Deadlines for Writers: Writing Challenge
How to reach Mia Botha
Intro:
Well, hey there, Writer. Welcome to The Resilient Writers Radio Show. I'm your host, Rhonda Douglas. And this is the podcast for writers who want to create and sustain a writing life they love.
Because let's face it, the writing life has its ups and downs, and we want to not just write, but also to be able to enjoy the process so that we'll spend more time with our butt-in-chair getting those words on the page.
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Writers who want to connect with other writers to celebrate and be in community, in this crazy roller coaster ride, we call the writing life. We are resilient writers. We're writing for the rest of our lives and we're having a good time doing it. So welcome, Writer. I'm so glad you're here. Let's jump right into today's show.
Rhonda:
Hey there, writer. Welcome back to another episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show. So I'm here today with Mia Botha. Mia has used her many years of procrastination experience to create deadlines for writers. If you don't know about it, you have to go Google it right now. She's a writer and a writing coach, as well as a master of desk organization and tile grout scrubbing.
After yet another year of unfinished manuscripts, random scribbles and self-loathing, she decided to set a challenge for herself writing 12 stories in 12 months. And she was not the only one who needed to outsource her discipline. That was seven years ago. So she's also started 12 poems in 12 Months, a novel writing challenge called 52 Scenes in 52 Weeks, and the awesome 30 Days of Flash Fiction Challenge.
She loves doing coaching and she does manuscript appraisals. She's trained as a copywriter and has a degree in creative writing. And she's been teaching, coaxing, and encouraging writers for over a decade. Welcome Mia. So glad to have you here. Thank you very much. It's an awesome privilege and I'm very excited to talk.
So I would love to talk about procrastination because your thing is tile grout scrubbing. My thing is probably, I would say it's something food related. So my biggest urge, I sit down to write and the immediate thing is I wonder what's in the fridge. So I'll even cook or bake something when I should be writing. And I tell myself, oh, I'm just thinking through the scene but really I'm procrastinating. So, can we even figure out why? Like, do you have thoughts on why it is that writers procrastinate all the freaking time?
Mia:
All the freaking time. I have been studying and trying to figure this out for the longest time. And do you know what, I think the procrastination that's like easiest to deal with is, you know, just wanna sit down and, oh, I think my story sucks. And, you know, I think we've all kind of been made, we're very aware of of this negative voice in your head into silence, the negative voice.
So, you know, oh, this sucks. Oh, I hate this. You know, where if you've been doing this long enough, I think you've learned that, you know, you are gonna have days where everything sucks and you're gonna have days where, hey, it's not so bad. And those moments like, did I write this? You know, so those to me are sometimes the easier ways to get past procrastination. When procrastination gets trickier is when...
It's smart and procrastination is very smart and it changes all the time. I think Steven Pressfield uses the word resistance, which I love. And it's just something we, I think you have to A, make peace with your procrastination that it is gonna happen. I've learned to allow myself to procrastinate. I'm allowed to indulge in it a little bit. And then I have to get pen to paper and it's learning what your triggers or, what happens.
So for you, you figured out it's food, okay? So, oh, but if I'm going to cook dinner, that's like a noble pursuit, you know? I'm taking care of everyone and it's healthy and it's good for us, you know? Where it's for me, like the tile grout scrubbing and deep cleaning the dishwasher is a beautiful one. You know, those are things where I tell myself that those are good things, they need to be done, you know? And that procrastination is sneaky.
If I don't write my story today and I spend this like one hour with my kids, it's because I'm going to be a better mother, you know? But if I keep neglecting my creativity, eventually that's going to compound and it's going to become horrible. And it's ultimately going to make me an unhappy mother. So, you know, that, that's where procrastination, where it gets messy and where it gets difficult.
Rhonda:
I wanted to ask, do you do this thing that I see a lot of writers do that I do where I call it procraftination where like I should be writing my novel, but I'm just going to read this book on how to write better scenes or I'm just going to go watch this online. You know, I've signed up for like eight online workshops in the next month, you know, like this free masterclass and that free masterclass. Like I'm signing up for everything. Do you do that? Do you do procraftination as well?
Mia:
Yeah. I call it the course carousel where, you know, it's, it's like, especially like, I mean, I don't know if you've noticed, but like, so everyone's talking about interiority at this point, you know? And I mean, we've been thinking about viewpoint and character and when it's the opinion of the character and when is that, but now it's like interiority. So I'm like, Ooh, okay, let's go check this out. You know? And then the longer you listen to this stuff, you look on it, but you know, we've been doing this for a long time.
Rhonda:
It's the same. The same. Yeah.
Mia:
The new way of packaging it, you know, someone, Oh, the best way to plot. And then, you know, it's just something we've all done. So I think, you know, in the beginning of your journey is do it go check out as much as you can. For me, I still find it inspirational and I think I'll always be a learner. But like I said, there are times where I'm allowed to procrastinate and I give myself permission to, and then there are times when I have to stop. For me, a benchmark is when I procrastinate more than I'm writing. So as long as my writing is happening and my word count is up, all of those things, it's fine.
And I think it's also where you're in your journey. So I'm nearing the end of my novel. I think I'm on my final, if not my second last rewrite.
Rhonda:
Oh, good for you. That's great.
Mia:
Very exciting stuff. I haven't done that in a really, really long time. So I'm very excited, but it's where I am in my journey now. So I'm looking at bunch of publishing things again, and I'm revisiting a whole bunch of things. Whereas if I'm in the creative stages, like the first draft phases, then I tend to, I'm allowed to do less of it because that's a different process for me.
Rhonda:
Yeah. I like that idea. I do think there's, you know, a good, I, I'm not against learning more about craft obviously, and I have all, I'm pointing to my shelf here, you know, I have all the craft books because I love them so much. But I agree, they kind of, they have their place. Like, you know, read a little bit in the morning, read at night, but don't read when you know that what you should be doing is writing another scene for your novel, yeah.
So your approach to, or a big piece of your approach to overcoming procrastination is deadlines. What is it about a deadline you think that just helps us to stop procrastinating? Because I sometimes set myself a deadline and then I know that I set it myself. So I let myself off the hook and procrastinate. You know what I mean? So what is it about the deadline that's so magical?
Mia:
That's why I said I had to outsource my discipline. So you saw my bio that I trained as a copywriter a very, very long time ago and I worked in advertising. It was the most fun I ever had. It's such a cool job to do, but it's purely deadline driven. We have an entire department where traffic tells you, this is what you're doing today and you're finished by today because you're doing this tomorrow. And when you, I mean like, please, can I have traffic back? Yeah, you're doing this today, that is what you're doing.
So they would literally come into your office and say, this is what you're working on or you have two weeks. And then you know your creative directors coming in this afternoon, because they want to see your first draft ideas. And that's how I think that's what taught me that creativity is collaborative. It's not like, you know, as writers, we want to be alone and we these little hermits living in our hats with our computers. And the fact that my deadlines were non-negotiable is what did it.
So I have tried writing 12 short stories before and I also did a public declaration, but there was no website for it. There was no, you know, it was just something I was going to do. So, and then of course I hit March and then nothing happens after that. So then the second time came around where I was in such a dark place, I wasn't doing any writing. And I was, I mean, I'm sure you've experienced it before, you're talking about writing, you're teaching writing, you're blogging about writing, everything but writing.
So then I said again, I was going to do 12 short stories in 12 months. And then I published a prompt. I published a word count and a deadline. And there was no website or anything, but everyone's like, where do we sign up? Where do we post our stories? You want to do it too. Yeah. And that's where I saw that a, your deadline has to be, you know, public or non-negotiable.
Um, so that's why we only post one month, one day of the month, um, unless it's 52 scenes and it's weekly or the 30 days, which is daily, but it's that public commitment to something. It is that accountability where I know other people are waiting for my story. Um, and that is just, we're all public. It's not public. It's on a closed website, but I mean, it was just that, that having other people, other people waiting for it. And I can miss the deadline, but then I miss out because the challenge is to do 12 out of 12 and it's 12 consecutive months.
So I mean, I've had days where I said to hell with it, I'm not doing it. I'm not gonna post a story today. That's like 11 a 11 PM. And I have to think of something to do and I haven't. And then I'd get out of bed and I'd go write my story because I don't wanna miss my deadline
Rhonda:
Okay, wow, that's great. Yeah, there really is something very powerful about being in community with other writers in that way where you're all focused on the same goal, right? Like that's really that adds that extra bit of juice to a deadline. Because when you think about it, if I think about my history of working out, the times I've made the most progress, it's when I hired a trainer to meet me two or three times a week and I had to show up and I paid for it and there was a whole structure around it. It helps so, so much. Yeah, absolutely.
Mia:
And I mean, I know they're writers now cringing at the word deadline and structure and accountability. You know, it's, we like to think that creativity is this like, you know, magical thing that just, you know, happens, you know, if you're sitting here, it's going to descend and beautiful things happens once in a while, but most of the time it's getting your butt in the chair.
And it is that, I mean, if you think about a competition and that's why competitions are so great is because we, don't have anything, I don't have an idea, I don't have an idea. And the closer you get to the deadline, it's like a little time squeeze where you go, oh my goodness, it's just like you give your characters a time constraint. You give your creativity a time constraint. And there is-
Rhonda:
Yeah, all the studies on creativity actually show that constraints enhance creativity, right? Like there's that, it's why kind of, yeah. It's so, I totally get that. Somewhere there's a quote, and I'm gonna forget who said this, but it's basically like, you know, I believe in the muse and she knows to find me at 9 a.m. Monday morning at my desk, you know, so it's like the combination of both. I'll try and figure out who said that. It might be William Goldberg.
Mia:
I think it's something when I only write when I'm inspired, but lucky I'm inspired 9 a.m. every morning or something. I know.
Rhonda:
Yeah, you've got to put some structure around it, some accountability. It helps so, so much. Yeah. And that's important because what you said about like being in a dark place when you're not writing, if you're someone who knows that part of what you're here to do is to write, then you not writing becomes a problem pretty quickly, right? And we don't want that. So what about, so we have these, you do these challenges that are timed, right? 12 stories in 12 months and write a whole novel in 52 weeks.
What's your opinion on something like NaNoWriMo where like you have a month and you're gonna just like churn out a novel. Cause it's got that deadline thing. It's got like, you know, 30 days. November has 30 days, right? It's a month of November. And you know, maybe it's not a perfect novel but you get the word count and you get your beginning, middle and end kind of thing. So what do you think about something like that? Can that be helpful for writers?
Mia:
It will definitely be very helpful. And it is an insane exercise in productivity. But what I've also learned is that just because you can't do nano doesn't mean you're not a writer, it suits a certain type of writer. So that's where I'm also sitting with like the deadlines. If you don't enjoy deadlines, you're not going to join my website because
It's called deadlines for writers. That is the pressure. You have to post on those days, you have to do it. I'm a big fan of, I want your bravest work. I don't want your best work. Save your best work for the competitions and the anthologies, the brave work, the wonky story that I'm not so sure about the story. The, ugh, this is wobbly. I don't think so. That's where the magic happens to me. And that's what I think Nano gives you. It just, because...
I mean, it's tough. It's I think 1,676 words a day.
Rhonda:
Yeah, a lot of words a day. Yeah, every day for 30 days.
Mia:
You've been writing for a while. You'll know how much that is. I have gloriously failed twice at Nano, but I have learned what I do and what I can't do. It taught me so much about my writing. I'm an extreme underwriter.
I think it comes from advertising where I can, I mean, I can do everything in 65 words with a payoff line and a jingle, dink, okay? So getting to 50,000 words is a huge challenge for me. So what I've learned with Nano is that it does, the people who write a lot, like high volume writers, overwriters, you're either an overwriter or underwriter, neither's wrong or right, you either do the one or the other. So...
There are people who will, I mean, on this day three of Nano, they'll go, they have 50,000, they hit it, you know, and then I'm just like, through the middle of the first week. Um, so Nano is fantastic. And that is what we're talking about, the structure of things and putting things into boxes.
Rhonda:
So many other writers, right? Because every second writer in the world is doing Nano in November. Yeah.
Mia:
And it's this huge, I mean, you post your word counts and it's this collaborative experience. And I know they have meetups and everything. It is really, I think it's one of the beautiful, most beautiful, purest like things on the internet. It's really, really special. But you, I think as a writer, always have to make it work for you. If, like I said, if you're gonna struggle with the word count, it might be a good idea to say, I might not hit 50,000, but I'm gonna write every day for 30 days.
And I might do 500 words a day as opposed to 1,600. You're not going to win and get your badge or whatever it is that you will get at the end. But 500 words over 30 days is still a good chunk of a novel. Or a nice little novella if you can go that way. So break it down, make it easy for yourself. I think make it yours. I think that is where the important thing is. But it's like you said, the hard thing is then you're going to start negotiating with yourself about how many we'll be there today. But it's such a good thing because it gives you a daily deadline, gives you an end goal and it gives you community.
Rhonda:
Yeah, I haven't done it for years. I sort of tried and gave up in my early twenties. So I haven't done it in a long time. So what do you think are kind of the best tips you have as someone who's done it?
Mia:
There are two things that I can tell you, I can tell you what went wrong. First of all, you know, everyone's worried about the story and about the book. Things that went haywire for me was my life outside of writing, where I was not prepared for that. So the first thing I would tell a writer is to prep your life. If you have a lot of work responsibilities and stuff, you know, try and finish big projects in October. Don't leave things for November because it's such high pressure.
So prep your life, if you can, meal prep as much as you can. If you have a family you're taking care of, if you have a pet that you need to take care of, bulk order that pet food, put it in Ziploc so you can just chuck it in there every day and go for it. You know, prep your life. I think that's what I like to say. If you have appointments, do them either in October or November, sort that out. You know, if the kiddos, for me, it was just hey, why? Because our kids write exams in November in South Africa.
I, that was just, I mean, and that's the night before the test and everyone needs help and it is a disaster because you know, we forgot about this part. So those things were what ended up tripping me up. So if I had to do that again, I would do a lot more preparation around my life, my responsibilities, day job, family. And then secondly, I do believe in prepping your book. I'm not a plotter, which is hard.
Rhonda:
Yeah, yeah, same, same.
Mia:
You know, so what I'll do is I love prompts. So I will go and I'll find prompts. I've got 30 day prompts, which I'll just work through because that prompt is just, it's that constraint we were talking about earlier. It just forces me to, this is what was happening in the story and we go there. And my prompts aren't very predictive. It's like a word mostly. It's not a right and third person viewpoint in an elevator in a dialogue.
Just like send your character grocery shopping or something like that. You know, it's very loose and very wide. So the prompts do tend to help me. And then I am not a 5 a.m. or either. I don't like the early mornings. If you do early morning, that's great. But I do find writing in the morning is easier for me. So, you know, if my work day, I tend to start around eight. So then I will say, okay, 7.30 to 8.30 is nano time and then 8.30 to the rest of the day is work time, if it is possible for you to do something like that. But have a place where you write, have a time you write and have that clear, which nano gives you.
Rhonda:
Yeah, that's great. So, and you've got a resource to share with folks for who are thinking of doing nano. Can you say a little bit about what that is?
Mia:
It's a fun little workbook where I took the process and I...I mean, there's certain markers that we have in a novel. So if you write, you know, your three act structure, you'll have your inciting moment, you'll have a first, second and third surprise and you have an ending. And if you take a look at Nano and you work out your word counts correctly, the first week will be the first quarter of the story. Weeks two and three will be the middle of the book and week four will be the end of the book. So that- Yeah, right. That's, yeah, there you go, math. I mean, wow. And I can't- math, but I did it correctly in the book and I worked it out once. So that's what it's just broken up into the four weeks. So in the first quarter of the story, these kinds of things happen and they're prompts and their ideas for getting unstuck and all kinds of trackers and stuff.
Rhonda:
So that is fabulous. Thank you. So you'll give me a link that I can put in the show notes for that and then folks can go and sign up and you can use Nano as one of the ways to get over your procrastination. If you've been thinking about, you know, writing a novel and haven't, maybe nano is your time. So yeah, awesome.
Thanks so much for being here with me today, Mia. It was really great to talk to you.
Mia:
It's such a pleasure. Thank you for having me and good luck with beating procrastination.
Outro:
Thanks so much for hanging out with me today and for listening all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show. While you're here, I would really appreciate it if you'd consider leaving a rating and review of the show. You can do that in whatever app you're using to listen to the show right now, and it just takes a few minutes.
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