There are moments when I forget that writing is a long game. Months can be wrapped up in the editing process or trying to find a market for the work you’ve spent every waking moment putting together. In the midst of all the other tasks that go into the business side of writing what happens to the actual writing?
Balancing the craft with the real world.
Every step of the process is important. There’s no getting around it. (Much as I would like to.) Unless we’re pulling in major publishing contracts and everything is handled by much smarter people than us we have to accept the fact that sometimes writing takes a back seat.
The real world wins out. If we don’t spend the right amount of time editing our work suffers and readers don’t enjoy it. If we don’t market our book, find ways to promote our precious creation, then no one will ever see it.
Reality dictates that we need to break out of our shell and speak to the work you’ve already finished. Self-promotion is, well, not my strong suit and I can imagine it is the same for quite a few of us wordsmiths out there. But spreading the word to others, keeping the Twitter feed updated with the latest and greatest, helps in the long game of making writing a full time gig.
Constant Distractions
I have had the same task on my weekly To-Do list for the last month. It isn’t a tough task. A simple self-edit that shouldn’t be plaguing me the way it has been.
Why haven’t I done it? Because I distract myself with the dozen other things that come with my job. Last month I launched The Greystone Saga Volume One, a digital collection of the first two books in the Greystone series. Books I’ve already written, edited, published.
It shouldn’t have been too difficult to put out in the world, right?
That is where “Marketing Man” comes into play. There are social media posts to write and publish at different times. There are newsletter swaps with my ever growing circle of writer compatriots to spread the word about the release. On top of that are the other promotional opportunities to get the book in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
Lots of scheduling, lots of planning, all of which ends up sucking time away from the work.
So how do we KEEP WRITING?
Writing Discipline
My work day is split between an hour in the afternoon (NAP TIME, WOOHOO!) and an hour at night. Weekends are my bread and butter in terms of productivity. So I created a schedule to keep writing at the forefront.
The small windows are built for marketing and promotional jobs. This blog, for one, falls into the category. It allows me to stretch my writing muscles but in small enough increments that I accomplish something before my kiddos wake or before I crash (way too early for someone my age but oh well…)
Weekends have become my writing haven. Eight to ten hours of non-stop plotting, scripting and drafting. It takes a bit to get back into the swing of things and it isn’t ideal for the creative process, but it is what I have to work with at the moment.
Taking a break…
Someone recently told me to take some time off and rest up after a few bouts of the fantastic summer cold that knocks me down annually. I told them I couldn’t, wouldn’t.
There is a fear of stopping, of walking away before the work is finished. Most don’t understand it. There are words in my head and if I don’t get them on the page they might never line up the same way again. That scares the holy hell out of me. What if I miss something? What if I forget that perfect first sentence or that closing moment of perfection to sum up the entire series?
These are real concerns running through the back of my mind. On top of the actual writing and the editing and the publishing and the marketing.
A writing discipline comes from DOING THE WORK. Yes, there will be off days but we don’t get breaks like most do. We can’t afford them when there are too many stories left to tell, too many incredible tales yet to weave for you to read.
Final thoughts…
Use the time available to you. Make the most of it. Every second of it. Pound away at that keyboard and make it happen.
Then do it again tomorrow.
Make something great.
And thanks for reading.
