Starting after a break

It’s never easy! As I’m writing this, I’m just coming back to writing after New Year’s. I’m exhausted. Not because I partied all night. We had a very calm and quiet evening and night. My body just ain’t about, umm… life?

One thing that always helps me with starting back up is excitement. It’s so much easier to keep writing if you’re excited about what you’re creating. One thing that can help drum up excitement is sharing what you’re writing with someone else. I’ve been sending my PA chapters as I finish them, and while it certainly amps up the excitement, it also gives me that kick in the behind I sometimes need to keep going. 

Not everyone has a PA, though, so in this case, you could try asking a friend for feedback on what you’ve written so far. There are also online communities and Facebook groups for writers to share their work with each other as well as beta readers.

First thing’s first

I have to get back into a good routine. I have to go to bed at the right time, get up at the right time, eat at least somewhat healthy, and do the minimal exercise my body can handle. As hard as starting on all this can be, it’s actually continuing that becomes challenging. The smallest thing can throw me off course (AHDH is soo fun) and getting back on track can be really hard.

That’s the thing I struggle with the most. My brain does this lovely thing where when I have one important and/or big task to do, it will suddenly allow me to do all the small things it hasn’t allowed me to do for days or weeks. I end up hanging that picture I’ve had sat waiting for seven weeks and, voila, the whole kitchen gets cleaned and reorganized. But that book I’m supposed to write? Uh… what book?

So my advice to you would be to start off getting yourself in order. If you and your body are a wreck, it will reflect in your writing, and it’s simply not a good way of starting your book. Writing a book is, after all, a marathon and not a sprint, and you need your body to be ready for a marathon or you might not get past the finish line…

YOU GOTTA GET GOING

Not trying is way worse than trying and failing in my book (pun unintended, but I ain’t mad about it). Yes, there will be setbacks, but if you don’t try, you’ve already failed from the get-go.

I’ve found that the Pomodoro technique (you can read about it in this blog post) is very good when I’m stuck or starting after a break because the knowledge that I only need to work for twenty or thirty minutes before I get to take a break works wonders for my ADHD. In fact, it works for most people! I would  recommend giving this tool a try if you have difficulty staying focused for long!

Once I’ve gotten back into the groove of writing, I’ll still start my timer because my ADHD can also prevent me from stopping again (sometimes hyperfocus is *chef’s kiss* sometimes it’s not). Will I absolutely just turn that alarm off once it rings at twenty minutes because I’m knee-deep in an exciting scene? Yup. Though sometimes it does work! Mostly when I’ve had a period where sitting down to write is harder than wrangling my cats into their carrier to take them to the vet. I’m only happy to be able to turn an alarm off and go back to writing because it means things are going well!

What should I be doing?

So here’s something I probably should be doing but don’t for no particular reason other than forgetfulness and ADHD… Breaking your writing down into smaller tasks and achievable (that’s the keyword here) goals can help you stay motivated and ward off the infamous existential crisis some writers experience when they stare at an empty page for too long.

Making your writing process more organized like this means that you don’t have too long periods between dopamine hits, and it might be able to stop you from burning out. How organized you want to make it depends on your style and preference. Having something to look forward to in a shorter time frame with smaller achievable goals seems like the smarter way to go about it. Try it out; maybe it works for you! The worst that can happen is that you try something new and learn something about yourself!

Motivation is key

There’s really only one way to keep writing, and that’s to find whatever motivation keeps you going. Is that easy? No. Is it essential? Absolutely. Taking care of yourself is a great place to start, and it also reinforces the mindset of ‘I’m effing doing this!’. I’m not saying you need to go on a health kick and work out four times a week, but making sure your body gets enough sleep (most of the time, cause let’s be real here), is hydrated, and eating healthy-ish is good enough.

After you’ve gotten into a healthier routine, you can try out some organizational techniques, like the Pomodoro technique, to help with your writing sessions. It helps those of you who struggle with creating an overview, and it also helps improve your concentration! You can also try breaking your writing process down into smaller tasks and achievable goals! This helps prevent burnout and gives you a boost while writing the hard parts that can give even the most seasoned writers nightmares!

But how do you get to that finish line? I’ll be sharing how I finish writing my books and how you might pull it off, too, in the next blog post in this 3-part series.

You can sign up below to be notified of new blog posts to be kept up to date with this series! If you have any thoughts or questions on how to keep writing, leave a comment below. Thank you for reading along!