I've Been Thinking About...Getting Back to the Page
How to return to your writing after taking a break.
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Artist’s Way Class Update
Before we get to the subject at hand—which is HOW TO GET BACK TO YOUR WRITING AFTER A BREAK—(and I put that in all caps because of its importance), a quick Artist’s Way class update. It’s starting next week, y’all (can you tell I was just on a zoom with some southerners) and a kick-ass group of writers has assembled to take it. The class consists of two parts: a Tuesday post that you can read right here on Substack (and will appear in your inbox of course) and a Friday zoom at 11 AM Pacific. Which will be recorded in case you can’t make
It’s a cheap option—all you have to do is become a paid subscriber, for as little as $8 a month. I did some research and other folks are charging $300 or more for a similar class. But I’m committed to growing my Substack and offering other classes and events here for a low fee. If you become a Founding Member, you get a zoom session with me, too.
You can read more about it here. I would love it if you joined us!
And those of you who are taking the class—I’ll have a post just for you with all the details tomorrow.
How to Get Back to Your Writing After a Break
Okay, let’s get to it. This week has been the full first week back at it after the holidays. And what a week. Those fires in L.A. are so awful. One of my friends lives very near to the Eaton fire. I used to visit her often, and we spent many blissful times wandering Eaton Canyon, which is now on fire. If you’d like a list of places you can donate, I found this one for you.
In the Monday writing zoom1 we had a great discussion about getting back to writing after a break. A lot of us are facing this after the holidays. One of our members (Hi, Connie) had been away from her novel for awhile and was wondering how to get back to it. The obvious choice was to reread what she’d already written. But doing that she found that she started editing, and tinkering, and tweaking on the sentence level. Because she was not yet finished with the first draft, what she really needed was to get back to writing actual scenes—you know, figuring out the story. Drafting.
I suggested she stop the pattern she’d fallen into, going back and reading. It’s a conundrum because the brain likes order and we seek order when we go back and catch ourselves up. We also seek order when we see a wonky sentence or feel the need to change a word. But that’s not working on the big picture level. So I suggested she read just the most recent chapter. Honestly, unless it’s been years since you last worked on the project, it will be enough to get you going again.
And then I asked the other Zoomers to chime in. Here were some of their suggestions:
Timeline
It’s easy to get lost in time (and space, haha) when you’re writing a novel. If you’re not sure of the time frame of the story, and when things happen in relationship to each other, muddiness of the mind can occur. (I’m sorry. That last sentence sounded like an add for a pharmaceutical.) Figuring out a timeline can help. I’m terrible at this, and one thing that’s helped is to print out calendar pages and write scenes on that to track.
Not writing sequentially
I heartily endorse this one. I used to think that I had to write the scenes for a novel in order. And there is a logic to this, because scenes do build on each other. (Remember the because why chronology.) And then one day when I was stuck on my novel, I said too hell with it, I’m going to write the scene I’m longing to write—instead of ruminating over the one I can’t write. And that opened up everything. I wrote the last half of the novel relatively quickly. And yes, there was some work to sorting it all out, but you know what? Those chapters I wrote in that manner had way more life and energy in them the ones in the first half. I wrote more about this here.
Figuring out the end
Knowing where you’re going in the story is hugely helpful. In many genres, such as mysteries, knowing the end is almost a necessity. Having something to write to can energize you and direct you. It doesn’t have to be the end, either. It can be the mid point, or the big love scene, or the bleakest moment. You choose.
These are good thoughts all. And I’m going to add what is the most important thing to remember. The secret to everything. To all the work and all the magic:
The writing happens in the writing.
As Jodi Picoult famously said, “You can’t edit a blank page.”
Write something. Write a word. A sentence. A paragraph. (Another quote from a famous author: “A word after a word after a word is power.” ~ Margaret Atwood) I took a visioning class from Tiffany Clark Harrison this morning and here’s what she said:
Motivation comes from doing the thing. And when you do the thing, it creates evidence to your brain that you can do it. And that creates belief. Which in turn creates more motivation.
(The above is a quote-ish. I didn’t note her exact words.)
So, honestly, the best thing you can do is write. (Prompts can help. I send out a month of prompts on or around the last day each month. You can find the ones for January here.)
Okay, now it’s your turn. Help us all out here. What do you do to get back to your writing after a time away?
The above is a gratuitous image I added just because I felt like it. It is not my pug. My pug is cuter than any other pug on earth. But if you wanted to, you could use the above image as a prompt to get yourself back into your writing.
Which anyone can join, and I encourage you to. Just hit reply to this email and let me know you want to and I’ll add you to the list.
This is great and I loved all of the comments shared during that writing session. As someone who is working on a novel, I'm constantly looking for ways to keep going. I need more than one to continually keep keep the critic bumfuzzled. These are good ideas!
Charlotte, I'm not writing a novel or a memoir (although I have vaguely thought about it). But I still appreciate these ideas for getting back to writing as a took a longish break at the beginning of the year. Thanks.