by CJ Meyerly, @mdippedinink

I’ve spent August fast-drafting my novel, writing on average between three to four thousand words a day. I decided to fast-draft for the first time because I wasn’t getting anywhere by taking a slower method. This process has been eye-opening for me, and I’ve learned a few things along the way. I would like to share those with you today:

• Don’t let yourself get so focused on your story that your life comes to a complete halt. This one is hard for me. When I put my mind to something, I get laser focused on it. This month, I had to balance potty training my toddler with writing my book. I didn’t feel that I could put either off. That added a little insanity to my life.
• Keep a notepad handy. My days are pretty set. I write when my kids are sleeping. While they were awake, I keep a notepad in a central place, so I can jot down my ideas as needed. A little line of dialogue. A sentence that I loved. Or an idea to further my plot. However, my goal when my kids are awake is to be present with them. The notepad helped me to clear my mind to focus on my kids.
• Brackets can be your best friend. My heroine is a spunky mechanic, and I know very little about cars. My husband is my well of knowledge, but he’s often sleeping when I write. I often have my heroine working on something, so I’ll make brackets as a placeholder to include a little more detail later. Or, I’ll need to fact check something, but I don’t want to slow down, so I bracket a [clue word].
• If your scene isn’t working, start in a different way. There are times that I had the scene in my head, but by two hundred words, nothing was coming. I would put it aside, and do something else, and suddenly it would hit me. Either I was using the wrong POV for the scene or I started at the wrong time. But when I altered the beginning, I often found that the scene worked in a way that wouldn’t earlier.
• Take care of yourself. My best writing time is between midnight and two a.m. I know, convenient, right? Because of this, I take a nap when my kids nap during the day. It’s the only way I can find time to write at my best time. Make sure you eat well, exercise when you can, live a little. And most importantly, spend time in the Word. It’s hard to inspire your characters to find Truth when you aren’t spending time with God.

Fast-drafting has been an amazing experience. I have a better perspective on my story than when I’ve taken my time, but it is also exhausting, both physically and emotionally. Keep your focus on Christ, and the writing will come.

CJ Myerly lives in Texas with her husband and two children. She balances her passions of teaching and writing by homeschooling during the day and writing contemporary romance while her family sleeps at night. She hates clutter, loves organization, and has a love-hate relationship with technology. CJ is an active member of the ACFW and My Book Therapy. She was a 2017 Genesis semi-finalist in the contemporary category and a 2017 First Impressions finalist in the romance category. She blogs about books, motherhood, and homeschooling at http://momentsdippedinink.com. To connect with her, find her on Facebook or Twitter.