It's NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo means discipline. If you don't sit down every day and write, you will end up with a huge pile of words to be written in the last days of the month. You might also be tempted to give yourself a free day. Don't do it unless you are one day ahead. It will haunt you for the rest of the month.
But NaNoWriMo is only one month. What about discipline during the rest of the year. Don't get me wrong; I don't talk about discipline in "real" live, like paying bills, cleaning the house etc. This is about discipline in writing and there are various aspects of it. I have to know it, because I am very much driven by creativity. Discipline is something I had to learn the hard way, therefore I see myself competent enough to be able to 'lecture' about the topic.
Discipline is outing itself in various aspects of writing and it is different for every writer.
Daily Writing
Everybody has his or her own daily routine, but however it is, writing should be a part of it. It doesn't matter if it is as little as 250 or more than 2,000 words. It takes a discipline to write consistently every day, especially when the day is already packed. I dare to say there is more discipline required when you have day job than as a professional writer. You need to make it a habit, otherwise it might be too tempting to say, "Tomorrow I will write double the amount of words, I promise." Currently, I do my writing on the commute, next to a 12 to 14 working hour day.
I already wrote about my writing habits in a earlier blog post, however, you need to find your own way. You might be a early morning writer or feel more comfortable doing it late at night. It is is all up to you, but you need discipline to sit down every day and write.
The Right Word vs Shutting the Inner Editor Away
You encounter another angle of discipline during writing - two actually, depending which side you are coming from. How long do you look for the right word until you move on with your writing; one minute, ten minutes or half an hour? I am very quick in writing down a short note about what I wanted to say and move on with my writing. Others might be tempted to spend a lot more time at this point. If you are like me, you are probably fine. Except that your future self might curse you for that. If you are the later one of the two you should train yourself to let go for the moment. This doesn't mean you can spend some time to search for a suitable word, but you should stop at some point and keep on writing.
Editing
Here's my favorite. While you were on the bright side above during writing, when you didn't insist on finding the perfect word, you will suffer during editing. Here it is all about the right word, the right scene, the right character. It might be because of where I'm coming from, but in my opinion, discipline in editing is the most crucial one.
Imagine, you've done hours and hours of rewriting and editing. You almost spent more time for editing as for writing and at that point your discipline has to kick-in to go to the end of the road and have a perfect book. Even more when you are an indie and can't rely on an editor/publisher.
Marketing and Sales
There is a reason why marketing is a profession on its own. It means constant work and a high level of creativity to reach the customer - especially when you don't have a budget, only your work and time.
As well as you have to write every day, you have to market you and your books every day - planning as well as executing.
Know You Yourself
Everybody needs discipline, but everybody needs discipline for something different. Discipline comes into play when you don't like doing something or when you have to set different priorities.
As an introvert, you need discipline to go out and market your book. When you are super creative, you might need discipline while editing. When writing aside a day job you need discipline to write every day.
Last week I had a 70 hour workweek and was forced to decide between writing every day or finish this blog. I decided to write every day my 250 words, that is why this blog comes out with one week delay. And there's another angle to discipline. Discipline does not mean to kill yourself - it doesn't mean to do everything. Discipline means to overcome our weaknesses. Outside all discipline, you can only accomplish as much as is feasible in a day. It doesn't get longer than 24 hours. Knowing when to stop is also a kind of discipline.
Happy writing
Your writer in a foreign land
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