So how was my last writing year?
Less regular writing. But more output. Strange, isn’t it?
Less internet. Got a bit distant from my friends. I should blame it on my insistence to finish my writing first.
More outlining and brainstorming. Less writing screenplays. Good or bad? Not very sure.
Less co-writing projects. More solo adventures. Less speed. Less protection.
To be honest, it does surprise me that I am still here after 7 years. I am still doing this. I have a day job. I have a family. And still I am hanging in here with the skin of my teeth. I realise that I should be an obstinate bloke to be writing even now.
I would not have continued writing if not for the tidbits of validation I had from different quarters. Thank God for those.
So what changed this year?
The single most important change is that I focused more on outlining rather than on writing full scripts.
It has worked at least on an experiential level. I feel that I have got more work done last one year than most other years. By forcing myself to disengage from a project and focus on something else after a reasonable amount of time, I have improved my time efficiency. Most importantly, by postponing the ‘rush’ into the first draft, the ideas change and gets more mature.
Time will tell how much I am losing out by not writing full scripts. I don’t inherently like this method. But this came out of sheer compulsion from the ‘ticking clock.’
The setbacks?
Networking. What really suffered last one year is not writing. But time spent on finding like minded people and cultivating relationships.
The scarcity of actual meetings. But that was intentional. Because it occurred to me that I am not yet ready. Be that spider. Make sure your web is strong enough. And wide enough.
So what are the plans for 2014?
At least 15 hours of writing every week.
To keep time on writing targets and to monitor my own ability to set ‘reasonable’ targets.
To be ready for meetings by April.
To start meetings in May- at least one every month.
To spent at least 7 hours every week on networking.
At least a blog post per week. Even if it is two lines.
To plan reasonable incentives/punishments for meeting/failing my targets.
Photo by deiz92