Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Panic Stations!



Okay so it's Week 2 and everyone's looking pretty good so far. But what about me? What the heck has happened to my word count? Um, my dog ate my homework? These aliens came down and hit the shut down button causing me to lose thousands of words because they also wiped my saved document? A drunk Nun ran through my house screaming that the end of the world was coming so I knocked my laptop off the bench and all the words I thought I'd written down weren't there when I recovered?
No, the actual reason my word count isn't pushing along is because I've been SLACK! I admit it. I've let life interfere with my writing because I thought I had the long weekend to pick it up again. But guess what? Hubby surprised me with a trip up to Mackay for his BILs 50th. So I had a whole weekend without my laptop or access to pen/paper etc.
My safety net was ripped out from underneath me. Bugger!
So now what? What am I going to do? How can I get the word count going again? I'll never make my target now.
Press panic button now!

No, no, no. Stop right there. What do you mean you can't reach your target? You're electric fingered girl! Wake up and remember your secret super power! Fast fingers flying furiously for futuristic fantasy! (say that with a mouthful of peanut butter!)
Come on, don't give up now. So you haven't hit your target yet. That's okay. For the next three days I want you to take a pen and paper in to the toilet with you. Keep it handy. When you're in there waiting for gravity to take hold, write as many words as you can. They don't even have to be in sequence with where you're up to on your story. Just write.
Then come out, type these words up, and the next time you need to go, do it again. The word count will pull up. And you might even find you'll hit on an amazing sub plot that will make your story zing.

The point is, panicking doesn't help. Accept you've had a bad week and then get back to the job at hand. Remember if you're not enjoying writing you won't stick with it.

Right now off I go to visit a man about a wallaby and maybe just write 250 words or more. Five visits to the throne will pull me up today.

5 comments:

AJ Blythe said...

Nat, give yourself more time - invest in a packet of prunes ;o) I'm in catch up mode too Nat, but don't think the goal has completely slipped out of reach yet?!

Angie Peters said...

LOL, Nat. You are sooo funny. But what do you do if you're constipated? LOL.
Don't worry - I'm also behind. Didn't do as much as I was planning on either over the long weekend.
We'll get there. Not panicking yet :)

Anonymous said...

So what are you writing again? The romantic version of Psycho Bums from Uranus?

Mon Wood said...

Lol, ladies. Too funny!

Sandie Hudson said...

You'll be fine Nat, just remember what you wrote last year. The words will flow when they are meant to.
Sandie