Day 7: Timed Writing

Egg Timer
Originally uploaded by abbyjane

So far we haven't counted words or pages. All we've demanded of ourselves is a line. A single line every day. Anyone can do that, right?

We've vowed to be at work within a half hour of arising--not just sitting at our desks or lounging on our couches with our laptops, but actually WRITING.

Today, however, we ask a bit more of ourselves. Today we set a timer, or make a sacred contract with the clock that we will not get up from our work for an hour. We won't answer the phone or pour another cup of coffee or even go to the bathroom unless it's an absolute emergency; we won't leap up and pace as we consider the plot--not for this one hour. And above all, we won't doubt ourselves. For sixty minues, sitting at our organized work space, we will just work. With joy. With diligence. With faith in ourselves and the process. Ready, set, GO!

DAY 6: Preparing to Write

Preparing the voyage
Originally uploaded by Alexander De Block

Or perhaps an even better title is the one chosen by the photographer from Flickr: Preparing the Voyage.

In addition to
--going to bed at 10 p.m.
--dressing for a real job
--being up, at our desk, and WRITING within 30 minutes
--committing to making progress in our work every day, even if it's only a single line
--and strictly limiting internet distractions

Tonight, for Day 6, we will spend a few minutes preparing for tomorrow's writing. We'll look over our work, considering where the voyage of our took us and our characters today, and considering our direction for tomorrow; we'll organize our work place, whether it's a desk, a spot on the dining room table, or just a humble notebook jammed in a backpack. If there is a special talisman, a photograph, statue or candle that inspires us, we will set that out as well.


It may seem like a small thing--and it is, but it's all part of creating the rhythm and continuity that a novel or our ultimate goal--a lifetime in writing-- demands.

HOW ARE YOU DOING? The Chapter of Faults

Spiritual Walk
Originally uploaded by StuffEyeSee

In the monastic tradition, Friday is traditionally the day for the unflinching self-assessment known as the Chapter of Faults.

"Failures" are admitted simply and honestly. No excuses are asked for, and none are given. Though I doubt I'd survive long in a monastic community, this practice, and the implied invitation to begin again have always appealed to me.

Of the five disciplines, going to bed at ten and being at my desk within 30 minutes after rising were the most productive for me. I adhered to them quite strictly--until tonight, when I've declared a bit of a holiday.

"Nulla dies sine linea" was also empowering. (I've even been chanting it, thanks to a suggestion from Karen DeGroot Carter!) Even on a day when I had to be out of town, and had no serious writing hours, I still opened up my work in progress and wrote one line (literally.) It didn't do much to move the story forward, but it kept it in the forefront of my subconscious, and reinforced my commitment. I WILL write every day

I was less consistent in my promise to be out of my pajamas and dressed for the day before I began writing. Carleen Brice might be right when she called it writers' heresy! But I haven't given up on it yet.

Most difficult of all was disciplining my use of the internet. I even tried using the program Freedom (recently featured on Salon), which shuts off the connection for one to eight hours. But after it crashed my computer twice, I'm back to relying on my own wavering will power--that and the sense of momentum a good writing week brings.

So on Monday we begin again with four new disciplines and Chapter on Friday. When I originally conceived this blog, I thought the 100 days would be consecutive, but I'm now envisioning weekends off from the blog--but not from the essential commitment.

Nulla dies sine linea.

Happy Easter and Passover to all.

Day 5: This is Huge

Great cartoon, right? Funny, and in my case an uncomfortably spot-on depiction of how some days go--or rather DON'T go. (They even got the cat right!)

So laugh, yes. But don't allow yourself to believe this is how all writers spend their hours. Stephen King wrote every single day except Christmas for years; Charles Dickens was so focused he could add pages to his work in progress and entertain guests at the same time; and Haruki Marukami gets up at five a.m. to do his daily four hour stint. Most successful, prolific authors have similarly disciplined habits. Do we want to be one of them, or do we want to be that well-fed and rested, socially popular guy in "Slush Pile?"

Easy answer, right? So for Day 5, we're going to strictly limit our internet time.

My time on-line will be from 7-8:30 p.m.. If any of you catch me on Twitter or Facebook outside those hours, I expect you to call me out!

10:17 already. Damn, I'm late for bed...

Day 4: Up, at your desk, and WRITING within 30 minutes

All right, remember this is all cumulative. So we've set a bedtime and we're adhering to it just like we did when we were in school and had some serious learning to do the next day. We've banned pajamas after nine a.m. And we've got signs all over our house that read "Nulla dies sine linea (damnit!)"

Now we're ready for some real work. Tonight we set our alarms early enough to create a space for writing (7a.m. for me, probably earlier for those who have to get kids to school or themselves to their "second job.") Then, in the morning, we leap out of bed as soon as the alarm jangles, roar our battle cry (you know it) and--this is the important part--be at our "desks" and writing within 30 minutes.

Day 3: Writing "when your soul is thin as a playing card"

Now we come to the heart of the matter. Nulla dies sine linea. The Latin axiom "Not a day without lines" sounds simple--and it IS simple--once it becomes a habit. That's what 100 days of discipline is all about--building the habits that not only support your goal, they facilitate it. They make it easy.

Of course, the goal is to write more than a few lines. (We'll get to that later.) But the first step is to make writing a practice: habitual, necessary, a part of the rhythm that is your day.

It doesn't matter if it's Saturday and the world is taking a day off, if you're not "inspired," (highly overrated) if it's Christmas and you're cooking a six course meal for twelve, you're still going to have your coffee, right? And during the course of the day, you're going to perform at least a dozen other tasks--some good, some not- that your subconscious has been trained to perform without struggle.

Nulla dies sine linea.

We're talking one line here; excuses are not allowed. If you've just worked a sixteen hour shift (been there), or even if "your soul is as thin as a playing card" as Joyce Carol Oates memorably said (ditto), you can still open your notebook or your laptop and sit with your work for a few moments. You can still write your line.

Then, if possible, follow it with another one until you have a page or three pages or maybe even a chapter. But if all you have is a paragraph or a three word sentence, give it. Give it with all your heart. (More on that later, too.)

Then go to bed at 10 p.m. That's my cue...

DAY 2

Long after he retired, and even after he finally gave up his apartment and moved to a nursing home at age 96, my grandfather got up early and dressed in a shirt and tie just as he had when he was working. When asked why, he said "dressing for work" reminded him that he still had something important to accomplish every day.

And he did.

On the other hand, there's me--the renegade granddaughter who frequently doesn't shower and dress till noon. Why? Because I'm "only writing" and my pajamas are SO comfy. But lately I've started to think that maybe sitting around in my flannel pants and t-shirts might be giving my subconscious the idea that it's a day off. I can start writing at 8, or I can read the New York Times for hours and start at 11.

So for Day 2:

I will get up and dress like someone who considers her work a "real job"

...and I will go to bed at 10 p.m.