Thursday, March 1, 2018

How to Write more Every day?




March begins today and I haven't really written anything on the blog last few months month except posting a few interviews and cover reveals for which practically I had nothing to write.

Are you wondering why?

I was busy writing.

One of the resolutions I made for 2018 was to be more productive as a writer this year. And that asks for a more disciplined writing schedule and writing practices.

A target I had in mind while thinking about it was minimum 2500 to 3000 words a day.

For the past few days, I am happily achieving that within the two or three writing hours that I get for myself. My highest word count was 3800 words within two focused hours.

How did I achieve that?

Pomodoro Technique:

I am using the Pomodoro technique which I have described before in this blog before. Read about it here. The writing is done in sprints of 25 minutes. Anyone can easily write 500 words in 20 minutes. So imagine how much you can write if you have 4-5 such sprints!


During this time, I do not answer any calls or check social media notifications. The Internet is disabled on my computer and the Scrivener window remains open in fullscreen mode. 
 In short no distractions.

Plot your story:

I used to be a pantser. That means I used to just write and develop the story as it came to me. I have by now realised the benefits of being a plotter. So I plot the entire story before I sit to write. I make a rough outline of each chapter before I actually begin to write.



Rehearse writing:

Another thing that really helped was rehearsing the scenes that I wanted to write in my mind while doing chores. This way, when I was about to write, I had even the exact sentences /dialogues that I wanted to write.

Turn off the internal Editor:

Writers and editors cannot co-exist. While writing, ask the editor in you to go and take a break. Editing is for another time.

Why should you do this?

Writing uses your right brain which is the creative center of your brain. Whereas, editing uses the left brain or the logical and analytical center of your brain. If both these areas create a conflict, the output will be zero.

So how to turn the editor off?

Free write. Write your heart out. Don't listen to the brain which would want you to consider whether you have used the perfect word. Or whether you have committed a typo.

At the end of each session, go back and correct your mistakes. But while writing, don't break the flow by going back to edit. When writing, just write.

Read more books:

Reading always makes you a better writer. The words that get imprinted in our memory pours out while we are writing our own story. We can model scenes and characters on visuals which might be from fiction or from real life. The exposition comes easily if you read more books in the genre you are writing.

Exercise:

I do yoga for an hour every day so that my body gets back its vitality and energy which it loses if I sit long hours in front of my computer. 
Yoga also helps in clearing the clutter in our mind and gives clarity to the mind. Team it with a short meditation and the benefit just doubles.
Caution: When you start any kind of exercise, do so only under the guidance of a teacher or trainer.

Sleep well:

Getting minimum 8 hours of undisturbed sleep is the best medicine. Make sure you give your body adequate rest to rejuvenate every day.

POINTERS:


Hope this helps you to accomplish your writing goals this year.


This is written for the #SuperBloggerChallenge2018 #Instacuppa hosted by HealthWealthBridge.comFashionableFoodz.com and AllAboutTheWoman.com. The challenge is from 15 Feb – 26 April 2018. 

4 comments:

  1. Although everyone has different methods
    But I'm sure these tips are gonna help us a lot😊

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thing freewriting is excellent.Pomodoro too.But rehersing writting and outlining I will try

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the tips. Will try use them in my writing

    #SuperBloggerChallenge2018

    ReplyDelete