Creative Writing Plan, Part 1: The Freedom of Limits
A writing friend and I just completed a
brief planning process that addresses our respective creative writing
lives. Here's the outline we used, along with some completely made-up
examples:
This limit was important because the other things in my life seem to get done. I shower and brush my teeth. I pay bills and taxes on time. I could always exercise more, eat better, spend more time with family, or volunteer more -- but I do those things at acceptable (to me) levels. I'm more ambitious for the creative writing I want to do. So, this plan looks only at creative
writing. The closest my plan gets to addressing areas "other
than creative writing" is in its submitting component
and its writing practice component.
- Vision statement: "In five years, I am...." [statement of your writing self in five years. Example: a writer of poetry and mystery novellas who is confident in my use of form and imagery.]
- Goal statement: "In five years, I will have:" [bullet list of projects completed/underway. Example: completed four 20,000 word mystery novellas, completed a revision of my sestina-based collection "Lilacs and Lavender," drafted four other novellas, experimented with up to three writing schedules and committed to pursuing the most successful for a full year]
- Milestone statement for this year: "This year, I will:" [bullet list of projects to complete. Example: complete the draft of novella #2 and revise #1 and #2, use mind-mapping to generate 50 images relating geology and cosmology for further exploration, write an hour every weekday morning before the rest of the family wakes up. ]
Short, sweet, simple. And
extraordinarily valuable for various reasons, which I'll cover this
week and in two upcoming weeks.
Most important: This plan, by design,
is limited. It is a plan for creative writing.
- It doesn't include resolution-y elements of life: to meditate every day or work out or run a 10k or eat more kale.
- It doesn't address the writing I do as work or as a volunteer. Those activities may expand my tools, but they aren't directly related to the creative writing goals in this plan.
- It doesn't include activities that develop craft -- like attentive and analytical reading (some of which I will do anyway), targeted reading of craft books, or taking writing courses (formal or informal). I may revise this choice, but it is right for me, right now.
A. Submitting: I will continue to
submit pieces to publications, but my goals require me to focus on
producing and revising words. So my submission rate (about 1 per
month) will stay the same.
Here's why: I am drawn to administrivia
like a moth to a flame (and often find myself sizzled, with no new
writing done). Administrative work lends itself to to-do lists,
completed tasks, and accomplishments. It is relatively easy to
research markets, plan submissions, or print stories and put them in
envelopes (or, increasingly, format documents, attach them to emails,
and click "submit"). In comparison, it is relatively hard
to open a vein or two and bleed onto the page. It is even relatively
hard to write when I get over my bad self and just put words down,
without all the the "bleeding" imagery and general sturm
und drang.
Bottom line: I can push papers around
and pretend I'm writing, but I'm not -- I'm doing administration.
Therefore, submissions will continue at the current level -- ramping
them up isn't a big focus. Note that however this
decision changes (and it could), having a strategy for submitting
creative work will remain a part of this plan, because that's a part of the creative process that's important to me.
B. Writing practice: I have
written before about my love/hate relationship with structure
and the freelancing life. Evenings? Weekends? What do they mean when
it's possible to be connected 24/7? Et cetera.
I've recently admitted to myself that
on long projects (like curricula, or, probably, novels), I work
better when I have an outline. So rather than think that
I shouldn't need an outline, that only baby writers
need outlines (and I'm no baby) (am not) (NOT), that an outline is a
crutch, that I need to be a real writer and write without
an outline -- rather than bludgeon myself (for any
longer than I have already), I'm going to (duh) work to an
outline. (What can I say. It's part of my unique charm to
imagine that if I can do something in a particular way, I must be
doing it wrong and therefore shouldn't do it that way.)
Same with general daily routine. My
life really does go more smoothly when I write early, even though I
am not (SO NOT) a morning person. Summer is an especially tricky time
because mornings here are reliably lovely, and this is the season for
outdoor activity, so I say, "I'll write later." But the
part of me saying "later" apparently means "October."
Fortunately, the largest part of me has these goals around creative
writing, and, furthermore, has met my postponing self before and
isn't fooled by its attempts to get me to do important things
"later."
Bottom line: Aside from planned and
designated vacations, I'm giving an honest shot at getting the
required writing done before 11 a.m. on weekdays. Note that although
this particular writing practice may change, considering whether
my writing practice is working for me will remain a part of this
plan -- because life changes, but creative writing is an important element of my life.
And here's another important
limit I put on this plan: My goals (mostly) address producing
and revising words. Although one of my goals addresses published
work, 90% of my goals are about production: writing, revision,
submitting. Why? Because they are the things I can control (mostly). Having work published depends on others. Yes, revising
carefully and submitting well, or revising with an eye toward a
particular journal or publisher, can improve my acceptance rate, and I'll be
doing some of that. But I won't be looking at specific publications
and pitching or writing to them. I'm not writing to a market.
I can do that because this plan is
about MY creative writing -- my CREATIVE writing. Which ties into
next week's topics, expectations and timing.
I recently made a plan for my creative
writing life. No stranger to unsuccessful planning efforts, I have
found this particular planning process to be extremely helpful. I
will share the reasons why in three posts: this is Part 1. Stay tuned
for Parts 2 (expectations and timing) and 3 (accountability).