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Welcome to the Break Writers’ group. There are 105 of us
with writing goals for this semester break who are part of our BreakWriting
listserv.
Some of the suggestions we’ll offer won’t work for everyone
– but this one will: Write every day.
Write something. Everyday.
Easier said than done, right? Here are some suggestions for
making it happen.
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Commit to writing for 15 minutes a day. No matter how tired
or busy or even sick you are, write 15 minutes a day. Here’s why this works:
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The hardest part of writing is getting started. We amateurs
procrastinate minutes, hours, days. (The pros, some of the best, most prolific
writers, report procrastinating weeks and even years.) We’re afraid we won’t
have anything to write. We’re afraid that what we write sucks. We’re afraid
we’re not up to the real pain that good writing requires. For some, only when
the pain of what we would lose by not writing -- our fellowships, our book
contracts, the rewards upon completion, even our jobs – begins to feel more
real than the pain of actually writing do we even begin to write.
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If you make yourself write 15 minutes a day, you have
overcome the biggest hurdle – getting started. And I’ve never known anyone with
the goal of writing 15 minutes a day who actually limited his writing to 15
minutes. Once you start, I promise you won’t watch the clock. You’ll write for
30, 60, even 90 minutes before you realize it.
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Writing everyday contributes to the continuity of your
thinking and generating the ideas you need to write. Your mind will function
differently when you write every day. We all think about our writing every day.
But the cognitive processes involved in writing are different from those
involved in thinking. You move your project forward when you write…even if your
writing is a crappy first draft. (In a subsequent posting I’ll tell you about just
that: writing the crappy first draft.)
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Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird (1994) suggests this: Place a 1-inch by 1-inch picture frame next to
your computer. You must write enough each day to fill the picture frame. With
this method, you will finish your dissertation. You’ll finish faster with an
8x12 picture frame. But you must write everyday, and the picture frame reminds
you to do so…at least enough each day to fill the frame.
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Other writers have offered this advice: Don’t allow yourself
to do something you enjoy until you’re written an hour (or more). Don’t eat.
Don’t shower. Don’t allow yourself to brush your teeth until you’re written
something.
So commit to write each and every day during the break. If
you’re away and without a computer then use pen and paper. But commit to
writing everyday.If you haven’t written
for at least 15 minutes today, start right now.
Some of the information in the BreakWriting postings are drawn
from previously published work (listed below), and I have tried to properly
attribute the ideas and work of others. If I have failed to do so, please let
me know so I can clarify and correct (ja2310@columbia.edu).
Lamott, A. (1994). Bird by bird: Some instructions on
writing and life. New York:
Anchor Books.
Allen, J. (2008) The new faculty and graduate mentor. Sterling, VA:
Stylus Publishers
Continue to Break Writing #2 - A Different View of Writing Time
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