Templates, plot grids, how-to books, spreadsheets, writing applications, writing cohorts, YouTube tutorials, the list of available tools for writing a novel are maddeningly long. For me, it tends to lead to distractions and less writing, but it’s difficult to resist as some of the tips or tools can be very helpful. Each of them provides supplemental information or helpful pieces that can contribute to a writer’s success. However, they can also be the time suck that keeps a writer from doing the very thing that makes them successful. Write.
I can’t speak for every writer out there, but many of us spend far too much time not writing, the very thing which gives us life. Ok, breathing, eating, brain function and a heartbeat are the components which enable our physical bodies to continue living, but you get the gist. Writing fuels us, and yet we spend an inordinate amount of time not doing it.
At first I was beating myself up for it as I was spending so much time researching, trying to understand the best way to approach my book. Then I found a fellow author and YouTuber, Andrea Severson, who frequently blogs about her writing life. In one of her recent blogs she went to her library (being a professor at a college, it’s ‘hers’), and ‘researched’ for her book.
A giant light bulb went off in my head. I finally understood that my notes, my reading, my instructional videos are all a part of the book writing process.
Learning to be a better writer can truly only be done by practicing the art, but how refreshing it was to learn that other authors also split their time between looking up how to be a better author, researching pieces for their story, while still practicing their art.
Over time, I’ve learned that I’m a discovery writer, wannabe plotter, who loves brainstorming lists. With this knowledge, I can try plot grids for my next novel and see how it works for me to properly set up my book in a logical developmentally sound manner.
Eventually. For now, I’m plugging away at the writing part, just getting stories down on paper in the hopes of improving my art.
Amelia Blackthorn 