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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 05:16 AM
I wrote a novel once when I was in SEAsia. It was actually a project I started around 17 and set down mutliple times over the years, and then I read somewhere about famous authors who locked themselves in hotels for weeks at a time to write a completely new novel from start to finish.
The idea really struck me. I've always been one of these kinds of guys who lacks real long-term focus but can grab an idea and run with it and focus every waking hour to it, producing results most people can't replicate with their long-term efforts.
So I did that with my book. Just sat in that room for two straight weeks writing from the time I woke up often until mid-day the next day before passing out, only to wake back up and start over again. It was a bit unhealthy really, especially given that I wrote in bed. My back really suffered (could take care of this with a proper desk situation). But man did my mind just thrive on it. I only left my room to buy food or for the occasional bender at the bar, and at one point I sat there and worked 2 days straight without working.
The book turned out pretty good and moved a few of the first readers to tears, so apparantely I wasn't just producing nonsense.
I'm trying to get my income up a bit before I return to Thailand and finding my progress a bit slow. Mostly thanks to my focus when online.
So, I'm thinking of locking myself up again. Just do nothing in life but focus on my goal - work on my writing biz and a couple new affiliate marketing projects I've got in mind. Only leave to go for jogs in the morning and grab a beer or two with my bros.
Any of you other creative types ever work with this approach? I suppose there's no sense in me asking since I've already used the method before but just curious about your thoughts.
Beyond All Seas
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 06:45 AM
I really need to to this. Good idea!
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 07:13 AM
Dont recommend it. You start petering about, and wasting time. Efficiency is key. Instead make plans with friends and give yourself a deadline that you WANT to meet. And force yourself not to leave until you finish. Voila, magic shit gets done!
This was how 99% of my studying/work was done
WIA- For most of men, our time being masters of our own fate, kings in our own castles is short. Even those of us in the game will eventually succumb to ease of servitude rather than deal with the malaise of solitude
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 07:49 AM
Interesting. Thanks for sharing it.
The only distraction i think you may have will be the internet. If you are going to use your computer to get the work done, don't you think you will feel the need to browse the internet every now and then? The internet is a major distraction nowadays and you may need to use it for researching purposes.
Overall the idea is amazing,you should go ahead with it.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 09:05 AM
I find it works really well with making music. The immersion part is awesome. It takes a while to get in the zone but it's so worth it. At least to me. Your mind is focused mostly on one thing, your head is open to various ideas so you see more hear more hence get inspired easier.
Before I thought it's useless to force myself like that since I thought that ideas often times come out of nowhere regardless what I do so I should be like semi open to it all the time or else I might miss something good. To some extent it's true but overall, not really, cause from my experience, being busy/distracted it's a lot harder to even notice or acknowledge something that might be some form of inspiration. It's like your mind focuses only on logical things that need to be done now. Conversely, consciously deciding to focus yourself on the art, for example for a month, it kind of gets your head open and you turn into a sponge for ideas and LOTS OF them pop up out of nowhere, definitely much more than in the "closed" headspace. That's my experience.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 01:10 PM
How do you make up new ideas while you stay stationary? Unless.... you just happen to walk in circles or a route in the bedroom repeadetly like I did when I was trying to write fiction work at school. Get an iPod or portable music device, put some music on, walk on the same spot for some time and you will get new ideas if you haven't tried it yet.
Also, does your mind suddenly bombard you with ingenious ideas just as when you are about to sleep? Mine does this and I immidiately grab the iPad to write the idea down.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 02:59 PM
Forcing yourself works because you eliminate all excuses. It's very difficult to sit and write for 6, 12, 18 or more hours at a time but if you do it the creativity flows and your body usually wears out before your mind does.
The downside is you wind up alienating yourself from the rest of the world. When you finish the book it's like you just got out of prison because you're pretty much in solitary confinement. You're also working in a vacuum which can play mindgames on yourself, you wonder if what you're doing will even make sense to anyone else. Lots of artists have driven themselves mad this way. It's a lot like being posessed by an evil spirit, you can't rest until the thing is purged from your body.
The main benefit of doing this is how far along towards the 10,000 hour rule this gets you. This is exactly how I write once the idea is in place, total immersion. Afterwards you can clean it all up at a much more sane pace.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 08:11 PM
It works for me, but sometimes I just need to take a break....A couple 30 minute breaks here and there, and I can pull an all-nighter.
Sometimes its the only way to get stuff done with all the other distractions....
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-03-2012, 10:23 PM
The thing for me is if I immerse myself in something for many hours or days the next few days I'll get so sick of "work" I won't feel like doing anything, so it kind of cancels itself out. Of course this is for long term projects, not something you can finish quickly.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-04-2012, 01:13 AM
Did you submit your novel to any publishers or anything? I'd like to know more about the overall process if you don't mind sharing.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-04-2012, 09:00 AM
I've submitted three novels to agents, all turned down, around 150 queries total. Gave up writing for a few years after. Now if you have a computer and internet you can publish an ebook very easily and a lot of people do. The main thing is it has to be formatted correctly so it's readable and you have to proofread the hell out of it, I'm talking like 98% of the typos and mistakes have to be fixed or people won't read/buy the book.
Getting it published is easy, selling copies is tougher. Roosh has a great post on Return Of Kings about selling books.
The internet and Kindles and Nooks have totally changed the publishing industry, cutting the middlemen right out of it. The drawback is you can't be the guy locked in a room churning out masterpieces while someone else does all the selling
for you, but if you want to get published it's as easy as clicking a button.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-04-2012, 12:11 PM
I find that this method works great. This is how I got most of my projects and shit done in college. You just lock yourself in a room fairly close to the deadline and bust your nuts until it's completed. If you had been wasting time for like two days previously you won't feel any huge urge to keep on dicking around, at least in my experience.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-04-2012, 02:40 PM
I'm actually doing that right now for my move to Thailand. I haven't spoken to a new girl in months, I turned down dates, I don't see my friends for weeks.
The results? increase my income 2x and looking to be 3x in another 2 months time.
I would not recommend doing this unless it's absolutely necessary, I'm completely useless with anything girls related and mentally messed up that will take me a long time to be normal again. Also I haven't jerked off for days cause my sex drive went to shit.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-04-2012, 02:40 PM
It's totally subjective what sells. I'd consider stuff like 50 Shades and Harry Potter garbage but they're incredibly successful. People think Stephen King is garbage too.
Timing can be everything. One book I wrote was about eco-terrorism. It was definitely publishable. Three weeks into the query process 9/11 happened and every rejection said nobody wanted anything to do with terrorism. I agreed and withdrew the book, seemed pretty trifling after real terrorism hit home.
As for how long it takes, how long does a bridge have to be? Some people hit on their first book but that's usually the exception to the rule. I read somewhere James Joyce spent 12 years writing Ulysses. Tom Clancy was 37 when his first novel was published. I think right now the best way to get to a payday is writing chick lit, that shit sells.
You should read On Writing by Stephen King, basically his autobiography and his philosophy on writing, a very good read that includes specifics on what bad writing is. I mentioned the 10,000 hour rule because you have to be disciplined enough to sit there and write and not give up. There's no perfect time or place and if you wait for the "right" inspiritation or motivation it won't happen.
You basically have to lock yourself in a room to get shit done.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-04-2012, 04:54 PM
Having the idea in your head for a long time is not bad but you eventually have to pull the trigger and start. I've had ideas in my head for years, they may never even get written, but they're there. That's why I mentioned in another post it can be like being possessed by a demon and the only way to exorcise it is to write it. Don't worry about making it perfect, just get the majority of it out and then you can go back and tweak it. King uses the analogy in On Writing that you're like an archaeologist discovering a dinosaur skeleton: you want to uncover the whole thing first then go back over it and clean it up to perfection.
My approach is write it then revise it until it's as close to "perfect" as I can get it. I'm not sure, but I think it was Hemingway who wrote one sentence at a time and didn't continue until the sentence was perfect. He eventually blew his head off.
Another thing is don't talk about it AT ALL with anyone. If you must, say "I'm working on something," but don't go into ANY details. Talking about it kills your motivation, puts a ton of pressure on you, and you wind up second guessing yourself listening to other people's opinion. Unless someone is writing it with you don't talk about it until you're done. I love the scene in Limitless at the beginning where he's in the bar talking about the book he's supposed to be writing but hasn't done jack shit on yet, it made me cringe because I've been there.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-04-2012, 05:11 PM
I started doing this a year or two into college. It works well for me but I think it's effectiveness depends a lot on your disposition.
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Locking Yourself in a Room to Get Shit Done
12-04-2012, 05:32 PM
Sounds pretty hardcore and unhealthy to literally lock yourself in a room for weeks on end. If you ineffective working. Try working 1 hour straight then 15 minute breaks.
