Writing a novel is a weird business. We novelists get an idea. We think about that idea. Then we hide away to write, write, write that idea. Then we think and we write and we think and we write and we think and we write some more. Then we take a step back, squint at the mess of a chapter we’ve written, and despair that we’ll ever mold the clay of those words into anything like the sculpture we had in mind when we sat down.
So we rewrite the chapter one way, and it’s an unmitigated disaster, but…something we wrote on page five gives us an idea.
Maybe if we try it this way…
We rewrite again, and the chapter is objectively better. Closer.
So we rewrite again, and the chapter clicks into place, and there is much rejoicing!
Then we start all over again with the next chapter.
Or, you know, collapse.
The Murky Middle
Beginning writers get the excitement of the new endeavor.
Published writers get the thrill of holding their books in their hands.
But writers in the middle get the slog of writing, writing, writing.
Is it any wonder so many writers in the middle give up on the practice entirely? To stay in the game, wise writers must protect their creative flames from the punishing winds of self doubt and long odds. Which, you know, easier said than done.
Last month, my writerly flame sputtered for no good reason. I’m deeply entrenched in a novel project that excites me, and I’ve got a fantastically supportive writing community, yet somehow I still found myself battling a mean case of the why bothers.
Hey, it happens!
Writing a novel is a long and winding road that inevitable leads the writer straight through the badlands where there be dragons of self doubt and impatience and—at least for me—the special despair that comes with realizing that I’m at the halfway point in the book which means I have as much work ahead of me as I have behind me.
But I’ve encountered these dragons before, so when my writerly intuition whispered that maybe it was time to reread Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, I decided to reread the hell out of that book, and here we are.
Would you like to join me?
Every weekend I’ll read the next chapter in the program and post about what struck me in the reading on Monday. Read just this newsletter or read along with your battered copy (and if you don’t have a copy, get one here).
And so begins the hunt for the wise writing life! I’m so happy you’re here!
I am so glad you’re writing this, Cathy. I just read the welcome email and said “oh my god” out loud when I got to the part about what you said to the owl, and to yourself. Only you would encounter an owl this way, I swear! And only you would come to the conclusions about it that you came to. And only you would write about that experience so eloquently. I can’t wait to get reading these newsletters!
Soooo....what does HIBOU mean?