Category: self improvement

To Be a Better Writer, Do More Than Only Write

I’ve always called myself a writer, ever since I started writing little short stories I never finished at 7. I’ve always used writing as an escape, from life, from homework, from friends and family.

It’s taken me years (and an SSRI, and ADHD medication) to realize that wasn’t completely healthy. But when I was a teenager and in my early 20’s, writing was my therapy. Writing helped me get through the hard things in life even though I would always insist: “I’m fine.”

The SSRI (Lexapro and then Prozac) helped pull away the curtain of pretend. I could no longer tell myself I was fine, I could no longer lie to myself. That was a blessing and a curse.

I found myself needing to “Do More”. I needed to get out of my head and do something physical to keep the feeling of “not doing enough” at bay.

I started gardening. I started knitting and crocheting. I started reading more books and watching more Netflix and building up my internal well of creativity.

I was able to finally look outside of myself and be more present in the world. That feeling is fantastic! I wasn’t stuck in my head all the time, overthinking every little detail of my life. I wasn’t overthinking if I was too much of anything. Too loud, too slow, too dirty. I was just able to be in those moments and create something great.

I’ve loved the time away from the page. The time I allowed myself to do more and eventually be more. I took a break from being cooped inside in front of a screen, typing away like a maniac, and I’ve come back better for it.

I have a lot more knowledge on other aspects of life. I’ve learned and grown and become something more than I ever thought I could be.

Now that I’m returning to the page, returning to the blog and Medium and Substack, I feel much more prepared to be successful.

I hope you’ll join me.

 

November Update

Photo by Kelly Sikkema

This year has been the most difficult year I can remember. Emotionally, I’m drained. Physically, I’m tired. Mentally, I’m frazzled.

But I am on the mend.

All of 2024 has been one shit show after the other, starting 6 days into the new year! Tragedy after tragedy, death after death, loss after loss. But through it all, I’m still kicking and screaming. Sure, there were times when I thought this year would break me. Times where I felt like I was drowning and the usual mechanisms that could save me were broken and sinking.

After a difficult few months, and the literal feeling like I was drowning, I started taking anti-depressants. They helped me feel better, but for the first time in my life since I decided I wanted to be a writer: I couldn’t write.

I feared that writing had been my depressive addiction, that I used writing to avoid the difficult things in life. While I definitely used it as a distraction before medication, I worried I would not be as creative on the medication. That was a big roadblock.

Another roadblock to writing was the loss of trust in NaNoWriMo. I used to give them the benefit of the doubt on most things over the years as an ML (Municipal Liaison) for them, but after the allegations of child grooming in 2023 and then the increased vitriol and hatred, finally culminating in a series of “unimportant” emails that were actually important (shocking!) where all the MLs were nuked. I have moved on.

That transition was difficult. I had used the monthly writing model for years, ever since I found NaNoWriMo in 2009. I had built up monthly writing goals, editing goals, word count goals, but after that experience was tarnished, I felt like everything else was tarnished too. So I stopped writing.

November used to be NaNoWriMo. I’m not doing NaNoWriMo this year, but I am planting seeds for 2025 and making plans.

This year did not go as I intended it to go in any of the ways I had planned. Wave after wave of grief and loss. The medication helped, but it brought out some focus issues. Which led me to be diagnosed with Inattentive ADHD.

Once I was diagnosed (and medicated), all the little quirks, little issues, big issues and avoidant tendencies suddenly made sense.

Looking back on basically my whole life with the new lens of “I have Depression and ADHD” was absolutely wild. I had to spend some time cataloguing my entire life and noticing both what I had missed out on thanks to the anxiety and fear from my depression and ADHD, but also the signs that I missed of both my depression and ADHD. That was definitely a mindfuck and a little pity party, but it was needed. Now I know how to move forward.

I took a break from writing this year and that’s OK. It was more like I was forced to take a break, but that’s a good thing. I needed to pause, evaluate and figure out how to move forward.

I’m currently in an MFA program for Creative Writing (timing is great, isn’t it?) and that has been rough. I’ve always been a good student, but these first few classes have been a creative struggle and a lesson in how to adapt. One of the classes is “The Business of Writing” and I’m seeing the places where I fall short.

I’ve had great intentions for putting myself out there, but I have always fallen short. But now that things are on the mend, I am going to do my best to improve.

Along with not writing this year, I picked up gardening, knitting (and some crochet- still learning), built a lot of furniture for the newly opened side of my house, and created a space that makes me truly feel happy and creative.

I’m making plans to be more present for 2025. I’m making plans to get back into writing and not make it feel like such a struggle. I’m working on putting myself more out there with my writing and my art despite my intense fear of heartbreaking rejection.

You’ll see more from me over the next few weeks of 2024 and in 2025!

 

February Results and March Goals

February is over and gone (with an extra day even!). Thankfully, February was better than January as far as writing and creating and getting back into a routine, but not by much.

There were still family and friend health issues and the usual distractions and set backs, but overall, I think February went pretty well.

Here’s how I did in February:

February Results

Writing Goals

Choose and make progress on an editing project for the month

So I set this goal and in my brain that meant wanting to write a new aspect of the fantasy series I’d been working on for nearly 10 years, but finished a few years ago. I migrated everything from one writing platform to another and formatting was a pain in the butt, so I spent the first week of February doing admin stuff like reorganizing works and writing posts for the blog, Medium and Substack (I’m learning and trying new things!)

After that, I outlined edits for one of the projects where I’m about 10 or so chapters away from completing edits. I’ve started to work on that, and once I started that, the other book in the series (from 2022 that I still haven’t finished) decided it wanted to be picked back up again this year.

Even better, the novel I just finished in 2023 has a great scene I wanted to use for a writing sample into an MFA program, so I edited the living daylights out of that too.

The editing mojo has returned!

Get back to posting regularly on the blog, Medium and Subtack

As much as I wanted this goal to happen, I couldn’t get into the rhythm of posting regularly. However, I do have a lot of ideas brewing and a backlog of posts to work on, so hopefully, over the next few weeks of March and possibly into April I’ll find the mojo again. Or perhaps I’ll simply take a little break and see how far I can get into editing and getting a few projects to the next steps in the creative process.

Personal Goals

Exercise 4x/week

Once again, exercise did not happen. February has been busy with everything else but exercise. I want to get back to it, I’m itching to get back to it, but time has not been my friend this month. Soon enough I will return to exercise and my proper routine (and hopefully all the roadwork on my usual walking path will be done soon too!)

Drink Enough Water daily

I’ve definitely been attempting to drink more water, but it doesn’t always end up making it into the app. Some days, I drink a lot, and other days it’s an “Oops! Did I drink any water today?”

Other

February has been an interesting month with even more family and friend health issues, but there was writing and editing included.

I submitted a personal statement and writing sample for an MFA program and I’m working on getting things ready for that coming up in May. I also finished a piece of fan fiction in 10 days on the last day of the month.

Things are moving in the right direction and I couldn’t be more excited.

I also applied for a writing job (as a side gig to nursing) and I’m excited to see where that takes me.

Word Count: 25,408

Here’s what I hope to accomplish in March:

March Goals

Writing

Finish Edits on MAC

I’m on the last stretch of edits and so far through February, the edits are going well. I would like to finish them this month (and hopefully not get too much in my head that I freak myself out). Then, once again, it’s ready to sit and stew for a bit. If I finish the first round of edits, I plan on moving on to another project and start editing that.

It’s time to start working on the backlog.

Outline a Project (or Two)

Being a writer and having a full-time job (and life) means starting to plan projects more efficiently. I have several plans for upcoming projects, including editing, publishing, marketing and a lot of other things that will go into the publishing process. While I have several projects on the back burner for editing, I also have several half finished ideas and other plans for some finished works.

Attend a Writing Conference

Every year in March, the Women in Publishing Conference takes place online. This will be my third year attending, and hopefully I can actually attend a few live sessions rather than enjoying the recorded sessions later. I’m looking forward to spending more time doing events and conferences centered around writing and learning and enjoying all I can.

Finish a Book

I read two books in January and then promptly fell into a reading slump in February. I’m hoping to finish a book (possibly two) in March, depending on if I don’t get too distracted. I would like to finish the book I’m currently in the middle of and get back to the series and finish that over the next few months. Just like a backlog of writing projects, I also have a backlog of books to read.

Personal Goals

Yoga 2-3x a week

Part of the issue with exercise and not doing it was the construction on my usual walking path. To remedy that, I would like to do yoga (from apple fitness) 2-3 times a week. My husband will be recovering from surgery for the first part of the month, hence the 2-3x a week. Hopefully it will get me exercising more this month.

Drink more water

I’ve been starting to drink more water, which has been great and makes me feel so much better, but now it’s time to keep better track of it and make it more consistent. What worked really well back in October/November was some of the challenges from WaterMinder. So starting today, I’m going to do the 21 day hydration challenge once again.

March will be a busy month, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the routine of writing and editing and kicking butt on projects.