Your Writing Life

I recently had an experience in France that felt like the kind of film I love. The setting: a bucolic place, such as the south of France or Italy. Think EM Forester films. A group of people gathers for a weekend. It seems like it should all be perfect, but of course, once you have people involved, nothing is perfect.

I came home thinking this was a good idea for a novel. It would have been easy to put this on the ‘to-write’ list. But November approached, and I knew I could dive in and swim my way toward the goal of 50,000 words in a month.

In this article, I will share how I surpassed that goal and what I gained from writing a shaggy draft of a novel.

How I drafted a novel in a month

Drafting 50,000 words in a month requires a lot of focus. I divided the main word count goal into a daily goal of around 2,000 words. My clients often use word count as a handrail to feel a sense of progress. That worked for me as well. I don’t believe in the ‘write a book in a weekend/week/month’ promises. But I believe in giving ourselves a specific, immediate deadline on a specific project. This pushes us past the idea that we can blow it off for a day or two. This tight ‘creativity chastity belt’ made it much easier to show up even when I didn’t want to. And honestly, I never ‘wanted’ to write.

Accept the complexities

Immediately, I shed the binary position of right or wrong. We like to polarize things. We like to have a good guy and a bad guy. It simplifies things. But life is nuanced if we let ourselves see its richness. But life is rarely that clear-cut. Instead, I appreciated the complexity of the situation.

Show up consistently

Like most of us, I prefer the easy stuff like laundry or reading library books. Especially in the last days when I had to write the more painful scenes. I really wanted to avoid writing then, but I wanted to meet my goal even more. On days I didn’t want to show up, I had to eke something out, even if it wasn’t my daily word count. I couldn’t let it all pile up at the end because that would be way harder than showing up every day for 30-60 minutes. This motivated me to show up every day. (Except for the week vacation in London, which I planned for.)

Use values when it gets tough

I used my values to help float me through the emotional waves. This gave me the chance to feel the pride and satisfaction of having done the work much more than I wanted to let myself down or not keep my word.

I engaged my top value of integrity/keeping my word through social accountability. I announced this project on Instagram and LinkedIn. I told my weekly writing group about it, too. When I asked my peeps to cheer me on at the end, they enthusiastically shared their belief that I could get across the finish line. Integrity, or doing what I say I will, wouldn’t even allow me to wiggle some writing out in December; no, it had to be finished in November.

Ignore the mental trash

Writing that many words in a month required me to ignore my mental trash completely. It demanded that I silence my insecurities about the quality of the work. That’s the point of NaNoWriMo, to just get words down. Sure, there will be a lot of editing in the second draft, but as Neil Gaiman says, “You can fix dialogue that isn’t quite there. You can fix the beginning of something. But you cannot fix nothingness, so you have to be brave. You have to just start.”  I enjoy the revision phase of writing. It’s fun for me to dig in and wordsmith and to craft the story for a reader.

Lower the bar

I enjoyed letting go of having to produce anything ‘good’. Talk about liberation! I felt more empowered by honoring my value of integrity than by honoring my value of beauty/excellence. That can come later in the revision process. Initially, I wanted to be really ‘creative’ with how I told the story. And I saw how that got in the way of actually writing anything. It became a real treat to just write with the innocence of doing it for its own sake, not trying to be good or prove anything.

Expect no external payoff

I had to write this just for me. We often won’t commit to a big project unless we see some external reward at the end. Or hope that this project will enhance our standing with others. We hope to be published. Efficiency demands that our time be ‘well-spent’. But writing and art-making are not about pleasing others. Art that comes from a deep need to express doesn’t have the applause or the income as its target. It has an authenticity imperative instead. We need to honor what wants to come out. Later, we can craft it for the marketplace if that’s what’s wanted.

Keep a privacy shield up

The fear of hurting others is one of the top reasons writers censor themselves and never begin. I was writing about real people, and I needed to suspend concern over what they would think. I tell my clients never to censor themselves. To write what needs to be written and decide later how/when/with whom to share. I took my own medicine and felt the freedom to write what I wanted, not what I thought others would accept.

Benefits of writing this draft

Return to my creative writer

I write a lot – all the time. I write curricula, how-to books, articles, social media blips, and marketing copy. But it’s been a while since I wrote a creative work. After my novel came out ten years ago, I was convinced I was not a novelist. I have not had many ideas for stories other than the work I drafted about my experience in Portugal. So having an idea that I followed felt like a return to my writer self.

I had just come off a writing retreat I led in Paris. I participate in most of the things I lead, and I designed this workshop to get at the heart of what I wanted for myself, to know my writer. To honor my writer. And to connect with something I deeply wanted to write. The retreat worked on me! I came away with a book to write. I’m convinced this was the cause of the satisfaction I felt all month.

The themes honor my values

The themes of the book touched on things that I have been grappling with my whole life: belonging, reality versus fantasy, the need to connect, and the need to be alone. Writing this story unearthed those themes and gave me new insights on myself. This book reflected my deeper values, which reflect my values. The things we make that mean the most to us will have themes that honor our values. I teach this in my Creative DNA class. Even knowing this, writing from this deep place was therapeutic in ways I didn’t expect.

Savor the joy of writing 

Right away, I felt benefits from the process of writing the story. I chose to write in the third person. This gave me objectivity and critical distance. Seeing myself as a character, I was able to have a broader perspective on myself and the others in the story.

Throughout the month of writing the book, I was buoyed up by an overriding sense of joy. Beyond the integrity value was the richness of honoring my creativity value. I get a lot of joy and creativity at work. But having a creative project fulfilled something beyond my values even. Writing and making art make me ME. Making things is my priority. Being an artist and writer is what I am here to do.

Devoting myself to this project allowed me to earn a sense of joy, a clearer sense of integrity, a therapeutic understanding of myself and my behavior, and so much more.

I hope that when a project surfaces in your consciousness that you follow it. Don’t worry about what others will think. Set aside the perfection and efficiency imperatives. Give yourself a solid deadline. Show up for it and stick with it through the tough parts. It will be worth it!

There is no greater cure for creative block than engaging in one specific project to its completion. You will gain so much from it, I promise.

What resonates with you of what I’ve shared here? Let me know what inspired you in a comment below.

When I set out to write my novel Chasing Sylvia Beach, I had no idea that 13 years would pass before it came out into the world, with the surprising heft of an imagined thing made real.
I’ve been a writer for nearly twenty years and wanted to be one my whole life. I oriented myself early on to the notion that I probably wouldn’t make a lot of money or become famous for my writing.
With this in mind, I learned to love the process and to not bank on the result. As a coach, I believe that every project we work on works us, and that it’s our job to glean satisfaction from the process.
I published the book in late June, and it’s taken a few months to assess the boons. While I have seen my bank account grow, these benefits of writing the book far outweigh the money.

A sense of myself as a persistent person.

I am a person who finishes things. It took twelve years and seventeen drafts, but I did it. This ability to stay with a project despite setbacks and disappointments is a skill that will serve me again and again. I had finished other projects, another book and several e-books, but finishing this seemed like a bigger deal to me.

Integration of my personal and professional work.

A friend read a review copy of CSB. When she finished, she told me that she loved the book and felt inspired by it. She gushed about a new desire to write and was ready to pen her own stories.
I was surprised. Yes. my character wants to write and has her own turnaround to the page and the pen. But it wasn’t until readers got the novel that I saw I am transmitting the same beliefs that are core in my business:

• Dare to live your own creative adventure.
• Write your stories now. 

It’s odd how we can’t see what’s inside us until we put it into form. It’s even more amazing to see how the process of writing a novel was integrated into my business and personal life.
Of course, anything we write that is deeply considered will reflect our essence and the things we’re here to sort out. But it’s cool to see that reflected in our readers.

First-hand knowledge of what it takes to write a novel.

I’ve attempted almost every form of writing: play, screenplay, short story, essay, and poetry. I embarked on a novel because I love reading novels. When I started, I had no idea how to write a novel. I learned from doing it. Now I know much more about plotting, character development, pacing and the very nitty gritty of what to keep and what to leave out of a novel.

Deep, experiential understanding of the full arc of the creative process.

Writing this novel allowed me to test and test again the coaching solutions I provide for my clients. I have a deep knowledge of what it takes to overcome the inevitable roadblocks and distractions we all encounter in our writing and art making.
I know what works for me to get my creative work done and I know how to point clients to their best creative practices. This novel gave me a deep, experiential knowledge of what it takes to experience creative work in a healthy and sane way. Self-care, a solid support system, a physical practice and a deep connection to my motivation were all necessary to stay with it until the very end.

Understanding of the publishing and self-publishing industries.

To bring your work to the world, you have to know that world and its rules. When I was seeking publication for my book, I studied the publishing process: querying agents, preparing pitch materials, and of course, polishing my manuscript until it was perfect.
When I decided to self-publish, I had a lot of learning to do. Making a book includes dozens of decisions to be made and followed up on.
Self-publishing is one of the most dynamic and interesting fields you can be in these days. I’m far from abreast of everything that’s current, but I do follow a few writers who keep me in the loop:

• Jonathan Fields of Tribal Author
• Dan Blank of We Grow Media
• Porter Anderson of Writing on the Ether
• Jane Friedman of Being Human at Electric Speed

What have I missed? What have you seen change in me from finishing this? What are some of your own boons from finishing your big projects? Share your experience in a comment below.

These days, when we have an extra few minutes, we tune into the world instead of tuning into ourselves.

1. Upon awakening, before getting out of bed.
2. In transition – before or after work, grab 15 minutes in the car.
3. While waiting at the post office or anywhere else.
4. At lunch, before or after you eat.
5. On the subway, bus or commuter plane.
6. While the kids are napping.
7. At the gym, write for 7 minutes before your workout to set your mind to your project. Then 8 minutes after to capture the ideas you’ve churned up.
8. While waiting for your pasta to boil.
9. When you’re at that slump point in your day and could use an energy boost.
10. After you’ve left a class and before you go into your other roles.
11. Before you do your ‘real’ writing or creating as a warm up.
12. In the middle of the night when you wake with insomnia.
13. At the kids’ soccer game, dance class, etc.
14. Before bed – though this can be pretty tough.
15. Before or after a difficult conversation, to clear.

What works for you to slip writing in between the cracks of everything else?
Test your ability to write every day. Join us for the Free Write Fling in October. Starts today!

From November of 2010 to May of 2011, I woke almost every day excited to get to work on what I considered the last revision of my novel Chasing Sylvia Beach. On my main writing days – Friday through Monday – I’d make my cappuccino and eagerly log on to get started.
Now, I can’t say I approached all drafts of the novel with this much enthusiasm. Perhaps like me, you may have routinely experienced dread, fear and deep resentment of your project. I certainly didn’t want to do another draft.
I, like you, prefer to do something fun and hedonistic like lie around the pool in my new swimsuit reading someone else’s work.
Instead, I found a way to write my novel that both challenged me to my creative edge and made my book better. What was the secret sauce that sparked me to leap out of bed every morning?

Writing across an ocean

I began collaborating. On the last revision of the book, I worked with a man near Paris to clear up some of the plot problems and to enhance the male characters.

The practical matters of collaborating

It took some time to get our stride with how we were going to work on the project together. A 100,000-word, thirty-three chapter novel is a big beast to manage. One big document, many chapters, hundreds of pages…how to keep it all straight?
1. Google docs We operated not only on different continents, but also on different operating systems. Him, Linux. Me, Mac.
D is a bit software obsessed and tried several different formats so each of us could share and work on the documents.
But the best solution turned out to be google docs. We were able to:

• Share files in one consolidated place
• See and retrieve all previous versions of the documents
• View, edit and comment in full view of the other viewer
• Comment in the sidebar to keep the manuscript itself cleaner
• Easily organize and manage many files in shared folders

2. Gmail We communicated bigger conversations outside the documents easily using gmail. That’s no surprise but email was a major form of communication. I loved waking up to his notes about the book.
3. Dropbox Videos, songs, images and large written documents were all easy to share on our Dropbox folder. It’s free and easy to use.
4. Private site D built a site where he created a gallery of images. We tried to use the project management aspect of this site, but it turns out we didn’t need that. This was a great place to share a gallery of images and documents.
5. Skype We never used the video feature, but we were able to talk for hours (the longest session was nine hours). We could share links and files and look at the documents on google docs to make changes and discuss in real time.
Using these five valuable and free resources, we were able to work together across the ocean for ten months. He helped me develop the male French character in my novel, Paul. He also helped make the Nazi part a bit more menacing and exciting. He’d make suggestions, we’d brainstorm ideas, and I’d write scenes and get his feedback.

Fin

On May 16^th, 2011, I woke up with my usual instinct: get up and see what D had sent during my sleep.
But no. We were done.
We are still friends and we stay in touch, but now that the project is complete, we aren’t in daily contact like we were as collaborators.
I learned so much about my writing and myself through this collaboration. The emotional challenges grew me as a person and the mechanics of partnering challenged me as a writer and businesswoman.

What about you?

There are plenty of collaboration tools out there. I’m not suggesting what we used is the best way; it’s what worked for us to drive the penultimate draft to completion.
You don’t have to be across the ocean from your collaborating partner. You could be in the next office, co-authoring a book that will push your work to a legacy state. It’s never been easier to work together to create something.
What indispensable and perhaps free tools do you use to collaborate with others? For other types of artists, what helps you collaborate with others?
 

In January I invited you to have your best writing year ever. I even showed you how.
Six months later, it’s time for a check-in. Because doing an assessment at the end of the year won’t help you make any course corrections if your writing year is, well, somewhat less than best.
Feel free to read my advice on having your best writing year ever.
Then come and answer these coaching inquiries:
How well are you holding your focus? 100%? 50%? Hardly at all?
If you’re holding your focus:
How is your progress meeting your expectations and goals?
What needs to be adjusted for a more satisfying year?
If you haven’t held your writing focus for the year:
What are you giving your time to instead?
This is not an exercise designed to give your inner critic a reason to party, nah nah nah you, or recite his annoying refrain: “I told you so.”
This is a chance to take an honest and kind look at how your writing is going, notice what you’d like to change, and have at it – do what you need to do to celebrate 2012 as your best writing year ever.
I’d love to hear how it’s going. Leave a comment below to share your satisfying progress.

You hear a lot of buzz about values. But what are they and how can they contribute to writing your book? I recently wrote about the deep link between your values and your themes.

In this article we’ll look at three specific ways your values can help you connect with your readers.

Consider your book a conversation leader

Recently I went to see Kodro Rinzler talk about his book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar at the Tattered Cover in Denver. I participated in a conversation he facilitated about meditation, relationships and awareness.

It reminded me that my novel Chasing Sylvia Beach isn’t just a story I want to share; it’s a vehicle for me to lead conversations about things that matter to me and my readers.

In my leadership training, my leader edge became clear: I am here to lead and engage in meaningful conversations. I do that in my coaching, in my speaking, in my writing and in my classes.

Knowing the values inherent in my book allows me to know the subjects of the conversations I am leading.
Knowing your values and themes will help you connect with readers who also share these values and resonate with your themes.

Sum it up with heart

Do you cringe when someone asks what your book is about? Every author has to develop a pithy and catchy response to this question.

It seems the pitch or elevator speech for your book can reach listeners more easily from a theme and value-based approach rather than a plot line approach. Notice the difference between these two:

It’s a book about a young woman who travels through time to Paris 1937 and has to befriend her literary heroine in order to find her way home.

It’s a book about finding your voice in order to find your way home.

Neither of them are bad. But the values-based pitch is connecting with readers on an emotional, not intellectual level. Resonating with readers who share your values will be more satisfying for both of you.

I share the specific plot and if the person is interested in more, I broach the themes. This provides a way to connect to what’s meaningful in the book for you and for them.

Stoke your inner fire to keep going

Use your values to spur you on in your writing. Over the 13 years it has taken to write Chasing Sylvia Beach, I used my value of curiosity to drive me through the rough spots where I wanted to give up.

Curiosity helped me want to know a) what was going to happen in the story and b) what will happen when the book comes out. If I had decided to give up the book, I would not have given myself the chance to see what’s on the other side of all the time I invested.
These are just three ways to use values to connect with your readers. The more clarity you have with your values, the easier it will be to discuss your book.

How do you use your values to connect and stay connected to writing your book?