Process

This is about my writing project, but I think it applies, globally, to just about any creative project you're serious about.

It also announces a slight procedural change to TOP.

I think I've finally discovered the last component of my process for writing this book...I had already decided to try to "touch it every day," courtesy of writing teacher Joni B. Cole (a resolution interrupted somewhat by my hand/arm injury, which is now 95% resolved), but I still wasn't working comfortably.

Now I think I've finally put the final piece in place. For years I've been in the habit of getting up, taking care of the dogs, fixing my coffee, and sitting down at the computer right away. Then I work through the morning and into the early afternoon. Later in the afternoons my focus deteriorates and I spend a lot of time doing chores or errands, answering email, web surfing, and mucking about with this and that. So I originally figured it wouldn't be that difficult to carve an extra hour or two out of the afternoons to work on the book.

The problem was that my writing energy is strongest when I sit down in the morning.

So I've made just a little tweak to my routine—I get up on schedule, do my morning routines, then sit down at the upstairs computer and set my iPhone timer for an hour and fifteen minutes. I've been easily writing about 6–700 words in that time. I'm focused, it's quiet, and I've got plenty of energy.

It's going very well and it seems to be the last piece in the puzzle. Plus, it relieves the pressure on the rest of the day—I get the book-writing task out of the way early and then I don't have it hanging over my head, threatening to not get done as my energy ebbs throughout the day. I'm also trying to follow Ernest Hemingway's trick of not stopping until you know what you're going to write next, which means you know where to begin when you sit down tomorrow.

I think with any artistic project you have to be hardheaded and practical about both your method and your process. Until it's a habit, you have to be determined. Everyone's different, and everyone will have different "tweaks" they need to make to their process to solve whatever difficulties they're experiencing. But this stuff is important, and we need to take this kind of problem-solving seriously.

Anyway, expect new posts on TOP to begin appearing in the afternoons from now on.

And if you're good at setting goals and working toward them effectively in an organized, conscious way, consider that to be a skill and a gift. Not everyone can do it. And it's not enough to just make plans for our work—we also have to be willing to modify those plans as needed when we recognize that we're encountering difficulties or impediments.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Ed Hawco: "No surprise here. This works like any priority that we don't take seriously as a priority, such as saving money for retirement. People will complain that at the end of their payroll cycle they just don't have any money left to set aside. It's exactly like your former routine of waiting until the end of your workday to write. By then there's nothing left. But if you do the priority thing first (whether it's writing time or slipping $100 into a retirement plan), then it gets done every time. At the end of the day or the pay cycle, you barely notice the reduced energy/pay because by then you're just phutzing around anyway, whether you had done the high priority thing or not. I wish I could claim credit for this brilliant piece of conventional wisdom, but it's been around for a while. It's one of those things that is, on one hand, so freaking obvious, yet on the other hand so hard to actually initiate."

Eamon Hickey: "Yep, two good lessons. It's been a big key for me in my own book project—to work on it first, in the morning, for an hour or an hour-and-a-half. Then I do the assignment work that pays the bills. And I also make a note for myself, at the end of each session, of what I'm writing (or editing) next. I've started doing this with all my projects, of almost any kind. Helps me a ton. By the way, on the energy waning in the afternoon thing. I largely cured that by mixing mostly decaf beans into my coffee (I drink the equivalent of about 1 or 1.5 caffeinated cups of coffee a day, but spread over multiple cups through the morning and afternoon). What I had discovered was that a strong dose of caffeine in the morning was leading to the classic coming-down-from-a-stimulant crash in the afternoon, just like what happens on the backside of a cocaine binge (so I hear)."

Comments

[John Shriver]

I used the same strategy in college. Did the hard weekly problem sets on Saturday mornings, rather than waiting until Sunday night. Avoided all-nighters, and the rest of the weekend was care-free.

[Jeff]

This is why I changed my workout/fitness routine from pm to am.

[Hans Muus]

'I'm also trying to follow Ernest Hemingway's trick of not stopping until you know what you're going to write next, which means you know where to begin when you sit down tomorrow.' Great, and a very nice addition to the practice I adapted long ago as a (then) translator: always start your writing by reading the last paragraphs of your previous session. Mailed it to two young writers I happen to know (although parents have to be very careful with unsollicited advice, I know).
And rising to the occasion: good to see you're really back on track, Mike !

[Rick Denney]

From the Darth Vader of putting things off: Never underestimate the Powah of Procrastination.