Lessons from 2014

by Clare Langley-Hawthorne

It’s hard to believe that this will be my last blog post for 2014 – the year has gone way too quickly! At this time of year I always find myself ‘ruminating’ over the year in terms of my writing and realizing (yet again) that I never do achieve all the goals I set in January. I didn’t ever reach my ‘words per day’  writing quota and, although I have a new book out on submission with editors, I didn’t manage to write two books this year – more like fragments of about 1 and 3/4:) 

But taking my cue from Jim’s post yesterday on his Nanowrimo  experience, I thought I’d take stock of the year that is almost past and think about what I learned (rather than setting off 2015 with a whole new set of unrealistic goals!)

So….what did I actually learn this year?

  1. I write the way I write. No point trying to impose early morning regimes or daily writing quotas – I just have to make sure my bum hits the seat each day and let myself go where the writing takes me. Some nights I’m going to write into the early hours of the morning, others I’m going to binge watch ‘The Good Wife’ instead…that’s just how I roll…
  2. That being said, I’m a planner and outlines are critical. For every book I start I now draft an outline, a proposal and sample chapters to run past my agent. This not only helps focus my work but also enables me to get valuable input before I become too enmeshed (and perhaps too enamored) with an idea.
  3. Scrivener is an awesome tool but I still somehow find myself copying the manuscript over into Word at the end for final revisions…maybe I still need to work on weaning myself off the old ways:)
  4. Deadlines are necessary. Self-imposed deadlines are mandatory – ditto for conference calls and face-to-face meetings with my agent. 
  5. I have to respect my creative process – and recognize that extra volunteer work (like being the PTCO president at my twins’ elementary school) seems to sap me of creative strength – so I need to impose limits on this (otherwise I have nothing left to put into the writing). Not sure why that is – but that’s just the way I am and I have to accept that.
  6. I also have to accept that I will never be satisfied with my output – I always want things to be finished faster or achieved quicker. I now have to set that aside and honor the work that has been completed rather than constantly berating myself for what hasn’t. 
  7. There really is no point in worrying about all the elements you cannot control (so why do I still try?!)
  8. And finally, I learned this year that my best writing happens when I relax and have fun. That’s when my true creative voice shines through:)…You’d have thought I would have realized that by now…but no:)…

So, as 2014 draws to a close what have you learned about your writing process?


17 thoughts on “Lessons from 2014

  1. I also am most creative while relaxed and having fun, discussing real life events. That’s why my fiction writing is falling so way behind.

    I’ve decided to take up live roleplay or cosplay at some point, hoping this will inspire me to move forward or at least have something to write that really happened, even if I was wearing a costume and making believe.

    • Diane, if you think that roleplay might help stimulate the creative juices, I know of a great forum dedicated to the art of written roleplay. If you google Iwaku you’ll find it in a click. You can find me there as Hummingwren. Gettign away for real to LARP or COSPlay can be difficult to schedule, but a bit of written RP with another mind is sometimes the perfect solution.

  2. Clare,thanks for the reality check. I needed that.

    I follow this blog site to be inspired, but sometimes (often) I am depressed because I don’t have more time to give to writing. I like your theme of accepting who we are and our limitations. Fil Anderson, in BREAKING ALL THE RULES, discussed celebrating our “brokenness.” It certainly helps with our mental health.

    I can identify with #5, protecting my creative strength. When I start something creative, I focus on that with little ability to concentrate on other projects. Images of Asimov running from one typewriter to another, working on multiple stories, amazes me. I just can’t do that. So it’s good to hear other writers have similar limitations. Let’s just call it super focus.

    Thanks for the post.

    • Glad you like the reality check and yes, this year, I really have had to accept who I am as a writer and learn to deal with my limitations but also I wrote something that my agent thought was the best thing I’d ever done – so I’m focusing on that too:)

  3. 1. I need by butt in a chair first thing in the morning and the internet off.
    2. Learning craft drains creative energy. Schedule the learning. Does not apply to reading craft books.
    3. Early recognition interferes with writing the next books. Put it away in a drawer for safekeeping and revert to #1.
    4. People drain me. Volunteer work with junior high kids is, too, only in spades. Surprisingly, so does running. Running does help with ideation.

    Missed on book word count, over the top on other writing, so I scaled back blogging. Running a marathon in 85 degree weather at 8200′ of altitude will lead to a Personal Worst. Still had fun.

    Clare, you might check out a book called “Willpower” by Tierney and Baumeister. They have a term, ego depletion, that would fit the effect of volunteer work on creative energy.

    • I will definitely have to check that book out as I have been berating myself for not doing either thing as well as I’d like (volunteering or writing) and yet I think it’s because I pour creative energy into everything I do (especially being a mom too – so I guess there’s just not enough creative energy to go around!).

  4. Good post, Clare. This year, I learned when to fold. I gave up a successful series that still had another book on the contract to write a novel I really want to do. It’s a big risk financially and professionally, and I’m not a good risk taker, but I think it’s necessary.

  5. Elaine – you are the best judge of when it’s time to change and you have to write the book you are passionate about. Good luck!

  6. Clare–
    #7, not worrying about what I can’t control–I think I would put that at the top of my list. So many factors enter into bringing out an indie novel. Of course I have to do my best, be as vigilant as possible about maintaining standards, and collaborate with solid professionals who can be my allies in terms of editing, cover design, etc. But in the end, a great deal of what becomes of a book–or doesn’t become of it–is a crap shoot. I think I am now more prepared to accept this as a simple reality, instead of letting it get to me.
    The second thing on my own list has to do with interactions on websites like TKZ. At some point last summer, I caught myself pulling my punches, complimenting a blog post that I didn’t agree with, in order to be a team player. But assuming I minded my manners (always a must), I came to think that sites for grownups like this one would not object to someone expressing a differing opinion. So far, that has proved to be the case, both here and elsewhere.

    • Dear Mr. Knister, I am glad you are open and even blunt in your opinions. I know it has reminded me to pause and consider the ideas that race through my head.

      You remind me a great deal of a college professor I had. He was one I still think of with profound respect, though we rarely saw things from the same side. He made me think about where I was standing.

      Thank you for making me think.

    • Wren–thank you. Perhaps it was you I had in mind when I spoke of “expressing a differing opinion.” I was pretty hard on you, and later felt a (small) twinge, because you were new to TKZ. And if I remind you of your college professor, I must own up: guilty as charged. College teaching was my bag for a very long time.

  7. Main thing I learned this past year, is that some books simply cannot be done by the seat of your pants.

    My primary hurdle jumper that helped was to roll out a ten foot long piece of butcher’s paper and draw out a long three part outline in a visual manner that I could see all at once and add notes to as needed. Best thing ever.

Comments are closed.