Routine

I haven’t been writing anything new lately.  I’ve been engaged with writing; it’s just been editing instead of generating a new story.  I’m missing the imagination that goes with writing something new.

It would be ideal if I could spend part of my time writing and part editing.  The problem is that I have a regular job, so my overall writing time is less than I would like.  An even bigger problem, though, is that I tend to work obsessively.  I have to totally wrap my mind around something in order to be most productive, and once my thoughts are completely focused, it is extremely difficult to transition to anything else.  So I work in spurts, first one thing and then another.  It’s hard enough to go back and forth between work and writing, let alone to switch between writing a new story and editing an already written one.

So, given that difficulty making transitions, how do I keep motivated when I have to wait, or when I’m writing a new story and the writing gets difficult, the path ahead too dim to see?  As simple as it sounds, one thing that keeps me moving is not ruining my unbroken streak of writing (or editing)—currently 175 days.  Even stronger, though, is that I really enjoy my writing time.  I don’t feel like a day is complete if it doesn’t include at least a little fiction.

When I’m writing a new story, my daily goal is 1000 words, and I set myself a minimum of 200.  Sometimes I barely reach the minimum, and sometimes I get thousands.  I try to keep perspective by using Stephen King’s daily word count as a yardstick: 2000 words.  He is an unbelievably prolific writer.  I find that if I can get a solid three to five hours to write, I can achieve his daily goal, but I don’t generally have that much time.   So I decided that if I could be half as prolific as King (hence my 1000-word goal), I should count myself an unqualified success.  He does his editing in the afternoon.  Mine, on the other hand, tends to take the place of producing new stories, so I will likely not be half as prolific as King.  I suppose I should be pleased to have a quarter of his output.  (And I would be ecstatic with even a smidgen of a percent of his sales.)

King and other authors speak of the importance of a writing routine.  They write at the same time, in the same place, each day.  I generally get up very early and begin writing once I am fully awake, which happens by four or five a.m.  I write at the kitchen table.  Well, it used to be a kitchen table.  Now it’s covered with computers and other random things (not all mine).  We take our meals family reunion style sitting on the sofa and watching American politicians argue the country into … no, no, this isn’t a political blog.  The most difficult part about writing at the table is that it’s in the middle of the house.  Writing would be better in a little room with a door I could close.  This is Japan, though, and the apartment is too small for that.  It’s another reason to get up early: I get hours undisturbed.

So if you are ever wondering what it looked like for me to write one of these novels, just imagine me in my pajamas (surgical scrubs), sitting at a wee kitchen table, typing away obsessively on a 15” MacBook Pro.  Average 1000 words per day for a hundred and some days and it turns into a whole novel.  And then comes the editing.