We’re Rolling Now! (Crashcourse, Day 11)

Welcome to Day 11 of Crashcourse!

Trust me, that's just the tip of the iceberg!
You can see a bit of my home library back there!

Crashcourse is starting to pick up steam. I’ve got a real good feeling about this. So, let’s get to it!

My Word Count Explodes

I wrote for just one hour today. Why so little? To tell you the truth, I just couldn’t bring myself to do more. That’s been a problem for as long as I can remember. I can force my way to daily word counts or through timed writing sessions. But I can only do that for so long. Sooner or later, my creative side just quits on me. That’s usually when I shelf a story or start massive rewrites or, well, you get the idea. Another thing that bothers me is that I never want to keep going at the end of the day. Once I reach a word count or finish a timed session, I’m done. I never have the desire to continue onward.

Now, I love to tell stories. So, why don’t I actually love writing them? Well, I think it has a lot to do with the way I work. As you know, I’ve always mixed creative writing with rigorous self-editing. I’m not sure why I fell into that routine. Regardless, it’s drained a lot of the fun out of storytelling for me. Sentence structure, grammar, and word choice might be important. But they’re work, not fun (well, at least not for me). The worst part is that I diagnosed this problem over two years ago. I’ve just never addressed it. But hey, there’s no time like the present.

My goal for Crashcourse—and beyond—is to separate writing from editing. And in that sense, today was a big success. In just one hour, I wrote 1,885 words. That’s even better than yesterday. Now, I didn’t do any editing. So, what I wrote is raw and far from publish-ready. But there’s a certain energy to it that I haven’t felt in a long time. It’s not enough for me to keep going right now and I really don’t want to force things. But it’s promising. Ideally, I’d love to give up word counts and timed writing sessions altogether. I’d like to have to tear myself away from a story, rather than strong-arm myself in order to keep going. Hopefully, this type of raw writing will get me there.

Crashcourse Totals

Weekend Total: 1,885 words in 1:00. 1,885 words/hour

Total: 4,427 words in 10:10. 435 words/hour

 

Recent Comments

  • Werner Meyer
    May 31, 2017 - 10:36 pm · Reply

    Since you are good at “telling” stories, have you considered dictating them to text using something like your phone, or Dragon? I know it;s a little awkward at first, but it gets easier and even more productive once you get into the groove.

    • David Meyer
      June 1, 2017 - 10:37 am · Reply

      Yes! I actually tried it awhile back with Voice Memos on my iPhone. I gave up after one or two sessions, but I really like the idea of it. Have you tried it?

  • Werner Meyer
    June 1, 2017 - 1:41 pm · Reply

    I almost exclusively use text to speech when I’m texting because the keys are so small on my phone. Oh and I also use it to make comments on blog posts like this one.:-)

    • David Meyer
      June 2, 2017 - 7:02 pm · Reply

      Yeah, I’ve used it for short messages, but long-form storytelling is a bit harder for me. I’d like to master it though. It seems like a great fit with how I like to work.

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