I started writing five years ago, a few months before I turned thirty, and I spent the last five years half-heartedly committed to the craft.
The result of those five years was pretty dismal: a pile of bad short stories, a handful of rejection letters that upset me more than they should have, and a half-dozen unfinished novels. Around April of 2008, I said to hell with it, and quit.
The writing bug bit me again in December. I started reading some writerly-type blogs and eventually found my way to the blog of Dean Wesley Smith, who was publishing a series of posts on writing goals.
I read all those posts, thought about how I’d failed in the past and how I should correct those failures, then decided to make 2009 the “Year I Got Serious About Writing.”
Given my own schedule I figured that I could write two novels in 2009. This goal was huge, considering my past failure, but I knew if I could correct some of those bad habits and attitudes that had caused me to fall in the past I might — I just might — be able to write two novels.
It worked. I finished my first novel, a 310-page crime novel, on March 12. And as of this writing, I’m about 40 pages into my second novel, a fantasy adventure.
What changes did I make that gave me the success that I’ve enjoyed this year? (And yes, after almost five years of achieving nothing at writing, finishing a novel is a significant milestone!) Here they are, in no particular order.
1. Word Count Redux. During all those years of failure, I held myself to a high word count goal of 1,000 words daily. In 2009, I stole James Van Pelt’s working method and set myself a low word count goal of 200 words daily. I could always write more than 200 words, but I had to at least write that much. I ended up averaging a little over 1,000 words a day, but there were a few days when the writing was such a chore that I got my 200 words in and fled from my computer.
2. Lower Expectations. There came a point when I finally accepted what James Maxey once said: “The best way to write a good story is to first write a bad story.” (You’ll want to read Maxey’s entire post.) I resisted that notion for years, which may be the single greatest reason I stumbled along. When I finally believed that my first novel was going to be utter trash, I found the freedom to write it.
3. Accepting My Apprenticeship. I finally accepted the logical conclusion to Number 2 — I accepted that I had a long road ahead of me. I wasn’t going to be writing the Great American Novel anytime soon. Most writers have a handful of closet novels. Why should I be any different? So I told myself not to even worry about getting published until I’d written at least four novels. I could always make Novel #5 a rewrite of an earlier novel, but I first wanted some experience of taking an idea and transforming it into a 400-page story.
4. Accepting How I Write. Learning the method and process of how I write has proved to be more difficult than learning how to craft a story. I spent years trying to write without using an outline, and if I hadn’t been so stubborn about it, I would have quickly realized two things: first, I can’t write a story without first outlining it, and second, I don’t even like writing without an outline. I’m such a stickler on this that even a short blog post like this was first outlined. So if you haven’t finished your novel, take a good look at your writing methods and consider doing something different.
5. Finding a Right Motivation. Like many aspiring writers, I had some grandiose ideals about why I wanted to be a writer. They all ended up being thorns in my side. As I questioned my own writing motives, I came to see that if I was honest with myself — if I didn’t let any other voice have a say in why I wanted to write — I found my true motive for writing. It’s complicated, it’s deeply personal, it effects all ares of my life . . . and I’m not sure I want to talk about it just yet; however, it has put my butt in the chair every day this year.
6. Dreams vs. Goals. Like all aspiring writers, I have big dreams. The problem is that most writerly dreams depend on other people to fulfill them: editors to buy your work, readers to read them, fans to love them and develop online fan sites. No writer has any control over that. What we do have control over is writing, editing, and putting our stories on the market. I think it was Tobias Buckell who would to measure his early writing success by the number of rejection slips he got; to collect a 100 rejection slips in a year is concrete proof that you’re working hard. Once I accepted this hard cold fact, I was able to set goals that I could actually achieve.
7. Calendar Goals. Setting calendar goals was probably the number one reason I was able to finish my first novel. Since I knew I wanted to write two novels in 2009, I knew I had to finish my first one by the end of June. Knowing that, I was able to work my way backwards, setting monthly goals. This might not seem like much, but it was rather shocking too see how quickly I worked once I started writing. And to be able to cross out a monthly goal as I achieved it was more thrilling than I thought possible.
So there are the seven things I did that allowed me overcome five years of failure and finally finish a novel. And the effect of that success was amazing. It’s hard to describe the sense of achievement. I find that I have triple the writing energy now than I did back in January.
I hope this helps, and please let me know if any of this resonates with you.
