Reader's Question: How do you work writing into your life?
Here's the full Q: How do you work writing into your life? I often find myself without any time to write, or if I do have the time, I am not in the "zone". I am tired, or worn, and so I end up going for months on end without writing. That makes it hard to get better and hard to get anything done. How do you manage this?*
A: The first thing to know is that you are not alone; the practical problem of sitting down to write is one that every writer has to face. We all find our tricks for simply doing the work.
My number one piece of advice is to set a very, very small daily goal. Instead of beating yourself up for not spending three hours writing, give yourself lots of kudos for making twenty minutes (or even ten!) happen. I wrote a lot of my first novel in ten-minute chunks of writing with my students.
If you want more ideas on motivation to do what you want to do, check out my post on how to eat an elephant or my nerdy but effective way of making sure I meet my own small daily goals.
*Question courtesy of the National Writing Project·and readers of Figment.com for the National Day on Writing. Read highlights of the event in·this post·or listen to me and four other guests talk about the National Day on Writing for the NWP blogtalk radio program here.
How to do it like Bach: Counterpoint in Writing
Something that I'm working on in novel #3 is keeping various lines in the plot going at the same time while also creating meaningful connections between these lines. In music, this is called counterpoint. (Disclaimer, y'all: I'm no musician. In fact, my elementary school music teacher took me aside before a school concert and gently suggested, "You just mouth the words, honey." The only reason I know such a thing as counterpoint exists is that I had many musically gifted friends some 12 years ago when I was a student at Simon's Rock.)
A quick skim of the Wikipedia article on counterpoint confirms that it is, precisely, what I'd like to accomplish with my current plotting efforts:
In its most general aspect, counterpoint involves the writing of musical lines that sound very different and move independently from each other but sound harmonious when played simultaneously... In the words of John Rahn:
It is hard to write a beautiful song. It is harder to write several individually beautiful songs that, when sung simultaneously, sound as a more beautiful polyphonic whole. The internal structures that create each of the voices separately must contribute to the emergent structure of the polyphony, which in turn must reinforce and comment on the structures of the individual voices.
The separation of harmony and counterpoint is not absolute. It is impossible to write simultaneous lines without producing harmony, and impossible to write harmony without linear activity. The composer who chooses to ignore one aspect in favour of the other still must face the fact that the listener cannot simply turn off harmonic or linear hearing at will; thus the composer risks creating annoying distractions unintentionally. Bach's counterpoint—often considered the most profound synthesis of the two dimensions ever achieved—is extremely rich harmonically and always clearly directed tonally, while the individual lines remain fascinating.
So, from now on: my new mantra is, "Bach it." I'm betting I'm not alone in my aspirations. All right, y'all, go Bach it now.
How to beat writer's block over and over
Last week, I shared one of my favorite tricks for beating writing block with figment.com, the amazing (as in, "Holy cow, where were you when I was sixteen?!") online writing community for teens and YA lovers. (Seriously, everybody... if you know a teen writer, make sure they know about this site.)
My method involves any book whose prose you admire, a pencil, and some careful attention to the joints between words. It's guaranteed (just about) to shake you out of writer's block if you've got it, and you can use it over and over...
Read the whole prompt here. You won't be sorry!
