You didn't go exactly where you thought I would, but I definitely agree with your conclusion. 🥴 When I saw the subject line/title, I thought, "My bottleneck is making decisions!" So yeah. Outputting the words. I'm actually taking Write Better-Faster now after you spoke so highly of Becca Syme and it's been really interesting so far! She would call that bottleneck the "Essential Pain." Still haven't figured out how to eliminate it. ;-)
This post is so helpful! I recently realized my bottleneck is consistency: I tend to write when the muse strikes. I have long periods of being unproductive and quick bursts of writing SO much at once, but I actually think being more disciplined and writing regularly will be more helpful over time (especially when it comes to meeting deadlines).
I find it hilarious that I first hear/see some idea in Cal Newport's newsletter, and then it starts reappearing all over the place. Hilarious, but also very understandable. This entire idea of bottlenecks also made me consider what are the bottlenecks of my novel writing.
...definitely not the speed of my typing ;) Also not the ease of digitally organizing my world building notes.
In fact, I recently came to a peculiar realization that I need to make my word building notes more analog. Slow them down. Make it impossible to copy-paste large swatch of text when I do my research (then I end up with a bunch of notes that I never read nor process).
Funny thing: the need to actually flip through my entire* world building binder every time I need to add a new thing makes me really aware what I have in there, instead of having a bit of information hidden so deep in organized folder structure that I come across it only when I do a clean-up (and then I end up surprised by what I find there).
*Of course not page by page, that's not necessary. It has clear sections ;)
I love this. My therapist recently told me to make my kids pitch in so that I could have some time back in the evenings after work. For three weeks, they have been cleaning the kitchen after dinner so that I can get right to the keyboard, and now I am totally immersed in my book again, and I feel great. I just needed to take the time to think about what adjustments could be made, and I needed the prompting from the therapist to do that. Thanks for sharing!
You didn't go exactly where you thought I would, but I definitely agree with your conclusion. 🥴 When I saw the subject line/title, I thought, "My bottleneck is making decisions!" So yeah. Outputting the words. I'm actually taking Write Better-Faster now after you spoke so highly of Becca Syme and it's been really interesting so far! She would call that bottleneck the "Essential Pain." Still haven't figured out how to eliminate it. ;-)
I think the bottleneck causes essential pain, yes! But the bottleneck itself is the thing where all things have to “flow through” to get finished.
Which if you’re a writer, then that’s writing. 😭🥴
If you deal with bottlenecks, read this article: https://kanbantool.com/blog/dont-be-the-bottleneck. I hope you'll find it helpful :)
Oof, that sounds like a painful toe experience— hopefully it heals up nicely!
This post is so helpful! I recently realized my bottleneck is consistency: I tend to write when the muse strikes. I have long periods of being unproductive and quick bursts of writing SO much at once, but I actually think being more disciplined and writing regularly will be more helpful over time (especially when it comes to meeting deadlines).
Fantastic piece! Yes, words on the page and cutting away anything that does not get words on the page is where I am at as well.
I find it hilarious that I first hear/see some idea in Cal Newport's newsletter, and then it starts reappearing all over the place. Hilarious, but also very understandable. This entire idea of bottlenecks also made me consider what are the bottlenecks of my novel writing.
...definitely not the speed of my typing ;) Also not the ease of digitally organizing my world building notes.
In fact, I recently came to a peculiar realization that I need to make my word building notes more analog. Slow them down. Make it impossible to copy-paste large swatch of text when I do my research (then I end up with a bunch of notes that I never read nor process).
Funny thing: the need to actually flip through my entire* world building binder every time I need to add a new thing makes me really aware what I have in there, instead of having a bit of information hidden so deep in organized folder structure that I come across it only when I do a clean-up (and then I end up surprised by what I find there).
*Of course not page by page, that's not necessary. It has clear sections ;)
I love this. My therapist recently told me to make my kids pitch in so that I could have some time back in the evenings after work. For three weeks, they have been cleaning the kitchen after dinner so that I can get right to the keyboard, and now I am totally immersed in my book again, and I feel great. I just needed to take the time to think about what adjustments could be made, and I needed the prompting from the therapist to do that. Thanks for sharing!