Earlier this year I came up with a writing plan so perfect I named it.
I knew I had to write more consistently and I knew I had to find a time without distractions to do that, so I initially thought I would write from 10 p.m. to midnight every night, giving myself one or two nights off each week. The trouble with that plan was after working all day, coming home, doing assorted chores, paying bills, walking the dog, etc...well, when 10 p.m. rolled around I was usually too wiped out to do anything.
Then came the great idea: I'd flip it around. I'd do my writing first thing in the morning--and by first thing, I meant first. Damn. Thing. I would wake up at 4:30 am in hopes of being cognizant and creative by five, so I could get two solid hours in before I had to get ready for work. It was perfect. It was flawless. What distractions could there be at that time of day, when even the bats were sleeping? And thus, The Rooster Plan was born.
Four months and a scant 4,000 words or so later, I had another epiphany. This plan just would not work. On the days that I did wake up that early, I wasn't thinking clearly until nearly 6 a.m. I was wiped out by the time I made it home from work and essentially a drooling automaton throughout family time. The characters that I want to write about--the ones that speak to me more often, sort of clamoring for their release--are generally sarcastic and witty, but they sure didn't seem that way before the sun rose. They were as tired as I was.
I said to myself: "Self, you're a moron. You couldn't wake up at 4:30 in the morning if you rolled out of a flaming bed and into an ice bath. You're just not wired for it."
I am, I admit, being a bit hard on myself. I did have a few productive days. I managed to finish a short story, start another, and edit two others and get them into the submission circle (I should get a rejection notice any day now). I sketched out a few other ideas. The point is this: I was fighting my own nature. I'm not a rooster. I'm an owl.
Writing is hard enough. It is lonely enough. The periods between hard work and (hopefully) reward are long enough. Don't make it worse on yourself by forcing your recalcitrant mind into an arbitrary schedule under the guise of 'getting more done.' It won't work.
So this is me doing two things: (1) getting the blogs back up and running and (2) saying goodbye to the Rooster Plan. Yeah, I may miss the sunrises and the way the birds announce each new day. But I'll save a fortune in coffee and I think I'll be a little more productive this way, too.
