The Place For My Writers Notes

Original Posting 1 Dec 2010

Nanowrimo, National Novel Writing Month, is over again. Celebrations for those who tried, whether they hit the 50K mark or not, are certainly in order. So give yourself a cheer!

And then, before losing track completely of that feeling of accomplishment, it must be time to prepare for pewylwriti! Pronounced pee-while-rye-tie, it stands for PErsonal WYL WRIting TIme. Personal writing time? Well, yes. Not organized at the national, state, or even small group level, just what you and I decide we want to do. Writing time? Sure, not a special month, just the continuing adventures of writing.

You might want to think about Heinlein's four step program for writing. Write, Finish what you write, Submit, and Keep it Going (my short summary).

Now, you get to decide what you write, but you need to write. That can include outlining, research, all that stuff, but mostly, it means putting words on paper. Figure out how much you want to do, probably on a weekly or something basis, and make a commitment to yourself to do it. Just like you did with nanowrimo! 1,667 words a day? How about 800 words a day? Whatever, you decide, but write.

You need to finish chunks -- short stories, poems, novels, whatever you are writing, finish it! Personally, I don't think Heinlein meant toss it out without revision, as some people suggest, but simply finish the job and let go of it. It's so easy to get tied up in making it perfect, and never ever let it go. So make up your mind to finish pieces, as well as you can, and then let go of them. Finish pieces. Again, make a commitment. A story a week, a novel in X months, or whatever. And finish that piece!

At which point, of course, you submit it. This is where the commercial side of writing bites, because response times are often long, but... Submit that piece. Find the right market, check the submission requirements and method, and send it off. (Psst! Then go back and write some more!)

Keep going? That applies to writing, finishing, and submitting. Especially to submitting -- there's a tendency to take those rejections too seriously, and decide to yank a piece off the market, or rewrite, or whatever. Don't. Just send it to the next market, and put the new pieces you've written while you were waiting out there, too. Keep going.

Okay? Set yourself up for pewylwriti!

There's a hand raised in the back? Yes, you have a question? Oh, WYL?

Aha, you're right, I did forget to explain that. It's very simple, though. What You Like -- wyl. So the entire phrase is personal, what you like, writing time. And you know, I think it is hard to handle because it isn't limited and defined like nanowrimo. Nobody says here's the goal -- 50K words in a month. You have to set your own goals and times. And no-one is going to hand you a certificate if you meet your goals, or even comment if you don't meet them. Although, to be fair, you'll know. And that's important -- so set your goals, and make a deal with yourself about meeting them. Then see what happens!

Write?