Friday, January 16, 2015

writing on schedule

Charles had a good post on what effect time, tasks, unexpectedness and planning have on his writing.
Here is my take on the subject.
Fortunately I too, have regular duties. Earning money with something you feel competent to is one great feeling. I can plan my days, but as a free~lancer I sometime have translation jobs that just seem to pop up out of nowhere, and the client wants it the day before he sent it to me...
Also, since I keep chicken, and manage a large garden, I may expect the unexpected.
Other than that my days pretty much fit in a reliable schedule.
So why is the low word count?
My reasons:
1.
I write only when there is a story stirring within me.
Therefore as Charles mentioned, some stories are written over a massively outstreched period of time. Take one of my last short stories for example. I started writing it August 2014 and finished it a day or two before Christmas. And I am not really content with the second part, so there's some editing work ahead...).
2.
Writing has a general effect on me, on my nerves. I like writing, but it is also a kind of stress, sometimes in a good, sometimes in a bad sense.
Say, it's like a drug.
My job involves writing. Translating and editing, writing articles...all writing.
There is a point for me, a state of being, when writing is more of a hard job than a source of joy.
As long as my payjob is not done, I have to keep on writing...but when I am really tired, I don't usually seek writing again as a relief (except for states of inspiration, see point 1.)
~
A fine example of this was the NaNo in 2010.
I had my jobs as well, but I managed to get down 800 to 2000 words a day for the purpose of finishing the novel in time.
~
At the moment I have a plan to write a short story for a history~themed contest, but that is the subject of the following post.