Write Anyway

As I sit in my PJ's and begin drafting this post between breakfast and a writing project and work, I feel the swirl of words sliding through my veins, begging to spill out. (Or maybe it's the coffee I had this morning providing me with a boost of energy. Either way.) The writing mood has hit me again. If I had my druthers today, I would not open the front door. I would stay parked in my chair, fingers on the keyboard, and I would wing my way to another world.


Unfortunately, I don't have the time. In less than two hours, I'll head to work. Before then, I need to shower, pack a meal, and maybe work on a little nonfiction project because I have a deadline. The writing mood may linger, but with no outlet, it will settle in the back of my mind and wait for inspiration to stir it up again.


When I come home at 8 pm, my brain will likely be too tired to string together pretty sentences. And so I hold out hope for tomorrow, during which I may have a few spare hours in which to write.


But there is no guarantee that I'll be in the mood.


During high school, I found ways to write even when the week was full of schoolwork and youth group and chores and other things. I thought I was busy then, but I made the effort to write anyways. I loved it too much to not write.


I feel even busier now. Twenty- to thirty-hour weeks, blogging, social outings, family time, and all the random bits of life . . . Writing happens less often now. I'm coming to accept that, but it does mean that if I want to write at all, I have to utilize my spare time--whether or not I feel like it.


I don't know how you feel about writing, whether it's a hobby or something you want to do for a living. If you, like me, want to make it a career, then we must treat it like a job. Not in a joy-sucking, "I'm obligated to do this" sort of way, but in a persistent way.


Your muse isn't cooperating? Doesn't matter. Write. Lacking inspiration? Just write. Your thoughts are too bland and listless to arrange themselves nicely on the page? Write out those bland and listless words anyway. Some days you have to give yourself permission to write junk. At least you're writing.

"I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card . . . and somehow the activity of writing changes everything." -Joyce Carol Oates

Of course you need breaks. I'm not saying go burn yourself out. You may need that evening off to watch your favorite show, or that week to just read and sketch and wander through the trees and refill your well of inspiration. Please put the writing aside when necessary.


But a lot of the time, when you feel like doing anything but staring at a blank page, that's exactly what you need to do. The act of putting pen to paper or fingers to keys may be just the thing to wake up the ideas. Muses are flighty creatures. Yours may be off sulking in a corner right now, but if you start writing, it might get curious and slink up to your shoulder again. Then again, it might not. But if you write long enough, whether it be minutes or hours or days or weeks, the inspiration will come back. By writing consistently, you're forming a habit. The mood might start arriving more consistently then, too.

"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on." -Louis L'Amour

For me, I'm realizing that 'consistent' does not--cannot--mean something like, "On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I will write for three hours," or "I will write a minimum of 100 words a day." I wish it did. But the way life is right now, very few activities land on the exact same day at the exact time, every time. My schedule morphs on a daily basis. So although it's harder to hold myself accountable under these circumstances, I have to take stock every day and determine if/when I have time to write. And then I aim to do it. Sometimes other tasks take longer, or I discover upon reaching my writing time that I truly don't have anything to put on the page. And sometimes I read blogs and check email when I should be writing. I'm human. Discipline is something I'm learning.


The important thing is to show up.


And show up again.


And show up again.


Write. Write glorious pages upon pages of flowing script, or write one measly paragraph that clunks onto the page like an unwieldy cement block. Write passionate, inspired scenes, or write the most boring chapter you've ever penned. Whatever it looks like today, write anyway!


(Editing, after all, fixes everything. But that's another post altogether.)

Beautiful People - 2016 plans

It's time for Beautiful People! I've missed doing these link-ups. I skipped the last three months, partially due to the Nano focus of the questions, but at last I'm participating again.


This round of questions is about writing plans and goals, which is perfectly timed. On my way home from the city earlier this week, I was talking out loud to myself and making plans for this year's writing. (What? You guys don't talk to yourself when you're driving alone?) They're rather ambitious, and I have to wonder if it's insane to ask so much of myself, especially when 2016 is full of so many unknowns. But I want to aim high, and if Life has other ideas, so be it. Contrary to my usual thinking, goals can be adjusted.

Hosted by the lively gals Cait & Sky!

What were your writing achievements last year?

I finished up a couple rounds of edits on book 1. I read over book 2, outlined a new version of it, and had way too much fun masterminding stuff about the series as a whole. I completed a novella-sized retelling of Sleeping Beauty and entered it in the Five Magic Spindles writing contest. I also helped both my brother and a friend of mine edit their entries.

Tell us about your top priority writing project for this year.

I have three, actually! And now's as good a time as any to whip out my 2016 Writing Goals.


January: Finish editing book 1.

February: Begin querying agents for book 1. (Yipes!) Review the outline of book 2 and do some research.

March-May: Draft book 2.

June: Draft Rooglewood entry.

July: Edit Rooglewood entry and send it off. (I'd like to be much more on the ball this year, so I'm going to try finishing it in two months. Two and a half, tops.)

August-December: Finish drafting book 2, and if I've actually managed to meet my monthly goals, I'd like to do a round or two of edits on it as well.

So to directly answer the question, my writing priorities are books 1 & 2 plus a fairy tale novella. Because these plans must be balanced with things called Work and (very hopefully) School, I'm trying to remember to take my own advice and have grace for myself if circumstances change and crowd out writing.

List 5 areas you’d like to work the hardest to improve this year.

Efficiency. I'd like to write more often, and write better when I do write. Even if all I can do is a little bit here and there, I want to be more consistent.

Moving forward. I'd like book 1 to be ready for the next phase.

Writing first drafts that aren't littered with dragon-sized plot holes. It's been about four-ish years since I've actually written a first draft for my fantasy series, and the most recent was possibly one of my worst. But I've grown since then, and I know a lot more about my fantasy world, so maybe the new book 2's first draft will be more structurally sound. We can hope.

Continuing to cultivate my writing craft in general. One should never stop growing, after all.

Poetry. I wrote only seven poems last year, but I'd like to do more this year. Stretch my poet muscles. Try new techniques.

Are you participating in any writing challenges?

Only if you count the annual Rooglewood Press contest. Nano might be a possibility this year, but I'm not putting any expectations on myself.

What’s your critique partner/beta reader situation like and do you have plans to expand this year?

I stumbled into a wonderful Pack of writer gals online a year and a half ago, and have since had the pleasure of beta reading a number of their stories. Some of the girls have been betas for me too, which is heaps of fun. (My goodness, that sounds British: heaps of fun.) I'm quite content with my current situation, so no, I don't have expansion plans.

Do you have plans to read any writer-related books this year? Or are there specific books you want to read for research?

Finish Gail Carson Levine's "Writer to Writer," which I started last year. I've heard that "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon is good, so maybe that too? I don't have many specific titles in mind. I'll probably look for some good books on mental illness (specifically delusion-related stuff, though there's probably a nicer word for that). I have a character whose parents believe he's crazy, resulting in psychologist appointments. I'd like to at least sound like I know what I'm talking about.

Pick one character you want to get to know better, and how are you going to achieve this?

Basically my entire supporting cast of book 2! Aileen's and Josiah's family members. The Shifters, a group of five elementals. Rex Nelson, the pilot. Yeah. Basically everyone. I'll get to know them better by writing their story and doing character sketches.

Do you plan to edit or query, and what’s your plan of attack?

Some of both. See question #2. As for a plan of attack . . . with editing, it'll be the usual process. With querying--well, that's a whole new arena for me. So I have no idea!

Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”  What are the books that you want to see more of, and what “holes” do you think need filling in the literary world?

More clean, excellent fantasy. Whether it's Christian or not is almost besides the point. I want to see good fantasy--without all the foul language and sleazy content so many of them seem to carry.

More steampunk, because the genre is awesome and quite underrated.

And I don't know if this is a hole, exactly . . . But I want to see an off-kilter story that plays with mind. One part crazed humor, one part creepy, and one part deeply hidden meaning. I have something like this cooking in my brain, but it'll be a while before it's ready to be written.

What do you hope to have achieved by the end of 2016?

I hope to have book 1 actually, for real complete--and if all goes well, I want to either have an agent or at least be actively querying. I hope to have another fairy-tale novella completed, and I also want to have book 2 drafted. Somewhat edited too, if I have the time. Like I said before, it really depends on how these next several months pan out.

If nothing else, I want to be able to look back on 2016 and say that I made good use of the writing time I had. (But if I'm honest, I'd really, really like that whole querying thing to . . . you know, be a thing.)

What do you think? Insane or doable? (Wait . . . don't answer that.) What are your writing plans for the year?

New Adventures

It's a new day, the second in a brand new year. And although some may argue that we've merely put a new calendar on the wall, I think that here in the confines of time, as humans we like to mark definite starts and finishes. We like to think that two nights ago at midnight, we closed one book and in the next minute opened a new one rife with possibilities gleaming on blank pages.


And so we did.


And so we do tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. To a smaller degree, perhaps--but each day is fresh. God's mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.


Many of us, giddy with the idea of a fresh slate entitled 2016, make resolutions and goals for the year. Stats say only a small percentage actually reach those goals. Don't get me wrong; I love goals! But let me just encourage you to strive for this delicate balance:


Dream big.


Savor the small moments.


Start each day with thanks.


Forgive. Forgive yourself, forgive the humans in your life. We're all imperfect. Forgive the world for whatever bad turn it may have given you. Know that your Father is in the business of making beauty out of brokenness.


Divide your lofty goals into chunks, little milestones that you can celebrate along the way. The way to reach them truly is one step at a time.


Go for your goals, yes; but have grace for yourself along the way.


You cannot give what you do not have--ground yourself in God's love more than ever before, and watch as it overflows into the lives of those around you.


As the quest of 2016 commences, I'm so blessed that our paths intersect here! May the road be straight before your feet. May you happen upon unexpected beauty along the way. May you have the strength to scale the mountains and the perseverance to cross the valleys. Sally forth, warriors! The best is yet to come.


P.S. I like to be a polite little blogger and cite the sources of the pictures I use, but these two I found a long time ago and merely saved to my computer without marking down where I found them.