How to Remain Sane While Writing

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Writers have an interesting job, to say the least. We use every spare moment we can manage to sit in front of the computer (or typewriter, for the few who still use it, or pen(cil) and paper) and write until we've developed severe cases of tendonitis or carpal tunnel, and then keep writing anyway. We daydream about imaginary worlds and cry when we kill of characters that don't actually exist except in our minds and stories and we spend months or years slaving away at a manuscript that may never see the light of day.

We say things like, "Yes, it's a gorgeous day outside, but I must write this chapter," or, "Wow, I'm starving and haven't eaten in six hours BUT THIS SCENE. I MUST FINISH WRITING IT." Then we give our stories to other people and hope that they tear it apart (yes, hope) so that we can sew it back together (into hopefully something even better) with trembling fingers and bruised egos. Then, when all is said and done, we torture ourselves over writing these nightmarish things called a synopsis and query letter and we send them to professionals or we upload them online and bite are fingernails down to little nubs.

Yes, we writers are an interesting lot. Some may even say we're masochists (and who knows? They might be right).

But while a writer's number one goal is to improve his or her writing, remaining sane is also somewhat (ok, really) important. So here are some tips on how not to go crazy while embracing the life of the writer.

1. Go out. It's very easy for writers to adopt some hermit-like qualities while in the midst of writing a book. I often have to remind myself (and have others remind me) to go out and breathe some fresh air and have a change of scenery. You'll be glad you did, especially when you don't go stir-crazy.


2. Don't look back. After you send a query or partial or full manuscript to an agent or publisher or critique partner/beta reader, it can be very tempting for writers to glance back at what you wrote. You think to yourself, one little peek won't hurt, then—BAM. You find a typo. ON THE FIRST PAGE. Oh and that sentence makes no sense. And that paragraph is stupid. And, and, and...
   
   Don't do this to yourself. What's been sent has been sent. No go write something else. Read a book. Anything. But for the love of all things fluffy and adorable, do NOT look back.


3. Stop comparing. I'm relatively sure every writer has fallen into this trap at least once (I know I sure have), but there are absolutely no positive results from comparing yourself to other writers. It doesn't help you in any way to remind yourself that Christopher Paolini wrote and published his first book when he was fifteen or that you could write a better book than Twilight (or any other published book out there). It doesn't help you write your next book and it doesn't help your confidence, either. So stop it.


4. Keep writing. When you've received well over a hundred rejection slips— keep writing. When you've trunked your third novel and you wonder if you'll ever be published— keep writing. When you have someone reading your WIP and you're terrified they're going to hate it— keep writing. Nothing reminds you better why you're subjecting yourself to this emotional roller coaster than finishing another novel. Than working on the next WIP.

As someone very wise once told me, "Keep doing it for yourself and eventually someone else will catch on."

What tips do you have for remaining sane while writing?

Writers: Do You Keep a Journal?

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I've always been slightly envious of writers who could maintain a journal. Journal-writing just seemed like a very writerly thing to do (to me, at least)—as natural as, say, a cook keeping a running cookbook.

So when my feeble attempts at maintaining a journal (and there have been many) fell flat, I felt a little silly. I was a writer, for crying out loud. Why was it so difficult to think up of a couple entries a week to document my life?

I think the conclusion I eventually came to was that while I had no problem spending hours a day in made-up worlds, torturing my characters or writing blog posts, for that matter, I just didn't find writing about my day, or week, or whatever span of time, nearly as interesting. I'd write a couple journal entries over the course of a few days, then get distracted, and, ultimately, bored.

As much as I wanted it to be, journal-writing just didn't come naturally to me. It was something I had to force, something that I didn't want to force. I conceded to trying to write just a couple entries a year (and sometimes less...oh well).

Maybe in the future I'll be able to maintain a journal or maybe I'll forever be one of those writers who just...doesn't. But while writing a journal isn't something that works particularly well for me, I know there are many writers out there who swear by it, who find writing the entries cathartic, or who just enjoy having something to look back on later in life (which I completely understand—it's one of the main reasons I still hope to one day pick up the habit of writing journal entries).

There is a lesson in all this, I think, namely that even the most basic of writing habits doesn't work for everyone. You see, that's the great thing about writers (well, the great thing about everyone, really)—we're all so diverse and interesting and what works for one writer doesn't necessarily work for another and that's ok. It's something to be celebrated, even, because how boring would it be if everyone worked exactly the same way?

We all think, speak and process the world in different ways, which is what makes our writing so unique. And I wouldn't want it to be any different.

Do you keep a journal? Why or why not?

On Writing and Publishing Trends

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When thinking about publishing, it's hard not to mention the market and the various trends that inevitably appear in the reading/ writing world. With Harry Potter came various books about witches and wizards, with the rise of Twilight came the explosion of paranormal novels, especially those involving vampires and creatures of the like, and now more recently with the success of The Hunger Games , dystopian novels have become very popular.

So when slaving away at their WIPs and rummaging through bookstores, writers often wonder how much they should be paying attention to the market while they write their books.

While I think it's important for writers to be aware of what publishing trends are rising in the book market (and, conversely, what is becoming more difficult to sell), and while I think it's especially important for writers to be well versed in their genre, I truly believe that it's far more important for writers to write the stories they want to write regardless of what's going on in the market.

Hear me out. The state of the publishing market is something that is completely out of the writer's control. What's more, it's a well-known fact that what is popular today probably won't be the hot in-thing in five years. That's not to say it won't be selling then, but publishing trends only last so long.

Writing a book, meanwhile, takes an excruciatingly long time. Even if you're a ridiculously prolific writer who can pound out a first draft in a month and revise in three and you either a) self-publish four months after writing the first draft with a fantastically revised novel  done in record speed or b) manage to find an agent and land a publishing contract immediately (which usually takes time), in the case of the self-published writer it takes time to build buzz for your book, and in the case of the traditionally published writer it can take up to two years (or more, even) just to get that story on the shelves. By the time that novel is released (or really builds up buzz), who knows what the market will look like?

Then of course, there's the opposite problem of writers who write to a trend that already passed because they love the genre and spend time worrying about whether or not it'll be able to sell. Again, the state of the publishing market is something out of our control. The energy spent worrying about the trends could be spent bettering your book, instead.

Look, I'm not an agent or a publishing expert, nor will I pretend to be. But from what I understand, (and I could be wrong here) if you're looking to publish traditionally, very few agents are going to turn down an excellent story that they absolutely love just because you "missed the boat" so-to-speak, as far as trends go. And by the same token, very few agents (or publishing companies) are going to pick up a mediocre story that was written quickly just to fit the current market.

And I suspect it's not all that different for self-published writers: a good book is going to sell regardless of publishing trends and a mediocre book that fits the market, well, not so much.

In short, I think it's important for writers to be aware of the market, but it's far more important for writers to focus on writing a fantastic book. If you can manage that, your book will find a place in the market regardless of what the trends look like.

Now it's your turn: Do you think writers should write to the market? How important is it for writers to be aware of the publishing trends?

Would You Write If You Were Never Getting Published?

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It's no secret that most writers write with the goal of eventually getting published. Regardless of whether the goal is traditional or self publishing, many writers toil away for years all the while reaching for the title of published author.

And it's a fair dream—an exciting, if not slightly nerve-wracking one, to think of hundreds or thousands of people reading the story that you wrote. The story that you spent years of your life writing. The story that would not exist if you hadn't written it.

But I've seen this question asked before, and truth be told, at the beginning of my journey as a writer, I didn't want to answer it. I saw writers ask, "Would you keep writing if you knew you were never going to be published?" and I thought, well I'm not going to answer that because I am going to get published.

Well it's been years since I've first seen that question and I'm still not published, but the question has never really left my mind. And I think the reason I didn't want to answer it at first was because I wasn't sure I would keep writing. Without the dream, I thought, what was the point?

Years and many archived manuscripts later, I think I've come to terms with the question. Because no, there isn't any guarantee that I'm ever going to get published (traditionally, anyway) and I've come to realize that I'm ok with that. Sure, it's still a dream I hold on to and I truly believe that with enough patience and hard work, any writer can see their dream realized, but there isn't ever a 100% guarantee unless you self-publish (and even then, there's no guarantee that it'll sell).

So now when I see the question "would you keep writing if you knew you were never going to be published?" I think I can answer with a yes. Because no, I probably wouldn't put as much work and time into each story as I do now, but I truly don't believe I would stop writing altogether.

Because writing is more than just chasing the dream: writers write to discover the story, to create new characters and worlds and turn our experiences into words on the page that we can read over and over again and share with others (even if, in the case of the never-published writer, "others" is just a handful of friends and family).

Because yes, every writer hopes to one day get published but that's not the only reason we write (or at least, it shouldn't be)—we write because we love it. Because there's something truly special about translating experiences into words, about using just the right combination of letters to create pictures and emotions in our readers.

Because a writer without words is like a bird without wings. Because published or not, writing is what we writers do.

Now it's your turn: Would you keep writing if you somehow knew you would never get published? 

Writing Dangers: Shiny New Idea Syndrome

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So that wonderfully fantastic thing happened again when one of you amazing people suggested a topic that I could have sworn I’d covered, except it turns out I’d only ever touched on, because when talking about discipline, one of you lovely commenters (you know who you are—thank you!) posted this:

“I don’t know if you’ve ever discussed this already, but one thing I thought might be interesting, is your views on when to start new stories. Such as, you are working on one novel and have another great idea. Do you keep finishing the first one and then work on the second even if your enthusiasm dips or do you start the new one immediately and use that enthusiasm to your advantage?”

I think this is a fantastic question because there is little doubt in my mind that most writers (if not all) experience what I like to call Shiny New Idea Syndrome at one point or another throughout their writing careers.

For those of you who aren’t acquainted with this beast, Shiny New Idea Syndrome occurs when you’re in the middle of a WIP, and suddenly—BAM—a brand new tantalizing idea sneak-attacks you and starts whispering things like, don’t you want to write me? or hey, hey, why won’t you take a break from that other story and try something new? You know you want to, and makes you wonder why you’re even bothering with this other WIP when that Shiny New Idea is so much better.

Once Shiny New Idea Syndrome has attacked, a writer is faced with two options: continue with the first WIP and remember the Shiny New Idea for a later WIP, or put the first WIP aside and start writing the Shiny New Idea immediately.

As our fantabulous commenter mentioned, some writers worry that if they continue with their first WIP and leave the Shiny New Idea for later, their enthusiasm for the new project will fade, making it more difficult to write later on. And while this is a perfectly legitimate fear because yes, that does tend to happen with some ideas, I truly believe that if when the time comes to sit down and put the Shiny New Idea to paper, you’re no longer excited about the project, then it probably wasn’t a strong enough idea to be written into a novel in the first place.

I’ve talked about this before, so I’m not going to go into detail again, but in short, writing a novel is a very involved process that takes huge amounts of time, and if you can’t maintain enthusiasm for a new project idea while finishing a WIP you already started, then chances are you would have found it difficult to maintain that enthusiasm through the long months (or years) it takes to write and revise and revise and rewrite and edit a novel.

If, however, you do finish the first project and the Shiny New Idea is still there, tapping you on the shoulder and demanding that you get to work, then I’d say that’s a pretty good sign that you have something good on your hands. Something that isn’t just a fleeting temptation. An actual, lasting novel-worthy idea.

Because the real danger of the Shiny New Idea Syndrome is this: oftentimes writers find when they switch projects to satisfy a Shiny New Idea, part-way through that new WIP another Shiny New Idea comes along that’s so much better than the one you’re working on now, and before you know it you’ve started four new projects and haven’t finished anything.  I hear about this from writers all the time, especially new writers who haven’t finished a project before because Shiny New Idea Syndrome is a sneaky little thing.

That’s not to say that Shiny New Idea Syndrome doesn’t ever give you good ideas—it can certainly drop a perfectly sound novel-worthy idea into your mind. But I truly believe the first test of its novel worthiness is whether or not you can sustain that new-idea enthusiasm even if you don’t immediately begin writing it.

Because a truly novel-worthy idea will still be there waiting for you when you finish your first project.

So that’s my take on Shiny New Idea Syndrome. What do you think? If a Shiny New Idea hit you while working on a project, would you continue with the first project or start working on the new one? Have you ever experienced Shiny New Idea Syndrome?

Writers: Undisciplined Need Not Apply

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There's a funny little truth about writing that people tend to forget: namely, that no one is forcing you to write. Writers don't write because someone is holding a gun to their head demanding that they write another novel (at least, not a literal one... I hope). Even writers who write for a living have the option of not writing and getting a job doing something else, if they really wanted to quit.

By and large, however, especially for unpublished writers, we write because we want to. Because the thought of not writing is more painful than forcing ourselves to sit down and actually get words on paper. Because we are, to our very cores, writers.

Sounds great, doesn't it? We writers have the fantastic opportunity of doing something that we love whenever and wherever we want for (nearly) free, with only time constraints and life things to get in the way.

But there is a downside, namely, that no one is forcing us to write.

Allow me to explain. In a normal nine to five job, if an employee decides that they don't feel like working, or they're too tired to work, or too stressed out, or whatever it may be, most times said employee can't just decide not to work, at least, not for very long. Most bosses don't care if you had a rough night and would rather sleep in and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee or tea instead of getting up early for the job. As a contracted employee, you have to work. Period.

But when it comes to unpublished writers, that's not exactly the case. There are a million and two reasons not to write: you're too busy, too tired, too sick, too exhausted from your other job/ school/ parenting/ all of the above, or you just can't think of anything to write today. Especially when your writing isn't paying the bills, it can be difficult to find motivation to continue.

In short, writing requires a huge amount of discipline.

Writing is a choice. A passion. And it's a lot of work that often goes unrewarded and mostly unappreciated for years. This is something you have to accept when you set out to be a writer. It's an unavoidable truth, and without enough discipline, chances are you won't last.

I'm not saying that to be mean; it's just the truth. I see writers all the time who say they can't write because they've been hit with a terrible case of writer's block, or because they're not in the writing mood, or a hundred other reasons. And that's all good and well for a day, maybe two, but when you allow those excuses to accumulate, you'll soon find it's been a couple months and you haven't made any progress in your writing at all, and where has the time gone?

Discipline isn't optional for writers — it's a necessity if you hope to ever take your writing seriously. Because the only one demanding that you write is you, and if you don't keep yourself motivated, if you don't keep yourself writing, you may soon find that you've lost time you could have used to improving your craft to no one but yourself.

What do you think? Am I overstating how important discipline is for writers? How important is discipline to you?

Do You Listen to Music While Writing?

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So, even though I have over 600 songs in my iTunes library (an amateur collection compared to some, I know), when writing, Pandora is my best friend. Usually.

I’ve heard some writers say that they need absolute silence while writing, while others swear by writing to music. Some have writing playlists and others like myself prefer a more eclectic mix, depending on what’s being written.

For any of you who’ve read my blog for more than a couple of weeks, it probably comes as no surprise to you that my music-listening habits depend largely on the writing session. While first-drafting and trying to spit out as many words as my fingers will allow in a crazy, half-hour writing sprint, I usually turn Pandora on and listen to my Shinee radio. 

Shinee is a Korean band, so the station is filled with mostly Korean pop, which is helpful for two reasons: firstly I don’t understand most of the words, so it doesn’t interfere with my thought process (most, because I’ve discovered many Korean bands like to sing parts of their songs in English or throw random English words into their songs…go figure), and secondly the upbeat music helps me to keep a quick writing pace.   

Naturally there are downsides to using Pandora while writing, namely when a particularly distracting song comes on and I have to pause my writing to skip the song (or worse—when I run out of skips and have to listen to it anyway or else switch to an English-speaking station), and I’ve come to realize that if you listen to a song enough times, regardless of the language, your brain will start to learn the lyrics (or at least mine does), so I do occasionally find myself singing random Korean-sounding words while I’m supposed to be writing. Oops.

However, as you might imagine, when first-drafting a particularly emotional or intense scene, it can be a little difficult to focus in the right mood with happy Pop music in the background, and that’s when I either switch to a rock station or write in silence.

When I’m not first-drafting, and I really need to focus on choosing the right words, I tend to prefer silence (although there are exceptions). In those instances, any type of noise can be distracting, especially if I’m already struggling to put words down. This also applies to editing—listening to music while editing is very near impossible for me, regardless of the language of the music. Silence (or near-silence) is a must while editing.

So those are my music-writing-editing habits. But I’m curious: do you listen to music while writing or editing, or do you write in silence? Why?