by Katherine Reay, @Katherine_Reay
September… Getting Back into the Swing of Things
Summer can be a challenging time to stick to a schedule and get writing done. This summer — and especially this last month of it with mounting family commitments, work, travel and a few other things going on — I felt overwhelmed. So I thought up a few strategies, and hoped you might find them helpful too, to get me back into the swing of a schedule and a more disciplined writing life as I approach the end of these busy days and prepare myself for a busy fall… Because life never really lets up, does it?
- Observe everything. It’s not that we don’t do this normally, but life looks a little different in the summer and we often go new places and try new things. Make paying attention a goal, a priority and mark what you see, hear, smell and taste, especially as summer transforms into fall. Transitions times bring conflict, good or bad, and that is wonderful food for great stories. Don’t worry if those details don’t find their way into your writing now. They may inspire something later.
- Write or dream a little each day. Take a few minutes each day to wonder. Ask what’s next, both in life and in your story. You may not find the answers, but the avenues of thought often open up interesting possibilities. I believe almost anything can provide that “ah ha” moment and, often, we must be away from our computers and word counts to capture it.
- Write out a schedule at the beginning of each week. I am rarely able to stick to mine, but the exercise does get me focused on my priorities for the week. And if I schedule time for each, I am less likely to push it away and leave it undone. We often put writing on the back burner each day only to find it’s fallen off completely by the end of the week. Dedicated time, even if only a few minutes, can accomplish a great deal.
- Take that weekly schedule and stretch it a little larger to look at the fall as a whole. I try not to be too strict here as I find too many defined goals discouraging rather than encouraging. Yet I do find value in examining where I want different aspects of my work-in-progress to be, what I want my marketing approach to look like, what my looming deadlines are — and where my kids are too!
- Pick a craft book and enjoy new learnings. Each fall I select a craft book and dig in. It always opens a new avenue within writing for me and gets me excited for my fall work. And this website is a great place to learn about wonderful craft books!
As always, have fun with your writing! It’s a journey and, as much as it might bring stress, it should also bring joy.
Thanks for spending a few minutes here with me today!
Katherine
The Printed Letter Bookshop
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Katherine Reay is a national bestselling and award-winning author of several novels, including Dear Mr. Knightley and the upcoming The Printed Letter Bookshop. She has enjoyed a lifelong affair with books and brings that love to her contemporary stories. Her first full-length nonfiction work will release in December 2019. Katherine holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University. She currently writes full time and lives outside Chicago, IL with her husband and three children. You can meet Katherine at www.katherinereay.com or on Facebook: KatherineReayBooks, Twitter: @katherine_reay and Instagram: @katherinereay.