WRITERS BLOCK IS HARD
#authorlife
I’m finally writing again. I say “finally,” because I’d barely managed a few thousand words since my last release.
Why? Good question. I would sit down every morning with my open WIP, type a little, then close it again.
"i'm not feeling it"
I know that “not feeling it” is not a reason to not write. (Oops. Don’t trip over the double negations!)
It literally took me months to figure out what’s going on. You see, I can dictate around 3000 words an hour. Which means that with dictation, I’d be able to finish the first draft of a book in around two weeks. Hooray!
Except for one problem: I HATE EDITING
Not the line edits and proof-reading. That, I love. No, I mean the editing that involves plugging plot holes, rewrite entire chapters, or introduce side plots because the main story is too thin.
To avoid that, I go to great lengths. I outline extensively, down to scene level. That takes me roughly three weeks and involves finding motivations, backstories, and character flaws for each character. In my reverse harem series “Second Chance Academy,” that would be five main characters. Five plot outlines that I need to weave together for it all to make sense. Hence the care I take with my outlines.
what does that have to do with dictation?
I’ve been trying to figure out dictation for five years. Yes. Five whole years.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve gotten better. But not good enough.
I speak with an Irish accent that most dictation softwares hate. So when I look at the transcribed text on my screen, I often have no clue what I meant to say in the first place.
As a result, every twenty minutes of dictation results in up to forty minutes of listening back to my recordings and rewriting entire paragraphs.
In short: EDITING.
Every single day!
Once I realized that, it all clicked.
I can’t dictate because every session results in the thing I hate most about writing. And that on a daily basis. No wonder I shied away from the work.
what's different now?
I do 15 minute sprints with a 10 minute break in between. Three sprints result in 1000 words, sometimes more. If I do that twice, I’ve got 2000 words. Way less than dictation would net me, but consistency wins every time.
What’s the point of dictating 3000 words an hour if I don’t do it?
Exactly.
Once I’d figured all this out, sitting down and writing for 15 minutes is easy. Then another 15 minutes. And another. No stress. I’ll get there.