When inspiration strikes, and what to do when it doesn't
When inspiration strikes, it can be easy to get a lot of work done. Tasks seem to fly by and you've got all the energy and ideas to carry you through a project. When it doesn't strike, however, many people just put things off for that magical, mystical Someday that never seems to arrive.
Painting and assembling an army is a lot of work. There are people who build an entirely new army for every tournament season. These people don't generally have more spare time than the rest of us, they just know certain techniques that let them get through a little faster and they apply their time-management skills. There are two techniques that people use to do this. I call them Crunch Time and 1+1= Done.
Crunch Time is when you have very little time left and need to get a lot done. It's somewhat like cramming for a test. You put off everything else to do the stuff that is left to be done. In the case of building an army, you might do the painting in one or two huge batches, taking an entire day to prime and basecoat most of the models. Then going back and doing all the highlighting and shading, then painting the details and basing all the models. Doing it in big chunks like this gives you a big result in a relatively short amount of time. Unfortunately, doing it in big chunks pushes other things out of the way. You might have to stay up all night to get everything done, or bail out on friends and relatives that want to see you.
1+1= Done is when you do a small amount at a time, but you do it more frequently. With this method, you put 5 or 10 minutes in here and there as you find or make the time. 5 or 10 minutes each day doesn't seem like much, but it adds up. That's half an hour to an hour a week. How many models can you spray prime in 5 minutes? Using this method is easiest if you have an area that you can work and leave the models and materials organized nearby, so there is little setup time. Once you've got the area set up, it's much easier to get to work quickly and you may be able to put in an extra session here and there as well. It is also more effective if you plan a little bit ahead, so you already know what you are going to do next, instead of deciding during the time you have set aside to work. Finally, this method is most effective if you make it a habit. If you can commit yourself to doing it at a particular time of day, every day, you won't forget about it, or be tempted to skip it one day (which leads to skipping it on later days, which leads to using the Crunch Time method listed above.)
The same principle applies to other things as well. Many people seem amazed that I can do weekly updates for my website. It is a lot of work, but I feel that it is important. Sometimes inspiration strikes me. I know what I want to write about, what I want to say and how to approach it, it's like magic. Other times, I think and think and draw a blank. That's when I need to prime the pump. I start by taking notes. If I see something on another website or on a forum that I think needs more discussion or a different perspective, I'll write it down. I may already have something for that week, but I'll put it down for later, possibly with some notes. Later, if I don't have a planned topic, I'll scan over my old notes and see what strikes my fancy. Once I take my old notes, I'll put them down and try to organize them into what I want to start with and where I want to go. While I don't do anything as formal as an outline, that's the idea. I then take each of the areas I want to cover and start fleshing out the ideas. I try to cover a fair amount of ground with each piece, and I try to be detailed and specific, without beating the topic into the ground. Generally, using this format will also bring other, related ideas to mind, which I can use in the article as well. I enjoy researching, thinking about and discussing 40k topics, which is why I started this website. I also get inspiration from questions and comments I get from people that visited the site, or that ask about different topics. When I get a question about an army or subject that I don't know much about, I research it. As I search through various sites and read other people's opinions, I jot down anything I find interesting or need to research further. Once I feel that I've found all the pertinent details about a subject, I'll go back over all of my notes and distill them into a (hopefully!) coherent article.
So, if you want to get stuff done, give 1+1= Done a try. On the other hand, if you want me to write about something specific,drop me a line!