The Writing Life

Travel is one of those incredibly personal things. Many of my clients hope to get a lot of writing done while traveling. And some do. But if they don’t know how they write/travel, they can easily burden themselves with unrealistic expectations. It’s much better to plan according to your style of travel than to lug all your writing materials with you and never crack open your laptop. I coach my clients to know their way so they can set themselves up for success whether they bring their writing along or take a break.

Are you a traveling writer? Some people can write easily while on the road. Others can’t. Neither is better; it’s only important to know what works for you.

One client of mine loved his airplane time. It was the only place where he didn’t have to respond to work demands. Where he wasn’t responsible for his family’s needs. Where he had uninterrupted time to write. He got a lot done while away from his routine. Others find that work trips, family trips or vacations are too disruptive to focus.

Don’t judge whether you can or can’t write while away from home. What’s damaging to your confidence is having unreasonable expectations for yourself. Bringing a lot of stuff with you to work on and not getting to it can add unnecessary stress. Remember, the main thing we need to guard and access is focus. Some people can focus more easily when away from home. Others find that they can’t get much writing done while traveling.

Decide which you are—a traveling writer or a home writer. Set your expectations accordingly. 

Drop a note in the comments below to share your travel/writing mode. What works for you? 

 

The other day in the Impulse Writing Club, our Writual Blessing was Writing heals you. This Blessing seemed particularly apt for the week’s writing. 

I’m just over 20,000 words into my novel in progress. There’s a lot to write, and my deadline is November 17th. We leave for a vacation in London that day and I hope to have a shaggy draft done before I go. I need to channel Tori Amos and her energetic keyboard jam style to get this done! 

While bobbing around in water aerobics class the other day, I had wave after wave of insights about how writing this book is changing my life. I’ll share a few of my benefits of writing a novel here. 

1 I have ‘writer’s eyes’ on all the time. Out in the world, I automatically write in my head the things I see. I describe and put into words what I see. This feels good, and it somehow feels like I am learning to write better. I call this ‘hands-off keyboard’ writing. Even when we’re not inking things, writers are always playing with language.

 2 I have a clear creative edge. My current creative edge is description. I struggle to find interesting ways to describe external things like the landscape or the setting. It’s a fine line between straightforward writing and overwrought prose. In this novel, I get to apply myself at my creative edge and see growth.

3 I see situations in the book – and in life – more objectively. I always tend toward seeing multiple perspectives on life. In this autofiction, I can get out of my point of view and see myself and my actions objectively. This is the kind of thing we seek in therapy. This is a big bonus I didn’t expect. 

4 The hard stuff I am writing about yields benefits I have always sought in therapy. This is where writing feels healing. 

5 I feel happier. Having a creative writing project gives me a sense of satisfaction that I don’t get from other work projects. Engaging in a project that’s initially just for me seems to give me confidence and self-respect. This is one of the big challenges of writing a long project – while doing it, we are the only ones benefiting from it. But I assert it’s worth it, even if it’s just for us. 

I appreciate all these insights. I just dove into this idea. NaNoWriMo – the invitation to draft 50,000 words in a month – drove me past overthinking the idea. My published novel took 12 years to write. I’ve avoided other long works of fiction because I don’t want to take that long. Now I feel motivated to take up projects for their own sake. Not worrying about how long it will take. Setting aside concern about where it will go and what it will do for me. 

Soaking up the feelings and insights I get while writing gives me plenty. Right now, I’m going to savor that. 

And now, I’m off to ink my 2500 words for the day because that deadline is moving toward me. And I am moving toward it, with my heart open and fingers dancing. 

What benefits are you gleaning from your current project? Share in a comment below.

Knowing this will save you a lot of angst.

You will be caught off-guard when you discover this:

Writing a book is different than writing anything else.

Whaaaat? Here’s the problem.

We were taught how to write in school. Everyone writes! Should be easy, right?

We think because we’ve written blogs or articles that we switch to book mode easily.

But writing a compelling story for a book or article is a craft. A book is a body of work that calls for more depth. Doing it well takes time. Humility and patience.

If you are struggling with writing a book, it’s not your fault. The job itself is challenging.

How have you adapted to the work of writing long-form? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Break it down to meet your deadlines

Sometimes, especially when we’re starting a project, numbers can help us. We can track our word count. We can add up the number of writing sessions.

I came up with a simple formula that my clients have told me is SUPER helpful to stay on track with a project.

I’d like to think I am a genius for inventing this formula. But honestly, it was the method I used to wade through the tomes we read in my Classics Book Club. (Think Don Quixote.)

Applied to writing your own tomes, it can help you have reasonable expectations about how much you need to write in order to meet your goals.

Do the math for your current project:

1. How many pages or words do you have to write?
2. How many days do you have before your deadline?
3. Divide the number of pages by the number of days.

The final digit is how many pages or words you need to write daily.

Try this and let me know how it goes! Share your experience in the comments below.

You will resist this but pretend you’ve just paid me thousands of dollars and my advice is GOLD.

Identify your reader early on. Know your reader, not just from a marketing perspective but from a writing perspective. Often when we sit down to write, we get overly formal and lose touch with our voice and our confidence.

If you have a business, you have identified your ideal client or customer.

When we know our reader, we can write directly to them. The connection between you, your ideas, and your reader is powerful. With a specific person in mind, your writing will flow. Decisions about what goes in the book will become super easy.

And yet, you will resist it. You will want the book to be for everybody. You will think of three or more audiences who will love your book.

But it’s not for an “audience.” When you think of that word, what comes to mind is probably a bunch of people or a big group. But when you think of one specific person, writing your book is infinitely easier. Trust me.

Have you identified your reader for your book or other writing? This isn’t needed as much for fiction but for non-fiction, yes, this is a power move.

Bonus homework from your writing coach

Free-write about your ideal reader. Who needs your book? They will recognize it immediately when they see it. Give them a name. Get very clear about who they are and why your book is important to them.

After you went through your homework, share your comments below.