This can be a tough time of the year. So many holidays, so much to do, and maybe just maybe you’d like to squeeze in time to write. One thing that can help is to spot the opportunities all around you.
Five minutes. You can do amazing things in only five minutes a day. Work on your novel for five minutes daily throughout the holidays. I did that this fall when I was completing a nonfiction job. The 4000 words I wrote in six week were not beautiful but they were 4000 more than I had before. Use your five minutes to increase your word count or do the pre-writing needed for a new project. Or you can compile a number of shorter pieces to finalize later on.
Activities. The holidays are full of activities and so are many magazines and newsletters. Do you have a recipe that was passed down from your grandmother? A decorating project you and your daughters do every Christmas? Or a family game that you play with your nieces and nephews? Maybe you’ve come up with a way to save money on buying gifts. You may not have time to market it right now but draft it while it is fresh in your mind.
Those sweet moments. Like Crystal Otto pointed out in her recent post, we are in the season of Advent. When you have one of those sweet, inspirational moments, write it down. You may very well have a devotional or a short essay on your hands. One of my writing buddies is a champion at turning these moments into prayers. Another uses them to craft poetry. Use what touches you to draft something poignant to share.
Research. I am part of a family of readers ranging in age from 2 months to 80 years. The holidays are a great opportunity for me to do market research. What books do parents want for their kids? What books does my teen niece want to find under the tree? I can also check out my mother-in-law’s reader to see what she has recently downloaded from the library.
Drama Queens, Smoking Ovens and Other Little Disasters. Those moments that you’d just rather forget? The ones we here in Missouri call “interesting,” because our Moms would be super mad if we said what we really thought? They make great essays. Angela Mackintosh taught me that after I described one family encounter. Okay, first she apologized for laughing herself silly, but she was right. Griswold family moments form the basis for many essays.
Whether your holidays are perfect or chaotic, don’t berate yourself for not getting more writing done. Instead find five minutes to jot down whatever has moved you. Before toasting Auld Lang Syne, you’ll have either a number of short pieces ready to take to final or a considerable amount of progress on your longer project.
--SueBE
To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey. Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins January 8th, 2017.
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About a month ago, Sioux challenged us to state a BHAG – a big, hairy, audacious goal. Mine is writing a piece of fiction long enough to require chapters. The problem is that I’m writing two nonfiction books and, thus, the fiction keeps falling by the wayside.
A friend of mine drafted her first novel writing fifteen minutes a day on her lunch break. But that just didn’t feel do-able. To put it simply, I’m a full time writer who doesn’t have a single full time work day. I’m hoping that will change soon, but it is going to require some help from outside. So right now I’m learning to work around it.
Fifteen minutes a day is impossible but five minutes a day is do-able. But is it enough? Can you really rough out a novel in five minutes a day? I wasn’t sure but it wouldn’t hurt to try. For the last month, I’ve written five minutes a day on my novel. Most days I don’t get to it until bed time but I pop in here and do those five minutes.
But is it enough?
A month ago, I had two chapters or 1000 words. Today, having worked five minutes a day for a month, I have 6,400 words.
They won’t all make it into the final draft. One chapter wandered off in an odd-ball direction. You know how it goes. The whole chapter, you’re type-type-typing, but something feels off. I realized I had no clue how to get from the end of this chapter to the end of the book. I’d written myself into a corner.
That’s when I looked at my outline. It’s a lot like looking at the map after you get lost. I had definitely taken a wrong turn. And that’s okay. A rough draft is rough. Brilliant statement, yes?
The point is that I managed to keep writing even during the week that I drafted 12,000 words on one of my nonfiction projects. Fifteen minutes a day? Impossible, but five worked.
Part of what makes it work is acknowledging that this draft is truly rough. I don’t go back. I just keep moving forward. And that’s okay. When I write later today, I’ll just ignore chapter 10a and start at the beginning of chapter 10b. I’m not deleting the messed up chapter because I actually need part of it. I’ll just keeping moving forward and sort things out in the rewrite.
NaNoWriMo is coming up. It’s a great idea if it works for you, but not everyone can draft that many words in a month.
But five minutes a day? You can do that. And in a month you’ll have about 5,000 words. Keep it up and your word count will reach even higher.
5 minutes. You can do it.
--SueBE
To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey. Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins January 8th, 2017.
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