Why is it the weekend?
Another week has blown past me. I do not LIKE THIS. I mean, I used to spend more time in school than I currently do at work and I still got buckets of stuff done during the week. Does anyone else have this problem? Motivation to do what should be fun things like write and watch Supernatural after work? If so, do you have ANY suggestions? My
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Back a few years ago, I used to write fanfic every day (I started writing fic about 2 weeks before I graduated from uni) - I posted new chapters and stories every week for almost 5 years. I would write for a good 2 hours after work each day (I finished at 3.30 so I had some time before my parents got home)
Then everything started slowing down - I got writer's block, I started a new job, I moved 4 times in a year... and I didn't write at all for a year. In July 2011 I discovered Supernatural and then I decided that I would participate in NaNoWriMo for the first time as a way to kick-start the writing again. I managed the 50,000 words and have since posted a few Supernatural fics, but lately I've still been having trouble writing... I start out the day with good intentions, but then I get caught up in doing other things (shopping, exercising, watching TV, reading fic etc.) and I don't get anything done... and then it's time to go back to work again!
I've been getting frustrated lately because my current SPN beta writes amazingly fast - she's written more words in the last 6 months than I have in the last 7 years (70 stories and over 1 million words, compared to my 30 stories and 800,000 words)! She can push out a 12,000-word story in a day, whereas these days it takes me weeks/months to write that much - and usually I'm too tired after work to get into creative mode, so I end up going days, even weeks, without writing a word.
I discussed this with her a while ago and we came to the conclusion that the reason she can write so much while I'm struggling is because she's at home all day long with nothing else to do - she has the time and the energy to concentrate on writing because she's not expending mental and physical energy at work every day. On the other hand, I've been working 50 hours a week, at a job that requires constant concentration (and involves 12-hour day and night shifts), and by the end of the day, I'm too exhausted to write. All I want to do is relax after work and not have to use my brain anymore :P.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not uncommon to feel this way - you've started a new job and you're doing it all day long, presumably working longer hours than at uni (i.e. you don't have constant 9-5 lectures at uni where you have to be switched on all the time), so it's inevitable that you're going to be more tired (physically and emotionally) and more inclined to relax at the end of the day instead of being able to sit down and write. Plus, it doesn't help when you're in a house with other people and so you can't get privacy to write without interruptions so easily.
I've just started a 3-month research placement and I figured that since I'm only working 9-5 now (and working 16 hours less per week) that I would have lots of time to write over the next few weeks, but I'm renting a room with a family friend and I feel like I have to socialise with the family instead of being able to lock myself in my room to write... so right now I'm not holding my breath for being able to get much done between now and September.
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Thanks for the reassurance! And you're right about uni. On my English literature course, at most I had 9 hours on campus a week. And that was down to 6 in 3rd year. I was going out most evenings for society stuff, but I had my days to myself. I think maybe if I'm more aware of what I'm doing I can be more productive. There's so much I want to get done this summer! And apparently SPN s7 airs on the 1st August in the UK, so I need to get cracking with s6! Ahhhhh. :D
Well, best of luck with your plans! And I sympathise about your beta. I have friends like that, it drives me a little bit nuts XD I'd love to be writing that much. As soon as I get around to winning the lottery... >.>
HK
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