Peace of Mind Organizing

The novel writing proceeds...

6 November 2009

…which explains why the blog writing has dropped off a little. I’m very excited that I’ve been able to work on my National Novel Writing Month piece of fiction each day since November 1.

It’s an interesting exercise in writing, of course. While I do write regularly, I don’t usually write fiction (I did write a novel in a month back in 2004), so this is completely outside of my normal experience in writing. What I’m loving is that I’m not planning this book at all. I sit down to write and see what happens. I don’t know how good the final product will be. And the best part is that I don’t really care.

Mostly this is an interesting experience in discipline and striving to reach a goal. I’m doing this just for the challenge of doing it. I’ve made a public commitment to write 50,000 words of fiction in the month of November and, barring catastrophe, I will meet that commitment.

I’m working on the novel first thing in the morning, even on the days I have client appointments. That means I have to get up a little earlier than usual. And it means I can’t do much else in the morning before an appointment. But I have done it each and every day starting November 1. As of this morning, I’ve written 11,877 words. To write 50,000 words in 30 days, I need to write 1667 words daily. I try to write more each day and, in fact, I’m 1875 words ahead of that pace. So if need be, I can take a day off. But I’d rather finish early.

These are the things that I’ve identified that are making it work for me:

• I have a set time of day when I do the work. I think I’d find it difficult to squeeze out time to write fiction in the midst of a work day.
• There’s a clear measure of success…I will succeed if I’ve written 50,000 words by November 30.
• It won’t last forever. No matter what, this particular challenge is over on November 30.
• There’s no pressure to be perfect. This is all about putting words on paper (actually, in a computer file). No editing allowed. I’m free to write a really lousy book.
• I’m doing it every day. By month’s end, it will feel automatic. It’s already starting to feel like a routine.
• I have measurable progress. All I do is watch that word count rise (my friend and writing buddy Shannon Wilkinson created a really cool spreadsheet where we can keep great stats for both of us.)
• I have accountability. I email Shannon every morning when I have written my words. She responds with an encouraging email. I do the same for her every day. And I’m tweeting each day after I meet my word quota.
• I’ve made a public commitment. It would be way easier to back out on this if I hadn’t told everyone I’m doing it.

If you have a big job you’d like to accomplish in a short period of time, perhaps the lessons I’ve learned with writing a novel in a month could help. Here’s how you can use them:

• Set a defined goal
• Set a deadline
• Know how much you need to do each day to meet that deadline
• Set a time of day to do the work
• Track your progress
• Don’t try to be perfect
• Have a friend (or professional) provide accountability and encouragement
• Tell people about it

These strategies would work well for tackling a big decluttering/organizing project in a month’s time. (Or, alternatively, to creating a new habit to maintain order.) If you think you could use a little extra help and support, Declutter Happy Hour, the 28-day e-course Shannon and I created, could provide just the framework to help you apply the above lessons and keep you on track for a month.

Writing a novel in a month is a fun goal. Ultimately, the end product won’t probably enhance my life after the month. (Though, who knows…maybe I have the beginnings of a best seller here!) But if you declutter your home (or part of your home) in a month, that could have lasting benefits. And if you start now, it will be done before the holidays!

Edited to add: I finished my novel on November 27!

Tagged with: deadlines, declutter happy hour, decluttering, goals, nanowrimo, shannon wilkinson, writing

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