This week I'm battening down the hatches, stockpiling the ammo, and breaking out the big umbrella. 
The demon onslaught is on it's way, and I won't be caught unaware or unprepared.

That's what my demons would have me do.  They'd like nothing more than for me to take a day off, pat myself on the back, and let my guard down.  But they're not taking any time off.  If I know my demons --and I do-- they're arming themselves with insults, accusations, temptations and justifications, readying themselves for the week ahead when I tackle my next round of revisions.

I can hear them now:

"This story isn't worth the pixels it's made of."
"How many years did you spend writing this drivel?"
"You should definitely do some more research."
"If it's not perfect, people will scoff and point fingers and laugh at you."
"How can you expect to sell this thing without an author website and Facebook page, 8 tweets a day, 4,200 Linked-In connections, and a bazillion dedicated blog-followers?  You should work on building your platform, not revisions."
"You must catch up right now on all the email, phone calls, laundry, exercise, shopping, hygiene, reading, painting, and filing you've neglected while binge-writing."
"Go ahead, watch every single past season of Survivor.  You can revise next month."
"Why bother prepping to submit this story to agents -- they're just going to say it sucks."
"No matter how much you revise, it will still suck."
"If this story ever sees the light of day, you'll have enough bad reviews to wallpaper the Smithsonian."
"It's hopeless.  Don't even try."
"You'll never amount to anything."
"You're a hack, a fraud, a self-deluded charlatan.  You're not a real writer."

earplugs, coffee, bug spray, goals, rewards, reminders, cheerleaders, enforcers, mentors, inspirations, nerf guns, chocolate, child locks, hot packs, cold packs, pain killers, denial, a mute button, a fly swatter, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and a poppy seed muffin.

Because every demon-fighter needs a little
Bruce Willis and a poppy seed muffin.

Fight demons with demons, and with coffee and muffins and earplugs, that's what I say!

Goal this week:  prepare for the onslaught

Goal next week:  revise the heck out of my WIP

Here’s the thing.  I’ve been trying to be something I’m not, and it hasn’t worked out very well for me.  If you’ve been following along week to week as I report on my writing goals, you know that my results have been mixed. 

Hit.  Miss.  Hit.  Miss.  Hit.  Miss.

I’ve been attempting to be a more steady-on writer.  Someone who has a regular writing routine.  Someone who writes every day.  Even someone who writes in the <gasp> morning.

I thought that if I just did this, I would finally finish the never-ending manuscript.  And I would be a better person. 
This is easy to believe, given the vast number of stories and adages about the virtues of persistence and good habits
and early risers. 

But the fact is, I’m not a slow-and-steady kind of person.  I’m inclined to balk and buck at any routine.  I don't take daily vitamins because I instinctively rebel against the regularity of this requirement.

And no one has ever mistaken me for a morning person.

The way I’ve always worked best is as a “binge-er.”  I’m an all-or-nothing sorta person.  When I’m “all in” I can accomplish amazing things.  I do my all-time best writing when I take a week and completely immerse myself in my story.  No emails or phone calls.  No chores, errands or obligations.  Just writing.  A writing binge.

Granted I can’t arrange my life so that I can binge-write every day.  If I did, I wouldn’t have any life other than writing.  But most weeks I can find a way to binge-write for at least a chunk of one day, if not two or three days.  So why not do that? 

Is binge-writing really so wrong?  Is there anything inherently bad about excess?  Does one have to have a daily routine to be successful or virtuous or productive?  Do I have to be slow-and-steady to win the writing race?  Is it really necessary to get up at what my kids call “the butt-crack of dawn” to be healthy, wealthy and wise? 

Trying to get up early in the morning and write a little bit every day hasn’t served me very well. 

So despite cultural programming (and despite being married to a dyed-in-the-wool morning person who sincerely believes early birds are the only ones who deserve worms), I’m embracing my binge-writing, even when that means I fall back on my <gasp> night owl tendencies.

I’ve decided to channel Popeye:  I yam what I yam.

I yam a binge-writer. 

A binge-writer with a tendency to be a night owl. 

And while I haven’t yet put the final seal on my work-in-progress,
I did make progress, and I did meet my most recent writing goals.

For the coming week, my plan is to binge.  Binge-write, that is.  I’m personally going to try not to let the binging spill over into eating or shopping or gambling.  But for those of you playing the home-game, what happens in binge-land stays in binge-land, just so long as no one hurts any ducks.

Please do not construe this as medical, legal, or financial advice.

P.S.
I happen to LOVE canned spinach. 
For years I've eaten it cold, straight from the can. 
True story.

P.P.S.
If this coffee shop really exists, I want to go! 
 Are there any other night owls who want to meet me here
for a cuppa Joe around 1am?

This week I did not meet my writing goals. I didn't even come close. I had planned to finish the edits on my manuscript, to the tune of six chapters, but life got in the way. Granted it was an ambitious goal, but I thought that by setting a goal I had to reach for, I'd push myself to achieve more. Instead, half-way through a busy week I hadn't done a single edit and I decided the goal was out of reach. So I didn't push myself. I didn't even try.

I gave up.

It seems the lesson here would be to set goals that are easy to attain, right?
Apparently not, at least not for me.  You see, a few weeks ago I set a "reasonable" goal:  something I thought slightly challenging and definitely attainable.  That week I ended up meeting my goal with time to spare.  And what did I do with the extra time?  Get more writing done?  Nope.  I stopped working on my manuscript because I'd already met my goal. 

Other weeks I somehow managed to set goals--mostly by accident--that were do-able, and a bit of a stretch, but not so much so that they were intimidating.  Those weeks I pushed myself and met my goals, even if it was often just by the skin of my teeth. 

So I can hit the target...but I'm far from consistent.

Sometimes I hit and sometimes I miss, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. 
No math, no engineering, no science, and certainly no art.  I'm at a loss....

"It's impossible," I bemoaned in my check-in meeting.  "I have no idea what this week will bring.  How can I set a goal that's not too big and not too small?"

"Why not do both?" asked a voice of reason.  "Set an ambitious goal and a cautious one at the same time."

"I'm sure that's not permitted," I said.  "The Official Delve Writing Goal-Setting Rules say to set 'a goal,' not some loosey-goosey range of goals.  And I'm no rule-breaker."  (Somewhere my parents are laughing hysterically at that.)

"Now hold the phone," my mentor said (he's old fashioned that way).  "Delve's rules aren't so much rules as they are guidelines.  Suggestions.  Best bets, if you will.  Go ahead and try something different, so long as it's not illegal, and doesn't endanger any ducks."

"Leave it to flexibility and the voice of reason," I muttered, feeling chagrined I hadn't thought of it myself.

"What's that you say?" asked the voice of reason and my flexible mentor in stereo.

"Just worried about my ducks," I said, not wanting them to get big heads.  "But I'll give your idea a try."



So this writing week begins with two goals rather than one:

        CAUTIOUS GOAL:  EDIT 3 CHAPTERS

        AMBITIOUS GOAL:  EDIT 6 CHAPTERS

Do you think this will help me zero in on The Sweet Spot?

Or will I keep heading down the big Freeway of Failure?