Writers in the Storm

Tasha Seegmiller

If, like me, you are participating in NaNoWriMo this year, you have developed some feelings about the word count tracker. Maybe it has become your greatest motivator. Maybe you try to hide from it like a toddler with scissors who just got caught cutting their own hair. We all have different reasons for the way we currently feel about the NaNo Tracker, but I think it is the sort of thing that we should consider beyond this month.

You see, love or hate, the NaNo Tracker keeps us accountable for the writing we actually did. And, if you have writing buddies, you know that they also have access to your progress, and that this may be contributing to your willingness to continue to update or hide.

There is a temptation, when it comes to writing, to falsify the progress we are making. Some of it is absolutely invisible work, thinking and brainstorming and researching and solidifying that has to take place in order to have a strong story. Playing around with mock-ups of covers is probably less helpful. And talking about how you have an idea for a story over and over may work in the long run as people question how your book is coming, knowing and doing are two different things.

There is a necessity to have a solid plan of accountability.

Part of the problem may be your tendency. Gretchen Rubin explains that the tendency is how well we meet or disregard our own expectations or the expectations of others. I think knowing which part of the framework you fall in will help you better understand what kind of accountability works for you. Please take the free quiz here.

Regardless of where you ended up, it will be difficult to succeed at this writing gig without a plan of consistency. For this part, there are a few steps.

Track Your Progress

My dad was a high school athletics coach for a long time, guiding youth on football fields and basketball courts and around the track. He always said his favorite sport to coach when it came to dealing with parents was track and field – the numbers didn't lie. Someone was either a top runner, or they weren’t. They either cleared the height of the high jump or they didn’t. While having a steady time to write every day is important for creating a habit, tracking what actually got accomplished during the writing time is essential.

Fellow WITS contributor Jamie Raintree has a great resource for the people who like to track words. Her Writing and Revision Tracker has is a thing of organizational beauty, and the 2018 version is available now, with some new bells and whistles I’m very eager to play with.

Perhaps the techie stuff leads you down the path of distraction (or frustration). With the customization options of bullet journals, you can consider exactly what you’d like to track.

Report Your Progress

If a writer produces so many words and no one knows…

Ah, forget it.

Most people are more likely to hit their goals if they have to tell someone about it. A few years ago, I had the good fortune to join a critique group that meets every two weeks. That means that every two weeks, we have to take ownership as to whether or not we have been writing. It’s just enough time that a bad day (or two) doesn’t derail anything and frequent enough that writing has to stay at least a little at the forefront of our minds.

There are also people who have had success with a single accountability partner. I recently stumbled on an article that shared the idea of a friendtor – someone who was a friend first, but also has common interests, passions and pursuits. In this, the author suggests a 30/30/30 system. The interested pair schedule a time regularly when they can get together, and spend the first 30 minutes getting caught up on life stuff, the second 30 minutes of one person sharing work and progress and hiccups and derailments while the other listens, then the last 30 minutes switching. I have a friend who I do this with in person, and a sibling who I engage with over the phone. Why two? The first is who I can share my creative process with, is someone who can share hers with me. My sibling is very goal and marketing driven, which means that on a semi-regular basis, I get to think about being a creative and a solopreneur, and what I have been doing to succeed at both, and where I have experienced setbacks.

Celebrate Your Progress

Finishing something warrants celebration. Not all out nutso parties, but a group of people with whom the accomplishments from “I have a new idea” to “The End” can be met with praise and joy. My writing group also has an online group through Facebook messenger where we can share and, as necessary, be the beneficiary of sticker and/or gif parades. It seems small, but knowing there is a group who is excited is that small propulsion that allows us to keep going, to keep creating. I have also found these kinds of people in WFWA and as part of The Motivated Writer group.

Finally, these kinds of accomplishments absolutely have a place in your social media life, and experts even say the way to Be The Gateway and honestly engage with an online audience is to Show Your Work.

Do you have any other favorite tools or groups where you like to track, report or celebrate your progress? Please share below!

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Tasha Seegmiller is a mom to three kids and coordinator of the project-based learning center (EDGE) at Southern Utah University. She writes contemporary women’s fiction with a hint of magic, and thrives on Diet Coke, chocolate and cinnamon bears. She is a co-founder and the managing editor for Thinking Through Our Fingers as well as a board member for the Women's Fiction Writers Association. She is also the founder of Creative/Woman, a safe space for brave women who love to create. Tasha is represented by Annelise Robey of the Jane Rotrosen Agency.

Christina Delay

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Seven years ago, I won my first NaNoWriMo. And what came next was the worst of times, a season of darkness, a literal winter of despair.

I'd started writing a few years earlier, but the book I wrote during that fateful November was the first full length novel I'd completed. And like the first boy who broke my heart, that first NaNoWriMo taught me some valuable lessons.

Still he broke my heart. And my brain. And my book.

While I ‘survived’ that NaNoWriMo, I lost the ability to spell for a good year. It was as if my novice writer-self had dived into deep water without an oxygen tank and I had physical effects from pushing myself too hard that first go. So bad was the state of my book after NaNo, that it required three rewrites and four more years before that manuscript won a contest and I landed my first agent.

Needless to say, I backed off from the NaNoWriMo scene. While it worked for other authors, I was not one of those lucky writers that discovered NaNoWriMo magic.

Fast-forward seven years. After pregnancy complications and giving birth, I hadn’t written in months. I needed something to give my non-writing butt a good kick.

NaNoWriMo walked through the doors.

He’d changed since I last saw him seven years ago. More toned and muscular with a flock of friends following him around. He gave me a come-hither grin and even curled his finger, beckoning me. “Wanna give it another go?”

Uh, no. No, no, no, no, no.

But I took a step forward. With each passing day, I crept closer and closer. The scent of his coffee cologne was intoxicating. The talk of his friends, telling me all the wonderful things about him, rustled around me like a fall breeze.

I bite my lip. I’ve grown in my writing, I tell myself.  I’m a stronger writer, I reassure myself. I only have 50,000 words left to go in my WIP. Ugh. Shut up, already.

He holds out his hand.

“Don’t screw over my story this time,” I tell him, then take his hand.

Our romance has been sweeter this time around. Less of a whirlwind, more of an easy, gradual build. I’m slowly falling in love with NaNoWriMo again. And this time, I don’t think he’s going to break my heart.

Or my brain.

Or, more importantly, my book.

As an experienced writer, hitting 1,667 words every day isn’t a challenge like it used to be. It’s fairly easy for me to do that, but NaNo is forcing me to stay consistent. Point for him. I’m not writing crap just to meet a word count, but writing some pretty decent stuff--most of which will make the final cut. The edits I see so far, I already know how to fix. Not only that, but I’ve been sprinting with my Cruising Writers retreaters, and it’s been so fun to connect with them online every day.

This time around, NaNoWriMo has been the best of times, a season of light, a spring of hope.

If you’ve had a horrible date with NaNoWriMo in the past, or maybe you’re having one now, you’re not alone. But don’t give up on the experience just yet. NaNoWriMo is one of those guys who actually does change...or maybe I’m the one who changed, and he was always exactly who he needed to be.

Here are some middle-of-NaNo tips to NaNoWriMo success, whether you're a novice or an experienced pro:

• Don’t deep edit as you go. NaNo is supposed to be fast, which doesn’t leave time for editing. The benefit of this is you can’t get stuck for too long editing and editing one scene. Try leaving yourself a comment, or highlighting the section you need to fix with notes on what you want to do, then move on.
• Create your own goals. Hitting 50,000 words is nice, but not at the expense of your brain or your book. I love that the NaNoWriMo site has added the personal goals option. One of mine is to be happy with wherever I end up at the end of the month. No matter what, I’m further along in my story than when I started. What's a personal goal you can set that's not related to word count?
• Connect with your tribe. Seriously the best thing about this NaNoWriMo experience this time has been sprinting with my writing tribe. When I wake up in the morning, they’re there, coffee in hand, waiting to get started. At any time of day, I can log in to our group and start or join a writing sprint. Have you found your tribe yet? NaNoWriMo runs sprints on their website that you can join at any time.
• Take time to think about your next step. Sometimes we get into the zone and the words flow, and that’s awesome. But other times we need to take a step back and really consider if we’re on the right path with our story. It may mean that you don’t meet your word goal for that day, but that’s okay. It’s better to stay on track than to write a bunch of words you’ll have to delete later.
• Evaluate where you are. Maybe you've fallen behind and the chances of you catching up at this point are slim, because let's face it, life happens. I'm giving you permission to adjust your goal. Maybe 50,000 isn't possible this time. But is 30,000? 25,000? Three chapters? One scene? Adjusting your goal isn't failure. It's only failure if you give up.

Has NaNo been good to you? Or a bad date? Share with us, in the comments!

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Christina Delay is the hostess of Cruising Writers and an award-winning author represented by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency. When she's not cruising the Caribbean, she's dreaming up new writing retreats to take talented authors on or writing the stories of the imaginary people that live in her heart.

Cruising Writers brings aspiring authors together with bestselling authors, an agent, an editor, and a world-renowned writing craft instructor together on writing retreats. Cruise with us to Grand Cayman next October with Kristen Lamb (Bestselling Author and Marketing Jedi), Rachel Caine (Bestselling Author of 50+ books), Deidre Knight (The Knight Agency), and Alex Sehulster (St. Martin’s Press).

 

 

This is an actual file on my computer:

I confess that I’ve accessed it more than once.

Truth is, anyone who’s been writing for a while knows there will be moments when you wonder if you’re really cut out to be a writer.

This feeling strikes writers who struggle to finish their first novel; writers who submit their manuscript only to receive repeated rejections; writers who debut with confetti and fanfare and then worry about whether they can make the magic happen with a second novel; and writers penning their twentieth novel who can’t figure out why writing is still so dadgum hard.

We’re all in this boat together, though sometimes it feels like that boat is leaking and we’re sinking.

That’s the moment I open my file and read such tidbits as these:

“I am usually pretty disappointed with the book when I finally turn in the last draft and hear that I can’t revise it any further. I worry a lot that no one will like it and that I’ve failed and that I haven’t lived up to the story.” – John Green, New York Times bestseller and author of The Fault in Our Stars

“Dear God, I am so discouraged about my work. I have the feeling of discouragement that is. I realize I don’t know what I realize. Please help me dear God to be a good writer and to get something else accepted.” – Flannery O’Connor, award-winning Southern gothic writer

“Continuing to write after that heartache of disappointment doesn’t take only discipline, but also self-forgiveness (which comes from a place of kind and encouraging and motherly love). The other thing to realize is that all writers think they suck. When I was writing Eat, Pray, Love, I had just as a strong a mantra of THIS SUCKS ringing through my head as anyone does when they write anything.” – Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestseller

“I was convinced that there would be a knock on the door, and a man with a clipboard (I don’t know why he carried a clipboard, in my head, but he did) would be there to tell me it was all over, and they had caught up with me, and now I would have to go and get a real job, one that didn’t consist of making things up and writing them down, and reading books I wanted to read. And then I would go away quietly and get the kind of job where you don’t get to make things up anymore.” – Neil Gaiman, New York Times bestselling author of American Gods and The Graveyard Book

“I’m afraid of failing at whatever story I’m writing—that it won’t come up for me, or that I won’t be able to finish it.” – Stephen King, New York Times bestseller and "King of Horror"

Reading their words makes me recognize this fear that you might actually suck is what even highly successful writers feel.

Perhaps it's just part of a good writing process to constantly evaluate yourself and your writing in hopes of turning out the best book you can. And in some of those moments, you'll feel like you come up short.

Indeed, in 2016 John Green described repeated failures in trying to write a book after The Fault in Our Stars and even said might not publish another book, citing his current writing experience as "this intense pressure, like people were watching over my shoulder while I was writing.” (Well worth watching the video here.) Yet his latest novel, Turtles All the Way Down, was released a month ago on October 10 (and, not surprisingly, hit #1 in the New York Times young adult bestseller list).

Clearly, these writing giants aren’t immune to self-doubt and fear of failure. But they keep going. They keep writing.

For me, it helps to have that file to open now and again to remind myself that 100% confidence isn’t necessary to be a good writer. It’s okay to doubt, as long as we don’t let doubt stop us from writing.

As none other than William Shakespeare said in Measure for Measure:

Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt.

Don't let your doubts be traitors. Don't fear to attempt.

What quotations, encouragement, or reality checks buoy your spirits when you think your writing sucks?

About Julie

Julie Glover writes cozy mysteries and young adult fiction. Her YA contemporary novel, SHARING HUNTER, finaled in the 2015 RWA® Golden Heart®. When not writing, she collects boots, practices rampant sarcasm, and advocates for good grammar and the addition of the interrobang as a much-needed punctuation mark.

Julie is represented by Louise Fury of The Bent Agency. You can visit her website here and also follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.