Sprinting

I'd like to take credit for this ingenious idea, but someone else in the Olympia RWA Chapter came up with it.  We tried this at our Manresa Castle retreat last month (January), and it worked like a charm.  I have to admit, I had my doubts.  But wow, the results are truly amazing!

Here's the gig:  You set a specific period during which you will write.  Or revise, if you're in revision mode.  We started with 20 minutes, but for some reason that didn't work all that well.  On our second attempt (we were doing this as a group during the retreat) we set the timer for 30 minutes.  As soon as the timer went off, you put your head down and write.  You don't worry about whether or not the stuff you're writing is 'good enough', whether the dialog is stilted, or whether you've just introduced a spaceship into your Colonial romance.  You just write.  No self-editing or talk.  No Solitaire.  No answering questions.  No interruptions.

It was amazing!  After 30 minutes we were all in the thick of writing (or editing, as the case may be) and over the course of several Sprints much headway was made.  We generally paused for 10 minutes between Sprints to compare notes, talk, get something to drink, check plotting notes, or whatever.  Then, set the timer again and off we went. 

That's my very first writing tip ever for this blog, but this worked so well for me that I had to share. 

Yes, it's more difficult to do this at home, when you don't have the supportive bubble created by a writer's retreat.  But take your laptop somewhere away from the hubub of the house--go sit in the back seat of your car if you have to--and just WRITE for 30 minutes.  Go buy some crime scene tape if you think that'll help give you the uninterrupted time and space.

Think of a sprint as a small investment that will pay off big time--with the added benefit that you won't be out of breath at the end--unless, of course, you're writing a love scene!