Write Every Day, Day #11

[auroracloud]

Today I noticed again how much better it is for me to have some crafts on hand when I write. Usually some piece of crochet that I can work without too much attention, something with a repetitive enough pattern. When I get stuck or need to mull on something, it's so good for me to have something for my hands to do. It can help me so much in thinking and becoming unstuck, or at least it serves to give me just enough to do that I don't get distracted and do something entirely different, like browsing Etsy for a million pretty cross stitch patterns or ballet skirts or... you get the picture. Not that this is a common occurrence or anything So I'm more likely to be able to get back to working on the writing rather than leave it entirely.

And it just really, really helps my brain if my hands are doing something.

Do you have non-writing related activities like that which help you to write? Crafting or doodling or colouring, or putting on the right kind of music (I can't usually write while listening to music, but I know a lot of people love it), or something else entirely?

Today's Writing

I managed to do my writing early in the day, and I managed to write, let me see, 326 new words of the novel. I also spent a while browsing through my notebook where I've been writing scenes from the novel from time to time. I need to read them properly to see which ones are usable for the current shape of the novel, but I do think the last few can be used at any rate, so I'll try to take some time to type them up soon. Going through the older scenes will take more time. I hope I can still read my handwriting for them.

Some day I ought to do the same for my generic writing notebook, which contains... well, anything that isn't the novel or the Ambush Project (TM)*. See how many starts of stories and random scenes I actually have stashed away there.

* The Ambush project started as something random to scribble on my Dublin trip and is now on its second notebook, with several worldbuilding sketches on big drawing papers on my living room floor etc., though I haven't been adding to it lately. Come to think of it, I should probably type it up as well and see how much I've already got...

Tally

Day 1: alexcat, auroracloud, badly_knitted, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, deifire, lferion, luzula, nafs, sanguinity, shadaras, sierranovembr, sylvanwitch, trobadora, yasaman, ysilme

Day 2: alexcat, alexseanchai, auroracloud, badly_knitted, china_shop, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, deifire, elliet, falkner, lferion, luzula, nafs, sanguinity, shadaras, sierranovembr, silveradept, sylvanwitch, trobadora, yasaman, ysilme

Day 3: alexseanchai, auroracloud, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, deifire, falkner, lferion, luzula, nafs, sanguinity, shadaras, silveradept, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, yasaman

Day 4: alexseanchai, auroracloud, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, deifire, lferion, luzula, nafs, sakana17, sanguinity, shadaras, silveradept, sylvanwitch, trobadora, yasaman, ysilme

Day 5: alexseanchai, auroracloud, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, deifire, falkner, lferion, luzula, nafs, sakana17, sanguinity, shadaras, silveradept, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, yasaman

Day 6: alexseanchai, auroracloud, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, deifire, lferion, luzula, nafs, sanguinity, shadaras, sierranovembr, silveradept, sylvanwitch, trobadora, yasaman

Day 7: auroracloud, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, deifire, falkner, luzula, nafs, sakana17, sanguinity, shadaras, silveradept, sylvanwitch, trobadora, yasaman, ysilme

Day 8: auroracloud, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, deifire, lferion, luzula, nafs, sanguinity, shadaras, sierranovembr, silveradept, sylvanwitch, trobadora, yasaman

Day 9: alexseanchai, auroracloud, badly_knitted, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, deifire, falkner, lferion, luzula, nafs, sanguinity, shadaras, sierranovembr, silveradept, sylvanwitch, trobadora, yasaman

Day 10: alexseanchai, auroracloud, badly_knitted, caprices, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, lferion, luzula, nafs, sanguinity, shadaras, sierranovembr, sylvanwitch, yasaman

Day 11: auroracloud, china_shop

Let me know if I missed you on the tally, or if you wrote but didn't check in yet! You can join in or drop out any time.

Comments

[sylvanwitch]

I do listen to music when I write, but only instrumental music because music with lyrics throws me off. When I wrote the Thor/Loki novella last year, I listened to the same album for the entire project; something about it, the atmosphere it summoned for me, made it the perfect album for that story. I'll also play brain games on the computer if I'm stuck on a passage or just need a break--nothing super involved or long, a two-minute brain teaser or something like that. Having the break and using a different part of my brain seems to help me get back on track.

Tonight, I added 563 words to the Bond/Q story.

[auroracloud]

*nodsnods* The very occasional times when I do listen to music when writing, it usually has to be instrumental, or possibly in a language I don't know well, so the lyrics don't distract me. Also playing the same pieces on repeat for a particular project is a thing I've done, so I understand.

I sometimes wonder if I should take up some kind of computer games to relax and/or engage my mind, but I'm afraid of getting addicted and spending too much time on them! But looking at what people describe, it generally seems that what works is whatever best suits for the purpose you said: having a break and using a different part of your brain for a while. Whether that's crafts, chores or brief computer games. :-)

Yay for more Bond/Q story!