by Rebecca Yauger, @RebeccaYauger
With social media, writers conferences, Facebook groups and more, it’s easy to talk about all things writing, like finding the right writing software, and asking about the best way to outline your book and more.
But with all of this talk about writing, how much writing is actually getting done?
For me, I like to outline, plan my books, know what’s happening next and experiment with way too many writing software programs that will help me plan and/or write better. I volunteer and work for my writers organization, am involved in numerous Facebook groups and nearly anything and everything to immerse myself in the writing world. But truly, was I forgetting to do the most basic thing: write?
That issue was solved recently, and it taught me more than I expected. Right now, I am a (much older) college student, going after a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing. In one of my recent classes, we had to work on our novel. The assignments over five weeks were to write out an outline (week one), then write about 30,000 words on our manuscript (weeks 2-5). There were weekly word count deadlines that needed to be met over that month, so for someone who wasn’t always a regular writer, this was intensive work.
There were a few days where I was writing and writing and felt like my word count must have been high, only to discover that I had written several hundred words instead of the few thousand words that I needed. With school, I had no choice but to keep going. After all, that motivational word called “deadline” loomed before me. I had to meet the weekly required word count.
As I struggled through this month-long writing intensive, I learned a few things. Okay, one of them I already knew: writing is hard. On the flipside, however, other things emerged through this writing marathon.
First, I was amazed that the more I wrote, the more confidence I gained. This is something we all know – that the more you do something, the better you get (for the most part). You gain more trust in yourself that you can really finish this book, and that you might actually be a writer.
We know that facing a blank page can be intimidating. But stepping past that fear and putting words on paper feels great. Don’t think for a moment that those words are perfect. But everything can be fixed during the editing process, so it was freeing to just write away and meet that weekly word count.
Second, I learned that perhaps I might be more of a pantser than a plotter. That was definitely a surprise to me. Now, I say that as someone who had planned this novel out in pretty good detail. But this writing class showed me that I may not need the level of detail I was putting into my outline.
The more I worked on this manuscript, actually writing it, the more the ideas flowed. My thoughts were on the story, and I was thinking about it even when I wasn’t writing. So, when I sat down at my keyboard, the ideas and concepts poured out.
To me, this was also a confidence booster.
My advice to you is just write already! If you’re a plotter, try to be a pantser for a day. See where the ideas take you. If you’re a pantser, well, I’m not going to tell you to start outlining. I know that probably won’t work for most of you. But, if you get stuck or write yourself into a corner, then yes, you might need to jot down a few ideas to help get you back on track.
The point is, it was good for me to try something different, and it really opened my eyes to my writing process. This was something that writing software, writing groups, or social media discussions could not have done for me.
I need to quit talking and planning and outlining. It’s time to just start writing.
Rebecca Yauger is a writer and blogger who writes about real friendship and relationships, and all the ties that bond us. She’s been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and Guideposts Magazine. She is a three-time cancer survivor and church life group leader. Rebecca grew up in a military family, and now after living all over the world, she makes her home near Dallas. She is married to her high school sweetheart and is a proud mother and grandmother. Visit her at www.RebeccaYauger.com.