March Method - The Plan

Timing -

Alright so I've been looking at my schedule and being trying to figure out what works best for my life and what time sot is the best fit. As a general rule I tend to go to bed during the week sometime between 11 and 12. The one thing that I can consistantly control is the time I go bed. I'd rather look at writing in the morning but there just isn't enough time between getting up and going to work on a regular basis. So the first part of my method is to set aside a set time each day so for me that time will be between 10 and 11. With only the exception of a couple nights this time will work great for me. On those nights I'll be able to get in that hour of writing afterwards.

The Project -

I'm really torn on this aspect, there are a couple of projects I really want to have the roughs done by May. I've also just gotten back a project from the editor and that needs to be gone over realtively quickly as well. The sooner it is done the soon I can get it in to the hands of some beta readers. So there are at least four projects to decide from for the month of March. The plan is to take one of them and make it the sole focus of the March Method. Considering that two of them have that May deadline I'm going to focus my effort on Driving for a Change a erotica story that should top out around 20k. After that I'll switch my focus back to Risen Steam. Both project should keep me happily busy for March and beyond. I can easily twitter and blog my word count updates before heading to bed or first thing in the morning to keep people informed.

Anyone else figured out their schedule yet?

March Method

“Write on a schedule. Don’t wait “until you feel like it.” Set aside time every week for writing…and then whenthat time arrives, sit down at your desk and write no matter what else is going on.”

-Kelly L. Stone in an interview in Writer’s Digest, Feb. 2010

Alright it is official I am declaring March to be March Method Month. Every writing book you read, any podcast you listen too, and pretty much any author you speak with all say one main thing on the topic of writing - If you want to be a writer you need to write. It sounds like a pretty simple thing to do but for whatever reason life stands up and gets in the way. I say it’s time to stand up and fight back against life and its little tricks that keep you from really establishing your method!

So here is the plan take this month and figure out what your method is. Will you write better in the morning or the evening? Can you write at home or do you have to go out? Whatever time works best for you, you need to stake out that time as yours. Let your family your friends whatever know and then use it. Fight back anytime they try to take or steal the time that you’ve claimed.

Now that you have claimed it is time to decide what you are going to do with it. Most of us work best under some kind of deadline. The pressure of that Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads spurs us on to write like we never have before. This is goal is going to be different for everyone but it needs to be something measureable. You might look to word count, page count, short story count like I said it’s different for everyone. But know what it is and tell people so you are accountable to yourself and to them

The last step in this whole thing is to keep everyone informed. Make a commitment to post to your blog, to twitter, to do whatever you can to keep people informed of your progress. If you have a few minutes to spare it would be nice if you’d stop by and encourage others in their own journey as well.

Remember life isn’t all about us there has to be a certain amount of give or take. You can’t claim the whole evening every night. You need to encourage others in your life to stake out their time. Not only will it be better for them it will also help them see the value you receive from claiming your time and be less likely to mess with it.

It’s that simple you stake out a time, you commit to a project/goal, you do it, and you tell us how it’s going. There you have it, the March Method. I challenge all of you to comment saying you are taking part and then make it happen. Stop by tomorrow to read my about my March Method. You can also stop by through out the month and read various articles about forming habits.