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Keeping a journal for your book can be a great tool. In it you can keep your outline, character details, plotting charts and anything else that serves as a guide for helping you stay on track. The following is a simple outline of headings for setting up your daily journal pages to help you with the day-to-day writing of your book. Word Goal At the top of your page start out with the date of the writing session and set a goal for how many words you will write for the day. Make the number big enough to challenge you, but not too big that you feel overwhelmed if you consistently miss it. You can also keep the word goal in line with what youre working on that day. If you are re-writing a chapter instead of creating a new one, then your word count for the day will be significantly smaller. (And thats okay!) Todays Work Will Focus On... Under this heading you will plan out what you want to handle in the session. Are you writing a dialogue where your main character learns someones innermost secrets? Are you doing a scene setter that places the reader in the heart of your book? Are you writing a how-to chapter to explain how the reader can put to use the new strategies youve given them on how to be a better networker? Doing this also makes the word goal less intimidating because you immediately see what youre going to do with all those words! What Problems Might I Encounter? There WILL be problems--no big deal. Note what they may be so you wont get tangled up in the problem as youre sitting in front of the computer screen. Write down each one. Some examples: How do I get my character to go from living at home to a place nearer to where all the action is happening? How do I introduce the character to the guy who will ruin her life? How do I shrink my program down to 5 simple steps that people can remember? Acknowledging problems really helps to lessen their power over your writing. You arent scared away from a problem so easily when you know you can come up with a solution. Possible Solutions Include... This is where youll do a quick brainstorming of how you can solve the problem. You can try out one of the solutions in your writing session. If that doesnt work, youll have a list of things you can try the next day. Whats great about this is that youre starting to train your mind to look for answers. Youll find that when youre writing consistently, youll be thinking about ideas and solutions all the time--in your car, in the shower, while youre taking a walk. This is really where the magic happens. I truly believe that the bulk of books can be worked out in your head--then you have to sit down and get it onto some paper! Todays Result and Where It Will Take Me Tomorrow... At the end of your writing for the day youll want to take note of what you accomplished. Maybe the dialogue you wrote today has opened up another avenue youd like to explore with your character. Or perhaps youve noticed a big hole in the research youve done for the biography youre writing and you realize you need to make a few more calls. I like to print out the pages Ive written so I can really see and feel what Ive done for the day. It makes me excited to do more. The idea here is to reward yourself for your work and also see that you have more to do. Youre less likely to get writers block if you see that you still have plenty more to say for your next session. But if you do happen to get stuck anyway, go to... Your Fun Page This is the page where you just dawdle and dream when the writing isnt quite happening. I had a page with Acknowledgments written at the top. Whenever I didnt feel like writing, I would go to this page and think about who I wanted to thank when the book was finished! It was fun to add names or cross them out depending on my mood! Having such a page helped me stay connected to my vision of being a published author. Your page could have the list of cities for your book tour, or notes on the introduction you would give before your readings. Keep it light, keep it fun. This way, getting to the end of your book will be a pleasure, not a struggle. Isnt that the way you want it to be? 2005 Sophfronia Scott |
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