Writing in the City

My typical morning is getting ready for work then leaving an hour and a half before my shift starts to ensure I get there in time. You never know with the trains, especially on the weekends. Fifteen minutes of that hour and a half is occupied by walking to the train station. My train ride is then about 30 minutes into the city with a few minutes walking to my work. That is a lot of time wasted sleeping on the train or what have you. Time that, if I had a car would be spent driving.

I have actually gotten use to the motions of the train to be able to read. But books are heavy – especially 700 page hard backs that my mother lends to me. Audio books and e-readers cost disposable income I simply cannot spare right now, so...

Chair with a "No distractions" hood!

I’ve been working on my book for 10 years. Nearly every detail has been planned and the characters are as fleshed out as I can make them. I’m currently writing version 3.2 of the first book. Version 1 was written in high school and since then four other books have been planned. At this point, I simply need to write the damn thing. But I get tired after work and the prospect of writing something I’ve already written gets me down. Still, my dream and ultimate goal is to get it published. And if I locked myself up in a room with no distractions, I can guarantee it would be done quickly if I don’t get caught up in editing as I go; which usually happens. Anyway, needless to say – I don’t get the motivation to write often; except while traveling or right before I go somewhere.

Motivation can come at the most inconvenient times.

Because during these times of transient motivation – I have nothing to write with. Which is why I am and always will be a fan of the classic paper and pencil. You could carry those. The only major problem with them is that eventually you need them digitized. So once again – I end up writing what I’ve already written. Maybe I should be such a fan anymore.

And now that I'm not driving to and from work, there's a lapse in time that I would like to use for writing. My laptop is too big to deal with even though it’s relatively small. And an IPAD, which I suspect is the perfect size with the optimal storage power necessary to hold my entire book - so that I can simply continue to write from my last position - is expensive and simply not in the budget at this time. Which leaves the next smallest device that simply doesn't have the capacity as of yet to hold my growing document (that I know of). In addition, writing from the last sentence made can become confusing and I worry about continuity. However, it could just be my perception.

For example, I have no issue writing myself an email with notes for my next blog or even writing the whole thing while I ride the train (which is pretty much what I did here). But a book ...

I mean don't get me wrong the first draft of a blog post written on my cell is full of text speak and in need of major editing. But I'm ok with editing. But … books have dialogue and… other stuff.

However, I am reminded of lessons learned at the BEA.

http://www.figment.com/

I wrote about this before and I gotta say it made a big impression. Cell phone written books made by Japanese school girls posted to the web inciting followers, generating feedback, and eventually making it to print. I mean, why not me?

Figment.com is currently in its beta stage. When it’s up and running it will attempt to bring this Japanese phenomenon to America. I don’t think I’m ready to post anything on the web yet, it’s marketed towards teens anyway. But I see great potential for this site and for the motivational opportunities it will provide writers. I started in the SCBWI to have an audience who would analyze my work, keep me motivated with a deadline, and help to make it better. This site would serve this purpose as well.

However, writing on my cell phone? Dare I do it? I suppose trying it out wouldn’t be a bad idea. I mean – it’s just like writing an email to myself right? I can do that. I just have to transfer it over to my larger document and edit out the text speak.

I feel like I sound old – being averse to writing with a blackberry - I have no issues texting with it all day long. If it gets my book done faster… and it’s not as if I’m ever without my phone.

I’ll try it out for a week and see how much actually gets done.