Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Short day

Today is going to be abbreviated for me. I won't be able to get much, if anything done, on my current projects. To that I am taking a page from Brian Keene's playbook and have started working more than one project in the same sitting. I can see where he is coming from. I have a problem where the first couple of pages of an ongoing manuscript go great and then it seems like a lot of time is spent looking at the curtain in front of me. Using Keene's method (and I will admit is not for everyone. I don't even know if it is for me.) I can juggle two projects at the same time, when one slows to a crawl I switch gears and get a couple of hundred words down on the other project.

So far it works pretty well. Something tells me I am going to have a problem later on with characters that weren't written in to one story popping in for a visit. I didn't say it was a perfect idea.

Today, instead of writing, and if it doesn't rain, I will be spending my time planting flowers, cleaning the garage and maybe hanging more drywall. On the top of my list is tightening a water line under my dishwasher without snapping it and making a bigger mess. I thought I would have taken care of that earlier but I grabbed a handful of wrenches and none of them were the proper size. If this is any indication of how the rest of my day will go I am going back to bed.

Have a happy Wednesday!

10 comments:

Cate Gardner said...

Having just escaped a walk-in cupboard that I was painting, I would like you to fly over and finish the rest of my house. Pleasssssssse. :)

Jamie Eyberg said...

That would be a cool vacation. I would hate to think what the airline would charge me to ship my toolboxes. :)

K.C. Shaw said...

I don't think of the wind-down-and-stare part of writing as a bad thing. I'm just recharging!

It's the wind-down-and-stare-then-Twitter-and-play-video-games part that I have trouble with.

Jamie Eyberg said...

K.C. that is exactly why I am trying this method. My downtime is killing my productivity.

Aaron Polson said...

We always have projects at our place, too, and if you want to find a way to grow good ol' grass in our "lawn", I'll pay for the ticket anytime.

Cate Gardner said...

Ooh, I have one of those lawns. Bare patches and half weeds. Who mows weeds? Feeling very inept today.

Fox Lee said...

Working on more than one project at once would make me sea-sick ; )

Danielle Birch said...

I have gardening to do however I'm ignoring the weeds - until they reach epic proportions, that is.

BT said...

Good luck with the dishwasher - sounds like it could be bad.

As for the multiple projects - it's the only way I work. It definitely stops writers block.

The trick is to not return to a project you stopped in the same sitting - then you get seasick, or the wrong characters turn up.

Work on one until nothing comes or it begins to become a chore. Go take a break and then come back to another project and work on that for a while.

The following day you can come back to the original project or another one. Just don't try to do too many things at once - it's tiring.

Jamie Eyberg said...

Aaron- I think the only thing I can grow around my yard are cats.

Cate- All of my weeds get whacked at least once a week.

Nat- My dad was a sailor, I am immune to sea-sickness.

Danielle- You should see my pathetic excuse of a strawberry patch. :(

BT- the plumbing went well, just had to tighten a bit. I think you are right on about how to work several projects. Moderation in all things.