THE PLAN, PART 5: ACCOUNTABILITY

Right now all of my deadlines are created by me.  If I blow one off, nobody will really know but me.  If I don’t do a good job, there’s nobody around to urge me to make it better.  Everything I produce as a writer is on spec, unsolicited.  No one asked me to write this stuff.  No one’s waiting for it.

This is a perilous place to be.  It’s too easy to talk myself away from the edge, away from the computer, back to my warm bed, back under the spell of the television.  “Why stress myself?” I ask Myself.  Myself is a most agreeable person and agrees.  “Yes, why stress?  Let’s watch a movie!”  “Okay!”

What can I say?  I’m a people pleaser.

Obviously, I need some sort of real accountability.  Here is my list of strategies:

1.  Blogging in general, reporting my progress regularly, keeping me focused on the writing so I have something to report. 🙂

2.  The PostADay2011 Challenge.  I’m into the year a mere eight consecutive blog posts…but that’s eight consecutive blog posts.  Cool beans.  Each day just adds to the momentum and lengthens the winning streak.  And hopefully it will also make me a faster blogger.

3.  The Write1Sub1 Challenge.  I’m committed to writing a new story and submitting one story to a market each week and reporting my progress on their web site.

4.  Keeping a time log.  I did this for about a month back in October and realized just how important it was for me to get faster at certain tasks.  I started logging my time again beginning yesterday, and I’m already astounded at how much time certain tasks take and how much time I actually waste.

What about you guys?  Any tips on how to keep yourself slogging forward at a relatively even pace?  Snacks?  Recipes?  Threat of public flogging?

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