Viva Scriva

Put your dictionaries away. “Efficious” is not in the Oxford English Dictionary…yet. It’s my own coinage combining “efficient” with “delicious.”

PROLOGUE

Some Scrivas awe me with their efficiency and productivity. They get 8 or 9 stars, maybe even 10 out of 10, as regards these quantifiers. I haven’t asked, but I imagine they grew up disciplined even while young ‘uns. Who knows, maybe they were born that way: you know, popping into the world in the minimum time allowed by the medical establishment.

While I… I haven’t asked my mother how long it took for me to make my appearance, but based on later events, I’d guess I took my sweet time about it. I didn’t learn efficiency at my mother’s knee, didn’t manage to get it drummed into me at school, and I continue to strive for it. Some battle the bulge, or fiscal solvency, while I battle time management. Getting things done. Accomplishing what I wish to get done, what I set out to do.

So at different times I come up with different ways to move forward, at least for a little bit. And then to move forward some more.

I tried a couple of different methods with my writing in 2011. Here’s the story.

CHAPTER 1: EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Last spring and summer I took time chiefly to write. My mental space was clear, and I was reasonably successful. What most helped me was deciding to apply for a writing fellowship with a late-June deadline. I had already written enough that, though applying was a big reach, my goal was doable. I met it. There’s nothing like a realistic unbudgeable deadline for making things happen.

I aimed to continue my momentum by submitting at each month’s Viva Scriva meeting. In July I garnered wows (along with, yes, plenty of things to fix) as the Scrivas saw again several polished chapters.

I loved their reaction, and wanted again that cat-licking-up-cream feeling. But I couldn’t yank myself out of the morass of endless polishing to punch out later chapters in a timely fashion. That, combined with non-writerly concerns that encroached on my mental space, dissipated my plan of monthly Viva Scriva submissions.

In late fall I came up with new carrots—or were they sticks?—to turbo-charge my writing. One: I would do a mini-NaNo (National Novel Writing Month), taking ten days to flood my laptop with myriads of words that would unfold to me my story. I’d produced that much some years before. Two: I would finish a whole draft of my book in time for the application deadline for a wonderful novel revision workshop.

I didn’t meet either of these goals, both of which I now see as unrealistic. A big new time commitment intervened, and, surprisingly, sleep still hasn’t become wholly optional.

CHAPTER TWO: INTRINSIC (VS. EXTRINSIC) MOTIVATION

Around that time, I dipped into Daniel H. Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. I was tickled by his idea of intrinsic motivation resulting in real success. I decided to reconnect with my pleasure in writing. To write not for the extrinsic reasons of getting praise from the Scrivas, of meeting self-imposed myriad-word goals, of having a chance at a fellowship, or getting into a select writing workshop. No. Just for the intrinsic motivation of Enjoying the Story.

It was a lovely time. I let go of big goals, of unrealistic goals, or even of measuring anything at all. This reconnection with my joy in the story was fruitful. I learned I don’t know enough about my heroine’s relationship with her father. An inspiring older cousin wanted to enter the story. Other works-in-progress I’d sequestered away beckoned to me with nuggets for their storylines.

Some time later, I saw I’d strayed away from my path. I had tracked woodland birds, eaten wild strawberries, and tumbled in meadows. But I had forgotten I was on a path to a destination, the completion of my novel.

CHAPTER 3: INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC

So I returned to a happy medium, the golden mean. I don’t need “Extrinsic” or “Intrinsic VS. Extrinsic.” Rather, “Extrinsic AND Intrinsic” are necessary to move a story along and make it the rich place I want it to be. I need goals and measurable stepping stones—as well as time to savor being in my story, twirling around within it, taking a bite of metaphorical honeycomb or burrowing my face in barely-fragrant star magnolias.

Just in time for our goal meeting in late January, I believe in the importance of goals again. Of both “accomplishing” goals and “enjoying” sort of goals. I want my writing work to be efficient AND delicious. Efficious.

EPILOGUE

Umm… Remember that fellowship I was applying for back in June? I just learned I won it—I am the Young Readers Literature recipient for the 2012 Oregon Literary Fellowships. See? Extrinsic motivation works. And Intrinsic. Together, they are best. Efficious.

-Sabina I. Rascol

www.sabinairascol.com