Procrastination and the thousand words

OK, so I read a lot of blogs. I read writers' blogs, agents' blogs, publishing blogs, etc. There is a lot of helpful advice out there and a topic I've seen a lot is procrastination.

That's my problem right there. I have all these ideas and all these excuses. I've also read blogs about what to do with those excuses and so.... I've made a decision, though I really hate neglecting my kids, they ARE old enough to fend for themselves. (I'm not really neglecting them they just think I am) I am going to take at least one hour a night and disappear to write.

I don't care how cold it is outside, or how much they holler "Mama." (My husband does a really good impersonation of each and every little voice by the way. He thinks it's funny, I think it's annoying). I'm going to go away and write. Away, as in out to the RV, where I can lock the door. I'm going to turn on my music and write for an hour. Period. One hour is all I can expect from my way-too-dependent children who forget they can go tattle to Daddy when the little one destroys the latest lego-creation, not just "Mama!"

So, I did this last night and actually accomplished something. I wrote 1000+ words in that hour. That may not sound like a lot, but I was actually interrupted twice by two different kids, and I tend to reread every page and change things a lot as I go along. 1000 words in one night was a big accomplishment for me and made me realize that it is ok if I take some time for myself and just do it!

I got to thinking and realized that last year, when I finished my first novel, I had a lot more time to myself. That was because I had broken my foot and couldn't go do all the things with the kids that I had. Daddy had to take the kids off and I had the house to myself, hmmm..... how painful was that?

Well that didn't work....

Yeah, tried that NaNoWriMo challenge - 50,000 words in a month. Didn't quite get that far, but I did get started.

I've realized something though. Last year it took me five months to finish my novel. This challenge pretty much was just to write it, then go back and edit. I am BAD about editing as I go along. For example, I have a starting place and I go for it, then I'm lying in bed thinking and I realize the book would be so much better if I started with something else, so I go back to the beginning and start again. If I just keep restarting, I'll never finish. I really need to work on the "just write it" part of writing!

Oh, well, I will just have to challenge myself to get it finished. Christmas break last year was when I did most of my writing, so two weeks off of work could be helpful, if I can just get all the kids to leave me alone and enjoy their time off too. 13 more days until Christmas Break!!!!!