Thursday, January 29, 2015

The Working Writer—Don't Wait for the Mood to Strike to Write!

By Edie Melson @EdieMelson

I began writing like most of you did—as a creative outlet—a way to process the world around me. 

I kept diaries, started stories and books, played around with articles. But all of these efforts had one thing in common. They were written out of my own emotional overflow. When that overflow dried up, so did the words.

Fast forward many years, to one of my first professional jobs. I worked as technical writer, composing instructions for a publishing company. Again, I got to work with words, but this time they were precise. My goal was plain, visual words that would allow someone to follow directions to an end result. There wasn’t any emotion involved, except for the thrill I got from managing words.

Now skip ahead again a few years, once I got my kids to a manageable age. I had a driving ambition to make writing my full-time position. But I wanted more than a position writing instructions. I wanted the emotion back in my words. So I turned to fiction as my artistic outlet, and used freelance writing for my bread-and-butter writing.

This was when I hit a wall. I couldn’t figure out how to get the emotion in my writing unless I was in the mood to write. How did professional writers do that? The question left me stumped, and I began to research how working writers churned out all those beautiful words, no matter what was happening around them.

They had learned the secret of getting past writing only when they were in the mood, and into the discipline of writing whether they felt like it or not.

Wow. That seemed an awful lot like work, as opposed to art.

And that simple revelation is the foundation that all working writers build on. We write when we feel like it and we write when we don’t.

It’s both that simple and that difficult.

And it takes some practice. So here are a few tips to help you move forward if you find yourself not in the mood to write.

1. Write on a Schedule. You’ll read a lot of advice that says you must write every day. I think that’s good, if it’s an option. But for some it just isn’t. But what you can do is schedule your writing. This will build your writing muscles so they don’t fail you when you need them most.

2. Write in a lot of different disciplines. Don’t just stick with fiction or articles or essays. Force yourself to try new things. What you learn will prove invaluable, no matter what your writing focus becomes.

3. Find a Writing Group or Partner. I know it’s scary, but it’s necessary if you want to move ahead. Getting honest critique can help you with a lot of things.
First, it gives you some much needed perspective. Writers have two opinions about their writing—it’s either genius or it sucks. And these two extremes are almost always false.
Second, it forces you to improve. No one likes to hear what they’ve done wrong, but that’s one of the most important things we need to grow as writer.
Third, it makes us brave. If your goal is to become a working writer you need to be querying and submitting. This is the first step.

4. Set Some Goals. I used to resist setting goals. I’m much more of a go-with-the-creative-flow type person. But after five years of spinning my wheels I finally gave in. When I did my career took off.

5. Send Regular Submissions. When I first started as a working writer, my rejections outnumbered my acceptances about nine to one. Getting that many rejections between acceptances is depressing, at leas for me. So I turned the process upside down. I began setting goals for the number of rejections I got each month. To reach that goal, I had to send out submissions. So I turned a defeat into victory.


6. Invest in Your Writing. Yes, money is part of that, but it’s not all I’m talking about. Spend time reading writing books, writing blogs, attending workshops and classes, and going to conferences. Chances are most of you are like me, and going back to college for a creative writing degree isn’t really an option. Learning on your own will become college. You’ll get a practical education that will stand you in good stead as you navigate the path to working writer.

These are the things I’ve done to move from wanna-be to working writer. What has helped you?

Don’t forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

TWEETABLES



16 comments:

  1. Thank you for this. I am going to ad your blog to "blog feed" at http://pelicanpromise.blogspot.com/

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    1. Cherrilynn, thank you! And especially thanks for stopping by, Blessings, E

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  2. #6 is a good one. I've got a big library of craft books and I've read them all, or most of each. The schedule is the hardest for me. Since our son is here, I'm going to see if he will help his dad and brother pout a door on my office! With nothing more than a curtain for a door, they all think I'm available. My muse isn't very friendly, especially in the morning.

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    1. Ane, I have a cranky muse, too! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Blessings, E

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  3. I definitely have a problem with making submissions. I guess part of ti is because I do not blog to make money, but because I enjoy it. I do go to conferences though, so maybe I need 5 and 6 to heart. Writing is definitely a process that can get better and better, I can tell that by looking back over my blog. I do like the idea of challenging yourself with rejections. That is a different way to look at them. Part of doing submissions is learning to do them properly, which is not as easy as it sounds and sometimes half the reason we get rejections.

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    1. Ric, sending out submissions is important, and not because of the money. The publications and blogs we submit to give us a larger reach. Thanks so much for stopping by, Blessings, E

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  4. Thank you for this. It is great to hear how you got started. As a new writer, it is hard to decide just what direction to go in. And the clock/calendar seems to just speed up.

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    1. Tim, it can be hard as a new writer. But the important thing is to keep moving. Sometimes we have to backtrack, but movement is key. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Blessings, E

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  5. Edie, as usual, good practical post. You seem to have an unlimited amount of ideas to post and they're all good. On these tips, I've got numbers 2-6 covered. But number ONE... time management is my biggest problem. Maybe some day I'll get a handle on that one too.

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    1. Marilyn, I've been at this long enough that I've struggled with a lot and at least come out on the other side. Thanks for stopping by, Blessings, E

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  6. Hi Edie, that's a brilliant article. Lots of good food for thought. Investment is always a difficult one especially when you're just starting out but I think you're right that it's important. Also vital to be able to write on demand rather than waiting for the 'right mood'.

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  7. I'm reminded of what William Faulkner once said: "I only write when I'm inspired. Fortunately, I'm inspired at 9:00 a.m. every morning."
    Jack Londa said: “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
    You have great suggestions in this post, Edie. Some of them I've let slide. Thanks for the push to get back on track.

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  8. I loved this post, Edie. Setting a schedule is the best thing I can do for myself. When I put writing on my calendar (and a reminder alert), I'm much more likely to do it. Whether I feel like it or not.

    I'm challenged by your suggestion to diversify my writing. I'm going to need to look into how I can do that. :)

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  9. Thank you for this! I was just realizing today that I need to schedule time for writing. Just letting it happen when I can squeeze it in isn't working. Today's blog confirmed that. Thanks for the great tips!

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  10. Great post, Edie! I love #5, setting a goal for rejections. What a terrific way to turn a potential stumbling block into incentive to succeed!

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  11. Thank you for this interesting post. I consider number two of paramount importance. It helps a lot with style and vocabulary.
    About number one, waiting for the mood is the surest way to write next to nothing, at least for me. Instead if I put aside two hours every day and just sit down and start writing, I end up more often than not doing a fair amount of work.

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