Your writing life anyway. It changed mine.
Before Ninja Writing
I began a novel in 2013. I finished the first draft in early 2014, and didn’t touch it again until November 2018.
As I’ve mentioned many times, I’ve been in the Montreal chapter of NaNoWriMo since 2012 and won it four years in a row. All the times I’ve done it filled me with confidence to go to the step of going forward to a finished novel.
One problem:
It’s 2019. I Still Haven’t Finished It
In 2009 I won a Prix Boreal/Aurora for a newsletter I write called The Original Universe. Because of medical and other reasons I stopped. I want to relaunch it. As a result, I started to write it ages ago. There’s a problem with that, however…
It Sat on My HD Forever
Ninja Writing to the rescue! Fist, so that you don’t feel that I’m inventing a term:
What Ninja Writing Is
There are a few different methods named this term. The one I use was created by Shaunta Grimes. She was inspired by the prolific writer Ray Bradbury.
“Ray Bradbury” by Alan Light is licensed under CC BY 2.0
During his life he wrote a lot of short stories, collected into books like The Martian Chronicles, Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes… many short stories I’ve read in many publications.
He was a big proponent of the notion of writing and reading daily:
Based on his words, we write for 10 minutes every day, and read for another 10.
Why 10? Many potential writers get intimidated and overwhelmed by the idea of writing for longer.
If you write 10 minutes per day it’s easier to do it than to ignore it. With a time commitment like that, you may find you get a lot done. You can then work on other things.
Thanks to this:
My novel is now into editing. I’ve started Act Two.
My newsletter is now mostly written.
Give this method a try. The results may surprise you. Your writing, because you’re doing it regularly, will also improve.
