She never misses an opportunity to attend one of his concerts especially when they are within a five-hour or less drive. One way. So when he was scheduled to be in Boston, an easy two-hour trip from her Vermont home, she was determined to go. Not wanting to go alone, however, she asked her friends and family if any of them would be willing to go with her. Few people in her life are as enamored of Enrique as she is, and since it was a busy time of year, all of them said no. 

After Gia persistently pleaded, her sister-in-law, Lara, consented to go as a favor to her, comforting herself with the possibility of a nice evening out for the two of them away from the demands of their jobs and their children, where they could talk, commiserate, and have dinner at a fine restaurant before the concert.

On the evening of the momentous event, they settled themselves in their front row seats, right next to the stage. Gia willingly spent money on expensive tickets because the highlight of every Enrique concert is the moment he selects a woman from the audience, pulls her on stage with him, and sings to her. It has always been Gia’s dream to one day be that woman. 

So, dressed as she always did for his concerts in a beautiful black outfit (her informal research into these lucky women indicated to her that they were always dressed in black) and armed with confidence and hope, she settled herself into her seat, ready to call out the mantra, “pick me, pick me!

As the night went on, the audience sang and swayed to their idol’s voice, applauding and shouting praise whenever he began or ended a familiar song. Finally, they reached the moment that everyone anticipated: Enrique stopped singing, and looked out over his audience ready to select that one lovely and lucky woman from among the hundreds. 

He moved to the side of the stage where Gia and Lara were now standing and shouting along with the crowd. 

As he came closer, Gia’s eyes widened, he looked her way, then bent down and extended his hand. It all seemed to unravel in slow motion, her idol leaning over from the stage, smiling, his hand inching toward her. She could hardly breathe as her dream of a lifetime was about to be granted. 

But fate can be unkind, the gods, cruel, and as she followed his hand reaching up to take it, it veered left, away from her and toward her sister-in-law. 

The singer, grasping Lara’s hand instead, pulled the startled woman up on stage. 

For the next 20 minutes Enrique sang love songs to a stunned Lara, while Gia sat equally stunned in the audience, trying to make sense of how close she had come to fulfilling her dream, and how in an instant, it melted away from her. 

She obeyed the first principle of making her dream a reality—by going to the concert, she showed up; she understood that she had to be “in it to win it”—but it in that one moment, no matter what else she did, it came down to a matter of luck that Enrique chose Lara and not her.

Writing Is a Matter of Luck too

In a way, writers are much like Gia. 

With millions of books published each year, they do everything in their power to be noticed. They endlessly post pictures and blurbs on Facebook and Instagram, they make TikTok videos, hawking their books as the next great read, and themselves as the next great, best-selling author. They spend hours talking about their books and themselves on podcasts, even when they prefer a more private life. They give away their books to people interested mostly in obtaining something for nothing. 

They do this because they are told that this is the way they might find that one powerful person, that one influencer who will see them and their book for what it is and help propel them up onto a wider stage. 

They do all of this and more as it is their version of the concert mantra, pick me! pick me! 

They show up and understand they need to be in it to win it. 

But when the hand of the powerful influencer is finally extended, and it glides not toward their book, but the one next to it, they understand that at the end of the day, it’s all a matter of luck. 

Just like an Enrique concert…

Susan Speranza was born in New York City, grew up on Long Island, and for a time worked in Manhattan, enjoying the hectic pace and cultural amenities of the City. Eventually, however, she grew tired of it and exchanged the urban/suburban jungle for the peace and quiet of rural Vermont living. In addition to her latest release, ICE OUT: A Novel, she authored two other books: The City of Light, a dystopian story about the end of western civilization, and The Tale of Lucia Grandi, The Early Years, a novel about a dysfunctional suburban family. She has also published numerous articles, poems, and short stories. Along the way, she managed to collect a couple of master’s degrees. When she is not writing, she keeps herself busy exhibiting and breeding her champion Pekingese.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter.

The post Writing, Enrique, and the Matter of Luck appeared first on DIY MFA.

But then, while getting prepared for my hour of writing, I scooted five blank Notecards across the wooden floor from under my desk. (One of the easier kinds of toys to retrieve from my cats.) Spontaneously, I decided to turn one of these cards into a welcome letter and act as my own teacher.

The first item on the agenda was to read my welcome letter. “Not only will you find confidence, but you’ll also give yourself permission to have fun,” the note read. Without realizing it, I gave myself the gift of support—that spine of a cheerleader—that fills the empty void I felt while setting up my space.

Ever since then, and in the role of teacher, I’ve left check-in letters on the same “thank you” card template for myself. These check-in letters offer five answers to the ruminating question: “What’s the point of writing?”

1. A Dream Can Be Something to Grasp

I think of my daily check-in letter as a body of support. Each day, this body stands facing me at four inches tall as her birch-white arm lifts to reveal words of nourishment.  

At the bottom of my initial welcome letter, I asked, “What is your main goal?” And at the end of my first hour, I answered with, “I will finish a full manuscript draft by summer.” Together, the body of support and the black ink make my writing dream a solid piece of matter. There’s some serious weight to that first part of creation.

One of my next steps after working from start to finish on a few small projects is to print out my memoir manuscript as is and sit with it like a real book. Though my voice will be in a different realm and time on the typed page, it’ll echo the tangibility of the handwritten letters. I am here and I am real, the 8 1/2 x 11-inch birch-white papers will say. Constantly holding the different stages of my dream makes it exactly the point.  

2. What You Love Is What You Fight For

Writing letters to myself is a way to connect with safety when fear takes over the creative part of my brain. I can sit down with nerves but as I read a new letter the practice of respect, patience, and loyalty for my time kicks in. This makes working through fear and doubt easier. I enter what author Allan G. Hunter calls the “warrior-lover” archetype phase in his book, Stories We Need to Know: He explains that we fight for what we love and believe in what we are doing.

When I ask myself whether I feel fear, I sometimes create a journal entry in the blank space underneath the given letter and describe a scene I’m doubting: “I hide my hand in its sleeve, anticipating the jump of my arm, like the kickback of a gun… Why should this be anything to anyone?” 

Being a Warrior-Lover doesn’t mean we can’t ask questions and doubt ourselves from time to time. Asking questions actually enables us to return to the big picture. 

At the end of the day, I know that my hidden hand matters because that’s essential to my story. When there’s a scene that’s so detailed and authentic that I think of it often, I know it’s something I love and need to nurture.

3. A Long-Term Project Keeps the Brain Healthy

A start with any project can be a success in and of itself. I may not know where my poem on the body and a quartz singing bowl is taking me, but a partially finished draft created by any Warrior-Lover can hold the brain attentive and inspired. As a poem or essay can be read in one sitting, it does not mean they are not long-term projects in the making.

While not exactly long-term projects, creating small, daily lesson plans for the writing hour and doing writing exercises can have lasting mental effects. The planning, comprehending, and executing strengthen cognitive skills, such as memory and emotional resilience. 

At the very least, writing can offer its own kind of vitamins for the mind.

4. We Visit the Street of Gratitude

Gratitude is a two-way street with these check-in letters. For instance, the second thing I wrote in my welcome letter to myself was, “Thank you for putting time aside.” The teacher part of me acts as an accountability buddy and appreciates the respect given.

I’m also thankful to have this outlet of letter writing because I’m gentler with myself. It’s in my nature to be a perfectionist so when I don’t finish a first draft of a yoga article on day one, as a teacher I write the next letter to myself acknowledging how I contributed to the project and that I did the best I could in the moment.

The humor of author Anne Lamott helps, too. In Bird by Bird, she gives writers permission to make messes in what she calls our “shitty first drafts.” She believes perfectionism is a way of cramping muscles and it chokes our writing. I think of this whenever I need to physically get up and walk around after staring at the same section of my project. I let myself and the work “breathe and move” per Lamott’s suggestion.  

5. We Challenge Ourselves

I’m my own cheerleader, but I make sure not to patronize myself in the process. I counter my cheers by pushing myself. For instance, I participate in writing contests. The challenge is not a given contest itself but rather the ability to turn a submission into a humbling writing exercise. At the end of the process, I see and understand it as an honest attempt and an honest piece whether or not it finds a home.   

I recently assigned myself the task of putting down a current read and starting a new one. This sounds as though the teacher is giving the student permission to give up, but my goal is to keep myself engaged with reading. I’m actually giving myself permission to put one book aside that does not serve me (yet) and pick up a book that allows me to be an active reader in my genre, taking notes and drawing hearts next to passages.

A more subtle challenge comes from asking conversational questions in letters. These questions make me reflect on my motivation level outside the writing hour: “What activities are you doing to refocus yourself?” “You think you’ll do a Reading Challenge soon?”

Overall, the letters are full of writing with focus without the pressure.

Tell us in the comments: What is your check-in letter going to say?

Brittany Capozzi grew up outside of Boston and holds a BA in English from Curry College with a double concentration in Creative Writing and Professional Writing. She draws inspiration from teaching and studying yoga and belly dancing.  Feel free to say hi and check out her work at  https://bellabiancalynn.com/ or follow her on Twitter @BellaBiancaL.

The post #5onFri: Five Answers We Get from Writing Letters to Ourselves appeared first on DIY MFA.

Right?

Wrong. It’s 2022, and my debut novel is finally coming out! So, what happened? What did I still need to learn?

A lot, as it turns out.

Full Disclosure about My MFA

I want to say up front that I am not out to trash MFA programs. I definitely feel my MFA experience was worth it—I found community with other writers, benefited from great mentoring, and learned a lot about workshopping my own and other writers’ work. 

As an introvert, it got me out of my cave, interacting with other aspiring writers and with faculty members who were experienced, published authors. Most of the reading and writing I did was valuable. 

Just taking myself seriously—and being taken seriously by others—as a writer was valuable. Committing to the leap of faith that is the writer’s life was valuable.

My MFA Experience

The biggest disappointment of the program for me was not about the program itself. It was the painful realization, seconded by my mentor, that I wouldn’t have a complete first draft of my novel by the time I graduated, as I’d hoped, because the book’s opening was untenable and had to be rewritten. 

To succeed, the story needed to be built on a better foundation.

So, yeah, that explains a lot of what happened during the past ten years!

But when I look back on my MFA experience, here’s what I think: many of the seminars were too theoretical for me, focusing on the quirks or private theories or esoteric philosophical musings of the faculty members. These were interesting—even exhilarating—at times. 

But I realize now that what I needed was much more concrete and practical: the nuts and bolts of how to structure a whole novel, even how to structure a scene, how to create believable characters, how to identify my themes and use them to deepen and enhance the story. The kind of down-to-earth help I’ve since gotten from the books of people like K.M. Weiland, Donald Maass (no relation, though I wish he was!), and Jessica Brody.

I have a B.A. in English lit and I’ve been a voracious reader all my life. You’d think I would have known what a plot point was, but in relation to my own writing (not English major-type analysis of other people’s writing), I didn’t have a clue. 

I don’t remember anyone at my MFA program talking about basic three-act structure, and, as amazing as it seems to me now, I never heard the term “inciting incident” even once.

Finding Discipline

Full disclosure: I’ve always been more of a pantser than a plotter. I tend to resist strict outlines, preferring to “discover” things as I go by writing into them. Which is fine, but, as I found out, definitely more time-consuming!

The discipline of stepping back and being made to look at what the three acts of my own story were composed of would have helped give me the clarity I often lacked. Looking at fundamental questions like the purpose of a particular scene, or my story’s thematic principles, or my characters’ goals in specific situations would have been a huge help in diagnosing why a particular scene wasn’t working or why the narrative seemed to have suddenly veered off-track. 

K.M. Weiland’s analysis of scene structure in her book, Structuring Your Novel, is worth the price of the book alone. More recently, I’ve been using Jessica Brody’s 15 beats (or essential plot points) from Save the Cat Writes a Novel to create an outline (yes, I actually did put together a rough outline!) for my second novel.

Again, I don’t mean to be negative about MFA programs; my point is that no one in my program talked about these things—and I needed them. True, I might have resisted them, but I needed them. 

I think it’s similar to practicing scales in music. Learning them can seem boring and tedious, but you can’t start riffing—the fun, creative part—till you have that foundation.

My Most Important Takeaway

So, what did I get out of my MFA experience? What was my most important takeaway?

One word: accountability.

I graduated in August 2012 with my newly-minted MFA, and by that November, I was floundering again. I’d invested too much time and money to walk away from the mess that was my novel, so, on the advice of one of my fellow graduates, I hired a writing coach. Though it was hard to make that financial commitment (especially just coming off an MFA!), it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself as a writer. I will never write another book without one.

What my MFA program ultimately taught me was that I could not write a novel on my own. There are just too many ways to go wrong, to veer off course, to fall down rabbit holes that don’t serve your story. None of these things are unrecoverable from, they’re just time-consuming.

Here’s what I found: you need a coach/companion on the journey—someone who reads you, someone who gets you. Gets who you are and what you’re trying to do, and even, if you’re lucky, loves it. 

But at the same time, someone who can tell you the hard truths about what’s working and what’s not; someone who will encourage you to keep going deeper until you say what you really mean; someone who’s even willing to offer the occasional shoulder for you to cry on.

There is no single right way to write a book—any book, fiction or non. But there are many wrong ways, and by wrong, I mean diversions and detours that can end up sucking the life juice out of you and your story, or worse, derailing it altogether.

When I get off the phone from my monthly call with my writing coach, no matter what she’s said to me—and she’s said some pretty hard things at times—I always feel excited and energized to get back to work. Most of the time, I think, wow, I can’t believe I get to have this much fun.

And, MFA or no, that’s what is ultimately going to help you keep your rear in your chair, finish your book, slog through all the revisions—and become the published author you’ve always dreamed of being!

I wish you the very best of luck.

Robin Farrar Maass is a lifelong reader and writer who fell in love with England when she was twenty-two. She enjoys tending her messy wants-to-be-English garden, painting watercolors, and traveling. She lives in Redmond, Washington, with her husband and two highly opinionated Siamese cats. The Walled Garden is her first novel, and she’s already at work on her next novel set in England. Learn more at www.robinfmaass.com.

The post What My MFA Taught Me & What I Learned on My Own appeared first on DIY MFA.

None of this descriptive prose advances the story one inch. 

A teacher once said to me, “Redge, if you decide to write a story about a bear….bring on the bear.”

1. Write, but write what?

Let’s back up a bit. The first thing to decide is what you’re going to write.

What am I good at? What gives me the most satisfaction? A poem, an essay, a short story, a novel, or some other literary form. 

This is not a trivial decision. While this might seem obvious, it is too often ignored. 

An honest evaluation of one’s talent and inclinations can be painful. Some people just can’t tell a joke, and yet they try. Some people say there’s a novel within them, but they have little imagination.   

2. Are you a storyteller or are you a singer of words?

Are you in love with the sound and choice of your words or do you want to tell a story that carries your reader on an exciting ride? 

Obviously, great storytellers can be purveyors of beautiful words, but the words shouldn’t get in the way of the story. Some might say to look at Faulkner versus Hemingway. One drew complex character and location descriptions into beautiful sagas. The other slapped a bear around in the first chapter and didn’t let go until the end. 

A current trend is to write short stories that begin and end without going anywhere, but arrive there via some beautiful prose.

3. Ordinary or erudite?

Prose is defined as “The ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.” 

Okay, now we have the dictionary version, but what constitutes “ordinary”? What is the ordinary form of spoken language and what difference does it make?

Faulkner once said,  “Hemingway has never been known to use a word that might cause a reader to check with a dictionary.” 

Hemingway replied, “Poor Faulkner, does he think big emotions come from big words?” 

Both men are recognized as brilliant authors, but they chose different paths. 

Let’s say you decide, as I did, that you want to tell stories, and that you want to tell stories about interesting, difficult, simple, complex, loving, hateful people. You want your reader to laugh at your jokes, cry when crying is called for, and think when thought is required. You want your reader to stay in the story, to relate to the people, and for me, that means limiting the time spent thumbing through a dictionary. The irony is that one of Faulkner’s best stories was called “The Bear.”

4. Where’s the meat?

So, what will make the reader become involved? Interesting people, of all types, plus a storyline that is both believable and unbelievable. 

No one really believes that Bond could survive hand to hand combat against twenty trained attackers, but what the hell, it’s a great story, which finally gets to the point of this essay—bring the reader along with you but don’t insult him or her with too much self-satisfying descriptive prose. 

The reason most people think that movies adapted from books are less enjoyable than reading the book, is that movies don’t leave anything up to the viewer’s imagination. Roger Moore ain’t James Bond! Tom Cruise ain’t Jack Reacher! That’s not what Goldfinger’s farm looks like!

5. Let’em find their Wonderland.

The world a good writer creates is not just their world, but their reader’s. A good story allows the reader in; it encourages the reader to create their own world because that world is the most realistic and exciting. The writer is the guide who points out areas of interest but lets the reader fill in the blanks. 

A teacher of mine once said, “It’s okay to feed your reader, but don’t chew for them.” Don’t tell them every detail about the protagonist, about the garden, about every aspect of the scenery. 

Don’t be a movie, be a book.

Tell us in the comments: How do you balance telling enough versus telling all?

Eldridge C. Hanes; Redge to his friends; was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and graduated from Woodberry Forest School in Orange, Virginia, and then from Duke University in 1967 with a BA in Economics. He graduated from the Army Combat Engineering Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir in June of 1968 and served three years of active duty, the last of which was in the Republic of Vietnam and earned him the Bronze Star. After the army, Redge worked seven years for Hanes Corporation and then left to start Xpres Corporation, which eventually became The Russ Companies, for whom Redge served as chairman for three years before retiring in 2011. In addition to his business interests, he has served on a number of boards in the education, environmental and arts fields. Redge has published two novels, Billy Bowater and Justice by Another Name, in addition to contributing essays and articles to various publications. His essay “Helen of Marion” appeared in the recent UNC Press anthology, Mothers and Strangers: Essays on Motherhood from the New South. Redge has been married for fifty years to Jane Grenley Hanes. They have a son, Philip, and a daughter, Lara, and are grandparents of five lively and beautiful grandchildren.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways to Tell Enough without Telling All appeared first on DIY MFA.

Personally, I had a crush on Vermont long before I was able to make it my permanent home. The list of things I love about the Green Mountain State is long—billboards are illegal and there is only one area code. It was the first state to grant women partial voting rights (in 1880), abolish slavery (as a republic and a state), and legislate same-sex marriage. It also has the nation’s highest ratio of dairy cows to people, and Montpelier is the only state capital without a McDonald’s. There are absolutely no skyscrapers in the whole of Vermont. And, thanks to the Right-To-Dry-Law of 2009, Vermonters’ right to hang their laundry out to dry is protected by law.

All of that to say, before I had any other characters clearly defined in my novel, The Treehouse on Dog River Road, I knew the story would be set in the town of Waterbury, Vermont. In the book, Hannah is on a quest to search for a new job and a new place to live and she commences that search while living in Waterbury for the summer to care for her niece and nephew. Hannah not only falls for the boy-next-door, but for the town of Waterbury—the people, the landscape, the vibe. 

The novel revolves around the burning question, where and how can I make my best life? And, place is a critical aspect of Hannah’s search.

Crafting a Sense of Place

Writing about a place is a great way to convey a character’s identity and illuminate their priorities. Describing the physical attributes of an urban area (congested land use, weather, traffic patterns, access to shopping and activities) contrasted with a similar description of a small town (sparse population, open space, lack of entertainment and quirky customs) can inform readers about how the characters perceive the world, as well as their internal struggles. 

Often, without a strong tie to place, the theme can be lost.

The world looks different depending on where you see it from, who you see it with, and when you see it. Simply put: the emotions that someone attaches to an area based on their experience is known as a sense of place. In writing, a character’s relationship with the setting can be used as a mirror for the character’s values, perceptions, and emotions. A strong sense of place can be a lens through which a character is known. 

Here are some things to consider as you write about place:

Townies, Newbies, and Tourists

Our historical and experiential knowledge of a place greatly impacts our essence as humans. When you tell someone where you grew up, it gives the first impression of one’s background, whether that impression is correct or incorrect. 

When setting a character in their hometown, the character will have years of history with that area and interact in a much different way than a character who has been dropped into the same place and experienced it for the first time. Places can become invisible to characters who have lived there all of their lives, while visitors can become enchanted with a place without knowing its true soul.

How’s the Weather?

Any book set in New England must have a good amount of discussion about the weather. No one talks about spring without calling it what it really is: “Mud Season.” 

Weather impacts everyone. It cancels plans and spoils events. Days of glorious weather on vacation are imprinted in one’s memory. 

Emotions and weather are intertwined, but beware of clichés…do we really need another romance reunion scene set in the rain? Research the local weather patterns for your setting and see how they might propel the story.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

What it takes to get from one place to another and how characters bear the journey can say a lot. 

Travel can be hard or easy or stressful or fun, informing a reader of a character’s personality along the way. In the first book of the Harry Potter series, before we ever get to Hogwarts, we get to take a ride on the Hogwarts Express and so much is revealed.

What’s That Smell?

Sensory information can be incorporated into a story and bring a place to life. 

Growing up, I lived near a seldom-used train track, and twice a day, I would hear the rumbling, ground shake, and engine noise as it passed through, throwing off a faint whiff of diesel engine fumes. Both sounds and smells can trigger powerful memories and whenever I hear a train whistle, I immediately think of playing in the backyard of my childhood home. 

Think about the sounds and smells of your setting to enhance the depth of the world you created.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Not every place in the world has the connectivity that authors may experience where they live. It is difficult to write contemporary fiction without keeping current on an area’s 21st-century communication technology resources. I needed to have my two main characters unable to communicate for 48 hours, and it was near impossible to explain away why they didn’t just call or text. As technology evolves, it will be more difficult to deal with communication lapses.

Much like in Aesop’s fable, “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse,” different characters perceive the same place in different ways and a writer can use that to their advantage in expanding their characters. 

If you can’t get to the place where you are setting your story, devote some time to digging deep to uncover as much detail as possible. 

If you can visit the setting of your story, take inspiration from walking the streets. I strolled the streets of Waterbury observing the people and stopped in the library, the hardware store, and other places featured in my book. I ate in the restaurants and swam in the reservoir. Each time I visited, I looked at the town through a different character’s eyes and discovered new things along the way.

A Short Prompt on Place

If you’d like practice on making a setting come alive, take some time to write the story of your relationship with where you are living right now and see what you learn about your own sense of place.

Tell us in the comments: Have you ever experimented with crafting a sense of place?

Catherine Drake lives with her husband in Stowe, Vermont. The Treehouse on Dog River Road is her first novel.

Catherine fell in love with Vermont when she moved there shortly after her wedding and is still starry-eyed for the state, saying this about the people and culture: “People have a greater understanding that the land shapes us and that we must rely on it to survive. Farms, cows, being outdoors, and Maple Syrup are BIG.”

While she has lived up and down the east coast in rural, suburban, and urban areas and traveled extensively throughout the US, Catherine feels there is no equivalent to Vermont and has devoted The Treehouse on Dog River Road as a love letter to it.

Catherine was inspired to tackle the subject of work/life/love balance in today’s world after having witnessed scores of young women look for meaningful careers after college.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post When Place Is a Character: How Setting Can Serve as a Catalyst for a Story appeared first on DIY MFA.

For anyone who is already doing so—or thinking of it soon—here are 5 factors that contribute to long-term success for your full-fledged freelance business.

1. Embrace Your Craft

If you’re freelancing, chances are you wanted a greater degree of enjoyment out of your work. Rather than dragging yourself through the corporate rat race, you launched out on your own and are trying to “make it” doing something that you love. 

If that’s the case, one of the most important factors to keep in mind as you go along is to preserve your passions. This may sound easy for some and impossible for others—and the truth is, it can be both.

While both of these attitudes are common, though, it’s also possible to find a sustainable middle ground—if you try. No matter what stage of the journey you’re in, always strive to remind yourself that you’re doing something you love. Jack London is a good example of this. The author had countless responsibilities, but throughout it all, he still loved to write—to the point where he wrote so much that he forgot to eat at times.

Remember, even though many responsibilities come with running a freelance business, at its core, you’re doing something you’re passionate about. Is it hard? Sure. Are there challenges? Of course. But that’s always true with professional pursuits. The important thing is that you’re pursuing a form of employment on your terms. It’s an encouraging and empowering mindset that can be critical in keeping you motivated over time.

2. Create Long-Term Infrastructure for Your Freelance Business

You may be a solopreneur with a tiny, one-person business but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the corporate side of your business activities. On the contrary, it’s important to invest in the business side of things, including putting long-term elements of your freelance business in place.

For instance, if you send a lot of invoices, create a template to streamline the process. If you need to build a network, invest in things like social media and measure your success over time. If your job is location-dependent, consider things like moving nearer to an important client or living in a city center where you can easily access clients who are within walking distance of one another.

If you’re serious about freelancing, take the time to look past today’s workload. How can you invest in the long-term infrastructure of your growing business?

3. Adopt an Entrepreneurial Attitude

It doesn’t matter what your freelancing activity is. You could build websites, walk dogs, write blog posts, and the list goes on. But at the end of the day, there’s one thing that all contractors share in common: they’re business owners.

That said, it’s important to adopt an entrepreneurial attitude as you go about tending to your business. This includes practical elements, like paying bills and communicating with clients promptly.

It also requires some more nuanced activity. For instance, it’s wise to spend time understanding, identifying, and managing potential risks. Do you have long-term clients? Do you have money saved up for temporary lapses in income? Should you purchase business insurance?

Along with risk factors, consider your mental and emotional state. Look for ways that you can cope with failure—because chances are it will come. When setbacks happen, how will you respond? Work on building resilience and positivity to help you get through the slow or difficult times.

4. Stay Organized

If you want to both attain and maintain a successful freelance business, you need to figure out how to stay organized. This applies to every area of your professional activities. Networking, paying bills, doing your taxes, maintaining equipment, creating a schedule, and of course, doing the work that you’re hired to do all require organization.

There are many ways for freelancers to stay organized. One of the most essential of these is pulling together a commitment tracking system (or CTS for short.) This can be something as simple as using Trello to track open loops and keep your short-term activities and long-term projects in one place.

Your CTS should be a system that helps you track all of your personal and professional activities. As a freelancer, it’s too easy to blur the lines between personal and professional work. Using a CTS helps you tend to your responsibilities without being controlled by your work and personal commitments all of the time.

5. Define Success for Your Freelance Business

Finally, take the time to define success—to you. Don’t look at what others have set as their own benchmarks. Take the time to personally define what it looks like for you to have officially “succeeded.” Is it a financial goal? A time-based goal? A certain lifestyle? A combination of these and other factors?

This isn’t just a fun exercise to see how high you can fly as a freelancer. It’s a critical element of maintaining your own sanity and stability over time.

By defining your terms of success, you establish parameters for you to work within. You can set attainable goals that can keep you motivated. If you’re a workaholic, these boundaries can also help you avoid slipping into an endless pursuit of “bigger and better.”

Setting the Stage for Freelance Business Success

Freelancing is popular, but it’s also tough—especially if you want to freelance full time. Nevertheless, there is a high ceiling for those who go about building their freelance businesses thoughtfully.

So, use the tips above to make sure you’re setting the stage for long-term success with your freelance business. That way you can dive into each day’s work knowing that you’re working toward something that will be sustainable far into the future.

Tell us in the comments: How have you set up your freelance business for success?

Indiana Lee is a writer and journalist from the Pacific Northwest with a passion for covering workplace issues, social justice, environmental protection, and more. In her off time, she enjoys hiking with her two dogs. You can follow her on Twitter @indianalee3, or reach her at indianaleewrites@gmail.com

The post #5onFri: Five Factors that Lead to Freelance Business Success appeared first on DIY MFA.

The answer depends, of course, on how quickly they write, how much time they have to work on their book, and how long their book is. These factors vary from person to person—and so we sit down and do the math to make a concrete plan based on the time they have available and their writing process.

But achieving a goal isn’t only about setting the goal. You must also be able to show up for the schedule you’ve created for yourself. It doesn’t matter that you’ve decided to write for two hours every Tuesday and Thursday unless you actually do it.

Showing up for our goals is hard—but it doesn’t have to be.

If you’ve found it difficult to commit to a writing schedule, you may simply be using the wrong goal type.

Finding Your Enneagram Personality Number

In this post, I’m breaking down the five types of writing goals and the best goal for you based on your Enneagram personality number. 

If you don’t know your Enneagram number, you can figure it out in under 5 minutes by taking this 2-question test. (If you want a more robust test and are willing to spend $12 and 15-20 minutes, you can take this one.)

I’m a huge fan of the Enneagram as a tool for understanding ourselves and our motivation—it’s the only life-changing personality assessment I’ve ever taken (and I’ve taken a lot over the years), and I mean that; it’s changed my life.

Once you have figured out your number, read a little about your type here.

Do you feel exposed?

Seen?

Understood to a degree that makes you feel a little uncomfortable?

Then you’ve nailed your number.

Now let’s look at the various writing goal types and which are best suited to which numbers.

Writing Goal #1: Word Count

We writers love to hold ourselves to word counts—and that makes sense since most writing contests and publishing standards are measured by them.

Word count is the obvious metric if you’re a literary journal or newspaper communicating to writers how long their stories or essays should be, or a publisher communicating how long a memoir is expected to be.

But that doesn’t mean it’s always the best tool for us writers to measure our own progress, day by day. For some of us, word count may provide much-needed structure, while, for others, it can be uninspiring or even paralyzing. How do you know?

When you think, “I’m going to write 1,000 words every day,” or “I’m going to write 5,000 words by the end of the week,” how do you feel?

As with each of these goals, only you can decide whether it’s a fit or not. As you read this post, I invite you to notice your reaction to each goal type—does it fill you with dread? Excite you? Make your body relax? Pay attention to these physical cues. Doing so will help you decide your best fit.

Benefits of Word Count as a Goal:

• Precise
• Concrete
• Easy to track if typing your draft

Downsides of Word Count as a Goal:

• Impersonal
• Inflexible
• Difficult to track if you’re handwriting your draft

Enneagram Numbers that May Like Word Count as a Goal:

1, 3, 5, 8 

Enneagram Numbers Likely to Find Word Count Confining:

2, 4, 7

Writing Goal #2: Page Count

Still numeric but slightly less tedious; page count is another way of measuring your progress. A writer who uses page count as a goal will decide a certain number of pages that they’re committing to completing every day or week. These can be typewritten or handwritten (and a benefit of this goal type is that it works for both).

I’ve preferred this as my goal type at certain times, because I handwrite my first drafts, and page count is an easy way to keep myself moving forward.

I’ll decide to write 5 pages a day, or, when I’m really moving quickly or facing a deadline, I’ll go with 10 pages a day. (This is for a novel, by the way—hence the high number of pages per day.)

What are the upsides and downsides of page count? It’s much like word count, just toned down a bit.

Benefits of Page Count as a Goal:

• More forgiving than word count
• Still concrete
• Easy to track no matter how you’re writing your draft (including handwriting)

Downsides of Page Count as a Goal:

• Still impersonal
• Can be difficult to translate what constitutes a complete manuscript, especially if handwriting

Enneagram Numbers that May Like Page Count as a Goal:

2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9

Enneagram Numbers Likely to Find Page Count Frustrating:

1, 5, 8

Writing Goal #3: Scene by Scene

By far, my favorite writing goal type for writing the first draft of my novels is the scene-by-scene method (or, if you’re not writing a narrative like a novel or a memoir, you can think of it as the beat by beat method).

This method works as follows: you decide what scene you’re going to write each day (or each writing session). Then, you write that one scene on that one day. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 500-word scene or a 2,500-word scene. It doesn’t matter if it takes you 15 minutes or 3 hours. You commit to getting it done, and when it’s done, you’re done.

I love this method because of its flexibility and its practicality: since my scenes tend to be about 1,200 words, I know that 60-70 of them constitute a full novel draft. If I write one scene per day for 2-3 months, I will have a full draft.

It’s also freeing to me: I know that I’m off the hook for the day when it comes to writing as soon as I hit my target. If that happens at 8 a.m., I’m done for the day. No guilt, no pressure.

(Can you tell that this method leaves me calmer and happy to share it? Ask yourself which of these methods makes you feel that way, and that’s the method you should go with.)

Benefits of Scenes as a Goal:

• Most flexible of the types
• Personal/customizable to your project
• Easy to track no matter how you’re writing your draft (including handwriting)

Downsides of Scenes as a Goal:

• So flexible that it can lead to imprecise outcomes (too short a draft)
• Requires advance planning (deciding ahead of time what scene(s) you’ll write)

Enneagram Numbers that May Like Scenes as a Goal:

2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9

Enneagram Numbers that May Find Scenes as a Goal Frustrating:

1, 5, 8

Writing Goal #4: Big Time Chunk

This goal type is what it sounds like—you say, “I’m going to write for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.” 

I think this type of goal is pretty self-explanatory. The question is: how does it make you feel?

If you think, Ahh, yes, that’s clear and straightforward, and I can do that, this may be your goal type.

If you think, but wait…what if something comes up? Then you’re like me: this isn’t it.

Benefits of Big Time Chunk as a Goal:

• Simple
• Straightforward
• Can lead to highly productive writing sessions/getting into the flow

Downsides of Big Time Chunk as a Goal:

• Rigid
• Can lead to burnout
• Hard to maintain/justify

Enneagram Numbers that May Like Big Time Chunk as a Goal:

1, 3, 5, 8

Enneagram Numbers that May Find Big Time Chunk as a Goal Frustrating:

2, 4, 6, 7, 9

Writing Goal #5: X 25-Minute Sprints

The last goal type is another time-based one, but one less rigid than the big-time chunk. With this goal type, you decide how many 25-minute sessions you’re going to commit to each day, à la The Pomodoro method.

This is a good one for you if you like the idea of a time-based goal but find it too restrictive or impossible to commit to a single big-time chunk. 

You don’t worry about how much you produce while writing; you just make sure to be writing (or at least sitting in front of your notebook or computer) during those 25-minute bursts.

Benefits of 25-Minute Sprints as a Goal:

• Moveable/small
• Not based on outcome/how much you produce
• 25-minute work sessions are a proven tactic across disciplines

Downsides of 25-Minute Sprints as a Goal:

• Gear up time takes time, every time
• Still must navigate when/where to fit them
• Can make it hard to get into the flow (too fast)

Enneagram Numbers that May Like 25-Minute Sprints as a Goal:

2, 9

Enneagram Numbers that May Find 25-Minute Sprints as a Goal Frustrating:

1, 3, 8

How to Decide Which Goal is Right for You

The Enneagram is a tool to help you understand yourself and how you relate to the world—it’s not a prescription or a judgment.

My own recommendations based on the Enneagram type are totally speculative, based on my limited (and amateur) understanding of it—I’m just an Enneagram lover and a big fan, not an expert.

But I offer this overview of writing goal types coupled with Enneagram numbers as an invitation to find the write-goal type for you as a writer and to use the Enneagram as a helpful piece of data in that effort.

Writing a book isn’t always going to be easy or even joyful, but it doesn’t have to be a slog.

Choosing the right goal type can help it be easier—more manageable and more fun. A large part of this decision will be what feels right to you, but also, ask what works best for you based on how you motivate (read: your Enneagram number).

As I like to tell my writers, I can almost guarantee that you can finish a draft of a book in 3-4 months without overhauling your life. You just have to know the right way to go about it. Deciding on a goal type is an important piece of that process.

Want my handy chart to track what your best goal type is based on your Enneagram number? Drop your email here and I’ll send it over.

Tell us in the comments: What’s your Enneagram type? What writing goals are you drawn to? Do they match?

Mary Adkins is the author of the novels When You Read This (Indie Next Pick, “Best Book of 2019” by Good Housekeeping and Real Simple), Privilege (Today.com Best Summer Read), and Palm Beach (New York Post “Best Book of 2021,” and “like a sandy beach, equal parts beautiful and uncomfortable” according to the Associated Press). Her books have been published in 13 countries, and her essays and reporting have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, and more. A graduate of Yale Law School and Duke University, she teaches storytelling for The Moth worldwide and runs The Book Incubator, a program for aspiring authors. 

You can also follow her on Instagram.

The post Your Best Writing Goal Based on Your Enneagram Number appeared first on DIY MFA.

In publishing, it’s an absolute. 

Over the course of querying three novels and going out on submission three separate times, I have faced over five hundred rejections. And that’s not an exaggeration. Some were very difficult to handle, like the full requests that turned to no’s or the near offers that fell apart during acquisitions. 

Learning how to deal with rejection as an author is more important than ever because I believe the people that find success in writing are those that keep going, despite being told “no” many, many times. 

I could have stopped after my first one hundred or the second or the third, but I wouldn’t be where I am today if I had. Thanks to a lot of practice, I have found five effective ways to deal with rejection.

1. Change your Mindset toward Rejection

I told myself early on that “no” was just another two-letter word that really meant “Not right now” or “Noble attempt” or “Not today.” 

Treating each rejection as though it’s temporary (because it is) makes it easier to deal with them and continue forward. After all, a “yes” could be just around the corner. 

And it is true what they say, you only need one “yes.” 

My debut novel, The Perfect Marriage, was rejected by every major and mid-size publishing house. I decided to submit it directly to small publishers because I believed in it, and I knew with my ten years of social media and digital marketing experience, I could find my readership. It was published in July 2020 with a small UK publisher and has gone on to sell over 180,000 copies across formats. It hit the Publisher’s Weekly bestseller list, Amazon Charts bestseller list, and Apple Books bestseller list. The film/tv rights were optioned to Picture Perfect Federation, and it’s been translated into nearly a dozen languages. 

Even after all of that, I was still getting “Not today” when I began querying another project. Over 100 agents said, “no” to my next thriller One of Us is Dead. Only one (my agent, Sandy Lu) said “yes.” The book got multiple offers on submission and sold in a very nice deal to Blackstone Publishing (out April 26^th). 

Were all those publishing houses or the 100+ agents wrong for saying no to me? Absolutely not. It wasn’t right for them. But the point is don’t let all the no’s stop you from finding your yes.

2. Treat Yourself

This might sound counterintuitive to treat yourself when you didn’t get the outcome you were looking for. 

However, getting a rejection is an accomplishment in itself because you put yourself out there because you took a risk because you’re actively pursuing your passion. And that should be celebrated. 

So, if you have a particularly hard knock-back, or perhaps it’s your very first, treat yourself. Get a manicure, buy some new stationery, eat a comfort meal, have a glass of wine; do whatever you need to take care of yourself. 

3. Wallow in Self-Pity (temporarily)

I myself have done my fair share of wallowing in self-pity, and I will say it does help if it’s temporary. 

It’s completely okay to be upset or frustrated with rejections, and those feelings shouldn’t be suppressed. They’re valid. 

Allow yourself to feel them and take a day to be upset, but then get back to work. 

Heck, you can even use those negative feelings to propel you forward, because there’s nothing more motivating than wanting to prove your ‘naysayers’ wrong.

4. Refocus

You can’t control if an agent says yes or no to represent you. You can’t control if an editor says yes or no to acquire your book. So, it’s time to refocus, or better yet focus on what you can control; and that’s your work. 

If you’re out on submission, start writing the next book. If you’re querying a project, start writing the next book. Putting your energy into another book while you’re querying or on submission can help dull the sting of any rejections you might face. 

Also, having something else in the works is a great reminder that it isn’t over until you stop trying. 

5. Accept the Rejection

As I said earlier “rejection is an absolute in publishing.” You will get rejected. You will get declined more than once. If you’re like me, you’ll get rejected hundreds of times. 

Rejection is just a part of this journey and the sooner you realize and accept that, the easier it is to deal with it. So, the next time someone tells you “No” —remember you are not alone. 

We have all been there because rejection is a stepping stone in publishing. Some of us just have a lot more steppingstones to cross over, which is fine, because every path to publication is different. 

You just have to stay on your path and keep pressing forward until you reach your destination.

Tell us in the comments: How have you dealt with rejection?

Jeneva Rose is the bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage, which has been published in nearly a dozen languages and optioned for film. Originally from Wisconsin, she currently lives in Chicago with her husband and stubborn English bulldog. One of Us Is Dead is her third novel. You can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, or her Facebook page.

The post #5onFri: The Five Stages of Dealing with Rejection appeared first on DIY MFA.

But I’m more than a pathological organizer with a very judgmental inner critic. 

And astrology is more than a horoscope, too. It’s full of mythology, patterns, personalities, and, of course, stories. As such, it is an amazing tool for writing, even if you don’t believe it can tell the future. 

Before we dig into how it can help you write your novel, let’s do a brief overview of some of the basic pieces that make up astrology. 

Astrology 101

The astrological wheel (aka, the sky) is made up of twelve signs, which correspond to twelve constellations: 

1. Aries the Ram
2. Taurus the Bull 
3. Gemini the Twins 
4. Cancer the Crab 
5. Leo the Lion
6. Virgo the Maiden 
7. Libra the Scales
8. Scorpio the Scorpion 
9. Sagittarius the Archer 
10. Capricorn the Sea-Goat 
11. Aquarius the Water Bearer 
12. Pisces the Fishes 

Each sign has distinctive traits, energies, and purposes. You likely know your Sun sign (the sign the Sun was in when you were born). But did you know you also have a Moon Sign, a Mars Sign, etc, etc?

This brings me to the planets. The planets advance through the twelve signs as they make their orbits. The “planets” of course are the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Each planet introduces a different effect. For example, the Sun (the center of our galaxy) solidifies your ego, while Jupiter (as a gas giant) represents the places in life one expands within.

Lastly, we have houses. Houses are the twelve slices of the astrological wheel that represent different areas of life. 

The core of astrology is synthesizing these three main concepts (houses, planets, and signs) into a message, such as a horoscope or a birth chart. You can think of this ancient art as a language of symbols, the threads that weave together into a cohesive story. 

Now that you’ve got a guide to the basics of the stars, here’s how you can use astrology for your writing practice.

1. Tapping into cross-cultural mythology and astrology 

Astrology is an ancient art that has been used by cultures all over the world for millennia. Much of the astrology we use in the West is based on Greek and Roman mythology, but other parts of the world have their own systems and myths too.

Astrology is a great tool for getting in touch with these ancient stories and exploring archetypes, motifs, and even characters that have stood the test of time through a different lens.

For example, say I was curious about the mythology behind the constellation of Pisces. I simply search for “Pisces Mythology” and immediately find a blurb about how Pisces represents the two fish that Aphrodite and Eros rode in order to escape the super scary Typhon when he came to destroy the gods of Mount Olympus. As a reward for being such good fishy helpers, the finned friends were cast into the sky to be admired for all eternity. Now isn’t that just rife with inspiration?

2. Designing a three-dimensional main character

Nobody wants a one-note or one-sided protagonist. We want our main characters to be compelling, to have a purpose, to feel relatable, and to have a past that gives them depth. Astrology is a great tool for sketching out these complex characters. And, thanks to the wonders of the internet, you don’t even need to be an astrologer to benefit from this quick trick.

As you learned above, astrology is made up of 12 signs and 9 planets. Each and every one of us has each of these signs and planets in our birth charts. And your character can have a birth chart, too! 

Here’s a quick form you can fill out for yourself if you’re starting from scratch. Anything in bold, you choose. Anything in italics; you search based on the word in bold! 

My character is a(n) Aries Sun. This means at their core they _act first and think later, live life with enthusiastic verve, and have a penchant for stubbornness.

My character is a(n) Capricorn Moon. This means they live out their purpose by _continuously climbing to new heights in order to prove their worth to society.

My character has Mars in Scorpio. This means they take action with _a tendency toward obsession. There is no shallow action or drive here! Go deep or go home.   

Using a framework like this is one way to ensure you have guidance on how your character may behave in different kinds of situations. 

3. Creating distinctive side characters

While the protagonist is often what drives the story forward and keeps the reader reading, it’s also important to have well-developed side characters. Assign each character a sign and think through how these different characters, with their different or even matching signs, might interact with each other! 

How might an Aries Sun with their act-first tendencies make a more harmonious Libra Sun character anxious? Might the climbing Capricorn cause their steadfast Taurus lover to feel like they might get left behind? 

Playing around with different combos is a fun exercise in developing tensions between characters as you plot or even edit your manuscript. 

4. Randomly generating characters

If you’re feeling lost and like your main character isn’t coming together, there are tons of tools for generating a birth chart out of nothing. 

I’d recommend trying out the free AstroClick Portrait on astro.com. All you have to do is input a Time, Date, and Location of Birth; and voila, it spits out an interactive birth chart with a wealth of details you can use to design your complex character! 

Don’t like the first attempt? Simply input a new set of birth details and see what you get. 

5. Wading into an abundance of inspiration  

As astrology becomes less “woo woo” and more mainstream, there is an ever-increasing number of resources from a variety of voices available for your perusal. From apps to podcasts, Instagram astrologers to email lists, there is so much inspiration out there waiting to worm its way into your brain and inspire your next big idea or small plot fix. 

Think about astrology as a practice for learning about different character archetypes, or even as the ultimate training for developing a hand at metaphor and synthesis. 

You never know where your next idea might come from. The muse may twinkle down at you the next time you stare in wonder at the stars above.

Tell us in the comments: Have you ever used astrology to create characters or plan your plot?

Ashley Christiano is a fantasy writer, experienced tarot reader, and professional astrologer. As The Novel Mystic, she combines the power of astrology, tarot, and creative writing to empower women, educate the Astro-curious, and inspire her own storytelling. You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter to learn more or get your own reading.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways Astrology Can Help You Write Your Novel appeared first on DIY MFA.

If I’d known the editor or been published by this magazine before, I might’ve slunk back with an apology and explained how I brashly hadn’t checked my dates. But we’d made an agreement, and I wanted my first impression to be of the poised, discerning writer, even if it was strictly an allusion.

The deadline was a double-edged sword. On one wonderful side was the fact that in two short weeks, this literary professional would be editing my essay for publication. On the other, a more painful one, I had to write a worthy essay amidst heaving swells and sweaty bunkmates. 

From this, and other less harrowing experiences, here’s some advice on managing deadlines.

Get into Gear and Create Mini-Deadlines

As soon as I put the August 30th deadline into my calendar, I started working backward. I would have to get a rough draft done on the boat, so I could send it to a writer-friend the following week. My process always involves at least one other set of eyes, and I wasn’t going to jeopardize clean copy for island revelry. If I asked my peer editors to get back to me within a few days, I would still have enough time to incorporate their edits before sending off my final(ish) draft. All these dates went into my writing planner—a document with weekly headers and bullet points of what I’m working on.

Note: Getting into gear does not mean flinging open your computer and frantically typing the first draft. It means inhaling, exhaling, and putting together a plan of how you’ll execute the project then beginning. 

Speaking of strategies…

Stick to the Plan

Indecision leads to anxious thought loops, self-doubt, and (worst of all) wasted writing time. Instead of second-guessing my capabilities and crafting a vacation confession, I opened my notebook and started penning the first draft. Scheduling mini-deadlines had soothed my frantic mind, and I was able to write from a calm, clear-headed place. 

Barring a life crisis or other legitimate excuse, trust that you’re capable of following through on your deadlines. And when I say a legitimate excuse, remember that whoever gave you your cut-off time has their own as well, and be as honest as possible about whether you need that extra time. 

This might also mean you have to…

Curb your Perfectionism: Helps You Beat the Deadline

With the exception of a contest or fellowship application, deadlines often mean someone will be giving you feedback on your writing. Yes, you still want to impress your editor, but his/her job isn’t merely to proofread—it’s to give you edits. 

In other words, while they’re expecting a piece that’s as good as you can make it, they’re also there to help make it even better.

Note: When your submission is your final version, consider building some additional time-frames into your schedule, so you can have an extra set of eyes to edit and proofread your work. This is an instance where you want everything to be as polished as possible.

Trust in Yourself

No matter how old you are or what level of writing experience you have, you’ve already hit many time limits. Shopping for your drooly nephew’s birthday present requires a deadline. Composing a lovingly hilarious wedding toast, and sliding into the wine store before it closes; also require deadlines. 

If you’re awash in waves of self-doubt, try journaling a list of other projects you’ve completed. Find your inner cheerleader who will propel you forward, and see if they’ll tell Doubtful Dorothy to step aside.

As I mentioned earlier, this was my first accepted pitch, which means for many years, I was setting my own time limits. They helped me finish my first novel, put together a photography-poetry collaboration, and hold myself accountable for my literary ambitions. 

Although the above advice still applies, there are a few differences to keep in mind.

Be Your Own Nice Boss: Set Reasonable Deadlines

Had I been setting my own essay deadline, I would’ve made it two weeks after my vacation—enough time to readjust to responsible life and get back into the writing groove. A target date should support your work, not cause anxious rushes and make the writing process more difficult. 

This leads to…

Know the Way You Work

I ”finished” my first novel when I was twenty-five. And by finished I mean, I had ten copies of the manuscript printed and bound at Staples. It would only take four more years for a vague semblance of this story to be published as Purple Gold. 

At the time, my goal was simple—to gift this nascent novel to my closest friends and family as a birthday present to myself. I hit my deadline and then went on a birthday bender (not necessarily part of the recommended advice).

This is all to say, think about your schedule and what’s realistic. Will finishing a novel draft by the new year mean you’re stress-writing during family holiday time? It might be better to use a long weekend as a mini-writing retreat and move your target date after that. Think about pacing yourself, and balancing your writing alongside baby birthdays and wine time.

Balance Quality with Productivity Regardless of the Deadlines

All this said, there’s a difference between rushed writing and polished prose. If you’re nearing the point of sending your novel manuscript to an agent, it’s better to give yourself all the time you need. 

As I said earlier, be honest with holding yourself accountable versus giving your writing the time it needs. This might mean reading your work aloud and hearing if it sounds finished, sharing it with others to get their thoughts, or journaling about your goals to know exactly what you’re working towards.

On that boat trip, I’d debark early, find a hidden café, and get down my first draft. One of my favorite parts of traveling is wandering off with my notebook, so the morning writing didn’t feel like work. 

When I needed to use my computer, I converted the skipper’s table into a writing desk. Luckily he found this amusing and asked how famous I was. (Very famous, my reply). 

When I got back home, I broke one of my writing rules and wrote at the library on a Saturday. This meant I could send the draft to my readers, and I’d have the rest of the week for them to read and me to revise.

While I couldn’t call it a masterpiece, I was proud of the essay when I sent it to my editor. And best of all, he did not shoot back a scathing response questioning my vacation-level prose. Rather, we went through two rounds of edits which kept the essay timely and made it even stronger. While I wouldn’t call sailing conducive to writing, it was another step on the journey of learning to create my best work.

Tell us in the comments: How do you react when you receive deadlines? And have you ever set one for yourself?

Gracie Bialecki is a writer, literary coach, and workshop facilitator. Her work has appeared in various publications including Catapult and Epiphany Magazine where she was a monthly columnist. Bialecki is the co-founder of the storytelling series Thirst, and the author of the poetry collection Youth, as well as the novel Purple Gold (ANTIBOOKCLUB).

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter.

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