If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know my friend J. Anderson Coats says a lot of things that resonate with me. She’s the one who gave me my favorite piece of writing advice and came up with that great cow-through-a-colander writing metaphor.
During a recent email exchange with my Class of 2k12 friends, Jillian shared this:
A writing career is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. You’re not on a schedule. There is no schedule.
That first part, I’ve probably heard it a thousand times. But the second part? It felt like a revelation. It’s true that when you’re on deadline you most certainly have a schedule, but otherwise, the writing life is wide open.
So you know what?
- If there’s no schedule, someone else isn’t going to beat you to the punch. What you’re working on now will not somehow be replaced by someone else’s (faster) efforts.
- The market isn’t in charge of your story. You are.
- For you published folks, you will not be forgotten if you somehow don’t get to keep some “regular” publishing schedule. Yes, your readers might age out, as they say, but there are always new readers to take their place and earlier books to introduce readers to the new ones, whenever they happen to be published.
- Unless you’re contractually committed, you can write whatever you want whenever you want.
- And there’s what author/illustrator Ruth McNally Barshaw (my niece’s former Girl Scout leader!) posted on Facebook a few days ago:
Repeated themes I heard at the writer-illustrator conference in LA: Slow down. Take time to do your best work. When you think it’s done, set it aside to assess again later. Build on what you borrow. Be courageous — do work you find important, no matter what others say. LIVE so you’ll have a rich portfolio of experiences to draw and write from. What gets your next book published isn’t luck, desperation, a magic shortcut, or networking with stars; it’s your hard work, your being ready to jump at sudden opportunities, and your connections with friends. #SCBWI14
Here’s to approaching your writing with freedom in the days ahead!
This is a lovely, liberating idea. Thank you!
Love these ideas and the whole post, plus links! Thanks, Caroline!
Just today I had someone ask me in the grocery store when my next book was coming out. So good timing! There’s much I wanted to get done this summer, but living got in the way. And now, back to school. Thanks for this post.
I’m back in a research phase, slowing down, evaluating, fighting underlying worry at my progress. It’s good to be affirmed and encouraged not to be anxious, but do my best work. Thank you so much for this post!
Michele, historical fiction can be extra frustrating to try to hold to a schedule. You hit walls and need to turn back or move forward without knowing where you’re heading. That’s were Jillian’s first quote, “learn to write *this* book” has been such a help to me.
Thanks, Caroline. I needed this!
Me too, friend.
It is especially nice to be able to slow down and remember I don’t have a schedule after working to meet a deadline. Good reminder, Caroline!
Exactly. We really do have a lot of freedom, and it’s sometimes easy for me to forget this.