I think I am motivated by urgency and stress....I am writing my first book. It is a memoir and a collection of my song lyrics.
I have just cracked the 54,000 word mark! Yay! But I'm running close to deadline. At the beginning of the year I committed to writing this book and having it finished by July 12th 2015 to be launched at the Southern Highlands Writer's festival. It is now nearing the end of May and I haven't even finished writing yet! I still need to get it edited and formatted. There must be something in me that loves flying by the seat of my pants!
I gave my self the goal of 50,000 words and now I have surpassed that and I am on a roll and have more to say. I am a deadline adrenaline junkie but also I am flexible. If I write more than I thought all the better. I realised I probably won't have the finished book copy by July 12th but I can be flexible. I can make my launch at the festival on the 12th a pre-launch and just get people to order the book. I think you have to be realistic but flexible.
Instead of me being hard on myself and freaking out about not having a finished book by the 12th I will use my tardiness to my advantage. I will stage a great show featuring my songs and excerpts from the book and just get people to pre-order the book. That way I give myself more time so I don't crumble under the stress.
I have discovered there is a certain amount of stress that is a motivator for me and then there is a line where it can cross into my destruction. Knowing where that line is comes from a shitload of self honesty. I have never liked deadlines anyway. They contain the word dead. Like dead end. I prefer projections to deadlines. Projections for a project sounds much jollier than a deadline for a project.
So I project that I will have a pre-launch of my debut book at the Southern Highlands Writer's Festival on Sunday July 12th 2015 at about 4pm. It will be a free event to close the festival. Very exciting.
I am sitting here writing this blog as sick as a dog, because not only was I running out of time to write this book but, surprise, surprise I got sick too! Well an interesting turn of events has happened though, instead of getting sick being an obstacle to writing it has been my emancipation. Last night I stayed up till 6am writing and writing and formatting and formatting. Maybe it was the psuedoethedryne in my cold and flu tablets but either way I wrote like a demon!
It's times like these that I remember within every bad turn of events there is something good that can come of it. With every obstacle hides the seed of opportunity. I am writing and that is good.
I am motivated by stress and urgency.....except when I'm not.
I have just cracked the 54,000 word mark! Yay! But I'm running close to deadline. At the beginning of the year I committed to writing this book and having it finished by July 12th 2015 to be launched at the Southern Highlands Writer's festival. It is now nearing the end of May and I haven't even finished writing yet! I still need to get it edited and formatted. There must be something in me that loves flying by the seat of my pants!
I gave my self the goal of 50,000 words and now I have surpassed that and I am on a roll and have more to say. I am a deadline adrenaline junkie but also I am flexible. If I write more than I thought all the better. I realised I probably won't have the finished book copy by July 12th but I can be flexible. I can make my launch at the festival on the 12th a pre-launch and just get people to order the book. I think you have to be realistic but flexible.
Instead of me being hard on myself and freaking out about not having a finished book by the 12th I will use my tardiness to my advantage. I will stage a great show featuring my songs and excerpts from the book and just get people to pre-order the book. That way I give myself more time so I don't crumble under the stress.
I have discovered there is a certain amount of stress that is a motivator for me and then there is a line where it can cross into my destruction. Knowing where that line is comes from a shitload of self honesty. I have never liked deadlines anyway. They contain the word dead. Like dead end. I prefer projections to deadlines. Projections for a project sounds much jollier than a deadline for a project.
So I project that I will have a pre-launch of my debut book at the Southern Highlands Writer's Festival on Sunday July 12th 2015 at about 4pm. It will be a free event to close the festival. Very exciting.
I am sitting here writing this blog as sick as a dog, because not only was I running out of time to write this book but, surprise, surprise I got sick too! Well an interesting turn of events has happened though, instead of getting sick being an obstacle to writing it has been my emancipation. Last night I stayed up till 6am writing and writing and formatting and formatting. Maybe it was the psuedoethedryne in my cold and flu tablets but either way I wrote like a demon!
It's times like these that I remember within every bad turn of events there is something good that can come of it. With every obstacle hides the seed of opportunity. I am writing and that is good.
I am motivated by stress and urgency.....except when I'm not.