Amanda Hocking

Amanda's Blog Post

Paradox

March 12th, 2011 by
This post currently has 37 comments

I attempted to unplug. I did for awhile.

I got some work done tonight. Not very much. Only about 2,000 words. I was hoping for more like… 10K. So that’s a fail in my mind. I have some time left to write tonight, so I might still get some done. I’m blaming my lack of enthusiasm on the past few weeks, and trying to switch gears from business and logical thinking to more creative type stuff.

But I’m taking a break, because my brain has requested it of me. So, I thought, hey, why not let you all in on my writing process since people are asking me a lot about said writing process?

Okay. Here’s how it works:

I sat down at 8 PM to write. But first I had to move around in my office so it was just so. I printed off the outline for the book I’m working on and reread it. I also played with my cat. I listened to my 90s playlist really loud, mostly skipping to the Gin Blossoms tracks.

I wrote for about 15 minutes. Then I checked twitter. I donated some money to the Red Cross and bid on some auction items by Mark Hoppus. Eric came in to tell me something. I don’t remember what. But he scared me because I was listening to Sonic Youth so loud I didn’t hear him come in.

Then I turned off the internet and vowed to get some work done. I wrote straight for about 20-30 minutes. I sang along to “Until It Sleeps” by Metallica.

I tried to avoid the internet, so I started watching Inception on my iTunes. I skipped around to my favorite parts (which are mostly towards the end where Joseph Gordon-Levitt is fighting people or the music is being really dramatic or Tom Hardy is being sassy). I thought about how either the movie doesn’t make any sense or Christopher Nolan is a genius.

Then I wrote again for about 10 minutes straight, but then I gave up to watch Inception some more. I bid on more Mark Hoppus stuff. And I played on twitter.

Now I’m writing a blog. And that’s the last three hours of my life. I’ve maybe written about an hour of that. And I’ve definitely spent more time being plugged in than I have being unplugged.

But I will most likely continue the pattern of writing for a period of time, then screwing around, then writing some more. Hopefully, though, as I get back into it, the time I spend writing will grow longer (like an hour or two at a time instead of 15-20 minutes at a time.).

And that is how I write a book.

Leave a Reply to Cherie Cancel reply

  • Cherie says:

    I am a beginner in writing..need to have a lot of drill.
    will learn from you.

  • I know I’m not alone in the world when it comes to distractions. Of course my biggest one is the day job.

  • Gwen Hankins says:

    I have to write first then answer my email or get on the internet. My muse is actually a guy eating an apple who unplugs my modem. If I get by him–no I don’t know his name–I never get off the internet. Mostly researching.
    I love your blog.
    Amanda, I was sure hoping you didn’t plot out your stories–I have an idea how mine might end. But my characters surprise me. Might be why you are a major success (congratulations!) and I am—still on the journey! LOL

  • csdaley says:

    I am actually pretty good once I start writing. Sometimes it takes a while to start. Check my email. Read a few web sites. You know the drill. Once I go, I go until I hit my word count.

    Somehow I keep finishing books. SO I guess it is working.

  • Thank god, I thought I was slacking off horribly!! That sounds exactly like me lol. I’m always eating snacks and food and watching bits of Ghost In The Shell episodes, Young Indiana Jones, or online stuff in between writing or now composing score music since I got Philharmonik on my laptop. Music producing sometimes rivals my writing, but writing is what I’m best at.

    I don’t get much done at a time unless I force myself, after which I gradually get back into it until I’m “in the zone”, as I call it and then I can write for hours because I’m so into my characters’ heads.

    So I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad. My last book took me 1 whole year to finish. The one I’m working on now is taking less than 6 months, so I’m doing more writing than I was.

    Keep at it!! Everyone has a different process and there’s no wrong way to go about things.

  • Al.X. Ross says:

    Yea unplugging is hard. Best run of writing I’ve done is away from any computer, at the kitchen table with blanco papers and pen in hand. You won’t be distracted working like that and you’ll do much more work than you otherwise would. The bad is you’ll have to type it all over on the computer, this takes time and you’ll be plugged in again.

    Maybe cutting your i-net cable or putting a hammer at work on the modem will help plugging off.

  • D.R. Mayes says:

    At least you wrote 2000 words. I consider that a good night!

  • Been there, done that. Sometimes we’ll do anything to get out of writing, much as we love it.

  • So the distractions are a good thing? Enjoy.

  • Nancy Kelley says:

    I try not to keep track of how much time is spent writing compared to… not writing. I think we all agree the ratio tips in the balance of other tasks.

    However, I do make myself get up and move around once every 30 minutes or so. As Miss Bingley said, “it is very refreshing after sitting for so long in one attitude.”