Friday 21 January 2011

Update

Just thought I would pop over and give you a quick update on this week's project. So far I am 2 days into the 3 day project of writing "full time" and I have to tell you that I found/am finding it quite difficult. Not the writing part which is fine but the discipline. Actually sitting at a key board for hours on end researching and writing meaningful stuff may sound idyllic but it is so tempting to make another cup of tea or eat another bit of cake.
I was delayed on the first day by a computer problem when I thought that I might have a virus and so had to run some anti-virus software. That stopped me doing what I wanted to at that time but it did allow for reading a bit of BTL and deciding what I was going to do there. So technically I suppose it wasn't wasted time but it just stopped me from getting all the writing that I wanted to do done. Then before you know it, it was 2pm which was my designated stop time (I did start just after 7) so I didn't get the prep done for the second day. Yesterday I didn't get everything done that I wanted to either mainly due to the fact that I spent a while on the phone to a lovely bloke at Dell because I had lost my wireless Internet connection and as everything that I am submitting this week is via email, a connection is sort of vital. Turns out I'd caught a button so it was easily remedied but I did feel a twit. Also the fact that the prep wasn't done the day before held me up. Nil desperandum I thought I can catch up on Friday (3rd day) which I might except that I'm going to knock off early today because Himself has bought tickets for "The King's Speech" (lovely man, can't wait.)
So if anything these few days has taught me that if I were to do this on a regular basis I would have to be more disciplined but I think that I knew that already. I have to say though that I have been so impressed with myself for not surfing the net and actually getting on with the job in hand.
I guess the success of this experiment will be in how much of the stuff that I have written is picked up by editors because as someone who is not independently wealthy and does actually need to make a living unless someone buys the stuff that I write when I do it as a "job" then we're not going to eat much.

11 comments:

joanne fox said...

I dream of writing full-time, but I don't know how well I'd cope with it in reality. I think it helps me to have a bit of structure in my week that I have to fit the writing round. Too much time, and I don't actually get much more done!

Hopefully you'll find yourself a routine that works (and sell some writing too!).

Flowerpot said...

discipline is a really difficult part of it Colette! I'm off to see the Kings Speech on Sunday too. Can't wait.

Colette McCormick said...

Joanne - I hope so too
FP - Nor can I but not much longer to go.

Adam said...

Good luck with the writing Collette. I suppose my advice (not that that means much)would be to try not to worry too much if you don't achieve your daily goals.
I'm sure it will all work out eventually, things normally do.

Colette McCormick said...

Adam - all advice is welcome. I'm not worried because it was more of a learning experiment than anything else plu if I'm honest I have more things to worry about - just not this weekend. This weekend I'm going to relax and then I can start all that worrying nonsence again on Monday.

HelenMWalters said...

I'm writing full time for a couple of months at the moment and I've been shocked to realise I *still* don't have time to do all the writing I want to do!

Colette McCormick said...

Helen - I know, scary isn't it.

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

I know many of us want to write full-time, but the reality must be very different to the dream.

XX

Colette McCormick said...

Suzanne - you are so right. These three days were an experiment to see what it was like and it was harder than I thought it would be. One good thing though was that for the most part I did work and wasn't distracted by surfing the net or checking emails constantly so I was fairly pleased with myself for that.

David said...

Well done for just sitting down and getting on with it, Colette. That's half the battle. Plus I think any time writing is time well spent!

I love the idea of working from home. I think the best thing about it is that when you fancy getting up and having a little wander then you can do just that. I suppose you could do that at work too but my colleagues might look at me strangely if I took to wandering off as the urge takes me.

Dx

Colette McCormick said...

I never get funny looks when I wander around at work because I do it all the time. Working from home would be good but I do think that the discipline thing would be a problem unless you were really strict with yourself. Also I'm very afraid that I would eat too much.