Your Productivity Sucks

I am so bummed.

This big writing push has led me deep into carpal tunnel world: a problem I had a few years ago and a few years before that and before that… Can’t type a sentence w/o pain. Damn. So this weekend I rested my arms and upgraded the Dragon Pro speech recognition software.

I’ve been here before. The last chapter of Stress Reduction for Busy People was dictated for similar reasons. What’s worse, I don’t write well by talking. I divine through my fingertips. When I dictate, I sound like a bad cop show. It’s ugly, man.

Thus my next podcast shall be on dealing with speed bumps. Especially those that resemble giant concrete blocks falling from the sky, mashing both your arms.

My friendly inner critic carries a baseball bat:

Novel: It’s too hard to get a fiction novel published. You’re one in a billion. What makes you think your puny book will rise above the countless good ones that are already vying for shelf space? And btw, have you even bothered to read the drivel you’ve been producing?

Blog: Do you have any idea how little people care about what you’re writing and doing? Your blog is a self-serving piece of crap.

That’s the G rated version.

I’ve been writing a ton but not on my novel — that thing that’ll sell a billion copies, command a 100K advance, bring pleasure to the masses and end world hunger.

I need to catch up and focus. I’ve gotten a little distracted and its time to recommit to my primary November mission: write the book. The blog will languish for a few days. Check back Monday or Tuesday for a new podcast. 

We give our inner critic way too much power and attention. This short podcast will help you reduce its influence on your work.

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Hello Writers,

Well, I’m almost 15K into my writing goal. I write about 2K every day. More than that if you count this blog and the podcasts. Ordinarily this would be a difficult task because my inner critic is such a bugger. Maybe someday I’ll craft a literary best-seller in two days. “The words flow through me without effort,” I explain at my press conference. “It’s almost like they are coming from another source.” I smile sweetly and depart to discuss movie options with Spielberg.

Back in the real word, you and I both know that good material doesn’t typically show up at the door in a pretty box; it evolves from the sludge and muck of bad material. (That’s why I like the NaNoWriMo project. Because it provides full permission to write a really bad novel. I can do that. )

So how do you produce 2K words –good or bad? My strategy is to use previously defined plot points. You see, a while back when I started my novel (like two years ago), I wrote out a list of 30 briefly described plot points.

This happens,
Then this happens,
then this.

I wrote them as numbered scene descriptions. Here’s one:

13. At the Sunday dinner table, Frances thinks something is fishy about Jackie’s new job. “You never talk about your work, Dear,” she says. Jackie’s dad is still oblivious, waxing poetic about his only daughter’s bright future.

OK so it’s not exciting. It’s a plot point for God’s sake. But I place it at the top of my page and start writing. The plot point drives me. I don’t worry about smooth transitions. I just write the scene. Almost like an exercise.

As a result, I’m getting a lot of words to work with. Sure it’s a bunch of crap. A lousy, smelly, no-good, terrible book. Worst writing I’ve ever done. Yada yada yada. But there are diamonds in the ooze, some of the dialogue is pretty snappy, and it’s organic. It has life force. The good shall emerge triumphant.

Such are my thoughts this rainy, windy morning. I do love the fall.

We tend to over react when we lose our writing flow. Performance anxiety thwarts us even when the ideas want to run strong. This podcast helps us release stress around issues of word flow and productivity.

LISTEN