Documenting My Book Writing Journey: Week 4

This week, I hit a big milestone: 12,000 words!

While we're only at 1/8th of the projected length for this novel, it's important to me to celebrate this milestone, because this week has been a doozy. Personal stuff has been going on, I've had huge schedule changes (and this girl doesn't do well with schedule changes) and I struggle with motivation when it's dark and cold - but we did. We're here. And I'm so heckin' proud of myself for sticking with it. 

Reaching this point wasn’t easy, but it’s proof that with the right tools and approach, steady progress is achievable. Whether you’re just starting or trying to break through a writing plateau, I’ll share the strategies that helped me.

Break the Process Into Smaller Goals

Since this week was such a weird one (I have not had a single "normal day" since Sunday) I didn't think about hitting word count goals, or really the overarching project. I get overwhelmed really easily, and when that happens the best thing to do is to break it down into the tiniest steps possible. 

For some reason, I can handle 10,000 little steps, but if there's one big goal I freak out (I also happen to know that my students are the same way). So, even if my goal is to write one word and then the other, I'll happily do that before I set a goal to write an entire novel. 

The daily writing log inside of the Annual Book Writing Planner (which you can get for free when you grab The Complete Novelist's Kit) is designed to do this. It helped me not just track what I was doing for tangible progress, but it also helped me be proactive when it comes to overwhelm. I was able to keep track of what helped me get over this hump, and to figure out what didn't help so I know what to do next time. It was seriously a lifesaver this week.

Follow a Clear Story Structure

It may have come across in previous posts that I'm against pantsing - and this part of the post might make it seem like it, too - but I'm not. In fact, I do a lot of pantsing in my stories. The trouble with pantsing is when you either: a.) write yourself into hole you can't get out of, or b.) you've pantsed so much you don't know what you've written (which creates a lot of plot holes). However, I also don't like rigid structures to take the fun out of writing, so I'll say this as clearly as I can: plot the big stuff, pants the small stuff - mostly. 

Here's what I did this week, and it's pretty standard for me: 

The Complete Novelist's Kit Helps Pantsers and Plotters:

Early on in this project I used the hero's journey plot template inside the kit to lay out the major beats of the story. This is the REALLY big stuff: the conflict, the action, the tests, the allies, the final confrontation, all that goodness. This has really helped me keep it on track when it comes to the trajectory of the story. 

When I sit down to write, though, I'm not actually thinking about the Hero's Journey. I trust that I've done the work behind the scenes to have the big story line up with it (and if not, that's what the 2nd draft is for) and then I forget about it. I pants my way through some of the smaller moments, especially in the beginning, to get a feel for my characters and what they might do. 

At this stage, I usually use one of the character arc planners, too, depending on what is happening with the character. Since Levi, my hero, is going through a positive character arc (at least right now - although I feel like we all know my penchant for anti-heroes) I like to use the Hero's Journey Template with the Positive Character Arc Planner, because this takes it from a BIG STORY to a story told at a character level (which is a lot more interesting). 

One other thing - THEMES. Pantsing crashes and burns when you don't know (or don't hold to) the central themes of your story. I had to play around with mine a little before I found them, but the themes at play (if you're curious: identity, family, guilt, and redemption) help guide a panster and a plotter to creating a cohesive story. 

I'll be real with you - strong themes can hide a lot of writing mistakes. If something resonates emotionally with a reader, they'll be willing to forgive a LOT in the book (it's like dating: when we're infatuated with someone, we rarely see the red flags at first).

My most successful students use the Complete Novelist's Kit for this reason, and that's why I talk about it so much. It has saved my butt too many times to count.

Embrace Messy First Drafts

A couple times this week I caught myself editing as I write, or I kept hearing a REALLY LOUD voice of self-criticism in the back of my head. It stopped me from writing a few times, or caused intense feelings of anxiety and dread when I sat down at my computer to write. I'm not happy about this, but I'm glad it happened, because it's something I've been wanting to talk about for a long time, and this is why:

When I work with my students in the Author Mentorship Program (lovingly known as AMP) before we even start writing, I have them work on something called The Nurturing Routine. There's a very specific reason for this. (And it's funny - because as of writing this, I had a conversation with one of my students about this yesterday). 

In 2023 I was in and out of the hospital for a few different health reasons - but all of them were exacerbated by burnout. My life was in danger, and I had to quit my job and uproot my life. My husband and I had to make a lot of sacrifices at that point and start really thinking about what we were going to do - with our already small income split in half, nowhere to live, and a student loan that was up to our eyeballs, something had to give. 

(that something was me)

On the journey to healing, I met with a lot of professionals. Mental health experts, life coaches, doctors, therapists, even a neuropsychologist (which was really cool - I got to see a map of my brain!). I started thinking about something no one had ever talked to me about before: burnout. 

Real burnout is scary. It's life-changing. It takes months to years to recover from it. I'm young, but I didn't want to waste my youth being in a constant cycle of burnout/work/burnout/work, and then one day die wishing I'd woken up not tired at least once on a weekend. So I started asking myself this question: 

What will it take for this to never happen again? 

Well, quitting my life-draining job and getting away from extremely abusive people was step one. Moving out of a mold-infested apartment while Nathan and I put our shattered lives back together was step 2. But steps 3-87? That was up to me. 

While meeting with professionals all over, I came to realize that what was missing was nurturing. Not a self-care routine, exactly (these get demonized for all the wrong reasons, but that's a later discussion), but something that takes the active practice of listening to body cues and then acting upon them to create a result. 

Since creating processes is where I excel, this was laughably easy for me. 

The nurturing routine that I teach to my students is unique to every single one of them, but it involves these basic steps: 

1. For a set number of days (we determine this in-session) don't change anything, but carry a notebook with you everywhere you go. 
2. Every time you sit down to write or even think about writing, notice what comes up and why. Specifically notice and try to name the feelings. (For me this week, it was dread). 
3. Throughout our time together, we'll talk about what those feelings mean and what to do with them. 

The important part of thinking about the nurturing routine is that last step: doing. Most of my burnout/anxiety/depression stemmed from (other than toxic mold poisoning) blatantly ignoring body cues of mine because they weren't what I wanted. I starved myself, I refused to do fun things in favor of work, I only worked for years because I was trying to pay off debts, etc. When three members of my family died in 2023 (a prelude to the nervous breakdown that would happen that November) I didn't even let myself feel sad for them, because I was going too fast and working too hard. 

When I teach the nurturing routine to my students, we learn to identify those feelings and figure out what they're trying to tell us. A signal is always a cry for help somewhere in the body - maybe it needs sleep, or food, or water, or maybe it needs community or play. Maybe it needs an outlet like physical motion. Maybe it needs a TV show. Through this process, we learn what each cue means for each person, and then use that to curb symptoms of burnout, refresh the creative brain, and do the thing I SUCK at doing: REST.

So anyway - how does this relate to the messy first draft? (I'm really proud of you if you stuck along with me this far). Let me explain: 

The messy first draft is the enemy of perfectionist (me). However, how am I supposed to embrace it when I'm overwhelmed with dread, anxiety, fear, and paralysis every time I make a mistake? 

Enter: The Nurturing Routine.

This week, I caught myself feeling overwhelmed and anxious and full of dread. I caught myself being overly critical and editing in my head. I caught myself crossing off ideas I haven't even tried. So I practiced looking inward and realized that this wasn't actually about writing. 

So what was going on? Here's what I found, and what I did:

• I miss my spouse. Nathan has been gone on a trip, and it's the longest he's ever been away from home without me. This has been tough on me and our cat, Jackie, and I missed him a lot. Being emotionally distressed made it difficult to feel creative. What did I do to nurture that? Well, I made extra time to have community with my friends. I tried to be more open with my family about how I was feeling, and had regular calls with Nathan when he wasn't working. Throwing myself into overdrive to ignore how I was feeling wasn't working, so it was time to back off and address that. 
• I was creatively empty: I worked a lot last week, which means I didn't read or watch shows as much as I usually do. (In fact, I don't really watch TV unless I'm with other people, and since Nathan wasn't here, I didn't really watch it at all). Solution? Refill the creative tank. I had a Doctor Who marathon and decided to put my social media away for a few days. Naturally, I started wanting to write stories again. 
• I was REALLY tired: when I have unpleasant emotions (like missing my spouse) I tend to work too hard. I was staying up all night, I was drinking too much coffee, and I was pushing myself too hard. All the flashing lights and sirens were going off in my head. I decided that burning out was not an option - so I came to a full stop and flipped on basic necessities only. (this is a brain-setting of mine where I focus on only the bare minimum of what I need to survive: eat, sleep, and basic hygiene). 

24 hours later, and I was already feeling like my best self. 

So embracing the messy draft isn't just trite advice - but it does absolutely nothing if you can't figure out where anxiety around the first draft is coming from. I'm really glad I took the time to do that this week, because now I have 12000 words, and I'm loving my story and the way I feel.

Reconnecting with Characters

Back to writing 12,000 words - another helpful thing I did was reconnect with the characters. 

In recent meetings with my students in AMP, we've been talking about The Big Question. The Big Question is just another name for the main idea of your story: what's the main thing you want to convey to your reader? This is probably one of the themes or big ideas, and a lot of writers don't really know what it is until they've written a few drafts. 

Recently, one of my students found The Big Question in her book - and the light in her eyes when she found it (we were live in-session, and I got to see the lightbulb moment) reminded me why I chose this profession in the first place: it's a magical, transformative thing, and probably one of the best parts of writing. 

The Big Question usually relates back to the main character, because this is the thing the character will either wrestle with/uncover/try to bring to the story world as they journey along. I'm trying to identify mine early to make it easier to edit, and this week I stumbled across something that might just be It. 

(I won't tell you what it is - but it's GOOD). 

I found The Big Question by reconnecting with my characters on an individual level. The Positive Character Arc Planner in the Kit helped with this, but so did my other resource, Creating Iconic Fantasy Characters. Sometimes I haul out this bad boy when I want to work on characters but not necessarily focus on plot points. Working through Levi and Cassian's character profiles (again) helped me figure out that through both of them, I now have my Big Question. 

Exploring this Big Question through their eyes gave me 12,000 words. 

Celebrate Milestones

I'll be completely honest with you: this week felt like utter garbage. 

My routine was off. I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked. I'm not even sure anything I wrote as "that good" (who cares). However, there are still some things to celebrate, and I'd like to encourage you to make a list of things, too. Here's mine: 

• I watched an entire season of Doctor Who (Eccleson) without checking my social media
• I got the draft up to 12,000 words 
• I kept all of my committments, even though I wanted to cancel on all of them
• I got myself out of bed every day even though feeling like trash
• I overcame feelings of self-doubt and continued to write anyway
• I delivered the newest installment of The Order to my proofreader on time and didn't just ghost him like I usually do (you can read it here if you want)
• AND I listened to my body signals, even if I didn't like what they were telling me. 

And you know what? It's Monday. A new week, a new opportunity, and a new day. No matter how last week went, it's in the past. 

As one of my dearest characters says, 

Tomorrow will come, and we will start again.

What's Next?

If you're here, it means that you are serious about writing - and that's awesome! Here are some things to do next:

1 - make sure you're subscribed to our weekly newsletter. You'll get updates like this one, which usually include advice and resources on writing, editing, and publishing. (When you use this link, you'll also get 9 free writing resources. That's pretty cool!)

2 - grab your copy of The Complete Novelist's Kit. It's 30 of my best writing guides, and it's helping writers all over the world write their stories. 

3 - stay in touch: I want to hear from you. From one writer to another, it's not very fun to write a book in a vacuum - so if you're writing a book, tell me about it! I want to hear where you're at in the writing process. 

Until next time, my friend - Happy Writing! 

xo Rachel