What discipline do you impose on yourself regarding schedules, goals, etc.?
5 kids, 3 cats, 1 dog, 1 house, 1 law practice, 1 mediation practice, 1 up and coming real estate firm. The kids and animals need to be fed and cared for. The house must be cared for and the mortgage fed. There is one of me and all of them. It is not a matter of discipline, it is one of survival.
It depends on whether I am being paid or not. If I am being paid to produce something according to a brief then the discipline is focused and rigid.
If it is a spec script then the hell with it. I will choose my own time and be quite relaxed about any writing schedule. Sound reasonable?
Well it's an absolute bloody lie! In fact when I am on song, everything goes by the board. Meals are grabbed on the run. Friends are not allowed to call me or if they do, they get short shrift.
And then I write. It is monomaniacal and obssessive. Nothing is allowed to get in the way. Wives and girl friends may distract for a short period - but then it is back to the keyboard. The characters are in full accord. The shape begins to form. The chat becomes more real.
And the hits keep on coming!
Really bad right now as I have a form of writer's block and will do anything but write! So, I write when I feel I HAVE to!
When I am going through the writing process, I like to have goals and schedules.
I know what I want to achieve each day, and what I want to achieve by the end of the week.
Some days this is achieved early, and I might start a layout of the following days work, or I might give myself a bit of a reward for achieving what I wanted to early. Other days it may take 20 hours of work to achieve, or may cross over in to the following day. I find most of the time however, that when I set myself goals, and put a schedule to it, that the time frame works out pretty right.
I write what needs to be written and try to get it done when it needs to be done. On the (increasingly rare) occasions I have time to write something to please myself, I fit it in when and where I can.
At the moment I have very little discipline when it comes to Schedules & timetables, as I am working most days & find little time as a single parent to find the time to sit down & write. I do have a current goal though & that is to get my story finished & submitted for the competiton in April, 2009.
I do not of the above , I write till its completed.
competent
Usually a looming deadline helps me to get something done, otherwise I can let things slide far too easily. But if someone says "I need X by X time" then I'm determined to get it done and dusted. Sometimes I may set goals such as "1000 words today" and then when I've reached it "OK, another 1000 words". But if you keep measuring yourself with counts like that it can be too much of a distraction and you're not focusing on the creativity of writing, so there has to be a balance in there.
Usually a 'where is it?' from a publisher, or 'it was due yesterday' is enough incentive.
I have only one discipline. I begin writing early in the morning, every morning. I write until the end of the piece is in sight, which may take many weeks or months in some cases, and then I drive for the end with everything I have in me. Then I set the thing aside for a few days and then take it up again with the goal of perfecting it. That goes on until the looming deadline tells me it's time to stop.
I try to work each day but it is a fairly flexible schedule. I usually start work at 9 or 9:30 am and, with the usual breaks, work through to 1 am.
Mmmm, not always good with that one, although like many artists I work well under pressure, give me a deadline I'll do it. The thing is I believe creativity sometimes needs to just be, it needs space, sometimes doing nothing just walking, talking being is what creativity needs. The problem in the 21st century is that somebody took all our time away, we're all too busy to be. If it's not in your diary or on your schedule then sorry you just can't do it. When you do take the time to be, to foster that creative need, then comes the guilt. Because in this corporate global fiasco we now find ourselves in unless your flogging yourself for 60 - 80 hours a week. Well you're just not putting in. In this money obsessed world where are all the real patrons of the arts for those of us that have no choice but are driven to pursue what we were meant to do?
Unless I really want to, I don’t write. Between works, I undertake projects unrelated to writing such as business ventures or traveling.
I write everyday. Right now I am more focused on work. I am hoping to get something more permanent. I like the fact that I can contribute to my household. I am hoping that eventually I can make more money. I am online everyday contacting job posters and trying to find that niche. When I achieve that I can focus on other projects. |
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