Okay “doomed” might be hyperbole, but ignoring historical tracking data impairs your ability to correct what’s not working and reinforce what does work for you as a writer. Tracking your Product Time not only keeps you on-track this week and this month, it gives you the long view you need to identify patterns and trends … More Writers Who Don’t Track History Are Doomed…
How do you measure your writing progress: Word counts? Critical due dates? Action steps taken? I track Product Time, that is, the amount of time I spend doing anything necessary to move a writing project forward. Here’s why. While revising and reworking my novel, daily word counts of Chapter 61 shifted from 1675 to 1700 … More Tricks of Tracking: #1 Track the Right Stuff
Letting Go After my last New Book Update post about receiving “Best of Luck” replies from agents I’d queried, I juggled blogging, querying and starting a new novel. It seemed an appropriate time to write posts about managing multiple writing projects. So I did. In February, I took a retreat from this blog to snorkel … More The Creative Necessity of Surrendering What We Know: New Book Update
Long ago I called them “rejection letters;” more recently I called them “letters of declination” – as in “We decline the opportunity to represent your fiction;” now I call them “best of luck letters” – as in “I wish you the best of luck in your search for representation.” What you call these letters from … More New Book Update: Celebrate the “Best of Luck” Letters
Publishing is business; writing is art. Writers must attend to both the business side and the art side of their lives, but in what ratios? Challenging as it is, creating art is where we find joy. Publishing is where we hope to find satisfaction and success, but where we’re far more likely to find disappointment. … More How Recommitting to the Art Side of Writing Eased My Resistance
Thank you to the Loft Literary Center for offering and to agent Kelly Van Sant for teaching the online Query Comprehensive class where I revised (and revised again and again) my query letter. I wasn’t sure I needed a comprehensive class; after all, I knew the basics. But the timing was ideal — I had … More New Book Update: The Gift of Being Rejected
Drum roll, please… I finished rewriting my novel on August 15, 2017! Again. If you’re a long-time reader of this blog or have looked at the New Book Updates in the archive, you may recall that I finished a significant rewrite in October 2015, one year and 10 months after I pulled my novel off … More New Book Update: It’s Done!
I’m shooting for a brief post today because quite frankly, I’m loving what I’m doing with my novel right now and I’m eager to get back to it. In the past two and a half months, I’ve deleted nearly 5,000 words from my novel, Essential Path, significantly improving the story AND making my writing process … More New Book Update: Going Deep Tightens My Fiction and Relaxes My Process
I’m deep in revising the last chapters of my novel. So deep, I sometimes wonder if it qualifies for being in the weeds. I surfaced a few minutes ago. After stretching, (it’s amazing how stiff my body gets while I’m immersed in the story) I started wondering again what to post here on BaneOfYourResistance this … More Another Way to Prepare for a Writer’s New Year
Transitions are usually difficult for me. Which is why I’m so surprised that the current transition is – I’m almost afraid to jinx it – easy. Typically, while I’m clipping along in one stage – doing research or drafting, for example – I’ve got momentum working for me. I show up for Product Time and … More Big Significant Next Steps Make Writing Harder
Bane of Your Resistance 