Hey folks, so I want to keep in good creative writing habits, but I have quite done the prep time National Novel Writing Month really requires. Therefore, I've decided to do a Blogvember, a whole month of blog posts on all manner of weirdness and wonder, get a solid word count for each day. It's basically another attempt to make sure I stay regular on here, and to hone my skills somewhat. So let's start with a little discussion on how I intend to do so. As I have tried and failed to do this sort of thing in the past, down to a long suspected yet currently undiagnosed neurodivergence, I think I have learned a few things about how to stay motivated, how to stick to a goal, and how to avoid falling into certain traps, so I thought I'd start with a few tips. I've made these mistakes, so you don't have to, all of these can be helpful in working on your own hobbies.
The 7Ps
This is an old military term, in the vein of FUBAR and SNAFU, in this case meaning Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Simply put, stuff like this works so much better if you have a plan in place. I only decided to do this relatively recently, but the first thing I did when I decided was to make a little plan of campaign. Nothing too fancy, just opened a Google Doc, and started noting down ideas for topics, to make sure I potentially had thirty blog posts worth of ideas ready. I think I have enough for my purposes now, and I am sure that during the month I'll see and hear things to give me some fresh ideas. Even so, just taking that little bit of time to know what sort of things I want to cover and what structure this project will have is great for getting my mind in the right gear.
Don't be too Strict
Now obviously this takes a bit of time to do, so good time planning and management from the start However, keep in mind that no plan survives the first encounter with the enemy, in this case the dreaded foe real life, intact. Chances are that at least some of that planned time set aside will end up having to shift to accommodate other things that come up. Before, I have found that to be the main thing that has tripped me up, getting back into things after a delay. So the trick is to be prepared for that; don't say "this is absolutely 100% the time I WILL do it!", say "this is when I'd like to do it, but I'm ready to move if necessary". Being mentally prepared for there to be a change can affect how you respond to it, make you less inclined to see it as a roadblock, turn a "Noooo, it's all ruined!" into a "Oh dear, how sad, never mind".
Get Ahead of the Curve if you can
Now this project requires me to put out a blog post everyday, but that doesn't mean I have to write each one on the day. When I can, I am doing a little bit of forward preparation for the future days, just to make those easier. It can be something as little as preparing the title of the next one in Blogger, or copying and pasting a list and links for my Horror Movie Challenge article I have planned for tomorrow (whoops, spoilers!). Just knowing the first step or so is done can help a lot, both in terms of laying the groundwork, and it can be a motivation, getting you to go "well, I've done that bit of work now, be a shame to waste it", in a case of using the Sunk Cost Fallacy for good. Plus, of course, it gives one a bit of safety net, helps to make things easier on those days you don't have much more time.
The Right Choice of Soundtrack
So my day job involves a lot of messing around with spreadsheets, and what I've found is that I actually do get to work on them a lot better if I start playing the Command & Conquer soundtrack, as I move the mouse and such in a very similar way, it puts my mind in a better, more motivated state. In whatever your hobby is, I can guess you often like having on some background noise, so making a smart choice of what to put on can make a big difference to how you do it. For example, if I'm on long walks, just out and about on my own, that's when I put on my podcasts, audiobooks etc, as I'm not talking to anyone or anything like that, the situation is right for me to get immersed in my listening, and take my mind off the miles. For this though, I tend to put on music, but specifically I prefer to put on purely instrumental tracks, nothing with actual words I can understand in, as I find it very hard to focus on writing if there's actual speech I'm listening to. So I suggest trying some more experiments of your own; try different sorts of listening, see what fits your hobby best, and have a good think of why that in particular does the trick. Doing so could help you discover other things that might do the trick.
Know your Limits
Now I have tried this before as Blogtober, but in that case I was trying to do two big projects in a month, so that one did get a bit hairy to manage. One of the problems I have had with these sorts of projects in the past was trying to get too many started at once, splitting my attention too much. So I've made a pledge from now on to at least get a good head of steam going on one project before moving to the next one, let alone start multiple ones at the same time. So my advice here is know your own limits in this regard; be sure about how much you can manage before you start. What else do you have on? What's the barrier to entry with whatever your new project is? Challenging yourself is all well and good, but too steep a challenge can kill engagement, enjoyment, and motivation stone dead
Do it Because You Want To
What I'm writing about here is all about something I'm doing as a hobby, for my own amusement, betterment, fulfilment. I always try to maintain a strong division between my work brain and my hobby brain, they should follow different rules, different principles. Very few of us live off our hobbies (and even those that do, I suspect they stopped thinking of them as such, or compartmentalize them, too), so you should always approach doing these purely for the reason that you want to do them, you enjoy these. On that note, I wouldn't even bother about what most people think about what you're doing. That's not to say ignore good advice if it comes up, but again, the whole purpose with doing any project for a hobby is your own self enjoyment/fulfillment. If other people do like it, fantastic, but putting too much weight on thinking on those lines will just make it feel too much like work again. I think Fred Rogers put it best...
So, hope you found these little pearls of wisdom useful; it certainly helped me, and not just in terms of it being an easy topic to fill up the first day's slot, it got me in the right frame of mind. I think I'll end with a brief round up of some of the topics I'm thinking of talking about...
- My official awards from the October Challenge this year, looking at my favourites.
- Some more loose ends from the challenge, including fulfilling one of the promises from the fundraising.
- Some Doctor Who content, namely trying to answer the question "Where do I start with the huge, sprawling world of Big Finish?"
- Some mental health advice I've been trying out, including some specifically relating to geekdom conventions.
- A look at how I'll be having a very scary Christmas.
- Fun and frolics in Cabot Cove.
- The Triumphant Return of the Silly Movie Trailer of the Week!
- And much much more!
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