What do you think?

[theresa_ramseyer]

I have a writing dilemma, and I'm not sure which way to go.

My two top writing goals are to get more consistent with my writing, and to finish things. So far this year, I'm doing poorly with both.

Once a month, for about 2 days, I am often wiped out - meaning about all my body wants to do is sleep. I stop to read or write or watch a show, for example, and wake up several hours later. Usually I wake just enough to change to night clothes, or grab a bath and then go back to sleep.

Every now and then, I get a whole week or more of feeling like this. That's how this week has been. Unfortunately, this week is also one of the BIAWs in which I participate. Once again, my page counts for the week are horrible - I'm hoping to get enough done this weekend for a respectable finish.

I know writer's bank pages done after their daily quotas.

My question is: is it right to bank pages during the month/weeks between BIAWs (because I am involved in 2 a month), and then spend them during BIAW when I'm like this? Because BIAW is book-in-a-week, not book-in-a-month.

I am only planning on doing this when I have a wipe out week, like this one. I am not going to use everything banked and then write less or not at all for BIAW; that won't help my goals.

If I don't use the banked pages for BIAW, then I can still count them for WriYe or whatever-current-month-version-of-NanoWriMo or other writing groups that I'm doing, so there's no need for me to use them in BIAW.

My BIAW goals are usually the minimum, and I really don't like to have such a poor showing. Start with good intentions every time, but so far (sigh).

If you were me, would you bank the pages, or just admit that this has been a lousy week, and my page counts are horrid?

Thanks
Theresa

Comments

[linaewen]

I'm not familiar with BIAW or banking pages, but it sounds to me like the purpose of banking in general is to save some extra for when you need it, so I think it might be all right. If it will help you feel better about having to cut back during your times of weariness, then I would think that would be helpful. Sometimes, though, you just have to admit that life is stronger than intentions! It's taken me awhile, but I'm beginning to learn not to let my expectations for myself determine how I feel about myself if there is no way I can prevent not working on a writing project. When health or life circumstances interfere, you just can't expect yourself to keep up. So it's okay to admit it was a lousy week. It's not really a reflection on you, it's the unfairness of Real Life. Here's hoping you come to a good conclusion about what to do that is comforting for you, and that you feel well and don't have these times of extreme weariness that mess you up!

[wintergrey]

As someone with chronic pain/migraine issues, I definitely think that banking pages is fair. If it's a matter of discipline, you can set yourself a minimum quota like 250 words. The habit and the act of simply doing it at all is more important than the actual quantity of work. That can be a good compromise. You're still putting in all the work. You're still doing work every day. You're distributing things a bit differently but flexibility is also a good quality to develop.

I hope that helps.