Did you stop writing over the holidays? Yeah, and now you can't get your foot high enough off the ground to kick yourself in the butt with a good jolt of motivation, right? Join the club. I usually hit a slump long about this time of year and then kick into overdrive during the spring and summer months. But this year I have a problem - there's a deadline looming for a short story I promised an editor.
I have pages of notes for the story, but couldn't seem to find the right starting place. Four files with four different starts? There's definitely a problem. Then I read a post over at Alexandra Sokoloff's Dark Salon blog where she gives some great advice:
"If you write five minutes a day, you will write more than five minutes a day most days."
Sounds weird, doesn't it, but hey, it worked for me today. I sat down at the computer several times today and did the five minutes and each time I kept going for about fifteen minutes more. Doesn't sound like much does it? But I have almost a thousand words and a place to pick up the story tomorrow.
Give it a try, what do you have to lose? Five minutes of your day?
4 comments:
I generally don't take long breaks (or any break) unless we are away. But many days I am non-productive anyway and figuring out where a story starts is a key issue. Or whose story it is. And right now I have a finished story that doesn't seem to fit any genre so I am spending huge amounts of time looking at markets, which always feels like a waste of time. I had hope EQMM take it, so I kept it fairly light and breezy. Big mistake.
Yes, this time of year I seem to have more unproductive days. I have files full of thoughts and ideas but can't seem to roll them out into a story.
I gave up on EQMM and AH a long time ago, Patti. I know it's the place to be, but it really doesn't seem worth the aggrivation of waiting six months for a rejection. And like you, I spend too much time looking for another market to place it in or rewriting it for a darker market.
Well, EQMM is very quick now--which is almost worse. You submit online. I had my rejection in three weeks and that was over Christmas!
Slipped my mind that they had gone to electronic submissions, Patti. Glad to know that they're faster.
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