Yay! You’re finished! You’ve typed the full stop, period, The End after the final sentence of your manuscript. At the end of each of my five books, I burst into tears. Sobs of happiness and a sort of raw emotion of I can’t believe the story is now on the page. After such a mammoth effort and with a weird, stunned, delighted sensation, it was time to take a deep breath and recharge. Time to relax, read books, journal, draw or simply look out the window and watch the trees waving.
In this Five Part series on building resilience within your manuscript development phase, developmental book editor and guest blogger Laurel Cohn helps us navigate this odd in-betweenie-time for writers. Creative writing Art of Writing retreat Alumni will be familiar with Laurel’s Backstory class in Florence.
In this third of our five-part series with Laurel, let’s hear about her experience with writers, feedback and the need to pause after The End.
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So you've got feedback, you've taken it on, and yep, you've got to do another draft, probably more than one. Dealing with feedback, as well as the next draft – and the next – requires energy. Feedback from others, as well as reading over our own work, may show us the strengths in our writing, but it is also likely to show us the problems that need to be resolved.
Often writers find their energy falling away when they are faced with a problem that seems insurmountable, or when they are feeling overwhelmed by what is ahead of them. Sometimes writers find their energy for a project depleted for no apparent reason. Just as batteries run down and need recharging over time, so do we, as writers.
Remembering why you write is one way you can recharge your battery. Think of the passion and commitment you bring to your writing. Think about what compels you to spend all that time and energy on your manuscript. Write it down.
I like this sage advice to writers from US literary agent Sharon Pelletier:
Know why you’re writing, and what keeps you coming back to this story... If you figure out what about this story you keep coming back to, what you want your reader to feel or think about when they’re reading this book, it will keep you going through some of those challenging times [rejection, etc.]. … Figuring out for you why you write in general but also why you are writing this book can help you through a lot of the challenges, both on the page and also in your own head, of getting through the writing and publishing experience.
(Inside Writing podcast, Gotham Writers, ‘Inside Mystery/Thriller’, 17 Jul 2020.)
An equally important way to recharge your batteries is to do the opposite – not think about your writing or your relationship to your work at all. Set this aside and give yourself a physical and mental break; go for a walk, focus on something else, let the unconscious mind do its thing while you fill your depleted self up with whatever it is that brings you joy.
Just as fields benefit from being left fallow for a period, time away from the writing desk and attending to other things can be re-energising and can prove more productive in the long run than trying to run on empty. The challenge is to allow yourself to let go of a writing goal or task, if necessary, in order to return to it later with more physical and mental resources at hand.
I know plenty of writers who have been through some version of a slump in which they feel flat, uninspired, and unable to get motivated. Some call this ‘writers’ block’, but the idea of a ‘block’ can be unhelpful; it suggests something immovable, something writers run into and need to negotiate around. A rechargeable battery, however, acknowledges that there is a cycle at play here and that we as writers have some responsibility to keep an eye on the charge level and do something about it when it gets too low.
If you let a battery run completely dead, it takes a lot longer to charge than if you just top it up. It can be helpful to cultivate a habit of tracking how much energy you feel you have for your writing endeavour. You could do this by keeping a journal, or establishing a rating system and checking in each week or day, or by finding some other measure that helps you monitor where your energy levels.
If you feel like your energy is dipping, consider how you might top up the battery, whether by focusing on your drive and commitment to write. Ask fellow writers what they do. Perhaps acknowledging the issue with a colleague and discussing it together has recharging potential itself.
If you find yourself in a space of debilitating mental and/or physical exhaustion, take a deep breath, remember that this is an issue of battery level, and plug yourself in for a recharge.
Don’t forget Laurel and Lisa will be running a special The Next Draft retreat in Florence from June 25-29, 2023. This is a unique workshop that drills down on your revision process. Please earmark your diaries and join us in Florence for this event. The program will be up on the site soon.
And finally, a lovely word from one of The Art of Writing Alumni and blog readers:
Hi Lisa,
I just finished your final D about Disenchantment. Couldn’t have read it at a better time. I’ve been trying (is “trying” a word we writers can get away with? I think we’re either writing or we’re not) to finish the 2nd Wishton book since the Art of Writing retreat I attended with you in 2017. I’m at the point where I’ve lost total interest. I even felt bad about not caring much about these characters anymore. Now and then I’ll write a scene here, a conversation there, nothing that moved anything along. Your instruction to return to the theme was so helpful! It made me stop and ask “what are you trying to say with this story? What’s the theme that’s driving the character’s thoughts and behavior? You have scenes and circumstances, but what’s the point?”
It’s made a big difference in my motivation. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!
Next week we’ll bring you part 4 of Laurel’s Building Resilience Series.
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If you’d like to share any comments or thoughts, I’d be happy to hear from you. Email me directly at lisacliffordwriter@gmail.com.