Writing Hacks: The 48 Minute Rule

One of the biggest problems I've been having lately is my internal (or infernal) editor sitting on my back looking over my shoulder like a highly literate monkey. This monkey is hungry for words but it is very selective about which words. That's often the problem with writers, something inside them gives them immense guilt if they do not produce anything but the same force seems to be employed in rejecting what few words they do manage to crank out.  I've been plagued with this and I've hardly written anything this year because of it. So instead of lamenting this fact in private, I've opted to share it with all of you along with a few solutions for combatting the evil editor monkey. This is the first in a series of newsletters dealing with the topic of motivation and productivity in writing. If you have any ideas you'd like to share on this topic, please feel free to drop me an email, I'd love to hear your solutions.

The 48 minute rule

Often times the problem with getting things done is the simple tendency towards distraction. As creative people, we simply cannot be trusted to remain on task. It is no easy thing to sit still and do the same thing for a set period of time each day. Let's say you've managed to snatch from the jaws of your busy life 2 hours in which you plan to work on writing. I'm sure you've had this happen, the 2 hours seem so vast and full of potential but before you know it you've wasted an hour and a half simply distracting yourself. Either you're folding socks or reading the news or God forbid you turn on the TV and your time is gone.

Those 2 hours loom too huge in your mind, I personally cannot imagine myself typing for 2 hours straight, as much as I'd love to be that productive I simply cannot work with that large of a chunk of time. On the other hand, when I've worked on NaNoWriMo I've been very productive in much less time because it's all the time I have and I can easily work all the way through a shorter period of time.
The answer, therefore, is to break the time down into smaller chunks, and the magic amount of time is 48 minutes. Get a countdown timer or egg timer, either software or hardware. I recommend ChimooTimer for Mac or EggTimer for Windows. Or just use the timer on Write or Die.

Break each hour into 48 minutes of productivity and 12 minutes of break time. You'll find that it's much easier to write this way rather than trying to force yourself to write constantly for several hours, or even one whole hour.

Your brain likes structure and digestible amounts of time. This is why it's easy for people to get sucked into watching hours and hours of television, because it's broken down into small chunks. The 12 minutes of break time also helps you put off anything else that might interrupt your writing because you can say to yourself "I'll do that on my break in x minutes" instead of "I might as well do that now, it's not like I'm going to get anything done." So all of the sudden your writing gains a greater importance in your mind. You can put off checking your mail and twittering till you're done with your current bout of writing.

Think of it as breaking your work time into mental chapters. When you read a book there are logical stopping points where you can put the book down and do something else. If you plan these logical stopping points within your writing time, you'll find yourself being more productive by far.
Next week I'll give you another tip on motivation and productivity, and it most definitely will be next week because I'm going to write and schedule the darn thing right now because I'm on a roll. Thanks everyone for joining and I look forward to being more frequent with my newsletters.
Godspeed and good writing.

Creator, Critic; Process, Product: In Defense of Writing Quickly

Recently, Ian Shine from TheThingIs.co.uk contacted me asking for an interview. I'm not going to post the whole interview here because Ian hasn't yet posted it on the site so if you'd like to read the whole thing you'll either have to wait or else subscribe to the newsletter where I posted it in full. I welcome your comments.

IAN:

What is the point in churning out 50,000 words without any kind of editing process?

Your Write or Die tool, like NaNoWriMo, promotes writing without procrastination. Do you think this really has any merit? All of the world's greatest novels took years to write, so what's the point in trying to churn out writing as fast as possible, just for writing's sake?

 

DR WICKED:

If you had the apparatus to look inside the head of any creative person you would find twin beasts; we will call these the Creator and the Critic. In the well-organized mind they grow together: the more one creates the sharper one's eye becomes to the details in the creation of others, the more one looks critically at the works of others the more one is driven to create something better. The problem occurs when the Creator sits down to create; the Critic cannot differentiate between the process and the product and therefore begins to make loud comments about how horrible this creation is and how it could be so much better.

The goal of Write or Die is to get the Critic to shut up during the process and wait for the product. A lot of people criticise NaNoWriMo, saying that it's about nothing more than churning out reams of bilge. These people have the same problem as the Critic, they do not see that NaNoWriMo (and Write or Die) is about the process, not the product.

So, these things must be separate: Creator and Critic, Process and Product.

It's true that most novels take years to go from inception to publication, it is foolish to argue that point. I simply posit that the answer for the writers toiling in obscurity is to first take away the toil and then tackle the obscurity. Writing Does Not Have To Be Hard. The creature inside you that makes it hard is not the Creator, it is the Critic, holding you back and telling you it's not good enough. Make the Critic wait for the product when it can be used for things like editing, and by the time you're ready to edit it will have plenty of things to say.

A Wicked Christmas Greeting, Write or Die Offline Development

First and foremost I'd like to thank you all for your kind responses and feedback regarding Write or Die. I've been overwhelmed by how it has spread and how many people it has reached. So thank you very very much.
I'd also like to wish you a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holiday, whichever you prefer) and give you this by way of a greeting card. I usually write a Christmas poem around this time of year and this is it, please feel free to share it with friends.

The Grinch's Mother

A Sequel
The roast beast had been sliced the last toy was silenced
but that was not yet the end of the violence
Here is a tale that goes back up Mount Crumpit
To meet the she-fiend, the worst kind of strumpet
Though her son's heart was two sizes too small
The Grinch's mother, as you'll see, had no heart at all
She lurked in the depths, in the deepest of caves
Plotting to make all the Who's into slaves...

Continue Reading...

The other announcement I would like to make at this time is that, due to overwhelming demand, I am starting development on an offline version of Write or Die. It will include some new features, some fiendish, some helpful, but watch this blog for updates.

Thanks again to everyone for all your support.

Rust and Ashes : Excerpt

The night is quietly rumbling. Snowfall and gaslight illuminate the Loop and sparks fall like hellfire on the white drifts. He is looking out the spider frosted windows of his laboratory and wondering where she is now. He looks at the quite curious cat which is all that remains of the adventure. Having received the desired attention, the cat meanders elsewhere, twining its way through the shining copper tubing of the apparatus like a blue black thread. The darkened and cracked chambers, concoctions spilled from beakers like wax from an acid candle eating into the metal leaving a verdant patina. There is an anguished squeaking as he moves his desk from the dark corner where it, and several other less savory things, were living. He places it in front of the window, even though it is cold, so he can watch the snow, perhaps it will be warm by the time the tale is done with its telling. Assuming that winter ever ends, which seems increasingly unlikely.

Write or Die (Just in time for NaNoWriMo)

Check out my Screencast Demonstration of Write or Die
or Watch on YouTube


Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box, as long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.

Many people find themselves unable to write consistently. I believe that this is because their reason to write is intangible. For instance, I want to write and finish a book because I want to be published and make a living as a writer. That goal is a long way away so I often find it difficult to sit down to the task of writing.

Conversely, I'm in a creative writing class for which I manage to consistently write and finish projects (albeit at the last minute). I therefore draw the conclusion:

A tangible consequence is more effective than an intangible reward.

-serif;">If I don't write stories for class, I will receive scorn from my teacher and a bad grade in the class. If I don't write my own stories I am only disappointing myself. I experience perpetual disappointment in myself so I'm kindof used to it. Add to that the fact that I simply have neither the self-discipline to write consistently on my own nor the capacity for self-deception that would enable me to create artificial deadlines. That is how Write or Die was born.

The idea is to instill in the would-be writer with a fear of not writing. We do this by employing principles taught in Introduction to Psychology. Anyone remember Operant Conditioning and Negative Reinforcement?

Negative Reinforcement "strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior."

Consequences:

• Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.
  
• Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.
  
• Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself
  
• These consequences will persist until your preset conditions have been met (that is, your time is up or you've written you wordcount goal or both)

This text box is not a word processor, it is not for editing, the way to save is to select all of the text, copy and paste into your own text editor. The idea is to separate the writing process and the editing process as much as possible.

This is aimed at anyone who wants to get writing done. It requires only that you recognize your own tendency towards self-sabotage and be willing to do something about it. If you're sick of saccharine writing advice that no one could honestly follow and you want a real method to getting work done.

• Works great for real deadlines too!
  
• Excellent for getting your 1667 words a day for NaNoWriMo
  
• Good for writing on lunch breaks, just enter 30 minutes in the time limit box
  

You can't explain to a child that they should eat their vegetables or do their homework because, a long way down the road, they'll be glad they did. You must explain to a child that if they don't eat their vegetables or do their homework there will be dire consequences.

Your inner writer is very much like a willful child, this is how you discipline it.

Quick and Dirty SFWA Submission Links

For those who want to be accepted to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, there are a set of specific magazines in which you must publish. There is a list on their site but it is not linked to the publisher's respective websites. I linked them which should make it easier to find and submit if SFWA membership is your goal.

• Analog Science Fiction and Fact (guidelines)
• Asimov's Science Fiction (guidelines)
• Baen's Universe (guidelines)
• Brutarian (guidelines)
• Cemetery Dance (guidelines)
• Clarkesworld Magazine (guidelines)
• Chizine (guidelines)
• Cosmos (guidelines)
• Dark Wisdom (guidelines)
• Dragon (guidelines)
• The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (guidelines)
• Odyssey - Adventures in Science (guidelines)
• Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show (guidelines)
• Pedestal Magazine (guidelines)
• Realms of Fantasy (guidelines)
• Strange Horizons (guidelines)
• Subterranean Magazine (no unsolicited subs)
• Writers of the Future Anthology (guidelines)