Welcome Guest Blogger Debra Ullrick

Debra Ullrich

Invest In Blinders

Yep. I’m convinced that’s the only way. That is, unless someone else has discovered what works. Works for what you may ask. For meeting your deadline, of course. You know, the one that seems to have suddenly closed in on you. Now, those people who are blessed with the gift of organization may disagree with my solution. But for those of us who don’t possess that gift… invest in blindfolds. That’s what my best selling author friend and I have decided.

You see, right now, I’m up against the tightest deadline I’ve ever had. By November 1st, I have to have a seventy to seventy-five thousand word MS completed and sent to my publisher. At present, I’m just under twenty-two thousand words. I asked a friend what advice she could give me to accomplish this. She said… no… she didn’t say invest in blinders… she said, “I ignore anything that isn't necessary (housework, use paper plates, etc.) and use every available minute to write. I really don't have any other words of wisdom. When you're on deadline, it just has to get done.” I thought about what she said for a few moments and then wrote her back, “Oh, in other words, invest in blinders.” She responded with, “Pretty much. LOL.” I must say, it takes a while to get used to those things. Sometimes I feel claustrophobic with them on. And every once in a while I find myself whinnying and craving horse treats, but I’m learning to suppress those urges. My characters whinny a lot more, paw the ground, and snort, but that’s easily changed.

Dust bunnies are becoming my constant companions. Aren’t they adorable? They’re inexpensive to feed, too. My pantry is now over-runneth with paper plates. Should have bought plastic utensils too because clean spoons are a thing of the past around here. Hey, but my bed is made though. Force of habit. Thank you, Jesus! As soon as these feet hit the floor, my bed gets dressed in its running horse comforter. You may be wondering if my house is a pig pen? Hmmmm. Not sure. The blinders really do work. hehe

Oh, and once again to all of you gifted organizers out there, if you are able to keep up with all of this and meet your deadlines too, write me ASAP, okay? That is after you’ve been tested to see if you are human? When you do, contact me and give me step-by-step instructions, please. In layman’s terms only. And as if you were speaking to a child. *smiling* (Seriously, I admire people who really do have that gift. And it is a gift. I can organize, but there is a difference between organizing and being an organizer.)

Now that I have that problem solved. What’s next? Ah, the problem of trying to figure out how to get my MS written. Enter… another friend. She suggested taking the amount of days I had to write my story and subtract the days off I want. Days off? What’s that? Surely she jests. After all, I only have twenty-two thousand words so far, and I need at least seventy-thousand. (70 to 75K, but whose counting.) I have 60 days to do this in. Do I want Sundays off? Yep. Okay, that leaves me 52 days. Now, I take the amount of words I need to write, divided by the days I have to write, and I end up with 1,350 words (rounded off). That’s how many words I would have to write a day to get my MS done. Sounds simple, right? Nope. Life still has a way of tossing in the unexpected. So what do you do? PRAY! That’s what we need to do first, but now what do we do practically? My friend has a great synopsis to work off of. Heavy sigh. For a SOTPser like me that’s not so easy. So, what do we SOTPsers do? Pray some more, and eat chocolate. Wait, no. Don’t do that. You’ll get fat.

Honestly, even us seat-of-the-pansers have an overall idea of the story. So we need to write that down. Then think of internal and external goals and romantic conflicts. Write that down. Ask yourself, what will keep your hero and heroine from getting together. Not something that can be solved with a conversation either, but something genuine. Think of ways to throw the two of them together. Weave that through the short synopsis you’ve written. Then write. Don’t worry about the details, such as what color of dress she’s wearing, what trees or flowers there are, or what a place looks like. If it comes to you without breaking the flow, then write it down, but don’t get bogged down with the details. Just write. Then when you get done with your word count for the day, go back over it and weave those details in along with the five senses. Or layering as it is commonly known as. Before you know it, your word count has risen. There are some days when you’ll write more than the word count goal you set for yourself, which helps when life does throw you a curve and you can’t write that day. So don’t panic. Relax. God’s got your back.

Another thing I do is, sometimes I will read over what I’ve written the day before and make necessary changes. This keeps the story fresh in my mind and helps me to write the next scene.

In between writing times, when my synopsis is vague, I’ll plot. Interview my characters, and of course, pray some more. Calloused knees aren’t very attractive, but so necessary. *grin*

The main thing I do is exercise. Gasp! Not that kind. The kind where you actually aren’t sitting but moving around until your heart feels like it’s about to come out of your chest and every muscle in your body aches. I mean, exercise the word we all just love to hear (NOT!) - Discipline. Yep you heard me. Discipline. Discipline yourself to write even when you don’t feel like it. Breaking down the word count does help and makes it less overwhelming.

So there you have it. Now make haste. Run to the nearest feed store and invest in blinders. And if you start to develop an inordinate taste for carrots and Sweet Mix grain, don’t panic, they’re healthy foods. But if you start wanting to eat grass and alfalfa, however, it’s time to get rid of the blinders and find something else that works for you.

Thank you, Mary, for inviting me back here. Today I'm giving away one of each - A Log Cabin Christmas and Christmas Belles of Georgia. Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing.



Find Debra online at
http://www.debraullrick.com/
The Unexpected Bride - Sequel is - The Unlikely Wife (Jan 2012)
A Log Cabin Christmas, Christmas Belles of Georgia (Sept 2011)
Dixie Hearts, The Bride Wore Coveralls - Sequel is - Déjà vu Bride