Editing The Pen Addict 487/transcript (section)

== Nanowrimo Progress ==


'''Myke:''' You do not have writer's block issues.

'''Brad:''' Right. So, for me, it's solving – it's a time management, you know, equation that I'm trying to solve, right? So, how can I find the time to write the words that I want to hit to reach a goal by the end of November, right?

'''Myke:''' And also, there is – so, you know, people might say, well, there's always a time management issue with Nanowimo anyway. But one of the benefits of Nanowimo is creative fulfillment, you know? Like, you might not worry so much about spending a lot of time because you're on, like, a real kick and, like, the words are just flowing out of you. Right. You never get that because all you are doing is just transcribing, you know? There is never a moment where you can be like, oh, man, I can't wait to get this part done. Like, it's not going to – there isn't any real difference in that.

'''Brad:''' Right, and the challenge that I have is I really – like, a 15-minute block doesn't do me any good where if I was doing Nanowimo, I could be sitting in the carpool and banging out, you know, 200 words, you know, on my phone real quick and then, you know, catch that later. And just do that a few times a day and kind of get to a spot. But with me, what I'm having a problem with is trying to fit in two-hour blocks. And that's probably the wrong way of looking at it. Like, I get that, right? I should take my 30 minutes when I can and write two pages or one page. I can get, like, one page done. You know, 300 words takes me about 25 minutes. So I don't have these stop and start blocks. I'm having to find these huge blocks of time to sit and write. Right, and this past Saturday, I had no time and, you know, just, like, literally no time to, like, stop and put the pen to the paper because when I wasn't doing whatever thing I was doing on Saturday, I just wanted to sit. Like, I didn't want to be writing. Like, I wanted a break. So, you know, I didn't have that much time. So I was like, okay, today's going to be a miss. So I got zero on Saturday. But I also knew Sunday I would have a decent amount of time to at least, you know, get back on the goal, if not more. Which my goal is 1,500 words a day. That's five written pages. That only puts me at 45,000 words for the month. So, you know, that's around, that's what I'm shooting for. So I would love to hit 50, and I still can. So when I hit these zeros, like, I don't necessarily plan on making it up the next day because, like, that's, you know, a snowball. That goes downhill really fast. You can't get behind any time, which I think we talked about last week. So Sunday I caught up with 2,400 words, right? I didn't do, like, a full 3,000 that would have taken two days worth of writing into one. But I got 2,400, and I was like, hey, I feel pretty good about that. So, and then I missed yesterday. So I've already missed a second day, and I'm already trying to make up for it this morning. So I've been writing before we got online this morning. So it's figuring out when the times are for me to write. And my days are so busy. My days are so chopped up. Like, I don't have a lot of bulk in physically handwriting this book. I need to feel like I have a certain writing setup for at least, you know, 30 minutes to an hour to commit, or else I'm not going to sit and do anything.

'''Myke:''' See, this is why I would ask what the desired result is of this. Like, do you want to have done 50,000 words at the end, so you've done that over the month? Or are you really trying to just do some every day? Like, they're two different things, and they have different solves for them.

'''Brad:''' I am... Do you see what I'm asking you? Yes, even though I kind of see them the same thing. Because if I hit number one, I'm generally going to get... I'll be happy with number two, even though I didn't do it every single day.

'''Myke:''' Exactly, but that's my point. At the end of it, if you've hit 50,000 words, but you skipped 10 days... Right. Is that the achievement that you want? Okay. Yes.

'''Brad:''' I want the bulk. I want the bulk. You want the bulk.

'''Myke:''' All right. Cool. Then, yeah. Yeah. All right. So how much time does it take you every day to do the daily quota?

'''Brad:''' About two and a half hours.

'''Myke:''' Okay.

'''Brad:''' So, and I've been finding the time at night to do that. That's a lot of day, man. It is. It is. That's a lot of time. So, and, like, during, like, the daytime, say, like, your waking hours up until, like, say, early evening, my days are generally full, right? Mm-hmm. So what I've been doing is I've been writing at night, say, from, like, 8 to 10 p.m. or 9 to 11, trying to get as much as I can get done. And I can get most of it done during that time. And I'm, like, okay with that. Like, that's worked out pretty well. The thing, honestly, that's keeping me going is that I really am enjoying doing this. You know, it doesn't feel like a chore or torture or anything like that. That's good. But as I've gotten into, after I got to about day three, I realized that I'm kind of enjoying doing this, that I can zone out, and I don't, I just end up writing the pages and not necessarily have the count, even though I generally know in the back of my head what the count's like.

'''Brad:''' So, yeah, it's, I'm actually really enjoying it, and that makes me want to push to finish it and, or at least meet my goals. And, you know, I like using the pens. I like, I like using the paper. I'm enjoying reading the book again that I chose, which is The Bone Weaver's Orchard. So, I'm at, I'm to the point now in the book, even though I know the story, I'm at the point where I can't read the book fast enough because I want to remember what happens next, even though I've already read it, you know? So, that keeps me going. That's like, well, I got to write the words so I can keep reading the story because I'm enjoying the story and writing the words about it. So, it's like this self-fulfilling prophecy type of thing that's wanting to push me to move it along because I am enjoying it that much. So, it's a big learning experience, right? This is a very different thing for me. Um, it's still physically hard, right? By the time I get to, like, I'm good for about four pages when I get to the fifth page when I'm doing it all in one session, say like that two, two and a half hour block. When I get to the last page, my hand is exhausted, right? Like, my wrist is just tired and I have to push through to get to that fifth page. But if I'm going to do it, I can't, I don't like stopping short on a day. If anything, I'll want to go to the goal or over. But like, I don't really do great with like a 600 word day. Like, that wouldn't, I tend to not start those days. Those days end up being zero, probably more times than not. And that's probably a mistake in the way I'm trying to figure this out, right? So, like, I had maybe about 45 minutes before we jumped on today between all my tasks this morning and when we started recording. So, I got 500 words down on the page. Awesome. So, I'm already behind from yesterday. So, I will have a block of about maybe 45 minutes this afternoon. And then I won't be free again until 7, 730 tonight. And then I'll write some more. So, it's really, it's really figuring out the time management. Really letting myself free up to write for 15 minutes. 15 minutes is all I have, which I haven't been doing. Like, I haven't figured that part out yet mentally because I do like the properness of, you know, making it look good. You know, does my handwriting look good? If I'm writing in the car, is everything going to be worse? And, you know, I'm not going to be able to hold everything, you know, how I want it laid out. And, you know, I'm all convoluted trying to write. And do I just get frustrated? Like, that's a negative for me. Like, if I get, if I'm ever frustrated writing, like, it's not going to go well. And, you know, that it either looks bad or I'm uncomfortable. So, I haven't really pushed those small time frames very much, which is leading to some misses. But, overall, I'm happy with the mindset that I am enjoying what I'm doing. And I wasn't sure I was going to, to be perfectly honest, right? All right. So, let's talk about some of the tools that I'm using. Not too much. It's still, obviously, a work in progress. So, I did some quick math, just so you know. On the nine days that we've had up until now, I've done 39 pages, 300 words a page, 11,700 words. So, that puts me at, like, 1,300 words a day. So, that's, like, the scope. That doesn't sound bad. But the more days I miss, the worse that number looks, right? Yeah. Like, it's harder to get that number up than it is to, than it is to lower it and make it look worse. So, anyway. I've used, I kind of pick a different pen per day, right? Like, I'm not basing it on chapters or pages. But, like, about every five pages, I switch. So, I've used one, two, three. So, I've used nine pens so far. So, we're on to day 10. I'll be using my 10th pen. All been fountain pens so far. I will soon switch over to doing some more standard pens, some pencils, just to see how that goes. Like, what I'm, am I going to enjoy writing with that? Am I going to enjoy, like, the process as much as I've been enjoying using my pens and inks?

'''Myke:''' Have you had any hand fatigue?

'''Brad:''' Definitely.