As writers, we want to have writing habits that consistently produce results. We want all our days to be good days. (I mean, who wouldn’t??)
However, life rarely is quite that orderly.
Much like the changing weather here in New England, our lives are constantly changing.
We have seasons of our lives that are marked with different patterns, emotions, and rhythms. There are new jobs, small children, big moves, and/or classes and schooling. We have times of happiness and we have times of grief. Rest and then busyness.
As Heraclitus is credited with saying, “The only thing constant is change.”
We can expect these changes to come.
Change in our lives doesn’t need to be scary nor does it need to derail our writing.
Instead of being caught off guard, we can adapt our writing habits to the new rhythms in our lives. We can have grace for ourselves and for our writing in the midst of these changes.
This will help us find ways to write well and live well wherever we find ourselves.
Different Seasons: When Our Time Changes
Schedule changes, sleep changes, jobs, stressors, health, energy levels… What our time looks like can vary drastically from day to day, month to month, year to year. Sometimes we’ll have free time available for writing and other times we need to fight to find time to shower.
Whether we’re creatures of habit and strive to keep things structured or if we’re more on the free-spirit side of things, these changes will come regardless. This will influence our writing.
When our routines change, our writing may need to change also.
Depending on the season, sometimes we’ll need to create a new writing habit or set aside a different time for our writing. The old routines and writing times simply may not work anymore.
Instead of getting frustrated, we can expect these changes to come.
Adapting to a new schedule is important in order to find new ways to thrive as a writer in this new season of life. We don’t want to let our writing be pushed aside if it’s no longer convenient. Nor do we want it to be forgotten somewhere in the shuffle of a shifting schedule.
It can take effort and awareness to carve out a new space for writing among a changing schedule. By checking in periodically to ensure our writing is still happening we can make sure it remains a priority.
Different Seasons: When Our Writing Changes
Not only do our schedules change, but our writing itself is constantly evolving. Drafts, revisions, edits, nanowrimo… Our writing can take dramatically different forms at different times. These different tasks can all require different amounts of time, focus, and mental energy.
When our writing changes, our routines may need to change also.
Some writing tasks can be accomplished in 15 minute intervals throughout the day. For instance, I find I can brainstorm blog post ideas in between other tasks. It’s relatively simple to save and come back to as needed.
However, other writing tasks require more time and focus. For instance, when I’m working on story revisions I need to set aside larger amounts of time in order to write well. Otherwise I just can’t focus enough to make clearheaded progress.
Depending on what writing tasks we’re working on, we may need to make changes to our writing habits. Evaluating which writing tasks we want to work on and how much mental focus will be required can be helpful as we structure our time.
Being aware of our own changing seasons can help us to regularly readjust our routines and strategies in order to be writing well through all times of life.
Grace For All Seasons
Beyond having good writing routines and strategies in place, having grace for ourselves is essential for both our well being and for our writing. This is especially true in the face of change.
With different seasons in life there will be added stress and unknowns. With different seasons in our writing this can also be the case.
Having grace means we are kind and patient with ourselves. In the midst of the stress and unknown this can give us strength to move forward well. It can bring comfort and peace of mind.
Sometimes (often) there can be a myriad of expectations and guilt put on writers. Some of this we hear from others but some is from ourselves. We should write every day. We need to complete this draft in a month. So-and-so did more so we should do more too. If we could only do these five things better then maybe we would be successful.
These voices can be so toxic.
Sometimes we just can’t write every day. Sometimes our wordcount isn’t the best measure of how good our story is. Sometimes we do everything “right” and it just still doesn’t work.
We can burn ourselves out trying to meet certain goals, expectations, or wordcounts.
But running ourselves ragged is not the answer. Burying ourselves with heavy guilt is not healthy. Trying to meet everyone’s expectations is impossible.
Giving ourselves grace means we can allow ourselves to not be perfect and know that that is okay.
Let’s remind ourselves that we are worthwhile even if our writing isn’t cooperating with us.
You are precious and valuable, my friend. You are unique, lovely, and gifted.
Our value doesn’t come from our wordcount or from publishing contacts. When we are secure in our own worth, that can give us the freedom to pursue our writing without the pressure of perfection.
By acknowledging different seasons in our writing, we can accept that our writing process may not always look how we or others expect.
Sometimes our writing may meet up with our expectations. We’ll be churning out words and meeting our goals, and that’s awesome!
Other times we may be plodding along and deleting more words than we save. Our research may be raising more questions than it answers.
And that’s okay.
We don’t need to force our writing to match up with certain standards or other people’s experiences. And while it’s good to have goals and deadlines, we don’t need to be defeated if those deadlines need to change.
This is grace.
We breath deep. We remind ourselves it’s okay to try new things and it’s okay to fail.
We can celebrate where we’re at and any progress we may make.
We can rest if we need to. Take a break.
We can celebrate our resting.
And from this place of acceptance of ourselves and self care, we can continue to write in a healthy, balanced way throughout anything life throws at us.
With adaptability and grace we can thrive as writers through all seasons.
What season of life and writing do you find yourself in these days? Do you feel like you have grace for yourself in the midst of it all?
