Ass in Seat

I've recently--with Tina and Laura's help--decided to get back on the writing wagon and pick up my NaNoWriMo story where I left off in November. I've been ignoring it for the last few months. A good writer would either have been writing (obviously) or at least letting the story percolate so that brilliant passages (or at least the seeds of them) would spring forth when she started writing again. I have used my time less wisely, though, and found that I'd forgotten character's names, forgotten plot points, and generally lost track of the nuances of my story.

Today I reread all of November's writing and recognized how much work there was to do to make this something to be proud of. The more I looked at it, the more it looked like a steaming pile of poop, which made it even harder to get back in the game.

Todd says the trick to writing is to get your ass in the seat. There are always distractions, reasons to procrastinate, and other ways to spend your time. If you just get your ass in the seat for long enough, though, you'll produce. I spent most of my writing time today working on plot-related notes to myself. I think I need greater structure to my story to keep me going. The aimless wandering and character sketches I worked on during NaNoWriMo aren't going to cut it forever.