Inspired by another thread I saw recently. For this thread, I have two parts to this. What are you grateful for:
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on Beehaw? - Anything you like about this community, an interaction you appreciated, something that brightened your day, an aspect of site culture that appeals to you, etc.
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offline/in real life? - Just more generally, what are you thankful for? Anything that’s happened in your life recently that has turned out to be good, people making a positive difference in your life, etc.
Thanks for sharing! My brother just finished the first draft of his big honkin’ fantasy novel (167,000 words) last week. Watching him work gave me such an appreciation for the effort it takes to write and edit! I don’t know that I would ever have the discipline for something like that.
Question for you: how do you find time and energy to write/edit? I’m assuming you have a full-time job. My brother’s just starting his career and mentioned how draining it was to work a full 9-6, get home at 7, and then only have 5 hours to himself before the next day begins. In my own life, I’ve found that creativity is almost impossible when just going through the motions takes up 90% of my energy. Admittedly, I’m an essayist and poet, not a novelist. My projects take days to weeks, not months and years. Would love to share some advice with him from another long-form writer.
That’s a big novel, congrats to your brother! Finishing a first draft is always something special! I’ll try to give some advice! :) (And as always I couldn’t make it short, fantasy writers, am I right …?)
I’m not a poet, so I’m not too familiar with your process, but I bet we share some common trends. But I will try to give some insight in my work.
Disclaimer: Since two years I’m in the lucky position to work only part-time (25h per week and home office) and I’m really free in when to put my hours in. There are only some mandatory times I have to be online; for meetings for example. The only “negative” thing is: I’m a technical writer so I write at work and in my free time, albeit the topics are *very * different.
But I still can share some of my process, since I used to work full time for a while and I also did write back then. I agree with your brother that it is quiet draining, working 8 hours (+ commute if no home-office), doing chores and so on, especially when he is just starting out. That was difficult for me, too!
What I used to do: I tried to write every day, even if it was just a few minutes/a few words. Music helped me to get into the headspace I wanted to get into. My work always allowed flextime, so it was easier to write before work and I didn’t have to get up crazy early. I tried to get up an hour early and write then, because usually I don’t have the energy after work. The downside was that I was home at 8pm or something like that.
(Some days I had enough energy to also write after work, so I seized the opportunity whenever it arose.)
On the weekends I used to write more than in the work week. I put aside some hours that were sacred to me and where only moved in an emergency. Also, I regularly took some “writecations”, a few days off, to focus on my writing or editing. Depending on where you and your brother live this might be a bit harder. Here in Germany I have 30 days PTO per year.
But of course writing is slower when working full-time. I had to remember myself often that writing is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. So slow and steady, conserving energy and doing it one page, one passage or even one sentence at a time is what I would recommend.
It helped me a lot to structure my day around writing, noticing when I had half an hour of free time to write (e.g. when I still was commuting, I would write on the train; or at my lunchbreak for days where I couldn’t write before work etc.)
Also, taking a lot of self-care moments/hours/days, to not burn out. He shouldn’t beat himself up, if he cannot write everyday, sometimes life gets in the way.
The important thing is to keep going and not giving up. :)
Hope that helps!