As I mentioned in my last post, I had imposed an extremely short deadline for a first edit on my book, In Between, determined to get it off my hard drive and into Becca’s hot little hands by the end of the week. Because I am a notorious fiddler, editing and revising is unbelievably painful and slow for me. My solution–a 10 minute time limit per chapter.
And the verdict?
High hopes, yes. Good intentions, oh my yes!
A complete and devastating failure? Um, yes to that one too.
Sadly, the Speed Date technique was not for me. Either that or someone meddled with my reality in the last few days, warping time itself so that ten minutes became mere seconds. At least, that’s what it felt like.
I fear folks, that I must embrace my fiddling. World, I AM A FIDDLER!
And it’s okay. 🙂
However, I believe that the Speed Date Technique did teach me to have stronger time management skills and showed me the importance of imposing deadlines and goals. I was much more productive in my revisions that I normally am, just knowing I was accountable to Becca. I didn’t waste time, I wasn’t derailed by little stuff. So, while the SDT doesn’t work for me, I still count it as a worthwhile experiment!
Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.
No, it definitely had a lesson in it. My big downfall tends to be time management. I do find that goals help, as do keeping track in a dayplanner what I got accomplished, writing wise. That always motivates me, making sure there’s something written in those slots each day, even if it’s just catching up on crits.
I love your experiment! I wouldn’t call it a failure, though. You did get some answers, right? You did create a whole new frame of reference, right? You go girl!
I try to keep it reasonable. Before I sit down, I say, “I am going to finish 1 chapter in this session.” …or whatever I hope to fit in that window. If you are running out of time in your window, start the speed approach to finish it off. Take a few notes and come back to it later. I cannot do just one revision straight through. I,too, like to fiddle!
Gosh, I think I’m the only person with the opposite problem. I fiddle for awhile, but get sick of it and move on to something new before I should. What does that make me? A flautist?
Alice, I had a Telephone response all ready for you, but Debbie beat me to it. Thanks for the invite, though :).
I couldn’t write anything in 10 minutes! I’m like Oscar Wilde – I spend all morning to take out a word, then in the afternoon, I put it back.
That’s the beauty of writing: there is no right or wrong way to do it. At least you tried & now you know (and I’m glad you posted on how it went because I was curious!). Fiddlers Represent!
I was wondering how this would turn out, since I probably spend four or so minutes just staring at the computer screen and the words. Then, probably two more minutes are devoted to sentence-rearrangement just to see if anything reads better or worse.
I’d be a wreck four minutes later when the timer went off. I’d want to mash the timer with my pink-handled hammer, that’s what.
By the way. Ahem. Both or either of you have been kinda-sorta tagged. I put your names in parenthesis, which means you’re under less obligation that those other bloggers I plan to nudge into playing Telephone!
Come see, come see.
Fiddler here, too. Slow and steady wins the race, yeah? 🙂
hugs,
Donna
Fiddlers of the world, unite!