December was supposed to be the month I took OFF from writing, but of course, those plans are always made long before the reality of demands sets in. That said, despite working more than I’d intended to (this time of year is always so crazy for parents), it’s actually worked out really well! I’ve written three new short stories, one of which will be up here tomorrow (Friday, December 20th), as a kind of Christmas/New Year’s send off to all you wonderful folks who visit this blog. I hope you enjoy it!
The other two stories are for anthologies/market calls I’m hoping to get out at the beginning of January. I’ve got some editing to do, but hopefully they’ll be ready in time.
The thing that has really ramped up my short story production was the decision to go back to writing only 500 words a day as my minimum expectation. Lots of other writers have expounded on this limited goal, on how it breaks the dread of the blank page and just gets things going. For me, after spending so much time editing this past year—only to realize how much more I have left to go! *sobs*—it’s been wonderful to feel new words pouring out. I’m a pretty fast writer. Getting 500 words rarely takes me much more than 20 minutes, less if I’m really excited about what I’m working on. Even on the bad days (like today, for some reason! Ready to weekend much?), it never takes me more than an hour. I may not keep what I write in the final draft, but it’s wonderful to feel as though I’m always moving forward, like a shark swimming.
On days when I just can’t muster up a new story idea or the enthusiasm to tackle a languishing one, I’m letting myself do 500 words of practice writing—exercises I’ve wanted to try (Hello *3AM Epiphany!*), or old standbys that I just really love (like trying to describe only what makes a setting different from all the other settings like it—why is this room/this dentist office/this park different from anyplace else called a “room”/“dentist office”/“park”? How does it differ? What makes it unique? It’s such a fun way to look at the world around you.) I’ve always wanted to fit in more time to just practice those skills, but I’ve found it hard to fit that kind of mental work on top of organic writing time. Do you do it before? After? What if it drains your creative energy? This way, I get to practice when I don’t have a ready idea, which feels really good. You don’t run the marathon every day: sometimes you just have to put in a few practice miles and stretch properly.
It’s been incredibly fulfilling, though, and it reminds me of my early writing days, when i’d do 500 EVERY day (including weekends—currently, with kiddos, I only require it on days I have office time, though I may eventually expand that as I build up my endurance). Most days, of course, I write a lot more than 500, but it’s so liberating to feel like you can just stop if the words just aren’t coming. And 500 words aren’t so many that you feel too horrible tossing them in the bin if they’re really, really bad. And yet, even on those bad days, I’ve practiced! And that feels great.
My other task that I’m still working to implement is the editing side of that equation. I’ve always been pretty good at getting new words down, that’s my skill, but *editing* tends to be where I get hung up. And it doesn’t matter if you have 50,000 words of new rough drafts if you never do anything with them afterwards. So my other small daily goal is to edit for 20 minutes. It’s about equivalent to how long it takes me to do 500 words, but without the word count to lean on, the time frame still works pretty well. The main difference with what I’d done before regarding time-requirement vs. word count requirement is that I’m doing BOTH each day. 500 words AND 20 minutes editing. If that’s all I do, every project has still moved forward a tiny step. And it keeps me from back-burnering editing because it’s harder to quantify.
I’m sure I ought to do some kind of Year End Wrap-Up, but honestly, it’s been a pretty quiet year. I’ve read some great books, so maybe I’ll list a few of those. I’ve seen some excellent movies, so I may post about those, too. I’m slowly (slowly) getting back into a semi-regular exercise routine, which has always been something I realized I needed, but rarely took the time to implement. I sold a story, got quite a few out on submission, and made a zine! I interviewed some fantastic authors, started slushing for Beneath Ceaseless Skies (which has been so much fun—I really missed the editorial side of publishing), and got some excellent feedback on my own novel work-in-progress.
More than any of that, though, is learning to trust my own rhythms of productivity, recognizing there are currently distinctive seasons in my ability to produce work and edit work, and there are seasons when those things slow significantly down. Recognizing rather than fighting those seasons has helped immensely with my general appreciation and enjoyment of life. I’d always like to do more, but there’s a time and place for it, and beating myself up about it certainly doesn’t help. Like B.J. Fogg mentions in *Tiny Habits*: people change when they feel good, not when they feel bad. So I’m leaning into that. (OH! And I started legit flossing daily, which may seem silly to be proud of, but seriously, I’ve always struggled to do that consistently. The last dentist appointment I had, I finally got to say “YES” when the hygienist asked if I floss daily. It felt GREAT.)
So what am I hoping for this next year? I have a wretched tendency to set astronomically high goals, and I’m probably still doing that. And though I’m aware of aiming high, I’m hoping I’m keeping it somewhat reasonable.
Hopes and Dreams for 2025
– First, I’m hoping to get my novel rewritten and beta read by my troop of fantastic readers so that I can (please, please, please) get my novel submitted by the end of 2025. It was supposed to be done by the end of this year, but the feedback I received put me straight, and frankly, it’s not wrong. To give my little book baby the best chance it can get, I’m going to pull out all the stops and really nail this revision (and hopefully the next one). I was really hoping to have a novel on submission to agents by the time I turned 40 (OH GOSH), but if I can get it out by the new year, that’ll feel great.
– I want to submit a new short story to an anthology/theme call every month. I really think this is doable for me, and getting 12 new stories written and submitted in a single year would be my most productive year EVER.
– I want to make a mini-zine shop either on my webpage or on an Etsy shop. I’ve got big ideas for what this could evolve into, but for now, I just want to have fun with it.
– I want to build the habit of painting at least once a week in 2025. With the boys getting a bit older, it’s becoming a lot easier to find the quiet time I need to focus on art, and that’s been deeply well-refilling for me.
– I want to continue my 500 words / 20m editing per (office) day, recognizing that may not happen as much during the summer (my slow time).
– Oh! and I’ll be at WorldCon in Seattle this August for at least Friday/Saturday, so if you’re in the area or planning to go, email me!
Is all that too much? Maybe. Very likely, honestly, but they’re all reasonable goals in my head at this point. Timelines and time-requirements will shift, of course, when we get into novel revision time, because that’ll take a lot more focused work, but that may mean I do 500 words first, and THEN stop and edit for an hour or two. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!
In the meantime, if I don’t post before then: have an absolutely fantastic holiday season, whatever you do or don’t celebrate, and a lovely start to 2025!