by Beth K. Vogt, @bethvogt
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.” Neil Gaiman (1960-), English novelist
If you’ve been a writer for any length of time at all – say six months or more – you’ve probably heard some version of the “a writer is someone who writes” mantra.
Sometimes a conference speaker will reel off a long list of write-every-day novelists, past and present. Ernest Hemingway. Mark Twain. Stephen King. Maya Angelou. The implication? We should write every day, too.
Here’s the truth: I don’t write every day.
I’d like to write every day. I dream of being able to write every day. But it just doesn’t work with my life right now. Even when a deadline is looming, I run into days when I can’t write. Maybe I need to mull over a scene for a day or two. Or maybe it’s a holiday weekend – Fourth of July and Christmas happen, deadline or not. Maybe friends are coming to visit. Interruptions disrupt my creativity and I’ve learned that, for me, it’s best to set the manuscript aside.
But taking a break doesn’t mean I don’t write anything at all. Even on “ignore the deadline” days, some kind of writing happens. If you’re a writer on deadline or if you’re a writer working on a manuscript to submit to an agent or editor, there are always other writing projects in your life.
What do you do on those “I can’t write” days?
- When you can’t write big, write small.
Sometimes you need a brief break from your manuscript: a few hours or even a day. Write something else. On “I can’t write” days, I work on my regularly scheduled blog posts for my personal blog or my monthly Learn How to Write a Novel post (like this one), or upcoming guest posts.
- When you can’t write, rewrite – but just a little bit.
I’m an advocate of fast-drafting: write forward, write fast. Fall in love with your story. Discover things about your characters by the end of the story that you didn’t know at the beginning, and then weave those elements through the story during your rewrite.
If I have a day when I stall out on my novel, I reignite my creative spark by rereading one or two scenes. Sometimes I read on the computer or I might print the pages out. And yes, I allow myself to pick up a red pen – or maybe a fun purple one – and mark up the scenes. I’ll ask myself questions like:
- What’s my Story Question?
- What’s the main emotion for this scene?
- Have I used all five senses?
- Where’s the spiritual truth?
One important caution: This rewriting is temporary. Before I dive back into my manuscript, I weave the new developments back into those scenes and make notes to rework them into the entire book. Taking time away from the full-length manuscript refreshes my perspective so that I’m ready to write again.
Moments We Forget by Beth K. Vogt
Jillian Thatcher has spent most of her life playing the family peacemaker, caught in the middle between her driven, talented older sister and her younger, spotlight-stealing twin sisters. Then on the night of her engagement party, a cancer diagnosis threatens to once again steal her chance to shine.
Now, Jillian’s on the road to recovery after finally finishing chemo and radiation, but residual effects of the treatment keep her from reclaiming her life as she’d hoped. And just when her dreams might be falling into place, a life-altering revelation from her husband sends her reeling again.
Will Jillian ever achieve her own dreams, or will she always be “just Jillian,” the less-than Thatcher sister? Can she count on her sisters as she tries to step into a stronger place, or are they stuck in their childhood roles forever?
Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Beth’s first novel for Tyndale House Publishers, Things I Never Told You, released in May 2018. Moments We Forget, book two in the Thatcher Sisters series, releases May 2019. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. A November Bride was part of the Year of Wedding Series by Zondervan. Having authored nine contemporary romance novels or novellas, Beth believes there’s more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Novel Rocket and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories. Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.