Plan to help your writing prosper.
So, you have followed the earlier advice. You have sat down, thought of 2 or 3 topics, chosen one and written a synopsis or produced a mind map. You have planned your writing schedule.
You have a few more tasks before you are ready to write. First, set a deadline.
April 23rd marks an important day for writers as it is Shakespeare’s birthday. It is also the anniversary of the delivery to my publishers of the final manuscript for my book “Feel it as a Man: a fool’s guide to relationships”.
Deliberately I had set that date as my deadline – and as a journalist I needed a deadline – to deliver my manuscript, as April 23rd is also St George’s Day. When I started writing in January 2018, I knew that I would meet a few dragons along the way, mainly provided by my inner critic , who was determined that I would give up and kept telling me that my book and I were worthless.
However, I kept going along the yellow brick road, through distractions and beyond the Wicked Witch of self-doubt. The path became smoother as I approached my destination and the Wizard of Winning.
The finish at the Writers World of Oz was achieved by following the advice of my publisher, Mindy Gibbins-Klein, the Book Midwife.
She exhorted me to write my first draft in 2-hour bursts, 5 days a week, without looking back at what I had written already and without stopping to research or check facts.
In hindsight, this was the best piece of advice an author can have. What you do is to leave notes or gaps in your manuscript with highlighted comments to ‘check facts’, ‘add text’, 'research’ etc.
The second best piece of advice is to be aware of your inner critic, acknowledge him, her or it, smile to yourself, and, once you have started, KEEP GOING.
So you have set your deadline. Now plan to have a daily routine of when and where you write. Be comfortable. Remove distractions. Turn off phones etc. Put up a “Do not disturb” notice. By all means have tea / coffee and water with you. Go to the loo before you sit down to write. All this is to make sure you don’t have any excuse to leave your writing desk for an undisturbed couple of hours.
And consider having a buddy, someone you can read your draft text and make constructive comments on a regular basis (weekly or fortnightly). e.g. “I would like to know more about ….” and “Can you give me some examples of that?”
If it’s a novel: “Please explain or clarify…” “Do think that character would have spoken / behaved in that way?”
You are up and running, ready for ...
The First Draft
Write the first draft as a stream of consciousness. When you finish your writing period DON’T LOOK BACK.
You need to avoid reviewing your work until you have finished your first draft. Know that ALL first drafts are semi-rubbish or sh*tty. Do not even look up a quote or check a fact.
Put highlighted notes in your text where you need to check facts, research and write more or re-write.
Watch your inner critic. That is the nagging voice in your ear telling you that you are writing rubbish and that ‘no one will want to read your book … if you ever finish it’.
Listen to the critic, give him or her a name, Nick or Nicola, for example, and say: “I’ve heard you, N….. Go away.” Keep saying that whenever N appears.
However this particular N, that’s me, is your friend and partner, ready to offer you more tips in the next article.
Note: These tips are derived from working with Mindy Gibbins-Klein, founder of Panoma Press in writing “Feel it as a man…” and from my 30 years’ experience as an Editor and Author.