Nano and The Writing Process.

[misslj_author]

Once again, I am doing Nano. I find the Nano experience to be particularly helpful as I am, I'm ashamed to admit, a procrastinator. The spirit and camaraderie of Nano and the word count updates on a daily basis do help me stay focused and work. This year, I have come up with a daily routine that I think might actually be the one. That is to say, the one that works for *me*.

With a few minor setbacks due to other issues that happen to us all, my writing and everything else, actually, was interupted for two days. I got a bit done, but not a lot and certainly not the amount I'd hoped. However, today I was back at it, back with my routine and as long as Front 242's latest CD took to play, I'd written 1500 words thereabouts.

So what is my routine? I've broken my day up into three pieces. Mornings are for writing. I write to music. Cav once told me that a scientist (and I wish I could remember who this scientist is because I'd like to send him/her a fruit basket for being right,) said that certain kinds of music encourage frequencies that enhance creativity in the brain. Chris, her partner, elaborated to say that these genres of music include things with a persitant beat, ie, dance/techno/darwave styles, or those that followed certain strict timing and key change patters within the piece, ie, classical/opera. I experimented a bit after this fascinating conversation several years ago and found that - for me, at least - they and Mr./Ms. Scientist were right.

I write while listening to dance or darkwave music: Front 242, Prodigy, Orbital, Orgy, etc. I edit to heavier bands and artists, such as Tool, Shinedown, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, etc. Oddly, I find that artists like the Smashing Pumpkins are good music for both the writing and the editing process. I've tried writing to classical, like Beethoven, because I have a big soft spot for Beethoven, and that's worked too but I always find myself coming back to the electronic over the classical.

So that's my mornings. Write to music. Lose myself in words on the screen and the rythym in my ears. Then I have lunch because food is good. After lunch, it's time to relax, chat with friends, often about the writing process, but about other things too, catch up with LJ, Twitter, Facebook, etc, eye off those chain maille bookmarks on Ebay, that sort of thing. Then it's time for dinner, again because food is good. After dinner, I watch the news, then let the TV drone on as I play around with my iPod playlists for the next day or write a few things that are more in the nature of drabbles, etc. Finally, I go and read. I read until I'm ready to fall asleep and I generally - weather and health permitting, of course - sleep the sleep of the dead. Wake up, start all over again.

My day also includes consumption of Coke and chocolate because these things are essential snacks for the living of the life of me. In between, I make sure Castiel, my cat, isn't planning on redecorating my flat with toilet paper as he is wont to do, or howling too loudly and scaring the neighbors who aren't prepared for a cat to holler, "HELLO," at them as they pass at the top of his lungs. Right now, he sleeps on the back of the sofa, no doubt planning tomorrow's decorative inspirations and how best to make the neighbors jump simply by miaowing.

Comments

[captlychee.livejournal.com]

By a strange coincience I was listening to music yesterday as I rattled off 2005 words in the ol' NaNo, but then got sidetracked going through the stupid process of sorting out all the songs on Media Player. Why don't they just let you put songs in a given folder and play that? There seems to be no way to otrder the songs logically so you can then find them to put them on a playlist.

This may seem a weird divergence into the horrors of Media Player but I may just throw it in the novel for the hell of it.

[misslj-author.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I use VLC Player, which is free and smaller sized, if I'm listening on the computer and if I'm putting music on my iPod, then I use CopyTrans. VLC does let you play a folder of songs or playlist, or what have you. 'Select directory,' choose the folder, ta-da!