Here's the first of my guest posts, by author Joyce Reynolds-Ward about the challenges of writing while in the midst of the chaos of moving from one home to another!
Writing on the Move
2015 was supposed to be an ambitious writing year for me. I was going to put out three books as well as write a bunch of short stories and essays both for distribution on my own and to circulate to markets.
2015 was also the year that the husband and I moved most of our household goods to a house nearly 350 miles away, as well as relocating my horse. This wasn’t just a big one-time move but a transition into a process where we split our time between Portland and a small rural town in Eastern Oregon as part of a retirement life.
Anyone see a conflict in these two goals?
Seven months into the process, and I’m still figuring it out. What I hadn’t anticipated was the time and energy which goes into maintaining a working writer life in the midst of disruption, chaos, and dammit, the file I need is on the other computer in the other place. It’s surprising to discover how some of these little bitty file fragments that get classified as “not important, don’t need to take up bandwidth space” suddenly become crucial.
Despite the chaos of the major part of the move, I completed the first draft of a difficult, complex novel that is not just demanding on its own but pivotal in the arc of its series. Netwalk’s Children marks the transition from the point of view of Melanie, the primary protagonist of the first two books, to her daughter Bess, who will be the primary protagonist of the next book. Because I’ve written two other books, several short stories, and a couple of novellas in this series, I had to record notes on timelines, what happened when and where, and other necessary aspects of continuity.
The first thing I did was to prepare a schedule for writing and production. I knew I could complete a first draft in two months at a minimum, as long as I got daily words down. Next, I had to plan for editing, rewrites, and production. In order to simplify rewrites and editing, I decided that unlike my usual semi-pantser mode, this book required me to plan, plan, plan. I couldn’t count on having reference materials easily available, so I had to create portable references. I sat down with the previous books and dedicated one yellow pad to continuity notes I anticipated needing. That went into an expanding plastic file folder labeled “Netwalk’s Children.” All pieces of paper relevant to the project went in that folder.
Next, I sat down with Scrivener on my laptop and made character interaction notecards. Originally, I’d planned to write in Scrivener but discovered it didn’t play well with Dropbox, so…I used it at this stage as a planning tool, and did the actual writing in Word, and imported it later into Scrivener for final formatting and compilation for production.
After that, I sat down with actual index cards and outlined plot elements. Initially, I’d planned to just use the note cards, but then I realized that the pacing needed me to be aware of how main characters and themes advanced in each scene. I’d seen a rough draft of a J.K. Rowling story matrix that she had used for one of the Harry Potter books, and decided that maybe that might just work for me. So I took another yellow legal pad, brought out many felt-tipped pens, and created a color-coded matrix for what/where/who at each scene of the story.
By this point I was two weeks behind schedule. I’d not accounted for other aspects of preparation for the move, including packing, cleaning, and painting. Nonetheless, by March 1st, I was cranking away on the book. By March 22, I was on track at 20k words though the story had started to diverge from the matrix. By March 17, it was completely off the rails. By March 26th, I was at 45k words, close to a Nanowrimo pace, and still chugging along. I’d also become quite grateful for all the prewriting work because at this point it became easier to pick up the threads of the story by reviewing the plot matrix and a scene tracker I’d created to help me figure out my story progression.
Once we started the actual, physical move, things got complicated. I ended up finishing Netwalk’s Children a month later than I wanted to, which mucked up my schedule further. But I discovered that, as I’d hoped, all the planning work made it easy to go back and revise what was needed. While various other factors interfered with my meeting the tight time schedule I had originally created, in the end, I succeeded in having a decently written book out by mid-November.
So what did I learn from this process?
First, be realistic with my timelines. My original schedule had me turning the book out in under six months, from first words to final production and listing. That might be sustainable under my current split location moving back and forth, but not while doing the initial move and setup. Final time spent on the project ended up being ten months. I could have sped it up at a couple of points, but I think this was better.
Second, planning helps with portability. At some point during any move you hit the wall even if all you are doing is packing and moving. Add writing into the mix and it’s a sure recipe for burnout. Having planning tools easily available makes it easier to get your brain back into writing mode. Other people might not want to resort to my degree of complex planning for this book, but I think some form of planning is crucial if you’re writing on the move.
Third, organization (as opposed to planning) is also crucial. I thought about using a thumb drive to keep versions of the story on, and decided that it would be better to back up to Dropbox but keep the main story on my laptop until time for revisions. Consistent versioning methods are also helpful. Just sayin’. The plastic expandable folder for pieces of paper, notepads, and, later on, holding a copy of the printed out MS (double-sized) was crucial). I also kept highlighters, pens, and sticky pads in that folder so that all I had to do was pull out the laptop and the expandable folder and I was ready to roll no matter what stage of the process I was in.
Fourth, maintaining writer space both in location and in time is crucial. It’s easy to fall out of routines if you are on the road and you can’t write in the car (I get vertigo easily). Moving always demands as much time in the day as you will give it. Set up a writer space in both the new location and the old location and keep it sacred. Same for carving out a chunk of time in the day. Flexibility helps.
Finally, accept that there will be days when, no matter what, you’re too fried from the moving process to focus on the writing and don’t beat yourself up when that happens. Be kind to yourself and give yourself the space needed to recover.
After all, it’s a process, not a race. Writing while on the move is a very doable thing, as long as you think ahead and include your writing process in the planning. Give it a try if you’ve got a move planned—and good luck.
Joyce Reynolds-Ward splits her time between Portland and Enterprise, Oregon. A former special education teacher, Joyce also enjoys horses, skiing, and other outdoor activities. She's had short stories and essays published in First Contact Café, Tales from an Alien Campfire, River, How Beer Saved the World 1 and 2, Fantasy Scroll Magazine, and Trust and Treachery. Her novels Netwalk: Expanded Edition, Netwalker Uprising, Life in the Shadows: Diana and Will, Netwalk’s Children, and Alien Savvy as well as other works are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and other sources. Alien Savvy is also available in audiobook through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. Follow Joyce's adventures through her blog, Peak Amygdala, at www.joycereynoldsward.com, or through her LiveJournal at joycemocha. Joyce’s Amazon Central page is located at http://www.amazon.com/Joyce-Reynolds-Ward/e/B00HIP821Y .
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