The Water Heater Ruptured, but I Still Wrote Today

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I had a wonderful topic picked out for this week. All planned out. I'm taking a great class in the afternoon. Learned so much. My brain danced with happy thoughts.  

A cup of coffee with a jack o lantern on a canvas bag.

Photo by Valeriia Miller: https://www.pexels.com/photo/glass-of-cafe-latte-3146167/

My guy comes up halfway through my class and asks me to turn around and look at him. This is unusual. He knows when I am working, something better be on fire or he’s bleeding. I turned off my camera to my class and turned around.  

Water soaked every inch of him. He stood dripping all over the carpet. I stared. What was he trying to tell me? We don’t have a pool or a pond or a lake. What the hell did he fall into?  

Then he says, “Our water heater just exploded.”  

I’m pretty sure all he saw was my blank stare. While I know water goes into the water heater, is then heated, and it has a pilot light, I had no real clue how one worked or that it could rupture.  

He told the tale of the epic battle while I continued to catch flies with my open mouth. My guy had fought the water until he could get to the cutoff switch. My next thought was, “What do we do now?”  

I followed him downstairs. My foot hit the floor, and I stepped down into the water. That is such a crappy feeling. Wet socks suck. By now, the water was everywhere.  

Our dining room table had been drowned in water before he got to the shut-off valve. We had Halloween decorations all over it. Each needed to be taken down and dried.  

The rugs need to hang outside. One may be a loss. A good excuse to hit Target soon.  

Tall trees with yellow, orange , red and green leaves with fog/clouds on a hill.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger: https://www.pexels.com/photo/pathway-along-the-pine-trees-2310641/

I tell my domestic woes to point something out. I’ve still written this article. I went back and finished the class. I’ve worked on prep for Nano. I started rereading a book on “high concept.” 

Business still happened because that’s what you do. I’ve made a verbal contract to myself that I’ll put out an article every Wednesday. Even though today stank, I still sat down to get some thoughts on paper.  

No matter what’s happening, do it anyway.  

I didn’t have a death, or a child with a serious illness, or an aging parent who needs support. You need to be flexible. Reasonable. Sometimes life is more important.  

But the water heater was a timed event. Once the water was soaked up, we have to wait until tomorrow to get a new water heater. Nothing else to do tonight. Which means I could be flexible with myself and get the heck on with it.  

We each have our line in the sand. With my writing or art, consistency is key. When I work for a while, which is practice, I get better at whatever I’m doing.  

Where is your line in the sand? I think it’s important that you know what that is before water hits you in the face. Happy Writing.

How to Write Thousands of Words in 10 Minutes a Day

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Pink flower bouquet with a large white one and zero.

There was little writing happening in the first quarter of the year, so I wanted to kick it up a notch this second quarter. A writing friend was asking about Camp NaNo, and while I’ve always failed camp, I decided this year to leverage it to get the story out. 

The goal was to write seventy-five hundred words in April. That's a small goal, but with my writer brain out of practice, I wanted something that wasn’t impossible. My hope was I could write two hundred and fifty words a day. In book talk, that’s about the average of one page of a novel. One page. No stress. Busy fingers. 

Day’s one and two were fine. Words got written and there were no tears or muse temper tantrums. Motivation overcame my “I don’t want to” attitude. This might work out. 

In my notes, by day eight, I was convinced the devil had written this plan. I used the timer on my watch to make sure I sat at the keyboard and things happened. But I was tired of the book. The ending hadn’t landed, and I wasn’t sure where things were going.  

K. Butler

two columns, One for each day of Aoril and the other with how many words I wrote that day.

Easter Sunday, I rested from everything. I always have a to do list running in my head. My parents taught me you play after you’ve gotten everything done. Years later, I still have to get everything done before I’ll slack off. A whole day off from everything was sacrilege.  

My rest day revved me back up to get to the keyboard. I hummed along. Everyone got a stomach bug, but I wrote. Had some hard news to process, and I wrote. Our air conditioner broke twice, yet I wrote. You get the picture.  

Photo by cottonbro: https://www.pexels.com/photo/colorful-sticky-notes-3831849/

Different colored post it notes on a screen saying Be Kind, Don’t Give Up, Don’t Waste Your Time, Be Yourself, and Get Shit Done,

For me, there is something in the ten-minute timer. When I’m going through my to do list, I see I need to write for ten minutes and read for ten minutes. That’s only twenty minutes. That’s doable. I put my phone down and set my timer and off I’d go.  

Was I able to write ten minutes every day? Yup. Did I make it to at least one page of the book a day? Yes. And sometimes I wrote two pages. I pushed to not think and get the words out of me and on the screen.  

I wrote over eleven thousand words plus in ten minutes a day in the month of April. No one was more surprised than me. Why did it work so well? 

It’s that time thing. You can always make room for ten minutes. No matter how busy you are, you can find ten minutes. All of us stare at our phones for too long. Try writing before you scroll. Ten Minutes. That's it.

All the guilt and punishment, along with anxiety and fear about my writing, fell away. Even though it was such a short duration, I wanted to get to my story. Excitement over your work should be in a steady state. This only happens when I’m consistent. Yes, you must write every day. 

Are all the words the best I’ve ever written? No. There are lots of words to be stripped out or moved around. I wrote one scene more for me to figure out something plot wise. That one will go. Not every word written will survive, but I’ve got words to work with. That’s something I didn’t have the entire first quarter of the year. 

You have stories that other people need to hear. Maybe tell it in ten-minute chunks of time until you complete the project. I know you can do this. Happy Writing!!!

P.S. Shaunta Grimes and her team run a ten-minute writing sprint almost every morning. I’ve put in one of the videos below. Follow the account and get some extra writing energy.

Will I Complete Camp Nano this Year?

Camp Nano Website

No matter how long I’ve been writing for or how many books I finish, there is always something new to be learned. That’s about as guaranteed as death and taxes. If you ever think you’re done working on your craft, don’t.  

I’ve been having a hard time finishing a manuscript. There’ve been fits and starts. But the ending doesn’t feel right. Can’t quite get it the way I feel it should go. And my muse agrees. Capricious little bugger. 

Photo by Alexandr Podvalny: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-apple-on-blue-background-7499772/

I’ve tried Camp Nano twice, I think. No luck. No matter how I set myself up, I don’t get it done. This is the opposite of November’s Nano, which I win more times than not. That could change. Nothing is for sure.  

Camp used to have little cabins with friends or random other writers. It was a bit too social for me. Sure. We need connection. But not too much.  

In a desperate move to get some writing freaking done, I gave Camp another try. This year I wanted to work on being more consistent in my writing. This book refuses to go away. It’s being a bit of a jerk.  

Time around it's a quiet Camp. No social cabins. Just your project. This I can do.  

But, I can’t do 50k. No way. Not only will it not work with the book I’m determined to finish, but I don't think I have it in me, period. Not how I write now. Perhaps in the future. Who knows? Right now, no. I need my confidence boosted a bit.  

It took a while for me to figure out a goal that would be a stretch without killing what little writing I’ve been dribbling out. Goals are normally the place where I shine. They’re one of my things. I help other people with their goals. This time I’m learning what it feels like to not know where to go.  

I don’t remember where I heard it, but at the end of last month someone said. “Small Bites.” Yes. It's always the simplest of answer. Sucks, right?

My mom meant taking bites out of an apple. And it’s a brilliant image. However, I enjoy eating pizza more than fruit. For me, you don’t eat the pizza whole. You eat a slice at a time. That’s more on my eating plan.  

A goal is an intention. Worrying over the how I would do something when I wasn’t sure what the something was seemed a bit backwards.   

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-a-slice-of-pizza-4109077/

The equation for me has always been goal + tools + plan = getting stuff done.  

If my goal is to write every day, how much writing do I think I can handle? Answer, not much right now. I culled it down until I decided on one page per day. 250 words.  

Goal=250 words every day.   

What tools do I have? A gazillion. I love gadgets and trying out new to me software. It took a few false starts, but I decided on Dabble as the writing software. I love it for drafting.  

Tool= Dabble 

Last is breaking this into a plan. What will help me get to the end I need? This turned out to be easy. I’ve been using the write ten minutes everyday thing for a year. I only lost it when this book became a monster.  

The plan for 250 words a day took a twist when I decided I’d write for ten minutes. Not a straight either or. Ten minutes to write 250 words. Ups the ante a bit.  

Plan= 10 minutes a day  

I’ll write 250 words in Dabble for ten minutes every day.  

Now all I need is bait for my muse. 

I want to write in May about how this all turns out. How many words can I write in ten minutes? What did I do when I didn’t make it? Has this helped me get to the end of this bloody book? Stay tuned.  

In the meantime, I hope you’re writing your fingers off or reading a fabulous book. Because that’s what we do around here.

How to Make Writing Goals You Can Keep

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Photo by Sies studio from Pexels

A clay vase of yellow, cream and white flowers on a pedestal.

My goals for the second quarter took a very long time to pull together. I’m using my HB90 goals planner, which I'm still in love with, to get a handle on what I want to accomplish.  

I spent about four hours of my time trying to figure out what goals I wanted to roll over from my slow first quarter. I’ve let finishing Rescue Me fall off. Tentatively, I’ll tackle it in July.  

HB90 planner asks me to come up with time estimations. I start with a calendar of the quarter. The first thing I do is plug in days I know I will not work. I don’t do Sunday’s and I have events and such sprinkled in here and there. This helps me come up with a rough idea of how much time I must work with.  

Next, I look at my ideal day. I love this exercise. Occasionally, I get a magical golden glittery day. My heart explodes with the space my ideal schedule leaves me. While not a unicorn, it doesn’t happen often. But I look for them and practice getting to my dream day. It's something to strive for.  

The HB90 method has added task blocks. They’re an absolute bottom line time estimation tool. I’m not sure I’ve got them completely figured out, but I’ve given it a go. Sarra Cannon, who makes the HB90 planners, put up a video on Instagram Sunday. She’d been working on her own second quarter goals and realized she’d been too ambitious and would need to whittle her plans down to fit her time constraints. She said, “It makes you realize why you always feel behind.” A light bulb fired bright in my head. I know exactly how she feels.

Here is a video of her talking about how she worked on her own quarter one goals.

Last year I tracked time and tasks. For instance, how long does it take me to write and publish an article? Two hours a week. I write one article per week, so for a month that’s eight hours. I can go further and estimate it will take twenty-four hours a quarter to write articles. When I see the cumulative time, it’s scares me. Do I want to keep spending that much time on something I don’t get paid for? I don’t have an answer yet, but a reckoning is coming. 

After drilling down, I made a list of what I needed to do. It was long and laborious and filled with little creative writing. A bummer. I tossed that list into the abyss and decided I would concentrate on three big things. 

Photo by Tim Mossholder: https://www.pexels.com/photo/yellow-dandelion-field-383640/

Field of yellow flowers.

I will finish drafting Killing Me. I’m using Camp NaNoWriMo in April as a springboard to get me back in the saddle. My goal is one page per day. That will equal out to around seventy-five hundred words for the month of April. If I get inspired, I’ll write more, but my minimum is one page. When I get close to the end zone, I write fast. We’ll see how we go.  

Second, I’ll do the edits on The Devil You Know. Last year, it took me almost six months to edit a seventy-thousand word book. I learned so much. Hoping I can turn my lessons into a faster and tighter schedule. But I will not push hard. Even if I take half the time, I’ll be pleased. 

And lastly, I’m going to keep tackling my writing communities. I’ve got a couple of classes lined up. I’m loving Instagram. Communities that don’t add value will be canceled. Rude people excommunicated. I’m not in a place where I can volunteer to serve any of the groups I’m in, but I still want to do what I can. I dub this goal “Outreach.” An umbrella for all the minor stuff that chisels at my time. 

There are a bazillion tasks that go with each goal. They all have due dates, task blocks, and follow ups. The plan allows me a defined schedule that’s flexible enough that I can adjust as life twists and dances to music I can’t hear.  

I’m exhausted, but tomorrow is a new day. And I have a plan. This is doable. 

Where are you doing in the second quarter? Writing? Editing? Percolating? Let me know. 

Happy Writing.

New Year. New Goals. Hello 2022

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It’s that time of year. Everyone is bursting with energy after the holidays and saying goodbye to another year. Can I just say 2021 will not be my favorite year ever? Just saying.  

2022 has brought a serious amount of snow to my side of the world. This is Luna’s first snow. I loved to watch her play and stick her muzzle down in it. Seeing her frolic with something new reminded me I’m supposed to love what I do. To have that joyful, fun frame of mind when something new pops up. Because the way I’ve been acting, new stuff equals stress.  

Bbutler Luna’s first snow.

About the time my puppy changed my attitude, I realized that’s what I wanted to work on this year. Health. All kinds of health. Mental health. Relationship’s health. And I could eat a vegetable here and there for argument’s sake. Give my machine a detail, then treat it right.  

Luck was on my side when I couldn’t seem to nail down my goals for the year. As usual, the mysteries of the universe knew I needed to take a breather. It wasn’t until I had my word for the year that the goals seemed to line up like they’d been waiting for their starter pistol.  

I’m going to put this here because I don’t know who needs to hear it. I know I do. Maybe you do too. Good things don’t have to hurt. They don’t even have to be super hard work. Good things can be easy. Especially when you listen in on the clue’s life is dropping from the sky.  

After writing things down, here’s where things landed. I’ll include a couple of personal ones too, but this is geared more towards writing. 

• Finish “Killing Me.” It still has 20k to go.

• Finish “Rescue Me.” It still has 19k to go.

• Blog consistently. For me, that’s every Wednesday and sometimes on Friday.

• Do Nanowrimo.

• Write one fresh new book.

• Edit one book.

• Take six classes this year. A mix of personal interests and writing classes.

• Pull everything out of one software and transfer it into Scrivener.

• Keep track of my writing expenses.

• Take part in the four writing groups I’m a member of.

• Write every day in my five-year journal.

• Keep a reading log.

• Clean my Dropbox. It’s a disaster.

• Write 10 minutes every day.

• Do one fun activity every day. For me, this is gaming, or reading or watching a movie without checking my phone a gazillion times.

Sylwia Bartyzel

This is less than I did last year. At first, I wondered if I was selling myself short. No. I’m not. I’m making space for other things. The entire planet needs to concentrate on health. My wanting to slow the train down and then take a stroll doesn’t mean the train is going to be late. It means it will be in great condition when I get wherever I’m going. I’ve got a bet with myself. I’ll be better at what I do for taking a breath and getting grounded.  

My wish for you is that your year will be just as you need it to be. I love this meditation and send it out into the world. “Maybe you be healthy. May you be happy. May you be safe. May you live with ease.” Here’s to 2022! 

Kicking Burnout Down the Road

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Burn out. Most creatives have a set limit of energy availability. Even if my story is going smashing, I find I can’t write two thousand words a day for three months. Full stop.  

This year I wanted to test that theory. My stretch goal was finishing two new novel drafts. Killing Me this year’s Nano has about twenty thousand more words to go. Rescue me has about twenty thousand words to go as well. Ideally, I want to finish both.  

That may not happen. While I can write forty thousand words in a month, my creative well empties leaving me alone and exhausted. After nano this year, I took a break. Seven whole days where I gamed, ate, and decked the halls. My house looks like Christmas invaded. I love it.  

I’ve got several writer friends who out write me all the time. It shouldn’t matter, but it does. One of the biggest factors in burn out is comparing yourself to other people. Yes, I know. I shouldn’t. But I do.  

Writing goals for December are going to be low. I want to enjoy the holidays and leave myself with enough energy to embrace all the joy. My family deserves that. And so do I.  

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That’s one of the biggest release valves to burnout. Recognizing I don’t have to EARN time off by doing all the things. You don’t have to write X amounts of words to enjoy time with your kids. Nor do you have to work your butt off to have the right to time off.

I don’t need to justify to myself or others where I’m at with my writing. Asking for help is something I could get better at, but it doesn’t give others a free pass to criticize how I do things. Competition has laid low so many professional writing organizations. Our need to be perfect and win has born a level of division unseen in the years I’ve been writing.  

Burnout is scorched earth. At least in my world. Often, I beat myself up for resting. We’ve all heard famous writers and their word count daily goals and long working hours. As I learn my craft, I may write with abundance. But in this season of my career, writing until I can’t write anymore seems ridiculous. 

Things that help me during burnout. Reading a good book. Playing video games. Long, hot showers. An outing. Getting outside. Amazon everything. Candles. Cold can of coke. My guy. My beagles. Art journaling. Crafting projects. A nice dinner out. Meditation. Journaling.  

Almost all of those examples are free. Every single one of them are about the five senses. Cold drinks, hot shower, beagle cuddles and letting the sun kiss my face. It’s about refilling my well. In the past, I’ve gone to museums and let the past soothe my present. 

Things I don’t do to heal my exhaustion. Alcohol. Drugs. Yelling at people. Getting mad about everything in the world. Overeat. Ignore the world.  

There isn’t any salvation in the bottom of any bottle, whether it’s alcohol or some other substance. The only time this hasn't been true is when I had a serious infection and the meds made me loopy as heck. I was writing a contemporary romance for Nano. Editing that book was a huge laugh. It was also a ton of work.  

I’m a homebody, so going out and being with people rarely helps matters. But when I get really exhausted, strategic outings are needed. Realizing there are other people in the world besides your family and your characters releases you to imbibe other people’s stories. That reciprocal back and forth allows for fresh growth and more energy.  

It’s the first day of the last month of the year. Anything is possible. Write, but rest. Let the holiday vibes refill you. Happy writing!

Another NaNoWriMo in the Can

I won NaNoWriMo tonight. I’ve printed my certificate, ordered my winner t-shirt, and gotten a coupon for Dabble, the program I’ve drafted five books in.  

I’m superstitious. I wait to buy my winner t-shirt until I’ve passed fifty thousand words. The shop can run out of shirt. It’s happened a couple of times. But I refuse to budge on this one. I don’t want to jinx myself.  

Dabble is my word processor of choice. I only use it to draft. There is something it that is eye pleasing to me. I can’t think of a reason to mess with that. I have other programs, but I don’t stray for long. Dabble has more options as it’s grown up a bit. I only use Dabble to type out words. Right now, any edits, scene cards, research, notes, and character sheets live in Scrivener and Notion. But I love Dabble. When I win Nano, I get a fifty percent off coupon for one year! 

Things I do before I write. I use scene cards as a prewriting exercise. What do I think is going to happen next? What conflict should I show? What’s the timeline? What’s the weather? Whose POV will it be? These short little cards wind up my brain and then I let it loose to spin out a story.  

I write using sprints. Every fifteen minutes I can get five hundred words, give or take. Nano requires one thousand six hundred and seventy-six words per day. That's four sprints. One hour of writing. This made the word count more than possible. With lots of breaks, I stayed ahead most of the month.  

There were no excuses and no reason to skip days. I wrote through all the turmoil November flicks in my face. Migraine? Dictation. No time? Write in between appointments. Would rather do anything else than write? Sat my butt down and wrote. This is how I win Nano. Consistency. I do it every single day, no matter what.  

One great thing about Nano is it stokes my creativity. If I write every day, my writing gets better and better and flows will no fuss. I’m better at my critiques. I read with a more critical eye. This only happens when I draft. Edits are a beast for future me to think about. Right now, I need to finish twenty thousand words before New Year.  

I'll be honest. I didn’t want to do Nano this year. That’s odd for me, and perhaps the elongated pandemic has something to do with it. As I wrote this year, I sometimes realized I was going through the motions. I’m not even sure I like the book. It's gross right now. But I kept writing. Why? Because you can’t edit what you haven’t written.  

There have been years where I’m up all-night November twenty-ninth trying to get five thousand words written in a short period. This year, I started out strong with about ten thousand words in the first three days. This let me get ahead. Momentum can be so important.  

If you’re behind, you can catch up. If you hate the book, keep going. Something good will happen that might save the book. Sit down and write. Your story could be a bright moment for someone. Books touch people in ways we can never imagine.

Please let me know where you are with your book. Hoping all the right words flow out of your mind and onto the page. I’m going to go collapse now and eat chocolate. Happy writing!

Where I'm at with Nanowrimo

Every year I plan NaNoWriMo into my calendar. I always know I can make one more book for the year. And I must be honest, I love Nano. There is nothing like it. All of us around the world making stories happen together. It’s lovely.  

I always begin October with the notion I’ll get ready for Nano. Write some articles in advance. Set up posts for Instagram. Get ahead on work for my critique group. Never happens. It’s mid Nano, and I’ve been like a horse with blinders on.  

All my focus in on my word count. How many words did I write today? Am I behind? Ahead?  

I’m writing this Tuesday early morning. I’ve got 34,241 words. I’ll finish right on time. One thing I always try to do is finish before Thanksgiving. It’s too hard to enjoy the holiday while battling word count anxiety.  

There are many ways to do Nano. I’m straight. I write 50,000 words from the first line forward. Some people are Nano rebels. Maybe they need to finish a book or they’re in the middle of deep edits on a project. It doesn’t matter. Nano your way and let the momentum carry you to your goals.  

This is short, sweet, and to the point. I’m plugging away to the finish line. Maybe I’ll see you there.

 P.S. You can add me as your Nanowrimo writing buddy at: KimberlyKB

NanoWriMo 2021

Nanowrimo.org

It’s my favorite time of the year. November means Nanowrimo and awesome food. Books and nibbles. Family and friends leave me alone to huddle with my laptop. I mutter to myself and talk about color coding and scene cards. It’s delicious. 

This year my enthusiasm has been low. Our world is no closer to a solution for the global pandemic. Our family has had some serious stressors. Plus, my dog died. Even though my mood has been blue, I refused not to try. I love Nano so much and didn’t want to skip it. 

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So last week, I started a new folder and called it Nano 21. Next, I needed an story. I keep an idea notebook. Often, I see I’ve written down a book idea several times months apart. So, I chose one. Maybe I liked the idea. Or maybe I didn’t. But I had something to go on. 

The idea sat in my brain percolating. After a few days, I had snippets of dialogue, my heroine and hero, and an idea for setting. My notion has several databases for each book I write. Over the weekend, I searched for images and any visuals that resonated. On Saturday, I made an outline of the beats I want to churn my characters through. Sunday morning, I decided to start nano at midnight.  

The first line came to me a few days before I made my outline. I always have the first line before I move on a project. The line may not stay in the book, or I may start at a different point. What matters is I have the line to serve my writing.  

On Wednesday before, I did not know if I could even do Nano this year. I want to stress that you don’t have to have written an epic outline to write. You don’t need to have worked for months on character sketches, googled everything you might think you need to have researched, nor do you need to have fancy software.  

Just Start. 

It’s November third. Even if you haven’t started, you can. Puts words on paper and believe in yourself. You’ve got stories to tell and people who want to read them.  

Don’t think you need fancy things to be a brilliant writer. A great writer writes. That’s the secret sauce. You must write.  

You don’t even have to do Nano. I like it, but maybe you don’t. Make a deal with yourself. Maybe you write a hundred words per day. Or you edit a project. Maybe you want to sprint for ten minutes every day and see where it goes. Honor your creative self. Move forward.

Good luck everyone. Keep the fingers moving.

Gamify Your Writing

Bruno Henrique & Canva

I’ve been more productive in 2021 than the last six years. I’ve already written more words, made more blog posts, learned Canva and fell in love with Instagram. It’s only June. I’m determined to keep my momentum going. How can I tweak my productivity? Being a gamer and an efficiency nut, I knew what I wanted.  

Many authors use word count as their carrot on the end of a stick. Nothing wrong with this style of tracking. I love Nanowrimo. The 50,000 words I output every November are an outlier. If I write all five days a week, I can get to 5k to 7k. About half of what I crank out for Nano.  

If word count motivates you, try out Pacemaker. You create your goal and then check in every day. You can set up descending goals for editing. It gives you little rewards and shows your writing chain. I love a good streak. This site has a free component. I’ve always stayed on the free plan.  

Matilda Wormwood

I love to test out new writing software. Almost all of them have a word count tracker. Nothing fancy most of the time. I use Dabble for fast drafting. The software has a word count tracker that sinks with Nano every year. Thinking about it, I have drafted my last four books in Dabble. Guess I like it or I’m getting superstitious about completing manuscripts? Scrivener has a tracker, as does Papyrus Author. You may have to hunt for it, but it’s in there somewhere.  

I love statistics. They are a great motivator. Seeing that I am forty-five percent through a draft kicks my motor over. While spreadsheets are outstanding, I’ve been using Notion to track fiction versus nonfiction writing along with how long I take to create either. We can link the databases to master pages where I take all the data and leverage it into seeing patterns.  

Pick a prize. Who doesn’t love prizes? For my last writing goal, I had something picked out. Jetpens makes so many of my dreams real. When my pen got to me, I loved it. Plus, when I use the pen, I grin about finishing edits on that manuscript.  

Take classes. They don’t have to be writing related. For instance, I took a canva class to learn new ways to brand my website. It’s a work in progress, but it’s helped me stay motivated. You can checkout Skillshare or Udemy and such. Learn something new and plump up your writing arsenal. Easy way to gamify continuing education. 

How many rejections can you get? Keep track and give yourself kudos as you rack up the no thank you emails. If you don’t have a way to track, create a spreadsheet or keep a word document.  

If you’re self-publishing, are you making your production schedule? There are always hiccups, but if you look at the project as a whole, you’ll find you’ve been working your butt off. Maybe you want cheesecake or more things from Jetpens? Because you deserve some acknowledgment for releasing your baby out into the world.  

What it comes down to is you have to find what makes your engine purr. I like physical things. Planning supplies, stickers and all the pens I can horde make me grin bigger than an Orangutan. It doesn’t have to be big things. In a planning group I saw some Animal Crossing: New Horizon stationary. That’s an awesome prize.

Sharad kachhi

Maybe you work best in spurts. I love a ten to fifteen minute sprint. Small goals help get me over the finish line. If I write for fifteen minutes, I get ten minutes on my Nintendo. Or a phone game. Ten minutes of your favorite show. Chain the small sprints into a productivity game of your own making.

What works for you? What motivates you? Maybe you have something sitting in your online shopping cart. When you need a jolt to get you over the hump, click buy. Now let the joy spread over into your writing.  

For many, writing is a career they fit around whatever job pays the bills. It’s lonely, rigorous and often self-defeating. You can write one hundred books and only a handful will hit the lists. Are you writing two books a year? Then a fifty-year career comes out to one hundred books. Long days with writing shoehorned around other obligations. How old are you? Do your math.  

You don’t want to spend your writing career miserable. No one can expect happiness from outside yardsticks. Give yourself a bonus when you need to. That boost can help you never give up on writing. Respect yourself and your work and learn how you can use what makes you tick to get your story told.  

Gamify the crap out of your writing if it will help you. If it sounds too weird, keep doing whatever is working for you. But only if it’s working. If you’re shaking your head but the writing is abysmal and nowhere near consistent, give something else a try.

Create your own success. Everyone has different benchmarks. Find yours. Make it work for you.  

Keep it simple.  

Write. Write. Write.

Don't Edit While You Write

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It’s quicksand. Every writer will fall victim to it at some point in their career. You edit before you finish a draft. 

This is the number one killer of new books. Most writers never feel their way out of it. The reason so many people put writing a book on their bucket list lays at the feet of editing while you write.  

If you have never finished a draft, take a breath and step back. What’s going on? Is it that your idea is stupid? You’re using a dull knife when you need a sharp one? How often are you writing? Are you a panster? Plotter? Planster? 

No matter your answers, so many of you won’t stop killing your own creativity. I’ve seen writers do it for years. Most never get past it and leave work undone, never to see the light of day because they can’t resist editing while they draft. It’s lethal.  

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I don’t share my work until it’s at least draft three. Draft one is a fast draft. Get the bones worked out from my notes and the characters living in my head. The second draft I read in a printed copy at least six months after the first draft. The third draft gets into the story weeds and character arc things. Then, I invite in people I trust to read and help make sure the story I want to tell is on the page. 

If I asked everyone’s opinion on my first book draft, I would have stopped writing. My heart would have wept. Most people’s first drafts aren’t great. In fact, most authors I’ve talked to consider the first draft as story notes for a better draft. Slipping in the threads that will help build the pacing of the story now that you know how everyone gets to the end.  

Stop the self-sabotage. I like to call it a self-fulfilling prophecy. What you focus on you become. Can’t say that enough. If you focus on how crappy your story is, your story will be crap. If all you see in your book’s future is rejections, that’s all you’ll get. 

Try finishing that first draft without all the noise other people may want to stick in your story. Maybe you don’t know how it’s all going to come together. That’s fine. I can guarantee you’ll find out when you get there.  

Art happens? The master painters worked on a piece over and over and over. It could take months to finish one commission. Sketches were made and discarded. A smaller practice canvas might be made practicing the colors and perspective until it met the artist’s pleasure. Art doesn’t just happen.  

Writing is hard work if you want to do it well. You’ll have plenty of time to dwell on the one adverb you can’t seem to get rid of or the side character who may need to be cut from the story. Whatever your obsession that speaks in your head to say you’ve no talent, you can play with them on another draft.  

I love NaNoWriMo. It taught me how to fast draft. My better books have been one’s I make a plan for and then see where the road takes me. Often, I end somewhere I didn’t expect to be. Even better is the story becomes richer for having my full attention.  

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Senjuit Kundu

Please don’t write by committee. Claim a writing space and then let your talents fan out and find the stories you have inside. Respect yourself and your muse enough to trust the process. Sit down and write. Get messy. It’s all a part of the ride. 

I know two authors who write long hand. One of the advantages? There is no work to share until you are in person. It lets you isolate while you incubate.  

There is so much unique talent out there. I don’t want your story to stay dormant. Get up. Face the page and do the work. Worry about later, well, later. Jump in on the mindfulness movement and stay in the moment.  

Think about how much you could accomplish if you stopped looking outside for approval and looked inside to see the story burning in you?

NaNoWriMo Win!

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