About six months ago, I made the switch from "doing freelance stuff here and there" to "doing freelance stuff full-time" (and I do mean full-time!). As my network of clients has grown, so my availability of jobs has grown. Sometimes, I am not good at turning jobs down. Because of this, I often find myself working 10 hour days (on top of my daily reading and creative writing), and while this can be exhausting...
I recently described the way I have felt like this: "I feel like The Beatles during their time in Germany, when they were playing 7 hours a day over and over again." It was this period that brought The Beatles their greatest growth, as the consistent, repetitive practice paved the path they would later walk on.
Many times lately, I have found myself writing as many as 10,000 words in a day. Sure, it's less creative than the writing we all do when we put together a story, but it's still the process of constructing something out of words alone.
After all, I only have about three good hours of work I can put in each day on my own project(s) before I notice a significant drop-off in the quality. The change of pace and all the extra practice cannot do anything but help.
How about you? How many hours of writing can you put in each day before your personal work starts to strain? What can you do (or what do you do?) to keep practicing and improving even when you're not writing your work in progress?
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Other than blogging my little heart out, very little of what I do helps me write more and better. I'm thinking of doing NaNoWriMo as a way to refocus on fiction writing.
ReplyDeletePatricia
Patricia - NaNoWriMo would definitely be a great way to refocus! The only thing that scares me about NaNoWriMo is the lack of emphasis on editing, which leaves a lot of these writers feeling like they're not good enough to make it when the novel they wrote in one month (and barely edited at all) fails to get noticed by an agent or publisher. NaNoWriMo would be a great way for an experienced writer such as yourself to let others know how important the editing process is too!
ReplyDelete'After all, I only have about three good hours of work I can put in each day on my own project(s) before I notice a significant drop-off in the quality.'
ReplyDeleteI must say I am relieved to hear (read??) you say that. I also find after a few solid hours at the keyboard I need to break away and do something else.
I always feel guilty doing this, I only get limited time to write peacefully so I try to cram as much in as possible. I allow myself the guilts, then I sit and write more but it is often tripe.
The best solution I have found to stay on track with a project is to leave the computer and pick up a pen and paper for brainstorming. Something about the tactile nature of the exercise gets the creative juices flowing again