Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Finding Time to Write - Aloha is Forever

When we started thinking in earnest about writing our book Aloha is Forever, we discovered that it was going to require a lot more focused time and energy than we had anticipated. After all, it was our story. We had lived it. We had all the e-mails and letters that had been sent during the search. We had our journals. What could possibly be difficult about just sitting down and writing?

We were in for a big surprise. Since there were two of us writing one book, it was a challenge not to overlap and repeat things that the other had written. But the challenge of writing together is the subject of another post.

Actually carving out time to write was our biggest challenge. We tried writing while traveling - that sort of worked because we were out of our normal routine and the constant daily demands upon our time.

What really worked well was having access to a vacation property. We began taking working vacations for the specific purpose of writing. It worked! Even though there was TV to distract, we agreed to take short breaks and watch a favorite program, but to spend the majority of our time on writing. There was no internet connection and no emergency surprises to take us away from our focus. It only took a few of these working vacations to get the book "done." Then several more to edit and re-edit.

In the process we discovered that we have several more books to write. Our goal for this year is to get at least one of them written. (My husband has the goal of getting 3 written, but I think that's biting off a bit more than we can chew!)

4 comments:

  1. Here in MN, the weather really wants you to stay inside and work. But the distractions remain: though I'm painting and not writing, I will have to disconnect the internet at times just to get a good stint of working done. Even a simple reference photo hunt can spiral out of control if I'm not careful!

    Good luck on your writing goals this year!

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  2. It sounds like you've worked out a great way to focus on writing and to get away from other distractions--like blogging. :) Good luck on getting those several other books finished and polished!

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  3. What a groovy idea.

    It's really hard for me to pinpoint my best writing times, because things seem to come at me when the good Lord sees fit.

    I could be minding my business while in the shower, and POOF! A title hits me, and I then find myself focusing on it so hard, I forget what I'm doing.

    There have also been times when I've just laid my head on the pillow, and BAM! Another post title AND text floods my mind, and I end up getting up and writing for fear that I may not remember it when I wake up (which I've done).

    Looks like I need to have a sit down with God, and ask Him to do His best to narrow these bits of Intervention down to a particular time of day. ;)

    Great post!

    Adonya

    Adonya Wong
    Author | Autism Blogger

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  4. Thanks for your comment, Adonya. I also often get my best ideas either in the shower, washing dishes or while I'm asleep(dreaming) or just on my way to sleep. Maybe those are the times we are most open to hearing God's voice :)

    I don't know about you, but I'm really enjoying getting to know all you other bloggers.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts.