I’ve never read anyone who so often and accurately captures my inner monologue, Gena.
I think your point that “fluent writing is not the default” is spot on. There’s reason to believe the grind gets easier with time and practice. Or so I tell myself. But you also hit on something I’m struggling with, is there something about the way I practice that is holding back better results?
It’s like weight training. If you go to the gym regularly you’re liable to get stronger. But there’s a big difference in the pace of growth if you do the right exercises, with proper form and recovery. I’m with you, trying to figure out the conditions that work instead of beating myself up over my slow progress.
Thanks for sharing this. The honest reflection helped me do some of my own!
I find that writing “just for yourself” is essential in fiction. You can’t write thinking of what your readers might like, even if you want them and hope they will like what you wrote. That is because the purpose of writing in fiction is not teaching or convincing anyone of anything.
In non fiction it may be more tricky.
But I think you’re right to write for yourself. Anything helpful in “The art of nonfiction?”
“The art of fiction” is a wonderful tool for fiction.
Thanks, Cristina! Good question re: "Art of Nonfiction"; I haven't returned to it in a long time, but this is a good reminder to do so (and I'm pretty sure I remember something about giving your subconscious free rein during the "writing" phase, which presumably goes hand-in-hand with writing for yourself vs keeping some specific audience in mind... unless one has a very clear and automatized understanding of one's audience, I suppose).
Would be very curious to know whether any of my proposed causes and cures end up resonating, since I'm genuinely not sure to what extent they're idiosyncratic to me.
Some of this really resonates with me, Gena, especially the "edit as I write" and "gotta read/research more" parts, as I also am in the midst of writing my first book. What a different beast in some ways from writing an article!
What has been helping me a lot is to spend five minutes each morning briefly journaling about three things: (1) what "create" means to me today; (2) what I visualize myself doing, feeling, hearing, tasting (usually lots of tea), seeing while working; and (3) what specific action I will take that day to get me one step closer to producing the book. I have also committed to a minimum of 60 minutes daily--no excuses--of working to meet my specific daily goal identified in (3). This makes it both extremely doable and enjoyable (in the "flow" sense) for me. I have surprisingly come to love the writing process--and I did not expect that at all!
I have been doing this every single day since January 12th and am now in the middle of Chapter 5 (of 8 chapters) on a book I am provisionally titling Spirituality for Secular Souls. Cheers to each of us bringing our deeply meaningful book projects into existence!
P.S.--If you have any tips about literary agents, publishers, etc., I'm all ears. No longer being in academia makes this more challenging than it would otherwise be, and I do not want to self-publish.
I’ve never read anyone who so often and accurately captures my inner monologue, Gena.
I think your point that “fluent writing is not the default” is spot on. There’s reason to believe the grind gets easier with time and practice. Or so I tell myself. But you also hit on something I’m struggling with, is there something about the way I practice that is holding back better results?
It’s like weight training. If you go to the gym regularly you’re liable to get stronger. But there’s a big difference in the pace of growth if you do the right exercises, with proper form and recovery. I’m with you, trying to figure out the conditions that work instead of beating myself up over my slow progress.
Thanks for sharing this. The honest reflection helped me do some of my own!
Thanks, Grant! And, whoa, that's a really good analogy.
I find that writing “just for yourself” is essential in fiction. You can’t write thinking of what your readers might like, even if you want them and hope they will like what you wrote. That is because the purpose of writing in fiction is not teaching or convincing anyone of anything.
In non fiction it may be more tricky.
But I think you’re right to write for yourself. Anything helpful in “The art of nonfiction?”
“The art of fiction” is a wonderful tool for fiction.
Thanks, Cristina! Good question re: "Art of Nonfiction"; I haven't returned to it in a long time, but this is a good reminder to do so (and I'm pretty sure I remember something about giving your subconscious free rein during the "writing" phase, which presumably goes hand-in-hand with writing for yourself vs keeping some specific audience in mind... unless one has a very clear and automatized understanding of one's audience, I suppose).
thanks so much for sharing this! im also an instance of suffering from “writing while editing” to the point where 400 words could take 3+ hours :(
I hear you, Alicia!
Would be very curious to know whether any of my proposed causes and cures end up resonating, since I'm genuinely not sure to what extent they're idiosyncratic to me.
Some of this really resonates with me, Gena, especially the "edit as I write" and "gotta read/research more" parts, as I also am in the midst of writing my first book. What a different beast in some ways from writing an article!
What has been helping me a lot is to spend five minutes each morning briefly journaling about three things: (1) what "create" means to me today; (2) what I visualize myself doing, feeling, hearing, tasting (usually lots of tea), seeing while working; and (3) what specific action I will take that day to get me one step closer to producing the book. I have also committed to a minimum of 60 minutes daily--no excuses--of working to meet my specific daily goal identified in (3). This makes it both extremely doable and enjoyable (in the "flow" sense) for me. I have surprisingly come to love the writing process--and I did not expect that at all!
I have been doing this every single day since January 12th and am now in the middle of Chapter 5 (of 8 chapters) on a book I am provisionally titling Spirituality for Secular Souls. Cheers to each of us bringing our deeply meaningful book projects into existence!
P.S.--If you have any tips about literary agents, publishers, etc., I'm all ears. No longer being in academia makes this more challenging than it would otherwise be, and I do not want to self-publish.