Thursday, February 12, 2009

Time and Frustration

February has been spectacularly unproductive. I've anticipated taking a bit of a break after wrapping Chapter 6, but I might as well count all of last week as a break since I didn't get anything written and lost all of the revision I'd made due to a computer error and not properly backing up my work. I'm beginning to feel a pattern emerging. Wrap a chapter, feel great about it, start new chapter, hit brick wall, get frustrated. And I'm never really sure how I work through the frustration. It appears to be different every time, so the exact formula remains elusive. I think it all boils down to time spent with ass in office chair writing. But I never seem to have enough of that. I find my most productive sessions happen during the half an hour I steal during my lunch break at work, reinforcing my suspicion that my most productive hours are long over by the time I make it home in the evenings. Or maybe it's the lack of distractions. Hard to say. I've yet to take the laptop to the coffee shop after work an force myself into a writing session before going home, though. I've been meaning to try that to see if a change in venue prompts more creativity.

2 comments:

Loren said...

Go to the coffee shop. It always helps me when drawing because there is no 'Well I should do the dishes, maybe I should fold my laundry' The only problem is that sometimes coffee shops are crowded/loud. You might also try the library or a place like Panera that has Wi-Fi AND food.
P.S. Make sure you take your head phones.

Justin Dohoney said...

I whole-heartedly second the previous comment. I write most of my blogs and wrote a fair amount of my personal statements and research writing sample for grad school at a coffee shop.