Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. —Albert Einstein
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I’ve mentioned over the past few weeks that my husband and I have moved to a new home. It’s been a long, hard effort, but now we’re in the new place and trying to regain some sense of normalcy.
One thing getting back to normal means is writing a post for TKZ. So now, I sit at my desk, surrounded by towers of boxes and ponder what I should write about while the aroma of fresh cardboard and packing tape wafts through the house. Since I do so love analogies about writing, there’s my subject: How are moving and writing related.
The Big Adventure
Moving starts as an adventure. Maybe it’s a new job or a better living situation or some other reason to change addresses. There’s a lot of anticipation mixed with a little anxiety. Lists are made, forms are ordered, lots of organization is put in place. Whatever the reason, the excitement builds as moving day nears.
Same with a new novel. A great idea suddenly crystallizes and you realize you have a theme for a new book. The best yet. You begin to draft out character sketches and a general plot line. You set up Scrivener for the new work and put together a project plan with a schedule. You stand at the mountaintop looking over the landscape and imagine the journey ahead.
The Trek Goes On … and On
If you’re lucky, you’ll hire a moving company to pack and move everything. But what’s the adventure in that? To keep the analogy with writing, you’ll have to do your own packing. You go through the house and decide what can be given away, sold, or stored. You order packing materials and spend weeks knee deep in boxes, bubble wrap, and permanent markers. But it’s taking longer than you thought, and the whole task of packing boxes has become hard work. You have to decide what to keep and what to let go. At some point, you ask yourself “Whose idea was this, anyway?”
Writing is a little less physically demanding. Day after day, you pack Scrivener with new scenes, and your creativity is firing on all cylinders. Finally, you’re deep into the story. Then you hit a wall, and you back up to look at what you’ve accomplished so far. It’s just a mess, and you have to decide what to throw away. You can keep everything, but then your new story will be a jumble of scenes rather than a carefully crafted book, so a serious pruning job is in order.
Persistence Pays Off
That’s when it hits you. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. But you’ve already invested heavily in the story or the move, so you keep going forward. Not quite as excited, but shoulder to the wheel. The message in your head is no longer “Woo-hoo,” but more like “Put one foot in front of the other.”
It seems like ages before those boxes are all packed or the chapters are written. The movers come and transfer all the furniture to the new place. You have a fully finished first draft. It still doesn’t look so pretty, but at least you’re beginning to see the story behind the jumble.
Revision
So now you move into unpacking mode, putting things where they belong, discarding boxes, and cleaning up. In a novel, this would be the final draft. Rearranging the chapters and rewriting.
The work is long and sometimes boring. But occasionally you’ll stumble onto some little artifact that makes you realize how nice the finished product will be. It takes forever to unpack, fit things into their new environment, and get the household in order.
Slowly, day by day, the pieces begin to fit together to form a cohesive whole. The house is set, the novel is written, and the job is done.
The End … for now
It’s time to sip champagne, take a short rest, and then get to work on marketing.
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So TKZers: How do you deal with the confusion that surrounds moving or writing? Do you keep plugging away knowing everything will come out well? How do you celebrate when the big move or book release is over?
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Spunky 10-year-old Reen and her shy, 9-year-old cousin Joanie never stop moving while they hunt for a treasure left by the mysterious Mr. Shadow. Along the way, they learn the value of persistence, teamwork, and fair play.
Click the image to go to the Amazon book page.
Congratulations on your new home! I hope you are enjoying it, and will for years to come. We’ve moved ten times during our marriage, some for jobs, others for something better. We have it down to a system, which is the same way I write. A different house and yard (or no yard) require different things, so I make lists. Life (and my husband) sometimes mean changes are necessary, but in the midst of upheaval, I need something to make me think I’m in control. Same with writing. New idea = new spiral notebook where I make a style sheet on the inside front cover and fill it in with people and place names. The first page is for people, and the rest is for scenes as they come to me. Just as the moving boxes are labeled with room and contents and I deal with one at a time, I type each scene into the computer, then cross it off in the notebook. Hmm, I just realized this makes me sound like I’d be a plotter, but I’m so not. Anyway, I’m happy you’re settled and your new routine has started.
Good morning, Becky! That’s a great system you have for starting a new book. It sure does sound like a plotter!
Like you say, changes are necessary, and it’s best to just get it done, one day / box at a time.
Have a great week.
Congratulations on the new move. The best thing about moving is being done with it. LOL!
Hi Brenda!
You’re right. The best thing is getting it over with. This move has disrupted my writing time so much, I’m glad to be getting back into the groove.
We moved to Colorado 15 years ago and decided this would be our last move. Some days I wonder if I’m writing my last book. I’m at that ’30K hit the wall’ stage, but if you want to find things, you have to unpack them and find places to put them. Thanks for the encouragement — although after 30-something books, you’d think I’d get over it.
Morning, Terry.
Unless something very unexpected happens, this will be our last move.
“30-something books.” I’m in awe!
Have a good week.
Wonderful analogy, Kay! “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all” is totally true with every book and major life change.
But your in process photos look neater and more organized than our house does after living here for almost 40 years. I’m envious 😉
Hope you enjoy your new home and write many more books there!
Morning Debbie, and thanks for the good wishes.
Those in process pics don’t really do justice to the chaos. There were moments when I just went outside for a walk to get away from it all. But the weather’s so hot here, it drove me back in!
Have a great week.
Whew! Congratulations on completing your move, Kay! That can be monumental task for sure. We had a tiny taste of it having to tackle our garage yesterday, clearing things out around the furnace and wall for a new air exchanger as part of the new heat pump system being installed today.
I just returned from parking our two cars down the street to the give the crew amply space to park their vehicles.
I think moving and writing a novel have a lot in common. You can plan all you want, but unexpected challenges and problems will pop up that you’ll have to deal with, and improvise solutions.
Hope you have a great week in your new house!
Good morning, Dale,
“You can plan all you want, but unexpected challenges and problems will pop up that you’ll have to deal with, and improvise solutions.” So true. Although we can expect the unexpected in all areas of life, moving seems to have more than its fair share.
Good luck with that new heat pump system. Home maintenance is another area that can be burdensome.
Congrats, Kay! We don’t plan to ever move. Only feet first… 😉
Great analogy. I have small notebooks I carry around so I can jot stuff down. You never know when a character or scene idea will smuck you in the face…
Have an awesome day!
Morning, Deb.
A traveling notebook is a great idea. Staying in one place is another one!
Have a good week.
What a great analogy, Kay. I’ve started a new story, brainstormed plot point and resolution ideas. All so very exciting. Yet, staring at the many horizons to travel and climb, I’m also feeling a bit intimidated by all that lies ahead. I’m also rereading my previous story, after a few months rest and read too by a couple of readers. I found forgotten boxes that need unpacking.
You found even more analogies between moving and writing, Lisa.
Those forgotten boxes need to be unpacked and folded into the story. 🙂
Have a great writing week.
I’ve moved more times than I care to remember from a very early age. It’s never fun. However, one very satisfying event is unpacking boxes of books and greeting each one like an old friend. Hidden forgotten treasures always pop up, and familiar memorized favorites whose pages I don’t need to turn to read. I looked in the box photo at the top of the post to see what writing books you have and noted that I have them all, too, in either paper format or electronic. It made me feel like a member of a secret society.
Hi Joe,
“one very satisfying event is unpacking boxes of books and greeting each one like an old friend.” Very perceptive of you. It was something of a sentimental journey to find some well-loved books that were stored away and hadn’t been read for years.
I was going to use a photo of a moving van at the top of the post, but when I opened the box with some of my writing books, I decided that would be the perfect lead-in. They are my mentors and good friends. Maybe we need a secret electronic handshake for our society. 🙂
I haven’t moved in 30 years and am resisting my daughter’s urging to move to Florida. Just the thought of it makes me tired. But the analogy to writing is spot on!
Love the new photo, Patricia!
One thing I’ve always appreciated about moving is it forces me to clean out all the stuff we don’t need.
Good luck on making that decision. It’s a big one.
I enjoyed reading your description of moving but my process includes a couple extra steps.
During the excitement phase of the new adventure I swear an oath that this time I will go through every closet and every box in the rafters and create two piles; one pile to move and the other to be purged.
On move-day-minus-one, I finally accept that everything will be moved BUT when I arrive, every box will be opened and the contents sorted into two piles.
The fact that after living in our current house for 45 years there are still boxes stacked in the garage in unopened cartons with the mover’s logo on the side, is a testament to how seriously I take my oaths. Further, I am still in denial regarding the possibility that after 45 years, if I haven’t needed whatever has been stored there, it may not be that critical. Would the writer’s analogy of this be to kill my darlings?
Hahaha. I think we must be related! I make those same promises to myself. Also, I declare I will not put anything into a cabinet or closet or onto a shelf unless I’ve thought it through. I admit my guilt.
Maybe you should put those unopened boxes in storage. Someday someone will buy that storage container and receive all the darlings. 🙂
Congratulations, Kay. Not only did you move, you got a blog out of it, too. Don and I just move to a new condo, and it was a mess. Still sorting things out. Enjoy your new home.
I remember you said you were moving a few weeks ago. There’s a certain brother/sisterhood in this shared experience.
Hope all is going well for you.