Working extra hours over the last week has taken a large chunk out of my writing time. This, coupled with family and illness issues of varying severity, has taken a serious toll on my productivity this week. Not just due to time constraints, but also because of the general crappy mood all of it has put me in; I just have not been in the right mindset to write. Normally when something happens I can work around it, but when lots of things happen, I tend to throw my hands in the air and give up, which is more or less what I did this week.
Earlier today, in an attempt to force some productivity out of myself, I decided to set myself a small writing challenge. As all Australians (and some overseas people) would be aware, Queensland is being decimated by torrential flooding that has turned three quarters of the state into a disaster zone. Watching footage of it on television and seeing houses and cars tossed around in the water like bath toys is so horrifying it's almost surreal, especially when it seems that there's so little anyone can do about it. I decided I'd do my (albeit meagre) bit by donating $1 for every hundred words I write today to the Flood Relief. I ended up with just over 1300 words for the day. I know it isn't much - being a student, I don't really have a lot of spare money - but I guess every bit helps. And since that's more words than I've written over the rest of the week combined, at least it was beneficial on a few levels.
In my goals, I mentioned that I wanted to finish one chapter every fortnight, meaning that I'm due to complete one by the next check in. Well, I am quite close to finishing the first chapter, and I should be able to achieve this (provided everything doesn't go even more pear-shaped) by the weekend (or even tomorrow, but I think I said that last week and it didn't happen, so I don't want to jinx myself again :|). I have at least got the first five consecutive pages of it done, meaning I have something substantial to put before my workshopping group this Saturday, instead of just a wad of random paragraphs (which I am quite looking forward to - I've really missed the critiquing sessions from my TAFE days).
Here's my updated word tally:
Prologue - 804 (complete)
Part 1
Chapter 1 - 4,647
Chapter 2 - 1,704
Chapter 3 - 173
Chapter 4 - 0
Part 2
Chapter 5 - 95
Chapter 6 - 933
Chapter 7 - 1,777
Chapter 8 - 1,991 (complete)
Part 3
Chapter 9 - 852
Chapter 10 - 0
Chapter 11 - 0
Chapter 12 - 1,097
Epilogue - 1,373
Total - 15,812
So: Not as much progress as I was hoping for - I think all my progress since my last check-in was made today - but I still managed to make some headway, and I am more or less on track to meet my goals at this stage. And I cracked the 15,000 word mark, which I am quite pleased with, especially since they're 15,000 decent words, not the filler rubbish I pumped out for NaNoWriMo.
Anyway, I thought I should end on a positive note, so here's a picture of Judgemental Dog (a.k.a. Rex) watching TV:
Oh yeah, almost forgot... A link to other ROW80 participants' updates is here.
Sorry you're not feeling good, it's hard to get yourself motivated when you're a little down. But the donations idea is pretty amazing, I hope that'll bump you up in mood a bit. It would have been easy to totally give up but you came back with a bang after a bad few days so that was great!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck finishing that chapter. :)
I think you're doing great, it's so easy to give up when life gets in the way. And 15K of good words is Really good! *yay*
ReplyDeleteLast year was my big writing year. In that time, so many things went wrong. There were some seriously bad days. What I walked with was not to feel guilty or bad when a week didn't go according to plan. I checked off what I did accomplish and if it was only half of one item, so be it. Tomorrow is a new day and I'd start again. You did something and that is so important. It's the little steps that make a huge difference sometimes.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Love the photo! :) That is too funny.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 365...focus on the positives, and you have plenty of those to spotlight...I hope things get better on your end. There's nothing more distracting than "life" and disasters that intrude on the creative process!
ReplyDeleteI completely understand about life getting in the way and I think throwing up one's hands is a normal reaction. However, I think your charity writing challenge idea is brilliant. Further yourself and help those who need it.
ReplyDeleteSorry you are feeling crappy :( If it helps, I very much like how you jump around and write non-chronologically. I may have to try that sometime and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI had a few long days at work this week too. I'm sorry you had family stuff on top of that.
ReplyDeleteYay for 15k decent words! This was my exact problem with NaNo, so that's great. Also like the favorite movies list.