Have you figured out your writing goals for the months ahead? I’m in the process of trying to solidify mine into something realistic and achievable.
2014 was a landmark year for me. I finally finished and published my debut novel, Poison Bay. I still find it a bit surprising to be able to say that. You see, I’ve wanted to do it for such a long time that I had subconsciously accepted it would probably never happen — it had become a kind of myth in my life, the value of which lay in it being “out there” as a possibility to aspire to.
Working out how to live with a dream that’s become reality is not always as straightforward as you might think. And I’ve had to figure out how to get the next one done!
Maybe you find these thoughts odd, or then again, maybe you know exactly what I’m talking about.
As I plan the sequel (working title: Venom Reef), I find a number of popular myths about writing circling around me and nipping at my heels again. I have allowed them to herd me away from my dreams in the past. I don’t want it to happen again.
Maybe they’ve affected you too. Let’s debunk!
MYTH 1: A writer always writes
This one says… “A writer always writes. At weddings and funerals they furtively jot notes on the order of service. If you don’t write every chance you get, like a pathological syndrome or a literary version of Tourette’s, you’re not a writer.”
I can understand how this myth got started, but unfortunately it can also serve as a barrier to entry. How about we stop cutting one another off at the knees?
My experience and observation of reality
Sometimes, a writer writes. Other times, a writer goes years without doing any of the writing they yearn to do (or used to yearn to do, or wish they could yearn to do).
Writers go through seasons. Maybe they’re sick or a child is sick or work is beyond stressful or they’re supporting an ill parent or they are tired or feeling inadequate as a writer.
Or maybe they’ve read that writers always write and so they think, “If that’s true, I don’t qualify.” And they lose heart.
Sometimes they go through periods where they just can’t bring themselves to write for pleasure, because they write all day for a living, or all day-and-night as a student — reports, submissions, academic papers, brochures. Maybe they’re under pressure to churn out endless negativity as a journalist, or endless plastic peppiness as a marketer, and it sucks the joy out of it.
Sometimes they feel like they never want to write another WORD.
A saner approach to the myth
If you have a yearning to write, even if it gets buried sometimes, well then, maybe you are a writer, or even (consider this!) are becoming a writer.
Just do it when you can, how’s that for an idea?
And when you can’t write or life gets on top of you, that’s OK too. If you’ve had chunks of your life where you didn’t feel like a writer at all, no problems. I’ve been there. And I’m still a writer. I’ve been published in several types of non-fiction for years. And I even (finally, eventually) finished and published a novel. And I have another one in the works, plus several other books. [UPDATE: Venom Reef is still underway, but in the meantime I’ve published another book, Dogged Optimism, a lighthearted memoir about my daft dog. And yes, I’m startled that I managed to get that one finished, too!]
At the moment, I do tend to find I’m frustrated if I haven’t got something to write on everywhere I go. But it hasn’t always been so.
Be kind to yourself. Give yourself permission to be a writer, to wax and wane, and to grow into the job.
MYTH 2: A writer reads incessantly
RED ALERT. Before you get all up in arms and think I’m saying writers don’t need to read, let me defuse you right there.
Yep, writers will grow if they read widely and expose themselves to lots of writing styles: high-brow, low-brow and no-brow (whatever that is). Fiction and non-fiction, history and memoir, trash and literary prizewinners, bestsellers, obscure treasures, and occasionally, entertaining drivel.
BUT sometimes life gets in the way of this too. When I did a degree in theology quite a few years ago, I had to read so much incredibly dense and complex stuff to all hours of the night that I barely read anything else. It was like my readery was out of fuel. I almost never read for pleasure, for 4 whole years.
In the last year or so, once again I’ve been having trouble reading as much as I’d like. This time it’s because of stress… my reading timeslot is bedtime, and I’m finding that if I read anything suspenseful or too complex/mentally stimulating at that hour, insomnia is usually the result and I’m a wreck the next day.
My reading-for-pleasure has been curtailed for a time, and I often default to re-reading a few pages of an old favourite, because it’s more relaxing. Just now, big reading projects have to wait till my (extremely rare) holidays/vacations.
Hey ho. This too will pass.
A saner approach to the myth
Try to read to expand your mind. Try to pay attention to how it’s been written, and what you do and don’t like about it, and what you could learn as a writer from what did and didn’t work.
But if you’re going through a phase where reading is hard, be kind to yourself. It doesn’t mean you can’t be a writer. It’s a phase. You’ll get back into reading. Give yourself permission to be a Bad Reader for a while, and to grow as a reader in the future.
[UPDATE: I’ve more recently found audiobooks a great way to increase my reading in busy times. I put on an audiobook and clean up the kitchen. I get a clean kitchen, and some more reading into the day – double-win!]
MYTH 3: A first novel never gets published
This one says… “A first novel is just practice. Move on and forget about it. It won’t be published, and nor should it, because you haven’t earned it yet, my sweet.”
Bah. Humbug.
Barriers to entry, much??
My experience
When someone told me my first novel would never be published, and first novels never are, I lost heart and nearly gave the whole writing game away.
However, I am a stubborn little miss, and I hate rules (if they’re stupid rules) with a deep and abiding passion. So I picked myself up and decided to ignore that pronouncement and find my own path.
I chose to see my first novel as an apprenticeship, rather than just a practice run.
I’m not going to lie to you. Because I was a newbie fiction writer, the learning curve on Poison Bay was steep and long. The redrafting/revising/restructuring task — once I had the eyes to see what a heap of drivel I’d written in the first draft — was enormous. I created a lot of problems for myself, and then had to baffle my way out of them.
I expect (hope) that the revision process once I’ve completed the first draft of Book 2 won’t be nearly so hard, because of the mistakes I made — and learned from — during Book 1.
There are ways in which it would have been easier to learn those hard lessons on a practice manuscript, and then toss it aside and begin afresh with a clean page.
However, I was committed to Poison Bay. I loved the plot and the characters and the setting in the New Zealand wilderness. I’d made a research expedition and interviewed a lot of people. And I had designed it to introduce a mystery/thriller series with ongoing characters. I wasn’t prepared to throw all that away.
So I entered it into manuscript development contests and got expert opinions on it. I learned all I could about writing fiction. I recruited a crack team of beta readers from various backgrounds who told me all the things I couldn’t bear to hear. I analysed their feedback to come up with a path through the wilderness (so to speak!) that resonated with me and was true to my vision for the project and the writer I was trying to become, and am still becoming.
Poison Bay is out there now. The debut novel that I love Exists. The groundwork for my series has been laid. The fact that I didn’t give up on my dream fills me with quiet joy (surprise, too, but we’ve discussed that).
A saner approach to the myth
If you want to write your first book as a practice run, that’s perfectly fine. Go nuts. Have fun and experiment with voice and style and structure.
But if you really love the book and want it to emerge into the world, how about this? Change the statement to: A first DRAFT should never be published.
Roll up your sleeves and get to work. There’s absolutely no reason why that unwieldy, poorly-structured manuscript can’t be pummelled into publishable shape, if you love it enough and you’re determined to learn.
Use it as an apprenticeship, and believe that each successive book will be a little better and a little easier to write.
Some inspiration from others
These are a few videos I stumbled upon in recent weeks and found inspiring. Maybe they’ll give you encouragement too.
Fear of rejection, pressure of success
The first is from Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love. She went from being a nobody devastated by rejection letters to becoming spectacularly successful. She talks about how one was as hard as the other — an insightful exploration of how success can throw us off balance as much as failure.
I’m still awaiting my “spectacular success”. 😉 But even the more personal “success” of finally finishing and publishing Poison Bay has left me surprisingly intimidated by the idea of trying to do it all over again.
Whether you are stuck in the rejection-go-round with your writing, or you have had a success (however you define that) and now you don’t know how to follow it up, her thoughts might help.
Procrastination and organisation
This one is by internet marketer, Jeff Walker, which might sound a strange place to find writing inspiration!
However, he talks about the method he used to finally get a book written. The idea is to set a timer, then just type for 50 minutes, and you’re not allowed to stop even if you’re writing garbage. I’ve seen that idea elsewhere before — it can help break writer’s block.
I’ve been trying out focus@will, a site that provides music designed to help with concentration, and it has a timer function built in. A bell dings and the music stops when the time is up. I’m finding it helpful (and they’re not paying me to say this).
Enthusiasm and joy
I already shared this one last September, when I announced my commitment to publish Poison Bay in time for Christmas. It’s just an ad for a British telephone company, but the message is beautiful (and funny). It challenged me to stop pussyfooting around and get the dang thing DONE – and enjoy it!
My plans for the year – and YOURS!
With fear and trepidation, I hereby declare that I’m aiming to complete Book 2 in my series, Venom Reef, in time to publish it this coming Christmas.
It’s an audacious goal, considering that Poison Bay was about 15 years in the making! But what is life without audacious goals… (Sure, I’ll be embarrassed if I don’t reach it, but what the heck. I’ve been embarrassed before, and survived.)
Would you like to state your writing goals publicly, in the comments? My experience from last year is that stating it publicly makes a difference, and NOT because it adds pressure. I’m no brain scientist, but I suspect it’s because it moves it out of the “myth” territory of the brain into a part more connected with concrete reality.
What are your writing goals for the year? This is a safe place… no one is going to point and laugh if you don’t quite get there. Quite the opposite — we will be congratulating you on your progress and cheering you on to the next step!
Featured image via Bigstock/PixelsAway
I’m marooned on the Island of Frustration, with little time to read, and no time to write fiction. Or rather, rewrite the fiction I’ve already written. And I’m chastising myself for having a lack of commitment in finishing projects.
Well, your myths point out the potholes I’ve stumbled over, and into. I can now relax, and, when the time is right, get back in my boat and sail away to the Land of Rewriting.
Great post!
Love the image, Diane. I’m in a leaking dinghy at the moment, trying to row my way back to the Land of Writing. 😉
I love what you said about writers always writing. I’ve been trying to formulate a response to those tweets that insist, “Writers write every day. Period.” First of all, it’s just not true, but second of all, sometimes you have to go out and experience things if you want to have anything worth writing about! 🙂
Very true, Marla. I’d love to write every day, and I’m sure it’s a good discipline, but at the moment I’m helping an injured parent and have to do the bare minimum to keep things running. Life happens. Go for it, when you get the chance! 🙂
Hi Belinda, I always love your blogs, they are inspiring and more often than not, are exactly what I’m going through. I published my first book through Amazon.com called Emergence on Jan 15, and I don’t know why I thought it would be a bigger success than it was, but I did think that, and of course it wasn’t. This is book one of a trilogy and I’m at 60,000 words of book two Essence. I wanted to have it edited and published by the end of March so I could publish it on April fool’s day, but I have to admit I’m having a really difficult time getting there. So, of course, I’m thinking everything you just said…maybe I’m not a writer, maybe this was a one time thing, why can’t I get this finished? On top of everything else, I’m spending way more time reading than I am writing! I’m also pretty much useless in the world of social media marketing (I probably shouldn’t admit that), but it has become the most frustrating part of it all. Trying to keep up with my Facebook page, trying to figure out how to make a WordPress site, and twitter…need I say more? Ugh!
On top of everything else even though there has been buyers for my first book, no one leaves a review, that’s frustrating. I don’t have, but very much need beta readers, and I’ve found that in my second book Essence, I have so much going on that I can’t keep it straight. I’m starting to think I should just give up. It’s nice to know I’m not alone out there.
Thank you for validating my fears, and for posting help to hopefully get me through this “rejection” and “failure” phase of writing.
Congratulations on going for your next book by the way!!!! 🙂
Hi Callie, the good thing about self-publishing these days is that we have so much time to make a book work. It doesn’t have to be successful in the first month or even the first year. It can build up over time.
Congratulations on finishing your book, publishing it, and getting some readers. That’s wonderful! Who knows what lies ahead as you proceed with the series???
Thanks Belinda….especially for #3. I’ve completed my first book and will be looking for a publisher soon. Good to hear it’s not an impossible dream!
Well done, Lisa. It’s a huge achievement to finish a book. Hope the next stage goes well.
Hi Belinda,
This is a great post. Congratulations on the publication of your first novel. How exciting! and best wishes for achieving success with your goals for the second one this year.
I acknowledge your debunking of the myths which can come to taunt us all from time to time. I think we all have to learn to cut ourselves a bit of slack. This year I am hoping to finally produce enough material to get my website up and running. This will require a concerted effort on my part to finish a range of materials including a non-fiction ‘how to’ book, some interactive stories and other resources for teachers and students. I’m on the way – just need to stay focused. Thanks for your post and the encouragement it has given me to keep going.
Well done, Norah. Those sound like exciting plans. Looking forward to seeing the way they unfold and take shape.
Your post was most encouraging. Pretty much everything you said applies to me. I’m trying to complete a novel I started two years ago, with re-writes and changes of direction. I have another mms with the publisher but can only hope it gets accepted. I appreciate your encouraging emails and read them with interest.
Great to hear about your progress, Peter. Persevere!
I really like this post. I came to publishing late in life and thought I’d never write a novel as I had hoped when I was younger, but I am working on a piece of fiction that I think has possibilities. I like that you give the writer hope even if she doesn’t follow all that advice she has read for years. I can’t work on my writing every day, and my reading for pleasure has fallen far down my list of things I do.
I am a procrastinator but once I get started I go for hours and overdo sitting at the computer. When I have it in my head, I don’t want to stop until I have it on the page.
I enjoy your newsletter, Belinda. Good luck with your next novel.
Glad it’s given you some encouragement, Glenda. I nearly added another myth: “Successful writers write every day.” But the article was already long!
Writing every day is great if you can do it, and probably a very good idea if you are working full-time as a novelist. But I’ve run across plenty of published novelists who are “binge writers”. They write 10,000 words in a weekend and then don’t write for a fortnight or a month. Over time, the wordcount still adds up.
I’m a bit of a binge writer myself, but I’m planning to try to be more organised for Book 2. Time will tell if that works or not!
Hi Belinda, I really enjoyed your post. I actually put myself under such a tight deadline for my first book (following a crowdfunding campaign) that I hadn’t time to read at all so now I try to read at least a book a week for pleasure and I get tetchy if I don’t. Am having to work tonight when I really want to be reading 🙂
I’m trying to write 1000 words a day and as I tend to be very longwinded with my first draft, each 1000 words will probably edit by at least 50% but as Sally said to me, having something to edit is half the battle.
I’m aiming for early September for publication of second book as there’s a major agric 3 day show here in Sept and then I’ll have it in the bookshops for Xmas too. First draft to be done by Easter, then to husband my first editor and hopefully to proper editor (Sally) by mid May! I’m loving it though – just wish I had more time.
Lorna, it’s wonderful what you’ve achieved and the process you’ve come up with for getting a book done amid all the busyness of life. Well done! And we look forward to your next book. 🙂
Excellent post Belinda! I can relate to much of what you said. I long for the days when I read for ‘pleasure’. Life can be overwhelming when we try to write, read and deal with life’s daily obstacles. We tend to push ourselves very hard as writers, especially as self published writers. We all know we can’t master everything, yet we keep on trying. This post was a refreshing reminder. 🙂
So glad you know what I mean, Debby. 🙂 I often feel guilty about my lack of reading at present, and have to pull myself up and say, “Stop being so hard on yourself!”
Dear Belinda:
I could have written your column—and not as well or as succinctly as you! Congratulations on bringing together all those myths, fears, rejection-phobia, and yes, even success comments. Your writing could not have come at a better time for me. Like you, I have a completed first novel and am shopping it around (with rejections). Yet I believe in my novel. I think it is good. Not great. But very good and worth a read. Like you, I researched it by going to Mexico so my background and cultural experiences were authentic. Then I brought together characters that provide an exciting (I think—and so do beta readers) story. I almost chucked it due to rejections. Until I read your column and took heart again. Thank you so much. Not only for this column but your others. And BIG congratulations on Poison Bay! I’ll look for it.
Dear Belinda,
Thank you for sharing your writing journey and experience with us. Like many others it came at the perfect time. I was becoming overwhelmed, frustrated and almost ready to say forget the whole process. I have two children’s books in the process of being published at this time with WestBow Press. So far that has been a good experience. The problem is with the story I have been writing since 1989, that’s a LONG time, of course I have only worked on it occasionally, until this past year. I am now working to get this book finished with a passion. My story is written to help others overcome, not just survive abuse in any form. Much too much to write in this blog but I do know first hand that healing and freedom from past pain is possible. Thanks again for your helpful encouragement. I WILL get this book finished 🙂
Well done, Dixie. It can be a long and difficult road to publication, and complicated by so many emotions when you are writing such a personal and painful story. Go for your dreams! 🙂
Thank you for your reply. I will finish this book. Especially now that I understand that many of the tings I’m struggling with is common for writers. I have eleven children’s books written, as I mentioned in my prior email that two are being published now . ,The Adventures Of Charlie Chevy and Franklin Ford, the second story , Opal Rose- Princess For A Day. My web sight is gringiggleandgrowbooks.com . The Children’s books are so much fun to write. I started telling these stories to my grandchildren – they would grin and then giggle until we all had tears streaming down our faces. each story has a valuable life lesson for children- the “grow” of gringiggleandgrowbooks.
Thank you again, I so appreciate the valuable impute .
Dixie, we often think that other writers have it all together, and we’re the only one finding a particular thing hard. And then when we open up and be honest, we discover kindred spirits all over the place!
Hope your children’s books do really well, and the other one starts to take the shape you dream of.
Thanks so much Heather. I’m glad to have encouraged you.
The process of shopping a novel is fraught with subjectivity and chance. You have to find one particular agent or publisher who loves it, from within their own subjective framework of what’s an enjoyable read. And that’s even without all the other possible reasons for rejection that are purely business-related and have nothing to do with it being a bad book:
–they signed one like it last week
–it doesn’t easily fit their genre categories and they don’t know how to market it
–they’re not signing any new books in that category this year
–etc etc.
If you really believe in it and others have found it a good read, there’s a good chance it will find a readership. Self-publishing is a much more viable option today than it ever has been before, too.
Best wishes as you continue to explore your options!
Great article, Belinda and one with which many writers will identify. It reminded me of an essay we were asked to do at school: A satisfied need is no longer a motivator of behaviour.
When my debut novel was published ( like you, a dream I’d had for years) I worried that my motivation to write another would disappear. Fortunately it didn’t, and as I approach the stage when I can self-publish my second one, I am already thinking about number three, much to my relief.
Onwards and upwards….
Jane
That’s good news, Jane. I have plot premises for several more novels, and even draft cover designs (yes, I’m a champion procrastinator, but then again, I do find a cover motivates me and gives me a vision for the thing).
I’m intimidated though by the size of the task that lies ahead, and the thought, “Can I really build a world like that, all over again??”
Congratulations and best wishes for your new novel.
An excellent post, Belinda. I agree completely with everything you say . There are so many “rules” given to writers, it’s a wonder any books get written. Obviously there is some good sense out there, too, but everyone has to do what is right for them and them only. And thank goodness you didn’t put Poison Bay into a drawer and get on with the “real” book! I am looking forward to the sequel and it’s great you have a deadline for Christmas – but I won’t nag if you don’t make that! I’d rather read a book you are happy with than one that you got out to meet a deadline.
This is now a general comment: I think self-imposed deadlines are necessary to stop any drift, but unless a book has to be out for a particular date (a publisher’s deadline, a marketing commitment, etc.) it should be moveable. I have read so many book reviews, especially recently, that say “Great book, but I felt the ending was rushed” – why spoil a good book when your deadline is only self-imposed. True supporters and fans will want a polished product and will be prepared to wait.
On the other hand, writers shouldn’t try to polish too much – sometimes there is a point where they have done their best and even though it’s not perfect it’s time to get it out there and start on the next one, which will be a bit nearer perfection. Over-polishing can just create more problems.
I loved Poison Bay – really. And I’d rather not wait fifteen years for the next one, but if it takes a little longer than nine months, that’s OK by me 🙂
PS Great video links, too, thank you.
Thanks Sally, glad it resonated! And thanks for the permission to take “as long as necessary” on Venom Reef. 😉 (let’s hope 9 months is long enough! Time will tell…)
I absolutely agree with you on timings. It’s silly to rush for a made-up deadline, and spoil the book. And on the other hand, a wise person said to me some years ago, “You never finish writing a book, you just stop.” I always remember that saying — it’s so true. And yet I struggled to “just stop” on Poison Bay. Finally had to tell the inner perfectionist to Let Go.
Very best wishes for your writing goals, too!
Hi, I’m new here and I cannot believe that I have been asked to submit my entire manuscript to a publisher. My book has been in my head for two years – the problem is.. I could only submit three chapters, bio, etc. so far. Why? Well besides my outline, and jots and bits of the other chapters that I have written down on in and everything, that’s all I have. I’ve spent the past year learning the process for submitting the query letter and sample chapters which seems to be what they all ask for. I had no idea that the publisher would want to see the entire thing right away.
So I gave myself two weeks to finish floating on air and now I find that I’m stuck! I have seven more chapters to create and I’m stuck! I sit, I walk, I sit, I eat, I sit, I walk – I’m stuck! The ideas are there, and all at once I might add – almost like in a fleeting and in need of medication way, but they are not traveling down my arms and fingers to the keyboard. I even told the publisher when I would be done but I’m stuck! Anyhow, I’m glad I clicked on your email this afternoon – I sure needed you and everyone else here. Thanks.
Oh no, Phedra! How exciting to get a request from the publisher… but the challenge now of writing the remainder of the book, fast!
Maybe that video by Jeff Walker will help you get in and do it fast.
I guess that whole query thing can be misleading, especially for non-fiction where sample chapters and an outline are usually what’s required upfront.
We all wish you the very best as you get the rest of it out of your head and into a manuscript, and submit to the publisher.
This might really seem like a dumb question but is it customary for a publisher to request the completed manuscript without a contract or something in writing? I read that it’s rude to copywite anymore because it suggests a lack of trust but… :/thanks.
Did they know you hadn’t written the full manuscript yet? If they think it’s already written, it would be normal to ask to see the full if they liked the partial.