Oh, my God. I don’t want to do ____. I want to just____. You fill in the blanks.

How many times have you said this to yourself? Once in a great while? Once a month? Once a week? Every day?

I admit I've said I don’t want to at least once a month, and no, it's not concerning cleaning the bathroom. Something pressing (we’ll call something IT)... IT always comes up and for some unknown reason I’m the only one in the universe that can handle IT. IT pulls me away from what I really long to do, like write, read or spend time with my family. IT can and will ruin your day, if you let it.

I don’t like days that are unproductive. I’m not talking about lazy days. They’re productive in their own way—recharging your body and soul. I’m talking about those days where it seems you get nothing done because if IT, including IT. So how do I make sure IT doesn't ruin my day?

I’m a big list person. Not the biggest. There are days I get wild and wing it. But most days, I will sit down and write a list of things I want to accomplish. I’m realistic in making the list. I know my limits. Most days there is maybe five or six wants-to-get-done. And if IT shows up, guess where IT goes? Right. At the top of the list.

I face IT head on, even though IT might be huge and ugly, and in bold letters IT is the first item of the day. I rolled up my sleeves and tackle IT first. When IT is done and out of the way, my energy level always seems to skyrocket and I whiz through the rest of the items on my list.

(WARNING LABEL) If IT is so big and can’t be accomplished one day, that’s okay. You know it up-front. IT might be the only thing on your list for a day or several. BUT, when IT is finally done, it’s done, and you then can focus on what you really want to do. It’s all about attitude.

A Fork, Knife and Elephant Means What?

They’re all elements in an old parable where a man feels overwhelmed at the daunting task of eating an elephant. I never heard this story until last July, at the RWA national conference. I think it was either Roxanne St. Clair or Harlen Coben and Lisa Jackson who brought the story up during their discussion.

Writing a book can be much like eating an elephant at one sitting, if we let it be.
First, know writing a quality novel takes thought, sweat and time. A great deal of all three. The project is something you’re not just going to dash off in a weekend. Not even a long weekend. So know your work will take you several months, or a year, or years to accomplish, depending on your time constrictions and ability to type.
It’s less intimidating if you think of a huge job as parts. So size up your project. Is it going to be a novella, a category romance, single title or a series of single titles? Once you know the word count you’re targeting, you can break the project into parts. If you want to write a single title at approximately 90,000 words over ten months, you’ll want to write at least 9000 words in a month or nearly 2400 words a week. Break that down to six days a week (I gave you a day off) and you’ll need to write 400 hundred words a day.

That big elephant isn’t looking too huge now, right?

Now, imagine writing ‘the end’. You did it! Dance. Yell out to the world, yippy. Have some bubbly and chocolate. That’s it. Hold that feeling close. The warm fuzzy memory will urge you on when you think you can’t possibly do this.

Having all the tools you need, will make the task easier. Think about it. Did you ever make a cake batter with all the ingredients at hand? It’s much easier than if you had to grab the flour from this cupboard, egg from the refrigerator and, dang, I’m out of milk and need to run to the store. So gather the tools you’ll need. Computer, document storage (you don’t want to lose your work), any research notes, storyboard, storyline, notecards, whiteboard, and other writer friends. Yes, I said friends. Friends will encourage you and listen to you when you vent, and they’ll also offer up ideas when you need them.

Not every writer writes a book in the same way, or a in a linear fashion. If you hate writing the end, write it first. If the middle seems like a swayback mare to you and you hate facing it, fast draft a few scenes.

Last bit of advice, start eating that elephant. The end is non-existent without the beginning.