Stay Connected to Your Book When Life is Full
December has landed with its weird combination of pushing and pulling.
There's a sense of frenetic celebration on one hand and short, dark days that call for rest on the other. A scramble to finish the things we promised we'd do this year pressed up against the desire to clear the decks and begin the next year fresh.
So where does our writing fit into all of this?
Today I’m sharing my top three ways to stay connected to your writing project this December (or any time life is feeling a little more full than you'd like).
1. focus on single edits instead of big creation
Instead of trying to pull a fresh scene out of the ether or wrangle a big concept into a new, tight chapter, take this time to tackle those writing tasks that quickly become tedious.
Go through one or two pages at a time with a single, specific editing goal in mind.
Some of my favorites:
Do my sentences vary in length to create a good rhythm?
Have I eliminated redundancy at the sentence/paragraph level (repeated words or the same idea stated twice)?
Do all of my tenses agree?
Do all of my sentences reflect a complete thought? (if not, is it intentional? would that intention be clear to a reader unfamiliar with your voice?)
Is there passive voice? Can I make this passage more active?
Do I have filtering that could be cut?
Are there linking verbs that signal generalizations or judgments that need "unpacking?"
Are my details specific and concrete?
Do I have any cliches?
Are there adverbs clogging up my descriptions?
(...and so on...)
The list of single questions to look at is endless, but the goal here is to just do one thing for a couple of pages and then move on with your day. If you had more time, you'd be doing that bigger creative work.
This practice keeps you connected to your book and builds your craft skills. It also helps you begin to recognize your own patterns and stylistic quirks as a writer (we all have them!).
This, in turn, helps you become a stronger writer even at the initial drafting phase, which can make the process of creating new work that much more fun when you get back to it!
Resources I love for finding editing goals:
Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway (I love this book for all writers, not just fiction!)
The Artful Edit by Susan Bell
Dreyer's English by Benjamin Dreyer
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
(You can view all of my current picks on my Bookshop shop page— please note that any proceeds from affiliate links are donated to the Freedom to Read Foundation, protecting access to books in libraries)
2. Brainstorm
Whether you're writing young-adult fantasy or a step-by-step guide to managing climate despair, there's almost always some aspect of a work-in-progress that could benefit from a bit of brainstorming.
Here are a few ways this can look:
Create a "One Sheet"— a single page of bullet points on one topic. Need to figure out a character's backstory? How transportation works in your science fiction novel? These are super handy for brainstorming those bits and pieces that can easily turn into rabbit-warrens of distraction (I'm looking at you, fantasy and historical fiction writers!). They're great for nonfiction and memoir writers, too. This is a particularly good task if you've only got a few minutes— drop a few thoughts here and there throughout a day or week, complete sentences not required!
Freewrite— gather pen and paper, set a timer for 10 minutes, and let fly! When freewriting, you're aiming to keep the pen moving, letting your thoughts come onto the page without editing or judgment. Sit down with a clear purpose (the personal anecdote you might want to open the next chapter with, or how you might want a conflict between two characters to take shape), or use it to reconnect with why writing this book matters to you, or some overarching idea that you'd like to reconnect to. If time allows, I like to take 1-2 minutes before I begin freewriting to close my eyes and let my thoughts settle a little around what I'm planning to write about.
Again— this allows you to stay connected to your book and take advantage of the opportunity to hold it loosely, to play an explore, which is an essential part of the creative process and often gets pushed aside when we're chasing word counts and the more tangible "forward motion" of writing chapters.
3. Cut
This can, at first glance, look similar to the first recommendation, but it's a little different in that it specifically focuses on looking for words to cut from your pages.
There's a little cliche phrase that gets kicked around the writing world: "Write without fear. Edit without mercy." I'm not a huge fan of harsh language around writing (I deplore "kill your darlings"...it's such a weird sentiment to me and never seems that useful, but I digress...), but learning to BOTH draft into your pages with some abandon AND cut out what's keeping the most powerful language from ringing out is another essential skill to develop as a writer.
I like to make a bit of a game of this that I call “reverse word counts.” I write in Scrivener and like to utilize the word count target widget (set to allow negatives), but however you track your word counts will work. Then I simply see how high my negative word count can get in the time I have available.
It never fails that when I think I can't cut one more single thing, I realize that I've allowed an attachment to a particular sentence or paragraph blind me and by letting it go, the most important thing on that page begins to really shine.
This practice not only helps you stay connected to your book in general, but helps you connect to some of the most powerful things you've written and develop the skill of homing in on just what they are.
So...those are my top three, but here are a few quick bonus suggestions:
READ! Remember that you enjoyed books before you were eyeballs deep in trying to write one? Find something FUN to read (whatever that looks like for YOU!) and reconnect with your love of books. If that looks like sitting by the fire and sipping cocoa, wonderful, and if it looks like listening to an audiobook while scrubbing bathrooms before company comes a-calling, that's great, too! In his book On Writing, Stephen King asserts that it's hard to be a good writer without being a reader...so go enjoy a book and let it re-energize your writing when you come back to it. *Also— I find that this is a great time of year for short story or essay collections, where I can read an entire piece beginning-to-end in one sitting and not have to keep track of a plot amidst all the distractions.
Make a list of what you accomplished on your book this year. It's easy to move the goalposts on ourselves, so take a minute to recall where you were last year at this time and celebrate the wins big and small. Aim to let go of what didn't happen— there's a plethora of evidence that celebrating wins drives greater effort and success down the road than harping on our "failures." Make note of your accomplishments on this project and let it energize and fuel you to keep going!
Engage in the book world in some positive way. You are a writer. Books matter to you. So connect with what's happening at your local bookstore or library and aim to attend an event or simply browse the thousands of titles that give evidence that ideas can, indeed, become books that end up in the hands of readers. And if someone tries to tell you that "books are dead," send them to read this lovely article by Lincoln Michel: Yes, People Do Buy Books.
Look. It's important to stay connected to your book. Losing touch with it can sometimes create a barrier of entry to picking it back up, so give yourself the gift of leaving a little brainspace for it while you're running errands or washing dishes. If you can give it more than that, even better— you'll be glad you did.
But books are long-term projects, so sustainability matters, too.
Eat some cookies and hug your kids and make a snow angel and know that your book will be waiting for you. You're allowed to take a break. Your commitment isn't as fragile as all that. Plus, as any writer knows, our books tend to haunt us when we neglect them for too long.
And— as always— if you want or need a little encouragement along the way, don't be shy— hop onto a free call and let me cheer you on!
