Inspired by another thread I saw recently. For this thread, I have two parts to this. What are you grateful for:

  • on Beehaw? - Anything you like about this community, an interaction you appreciated, something that brightened your day, an aspect of site culture that appeals to you, etc.

  • offline/in real life? - Just more generally, what are you thankful for? Anything that’s happened in your life recently that has turned out to be good, people making a positive difference in your life, etc.

  • pumerogo@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    That’s a big novel, congrats to your brother! Finishing a first draft is always something special! I’ll try to give some advice! :) (And as always I couldn’t make it short, fantasy writers, am I right …?)

    I’m not a poet, so I’m not too familiar with your process, but I bet we share some common trends. But I will try to give some insight in my work.

    Disclaimer: Since two years I’m in the lucky position to work only part-time (25h per week and home office) and I’m really free in when to put my hours in. There are only some mandatory times I have to be online; for meetings for example. The only “negative” thing is: I’m a technical writer so I write at work and in my free time, albeit the topics are *very * different.

    But I still can share some of my process, since I used to work full time for a while and I also did write back then. I agree with your brother that it is quiet draining, working 8 hours (+ commute if no home-office), doing chores and so on, especially when he is just starting out. That was difficult for me, too!

    What I used to do: I tried to write every day, even if it was just a few minutes/a few words. Music helped me to get into the headspace I wanted to get into. My work always allowed flextime, so it was easier to write before work and I didn’t have to get up crazy early. I tried to get up an hour early and write then, because usually I don’t have the energy after work. The downside was that I was home at 8pm or something like that.

    (Some days I had enough energy to also write after work, so I seized the opportunity whenever it arose.)

    On the weekends I used to write more than in the work week. I put aside some hours that were sacred to me and where only moved in an emergency. Also, I regularly took some “writecations”, a few days off, to focus on my writing or editing. Depending on where you and your brother live this might be a bit harder. Here in Germany I have 30 days PTO per year.

    But of course writing is slower when working full-time. I had to remember myself often that writing is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. So slow and steady, conserving energy and doing it one page, one passage or even one sentence at a time is what I would recommend.

    It helped me a lot to structure my day around writing, noticing when I had half an hour of free time to write (e.g. when I still was commuting, I would write on the train; or at my lunchbreak for days where I couldn’t write before work etc.)

    Also, taking a lot of self-care moments/hours/days, to not burn out. He shouldn’t beat himself up, if he cannot write everyday, sometimes life gets in the way.

    The important thing is to keep going and not giving up. :)

    Hope that helps!

    • dynamism@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      It does! Grateful for the insight, and glad to hear you’ve found a routine that lets you write daily. One page at a time! There is hope :)