Writin' schedule

Following my post from yesterday, I sat down for a few minutes before bedtime to contemplate what sort of things I could put into a writing schedule. Mostly this is down to the fact I have this massive big red book I should have worked through in my first year of uni, and didn't, but also the fact that regular writing makes writing easier when it comes to the more important stuff.

I think that's where I went wrong. I spent so much time last year worrying about the fact I'd fail everything else and so little time actually honing this craft that I almost altogether abandoned it, pulling together slapdash work at the last minute and submitting it for a meagre result of 2:2 on all creative pieces. Sure, I can construct the commentaries well, but I feel that if my creative pieces themselves were better, the mark of my criticisms would receive a boost.

So here I am, getting down to my 'writing plan'. I have a million other goals in life, too, - be more active, eat well, drink more water, drink less caffeine, be more complimentary, worry less about external things such as appearance etc. However, I think some of those will come in time, some I am making subconscious progress with anyway, and some are things which can sit by the wayside for now. They all sort of might roll into one collective ball of 'eventually I will look back, and notice I do drink more water, I am happy with my appearance' etc etc. But writing is something which to me, requires attention now. I have written for as long as I can remember - I had a full little book when I was around 4, brimming with illustrations for my stories, ideas, characters. Yes they were childish, but that was the start of this hunger I constantly want to satisfy.

Anyway, enough rambling - down to it. If I'm going to blog more, get my feelings out, get all the chattiness out of my 'writing voice' (which is one of the points on the list), then I might as well put this somewhere I can see it everyday.

Also I completely forgot that I actually used tumblr way more. However, strangely I found myself drawn back to this old blog. I think for any actual writing work I will still post it up on my tumblr, but tumblr is a pain to try and use on an ipad. Whereas blogger is actually really simple to use on an ipad.

The schedule list - at last!



1. Remember that I am most productive between 10am - 1pm, and also past 8pm and before 10pm. That is at least two sessions a day, with a maximum of five hours. On good days, I can go for longer (but lunch breaks always tend to drag on...)
2. Freewrite, either unfocused or focused, and make word clusters (without or with generated prompts) for at least 20 minutes each day. This should come at the beginning of a writing session, to engage the creative side of the brain, and get myself limbered up for a session.
3. Read at least 1 chapter of the Creative Writing coursebook - make notes from this about things to remember, writing tips, and creative exercises. When I have worked through the entire coursebook, dedicate this portion of time to reading at least 1-2 chapters of a book, or watch 1 episode or 1 film. This counts as research; good writers also read widely, and also games/films can provide worthwhile sources of information for me.
4. After point 3, return to the freewrite or word cluster that I wrote. Pick out interesting parts of the word cluster which catch my attention, or underline words or phrases from the unfocused freewrite. Use either of these to produce a more focused freewrite, or put them into the writing notebook 'info dump/ inspiration' section, to use later in other writing.
5. Go back over something I wrote previously and edit, or just make notes on what I wrote the day  before to prepare for editing later.
6. Begin to plan characters/ideas/plots for whatever idea is currently in progress. Use any relevant exercises from the coursebook to help with this. If no planning is required or I would rather use the time to just write something - do a focused freewrite based on a prompt or something from the info dump. Or use a scene from an idea plan. I can also expand on characters - one exercise is to describe characters and their personalities in three succinct phrases. World building may also come under this.
7. Or research! From editing notes or plans, pick something which requires more indepth research. Create a research folder for this and put all relevant information inside this. This includes world building.