It’s the first Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time for another action-packed installment of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.
(For more information and/or a complete list of participants, click on the above link.)
This month’s amazing co-hosts are Pat Garcia, Sylvia Ney, Liesbet @ Roaming About, Cathrina Constantine, and Natalie Aguirre!
This month’s (optional) question asks, “Are there months or times of the year that you are more productive with your writing than other months, and why?“
My most productive writing times of the year tend to be when I’m doing the NaNoWriMo thing, either in November or one of the camp sessions.
I know this is because I tend to be a bit more open to flights of fancy or, say, long, rambling conversations about goats (to those keeping score at home, THAT CONVERSATION IS STILL IN THIS WIP) during NaNoWriMo than I am the rest of the year.
This is why I like using NaNoWriMo sessions to help me get those first drafts finished. The whole point of a first draft is to tell yourself the story, and I can’t get through that maze without taking a few wrong (if entertaining) turns along the way.
But, for whatever reason (*cough*issues*cough*), I have a harder time doing that the rest of the year. It doesn’t appeal to my plotter sensibilities, maybe. There’s never a spot on the storyboard for ‘flights of fancy’ or ‘wouldn’t it be neat if…’
But maybe I need to figure out how to add that to the storyboard because wouldn’t it be neat if it didn’t take me a decade to finish those first drafts. (Hyperbole, I know. I don’t need ten years to finish a draft. It’s more like eight…)
What about you? What are your most productive times of the year?
On that note, I’m outta here. If history has shown us anything, this will likely be my last post of the entire year, so let me just wish everyone a happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year.
Stay safe & well, all.
I find writing challenges like NaNo prod me into being more productive.
Merry Christmas!
I love NaNo as well. Love the “pressure” to get the story down on the page and the permission to take those chances!
Love that the goats are still there!
You’re just going to have to keep that goat conversation in, because we’re all going to go looking for it now. lol
At the rate I’m writing I might see your eight years and raise you one.
A bit of pressure to write is never a bad thing. I hope to join NaNoWriMo one year, but was too crazy busy in 2020 with my own existing (publishing) project. Happy holidays to you!!
Sounds like you should do NaNo more often than twice a year XD. I mean, what WIP can’t use more conversations about goats?
NaNo is a great motivator. Glad you have the stamina to take it on!
Writing challenges help me, too. I didn’t finish NaNo the way I had hoped, but it did keep me writing on some days when I really didn’t want to…I had an ear infection and achilles tendonitis. I’m not sure how that really changes up writing – healing involves a lot of sitting, and writing involves sitting so…it should have just gone together well, right?
Nope.
But, again, words did get on the page. I’m happy for those words.
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Joyous New Year to you and yours!
My people asked me if I was doing NaNo this year, and I had to say no because of the drive to get this dang book finished. It’s been seven years since I released the last one, so you probably know how I feel about finishing it off. NaNo is nice for spitting out words. I’ve just found it hard to fix those words after the fact.
But what if letting yourself do those flights of fancy all the time made them lose their sparkle? Perhaps only having them happen during NaNo is what makes them work. There’s no rule that says you have to write quickly.
I’m the opposite. My writing is driving by What ifs and flights of fancy.
I’m a pantser who tries hard to be a plodder . . . and it sounds like you’re so organized that only during those ‘free writing’ Nano times, does the pantser come out! So what if (another of my favorite questions) you used one of those 3×5 cards (or a block inserted into your writing document) to simply ask, “What if?” Sometimes an idea will come in a dream . . . or you could always have a ‘do it different’ day once a week that would be scheduled and yet invite in that ‘what if’ side of you. Ah, but as you say, some times of the year are more productive. Hmm. Wondering now how you define ‘productive’? Have a really good year ahead. Thanks for visiting my blog.
NaNo certainly makes you write fast, even if the results aren’t great.
Flights of fancy are never a problem for me. Plotting a story from start to end is. I often have trouble with endings. So I have a slew of abandoned beginnings and nothing to show for it.
🙁
I’m cheering for the goats. I hope they survive to the final draft 🙂
I love how that goat conversation always finds a way to live on… XD
And that’s awesome how NaNoWriMo ramps up your productivity like that! Those kinds of challenges always seem to have the opposite effect on me, haha. Even though NaNo is over now, I hope December ends up being a productive month for you, too!