Attention Spans & Motivations

Playing on iTunes: "Blackbird" by Evan Rachel Wood





It's "Hop-Along-Monday" people...and you know what that means!! Cheesy-ness abound. Every Monday I will give you a new crap saying that my good friend Conor uses (on almost a daily basis...*sigh*). Today's cheesy saying...drum roll please...."Get over yourself." Now, that doesn't sound THAT crap, but it really depends on the context in which it is said.

Example:

Me: "Oh magoodness that work-out wore me out!"
Conor: "Get over yourself."

or......

Me: "I can't stand it when Suede talks in the third person!!"
Conor: "Get over yourself."

Do you see how this might be even remotely irritating and cheesy after a while? He has been saying this one for a few months now with no end in sight. I may have to hit him.

ON TO THE POST!!

Attention spans.........*goes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich*.............
Oh crap! I forgot I was blogging. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, attention spans.

I am surprised that in the past two months I have been pretty diligent with my writing schedule. I write for about four hours a day, working to get at least one, if not two chapters written and have refrained from doing too much editing. (Although I am starting to get ancy.) I think I have kept my excitment for this project up, primarily b/c the story kicks ass but also b/c I have really been working to emmerse myself in the story. I have a playlist that I listen to when I am not writing. I watch a lot of movies related to the genre I am writing in. And I read a whole lot of books on writing to keep my motivation up.

QUESTION:
Out of curiosity, how do you guys keep your motivation up for a certain project? If you work on numerous pieces at once, how do you keep your excitment for all of them?

The Perfect Music

Playing on iTunes (but only because I am not writing my book!!) "All I Want Is You" by U2

When I first began this silly adventure called "writing a book", I usually wrote in silence. This....was not a wise decision. My first couple of chapters came out well written, but with no emotion. So, I started listing to some of my favorite, more emotional music. You know...Muse, Incubus, the Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria...that sort of thing. These guys make me want to cry, throw things, and make love at the same time. Herein lies the problem. I pay more attention to the words than I do to my writing.

So, I have begun downloading music from movies that are similar to my book. I am no best friends with the Bourne soundtracks. They're beautiful and really help me feel the strong emotions I need to write with. Methinks those first few chapters are going to need a re-write. (Not that the whole book doesn't need that anyways.

Anyways...it was definitely a wise move on my part. I will listen to Muse in the car while I think, and the brilliant John Powell while I write. :)