Resolving To Break The Pattern

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a writerly pattern forming.

It starts in the fall, when after a summer of binge writing at my family cabin, I’ve got various projects in various states of completion. I declare October “finish them!” month, whereby I try to ignore the voices that whisper in my head of new ideas. Sometimes I succeed.

Then comes November, where I sell my writing soul to NaNoWriMo, promising myself I will complete 50,000 words, that I will write every day, that I will allow myself to write crap if it means getting those pages done. True to pattern, I start out strong, and burn out just over the halfway mark.

But it’s the Christmas season and so this post isn’t to beat myself up over never meeting the NaNo goal. The object is to write. I did that, all of November.

Except, here’s where the pattern really gets noticeable.

December 1 – Lament over not completing NaNo goal and eat ice cream. (Well, I always eat ice cream, but on December 1, I eat more ice cream.)

December 2 – Reread NaNo project and determine it worthy of completion. Celebrate with a glass of wine.

December 3 – 5 – Give myself a break. Because hey, I wrote all of November. Catch up on TV shows I missed in November. (My guilty pleasure this year? Sons of Anarchy…hello Jax Teller!)

December 6 – 10 – Write! Attempt to regain NaNo momentum, but it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and there are so many shiny things…



December 11 – 15 – Begin planning writing schedule that will happen over the holidays. Determine that somehow magically the NaNo project, plus two other projects must be finished. Print off these documents and stuff them in my bag so they’re “handy” if I have some time between shopping/attending Christmas functions to do a quick “edit” in preparation of the binge writing I hope to squeeze in between unwrapping gifts and cooking, or even Boxing Day shopping with my MIL.

December 16 – 17 – Read Stephen King’s memoir On Writing.

December 18 – Realize that for the month of December I have done NO actual writing and according to Stephen King, that pretty much makes me a failure. Because, you know, he writes TEN pages a day, even on his birthday.

December 19 – Resolve to break the pattern.

And that’s where we’re at, friends. The resolutions. The promises that I will write 10 pages every day in 2013. I’ll read 100 books. I’ll lose 50 pounds. I’ll submit at least one short story a month. Blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, like that’s going to happen.

While each of those resolutions is admirable (or stupid), they aren’t realistic. At least not all at once. Sure, Stephen King writes 10 pages a day…but that’s his job. And yeah, 100 books might be feasible if I allowed picture books to count. The 50 pounds? We’ll see.

The point is, my resolutions are always big.

HUGE.

So this year – *deep breath* – I am resolving to change the pattern. And instead of focusing on tangible numbers that loom over me like a black cloud of failure, I’m going to aim for daily targets. In other words, I’m going to set myself up for success. (Novel concept, right?)

In 2013, I resolve:

- to eat healthy and drink more water (and less Diet Coke)
- to write every day, except on my birthday, and maybe Christmas. Oh, and Easter.
- to read every day, even on my birthday. (Can you think of a better way to spend your birthday?)

But more importantly, I resolve to strive for a less stressful, more calming work/life balance.

Unless, of course, the world ends on Friday.

So, how about you? What are your resolutions this year – and do you keep them?

Wishing you and your families a wonderful Christmas and a productive 2013.

- Dawn

Dawn has a short story in the Spirited anthology published by Leap Books.

Crossing The Finish Line

I’m about 10,000 words shy of completing the first novel in a series that’s been a work in progress for about two years. 10,000 words. That’s it. On a good writing day, I can push out 2,500 words. I’m not great at math, but even I can figure this out – four good days and this book could be finished. Done.Finito.

But the truth is, I’ve been sitting at “10,000 words from completion” for about two weeks.

It’s not that I’m blocked. In the past few weeks, I’ve revisited an old project, started a new one (gulp), outlined the second book in this series AND another series, finished the first draft of a screenplay, and binge watched several TV series under the guise of inspiration. I’ve been productive.

And it’s not like I don’t have incentive to finish this book. My agent, my publisher, my critique partners, and my friends are all waiting for those last 10,000 words. Frankly, there’s a lot riding on it.

The feedback on the first half of the book has been positive – overwhelmingly positive. I have no good reason for writerly doubt to rear its nasty head.

But like a Cyclops there it is, staring me down with a smug one-eyed glare, and despite all of my monster-slayer training, this demon is a ridiculously feisty little creature.

It’s almost as though I’m afraid to type “The End” because of course, that’s when stuff gets real. The gig’s up. I’m no longer writing “my best work” – it’s written, and yeah, I know not going to measure up. How could it? In my mind, this draft is brilliant. Award-winning worthy. The great North American novel…

Ah, the stuff we tell ourselves to push through all of that…other stuff.

When I write, I slip into Genius Mode, this magical, mystical place where every word I write is perfect. The characters are three-dimensional, life like, sympathetic and a mesmerizing balance of good and flawed. I’ve chosen the most powerful verbs, ramped up the conflict, ended each chapter with a page-turning cliffhanger. There are no plot holes – every loose end is tied up with a neat little bow. The extra words are omitted. It really is a brilliant piece of work.

Genius Mode is a wonderful place to be, right?

But the gig’s almost up, and true to form, Idiot Mode has kicked in early. Instead of powering through those last 10,000 words, I’m hanging on to the “genius” –nervous about the flaws in the story, the character quirks that need fixing, the clichés that need to be axed. I’ve hit Idiot Mode too early – and that, my friends, is one nasty beast to slay.

So, I’ve taken the last two days to gather my arsenal. I’ve joined the gym because hey, if I’m going to beat myself up over writing, I definitely need to get my physical health in order. I finished Season 3 of Breaking Bad (talk about genius), and made my husband hide Season 4 as a REWARD for finishing those last 10,000 words. I’ve cleared my Mac of anything not related to this book and put it on a USB drive that is locked away in my desk drawer – and only my husband has the key. I’ve stocked up on Diet Coke and gummy bears, updated my playlist, and – gulp – deprogrammed half of the shows scheduled to tape on my PVR.

Drastic, right? Perhaps – but I know me, and THIS is the only way I’m going to cross the finish line on this book.

So – am I alone in my psychosis? Be honest, it’s okay. If not, what drastic measures have you had to employ to finish a project? And what tools of the trade am I missing in my monster-slaying arsenal?

- Dawn
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The Crossroads Tour

From small to big-gun presses, debut novels to bestsellers, the Crossroads Blog Tour is offering unprecedented (and free!) access to amazing YA authors. This October, thirteen paranormal writers will embark on an exciting blog tour that will hook readers up with great reads and cool SWAG. Three authors in the group are also with Indie E: Judith Graves, Dawn Dalton, and Christine Fonseca.

Here’s the official roster:

  

Judith Graves – Leap Books – Under My Skin, Second Skin, Skin of My Teeth, Killer’s Instinct

Joy Preble – Sourcebooks – Dreaming Anastasia, Haunted, Anastasia Forever. Soho Press (forthcoming May 2013) – The Sweet Dead Life

Stacey Kade – Hyperion – The Ghost and the Goth, Queen of the Dead, Body & Soul

Amanda Ashby – Speak – You Had Me at Halo, Zombie Queen of Newbury High, Fairy Bad Day, Demonosity

Lucienne Diver – Flux – Vamped, Revamped, Fangtasic, Fangtabulous

Kiki Hamilton – Teen / Macmillian – The Faerie Ring, The Torn Wing

Jackie Morse Kessler – Harcourt Graphia – Hunger, Rage, Loss

Christine Fonseca – Compass Press – Transcend, Libera Me

Carrie Harris – Delacorte Books for Young Readers -Taste In Boys, Bad Hair Day

Dawn Dalton – Leap Books - SPIRITED Anthology, Killer’s Instinct

Leanna Renee Hieber- Sourcebooks – Darker Still (Magic Most Foul, #1), The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart (Magic Most Foul, #2)

Ty Drago- Sourcebooks – The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses, The Undertakers: Queen of the Dead

Janet Fox – Speak – Faithful, Forgiven, Sirens

HOW THE TOUR WORKS

Each day of The Crossroads Blog Tour, a new research question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page:http://judithgraves.com/events/the-crossroads-tour/crossroads-2012/and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all answers by the end of the tour.

The GRAND PRIZE you’re vying for? A brand new KINDLE, preloaded with a title from each of the participating Crossroads Blog Tour Authors. That’s right folks, a free KINDLE and 13 free EBOOKS!

Follow the tour on Twitter And Facebook