Contents
Melbourne is currently in stage 4 restrictions to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases. This basically means exercising for one hour a day and only travelling to do essential shopping. It’s not ideal, but it’s the best option for Melbourne right now to save lives. I thought lockdown would be the ideal excuse to write, but writing in lockdown is not how I expected it to be.
I’ve been completing university assignments, but without a deadline to push me I haven’t been writing nearly as much as I’d like to. This is something I want to change.
I wasn’t sure what to post on my blog this month, which is why this post is mostly a jumble of thoughts. This is the sort of post that I feel needs a smiley face emoji or a virtual hug at the end of every sentence.
Writing retreat
I thought writing in lockdown would be like being on a writing retreat. I thought I’d have plenty of time to just write and write and write; which I do, but I didn’t factor in loss of motivation. Lockdown is not the same as a writing retreat.
Staying motivated
I think we all need to cut each other some slack this year. The expectation that we can all handle the same workload we did before lockdown is an added stress sitting on top of all the other stressors that impacted our productivity and motivation in the first place. Basically, there are stressors in lockdown that a writing retreat does not have. And stressing about stress is a vicious cycle.
I’m writing this for other writers but thinking about how I don’t do this for myself. What’s that saying? Practice what you preach? I need to do that. I put way too much pressure on myself to be productive and get stuff done, which in turn prevents me from being productive and getting stuff done — vicious cycle.
Writing group
My university organised some writing groups at the time when classes went online. I received the contact details of four other people working on similar projects to me. Since then we’ve all met up every two weeks (virtually, of course) to discuss our writing. I am so incredibly grateful because they’ve kept me on track and inspired me to keep writing in lockdown with their incredible work that I’m lucky enough to get to read.
What to write
I can’t figure out what project I want to work on at the moment. I’ve got a couple projects going, but I want to work on all of them and this means I end up working on none.
There are two more weeks of guaranteed lockdown. I want to get some writing done. And if lockdown continues after the next two weeks, I want to keep my writing in lockdown motivation up.
I’ve got the outline for a middle grade science-fiction novel done, so I want to try and finish it this year. I’m aiming for about 30,000 words, which I think is doable. It’s also got some humour — something I sorely need right now. There are four more months left of 2020. I can write this novel in that time.
I also need to edit my young adult fantasy though. No — one thing at a time!
Dear writers
To any other writer out there struggling with productivity and motivation, please don’t be too hard on yourself. This is not the year to expect your best; although, if you end up writing ten novels and fifty other pieces then you’ve defied your expectations and that’s good too (seriously, so impressive!).
Right now, health and well-being should be the priority. Although… as I write this I’ve remembered how much writing helps my well-being, so I should really get back into it. If you can relate, then you should too.