Reflection Part II: The Foundations of the Writing Life
At the end of Day 20, Jacqui asks us to reflect on what we’ve achieved so far. I am not feeling very positive, although I have followed every step and been diligent about incorporating the suggestions, even when optional. I do not necessarily think my negative feelings are a bad sign, though. As uncomfortable as they are, they are probably normal.
Why would they be normal?
Personally, this method of drafting a story has diverged from mine. I tend to want to work out some key themes and events of the story before. That has also been the weakness of my approach; too much of that and I lose the original impulse to write, or tie myself up in research. But Part II has helped me realise that, in moderation, it is the most fruitful approach for me. Likely because so many of the stories I want to write are in historical or complex settings, so I don’t feel I can move freely through an imaginary world without knowing its rules.
Generally, I think that the half-way / middle point of a work can feel like the most difficult to get through. Either because the story has lost its way, or because the first flush of starting has gone but the finish line is far away.
So I’m not surprised that my motivation took a serious dip in this section, especially towards the end, but I am very pleased that I didn’t over-react and took it in my stride.
Novel draft progress
I have 20,000+ words of draft, without needing to do much planning. Sure, lots of it will need to be re-written, but the scenes form useful stepping stones across my idea of the story. From a re-writing perspective, they are islands of moments I can swim between, gradually improving the transport links, which is mentally a little easier than traversing a whole ocean in one go, albeit with the best equipment.
Bleurgh, metaphor much? This blog is exposing my use of metaphors over plain and accurate language. Anyway, the point stands.
Writing progress
The middle section went by in a bit of a blur. I often felt I was treading water, despite the fact that the middle section of the course was about bringing in more structure and planning. Perhaps it was because the formalities of writing were being raised that I began to feel the frustration of working differently to how I usually do.
However, there were two main things I learned:
- practical: to start a new session with editing previous work
- personal: there are times where I want to give up because I think it’s pointless, but that’s part of the process and I don’t need to over-react to negative feelings
Have I now laid the foundations of my writing life?
Based solely on these last ten weeks, no. But that’s not what Jacqui was promising. It’s up to us to learn the lessons and then repeat them. Probably the most pertinent advice for me was Day 13: Your Personal Motivating Factor. Human beings are problem solvers, so long as we are motivated to do something. Writing for a living is difficult for many reasons, but if we are motivated, we will work out how. All the advice on writing routines and technique is secondary to personal motivation, and cannot make up for it.
Timings
I chose to incorporate all the suggestions, as I am interested in emulating Jacqui’s way of working to try a professional’s approach. I spent an average 1hr 45 mins on each session, including additional editing and journalling.
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