*
Well, I said I’d chart my gaming hours. (See Part 1 here.)
Day One: I set an old-fashioned annoying tick-tock timer to keep track. Darned thing works for an hour at a time and if I decide to play a little past that I can keep a general sense of how much time I’m playing, right?
When I finally looked up at the clock, I discovered I played *mumbles* hours. At least I went to bed at 3 am instead of 7 am.
Day Two: Couldn’t find timer. *whistles innocently * Well, it shouldn’t really matter, I tell myself. Sure. Uh huh. The less said about the hours wasted played, the better.
Day Three:
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(=’.’=)
(“)_(“)
Well, I wasn’t playing P vs. G so much today and added a new skill to my typing. (The Internet is truly awesome.)
Day Four: Feeling disgusted as I read what I’ve been doing this week. I know I’m in-between books. The current (completed) novel is in the production stage as I work out the details. Is it possible I’m afraid to start book two? How did that happen?
Day Five: It’s true. Every time a new story needs to be written, it doesn’t matter what went before. It’s always going to be starting over. And that’s a scary thing. What if I have no ideas?
Day Six: I was only going to post five days’ worth but here it is. There were two levels going on.
First, I found myself playing less when I realized I would be posting here. I wasn’t accountable just to myself, I was drawing back the curtain and letting other people see. So that made me wonder, as a writer, who am I accountable to? My readers, yes, but as an Indie writer, there’s no deadline, no publisher or agent sending emails or texts or calls to gently remind me that there’s a schedule.
Although being on such a schedule is hard, I think the Indie writer has it harder. I’m the one who needs to remind myself to do the work. And if I forget or am distracted? Oops. It’s an easy thing to let the time slide by. It—literally—happens before we notice and then it’s gone.
The second level was the real reason for all the hours spent on a game or two or three. Yes, I enjoy playing those games. But the amount of time I played was also avoidance. I needed to think about my story.
And when I finally did, I discovered it was just waiting for my attention. I don’t know where the story’s going (I never do) so the point is to start writing and remember that if it goes down a road I don’t like, I have the power to make a new road.
Happy writing, everyone!
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