My other life

[radegund]

My normal pattern of working on The Novel, so far, is to have a few days or weeks of progress, and then anything up to several months of a more or less predictable mood arc, stretching from intense self-satisfaction, through optimism, unfocused determination, niggling frustration and curtain-chewing irritability, finishing up with a feast of self-excoriation in glum sauce, served on a bed of blank and soul-crumpling despair - at which point the only way to make myself feel better is to open the fucking file and add to it already.

I think I'm currently at the "niggling frustration" stage, and I'm trying hard to short-circuit the rest of the cycle. (My curtains won't stand much more abuse.) It would be nice, for once, not to have to reduce myself to a tearful, sleep-deprived heap before I'll go near the beast again.

So, a two-pronged attack: (1) Attempt to avoid, for as long as possible, the equation of Not Writing with Bad Radzer - because that's completely counterproductive. (2) Institute a reward system, say per 1000 words. Ideas welcome!

(And it'll get done. Eventually. And really, when it comes down to it, on the grand scale of things, who - other than me, and I'm biased - gives a fuck whether I finish my novel in 2003 or 2004 - or 2010?)

Comments

I have little cards

[ailbhe]

I get one point for every hour of study, one point every time I submit an assignment 3 days early or more, one point every time I get more than 80%, and ten points means I can go and buy a book.

What I'd do is give myself a point every 500 words, and take myself and one other out for a nice dinner every 10 points, assuming you already buy books the way normal people do (I don't; buying myself books is very hard for me to justify).

I'd also say that once you've got 50 points, you should absolutely not write for n timeperiod. Don't allow yourself anywhere near it.

Stop, and write a small children's book about a raspberry who visits an ironmongers instead. Illustrate it in crayon.