Hi Grace! First--LOVE hearing your voice (and the sound of the skillet in the background). My latest experiment to get myself to be more consistent with writing came from Aimee Bender and this contract she does with her students. They commit to her (and themselves) a set amount of time to write. Be it 20 minutes, an hour, etc. And then they write out formal contracts (SEE EXAMPLE in link below), both student and Bender sign, and then they ping her daily by email (A simple, "done") when they abide. And Aimee pings back, "check" as acknowledgment.
Now, nobody is pinging me DAILY per se (although I would love to get pinged or ping!), but I made a promise to myself, and so I do it. And the only parameter is that I have to show up. Once there, I can sit and stare at the wall or I can write, but I MUST go into my little writing closet and for an hour stay in there with no distractions.
An hour is a long time for a momma. Six months ago, it would have been 10 minutes if I were lucky! But as my boys get older, they stay asleep better, and this allows me to go at it. And yes, I can't have noise or anything (this is a me problem) so yep, at about 9 pm EST, I get out of bed from putting down my youngest, then I get up and make myself a hot cup of Decaf, and I go into my closet. Hit the Do not Disturb button for 1 hour and hop to.
(And then actually I'm not allowed to write outside of that time. Which is another angle all in itself.)
I also have a writing partner that we are checking in with work, as in time's up, pencils down, show what you've got! kind of thing every other Friday. I need accountability or I get hung up on in-progress works that never ever ever ever ever get finished.
Hope this helps. Can't wait to hear more from you!
This is absolutely genius I can see why it works!! Perhaps we should talk about this more formally and audibly <3
Hi Grace! First--LOVE hearing your voice (and the sound of the skillet in the background). My latest experiment to get myself to be more consistent with writing came from Aimee Bender and this contract she does with her students. They commit to her (and themselves) a set amount of time to write. Be it 20 minutes, an hour, etc. And then they write out formal contracts (SEE EXAMPLE in link below), both student and Bender sign, and then they ping her daily by email (A simple, "done") when they abide. And Aimee pings back, "check" as acknowledgment.
Now, nobody is pinging me DAILY per se (although I would love to get pinged or ping!), but I made a promise to myself, and so I do it. And the only parameter is that I have to show up. Once there, I can sit and stare at the wall or I can write, but I MUST go into my little writing closet and for an hour stay in there with no distractions.
An hour is a long time for a momma. Six months ago, it would have been 10 minutes if I were lucky! But as my boys get older, they stay asleep better, and this allows me to go at it. And yes, I can't have noise or anything (this is a me problem) so yep, at about 9 pm EST, I get out of bed from putting down my youngest, then I get up and make myself a hot cup of Decaf, and I go into my closet. Hit the Do not Disturb button for 1 hour and hop to.
(And then actually I'm not allowed to write outside of that time. Which is another angle all in itself.)
I also have a writing partner that we are checking in with work, as in time's up, pencils down, show what you've got! kind of thing every other Friday. I need accountability or I get hung up on in-progress works that never ever ever ever ever get finished.
Hope this helps. Can't wait to hear more from you!
🥩🥩Maegan
https://www.oprah.com/spirit/writing-every-day-writers-rules-aimee-bender/all