy New Year.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

And HI! back atcha. Glad you had a nice vacation.