Tag: Writing Life

The Sound of Rushing Deadlines

Douglas Adams once said “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” This sentiment feels no truer than when you first try to tackle a large project in a designated timeframe. And so, once again, we find ourselves nearly a week into Nanowrimo (or National Novel Writing Month, for those who aren’t in the know). For many, it’s a first foray into the world of intensive novel writing. For others, it’s a familiar kick in the pants to deal with the project they’ve been putting off doing (present company included). As such, I feel it’s important to discuss how to handle writing deadlines without wanting to pull all your hair out. As the days wind down to the final day of November, 

  1. Small chunks
    50,000 words sounds like a lot because it is! Can you think of 50,000 of anything you have on hand? Maybe you have a massive coin collection, or a hearty storage of raisins, or maybe just a bunch of small, pretty rocks. Regardless, picturing 50,000 of any of these things really puts the number into perspective! It is, after all, the minimum word count for a standard novel (and it’s not National Short Story Writing Month–that’s in May). 2,000 of something, however, is a bit more manageable to picture. 2,000 pennies is more than a handful, but you can still count them out with an end in sight. Making your goal something manageable by the deadline is a much easier–and healthier–way of looking at it. Spread it out into smaller chunks and you’ll feel a little less like you’re drowning in word debt. 
  2. Find a Partner
    Accountability is 9/10ths of the battle! It’s easy to tell yourself that you will catch up soon, but can you look in the eyes of a trusted friend and lie to them the same way? Better yet, you and a friend can have Writing Blocks together! I do these with friends from time to time. Often, we’ll do them with fairly low stakes involved (usually an admission of failure over social media or something similar). Working alone together makes the process feel a bit less isolated when you’re working your way through a particularly challenging writing slog. Furthermore, having someone to work with gives you someone to bounce ideas off of during breaks (or even just talking about what you want to have happen next to think about how to get there). 
  3. Keep a Schedule 
    Know thyself! If you know that coming home from work or school leaves you exhausted and vegetative, find a better time to write. I loved having lunchbreak writing sessions, but I also have an appreciation for the quiet mornings with just my words and a cup of hot tea. Additionally, setting aside time to think about your story can save time when you’re at your manuscript. Everyone knows your best ideas come when you’re not working on a thing, so keep a small notebook and spend some time to think through novel problems (in the shower, commuting, cooking, exercising or anywhere else you can spare a few brain cells to mull over your plot). Then, refer to your notebook during your designated writing time! Spend less time thinking about what you’re going to write and just put it to the page! 
  4. It’s OK to Play Catch Up
    An important thing to remember is that life happens. Doctor’s appointments show up. Work gets overwhelming. Time spent recovering is as valuable as time spent working. All that is to say, it’s OK to fall behind. You can settle in on a day off and really commit to playing some catch up. As daunting as, say 6,000 words may look at first, if you give yourself a good block of time to work it out, you can get into the grove and tackle it all at once. Your small chunks might not be the smallest at times, but if you can put aside a day to work on it, you’ll get there in no time. You don’t want to save it all for the last minute, but things pop up in life. 
  5. You’re Allowed to Change Deadlines
    OK, this is really only true if you have the luxury of setting your own deadlines, but sometimes you need to extend deadlines. With Nanowrimo especially, goals change. Maybe your 50,000 word story is gonna need to be 60,000…or 100,000! 50,000 words in 30 days is really just the first goal. It can be–and is–a flexible thing that changes as time goes on. Don’t restrain yourself to just 50,000 words or just 30 days if you think you can improve with more words and more time! The challenge isn’t set in stone. 

Nanowrimo is often a great kick in the pants for starting (or finishing) a project you’ve had rattling around in your brain for a while. If it’s your first, third, or five hundredth time trying to hit a big deadline like this, it’s meant to be for fun! Write your story as best you can and when you do, prepare yourself for NanoWriMoEdYe (National Novel Writing Month Editing Year (or years)). 

Bookish Movies

Working in a library, I often find myself asking “The Book or The Movie?” more often than other other arena. With my friends I can usually tell if they mean the movie or the book, but working in a library has made me realize just how many movies based on books or writing there really are. I’ve started getting into the habit of borrowing one book related movie for every other kind of movie I borrow. I’ve decided that any book or writing related movie can be put into one of three categories.

  1. Adaptations:
    These are the most common ones that come up. This is basically any movie that has a book or written version of it somewhere. Increasingly, the trend seems to be for Hollywood to make movie adaptations of books (and even short stories) rather than taking a risk on a story that has no previous following. These are probably the most popular version of Bookish-Movie: Jurassic Park, IT, Ready Player One, or any number of YA trilogies that make the bestseller list.
    Now, naturally, just because they’re popular doesn’t mean they’re necessarily good. These days, every fan of the book approaches even the trailer of a book adaptation with a certain amount of cautious hope. The true test is often how ‘faithful’ the book is to the movie. Major plot overhauls, forgotten characters or overlooked thematic elements, or movies that only take the title and not much else. Sometimes, regardless of an authors involvement, the ‘faithfulness’ of the movie comes down to the studios. These are the most accessible, but also most prone to disappointment.
  2. Books about Writers:
    These are stories where a writer is the main character. Rather than a biopic (discussed next), this tends to focus specifically on the writer and their struggles with the creative process. There can be a lot of crossover in this regard (writers seem to enjoy making their characters writers, since it’s something they understand). The Words is a good example of this, focusing on a writer’s struggle to be seen by the publishing industry and the risks he’s willing to take to ‘make it’.
    These are often overdramatized. No one would want to watch a man struggling in front of his computer for two hours, trying to figure out how to make a paragraph flow better. Still, these can sometimes be uplifting movies when an author gets to take his work to the world and they get recognition they deserve.
  3. Author Biopics:
    The last category is movies about specific writers. These are movies that can be hyper realistic documentaries, like Salinger, or they can be dramatized versions of an author’s life, such as Tolkien. These can be sad at times, seeing all the struggles a person goes through (especially dramatized for Hollywood) can be difficult. Still, learning the histories of writers and seeing how it relates to their writing can be interesting. In addition to the story of the author, these movies also tend to reveal a lot of the story of the book. Knowing the lives of our favorite creators can help us appreciate their stories even more.

What are some of your favorite bookish movies?

The Hunt for an Agent Author

Well, here we are again. Once more, I’m at the starting line for a query letter. Definitely a lot of emotions coming up around this experience, but I know I need to do it. I wanted to talk a little bit about the agent hunting process of trying to find someone who you think will be a good fit for your work.

If the act of writing is pure creation, then the process of finding an agent is like an endless job hunt. The tried and true method is the query letter that you’ll send to agents before sending them a full manuscript. The point of a query letter is similar to a cover letter or resume. It tells the agent a bit about who you are, what your project is about, and why they should read your story. It helps to include books that are like yours, but I always have to rattle my brain to remember any books I’ve read.

It’s daunting in some ways, but like anything, it gets easier with practice and time. I’ve learned to develop a kind of ‘It Is What It Is” mentality when getting rejections from agents, but it’s never a fun thing. Due to the sheer volume, form letters are pretty common responses and they’re never very detailed. Still, I try to approach submitting like a gamble that improves your odds with more entries. The more queries you send out the more likely someone will take an interest in your project. It’s a numbers game and no one really likes those games. Still, there’s always that magical one.

Query writing could easily be an entire semester’s worth of college courses and there’s no formula to do it. Even if there was a formula, agents would no doubt hate the formula after reading seventeen a day. Trying to make yourself stand out isn’t easy, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor in the end. I try to think of it as writing it for a friend and that lessens the pressure a bit. Still, it’s intimidating to feel like you’re presenting yourself to a gatekeeper towards publication. All that can be done is write, rinse, and repeat.

What’s your experience with query letters? Is it something you ever learned how to do or wanted to do?

The Mini-Writing Retreat

For the last few months, I’ve been trying to think of ways to go on a writing retreat. It sounds quite appealing: arrive at a picturesque location, enjoy some shop talk with other storytellers, maybe hear an inspiring lecture, then buckle down with some well-deserved writing time! Whether it’s three days, a week, or more, the prospect of being in a self-imposed creative exile certainly sounds like the path of a true artist. Sadly, that’s not always available. Even three days is a long time when you don’t have the resources. Even if you can sacrifice a whole weekend for a writing retreat, you still might feel compelled to do errands, not to mention that you’d have to be able to easily seclude yourself from the day-to-day if you can’t afford to physically distance yourself from the distractions you love. These past few weekends, I started doing Mini-Writing Retreats. While the romantic notion of going away for weeks at a time locked in the struggles of creating is not feasible for me at the moment, I can usually find an open day in my weekly schedule. So, I’ve started committing myself to my writing time again. If you’re interested in creating a Mini-Writing Retreat for yourself, here’s how mine usually goes down.  

Before: The days before I like to take care of things like food shopping, cleaning, and other little chores that might distract me. If I have the time to make a few meals I’ll do that and make sure the dishwasher is empty. Nothing throws off your rhythm like the temptation of something you “have to get done.” Plan out your meals and a couple of snacks so you don’t drift over to the fridge every five minutes to browse (and if you’re like me, grab something sweet to look forward to at the end of the day). Prepare to go social media dark for the day of, to ensure that all your distractions are limited, if not completely gone! 

Day of:
5:30- Wake up. I know some of you are already rolling your eyes, but trust me. The silence of the very early morning is the best time to get in the mindset. Make yourself a pot of tea or coffee, make some breakfast (not just cereal), and enjoy a bit of relaxation before the retreat truly begins.  

6:00-8:00- Writing. Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of editing, but commit some time to your work in progress. Actual work, not just mood boards or Spotify playlists. Put on some meditative music or something else instrumental to help set the writing mood if that helps.  

8:00-9:30- Break and Walk. I like to get some steps in and let my brain work out any story problems I might encounter in those first hours’ worth of work. There’s a trail near my apartment that takes a little over an hour to make a loop of, so I’ll do that followed by a shower and getting dressed in real clothes (sweatpants are only acceptable for so long, even if you don’t plan to leave the house).  

9:30-1:00 Writing. Get back to it! This is why you’re here!  

1:00-2:00 Lunch. Break out one of those premade meals and sit with it away from your writing space. Let your mind relax a bit and give yourself a proper lunch break. Some light reading is suggested or even a quick writing lecture on YouTube to further inspire you. Set a timer, though. Can’t fall too far down the black hole. 

2:00-5:00 Writing, writing, writing! 

5:00-5:30 dinner. Pop out another pre-made meal and give yourself a quick dinner break to mull over your last few story problems.  

5:30-7:00 Last Writing Sprint. Wrap up whatever you’re working on.  

I usually like to wind down afterward with a nice, sweet treat and a movie. After all, you just worked a full day!  Congratulate yourself on an excellent writing retreat and start thinking about when you’re gonna do your next!  Have you ever given yourself a Mini-Writing Retreat? Have you ever been on a professionally hosted writing retreat?  

The TBR

If you’re any kind of bookworm, you probably have a TBR Pile: The To Be Read Pile. The endless waterfall of books that you are going to read soon. Maybe it’s a list on your phone. Maybe it’s a section of your bookshelf. Maybe it’s a literal pile on your nightstand, looming overhead until you finally read a few to reduce the risk of the tower toppling over and smothering you in the night. Maybe your TBR Pile is all of your bookshelves.

You can probably guess which one is mine.

I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump these last couple of weeks, but I’m hoping to get back into the swing of reading regularly again. So, in the spirit of that, I decided that this time I’m gonna be posting some of my current TBR Pile to maybe keep me accountable to finally reading some of them! So, here’s a sampling of my current TBR Pile that I’m hoping to work through in the future.

  1. The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanders
  2. The Sword of Shannara – Terry Brooks
  3. The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch
  4. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
  5. What the Dog Saw – Malcolm Gladwell
  6. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – David Mitchell
  7. A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir of Lady Trent – Marie Brennan
  8. Darwin’s Radio – Greg Bear
  9. The Aeronaut’s Winglass – Jim Butcher
  10. Armada – Ernest Cline

Alright, hopefully that’ll be some motivation for me to actually read through some of these! I’ve put a moratorium on buy new books until I get through some of my current ones, but I also work at a library, so getting my hands on those materials would be less challenging than it used to be (I’ve got my eye on Kaiju Preservation Society by Scalzi, but I’m holding off for right now).

What books are on your TBR Pile? Do you have a real pile near your bed or is your pile somewhere else?

The Lunch Break Novelist

When I was working for a court reporting company, I called myself a Lunch Break Novelist. Each day, on my breaks and lunch, I would eat quickly and the break out my laptop to get some writing done while on my lunch break. On a good day, I could polish off a solid 700 words that I was satisfied with before having to head back to my desk. I’d spend time first thing in the morning and pick up right where I left off on my lunch and again when I got home. Some days were better than others, but I was usually able to come up with something by the end of the day.

One thing I see a lot when I talk with non-writers is “I just don’t have the time” as a popular excuse. The reality is that there’s always time. Five minutes here, thirty minutes there, another twenty at the end of the day–it adds up quicker than a lot of people realize. Yes, every writer would love to have the experience of getting into the flow state and write thousands of words over the course of the day, but that almost never happens (even with all the time in the world).

As I transition into working more hours at the library, I’ve been working on finding the time through out the course of the day. I’ve been practicing the idea of “Showing Up” rather than making a scheduled commitment. Rather than over exerting myself to get to a word count every day, I’ve been trying to get more into the mind set of putting time to it. It’s been easier to put aside time before work and wake up to ensure I can put the time into it. My breaks at the library now are too short to properly spend time on it, but I’m hoping to get back into the habit of being a Lunch Break Novelist (or at least a Lunch Break Editor).

Time is funny like that. While it is infinite by definition, we’ve come to treat it as a rarity. If we don’t have hours to spend on something, we question if we’re really committed to it. The reality is that there are hours we can spend on something, but they’re very rarely all in one place. It’s all about piecing things together and making the time. Five minutes a day with a notebook and pencil can add up faster than you think.

Are you a Lunch Time Novelist? Where do you find or make the time to commit to your writing?

Reflecting on 2021

Once more, we’re rolling into the new year. To say that it’s been a rollercoaster feels like an understatement. So much has happened, both good and bad, but it’s been a year of growth.

Going into 2022, I’m trying to figure out exactly what my next big project is going to be. I know I want to keep writing, submitting, and working with other writers. It’s hard to set these goals early in the year because the last few years have made it clear that I can never be truly prepared for what the next year brings. The only things I can control are my habits, my time, and my writing. So, I think there are a few things that are going to happen this year:

First, I plan on submitting two times every month. After the September Submission Scramble, I realized that I can submit very easily before or after work, so I can’t really use that as an excuse anymore. In response to that, I’m going to be submitting two times every month (one short story submission and one novel submission).

Secondly, I’m going to try and have one large project that I’m gonna be working on in my off hours. I don’t have any big ideas yet, but I’m hoping that something will come when the holiday haze wears off (we really shouldn’t be required to do any work for December, honestly. How much work are you supposed to get done?) Recently, it feels like a lot of my stories have been stronger as snippets or scenes rather than whole stories, so I need to be better about refining the work into something cohesive.

Thirdly, I’ll be doing a lot of editing. I don’t wanna give anything away, but I have an idea I want to try and tackle and need some time to make it worthwhile. It’s been harder for me to focus on larger projects when it feels like I’m writing something new every day. I’m hoping a single project to unify everything will help me retain my focus and give me a through line rather than trying to pick up snippets over the course of a few days. I don’t know if this will translate to a schedule or deadlines, but I need to be smarter about the time I do spend away from the library desk. Hopefully, this will culminate in some more exciting stuff for the end of the year (or next year).

2020 was wild and 2021 felt like the aftershocks of an endless earthquake. I’d like to say that I hope 2022 will be better, but we can’t know for sure. Instead, I can only take hold of what I can control and focus on that to the best of my ability.

What are your goals for 2022, writing or otherwise?

After The Submission Scramble and Looking Forward

It has been a busy month! I recently moved and have been working a fair bit. Some of you may remember that I also undertook a project I was calling “The September Submission Scramble”. I’m proud to say that I finished and succeeded! Many magazine submissions, agent queries and contest entries later, I feel like I finished a lot over the course of the past month. I also feel like I was much more active.

The easiest way to win a card game is by holding most of the deck, right? Yes, technically, that’s not how you play cards, but you see my point? I feel like with submissions, you need to jump in if you want to play. I’ve always known that writing takes a surprising amount of luck, but the odds are better when you have a bigger sample size. The work I’ve been putting into this past month has been rewarding. It only takes ten minutes to get a query sent out, so I’ll probably be sending out a lot more of them. I highly recommend every writer try this. Pick a month and commit to submitting your poems, short fiction, novels, everything to anyone you think might publish it. The biggest problem is the fear of rejection, but I’m bracing myself for it.

That being said, I’m working on trying to figure out what the next month holds. Maybe some new short fiction to submit around or some more editing of older pieces. I’m half tempted to do Nanowrimo this year just to get the draft of something new out. Either way, I feel like I’m being a lot more active. Even if the choices I made this month were bad choices, at least I made them. I’m looking forward for what’s to come!

The Superb September Submission Scramble!

Be honest, you really opened this one for the alliteration, didn’t you?

Yes, friends, believe it or not, we have made it to September. The slow drudge of March 2020 has finally made it to September of 2021. I regret to say that my writing has had to take a back seat to a few things: a new job, finding a new apartment, and working on my mental and physical health. It’s been a busy time these past few months and my writing has suffered because of that. Not that I haven’t been writing or editing–I’ve been doing that almost daily since we were first told to stay home to help other people. But the work you never share never sees the light of day. Yes, I’m talking about submitting.

Whether your submitting a short story, flash fiction, or a novel, the process of submitting your work is daunting. It’s one thing to post my short little fiction pieces here so that people can get a taste of my writing, but presenting my work to an agent or editor with the sole purpose of them deciding if the piece’s worth? It’s terrifying! That being said, the easiest way to win at poker is to hold as many cards as you can. I know that’s against the rules, but that’s the thought behind the September Submission Scramble.

Every day this month, I will submit one thing to an agent, magazine or contest. I have a long backlog of things that have been rejected and edited, but I so rarely send them out for round two. Why? Fear, maybe. But that’s the point of the Scramble: submit with reckless abandon. If you get a rejection, I tell myself, you’re no worse off than if you don’t submit. If someone bites, you put your effort into it. So, I’m in the act of submitting as much as I can over the next month. Rejections, Acceptance, or Non-Responses: when there’s only three options? It doesn’t feel so bad. Try, Fail, Try Again, and Fail Better.

If you write, how are your submissions going? We’re entering magazine season again, so if anyone wants to join on, let me know! Part of the Scramble is to encourage each other to try.

The Editing Game

Earlier this month, I decided I wanted to take another crack at submitting my novel to agents and publishers, which means I’m back at editing again! With that in mind, I decided I wanted to share a few of my usual editing tricks for anyone who is working on Self-Editing their current projects!

  1. Read to an Audience:
    This is probably my favorite recent editing trick I’ve had the chance to use. Reading out loud makes sure you read and hear every word in a sentence just a first time reader will interpret it. It can also be a good time to get some positive reinforcement. We aren’t all lucky enough to have a captivated audience on hand, so feel free to use whatever is available. Do you have a pet? They’ll love the attention. A plant? Plants do grow better when you talk to them. Rubber Duck? Well, at least it won’t tell you that you’re a hack! (Though it might say you’re a quack.) Currently, I’m using my owl egg-timer that doubles as my Writing-Spring timer (his name is Ap-owl-o…I’m not taking notes).
  2. Highlight the Lines You Like, Not Just the Errors:
    It’s good to have some positive notes when going through your manuscript. Whenever I’m in a workshop, I’ll point out the lines of dialogue or prose that I really like so the notes I give aren’t just critiques. The same has since been applied to my own editing to give Future-Nick something to look forward to. It also helps remind me that there is a reason I love the story so much.
  3. Editing Somewhere Other Than Where You Write:
    A change in scenery can often be great for writing, but it’s also really good for editing. I write at the same spot every day, but editing requires a different mindset in order to do it effectively. I will edit on the couch, so that I can have a different set of eyes while editing. It’s almost like going to a different office to work out a problem rather than looking at the same four walls. Granted, I have a view of my editing space from my writing space, but it’s different enough that I’ll be able to put myself in a better mindset.
  4. Give Yourself A Deadline:
    Like any sort of “Working From Home” experience, it can be easy to give yourself abstract deadlines and set things aside for too long. Procrastination, after all, is a form of perfectionism and that’s what writing is all about. Instead, I make sure a date to have my editing done by so that I can be ready when it comes. More often than not, giving myself a deadline encourages me to finish a project early rather than stretch it out until the last minute. It’s easier to finish things if you plan things in advance.

What are some of your favorite self-editing tricks and tips?