Happy New Year, everyone!
Are you into resolutions? Starting something new with the new year?
For me, although it’s not new, it’s fiction writing. So it’s more of a return to something. After my last novel came out in September, 2022 (“Ten Days in May”), I took a long break from writing. Well over a year, in fact. Through the books (and the years), I’ve taken longer breaks between manuscripts. I marvel at how I used to write a book a year while working a full-time job. Now I’m mostly retired and I’m writing a book every couple of years. Go figure!
So if you’re diving back into writing after a long break (because hey, life gets in the way more often than we would like), I’ve got some tips that have helped ease the transition for me.
1) Routine. Start a writing routine, even if it’s only thirty minutes a day. Or thirty minutes every other day. Whatever routine you choose, be sure to pace yourself. There may be days when your thirty minutes of writing balloons to two hours, and that’s great. But be aware of your pace so that you’re not later feeling guilty for writing because you didn’t get that cake baked for tomorrow night’s dinner.
2) Trust yourself. If you’ve been away from your keyboard or pen for a while, you might feel like you’ve forgotten how to write fiction. You may feel like you’ve forgotten how to write anything other than a shopping list! Read one of your writerly how-to books from your collection (yes, we all have those) first if it makes you comfortable. But when it comes to doing the actual writing, as your fingers start to dance over the keyboards, your earlier writing knowledge will come back to you, I promise. It won’t be all at once, but it’s there, waiting to emerge. Trust that what you’ve learned is still there.
3) Start with something easy. This might be a short story, or a chapter for your future novel, or even just an outline. Write something you enjoy. What will keep you procrastinating from writing is if you bite off more than you can chew. Think of it like this: If you were just starting back to the gym after being a lazy slug for two years, you would hurt yourself if you tried to pick right back up from where you left your muscles at the gym two years ago.
4) Set realistic goals. If you’re a writer who needs deadlines or word counts to help hold yourself accountable and to stay motivated, by all means, go for it. But don’t get carried away. You will only feel like a failure if your goal is too big for you at this moment.
5) Discipline yourself. I know, I know. There’s that thing called the Internet attached to your computer. Don’t do it! Don’t be distracted by the lure of checking your email, the latest news, or worse yet, computer games. Bring an egg timer into your office if you have to. Set thirty minutes or an hour on it and promise yourself that for that amount of time, you will write and not mess around on the computer. After that, you can have your reward.
6) Have fun. Write something fun once in awhile that has nothing to do with your current work-in-progress. Play some music while you’re writing or light a nice scented candle. Get comfy, make your favourite tea or coffee or snack. You want to look forward to your writing time, which also means, don’t be too hard on yourself. Enjoy writing. It’s supposed to be fun, remember?
