Wednesday 27 April 2011

Bitesize


As my eldest daughter is currently revising for her GCSEs, the term ‘bitesize’ has featured quite a lot in our house recently.

With the number of days gradually dwindling before the exams start, dividing revision into manageable bitesize chunks has become increasingly important. This started me thinking about my own pattern of working and ways in which I might be able to extend my own writing capabilities.  

The prospect of penning a novel is daunting and given the amount of time and commitment required to complete the task, it is not surprising that so many of us fall by the wayside.

I have found it easier to view each chapter as a whole, striving to make each one as complete in itself and approaching it in the same way as I would do a blog post or an article, both of which I manage to write fairly easily on a regular basis.

That said, my novel is still not progressing as fast as I would like it to and there are all too many distractions on my time and reasons why I don’t just ‘get down to it’ (much like my daughter!).

I was advised by a writer friend of mine recently to take the manageable approach one step further and divide each chapter into bitesize chunks.

“Just 20 minutes writing a day, will see your novel grow,” she said. This sounds like good advice and more importantly, it seems achievable.

It may take longer to reach the finish line but at least I stand some chance of getting there.

So, putting this advice into practice, I will start with this blog post and instead of rambling on for another half an hour and put off posting this entry until tomorrow, I shall end it here.

3 comments:

  1. It's wierd that we can organise our childrens work with practical approach but don't take our own advice!! 20 minutes is definitely manageable so good luck x

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  2. I'm easily overwhelmed and tend to approach each chapter like a short story, which helps a bit!

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  3. Thanks for your comments. It sounds like simple advice but I am finding even this level of commitment difficult at the moment.

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