Labor Day passed. The pool closed. Evenings turned chilly. Fall must be here. For me, that means a new semester. New students, new teachers, new books, and a new schedule. I always have a hard time adjusting my writing habits when my schedule changes. When I have lots of unstructured time, I end up filling it with bad television shows, and when my days are full of items on a to-do list, I make shopping for vacuum cleaner bags more important than writing. However, as the demands on my time change there are a few things I do to keep poetry a priority.
Writing Buddies. These friends show up for me week after week. We tend not to offer feedback or advice on each other’s pieces; we just swap what we’ve worked on for the past week. Since my writing buddy is on the other end of the email as a friend and not an editor, I don’t have to work on polishing or finishing a piece, but I do have to have something to send. Sundays tend to work best for me. I’m usually guaranteed some alone time on Sundays, so I try to at least save an hour or two every week to write a piece so I have something to send my writing buddy.
Deadlines. If I make a deadline for myself, I know it’s flexible, so I use external deadlines to keep myself revising rather than procrastinating. When I was submitting book manuscripts, I put contest deadlines on a sticky note on my computer so that I would be forced to go back, re-read, polish, submit. Lately, I’ve been submitting individual pieces to contests for the same purpose. I try to think about the contest aspect as little as possible and focus on the deadline.
Literary Monopoly. I recently read about someone who uses a map of the United States to motivate her to submit. Whatever city is home to the literary journal where she has submitted her work, she marks with a pushpin. A couple of friends and I have a rejection contest. Whoever gets the most rejections in a year wins. The person who got the most acceptances buys the book of the winner’s choice for them. This way, we can share our rejections with each other and stay motivated to submit.
Cultivate Inspiration. Sometimes schedules can drive me into a rut, so when I have time to myself, it’s hard to decide to go to an art museum rather than nap or watch a documentary on Patagonia rather than sitcom reruns. Life should ideally have time for both, but I love to be excited about writing and nothing accomplishes that faster than inspiration. There are things I watch and read multiple times because every time I do, they move me. I started making a “To-Live” list next to my “To-Do” list so that I don’t forget that in addition to buying cat food, I need to learn how to sail, make paper and brew my own beer.
About Traci Brimhall
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I think each of us have to develop something, a method or protocol for making our writing lives work. For me, it would never be a writing buddy or even a group. It is my journal and the hours in the morning before the sun comes up. I know of others who swear by the writing buddies. It just all depends. Writing is the same as breathing so it would belong on the “To Live” list. Some writers have written many books and published while others work very hard to get the journal done. Again, it all depends. The thing to remember is to keep the pen moving or the fingers on the keys.
I like the idea of a writing buddy, vs. a writing group. It’s almost like have a deadline. Of course, without the ‘to live’ list there wouldn’t be anything to look forward to when one is writing. Thanks for sharing.