Back in the saddle

TheMontess

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Hi everyone, it's been a long time since I visited AW! Back in 2018 I completed what I thought was my first book (the first of a trilogy) but on reflection it was only the first part of a larger book. At the start of 2019 I pulled my socks up and planned out the next section, intending to have the first draft done by the time my first child arrived in July. You can imagine how that went! I wrote literally less than 500 words after she was born, got hit by the bulldozer that is postnatal depression and I'm just coming out the other side now. I've written myself a tasklist of everything I need to do to finish the book, and I'm dedicating at least 45 minutes every Saturday and Sunday to get it done.

A few words of moral support would be really helpful, and I'm interested to hear from anyone else who has picked themselves up after an extended hiatus!
 

Conrad Adamson

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I had a much shorter hiatus of about 3 months, but I found myself ready to get back at it. I would recommend thinking about that feeling of accomplishment at each milestone--a chapter done, a section edited, a story arc completed. Kids are crazy time consuming, but putting time into a hobby can be the outlet that helps you feel less drained and provide identity outside of being a parent (whether you are working or not).

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better and gearing up to fill up some pages.
 

katfeete

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Oh man, I’ve picked myself up from at least half a dozen of these... my daughter’s birth, my grandmother’s death, chronic pain, work burnout....

It’s different for everyone, but my biggest advice is: start slow. Don’t expect you can just go back to the levels of productivity you had before straight off. Work yourself up to it; reward yourself for any productivity. Don’t tell yourself you used to be able to do a THOUSAND words a day what is wrong with you that you can only write a hundred. You wrote a hundred words! It is so CHOCOLATE TIME!

I also ended up having to do sort of a warm-up run at writing. The “morning pages” concept is really useful for this (though I use 750Words); don’t think about it, don’t edit, just freewrite. Or do worldbuilding, or character sketches. Build up those muscles before you turn to the heavy lifting of a novel again.

And be patient with yourself. You’ll have failed days — failed weeks. But as long as you get back up, you are not a failure.

Good luck. I’m still crawling out from under my latest rubble-pile, but I am crawling out. We can do it!
 

TheMontess

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aheuett - Thank you! I love a good spreadsheet so I've broken down what I need to do, and I know it will be satisfying to watch things get crossed off :) It's definitely a good idea to work in some celebration moments too!

katfeete - Thank you so much for your reply, we'll dig our way out I'm sure! At the moment my plan is to write for at least 45 minutes every Saturday and Sunday during my baby's naps, but doing the 750 words first thing in the morning (before she gets up) sounds like a good way to oil the wheels so I'm ready to go when it's writing o'clock