Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Wrap Up of Book In A Week

I know I’ve gotten behind posting here. We’ve been doing Book in a Week on a Beau Monde loop and I try to write along with everyone else. As part of the philosophy of BIAW, the writing comes first! Which means little things like blogging gets pushed back a bit, if necessary.

Now that we’ve ended that challenge, I’ve asked people to think about their experience because Book in a Week isn’t just about writing as many pages as possible. It’s also a way to learn about ourselves as writers.

Some of the questions I usually ask are:

****What made a difference?

****What helped the writing and what got in the way?

****When did the words flow? (Time of day, place, method of writing, and material you were working on)

****When was it hard? (same list)

****How did setting expectations make a difference? (First week I told myself 30 pages a day and wrote over 20 most days. Second week I didn't set such a goal and when I wrote at all it was usual 10 pages or less.)

When we know how and when and where and what we write best, we can work with our natural writing strengths and not fight ourselves to do so in a way that isn’t natural to who we are.

Even if you never do a Book in a Week challenge, it can be useful to ask yourself the above questions and then create a structure and process for yourself that takes into account the answers.

Happy writing, everyone!