There are a lot of things I've done to try to escape the trap I've found myself in. I've tried starting over with a commitment for that to be the last time I start over. I've tried moving on to a new novel. I've tried plotting. I've tried extremely loose and carefree writing. I've tried starting in the middle. I've tried jumping from scene to scene. I've tried just about everything I can think of. There are only two things that I've been able to figure out that I've not done yet-- jumping back in right where I left off, and forcing myself to hit a word goal every day. And I think those two things are the secret to getting out of the spiral.
You see, when the spiral started, I was writing a thousand or so words everyday. I had a lot more time then, and I'm hoping to have some time like that again soon. But that "butt in chair, words on page" mentality pushed me through a great many blocks. Sure, it didn't always make for the most cohesive manuscript, but that's what rewrites are for-- to clean all that stuff up.
Of course, back then I was also reading ever day as well. I was working through Brandon Sandersons's Mistborn at the time, and writing daily posts about each chapter, which increased my daily wordcount in a way that I wasn't even considering.
What I need now is a solid plan, which specific times of day and quantities of words that I'm going to reach. I haven't set that series of goals yet, but I think it's time to do it.
So, I've got the rough outline of my story now-- I've written it out as a better guide, fitting in some of the good ideas I've had, but focusing on the core story that got me excited in the first place. I've already writting the first 20,000 words or so, and I'm letting them stand (even though they're completely wrong at this point). I am picking up my story where I first left off. At exactly the same scene. There's no need to back up at all because I've already written that in skeleton form in my outline.
As for my wordcount goal-- that is tough because I have a fairly limited schedule. But nothing worthwhile was ever achieved without some sacrifice and work. So, my beginning goal is 500 words a day. It's not much, but it's attainable. At my pace of free-typing, it should take me about an hour a day. Given that I usually build some leeway into my goals, I'm setting my weekly word count goal at 2500. That gives me two days off each week, or a few lighter writing days. Those are for when the rest of life takes precidence, which is important to let happen, I believe.
Today is already awash, with how late in the day I'm writing this, but checking the word count here, I'm nearly to 500 already, so at least with that, I can successfully call my goal as started, and cross off my first day. Of course, it'll shrink if I go through and pare this post down, and that actually leads me to next weeks topic: blogging-- revise or no?
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