Monday, April 4, 2011

Writing Challenges

The last few weeks I've been hanging out on Twitter a lot. It's not what you think. I'm not procrastinating. OK, I'm not alway procrastinating on Twitter. I have been following the 1k1hr hashtag. Writers jump in and try to write a thousand words in a single hour and then come back and report the outcome. It's been wonderfully productive for me. I finished my first draft, writing at a pace that I hadn't duplicated since NaNo. More importantly, it didn't feel like work at all. I'm far enough along in the book that I won't be doing much in the way of 1k1hr for a while. Which sounds like a wonderful thing, but I'm a bit conflicted.  I'm a bit disappointed not to have the camaraderie and motivation of  my writing buddies.

I saw the link to this  blog via @Lili_Tufel  and it got me thinking about why the 1k1hr challenges worked so well for me. The author raises some really good problems with these writing sprints or even the longer challenge of something like NaNo. Some of the ways I deal with these problems were just luck, but some were a choice and some where the result of the cool writers that are doing 1k1hr.

The race is the point I think part of the appeal of contests for unpublished writers is that external deadline. It is hard for me to make the writing a real priority when there is no deadline. It's pretty easy to ignore the writing and  distant goals in favor of the army of dust bunnies invading my house and the piles of laundry right in front of me. For me the fact that I have to check back in at the end of the hour means that I can ignore the phone and emails for a bit and just focus. Pushing hard, knowing everyone else is writing, gives me that extra competitiveness to get writing. I don't always win. There are a couple of writers who I know will double my word count most days. The wining isn't the point, it's the race that pushes me to try harder.

The quality varies Some days I read over what I wrote and I'm very pleased. Other days I know I'm going to delete half of it. But the other half is something unexpected and wonderful. All of it could use some tightening, but I tend to be pretty wordy in the best of circumstances. The easiest scenes to write that quickly are the ones where I know just what happens and I just type the words. But some of the best things I've written have been when I have a crap word count and little idea of what comes next.

Huge pressure for only 60 minutes For an hour you are writing full out.  Sometimes the time flies by too quickly. Sometimes I am interrupted. Sometimes I can't believe the time is up because I've been so caught up in the story. Sometimes I am counting the minutes at the end trying to put enough words on the page to get even close to a thousand. But if I don't make 1K, I don't worry about it. The other participants cheer when you've hit the goal, but are quick to point out that even if it's only 500 words, it's 500 new words. Or even 250. If it goes well, I'm extra happy and there are people to celebrate with. If it doesn't go well, I just let it go. I do another sprint. Or just figure that tomorrow is another day.

I think at the end of it, that is what makes the 1k1hr work so well for me. Even if it is a complete failure, it was only an hour. If I delete the entire scene because I want to go in a different direction, it was just an hour of my life. That doesn't seem such a terrible commitment.

16 comments:

  1. I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned deadlines and being unpublished. It can be difficult to focus without a deadline but also the fact that we are unpublished often means we feel we have to justify ourselves to ourselves or to others. The domestic chores waiting to be done taunt you, take on an importance that is at times crazy, and why?- because there may be a small part of us that feels we are perhaps playing at the writerly thing. I've only done the #1k1h on a few occasions but it has pushed me out of my comfort zone, helped me over times when I feel that the writing is going nowhere and isn't it time to pack it in, and given me a wonderful sense of satisfaction that I've done it and finally moved the story forward.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done on getting to the rewrite/edit stage and I think you're completely right, the creation of artificial deadlines is a great way to achieve this. I am so deadline orientated it's untrue and am finding it really hard to motivate myself to write without one. I often see you all working on your #1k when I'm at work and wish I could join in. Good luck with the rewrite!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think I should do more of those 1k in 1hr challenges. They are a great motivator to NOT look at the email, play Scrabble on FB, or work out playlists on iTunes! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Alexandra: I think 1k1hr is the best thing when you have a scene that you just can't get started on. I just keep writing and even if I don't end up with a lot of words to keep, I get a beginning and a new direction to travel.

    @Rose Red: You can nudge me when you get home and maybe we can get an hour in!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You should totally hop on to one of the 1k1hr. Just be warned, Maisey types crazy fast.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've heard about this and it does sound great. Yet another good reason to stop adding Twitter pages to my favorites and actually get a Twitter account lol!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi! (Thanks for the link to my blog!) I'm still working out whether or not the #challenges work for me (as you could read in my blog!). The best thing for me about the challenges (and also about my daily blogging) is that they "make" me write everyday. I can easily write the 1000 words in less than half an hour (the old journalism training kicks in!), but I'm not always happy with the way I feel or the quality I've produced. Still....no doubt there are days I'll take part in #1Kwordchallenge or #1kaday. Thanks again for the link to my blog, and I'm really happy to read another take on the question! p.s. Nice to meet another Julia and to find your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lacey you should totally hop on Twitter. Very helpful for the word count. Or when you are procrastinating. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Julia!!

    I think #1k1hr works for me because it doesn't seem too serious. If I fail, I just hop onto another hour, or try again tomorrow. But it works best for me when I know what story I'm telling. So I spend my workout and house cleaning time plotting, so when I sit down to type, I know what I want to say.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I haven't tried this Julia, but it sounds like a great idea. Anything that gets the words flowing is great. And anything that convinces us our writing is more important than housework is fine by me!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Do you have to go on twitter at any particular time to do this or do you just do it by yourself? Mx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Serenity, I am all about avoiding dusting.

    Morton: I follow the #1K1hr hashtag. People randomly give a shout out when they are ready to begin, sometimes only a few minutes before the start and who ever is ready jumps on. You can start your own hour. Sometimes many people pile on. Sometimes no one is ready.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ok I'm still a little confused, but will have a go later maybe. Mx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Morton: If you read back last few hours of #1k1hr you'll see how it shapes up.

    Someone will tweet that she is starting a 1k at the :30, sometimes mentioning other writers who might be around.There might be writers around to join in, but maybe not. It's all pretty casual and free form.

    ReplyDelete
  15. are you sure i just can't write my name over and over again? :D

    ReplyDelete
  16. I've never written my name repetitively, but I have written some pretty lousy first paragraphs that I cut even before the hours up.

    ReplyDelete