I'm a long time writer (journalism, copywriting and scripts for a living, basically) writing my first novel. Maybe my only novel, too...
As Mark Billingham said once 'the thing with novels is there's a lot of typing...', and I've discovered that without an external deadline, like a client or a producer or a news editor screaming at me, my main talent so far has been procrastinating instead of sitting and hacking out the a first draft which I know all too well is what's required at this point (having done all the planning I need to, and a modicum of research). The point is to get something to change.
So my cunning plan here is to find someone to harass me into writing, and I'll do the same for them. Every day, we have to email each other and confess how many words we churned out in the last 24 hours. No critiquing, no whining, no BS - just admitting what we have or haven't done. I'm reasonably sure that this'll shame me into actual work.
Any takers?
As Mark Billingham said once 'the thing with novels is there's a lot of typing...', and I've discovered that without an external deadline, like a client or a producer or a news editor screaming at me, my main talent so far has been procrastinating instead of sitting and hacking out the a first draft which I know all too well is what's required at this point (having done all the planning I need to, and a modicum of research). The point is to get something to change.
So my cunning plan here is to find someone to harass me into writing, and I'll do the same for them. Every day, we have to email each other and confess how many words we churned out in the last 24 hours. No critiquing, no whining, no BS - just admitting what we have or haven't done. I'm reasonably sure that this'll shame me into actual work.
Any takers?