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I am posting this as a benchmark, not because I think I'm playing very well yet.  The idea would be post a video every month for a ye...

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Letting the Ideas Settle Down

If you are always working on something, every day, then the ideas have no time to "settle." That's why I recommend writing in 3-4 self-contained writing sessions (each around 2-3 hours) over the week, and thinking as little as you can about the project between those sessions.

The time off really helps, even if you feel you should be working all the time. The reason for this is threefold: your mind continues to work sub-consciously even when you are not working. When you return to your project you'll find you have developed ideas that you didn't even know you had. Secondly, you gain distance from your writing; you can see what it is on the page, not what it is in your mind. Thirdly, you don't wear yourself out. Writing is quite exhausting.

I didn't do this when I was working on Apocryphal Lorca. I worked seven days a week for almost a year. The ideas only settled during the 21-23 hours I wasn't working on it. That still worked out fine, but for most people, and even for me now, I find the settling process needs a little more time.

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