"Ellen, I highly recommend rereading them - or listening to them, which I'm doing. I have listened to all of George Eliot on CD and love them much more than when I read them in my 20s. They were sheer joy. The long paragraphs I skimmed over are…"
I Got Out of Writing Shape! My Plan To Kick My Own Butt.
For me, summer is a season of indulgences.
I don't put on extra pounds at the holidays; I do it in August, July and June. In the hot summer months, I never say no to a hotdog at the baseball game, a donut for breakfast at the beach, or smores after dinner. (I don't always look great in my bathing suit, but I can do a mean cannonball.) And with my two boys out of school, I indulged myself another way this summer, too. Given the choice between sending them to camp, leaving them with a sitter, or running "mommy camp" on my own, I decided, for the last few weeks, that mommy camp it would be. Yes, I ended up yelling a lot when we got on each other's nerves. Attempting to entertain, or at least supervise, a five-year-old and an eight-year-old all day every day is not bliss. But I don't regret having said goodbye to my writing so completely these past weeks when it meant saying hello to fishing for hermit crabs in a tide pool, playing baseball for two hours at the park, or even enjoying the simple, guilty pleasure of watching a movie at one o'clock in the afternoon.
I don't regret it. But that doesn't mean I didn't feel guilty--on and off--the whole damn time.
I'm lucky to be in a position to take two weeks off with my kids. But when you are a writer, are you ever really off? When I don't write, I feel guilty. I've felt like that as long as I can remember. Writing is not a job like other jobs: it is hard to take a vacation from something that nobody is asking you to do in the first place. There is no one to whom to announce, "I'm taking a few weeks off!" And somehow that makes it even harder, at times, to do it without fear. Because writing is like going to the gym. Miss a workout or two, fine. Get out of the habit of going to the gym, and you may never go to the gym again.
It's time for me to get back into the gym. But I know that I will need a little help. I am feeling flabby, unfocused, and out-of-touch with my book. So I decided to do what I instruct my boys to do when I see them faced with a particularly difficult task, on the verge of exploding with frustration. I asked for help.
Lucky for me, I got to ask Brooke Warner. (You can too, if you're ready to work with SWP!) Formerly Executive Editor at Seal Press, now publisher of She Writes Press (the publisher I will use for my novel), Brooke has agreed to be my editor, coach, and workout-buddy-in-chief from now until I finish the thing. As such she will help me create deadlines, accountability and structure in a process she has perfected, and that I will blog about here.
Step one? Doing something that really scares me -- my version of a literary cannonball.
I'm going to send Brooke all the pages I have so far. Pages I haven't shared with anyone, the product of months of labor; pages that might be ok, pages that might suck. Rather than continuing to insulate my novel-baby from the winds of criticism with the stubborn stalwartness of a daddy penguin, I am going to let it go a little bit, and let an outside reader give me feedback on what I've got so far. I'm not sure how I feel about it, or how that will play out, but I promise to let you know how it goes.
Anyone else have a plan for jump-starting her writing this fall? (Or am I the only one who got so out of shape?) Please share it here. I'm ready to put on my rally-cap.
Comment
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Comment by Doreen McGettigan on September 16, 2012 at 4:52pm -
What a great post Kamy. I am so out of physical and writer shape. I am trying to put my butt in the chair and get back to some sort of schedule but I am having trouble focusing To try to solve this I have committed to doing interviews on my blog and have agreed to do some guest blog posts. Hopefully that will help the work that needs to get done on my book.
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Comment by Renate Stendhal on September 13, 2012 at 8:23pm -
Hi Kamy, delightful post and apart from the exciting news (chapeau for SWP, for you and Brooke!!) I am with you as a vacation indulger of the premier order! I took the liberty -- and joy -- to quote you in my blog post "Glad that Summer is Over?" on my weight-loss hCG Cyber Village website... You'll see the connection! :)
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Comment by Heather Marsten on September 12, 2012 at 9:37am -
I got derailed this summer with three kids home - two from college and one for a week of vacation from his job down south. No writing got done and I went off diet. Well, all are back in school, no more excuses. Thanks for posting this. Glad to know I'm not the only one :)
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Comment by Brianna Soloski on September 12, 2012 at 9:04am -
My writing is okay because I never take time off. I took six days off in August and that'll be it until sometime next year. I am planning to amp up my marketing skills in the coming months. My first novel is being released at the end of the year and I'll be devastated if it doesn't sell well. Nobody else will give a flying fig - most people think I'm being flighty and ridiculous for even thinking I can make it as a writer. But it matters to me and I have to do whatever it takes to make it happen.
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Comment by Janet Tracy Landman on September 12, 2012 at 6:37am -
How is it that She Writes so often reads my mind?! I got derailed in June, when my publisher backed out of the contract (3 months before the publication date) out of fears that my nonfiction book might draw lawsuits from someone mentioned (not unkindly!) in it. I did pick myself up enough by July to find a publishing lawyer who would do a complete legal review of my book--pro bono. He has now assured me that there is nothing to fear, meaning that, although somebody may bring a lawsuit, they won't win. Now what's my excuse for not querying other publishers (or agents?)?
Well, I used to always tell my students that the hardest part of writing is beginning, and that they should begin early. How? Estimate how long you can realistically stand to spend warming up to the project. If 15 minutes--10 minutes--is all you can manage, then set a timer and sit with the task/manuscript for only that amount of time. Maybe a bit longer the next day, etc. SO, later today, I'm going to take my own advice. Ten minutes seems about right for me today. Usually this method results in writers going way beyond their estimate at some point--when they've finally warmed up those cold embers into a blaze.
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Comment by Kamy Wicoff on September 12, 2012 at 6:36am -
Well I did some work yesterday, and am trying to get a schedule together for the fall! It is so encouraging to hear that I'm not alone, and to hear what all of you have done to structure your writing time. And @Danyelle, all that matters is that you are back in the saddle! Sometimes I think when we are away from it too long, the guilt makes it hard for us to come back, because we feel so frustrated with ourselves and doubt our own commitment. That question, "Am I REALLY a writer?" haunts us more when are away from it, but of course if you are haunted by that question ever, at all...the answer is probably YES. :)
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Comment by Shari A. Brady on September 11, 2012 at 5:51pm -
I can totally relate to everything you're saying and feeling, Kami. Although my kids are twelve and thirteen and I was determined to get my word count in every day this summer, but I was completely derailed by the debut of my first YA novel in June. It's been all really exciting, but my efforts have been on marketing and PR and I must get back to my WIP that I plan on releasing in the spring. It feels so strange, like getting together with friends you haven't seen in a while. I'm a little nervous, but took the plunge today and am feeling a little less overwhelmed. I saw your post and had to comment. It is always nice to hear someone else is going through the same experience. :)
Also, I completely agree with your notion as writers, we don't really ever close the office door and go home. And, I like Lacey's idea about setting aside specific days for specific tasks. I need to go back to my old routine, which was 5 hours of writing/creating and 3 hours of working the business aspect. Good luck everyone, I'm glad to hear I'm not alone and will forge ahead!
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Comment by B. Lynn Goodwin on September 11, 2012 at 2:34pm -
The right writing and accountability partner can make all the difference. I'm so glad you found Brooke. I hope, when the time is right, I find someone equally supportive and knowledgeable. Keep us posted on your progress.
BTW, with a work in progress, you qualify to enter Writer Advice's Scintillating Starts Contest.Grab and hold us with your opening paragraphs. Deadline is October 15, 2012 & details are at www.writeradvice.com.
If you’re opening is shared on Writer Advice, you’ll be able to tell prospective agents, publishers, and book buyers that you were one of the winners of Writer Advice’s First Scintillating Starts Contest.
I'd love to read what you've written.
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Comment by Lacey Louwagie on September 11, 2012 at 12:30pm -
I've had success with setting a "schedule" for my writing: blogging two days a week, fiction three days a week, research one day a week, and one day off. So far, it's worked much better than anything I've done recently to keep me focused. I know that my time to work on each of these projects is limited, and that motivates me not to put it off. It also makes it so I don't go TOO long away from any one project. I talked about it at greater length over on my blog. Good luck getting back into it -- and definitely don't regret the time spent with your kids. Life is just as important as writing, and sometimes the balance has to tip in that direction.
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Comment by Danyelle C. Overbo on September 11, 2012 at 11:30am -
So glad not to be alone in this; everything you say is true. But at least you had a good reason to take the time off; I haven't really sat down to work on my book for weeks now and yesterday was the first day I got back in the saddle so to speak. I have no excuse, no reason, for avoiding it for so long. I have been down about getting it done by the end of the year deadline I've assigned myself, but the guilt of not writing is also ever present.
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