September, 2016 (Yokohama, Japan)
This month was a blur.
Actually this whole year was a blur. A flurry of different homes across the world, visa stress (don’t ask), and fingers tapping furiously on the keyboard.
But as the moon finishes its vicious cycle, we should all ask ourselves…
What did I do this month?
And…
Did my actions bring me closer to my goals?
I looked back over this month and, despite it being a tumultuous one, I must have done something right because my current work-in-progress is sparkling (if I say so myself).
I’ve been productive, focused, and effective.
These are the three things that have helped to improve my writing this month:
1. I switched from Kindle to REAL books
95% of the books I’ve read for the last 3 years have been on an electronic device. Typically I read them on the Kindle app on my mobile phone.
This is mainly because I’ve been travelling around from place to place and it never made sense to buy and read real books. I’d just end up lugging extra weight around. Plus they’re usually way more expensive than ebooks.
But I got sick of looking at the screen. So I cold-turkeyed the Kindle app, cancelled my Scribd subscription (even though I love the service and will return), and decided to only read real, honest-to-god, paper cutting, funky smelling BOOKS.
The result?
- I got huge bursts of excitement on a daily basis. It was like being a book virgin again. Seriously, how committed can you be to reading if you do it on your tiny smartphone screen?
- I retained way more of what I read. I underlined stuff, dog-eared pages, took pictures of extracts and continuously revisited favourite passages. I got tons of insights reading different books and I can still retain them.
- I found myself reading more. Instead of using times of procrastination to surf the web, I just reached for the stack of books.
- I paid greater attention and read quicker. This is mainly due to the fact that I knew I couldn’t take many of these books with me on my travels. So I had to start and finish books super quickly before I left a place.
- My writing improved. I treated each book like a personal writing masterclass and instinctively replicated stylistic and generic devices that appealed to me. I started doing stuff in my fiction writing that I wouldn’t have tried before.
2. I took Aaron Sorkin’s Masterclass and made time for the homework
I’ve written about Aaron Sorkin’s Screenwriting Masterclass (affiliate link) briefly in my weekly updates here, here, here, here, and here. I will do a comprehensive review soon but, in short: the class was awesome.
Investing in the course made me determined to consistently carve out time to study the craft of writing. I followed along every other day and recently started doing the homework.
The masterclass helped me improve the pacing and dialogue of my current novel and also gave me big bursts of motivation to keep ploughing through the tough times.
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As writers, we can easily get caught up in the actually writing aspect of our jobs. Then we have to read tons of different stuff – poetry, journalism, short stories, romance, horror – to make sure our heads are crammed with ideas. Then there’s the whole marketing thing.
We often forget that we actually need to study our craft regularly in order to keep improving. The Aaron Sorkin Masterclass reminded me of that and, after seeing how much it helped my writing, I made a commitment to take writing courses and read books on writing more often.
3. I gave myself a writing deadline each day
My writing productivity has been pretty beastly for most of the year. But this month was more of a struggle because of different personal life circumstances. Some days I didn’t hit my word count for more than a few hours. This would result in me having to work late because I still have other stuff to do. It would also cut into my sleep.
But then a simple mindset shift allowed me to crank out my word count each day.
This is what I told myself:
You have 2.5 hours today to get your word count. That’s it. 30 minutes to read over what you last wrote and 2 hours to hit your word count. Your word count is just 2,000 words. If you hit it before the time limit, you can either stop writing and go do something else, or you can write even more until the buzzer sounds. If you hit 2 hours and you haven’t done your word count, you must stop. Otherwise you’re cutting into time that could be best used for something else.
Guess what? I hit my word count.
I didn’t want to be a loser and let the timer beat me. So I rushed to hit my word count. I was excited by the fact that I could go do something else once I was finished. But that excitement gave me huge momentum and I became immersed in the story. So I always ended up writing more.
Try this little trick next time you’re feeling unproductive.
Other habits I kept:
In addition to those 3 new habits, I also kept up with these super important habits:
- Wim Hof breathing, stretching, and cold water therapy every single day.
- Taking the best supplements for writers.
- The Bradbury Trio every single day.
- Following a daily exercise regime.
The interesting thing to note is that I clearly have a lot of habits. It seems crazy and impossible to implement that many new habits at once. But keep in mind that I didn’t implement them all at once.
I adopted all of my habits one by one.
I spent a couple of months at the beginning of the year getting to grips with the Wim Hof Method before I tried anything else.
Then I started my supplementation routine.
I had already established an exercise routine years ago. That habit is cast in iron and isn’t going to break any time soon.
I started the Bradbury Trio last year. That’s routine for me by now.
You have to stack your habits one by one if you have any hope of keeping up with them.
If you want to try anything I’ve written about, make sure you only choose one thing and stick to it. Give it at least a month before deciding whether it’s good or bad. Give it a month before adopting a new habit.
Now, in addition to reviewing the previous month, it’s also handy to look to the future. What do October and November have in store?
October Habits
October is horror writing month. At least for me. I don’t know about you.
I’m currently living in Japan and, even in the middle of September, all I see is Halloween stuff everywhere. Adverts, store merchandise, restaurants. Everything is spooky-themed.
All this Halloween stuff must have gotten into my psyche because I’m pumped as hell for Halloween. The month of October is all about refining my horror writing skills.
That means reading a wide selection of stuff within the horror genre. That also means learning how to creep readers out with words. How to make them scared to turn the light off at night. Mwah-Hah-Haaah!
November Habits
November is National Novel Writing Month.
Otherwise known as NaNoWriMo.
This is where writers from all different stages in their profession get together and attempt to write and finish a novel in a month.
Every year I say I’m going to be part of the community. I vow to be part of the fun. Then November rolls around and I’ve completely forgotten about it until the second week. Not this time!