Keeping the Magic Going

I love writing retreats. In my busy life with my work, home, dogs, garden, more dogs, canning and preserving, kayaking, building, wood spilting, and spending time with friends and family, it can be hard to find dedicated extended periods of time to work on my novel.  

Spending a week with writing friends and getting up early every morning to write all day and into the evening feels like stepping into a different world. Not to mention, talking and brainstorming ideas with people who are also passionate about writing and want to help each other write the best possible story. Returning home can feel a little like leaving the magical world of Oz.  

How can you keep the magic flowing for your writing? Or maybe you haven’t had the opportunity for a writing retreat and want to find a way to inspire you to write more consistently. How can you get that magic flowing? 

I recently returned from a week of writing in Haliburton. I worked through the first part of my novel, revising the first 32 scenes, removing exposition and making sure every scene was working. I needed more time! But I wasn’t going to find another week for at least several more months—so how do I keep this magic flowing with my schedule of writing for only short periods of time every morning?  

I decided to try to find a way to keep me inspired. Here is what I did and I hope these ideas may help you in finding your own secret spells to keep that magic flowing.

First step was to re-dedicate myself to writing every morning. From my experiment earlier in the summer (see my previous blog), I had found motivation and how writing every day improved both my creativity and my productivity. I had dedicated 15 minutes during my experiment and after the results, I had increased to 30 minutes. Could I increase this further by 45 minutes? This would mean waking up at 5:30 am. Yes, absolutely, I told myself. I set my alarm.

Second step: create a list of what I wanted to accomplish for next month and in as much detail as possible. It is not enough to write as a goal: “Finish novel”. I have learned through building projects to break down the steps to the smallest unit possible and make a list of each step. 

Take the time to read through your work in progress with the view of creating this list and resist the urge to “edit” while reading. The purpose of reading is not to edit (not even typos!) but to make your list: this is what I will work on when I wake up at 5:30 am. Here’s an example list: 

• Write Scene 33 from each character POV to better clarify the scene and each person’s motivation (5 characters – do 1 character per morning = 1 week)
• Map out the location for the story setting (2 mornings)
• Research about a particular topic for the story (2 mornings)
• Write a short description of the next 1-2 sequence after scene 33 (1 sequence per morning)
• Make a scene list for sequence above (1 morning)
• Write the 3-4 scenes in the sequences (1 scene per morning to get a starting draft of each scene)

Third step: I built in transition time from retreat to normal life. This was 3 days from Friday to Sunday. I wrote out a schedule for those 3 days and included 2 hours of writing time in that schedule and stuck to it. I was tempted to do laundry, clean the house, pick and can more tomatoes, but instead I made myself do the following: 

Wake up and write for 1 hour; walk the dogs; write for another hour; then I turned myself over the huge list of house chores. WARNING: It’s going to be difficult because writing is hard and it’s sometimes easier to work on the household chores “to do” list rather than writing.  

I reminded myself that this is resistance: the same resistance that all of us face when thinking about getting more exercise, eat healthier, or practice a new skill. I told myself that I have the entire rest of the day after 10 am to do my chore list. I focused on the writing and creating the list under step 2.   

If you haven’t had a chance to do a writing retreat, this might be a good step to getting excited about your novel again. Try dedicating 2 to 3 days in a row with 2 hours each day (ideally with a walk in between the 2 hours sessions) to get your brain re-engaged with your novel. Make the list of the work you need to do for the next month.  

Forth step: Accountability. I have started to keep a log of my writing time. At the top of my novel, I have a log page (I use Scrivener so it’s easy to add a folder labelled “log” at the top). After every session, I write the date, the time I dedicated to writing and record a very brief description of what I accomplished during my writing time. This can be number of words, or number of scenes edited, or research done. I keep it short (this isn’t another novel!) to one line. Find a way to keep you accountable to your goals. At the end of the month, I review my log. It’s great to see what I’ve managed to accomplish over a month even with short writing sessions in the morning.   

Fifth step: Make goals and reassess after 1 month. If your goal is to write for 45 minutes each day and get through your to-do list, now is a good time to check in and see how you’ve done. Cross off what you’ve done on your list, add to it and change it as needed. Celebrate what you were able to accomplish in the previous month. Give yourself a reward. I like to make both short term goals (my writing list) and medium length goals (I want to have completed a first draft by a certain date) and longer term goals (get published!).  

Writing a novel is difficult and time consuming work. We do this because we have a story we need to tell. That story is important. Having a list with realistic and achievable steps and goals can help motivate us when the alarm goes off at 5:30 am.

Happy writing!