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Typically thought of with academic professionals, a sabbatical “can give you a healthy amount of time to enhance your academic qualifications, pursue new interests, do volunteer work, travel, address physical concerns, or re-prioritize your life and career. It’s an opportunity to manage the effects of professional burnout.”
Burnout is what I’ve been struggling with the most. It’s what led to me finding a new job in 2021, and it’s what’s brought me to this point with writing.
There are a million reasons not to write. Better ways to spend our time that don’t involve fighting with the little voice in our heads, the one who insists you aren’t good enough, that no one wants to read what you have to say. But I’m here to tell you — to give you permission — to tell that voice to shut it.
Whenever I talk about my writing process, I proudly tell people that after I outline, I start writing my book at page one and don’t stop until I hit The End. I don’t go back and edit, and I only reread the previous couple paragraphs to get myself into the flow of the story. If something changes that will require edits in what I’ve already written (I’m looking at YOU Mike from The Trail Rules), I note it in a separate file and continue writing as if that change has already been made. I’ve sworn by this method and have told countless writers that you’re more likely to finish a first draft this way than if you constantly edit as you write.
While I don’t necessarily view myself as brave, I think there are worse things I can do than try to channel that characteristic. Especially when I’m trying new things (that I’m not ready to talk about yet). As I tell new writers, no one else is going to do this for you — you have to believe you can and then you have to do it.
I’m a very organized writer, which won’t surprise long-time followers of this blog, and my process has become more and more fine-tuned with each book. After 12 novels, I felt confident in my system.
Then I started working on my current idea.
It’s romantic suspense (at least I think that’s what it’ll be), and there are a LOT more moving parts than in my previous books. I made it safely through the “take frantic notes” stage, but when I tried organizing those notes into a timeline, I quickly realized I was going to need a different system.
The Campfire Series is officially complete! —> Two best friends. One tiny tent. An attraction that’s impossible to ignore. <— Now available at all online booksellers.
As a writer, drama is a requirement. Without conflict, you don’t have a story. Sure, you can have a pleasant tale about pleasant people doing pleasant things, but no one wants to read 30 pages of that story, let alone 300 pages.
My brain is constantly jumping from one thing to the next, the tangents leading from one train of thought to the next lightning-quick. I pride myself for being able to make connections in others’ conversations long before they get to the point, and I often get frustrated if I feel like someone is taking too long to get to that point.
Yes, this is partially what leads me to interrupt people a lot (a terrible habit, I know), and it’s also super annoying for the person I’m talking to when I assume incorrectly and take the conversation in a direction they weren’t expecting.
I recently started to journal again, and I’m kicking myself for not doing it sooner. The concept is simple enough—open a notebook or word doc or whatever device you prefer, then write down whatever’s on your mind—but there are a lot of reasons people might avoid journaling.
The momentum I felt at the end of the puzzle is the same thing that happens when I get to the end of a manuscript. In the months I’m writing the first draft, it can be a struggle to reach my daily word goals, but when I’m in the final chapters, it’s not uncommon for me to double or triple those goals. The words just fly out of me!