Many writers have a writing ritual. They show up in the same place at the same time everyday when they write. Doing the same thing everyday is a very helpful way to build a writing habit and get your book written.
But what about those days when things don’t quite work out? Holidays happen, people get sick, and travel takes you away from that perfect writing spot. It’s better to have a plan for busy days now, because of what happens after you sell your book.
Surprise! After your book comes out, you can’t just stay home and write any more. Being a published author means you have to get out there into the world — and tell people about your book — while you also write the next one.
Juggling two jobs at once can be tricky, but you can do it. The secret is to be open to working on your book at any time. For example, in 2010 I had a Boxcar Children book due — and a month of back-to-back school visits. It was wonderful to be invited to visit every elementary school in a large school district, but it was also busy. I went to one school in the morning and another in the afternoon. In the middle, the librarians from both schools took me out to lunch.
Visiting elementary schools day after day made me a commuter, so I had to watch my time very carefully in the morning. Some days I used a timer while I did a quick write after breakfast, and then I joined the rush hour madness. For schools that were farther away, I made the commute first and wrote in the car until everyone else arrived and the building opened for the day. That was my first writing session of the day.
After I came into school and set up all of the audio-visual equipment, there was always a small pocket of quiet time before the children came for the program. At school after school, I opened my notebook and did another quick write as I waited. At some schools, there were also long waits between sessions, so I used that time to write as well.
Depending on the length of the commute home, some days I also had time to write before dinner. Day after day, all of those small snatches of time added up, and by the end of the month, I had a complete draft, ready to revise. I met my book deadline — and I met an entire school district of young readers as well.
Having a long stretch of uninterrupted time to write is glorious! I love to lose track of time as I sink deep into the story. But most of the time, my life is filled with interruptions, so I decided to use it to my advantage.
The flip side of having a very short amount of time to write is that I don’t have time to fuss over every word. I don’t have time to worry about the words being perfect. I don’t have time for writer’s block.
Whenever I have a small pocket to time to write, I just let the words come. I write until my time is up. I know I can fuss with the words later when I have more time. That’s what revisions are all about, fussing with words.
I’m not the only one who writes this way. When asked about her writing ritual, award-winning author R. F. Kuang told The Wall Street Journal, “Ideally, I’m at a nice desk in my home office or a library or a cafe somewhere, but I really try to train myself to write anywhere and at any time.”
Can you do the same for KidLitWriMo?
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