From Kate’s Writing Crate…
August was
a tough month for writing. I had visitors. I went on a trip. I had my usual professional
writing deadlines. However, I still managed to fill my notebook for the month.
What I didn’t have time for
was counting all the words. Takes a lot of time when you wait until the end of
the month instead of counting them each day. Also, it’s tiring when I put off
writing three pages a day which means I then have to write eight or ten or more
pages a day during the last week of the month.
Procrastination is not a
good habit.
I manage to fight it well
when I have to meet a paying or public consumption deadline, but filling a
notebook a month is neither—just a goal I set for myself.
Some days filling the
notebook is effortless. I have an idea. I jot it down and expand upon it.
Other days I don’t have any
ideas so I write observations about the weather, upcoming deadlines, even To-Do
Lists, but, if I keep writing, eventually something pops.
One day I got an idea. I
expanded on it for a couple more days and thought I was done. But three days
later as I was just scribbling, I got a huge idea to add to the one from almost
a week ago. The subconscious is a beautiful thing!
If I didn’t fill a notebook
a month, would I have had the first idea? Maybe. But I am positive that I would
not have had the really big idea if I hadn’t pondered for days about the first
one.
Filling a notebook a month
takes time, but the payoff in the end is huge:
Keeps
my writing muscles (brain and body) nimble;
I
can face a blank page without fear;
I
write faster, too;
All
ideas are written down for future reference;
Even
bigger/better ideas show up in this welcoming space; and
Meeting
deadlines is a fabulous feeling.
Also, I love seeing full
notebooks pile up on shelves in my office. They are physical proof I’m a writer
since so many of my assignments fly out of my office via the internet.
I will continue meeting this
goal every month. Maybe someday I will learn never to procrastinate!
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