Comments on: Starting a new exercise in discipline

By: Treating it like a second job - Pens and Swords - Talking shop with fantasy fiction author Kameron M. Franklin

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:11:00 +0000

[...] started writing again, in small chunks, but with regularity. A half-an-hour or forty-five minutes during my lunch. Sometimes 25 words a day. Sometimes 500. I reconnected with an old friend and, in time, he opened [...]

By: Feeling like a writer - Pens and Swords - Talking shop with fantasy fiction author Kameron M. Franklin

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:11:17 +0000

[...] My lunch time writing has become a highlight of my work day, and I’ve enjoyed a lot of progress on my fantasy fiction projects. “Relvan’s Rescue” is finished and making the rounds. I finished the second chapter of Shattered Amulet and am pounding out scenes from chapter three. [...]

By: Vanitha Sankaran

Vanitha Sankaran — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:40:17 +0000

I don’t even own a desktop anymore–I find my laptop so indispensable for writing. My debut novel was written on a series of three different laptops; had I not taken moments to write whenever I could get them, I think it kight have taken me 18 years isntead of 8 to get the manuscript finished. Along the way, I also tried the Dana, and various pen-to-text devices, but nothing was as good for my productivity as a no frills laptop.

By: Alex Moore

Alex Moore — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:59:57 +0000

i find it much more productive to write on the old laptop that has no wi-fi access. when i’m using the new one, i’m much more likely to get lost “researching” for my writing notes

i am definitely impressed w/ your discipline. slide some this way, eh?

Alex Moore´s last blog post was Write on the River: Meet Me in Wenatchee

By: Kameron

Kameron — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:20:03 +0000

I’m typically done eating in 15 minutes, giving me a solid 45 to write. It’s been very fruitful so far, though today was the first time I struggled to keep the flow going the whole time.

As to what your mom told you, I’ve been gaming for long enough on the desktop that it’s definitely a habit to play when I sit down there. No such association with the laptop. Not having access to wifi in the building helps, too.

By: bobisimo

bobisimo — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:11:01 +0000

Nice post, Kam! And good idea! Mom always told me that if you chill out on the sofa watching TV, it’ll be harder for you to train yourself to start doing work on that sofa. It becomes habit to associate things.

The laptop on the lunch break routine should work well for you. Some of my old co-workers had variations of the same thing – i.e. coming in an hour before work to write or staying an hour after work to write. Their thinking was that they were already relaxed, had no distractions, etc.

But an hour lunch is perfect if you don’t go anywhere. Even if you take 30 minutes to eat, you’ll be thinking about your writing and most of your co-workers will be out getting their own lunch. Then you can spend that last half hour writing it all done. Seems perfect!

bobisimo´s last blog post was Polyphasic Sleep

By: Jeff LaSala

Jeff LaSala — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:19:25 +0000

I try to do all my writing on my laptop as opposed to my desktop. It’s just a mental thing, plus there’s the mobility thing. Of course, my apartment is tiny so I’m never far from my actual desktop computer anyway.

By: Rob Steiner

Rob Steiner — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:43:30 +0000

I do exactly the same thing with my lunch hours at work. In addition to a full-time job, I have a two-year-old daughter and a wife in med school, so that doesn’t leave much time at night and on the weekends for fiction writing (ditto exhausted!). I can usually bang out 500 words during lunch and then another 500 late in the evening, bringing me to my 1000-word daily quota.