Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The Challenge of Challenges

As I was accepting the challenge to blog once a day for the entirety of November, my husband was making a plan of his own. He is going to do 10,000 kettlebell swings this month! Let me tell you, tonight neither of us feels like doing anything. Yet here we are, forcing ourselves to stay committed. 

When I thought about the challenges of NaBloPoMo, I thought they would be more about what to write, or when to write, not whether to write! I think it would help if I set a scheduled time aside each day for blogging. Ideally this would be in the mornings, between bus runs (I take Steve to his bus first, then some neighbor kids to their buses at different times). The problem with this is that it isn't a big block of time each day. My mornings are more of the in-and-out variety. I'm definitely not getting up earlier to write. We have one computer, and Steve gets up very early to do his own reading and writing. That leaves afternoons or evenings, which have no set routine either. Some afternoons I'm running to bus stops, or running downtown, etc. I don't know what I'll end up doing, but I hope to settle into some sort of routine (I've been saying that for years, yo).

When do you write? What works for you? 

4 comments:

  1. How much time do you spend writing each post? I've been trying for years to get from first draft to published in less than 30 minutes. If I've met this goal ten times I'd be surprised. But if I could get more efficient w/ writing, I think I'd blog more often. Oh. Look at me. Turning your post into a discussion about ME. I'm very rude. Sorry.

    Kettlebell swings? That's hard core!

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    1. I like talking about you! That's natural and shows you're relating to me, and that's the point, yo!

      If I had a quite, private place to write, I'd knock these suckers out in under ten. As it is, we're a one computer household, and it sits on a desk, smack dab in the heart of our open-floorplan home. So a ten minute post takes about an hour as I contend with things like tv noise, kids coming down the stairs to ask for something to be baked, husband getting the puppy ready for a walk, etc.

      I do have alone time in the mornings, but I can't seem to write until I'm inspired. Nothing is planned. I sit down and write it all as it flows through my head, just as if I were speaking. That's why scheduling time to write often leads to *crickets* Steve writes like you, with a draft, and points, and that enables him to leave a project and come back to it later. But my brain is like GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT!!!! And therein lies my challenge.

      I'm putting a tablet on my giftmas list. Something I could plug a keyboard into. I'd like my own laptop, but... well, you know how it is!

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  2. I go in fits and spurts. I do better when I can write late at night. Lately, I've spent time during Kai's quiet-time writing.

    We have two computers, but one is a netbook. I dislike not having the mouse and hesitate to use it. I sometimes write on paper first, freewriting, basically. Then I'll go over it, cross out, add, and then, I find, as I'm typing it up, that I'm STILL changing things.

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    1. I relate. I often get inspired at night, but that's when my family is most active, so I'm contending with their noise and movements and needs. I was thinking of a tablet for giftmas. One I could plug a keyboard into. But now I'm hearing what you say about the mouse and wondering if I'll feel good about writing on anything less than a computer loaded with WORD. Hmm...

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