Define "Work"
Monday, November 9. 2009
I'm "working" tonight on my novel. I'm terribly behind on reaching my goal of fifty hours of hard labor for the month, because I didn't have (or make) any time for writing at all this past weekend. Now I'm trying to catch up, and I'm bargaining with myself regarding what constitutes "work" on the novel.
I just spent about an hour researching writing software (once again) and evaluating Writer's Cafe. It looks useful for organizing plot thoughts and so forth. This novel has got to the point now where there is a lot of information to wrangle, and it's nigh impossible to keep it all in my head at the same time. But I'm afraid changing file formats / viewers / horses at this point is just going to eat up valuable noveling time. Still, can I count that hour of tool research as "work"? Sadly, I don't think so; it hasn't advanced my text any further toward "THE END."
Now I'm spending time staring off into space, thinking through character motivations, settings, and so forth, trying to work out how to fill some weak spots in the narrative. Is looking up at the ceiling "work"? Yes, I think it is, because it's a necessary part of moving forward with the novel.
Debating inside my own brain (spilling out into my blog) what's "work" and what's not—is that work? Decidedly not. So, break's over.
I'm "working" tonight on my novel. I'm terribly behind on reaching my goal of fifty hours of hard labor for the month, because I didn't have (or make) any time for writing at all this past weekend. Now I'm trying to catch up, and I'm bargaining with myself regarding what constitutes "work" on the novel.
I just spent about an hour researching writing software (once again) and evaluating Writer's Cafe. It looks useful for organizing plot thoughts and so forth. This novel has got to the point now where there is a lot of information to wrangle, and it's nigh impossible to keep it all in my head at the same time. But I'm afraid changing file formats / viewers / horses at this point is just going to eat up valuable noveling time. Still, can I count that hour of tool research as "work"? Sadly, I don't think so; it hasn't advanced my text any further toward "THE END."
Now I'm spending time staring off into space, thinking through character motivations, settings, and so forth, trying to work out how to fill some weak spots in the narrative. Is looking up at the ceiling "work"? Yes, I think it is, because it's a necessary part of moving forward with the novel.
Debating inside my own brain (spilling out into my blog) what's "work" and what's not—is that work? Decidedly not. So, break's over.
I just spent about an hour researching writing software (once again) and evaluating Writer's Cafe. It looks useful for organizing plot thoughts and so forth. This novel has got to the point now where there is a lot of information to wrangle, and it's nigh impossible to keep it all in my head at the same time. But I'm afraid changing file formats / viewers / horses at this point is just going to eat up valuable noveling time. Still, can I count that hour of tool research as "work"? Sadly, I don't think so; it hasn't advanced my text any further toward "THE END."
Now I'm spending time staring off into space, thinking through character motivations, settings, and so forth, trying to work out how to fill some weak spots in the narrative. Is looking up at the ceiling "work"? Yes, I think it is, because it's a necessary part of moving forward with the novel.
Debating inside my own brain (spilling out into my blog) what's "work" and what's not—is that work? Decidedly not. So, break's over.
Craig on :
Writers' Cafe was the first for me. yWriter is probably the simplest. Liquid Story Binder was the coolest, albeit complex. Add in Darkroom and similar products, and you have a colossal waste of time better spent writing. I did nothing on NaNo 2008 because I was busy looking for the perfect software.
If you don't already have something to track plot lines, Writers' Cafe's corkboard is great. yWriter is a simple program that can do many of the same things without the graphical interface.
Either way, pick one and stick with it. Both will work with basic text files, so a format change may not be in order.
Good luck!
Brent on :
Craig on :
Jimmy Anderson on :
BTW - nice to see the steady posts from you as well...