This week I made a number of important changes. Not to the plot, as such, but to how I work.
First, I took a little time out every day to make sure I knew where I was going. A little bit of planning here and and there, a plot item or two. It gave me a list of scenes that needed to be written, making sure that I always knew had something that I could write. Waiting for ‘inspiration’ is a great way to get nothing written.
Half-way through the week I changed the tool I use to write with. I’m testing Scrivener because it now comes for Windows. (And it was recommended to me.) Previously, I’ve only ever used Microsoft Word to write and a combination of paper and Evernote to keep track of ideas and research. Even after years of working with Word I know it’s not the perfect tool for long documents. It’s not bad, it’s just not perfect. I’m hoping that Scrivener will make it a little easier to move sections around. That would save me lots of time.
I had a weekend away and learned that I still don’t have motion sickness but can write comfortably in the front seat of a car. I could only write two days out of three but managed to cover the word count for Saturday on Friday. So far, so good.
Last of all I changed the goalposts. It’s a good thing to do on a Monday morning. My target is now 65,000 words. As long as I write at least 2,100+ words a day for the next nine days, I will get there.
Tally at the end of week three: 43,751
Let me know how you get on with Scrivener. I’m using it to write my latest short story at the moment.
And I’m readjusting to pomodoro time in my battle against procrastination.
Tasty and an aid to concentration – is there anything that tomatoes can’t do?
I hadn’t heard that about tomatoes. They are good for you in so many ways! It sounds like an interesting technique. Hm. Must investigate further.
I’d also be interested in hearing how it goes with Scrivener. A future blog post, perhaps…?
I’m impressed by your new NaNoWriMo target. (But will be sticking to 50,000 myself.)