The other day I tweeted about the ebbs and flows of writing based on the experiences of my first year trying to get published. I spoke about how the common advice of “Write every day” can be detrimental, and the importance of figuring out your own rhythm; your own stride. And that was before my country, Sri Lanka, fell into a severe economic crisis, right on the heels of the pandemic. My advice to others became the best advice I could give myself during these trying times, and so I wish to share it with you too.
If you’re a brand-new author like I was last year, you probably look to others in the writing community for direction. For me, it was the #writingcommunity on Twitter (more specifically #kidlit), my CPs and writing groups, Facebook groups, and the SCBWI blueboards and free digital webinars. More often than not, the general consensus is that if you want to call yourself a “writer” then you must write. Everyday. At least a little.
Now I am married to a husband who travels a lot, am a mother to two young kids, and a sensitive person who soaks in the emotions of those around me and thinks (read: worry!) too much. This makes writing the ideal career for me as I can do it in my own time, and I have an outlet to channel all those thoughts and emotions into. On the flip side, it also makes it extremely hard to write every day. Some days I’m too exhausted, too wired, too busy, or I choose to prioritize my family instead. And when I started going on submission, I could do little else except refresh my inbox, looking for that validation that my stories were good enough (I do not condone this last one!).
Throughout all those days of not creating daily, let alone weekly, or monthly, I would feel immense guilt over “neglecting” my writing. There were times I wondered if I even belonged in this community. All this while working on a mentorship, finessing multiple picture books, AND revising a middle-grade novel! I was doing so much, but I was taking big breaks in between…how ever was I to succeed in getting published? I wasn’t in the correct mindset to create, no matter how much I fretted over it. So I waited. Had a few meltdowns in the process, but I waited.
And you know what? After those months of waiting, suddenly things fell into place. Life got a bit easier to manage and with it came my writing mojo. Things are still very difficult for my country at the moment, but I am still able to write a bit…a blog post here, a picture book there, a big revision. Everything has a season, ups and downs, ebbs and flows. The sooner you accept that you will be able to prepare for it. Create as much as you can when you can, and when you can’t, let go (but remember to keep jotting down your ideas!). Your writing will be all the better for it.
.jpg)
2 comments:
Thushanthi, Thank you for sharing your struggle along with your success. You reflect certainly my feelings during the pandemic and I believe many others. As you learned, writing every day is a goal but not a promise of success.
For myself, when all the world around me is without troubles it is easy to write everyday. That stopped happening for me about five years ago. Instead, I practice what I call "retreat writing." Before the pandemic, that meant going to the coast away from my daily life and obligations and spending an entire week writing for 7-10 hours every day. When possible I would go with one or two writer friends who also agreed to write the entire week. I could get 25K words in first draft form during these times and then edit when I got home.
When the pandemic hit I could no longer escape for a week. I learned to do block writing at home. That meant I would schedule an entire day (often on the weekend) or block a four hour period in which I would do nothing but write--not even look at email. This has worked decently or me, not as well as the one week retreats but I did finish a middle grade novel this way.
Each author must find her own process. For some that is writing everyday, for others it is a different process. Congratulations on your contract and your upcoming release next year.
You are so right, Thushanthi, that we each need to find the writing schedule that works for us, and that periods of not producing new material doesn't mean that we are no longer a writer (something I need to remind myself often!). Being kind to ourselves is crucial for surviving in this field.
Post a Comment