Writing sans deadlines - by Harini Nagendra

How do you hold yourself accountable? Do you insist on doing a certain number of words each day or a certain amount of time? What happens if you don’t meet the goal? Is there punishment? Do you give yourself treats for meeting goals?

Short answer - I'll tell you when I figure it out!

Longer answer - it depends. On the time of the year, what I have going on in terms of work, family, any care responsibilities... 

My non-fiction books are so easy to write (for me). They are based on my research, and I follow a rather straightforward approach. In my proposal, I decide on the outline, number of chapters, chapter titles - and write a 1-2 paragraph outline for each chapter. After that, it's just a question of dividing the chapters up across the number of weeks I have to complete the first draft, and sitting down to write. I set word counts for each day of writing, and that usually goes smoothly.  

With my fiction books, my experience has been so varied. Because I'm not a plotter by instinct, I feel a bit like I'm trying to create a skyscraper building out of tissue and thread when I begin to write - and it can be quite terrifying. 

Some books feel harder than others to write. The Bangalore Detectives Club took me 11 years to send out for submission, because I took many (very long) gaps in between the writing. In all fairness, I did not know how to complete a full-length mystery novel when I embarked on writing this book. I had to rewrite the plot from scratch a couple of times because I boxed myself into corners, with no idea how to emerge from them.

Book 2, Murder Under A Red Moon, was written in a manic frenzy. I had 5 weeks left to turn in the book, and because my mom fell sick for several weeks (fortunately recovering completely), I couldn't get started on it in time. I plunged right in, and perhaps because I didn't give myself any time to think about it, I was able to meet a fairly demanding goal of daily word counts, and completed editing the first version just in time to send to my publisher. 

Book 3 took forever to write, because I was on a visiting professorship in Rome - gorgeous Rome - I had to juggle teaching with my work responsibilities in my parent institution, and a natural desire to explore the city with my family on weekends and evenings (which is normally when I sit down to write my fiction - since I have a day job).

Book 4 felt easier because I plotted it - but also harder, because for a long time the characters refused to do what the plot was asking of them. I had to write about 40% of the book before it suddenly fell into place - and after I finished writing the book, I had to heavily edit the first section again.

I set myself weekly targets, but not deadlines - and drink copious amounts of tea, and eat copious amounts of chocolate, while I write (I'm now trying to cut back on both). Exercise is my challenge - I'm naturally sedentary and need to make sure I set aside enough time to stretch and move, otherwise my body complains.    

No punishments - I do usually enjoy the writing (except at the start, when it gets a bit terrifying). If I had to punish myself to write, I think I would give up - for me, the fiction writing is my mid-life renewal (not crisis), and it brings me such joy. 

Though I do wish we could just do away with deadlines.