Reflection Part III: Setting Yourself Up For Success As A Writer
This section was another mixed collection of thoughts on both technique and practice. I have found the practice discussions more impactful, because they get to the heart of some of the reasons for writing problems.
This course wasn’t billed as heavy on technical advice and I think that is to its credit, because writers can obsess over the form of their work, instead of thinking about the wider “why”. Jacqui gives credit to the instincts of the writers she is speaking too, with only light reflections on technique, and no mandatory style statements. She seems to want to encourage writers to be themselves, not sell a template. Good on her.
Novel draft progress
I have 35,000+ words of draft.
Writing linearly for the last six days did help me feel more grounded in the story, so I would suggest trying the course in a linear way to get the best sense of progress and the most challenge out of the prompts.
I will be pleased to now put the draft away and go back to the drawing board with what I have learned from these first writing forays.
Writing progress
I would say that I am a fitter and more experienced writer at the end of this course than when I started. I am definitely less precious about the output being “good enough” from the start, and more workman-like about the craft: show up, do something, hope it’s alright; if not, improve on it tomorrow.
I have not defined my version of “success” as a writer fully, so I can’t expect to feel that I am successful yet. But I am better at turning up and doing it consistently. That’s an improvement on where I was before.
The main thing I have learned is that I really don’t need to be inspired to work, and that feeling stuck or without solutions is a totally normal part of the process. It’s the equivalent of encountering a traffic jam on the road you’re driving; not ideal, but not a reason to get off the road. Just a banal inconvenience that we should all expect to face and get through. However, ordinarily I might pull over to check if I was on the best road and whether to re-route. That pause to re-plan or research is what I missed during this course.
Timings
Incorporating most of the suggestions, I spent an average 2hrs 5 mins on each session, including additional editing and journalling.
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