Beware the time pirates!
Once again I’ve been waylaid by these cutthroat brigands who attack undisciplined writers and rob them of their precious time. You’d think I would learn!
The only way to keep them at bay is to set a writing schedule and stick to it. Stick to the chair and write for a predetermined amount of time. This method produces words and words are what I traffick in. Words are my pieces of eight, my little treasures, my legacy and no amount of marketing, social networking, daydreaming, surfing the net, housework or shopping will produce more words; only I can. And the way to write is to sit down with lap top or with old-fashioned pen and paper, and engage the great sea of imagination through the fingers. Free write first, to get the ideas flowing, to prime the pump. The editing will come later. If you don’t produce the words you have nothing to edit.
1. Schedule the time to free write
2. Stick to the schedule.
3. Write for predetermined amount of time. Stop when the time is up, and make a note of where you’ll start tomorrow.
So easy! ;) OK, maybe not easy, but simple. I know this works, it’s how I’ve written two published novels (and several unpublished ones) two guidebooks, and countless articles, essays, poems, and stories. You don’t get published by spending all your time marketing, you get published by writing and rewriting.
Right now, I have two projects underway: I need to better organize my time so that I can complete the manuscripts in a timely manner.
1. Book three of the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series.
2. A psychological thriller set at sea.
I plan to use this blog as a primer to my free writing, a sort of dedication, a ritual, an answering shot to the pirates of time. This blog will be free written, it will be rough and raw, it’s the primer to get the juices flowing. ARRRRGH! Pirates be gone!