October Writing Update: Plotting and Querying
Welcome to my new First Thursday of the Month feature: the writing update! How meta.
Actually, I’ve gotten myself into a really good writing schedule, which is allowing me to put out one Medium post on Fridays, two Em’s Notebook posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and still work on the backstory/plotting stuff for Lucy in Love (my next novel). Here it is.
At the start of each day’s writing session, I focus on getting into the Lucy in Love world and bang out a scene or two of backstory — 1k is the goal, but if I write less than that it’s NBD. I still have three whole months until I start the actual drafting of the novel, so I figure as long as I do a bit of work on it each day, I’m good. Then once that’s finished, the weekly cycle is as follows:
Mondays I polish my Tuesday Emily’s Notebook post and draft the Medium post for the week.
Tuesdays I draft the Thursday post for Emily’s Notebook. (Hey-o!)
Wednesdays I polish the Thursday post for Emily’s Notebook.
Thursdays I polish the Medium post.
Fridays I actually take off from writing to do a big house project during Liesl’s first nap, though I also promote the Medium post.
Saturdays I draft Tuesday’s Emily’s Notebook post. Ad infinitum!
It feels good have a consistent and doable writing schedule. I think there’s a quote about this…Ah, yes. Stephen King, of course! Not sure if this is the exact quote I was looking for, but it’s essentially the same idea:
Don’t wait for the muse. As I’ve said, he’s a hardheaded guy who’s not susceptible to a lot of creative fluttering. This isn’t the Ouija board or the spirit-world we’re talking about here, but just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks. Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you’re going to be every day from nine ’til noon. Or seven ’til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he’ll start showing up.
Stephen King, On Writing (Emphasis mine)
I’ve found that the muse tends to go away if I don’t exercise him (or her?) through my fingers. Okay, that’s a dumb metaphor, but you get the idea. If I stop writing regularly, my inspiration to write goes away. The more I’m in the world of Lucy and Rupert, the more I’m thinking about them, about scenes, about their backstory, about how to get them together in the most delicious and slow-burning way possible.
So, that’s the update for you. I’m plugging away. Huge props go to Liesl, who has started regularly lengthening her first nap of the day now that I’ve sort of forced her into a two-nap schedule. Well, it’s best for the whole family — including the kids, who are now getting more park time since we’re not beholden to the baby’s third nap!
Okay, that’s fodder for a Medium post, so I’ll leave off here. I’ll be back next month with another writing update.
Reader! Are you a writer? What’s your process? I’d love to know. Drop me a hey-o in the comments.
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