What an Author Reads While Writing

I know so many writers who don’t read while they’re creating, and I can’t even imagine such a thing.

I’ve learned, for better or for worse, that if I’m not reading, I’m not writing.

I can track my Goodreads logs against my daily writing goals, and see the wax and wane. The more I read, the more I write. The sheer joy of story is what drives me to the page, day in and day out. 

I’m not at all concerned that another’s voice might slip in, or an idea, a concept, a character. My voice is strong enough in my head that these things don’t happen. 

I read widely, and I read a lot, a minimum of 2–3 books a week. Right now, I’m listening to a literary novel on audio, reading a mystery novel for a blurb, reading a fantasy ebook for fun, and leafing through a cookbook. So 4 books at once, not at all unusual. In a few weeks, I’ll be transitioning to reading short stories for a project I’m working on, but I’ll still have at least one audio and one ebook going.  

I reread, too, books that I know evoke a certain sense of joy or wonder for me — Diana Gabaldon, especially. 

Do these books influence my writing? Not my voice or my story, per se, but, as an example, I was reading Gabaldon while I was writing THE IMMORTALS and that book feels lush and full to me. While I was writing LIE TO ME, I needed to give myself permission to get really dark, so I read John Connolly and Karin Slaughter. 

I also get in moods — I want big sweeping fantasy trilogies, or light, happy books. I burned myself out on crime fiction, I think, and will have to ease my way back in. I love suspense, though, unreliable narrators and stories that examine women and their place in the world. As a matter of fact, of the 40 books I’ve read so far this year, only 4 were written by men, and two of those had female leads. Nothing against my male author brethren, I'm just more into women's work right now.

Girl power, sisters and brothers… : )

Writers, do you read while you write? Same genre, different genre? And for you readers — can you read more than one book at a time?

On Comparison and Competition — Do they make us better writers?

I’m on a writers retreat, and one of the awesome women here is well-versed in non-fiction. Writing and marketing a non-fiction title is very different from the fiction process, so I’ve been very interested to hear the ways she and her team go about it.

After one of our break discussions, I was sitting around procrastinating — ahem, sometimes it’s hard to drag yourself from fascinating convos back to the page, and it’s better to do some work instead of staring out the window at the gorgeous scenery, so that’s why I’m writing a blog — but I digress. I was really more thinking than procrastinating, and the most wonderful idea came to me. 

What if I wrote non-fiction? 

I scuttled the idea almost immediately. My friend is exceptionally intuitive and her non-fiction work is fascinating. But So. Much. Work. Blogging is about as far into non-fiction as I’m comfortable going. Many of the essays I write are just for fun, or my own edification or journaling, but some I think can actually help new writers on their journey, and so I may, one of these days, compile the ones I feel are worthy into a book. And yes, obv that would be non-fiction. 

What cracked me up is the idea that fiction is easy and non-fiction is hard. I think we all have our own strengths and naturally gravitate toward them—some people are brilliant novelists but crappy screenwriters, some people can paint but can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Some can do math, some can thread a needle in one go, some have dry wit and others generous hearts. Some of us are business-oriented and some of us have our heads in the clouds. I have yet to meet an artist who doesn’t see another’s strength without at least a momentary thought of — I wish I could do that. 

I’ve thought it at least fifty times this weekend. I wish I could sing. I wish I could relax and go with the flow. I wish I would listen more and talk less. I wish I could write something so special and dear that people around the world fall in love with it. I wish I was a runner. I wish I had this glorious kitchen. I wish…. On, and on, and on.

“Comparison is the thief of joy,” Roosevelt said.

Lao Tzu has another gem: “When you are content not to compare or compete, everyone will respect you.”

But isn’t it simply human nature to compare? And also to feel the urge to compete? It’s why we interrupt when people speak, and why we try new things. Why we stop and have conversations with ourselves about things we’d like to do, places we’d like to be, behaviors we’d like to imitate. Isn’t comparison different from competitiveness? How else will we grow and change if not to listen and compare when others speak about their experiences? To assimilate their words into our own frame of reference and come out the other side thinking––

I wish…

Because you know where I wish leads? To the finest spark known to creative kind…. 

What if…

Do you compare yourself to others? Does it drive you to greatness and to try new things? Or does it rob you of your joy and make you feel like you’re doing everything wrong?

How I Research and Organize My Book Writing: a Follow-Up

A few weeks ago, I received a request to post a couple of pictures of my research “process” using a Circa notebook.

Happy to comply. 

I subscribe to the Twyla Tharp school of creative organization — every project gets its own “box" within which lies everything to do with that book, from research to notes to manuscripts and edits.

Over the years, with the advent of online storage and editing, these boxes have been getting smaller and smaller. Now, instead of tubs full of paper stacked in my closets, I’m able to use an expandable file pocket, and I consolidate my physical notes into single notebooks, whenever possible. 

But for the CC books, I need a lot more organization. Hence, the Circa. 

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If you missed how we researched THE SIXTH DAY, you can find that here. 

Once I’ve gathered up all my research, I print it out and put it in the Circa, and this is what I transport to Catherine’s for us to draw upon as we build the story. Organization helps! I separate my research by topics, as you can see. The pages inside are highlighted, too.

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Each book also gets a Clairefontaine spiral bound notebook, and I use that for notes, ideas, queries, and all other manner of thinking on paper. They’re priceless to me. I actually found a whole chapter of LIE TO ME in one of the notebooks that I almost forgot to add to the manuscript, so yes, I do write by hand at times. 

I also mentioned The Database — here is one of the bookshelves I have, full to the brim with research material. 

It’s amazing really, to think of all of this, when our forebears managed to write masterpiece after masterpiece like this:

I'd love to see your process and organization!

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Why Writing Alone is Bad For You

I have a tribe.

You see me thanking them in my acknowledgements all the time, but I don’t know if I give them enough credit for the innumerable ways they help me write my books and live my life. 

They each serve different purposes, and yet, without even one of them, I wouldn’t get anything done. From inspiring me with quotes to leading me in yoga to daily word count accountability, book and movie recommendations, business advice, research questions, and plain old gossip, I adore each and every one of them. Several of them read for me, which is a huge help when I’m developing a story.

This is advice I don’t often give to new writers, but it was on my mind today.

There is nothing, nothing, more important than having a few people around you that you trust. A tribe makes your work is stronger, deeper, more alive. Having a core unit to support you, inspire you, even keep you accountable makes writing easier because, as we know, writing is hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it  

It’s taken me years to find my people, so don’t expect it to happen overnight. And do be careful as you’re getting to know your newfound tribe members. Don’t go all in with the confessions on day one. Work friendships are oftentimes more fraught than finding fun dinner companions — you’re going to be discussing money, and insider information, and contract stipulations and be asked to keep secrets about deals. There are jealousies to manage, and expectations. You won’t all be at the same point in your careers at the same time. Choose your people wisely. 

And when you find those people you can trust with your life, hold them close, and don’t ever let them go. They are a huge component to your ultimate career success, and your sanity as you navigate the treacherous waters of creativity.

Do you have a tribe?

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5 Steps to Help When You’re Overcommitted

We all love to feel busy. Busy means important. It’s a psychological frame for our own desires to be loved, wanted, and needed. To fit in, to feel connected. 

Being busy isn’t a bad thing (though it’s not a healthy life construct, says the queen of busy-ness…).

Busy-ness is a slippery slope to overcommitment, when being busy turns into a major stressor instead of a way for us to feel connected to the universe around us.

I hit moments every quarter when I’m suddenly, completely, irrevocably overwhelmed by my work. I’m a Yes Girl, and sometimes I agree to too many things, and the next thing I know, fifteen things are due within the same two-week period, and there’s travel and PR and a book due, but I have to take time away from writing to deal with them. These “things” are everything from mentoring to blurbing books to reading for shows to judging contests to PR for book releases. It’s the business of writing. And sometimes, it gets in the way of the creative process. 

None are these things required. Honestly, I could easily shut myself up in my ivory tower and only ever create books. People ask me all the time why I don’t. As they point out, the world isn’t going to stop if I say no. But these are the ways I try to give back to the writing community. It’s how I balance out my karmic debt. 

I use all kinds of tools to dig myself out from my tendency to overcommit: Wunderlist, of course, and my Bullet Journal. But mostly, it’s just me, wandering the house, grumbling to myself about what I need to do, consumed with a baseline panic that I’ll never get it all done. 

I know this is my MO. It happens a lot. My debut year, I co-ran a marketing organization, co-ran a writing blog, judged a massive year-long contest with over 360 books to read, plus wrote two novels and toured 13 states. I had so many balls in the air my balls were juggling balls of their own. (Ahem. See my blog last week...)

I swore I’d never do it again, yet here I am, 12 years later, still overcommitting myself, still juggling. 

Now, I have learned the value of saying NO, and trust me, I use it liberally. I won’t do something if I’m not 100% sure it’s a good fit for me, that it will either make me feel good, or benefit someone I care about. If it doesn’t hit the marks I’ve set, I say no. I also am very careful to say no to things that coincide with my big deadlines. I know myself well enough not to schedule an event, a trip, a bookclub anywhere near a book deadline. That’s when I have to say no to EVERYTHING.

But there are lots of things that meet the yes criteria. So how do I dig myself out? For real, not just grumbling about it?

It’s the old saw - how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. 

First, I admit to myself I’ve gotten in over my head.

Admitting you have a problem propels you toward the action to resolve that problem, whether it’s as simple as overcommitting or as serious as admitting you are depressed, or over-drinking. Admission is the first step to fixing things.

Second, I pull together every single project due over the next few weeks and take a long, hard look.

I prune away things that are part of said overcommitments but cancelling won’t tear a hole in the fabric of the universe. The haircut that can be pushed two weeks, the lunch I said I’d host (90% of my friends are creatives with their own deadlines—they get it). Anything that can be rescheduled without causing heartburn, or outright cancelled altogether, gets the chop.
 

Third, I choose two projects.

Just two. Normally, they’ll be a priority already because of their respective deadline, but sometimes because they’re more cohesive together. And edit and a blurb book, for example. The trick is to allow myself to only focus on two things, believing the rest will be dealt, in the same method. 

Fourth, I start breaking my day into chunks based on the two projects.

Using the blurb book and edit examples again, my day looks like this:

10:00 am – 12:30pm: read the blurb book
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: work on my edits
3:00 pm: take a walk, clear my head, do some yoga
3:30 pm–5:00 pm: work on edits
5:00 pm–6:00 pm: deal with business, including PR, social media, etc. that must be handled, more exercise
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: prep and eat dinner
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm: read some more

Fifth, and this is the most important step — finish.

Finishing is important. Write the blurb. Send off the edit. Then and only then will I tackle the next two projects. 

If I stick to this program, within a week or so, most of the commitments are dealt with and I’m left with only my own work again. The space that creates brings harmony. With harmony, I swear never to get myself overcommitted again. 

This method really does help whenever you’re feeling out of control. Note the twice-a-day exercise slots, too. When I’m feeling exceptionally frazzled, a walk, some stretching, anything grounding really helps. If I’m in truly dire straights, I will take something to help me focus, but I avoid that at all costs.  Most of the time, a cup of tea and some deep breaths whilst petting a kitten works just as well as a pill. 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, a timer is about to go off in the kitchen, and I have some plates to fill!

What’s your favorite trick for dealing with overcommitment?

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