Wednesday, April 28, 2010

WIP Wednesday—I'm a Quitter

I'm plugging back in early. If you want to know why, see this post. The current WIP and I need some time apart. I'm not quitting for good. Just taking a little break because I'm very close to taking a match to the whole project.

For the most part, unplugging was actually very productive. In the first eight days, I added 19,000 words to my WIP. (4200 of those words were all in one day!) Overall, not as much as I was hoping for, but I generally have pretty unrealistic expectations of myself. So the first week went well. The next five days? I whined about those yesterday, so I won't get into again. Just know that they were less productive than the first eight days. Though I will say that my total word count for the whole stretch was 20,541. This number makes me smile. :)

My conclusion? Unplugging for a week is good, but anything beyond that turns me into a crazy lady. I need my blogging outlet and to feel like I'm not all alone in this. I missed you guys!

What do you think? Unplugging—good or bad? Any progress to report? Any fabulous news to share?

Contest/blogfest linky post tomorrow. If you're having a contest or blogfest you'd like me to include, let me know. :)

22 comments:

  1. I unplug a little bit everyday and that's enough for me! Congrats on your word count and welcome back!

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  2. i quit a month ago (give or take) and it was the best thing i could do for my sanity and my WIP.

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  3. I cannot believe how much you've written in such a short space of time (can you hear the envy in my voice?)! If I unplug, I simply focus on something else to stretch out the procrastination - gahhhhh..

    Huge cudos to you for keeping with it, you've definitely earned the space to come up for some air.

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  4. I've yet to unplug, but I'm considering it for next week. 20k is an awesome amount for a week!

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  5. I love the "rainbow girl". I unplug a lot lately. There are things on this earth that will distract a writer from her goal. A good writer has the ability to ignore.
    Mary

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  6. Week-long unplugs are good, but I also get itchy for longer breaks than that.

    I was up against a similar block to yours in rewrite, and I realized the scene I thought I "had to write" wasn't coming because I needed to go another direction--instead of a heart-to-heart, the MC and her aunt have communication breakdown. It ramped up the tension and fit story themes a lot better.

    After you let your baby sit a few days, try asking: what if this event/action/interaction went in a completely different direction?

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  7. i think unplugging can be both good and bad.
    All things in moderation i say.

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  8. Yay for your word count!

    I think it depends for me. I need that blogging outlet which is why I won't unplug. It helps keep me sane. ;-)

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  9. Not having access to my writer friends would drive me nuts and put me back in the dark ages, pre-internet, when I thought I was the only loon on the planet and I would quit on a project the moment the going got tough.

    Now I can find solace in like-minded people who WILL KICK MY BUTT if I threaten to quit.

    Do I need to hand out some of that tough love to you?? :-)

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  10. Aubrie: Thanks! It's good to be back. :)

    Laurel: I think you're right. Just having it sitting for a day without the pressure to fix it, I'm feeling like it's moving in another direction. Guess I was trying too hard. Thanks! :)

    Cynthia: No! No tough love, please! ;) I'm not really quitting, just trying to trick my brain into thinking that I am, so maybe it will start working again. :) And I agree. Writer friends are the best! It's nice to know we can all be crazy together. :)

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  11. That's amazing output! Good for you. I haven't really tried unplugging. Maybe I should.

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  12. Holy crap! 19 K in 8 days??? Color me jealous. You are awesome. And yes, you can get burnt out on writing. Glad you're back. :)

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  13. Sounds like your unplugged time was VERY productive! I unplugged for a week and found it very, very helpful. However, I have to agree that more than a week becomes overkill.

    And, I awarded you with a "Creative Writer" Blogger Award over on my blog. If you'd like to play along, here's the link:

    http://www.abbystevens.com/2010/04/miscellaneous.html

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  14. I think its good but hard. I try now and again. Congrats on your progress and I love the picture.

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  15. Actually, my once a week blogging shed-yule has really helped me get a lot more writing done, so I'm glad for that. But I feel like I'm out of the loop with what's going on in the blogosphere. I keep missing contests and submissions and everything fun.

    Boo-urns.

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  16. I don't think I could ever totally unplug. I'd be too worried everybody was talking about me behind my back. :)

    When I do unplug its usually because of life-issues, not my writing.

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  17. I'm thinking about it. Welcome and congrats on your word count. :)

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  18. You have to unplug every now and then. There are so many distractions online and offline but you can only cut out one.

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  19. I've never unplugged, being a very green blogger. But I'm tempted. Blogging is sooo distracting!

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  20. I've only unplugged for vacation or very short spells. I think I need to, though, in order to get more work done. But every time I think of doing it, I'm afraid of missing out on good stuff going on. I love the community of writing bloggers.

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  21. Congrats on all the progress! (I'm unplugged. Shh...you didn't see me.)

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  22. I've been unplugged for a couple weeks, and it's been very helpful in making progress on my WIP. Almost halfway done with the first draft. But I miss my blog buddies. :(

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