Human psychology fascinates me. One of the things I wonder is why it’s so easy for us to break good habits and so hard to break the bad ones.
First instance. I’ve tried for decades to stop bitig my nails. Yeah, I admit it, I’m a nail biter. I’ve gotten better, but I still catch myself doing it. On the other hand, it takes a conscious force of will for me to write regularly.
Not that I don’t enjoy it, it’s just that when the ritual slips, the habit slips too.
I had a four day weekend. I was all psyched to get up early every day and get the rest of my new idea outlined. Other things happened that kept me from doing that. Not me saying “I don’t feel like it today” but other actual other things came up.
I managed to make time on Monday, but it just didn’t feel right. So instead I spent that hour staring at my query letter and rewriting it.
I need to get back into my new story. I know for a while I had a solid grasp on the the pacing, the plot, the characters, all of it. And it’s slipped away since then. I know the enthusiasm is just burried, so I just need to find a way to dig it out.
Unfortunately, re-reading what I’ve already written never does that for me. I look at all the existing stuff and if I don’t hate it, I love it. Which means I spent time re-reading it and revelling in my assumed awesomeness instead of adding to it. I think something in the back of my head says “you’ll never be that epic again”. I think. I’m not certain.
Which of course is silly. I know overall I’ve grown as a writer, but the subconscious doesn’t obey normal logic.
Anyway, the point is, I want to get back to this new idea, and I’m having a hard time putting myself there. Any suggestions?
I have that same problem. It’s so easy to put off writing, and then its hard to get back into the flow. I just force myself. Demand I put butt in chair and start. Sometimes not a the beginning, but at a point where I know something great or terrible or huge is going to happen. After that, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the story again and keep going.
Sometimes.
And any hints on how to stop nail-biting? I’m a terrible gnawer. I do it while I read, and don’t even notice.
It’s funny you mentioned psychology…that’s one of my majors. 🙂
I think you spoke for a lot of us on how difficult it can be to consistently stick with the same writing project. I always end up procrastinating by going over what I have already written and trying to “perfect” it.
Let’s both work on trying to MAKE time to work on our respective projects. If we always waited for the “right hour,” we may never get them done!
-Wendy Lu
The Red Angel Blog
Nail biting like any other habit is surely hard to break. I had a friend who had a girlfriend with the habit. He had her try hot sauce, but that was too messy. On the second go-around, they tried placing bandaids on her fingers. It worked!
With regard to getting back into the groove, there is no easy, pat answer. Sometimes I just read other people’s blogs or surf the Internet and invariably an idea will come to me which starts the urge to write.
We have the same problem. And I love you say that good habits are easy to break but bad habits are hard it’s so true. I don’t bite my nails but i’m an excessive eater. I get it under control and then as soon as I get stressed I get out of my writing routine and quit working out but pick up the junk food.
@Kate – i’ve tried so many things for the nail biting thing. The bandaid idea from Jeremy is interesting…I wonder if I could work like that.
@Wendy – I’m in. We need to do like Kate says and just stick our butts in the chair and WRITE ^_^ I do the exact same thing with stuff I’ve already written.
@Jeremy – all good ideas. Definitely going to give them a try 😀
@Beth – I do that with food too. Except I do it when I’m bored instead of stressed, and if I’m not writing and should be, I’m bored 😛