Result Oriented Keyboard-Face-Smashing

Hello dear reader, I hope this post finds you healthy and sane. As my dad so aptly responds every time I check in, everything here is hunky dory. Our household has gotten into a bit of a routine, with my wife working from home down the hall and me pecking away in my usual novel hovel. There's been some interesting improvisation in terms of seating-- I gave up my nice office chair so that she wouldn't suffer from back problems while she's hunched over her work laptop. In doing so, I've been chair surfing on whatever I can find. I started out on a run of the mill kitchen chair, upgraded it with some pillows and cushions, moved to a futon, and have since started using a glider with a lap table... I might need to take a picture of this to document it. It's pret-ty crazy as far as a working setup goes. Hoo boy. So crazy.

Also I guess I'm mildly bored? Can't complain otherwise. So there's my quarantine update .

As far as writing goes, I've managed to kickoff my new project in earnest. I just logged the last couple words in chapter 1 this morning, bringing the grand total to about 2700 words thus far. Not too shabby. Especially considering how difficult it's been to sit and focus for more than 5 minutes at a time. For some perspective, that chapter came together over the course of four separate writing sessions.

On my first project, my aim was to average 1,000 words a day. It was nice to have a goal set, even if I didn't hit it everyday. Some days I would get there, others I wouldn't, and very occasionally, I would have a whopper of a day and blow 1000 out of the water. It wasn't set in stone. I wasn't shackled to my chair until the wordometer ticked over to four digits. But it was nice having some target day-to-day, even when just getting the damn letters lined up on a page felt like a gargantuan feat.

I think it actually made plotting somewhat easier. When I came up on 1000 (or was struggling to get there), that meant I could either forge ahead or take a step back and evaluate how I was feeling. Did I hit on the major points I wanted to? Was I slowing down because I was bored? Did I need to reassess my outline again? It broke up the writing into nice chunks that allowed my brain to catch up to the story and helped me to keep things tight and orderly. As orderly as a first draft can be anyway.

Now, given current circumstances, I'm happy to get whatever I can. That 1000 word target is still there, but since I've taken such a lax approach in the past, it doesn't bother me that I'm not hitting it. Words in the bank are still words in the bank. As I said above, this latest chapter took 4 days to get down. That's what... like 700ish words on average? And they were grueling words to get out too. I know it's nice to picture us writerly types sitting in wingbacked chairs by the fire as we dictate prose to some magicked quill. But the reality is that some days it's more like smashing our heads against a keyboard hoping something cogent is hitting the page. Frankly, I'm happy when and if I manage to squeeze anything out.

This post isn't meant as a humble brag (....ok, maybe a bit), but I wanted to showcase how hard this shit is even under normal circumstances. 2 months ago I had the skeleton of this new project laid out and ready to go. Theoretically, I was ready to start working on it. But then all this happened and I couldn't bring myself to sit down and write. I couldn't bring myself to do a lot if I'm being honest. I felt paralyzed. I assume a lot of people had or are having the same problem, maybe even with regard to normal day to day stuff. I'm putting this out there as a way to say, that's okay. We're all handling this differently. My incremental progress approach has thus far helped me deal with it. Maybe it could help you too. Setting a goal, no matter how small, might get the juices flowing and keep your spirits up. That's what my daily wordcount does for me anyway.

'Til next time, stay healthy. And for the love of god, find a good chair.