Guest Post from Laura Diamond

September 12, 2010 at 5:48 am (September Blog Tour) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , )


Note from Cassandra: I’m over on Laura’s blog today but she has come to visit us here in the realm to tell us about her writing schedule. Thanks Laura for being here today. After you check out her post here, hop on over to Laura’s blog to check out my post for today.

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Gosh, I’m so excited to be a part of Cassandra’s blog tour. What an exciting month, right? Cheers, Cassandra, for all the hard work you’ve put into organizing this international writer fest!

I’ve been asked countless times about how I squeeze writing into my schedule. I’m going to preface this with a disclaimer. You see, I think my answer is a non-answer, but it’s the reality. Okay, drum roll, please!

I don’t schedule writing time. Nope. I don’t.

Why? Because if I did, I’d feel pressure to write, no matter the quality or topic. For me, pressure creates angst and frustration. Angst and frustration actually makes me freeze up. I get too caught up in things like: What should I write about? What if it sucks? What if I can’t find the right words? What if it doesn’t turn out the way I want it?

Notice most of those questions have a negative connotation. SO not cool. Once the negativity wheel starts spinning, I dig myself deeper and deeper into a rut and my writing stagnates like a 1000 year old bog. Stinky. Yuck.

So I don’t even go there.

Sure, I still have goals and I still work really hard to obtain them. For the most part, I do get some writing in every day, but I don’t go all ballistic and start berating myself if I don’t. I trust myself and my brain that the right words will come out if I let them come at their own pace.

Yes, it’s true that I will go days, sometimes weeks, without writing. And that’s okay. Because my brain is still processing things even if I’m not actively thinking about it. I can tell because when I DO sit down to write, the magic happens. An idea strikes. A dialogue snafu gets smoothed. A plot hole gets filled in.

It all works out.

That being said, everybody develops their own strategy to apply to their writerly life and I’d LOVE to hear your routine for writing!

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Laura is a board certified psychiatrist and hopes to become a published author. She writes adult and young adult urban fantasy, fantasy, and dystopian fiction. Her blog: Diamond, Yup, Like the Stone http://lbdiamond.wordpress.com/.

12 Comments

  1. AlexJCavanaugh said,

    September 12, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    I like her strategy, as it’s pretty much mine as well.

  2. Mason Canyon said,

    September 12, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    I can see where putting writing on a schedule could make you feel so pressed that you couldn’t think much less write. This way your creativity is always working.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

  3. Robyn Campbell said,

    September 12, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    Laura, excellent post. I never schedule writing time either. Nevah. When folks start writing they think they have to schedule it. Folks soon find out that’s not a very good idea. Laura this was a fantastic post. I’ll link to it over at my house. 🙂

  4. Carol Ann Hoel said,

    September 12, 2010 at 3:40 pm

    Thank you, Laura. I’ve recently had difficulty getting enough time to write. I establish a plan and sure enough the plan gets delayed or canceled. When I finally get a chance to write, I am filled with frustration. I am going to ease up on myself and let it happen when it happens. Stress is stifling indeed. Thank you for sharing.

  5. Lynn Rush said,

    September 12, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    Thanks, Laura.
    I reserve Sundays for the bulk of my writing, then I just cram it in wherever else I can throughout the other days of the week. You’re right about the “pressure” I’d feel if I had scheduled times. I wonder how that’d change if I ever get published and have edits to get done on time, and such. I suspect that would change.

    Anyway, I digress.

    Thanks for the post. Have a great day.

  6. Deb Salisbury said,

    September 12, 2010 at 4:42 pm

    Great post, Laura!

    I don’t schedule writing time, either. Every time I try to, ‘Life’ happens, and I’m frustrated because I can’t be two places at once. So I grab whatever time I can.

  7. Cassandra Jade said,

    September 12, 2010 at 8:30 pm

    Laura, thanks for such a great post and thanks for hosting me on the tour. I think you’re right about the pressure, but at the same time, I need some sort of goal to aim towards or else I end up reading blogs for several hours. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

  8. Alex Willging said,

    September 12, 2010 at 10:18 pm

    This is something that I recently worked on thanks to a writers’ support group. My current goal is to be able to do some writing every weekday, and usually then at night. Sometimes it’s a blog post, sometimes it’s a new scene for my story, and sometimes it’s just whatever I feel like writing, but so far it’s been working well for me and I think my writing’s improved as a result.

    An excellent post, Laura!

  9. Tamika said,

    September 12, 2010 at 11:31 pm

    This is a refreshing post. I’m elated that every writer has their own way, and simply believes that sharing that truth with others.

    There are times where I don’t step near my computer, and I admit that I feel an immense amount of guilt about that. But writing is never far from my mind, I believe the wheels are turning at all times:)

  10. lbdiamond said,

    September 12, 2010 at 11:48 pm

    Thanks for the great comments!!! This has been a lot of fun! 😀

  11. Misha said,

    September 13, 2010 at 11:36 am

    I’m exactly the same.

    I spend as long as I need to finish whatever I am writing – even if it happens in little five minute spurts – and tend not to write until the inspiration strikes again.

    I do feel guilty though.

  12. gargim said,

    September 15, 2010 at 7:19 am

    This is great to hear. I don’t schedule writing time either, for exactly the reasons you’ve stated.

Comments are closed.