Git R Done

Sometimes as a writer, you have to yell at yourself. Not out loud, because then you just look crazy, and lets face it, some of us already give off that vibe. :)

No by that I mean, we have to set schedules. Set boundaries. Make a list of goals for the day and stick to it. Turn of the twitter, turn off the Facebook. If you are a writer you have heard that before. For me many times I have to remind myself to post on here.  I generally have to list out, at least mentally, everything I need to finish in a day. And while I can write a blog with Facebook and twitter still open, I have to close them while writing.  One thing I discovered during the first draft of Mistaken was WriteOrDie. I  paid the 10 bucks and got the desktop version that goes full screen while I am in it. It makes it much easier for me to get in 1000-2000 words in one sitting. It also makes it harder to do anything else while it's full screen.

I like the fact that it forces you to just write. Plenty of my first draft has to get revised, but at least I am getting the story out. Fine-tuning is for revisions. Now that I have gotten half of my writing goal in for the day, I allowed myself sometime to blog and check facebook, but I already know I need to do one more WriteOrDie session before I can call it quits for the day.  On my list of to do's today is also:

• Finish print format of Mistaken (final edits aren't done, but taking care of this now so it isn't a headache later).
• Catch up on blogs I follow (getting back to being an active member of the online writing community)
• Work on fliers/posters for book release
• contact Cafe owner where book release party will be
• go to work (booooo)

In the meantime, here are some good blog about forming good writing habits you should check out. Both have some great ideas to keep you on track to your word count.

Zoe Winters: I'll JustCheck Email Real Quick

Yarn-A-Go-Go: How To Write A Novel

You Say I'm A Dreamer, But I'm Not

I loved Dinner for Schmucks. Hilarious movie. Steve Carell's character was loveable yet drove you nuts at the same time.  There was one scene in the movie that although it makes me laugh because he misinterprets a great John Lennon song, it also makes me think.

"You say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not."

Really the line from the song is "You say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." While I love this song. Maybe the schmuck got it right.

I've been trying to prep myself for this headlong dive into finally publishing. It seems surreal, exciting and at times somewhat terrifying. I remembered I had downloaded Smart Self-Publshing: Becoming an Indie Author by Zoe Winters a while back. And while I had read a good portion of it, I went back this past week and started re-reading it. She has some great advice and is definitely someone I find to be a decent role model in this indie world.

Among all the good advice Zoe has managed to pack into this book one thing stuck out in particular. Something that really can be applied to anyone, not just a writer.

Dreamers are those that think about all the what if's and wouldn't it be nice. They don't actually DO anything, but dream...

But those that set goals...well they work toward them. Not to talk about the all-mighty roller derby again but, I set a goal to be able to play in games. I passed my tests...and now I will probably be playing in a game soon!

For the longest time I always said I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to publish something and have people read my books. Dreaming about it didn't get me anywhere.

It wasn't until I got off my lazy ba-donk-a-donk, finished my drafts, finished all the initial edits and started actually working towards publishing it that anything got done.

I know this is sort of a well  DUH post, but I just thought sometimes we need a reminder to stop dreaming and start setting goals. Things feel so much harder to obtain when we are dreaming about them. But they become a reality when we start striding toward them.

So my goals right now are finish the final edit, get Mistaken to the publisher and formatted and uploaded for electronic sales.

As I finish reading her book I plan to set some more goals as well as figure out more my road map.

It is sometimes hard for us to actually grasp when one of our goals is within our grasp, and I feel like that is where I am now.

Just a few more steps...

Check out Zoe winter's blog here  .