I’ve heard it for years… The only way to get it done is the “Butt-In-Chair” (B.I.Ch.) method. Unfortunately, my butt doesn’t like to sit in one place for too long. I usually find plenty of reasons to move it…The dogs need to be walked, the toilets need scrubbing, I need a Starbucks mocha. And all this butt-moving has prevented me from finishing my 3-year-old novel in progress.
So yesterday, I experimented. I caffeinated. I exercised. I stretched my butt-muscles. Then I sat. And sat. And sat. I promised myself I would sit for a ridiculous amount of time at Linnea’s Café (the coolest little writer’s haven in our town, complete with pierced moody ‘emo’ kids, plenty of great coffee and treats, and resident little schizophrenic bearded-guy who sits in the corner every day with a notebook of squiggles and a jar of, um, sea worms or something…not quite sure).
So, there I sat, fighting the urge to get more carrot cake or shop at my girlfriend’s cute little boutique next door. And guess what? This “Butt-In-Chair” method works like magic! Man, I got a lot done. Don’t know if any of what I wrote is good…but it doesn’t matter, because I got stuff on paper (computer).
Who knew that good old-fashioned discipline would give me results? I’ve spent the last three years waiting for motivation to hit, or tending to all the random things around the house that “need” to get done and, consequently, I’ve written bits and pieces, but never really experienced the "writer’s high" of a marathon session. It ROCKS!
So, THANK YOU to all of my writer friends who’ve been urging me to try the “Butt-In-Chair” method for years. I’m going to try it every day this week. In the end I’ll have a finished novel…and of course a big, numb butt.
But, hey, it’s worth it!
--Eve
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3 comments:
I believe that we could make some serious $$$ if we sold Butt In Chair t-shirts at the SCBWI Annual. I suggested this last year and think I got 10 pre-orders.
"Try it. It works."
I wonder if writers, by nature, have this need to keep moving. Our brains move so fast that our bodies try to catch up.
Glad you were able to tame both long enough to get in some scribbling.
It's not so much my butt in the chair that bugs me, but my back starts getting grinchy if I sit too long. Makes me mad.
Nice to get stuff cleared off the desk, ain't it. *looks ruefully at my own desk* I think I've had my butt in the wrong chair for a while.
Melinda.
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