Writing

Quick Update

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” – Zora Neale Hurston

As I write this update, I am sitting next to a large pile of books that I can’t wait to dig into! Last week I did some preliminary research on my novel topic that pointed me in the direction of the books I should read. And while I almost exclusively read digital version of books these days, I wanted to get hard copies that I could early markup and refer back to when needed. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited to start doing research.

I know I’m going to be battling a voice inside me telling me that just reading and taking notes isn’t productive enough, but I am going to work hard to quiet that voice. Some of the stuff I want to include in my book is historical and some is just really sensitive in nature that I want to get it right. So reading and researching is key!

All that being said, things will have to look different here on the blog. Since mid-October I’ve been consistently posting here twice a week on Wednesday and Friday. Sure I’ve taken off a week here or there for holidays or vacation. But otherwise I’ve done well to stick to my commitment of posting each week. However, now that I’m ready to really dive into my novel, that’s going to have to change.

My posts are crazy long or anything, but they do take time and effort to think of a topic, organize my thoughts, write, and edit before posting. Time that right now I’d rather spend working on my book idea. So for the foreseeable future I’m going to cut my posts here back to once a week and try to post every Friday. I think this will give me a little more mental capacity during the week to devote to my research and writing.

That’s not to say there might not be extra posts during the week if I have ideas bursting forth, but I am just giving up the commitment to generate ideas on a particular schedule. And I’m writing this all out because I know there are a few people who follow this blog and read what I write twice a week.

I am so grateful to have even a few readers as the intent of this exercise was to create a habit of writing on a schedule and getting over my “stage fright” of putting my writing out there for people to read. I think I’ve accomplished both of those and now want to use this blog just for fun! Hopefully I can come here to share some of my writing process for the book as well.

So for now, I’ll just be seeing you on Fridays!

When quitting is the right thing to do

~ kofriedery ~ 2 Comments

“Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose — not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember.” – Anne Sullivan

A couple weeks ago I wrote about resilience and that quitting something or changing direction should be included in our definition. I feel very strongly about this, but to be honest, I still struggle with it in my real world life. Case in point – I’ve been slogging after an idea for a book that…well…just isn’t coming together.

Every writer I’ve talked to or listened to or read about will say that your first draft is always garbage. Like…not just “needs improvement” but it will be bad, bad. The practice is to get words on the pages and to get the story moving. So I’ve been operating with that mindset for the past few months. In fact, I’ve written 30,000 words of garbage in three months! No matter what, that’s an accomplishment.

But the past few weeks I’ve been struggling to even put words on the page. Because I am trying to be consistent in my efforts, I’ve dutifully written 1,000 words every Tuesday and Thursday per my self-imposed schedule. 2,000 words a week at minimum is the plan. Yet every day that I sit down with my manuscript, I’m groaning internally and desperately looking for something else to do. Hence why my bathtub got new caulk last week.

As I’ve been toiling away and sticking to this schedule, another idea has taken root and started to grow in my mind. A better idea for a book. Something more interesting to me, something that I know better than what I’m currently writing. But I’ve been dismissing it because I’m trying to maintain the discipline to finish the story I’m working on. Trying to “stick with it.”

Finally I mentioned this to Tyler and, as an artist himself, he has a completely different perspective than I do. He is frequently starting pieces and setting them aside to start something else, before coming back to the original piece with fresh eyes to finish it. He made a comment that the general public would be surprised at how many unfinished pieces artists usually have in their studios. Sometimes starting something give you an idea for the next thing and that’s as far as it goes. It served it’s purpose as inspiration but it was never destined to be a completed piece.

I think the mental switch for me is to start thinking of myself as an artist more than a worker. As a worker in an office you don’t create from inspiration, you create from necessity or at the direction of someone else. Right now I am trying to create from inspiration, so it doesn’t make sense to be too rigid about an idea if it isn’t inspiring. This isn’t to say it won’t be work. It’s the idea I wrote about last week (Authenticity vs. Consistency) that we must have some discipline and consistency in order to accomplish anything. But, I think toiling away at a bad idea and ignoring a better story isn’t being authentic enough to what I’m trying to do.

This week I started outlining my new book and already I feel more engaged with this idea! It’s going to require a lot of research and strategy to make it happen how I want, so it feels good to be excited about something that I think is going to end up being more work. More to come as I process everything and make progress.