Writers in the Storm

by Jenny Hansen

Several years ago, I wrote about finding your inner Creative Badass. I still fully believe in her, but…oh man, is she tired. She’d like a spa day and a nap, and maybe even a pet plushie.

For all of you who don’t want to click on that old post, here’s the “channel that inner badass” mantra we closed it with:

You want to be a writer.
It’s all you’ve EVER wanted to be.

It’s what you spend all this time on,
training and practicing your craft.

Get off your a$$ and write your page
and QUIT CRYING ABOUT IT.

I know, I know. It was a tough love mantra…which might be why—

My Creative Badass is kinda tired and cranky.

Because somewhere along the way, creativity acquired a to-do list that resembles the KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) on a corporate performance review.

How wrong is that?

I wrote that original post during the pandemic lock-downs. I had a lot to do during that time, including tending to my then 4^th grader, but my writing life was still bubble-wrapped in joy.

And then…somewhere along the way, writing inherited quite a few additional items.

We’re supposed to:

• Write more.
• Publish more.
• Build our platforms.
• Grow our audiences.
• Learn all the cool tools.
• Understand the algorithms.
• Relearn the next iteration of software.
• Post consistently.
• Improve our craft.

And (naturally!) protect our precious creative time.

Ain’t nobody got time for all that!

And we writers wonder why we’re tired? Why sometimes our inner Creative Badasses want to crawl under the desk and refuse to come out...Why our muse deserts us, or why we get writer’s block.

I know a few writers who have thrown in the towel over the last few years, because those never-ending to-do lists just sucked the joy out of their writing life.

Creativity wasn’t always this much work

Remember way back when…when you wrote because you had a story you couldn’t stop thinking about?

When you scribbled scenes on napkins?

When you stayed up until all hours because two characters were arguing in your head and you had to find out who won?

There was joy in it. And curiosity. And PLAY. You just wanted to see what happened next. Nobody—probably not even you—was measuring your word count or asking whether the scene had sufficient narrative tension.

And then you got serious.

Which isn't necessarily bad. Learning craft is wonderful. Finishing things is wonderful. Publishing things is really wonderful.

But there’s a sneaky little danger in becoming serious about your creativity: Everything starts to count.

• Every writing session starts needing an outcome.
• Your hours must be productive.
• Each idea needs a purpose.
• Your reading begins to feel like a “have to,” instead of a “want or can’t-wait-to.”

Sweet Mother of All Fiction Writers, it made me tired just to type that bulleted list!

Your Creative Badass might not need more discipline.

(This is a mildly terrifying thought for those of us who have spent years trying to become more disciplined writers.)

What if the answer isn’t always to push harder?

Sometimes it is. Sometimes your Creative Badass needs you to stop whining, sit your butt in the chair, and write the damn scene. (Hence the mantra above.)

But other times? You’re hollowed-out. Uninspired and exhausted.

The trick is knowing whether you're avoiding the work or running on empty.

Your Creative Badass isn’t “just lazy.” Sometimes she’s depleted. And you cannot productivity-hack your way out of depletion.

You can certainly try. Creatives are nothing if not inventive.

• New planner!
• New writing app!
• New goal!

Sample goal: THIS time I shall wake at 5:00 am, meditate, journal, write 2,000 words, exercise, drink water, and become a New York Times bestseller by the end of the month!

Or...maybe you just need to go outside. Or nap or craft or clean. Do whatever renews YOU.

Rest is not the enemy of creativity

This one is difficult for me. I am very good at doing, but I am less accomplished at not doing.

Often, when I’m technically resting, some part of my brain is wandering around trying to work out solutions to problems, like maybe that would make the resting more productive.

But creativity needs empty spaces. Or at least empty brain spaces.

It needs walks, and conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with your work. It needs staring out windows, and reading books. Terrible television and cult-favorite movies. It needs quiet gardens and grand museums. It needs experiences that hold surprises.

To put it simply: our Creative Badasses will revolt if we keep pulling things out of the creative well without putting anything back in.

Make some time to play.

My husband asked me a question: When was the last time you wrote something you had absolutely no intention of sharing or publishing?

That one stopped me, because I couldn’t remember!

Don’t get me wrong. There are seasons for pushing toward a deadline, and the rewarding relief of knowing you made it.

But there are also seasons when the most useful thing you can do for your creativity is to stop demanding that it perform.

Go somewhere, and just notice things. Laugh with a friend. Read something delicious. Maybe you just need to allow yourself to get bored enough that your imagination starts looking around for something interesting to do.

I’m going to make a bet with you.

I’m betting your Creative Badass hasn't disappeared, any more than mine has. That it’s not broken. It’s just sitting in the corner, having a little tantrum, because you've turned everything it loves into homework.

Give that inner badass a little space, and something interesting to look at. Maybe a snack. Try something playful, unstructured, or ridiculous.

Maybe do something JUST BECAUSE IT DELIGHTS YOU, and see what happens.

I dare you.

Are you feeling revved or depleted in your writing life these days? When was the last time you created something purely because it sounded like fun? I’d love to hear your stories down in the comments!

About Jenny

By day, Jenny Hansen provides brand storytelling, LinkedIn coaching, and copywriting for small businesses. By night, she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 20+ years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

Find Jenny here at Writers In the Storm, or online on Facebook or Instagram.

Top photo purchased from Depositphotos.

by Ellen Buikema

Revision is the process of rethinking the story—big picture stuff: considering your character's traits, reviewing your research, fine-tuning the plot, reorganizing chapters. This is done prior to editing the manuscript.

Focus on getting the story down first, then revise afterward with fresh eyes. Give yourself time, at least a week or more, between finishing the first draft and beginning the process of revision.

Writing is an art form and a discovery process. Keep in mind that there will be multiple revisions. In 1958 Ernest Hemingway told George Plimpton of The Paris Review that, "I rewrote the ending to Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, thirty-nine times before I was satisfied."

Steps to Revision

Wait a while.

• When returning to the draft, be honest. What you really think about the story?

Think big.

• Look at the large issues. Are you saying what you want to say? Will the reader understand what you are saying?

Revision is a chance to look critically at what you have written.

Problems with Revising While Writing a First Draft

Revising while writing the first draft can wreck creativity and slow progress to a crawl. Make them separate processes to avoid:

• Ruining Creative Flow
  • Writer’s Block: Stopping to revise interrupts the flow of ideas, curtailing writing momentum.
  • Narrow Focus: Tunnel Vision on particular sections may cause loss of character development and over-arching narrative.
• Delayed Progress
  • Time Loss: Revising takes time, sometimes more than writing the first draft, which delays finishing the story.
  • Feeling overwhelmed: Writers may feel frustrated by the need to be perfect, which can lead to burnout.
• Weakened Story Development
  • Fragmented Story: Revising while drafting can keep the writer from finding the story's potential, resulting in an incomplete narrative.
  • Stunted creativity: Over-revising can stifle creativity, making writers overly critical of their ideas and causing a loss of originality.

How to Avoid Revising While Writing the First Draft

Finish the first draft: Rather than revision, focus on getting the story written. There is no such thing as a perfect first draft. I realize that this is easier said than done, having had trouble with this myself. What helped me was my first time writing for NANOWRIMO, the National Novel Writing Month challenge where you attempt to write 50,000 words in the month of November. I didn’t think I could do it, but proved to myself that it was possible.

In order to write that much in the time allotted I had no choice but to write and not revise. I cannot begin to tell you how often I wanted to “just go back and fix a few things.”

Give yourself the gift of time: Allow time to pass before revisiting the draft for a fresh perspective.

Use Fresh Eyes to revise: Focus on improving the character arcs, narrative flow, and story structure.

This method helps enhance creativity so writers can produce polished work.

How to resist spending more time revising what you’ve written instead of writing what you haven’t had time to write—because you’re still revising.

Take notes as you go.

I am a fan of using Track Changes in Word. Comments in Google docs works too. Scrivener Inspector has Notes pane. So, there are a lot of options depending upon the chosen method for documenting your writing.

Say you decide that you should have done something big, like send a character off this plane of existence a few chapters ago. Make a note and then continue on as if you had already written that change. Revisit that section when you’re finished revising and ready to begin edits.

Try time management techniques.

The Pomodoro technique of working for a certain period of time, taking a short break, and then back to work again is helpful. This is what I did to get through NANOWRIMO.

I know people who work for a certain amount of time and treat themselves to a set number of tiny candy pieces, then back to work. That wouldn’t work for me as I’d be too tempted to scarf down the chocolate pieces as I wrote.

Here’s a link to other time management techniques.

The Editing Process

There are four primary types of editing

• Developmental editing
  • Evaluate overall structure, pacing, plot, and character development.
  • Focus on logic, consistency, plot holes, organization.
  • Resolve narrative issues.
• Line editing
  • Work on rhythm, flow, and tone.
  • Eliminate passive voice, wordiness, repetition.
  • Make sure writing sounds natural.
• Copyediting
  • Work on technical correctness.
  • Focus on internal consistencies (e.g. eye color, tattoo type), grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax.
  • Polish the text and make it cohesive.
• Proofreading
  • Final review of manuscript prior to release.
  • Focus on typos, stray commas, formatting.
  • Make manuscript public ready.

Proofreading should always be the last task. If your story is initially a mess, as first drafts are by definition, proofreading first is like putting a band-aid on a gushing wound. There will be a plethora of changes before it’s time for this.

Final Thoughts

When revising consider using a printed copy as, for some reason, problems seem to show up easier on paper. Also, try:

• Reading chapters aloud.
• Use Microsoft Word’s Read Aloud under the Review tab or other similar product.
• Have someone else read it to you.

Listening to your work will help highlight hiccups in the story.

If you are giving yourself two hours to write and you have a niggling need to revisit a chapter, and cannot go forward until you do, go ahead and do it. However, allow yourself no more than twenty minutes away from writing. Set the timer and stick to the time allotted.

Revision is a holistic view of your work in progress. Give yourself time away from your manuscript’s first draft and come back to it fresh and clear-eyed. This will help to avoid emotional exhaustion /burnout and give you room to create good work.

What type of time management techniques do you use? Have you ever gone back into a story after the first draft and discovered that you need major changes? Do you like a particular tool for note taking while writing your stories?

* * * * * *

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written Parenting ... A Work in Progress, non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works in Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and The Crystal Key, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi, a glaze of time travel.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by Dorothe Wouters from Pixabay

What If Your Book Isn’t Your Whole Dream?

by L.A. Mitchell

As writers, we’ve been conditioned to think of our entire future in this industry as dependent upon the success of our books. What a nasty little trap. If your book doesn’t sell, you feel like you’ve failed. If you haven’t yet caught the attention of an agent or editor, you feel like your dream is idle. And if you need another job to pay the bills? That must be evidence you’re not really a writer, right?

I see you. I see you circling that drain of I love writing. I want this to be my life, my everything, but I’m not making enough money from it, and I haven’t published yet. I don’t know how to make a sustainable living doing this, and I’m starting to wonder if this is a sunk-cost fallacy. I don’t want to choose between this thing that I love and financial stability.

To this, I say, “Hold up. Who says your books have to fund your writing life?”

You can have the writing life you want, before or after publication. Believe me when I say that your writing life can be so much bigger than one book or series or even twenty releases. This is your invitation to look sideways. There’s a whole writing ecosystem out there, waiting for you.

Your Writing Ecosystem Isn’t a Straight Line

Most authors imagine the path to success as a linear grind that looks something like: write – publish – write the next book – publish again – write again. We’ve been conditioned by the old industry, a kind of Pavlovian exercise, that forward is the only way. That if your cycle is broken, if publishing doesn’t happen for you or you don’t produce income from it, your dreams are dead. Even if you successfully repeat the cycle several times, it can begin to cannibalize the joy you once felt in the process.

If all you want to do is write books, if you thrive inside this cycle, go for it. That’s amazing and completely valid. I love that you’ve found what works for you.

But if you’re wondering if this is all there is of this writing life, this self-flagellation of drafting and disappointment, release and reviewlessness, launches and losses, if you’re open to possibilities to create a life where your writing has the wiggle room to thrive, this is the post for you.

The Modern Writing Ecosystem

Yesterday, I discovered a new site in beta that’s poised to gamify reading from the reader’s perspective, and they want genre authors to join them. Simon & Schuster just gave us a way to steer around literary agents. Authors are testing ideas on short-format sites and developing novel ideas and story worlds from their reader behavior and feedback—the audience before the book. And there’s at least one historical author who has gone old school with her novel. Her subscription model delivers chapters, one at a time, via snail mail each week, with vintage aesthetics included in the envelope.

Absolutely extraordinary.

Never has there been a broader mosaic to explore with our creativity.

Your personal writing ecosystem is the collection of things you do, the people you work with, and the skills you develop that support the writing life you’re trying to create. The publishing world is expanding every day. Boundaries around what it means to be a storyteller have exploded. You don’t have to only be the one who writes the books. You can help build the world, shape it, package it, visualize it, record it, design it, perform it, market it, research it, adapt it, teach it, expand it, merchandise it, map it, score it, or turn it into a full-on experience.

Some examples

Someone who loves travel and hospitality could put together writing retreats. A crafty person could create merch for a USA Today bestselling author and run her Redbubble or Etsy shop. A numbers or law genius could assist authors with the business side of this life. Someone organized could be a virtual author assistant. Another with culinary talent could team up with an established author of chef-themed rom-coms to develop a cookbook. Heck, even a Lego enthusiast could be commissioned to create story worlds.

You may think your talents don’t have anything to do with publishing, but there are authors out there who need your skills. Whatever you’re into, there’s a place for it in the modern writing ecosystem.

Build Toward the Life You Want

One goal here is to construct a professional life in which all your creative activities nurture each other. But this is more strategic than just an ecosystem cluster.

The genius is in proximity.

If you want to be a romance author, working with and for an established romance author will likely give you far more than a paycheck. Even if you’re only running street teams for a handful of accomplished authors, imagine the networking, the market exposure, and the knowledge you’ll gain along with that sideways opportunity.

Access to people who are already doing what you want to do is your sweet spot.

Help them do what you want to do better than they can alone.

If your ultimate dream of success in this industry is to host the most-listened-to horror podcast in history, and you know the ins and outs of the equipment and distribution already, it wouldn’t make much sense to develop your ecosystem in the direction of being a sensitivity reader for historical novels. Someone who has a master’s degree in anthropology of the Old South probably wouldn’t know punch and roll from audio compression. And it doesn’t have to be precise. Helping authors record their audiobooks is a much closer side quest than knitting the hoods that characters wear in a romantasy set in the underworld.

Nine years into my serious author journey, I took my first ghostwriting gig to make money. I added editing when I saw the demand on the Elance platform (This was before editors at major houses started freelancing). One of my editing clients, an entrepreneur in his day job, suggested a more lucrative writing-coach model that guaranteed my income. I diversified for financial reasons, but I remained inside this ecosystem I’d created because of the interplay. Editing feeds my ghostwriting. Coaching feeds my editing. And ghostwriting feeds my ability to travel the world and deduct those expenses. Different clients and services become symbiotic because they’re all connected to the same greater purpose: getting stories out into the world that deserve to be told. I was an English teacher before I was a writer, so these components of my ecosystem are a natural fit for me.

Your talents don’t have to be so on-the-nose as mine to fit into the writing world.

I get goosebumps thinking about someone who composes music creating a playlist for a NY Times author’s readership, or an artist creating a limited-edition deck for a famous romantasy author whose heroine dabbles in tarot. A genealogist who maps out fictional family histories or a scent designer pairing with an author to create a sensory reader experience. A miniature artist who constructs bookshelf miniature scenes in a book. And if you specialize in any kind of visual medium, a Renaissance of authentic and organic cover art is coming, so start building your ecosystem in that direction now.

Seven years ago, I met my formatter when she enrolled in my ghostwriting class. Ghostwriting wasn’t for her, but she’s a powerhouse with interior book design. She’s so talented at layout that a major publishing house is courting her right now. She hasn’t abandoned her author dreams. She simply used her other talents to build out her ecosystem, where she can make bank and keep pursuing publication.

What Might Your Writing Ecosystem Look Like?

Start with self-reflection.

• What do you have?

Think existing skills, obsessions, knowledge, fandoms, hobbies, relationships

• Who already has the thing you want?

Established authors, publishers, keynote speakers, narrators, designers, readers, podcasters, production companies

• Where do these two intersect?

Your sweet spot. This is where your opportunities appear.

Most importantly, it’s okay not to have all the answers now. Experiment. Start small. You may discover that something you thought would be just a side quest might lead you down a new professional path or teach you something that makes your writing even better.

Permission and Possibility in Your Writing Ecosystem

I didn’t have a master plan when I started taking on side quests and building my ecosystem. I tried out spaces where my skills, curiosity, and love of stories intersected. Over the years, they’ve evolved to include publish assist, audiobooks, special-edition hardbacks, and indie documentary development, shifting in emphasis and in what supports me emotionally and financially.

My ecosystem makes my ideal writing life more sustainable, more connected, and more expansive than I ever imagined. And I want that for all the writers I touch.

Remember, you don’t have to build an ecosystem at all. But if you’ve been trapped into thinking of your writing career as one narrow road, filled with stops and starts that map out book after book, I encourage you to look sideways. You might find that what accelerates your writing career is the fun little diversion sitting right next to it.

What ways have you found to expand your writing ecosystem?

Curious what that sideways look could mean for you? I’ve pulled together 100+ writing ecosystem opportunities, some familiar, some unexpected, to help spark your brainstorming.

About L.A. Mitchell:

L.A. (Laura) Mitchell is a ghostwriter, editor, writing coach, and publishing consultant who has built a career around the many ways writers can turn ideas into books. She is currently writing her 47th book as a ghostwriter, with genres spanning memoir, business nonfiction, self-help, young adult, women’s fiction, and romance.

A true multi-hyphenate, Laura sees her different creative roles as interconnected. Ghostwriting keeps her immersed in other people’s voices and stories; editing sharpens her eye for craft; coaching keeps her thinking about how writers learn and grow; and publishing gives her a practical understanding of what happens after the manuscript is finished. Each hat informs the others and keeps her work fresh.

Laura also teaches writers through her Draft to Dreams community, where she shares what she has learned about craft, creativity, and building a sustainable writing life.

Two years ago, she became an international digital nomad who fully supports herself through her writing ecosystem. Making the jump was a little scary, but the view from the other side? Breathtaking.

 Draft to Dreams: https://buymeacoffee.com/lamitchell