When I am first setting up a marathon plan, I start from that day and fill in every day in between, all the way to the scheduled race. I signed up for another half marathon later this spring because I am only half crazy (marathon joke)! I will work backwards from the race day, starting with Saturdays, which are my long run days. Then I plug in each of my tempo runs, strength training, cross training days, and gentle runs, keeping at least one day per week for a rest day. This can usually be swapped around a little, such as if I had plans on a day for a tempo run, then I can exchange it for a cross training walk, but each must be done (as accurately as possible) each week in order to make progress. Running is very enjoyable for me, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. I just like the energy that it gives me and the fact that I can run to new places as I exercise. I used to say that I am not very organized, but I have been setting up training plans like this for years, so maybe it depends on the breadth of the goal. On other things, I take mishaps as they come and build the plane as I’m flying it!
Writing is very similar to a training plan. I set a goal, work towards that goal, and try to do something towards writing each day. I am not yet as disciplined as I would like to be on writing, but am pushing myself to improve every day. NaNoWriMo this year helped me to see that I work best on a deadline, even if it is self-motivated, but I still must discipline myself each day to write. Sometimes it’s just easier to turn on the TV or to go to bed two hours early. This week I got sorely behind and I missed three days of writing because of teacher commitments or just being extremely exhausted. These days happen, and it is good to evaluate busyness to plug in time for writing and self-care. In this case, since I didn’t even record any writing thoughts on the drive home from work, I was left with the weekend to catch up on several thousand extra words required to meet my monthly goal.
This taught me that while it is possible to play catch up, it takes away the creativity and think time. I am too focused on trying to meet my original goal at breakneck speed. When I do that, I don’t have the luxury of sitting and thinking, drawing out ideas, and brainstorming scenes. Don’t get me wrong. While I am very proud of what I accomplished this month, there are still tweaks I want to make in my writing plan. I would like to save time to include as I add new writings to my pile of digital manuscripts. Even if this forever is my part-time side gig, writing is going to be a part of my life for a long time and I need to make it sustainable and enjoyable. This includes actually finishing projects that I start. At the moment my computer is stuffed full of story ideas that are partially complete and I want to see what they might actually grow to become. To do that, I need to spend TIME nurturing the words and walking with them in their own world to prod the story into bloom (Note: I spent this last week watching my amaryllis bulb bloom!).
I am not patiently waiting to see the result of my developmental edit on a manuscript, which I sent out several weeks back. When I get it back, I hope (and at the same time, dread) to see the results of the edit. I imagine cuts to my favorite scenes and my characters sounding different than I heard as I was writing each word. In the long run, though, I know that my writing can only improve with others’ input and I want to write a good book, no matter the pains. My waiting mode includes turning off the TV a couple times a week. I don’t have cable, but I do love my Netflix and Hulu shows, sometimes scattered with favorite Disney+ movies. These stories inspire my writing to an extent, but they also suck time from an evening that could be spent diving into a good book or writing a new chapter. My goal at the moment is to take a day during the week and one on the weekend to keep the TV dark. No plan for this, but I would like to take a couple extra hours to breathe, making space for creativity!
During the month of February I will be returning to a project that I started in 2017 and have come back to several times. Currently my overall goal is to sketch out each of the character voices in a graphic novel. The project has evolved since I wrote the first rough draft nearly five years ago, and I would like to shape it more fully over the next several months. My idea is to create each character point of view in a different drawing style, taking one each in February, March, and April. I will include figure drawings, clothing designs, facial expressions, background ideas, and formatting sketches. In May we’ll see where I am with this project, but I hope to have a clearer vision of next steps.
Till next time; happy writing! – HM
So tell me: How are your writing goals for the year working out? In what ways have you made space for creativity? How do you handle “waiting mode”?
