I over plan. I mentioned in a previous blog post that I like to plan—and there is nothing wrong with that—but sometimes I take it to an extreme. When I wrote my first manuscript, Coal Belly, I learned a valuable lesson about my tendency to over plan.
It started with a map. After I had finished it apparently I needed to draw out the deck plans for the riverboat central to the plot. When that was finished, I had to draw a new, highly detailed map of the capital city where a section of the story took place. That obviously wasn’t detailed enough, so I needed to divide it up and name all the neighborhoods. Then I needed to draw out the various symbols of the various factions within that capital city. Next, I needed to… no…no, no, no, no, no.
NO.
I didn’t need to do half that. Eventually, I realized I was spending so much time creating busy work for myself that I was getting nothing done. I was working on collateral and not on the actual story itself. That’s a problem. Research is fine when it’s crucial, but there comes a time when it begins to get in the way. Learning to recognize when I was doing something necessary, and when I was just spinning my wheels was essential for me to get things done. I had to quit working on all the tangential stuff and focus on the work itself. The actual work. I needed to just shut up and write.
I have to remind myself about this daily. I need to separate the busy work from real work. There’s always a blog post to write, a character to outline, an article to read, a comment to compose, a map to draw, a playlist to assemble, a twitter conversation to follow, etc. The list is endless, and it can get in the way and keep you from finishing. (Rule #2) It’s different for each of us, but somewhere inside, we all know if what we are doing is needed to completing our project or if it’s just a distraction.
Whenever you catch yourself doing something that isn’t what you want to be working on, do a double check. Decide if it’s really worth your time or if you should just sit down, shut up, and write.
Haha, great minds think alike! I just posted something to do with this same subject on the WC Facebook page…we must be on the same frequency today.
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The McSweeney piece? Oh wow! Yeah. Very similar. Great minds indeed.
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Good advice. Distractions are a dime a dozen, but the worst are the ones you mentioned… the ones we tie to our writing to legitimize them. It’s a constant struggle, but knowing you have the problem is half the battle!
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You’re right, knowing *is* half the battle, but once we recognize those distractions we can make a conscious effort to avoid them.
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I NEED to shut up and write…
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Hahaha. We all do at various times. It’s important to recognize when we’re distracting ourselves and doing what we can to avoid those distractions. :)
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