Get Back To Writing That Award Winning Novel

Get Back To Writing That Award Winning Novel!
By Janet Edgar

Janet.jpg (8842 bytes) I can’t remember a more hectic summer! My writing routine seems to have gone to the dogs -- we have three -- or the golf course, or the barbecues or the trips to Seattle and New York, and of course, the national conference in Chicago!

And from what I’ve heard from other members of The Heart of Denver RomanceWriters and other local RWA chapters -- it seems like everyone feels the same this year. What has happened to our writing schedules? How can we get back the momentum and normalcy of our writing day? We should always try to balance the work and play in our lives so first of all, don’t feel guilty.

To make this summer even more hectic, my flight from the RWA Chicago conference was canceled with, according to United, all Denver bound flights filled for the rest of the day. This inconvenience was out of my control, so I opted for a free night in a Sheraton Suite in the Chicago suburbs (they had a Jacuzzi!) and $300 in credit for United airfare, rather than wait for hours in a hot Chicago airport — with no guarantee I’d make any flights out that day. But now my ticket to Ohio to see our Grand daughter on her first birthday is paid for! And, I have a wealth of interesting material, to say the least, for several upcoming projects.

I’ve decided that the best thing for me to do, is use this week to get back to my usual routine at home — rest up a bit from the excitement of hot, hot, hot, Chicago. But admittedly, my keyboard is calling to me.

With kids home from school, and a ton of outdoor activities and vacations of one kind or another, summertime is not the ‘lazy, hazy crazy days of summer’ any more. Well, crazy days -- definitely. As many of us get the kids ready for back to school -- try and take the time to organize your office or writing space, and get a few ‘school’ supplies for yourself as well.

Determine the hours everyday that you will spend working -- perhaps on that requested proposal after nationals! Just start writing. Keep a daily calendar with the number of pages needed to complete your work in progress by the deadline you’ve set. Also keep the important family times in there as well. This will help give balance to your life. Sometimes those interruptions are turned into blessings as you use them in your next project. Your creativity will blossom as you write that award winning novel.

Prepare your manuscript for entry into contests that can get your work to the editors and publishing houses which you are targeting. Place those deadlines on your calendar too and refer to it each day.

I know that it’s really hard to get started sometimes, but it can be done! Maybe some of the following methods will work for you:

For me, when I can’t find the right words, I sit at the keyboard, close my eyes and start typing anything .... Like ‘talking’ to the hero or heroine and asking them what they want to do or say here?

‘How do you feel about this?’ I ask as I type away, and before I know it, the hero and heroine are talking dialogue, the internals are coming and I’ve written about three or four pages, sometimes many more! This method, weird as it may sound, helps me to get in touch with the characters as they grow. I do have to go back and fix all the typos — but it really works for me. As a former sixth grade teacher, this ‘free writing method’ used to help students with their own writing, has proved to be a valuable writing tool for me. Maybe it’ll work for you too. --- Janet Edgar

My muse never deserts me, but energy and focus take a leave now and then. I get back on track by reading something I've written, usually by starting at the beginning of my work in progress, which reestablishes the theme of the novel for me. Schedules just don't work for me; my life is too unpredictable now that I'm published and find promotion taking up so much of my time. So I've learned to go with the flow, write when I can, or better yet when the desire to write outweighs even the most demanding promotion task. --- Dar Tomlinson

My kids always know when I'm stuck and needing inspiration or a kick in the pants to get writing again. I start wandering the house like a lost ghost. A few minutes in front the of computer screen, then ten or twenty just walking around. Over and over. They know the answer to get me going again even better than I do, since I seem to turn into a zombie at these times. "Mom, you're pacing again. Why don't you just go take a shower?" That, of
course, is it for me. I get more ideas and inspiration standing under the hot jets of a shower than anywhere else. (Some days I'd like to stay in there and create until I become a soggy prune!) I really need to set up a recorder in there to save all my marvelous thoughts. It gets difficult writing everything down while wrapped in a damp towel.
--- Maggi Landry

I don't normally get writer's block, but on days when I feel a little stuck, I find listening to really hard, really fast music while writing straight dialogue helps. It's very easy for me to write dialogue and something about the music enables me to concentrate on whatever problem I'm having. If that doesn't work, a long bath usually does the trick.
--- Brenda Meyer