Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Diving in

I've been procrastinating for weeks. I've been fooling around with an old project, trying to make it into something new, but the inspiration isn't really there. So last night I decided to just dive into my new book, The Boyfriend Plague. I have the big international Film Festival coming up on July 29th, so I've given myself until July 28th to knock out a first draft. I work better when I have a deadline.

So, after I get the kids off to school/creche this morning, and I've finished my spin class at the gym, I'm off to the library (it's too cold to write at home at this time of year) for 2.5 hours of nonstop writing time. I'm aiming to knock out the first two chapters. We'll see how we go.

I'm not an outliner, but I have written myself some notes for this one, just a few lines to guide me from chapter to chapter. It's a more complicated story than any I've attempted before, because there are two very significant things going on in my MC's life at the same time. In fact, each feeds the other, so I need to make sure the balance between the two is right. Hence, a little outlining. We'll see how it works out for me. I imagine by halfway through the book, I'll have veered so far away from the notes I'll need search and rescue to find me and drag me back.

Let's see if this self-imposed deadline gets the hoped-for result. Do you give yourself deadlines? Can you stick to them?

4 comments:

  1. I give myself deadlines, but I find them hard to stick to. Because I make them, I can let myself break them, which is the entire problem. Good luck with the first two chapters! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't typically give myself deadlines. But 2.5 uninterrupted hours in the middle of the day sounds fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I already fell off my outline-boat. I was just sailing along in Ch 2, having a grand old time. By chance I went to the outline to add something about an upcoming ch and realized I'd changed something in Ch 2 that would mess up a later plot point. Oops. I floundered for a while, found my direction, and had to make a few changes to 1 & 2.
    OK, leak plugged. Full speed ahead now!

    ReplyDelete
  4. As soon as I have a deadline, I go into full force ahead. I have to get it done as soon as possible. This means that everything else in my life suffers a bit for it. So, no. Deadlines don't work for me.

    ReplyDelete