Sometimes I just need to close out everything, put my headphones on, and bang out the words. Some days this is so hard to do.
So I sprint. I use the timer above, sometimes I am alone, sometimes other author friends sprint along side me. Basically I just keep typing. If I have some detail I need to check (eye colour, surname etc) then I ignore it in this half hour and simply put a row of XXXXX where I need to fill in specifics and fact check later.
On a good day I can get 5000 words down in three hours (6 sprints) on an average day I can still manage 3000. The best sprints are when I am writing with others, but I can still use this method when I am writing solo. The feeling of success when the alarm sounds and I realised I have written 500 words, or 200 or even 1100, is like a personal pat on the back.
I also reward myself with a cuppa after every couple of sprints.
Also this is good for my shoulder as I time myself for regular breaks to stretch.
Do you sprint?
I sprint in 1 hr blocks aiming for 2000 words. I can usually do 3-4 of these in a day w tea breaks & twitter treats between sprints. Works well 4 1st drafts down on paper.
ReplyDelete1 hour blocks wreck my shoulder... half an hour is enough so I tend not to aggravate it... you write a good word count if you do 2000 in an hour... I guess I average 800 or so every half hour... the highest I managed in half an hour was 1024 or so... and that HURT... ROFL
DeleteI haven't tried this, but it seems like it could be something that could really work for me. I need to keep to some type of schedule for writing, but I've yet to come across one that works for me.
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