Writing tip #4: Believe in yourself and you will find the right words
Doubt: how to overcome the thing I struggle with most when it comes to editing
Dear reader,
Hi! Welcome to February!
I’m so excited to finally get a newsletter out to you earlier in the month! And I’m also SO excited because I started my readthrough of my book In Your Dreams!! (More on that later in this newsletter.)
I hope you’re doing well, too, and that your writing goals are coming along well and that you’re enjoying writing. Health is very important so if you’re currently on a writing break to support health or other priorities, I support that too.
As always, thank you SO much for being a subscriber and I wish you luck as you write and pursue your creative goals!
Sincerely,
Marisa
In this newsletter…
The Heart of Storytelling: Writing tips for moments of doubt
The Writing Life: Re-reading In Your Dreams, which is a HUGE step closer to preparing my book for querying and submitting to literary agents
Writers’ Corner: How I’m using an agenda to plan out and achieve my writing goals
Monthly Newsletter Release Update: Temporary break from newsletter, Q&As continue
The Heart of Storytelling
This is where I’ll share writing, editing and publishing tips, based on my experience.
This is for every writer who needs to hear this today: you will find the words.
Have you ever felt stuck choosing between multiple versions of a scene?
I tinkered so many times with this one scene in In Your Dreams that I ended up with four versions of it, and I keep changing my mind about which one I like best. The good news is that I like each draft. The bad news is that none of them are quite right.
Finally, I realized I was getting tired. Of what? Of thinking (or overthinking?). Writing a book is like doing a puzzle, but all the pieces are in your head, so you have to really concentrate. I have reached a point where I’m very close to what I’m looking to create in this scene but the editing is not super productive.
So I decided to take a break from the scene and polish it later. Sometimes the answer becomes so much clearer when you step back, keep going, and then look again with a fresh perspective.
Editing takes confidence, I’ve realized. When I feel doubt or insecurity regarding how well something is being conveyed, it eats at me. It helps to have confidence in how you’re doing what you’re doing or, if editing is required, to have the confidence to know you will find the right words. This will give you the peace of mind you need to keep going and come back later.
To all writers: happy editing!
[Originally posted on Instagram]
The Writing Life
This is where I’ll share updates on what I’m writing and working on.
In the October issue of Doing the Write Thing, I talked about my goals for publishing my YA/NA sci-fi novel In Your Dreams. I have a goal to submit my book to literary agents in 2023, and I decided to jump to the next milestone on that goal path, which is to read the first three-quarters of the book as though I’m a reader, making notes on the side but not making any edits yet. I’m SO excited!
I mentioned “jump”ing to that next milestone. While I was on a walk with our son on a beautiful autumn day, I came to a decision about editing In Your Dreams. Before I elaborate, let me explain:
My editing approach for In Your Dreams
If you read the November Q&A newsletter, you got to know Alisha Sevigny, the writer/editor/former literary agent who edited my book In Your Dreams. After Alisha and I met in 2016 to discuss her suggestions, I thought about her feedback, focused on the points that especially resonated with me, and began to work on addressing those points. (I’ll share a lot more on this process in a future newsletter in case it helps you find the feedback approach that feels right for you.)
After I put a TON of thought into strategies and made a LOT of notes on how to address some issues, I went to the beginning of my book and started editing one scene at a time in chronological order. That was in 2016.
2017: Keep editing.
2018: Keep editing.
2019: Keep editing.
2020: Keep editing.
2021: Keep editing.
2022: Keep editing, reaching three-quarters of the way through editing In Your Dreams.
There are still some key scenes I need to go back to and finish editing, so it’s not even like it’s a “perfectly” polished three-quarters.
But it’s a strong, solid three-quarters! Three-quarters in which I made tough editorial decisions that ultimately made the book stronger (and I’m happy to share those in a future newsletter to help with editing decisions).
Three-quarters in which I tightened the plot and removed characters (who played small roles) and saved snippets—I call them “gems”—of scenes I really like that don’t fit.
It’s also three-quarters in which I created new scenes I’m really proud of and enjoyed writing.
I also stopped to appreciate writing I knew not to change.
Change in editing plans
My editing plan in 2016 was to complete the detailed editing run-through, then re-read and polish the book before querying and submitting to literary agents for the first time since 2016—YAY!!
However, on that autumn day, I gave myself permission. Permission to pause the detailed run-through just before the final, fourth quarter of the book, which I haven’t touched since 2016 (and which thankfully needs the least amount of editing of any quarter of the book). Permission to start the re-read back at the beginning so that the first three-quarters of the book are fresh in my mind and polished on the page before I dive into the fourth quarter of the book and submit In Your Dreams for publication.
Why? Because, on that beautiful autumn day when I was walking outside with my son, I just had this feeling that while editing In Your Dreams is going well, I was slowing down on a scene that would benefit from a fresh sense of the first 3/4 of the book. Also, it’s amazing how EASY it can be to make editing decisions when you’ve spent time away from something you wrote. I’m hoping the re-read is smooth, since I’ve already edited most of In Your Dreams, which will create a stronger, fresher sense of momentum that will help me make the best decisions for the final quarter of the book.
For you, kind reader who is reading this description, I hope this helps you shape and discover the editing approach that works best for you and your writing projects. And thank you for reading and supporting mine!
Writers’ Corner
This is where we’ll gather around the virtual cozy fireplace to talk about writing and participate in fun writing exercises and contests!
I have a huge writing goal for 2023, which is to submit my novel In Your Dreams to literary agents for publication. I’ve submitted my novel to publishers before, but this is the first time I’ll be submitting it since 2016!
To help support this writing goal and other goals—and also because, as you may know, I love writing, notebooks and using agendas—I decided to buy a bigger agenda for this year.
2023 agenda from Indigo.ca
How you can break your goals down into achievable bite-size steps
I think it was writer Brittany Wang who suggested assigning writing goals to quarters of the year. I love that suggestion! I’ve done that at work in an office environment, but hadn’t though of applying that approach to my personal writing goals.
I merged the concepts of to-do lists and homework tracking (both concepts that I enjoy) with Brittany’s suggestion to track goals quarterly or—since agendas are organized by month—monthly. I also bought an agenda where I’m applying this goal-tracking approach for my goals for writing, health and personal projects. You don’t have to use an agenda, though, to do this! You could also capture these steps in a regular notebook or on scraps of paper to reuse them.
I’m sharing this approach in the hopes that it can help you make your writing dreams come true, too.
Step 1: Set goals for the year. For example, one of my goals for 2023 is to submit In Your Dreams to literary agents, with the overall goal being to publish it.
Step 2: Break your goal down into steps. For example, to give In Your Dreams the best chance of publication, I want to make it the best it can be. So before I submit it to literary agents, I’d like to edit it, then write my query letter, and then submit it.
Here’s how those goals look in bite-size form:
Complete this detailed editing run-through that I started in 2016/2017
Re-read the story while applying polish to any small or big decisions that need to be addressed
Write my query letter
Research literary agents
Submit In Your Dreams, a novel I wrote in 2006 and have been editing on and off since, a novel I envision being my first published novel, which has been part of my writing dream since I was five years old.
Step 3: Assign these goals to different months of the year.
Complete this detailed editing run-through that I started in 2016/2017 (March/April/May 2023)
Re-read the story while applying polish to any small or big decisions that need to be addressed (February-March 2023)
Write my query letter (May/June 2023)
Research literary agents (May/June 2023)
Submit In Your Dreams to literary agents (June/July 2023)
Step 4: Assign the current/upcoming month’s goals to weeks.
I write my weekly goals in the “notes” section, and then assign tasks to days of the week.
Step 5: As you enter a new week, look at that week’s list of goals and assign them to different days of the week. On a Sunday, for example, I plan out my “homework” for the next few days, and then stop there so that there’s room later in the week to re-assign homework from the first half of the week to the second half if it doesn’t get completed on time (for example, if an activity takes longer than I thought, or if I re-prioritize to accommodate other priorities). At the end of the week, any activities you didn’t complete that week can get carried over to the next week’s list of goals.
When I write down my daily “homework”, I even use a checkbox instead of a bullet point so that I can get the to-do list experience I enjoy.
Yes, I know, I love writing, notebooks, organizing and tracking! This approach might not—in fact, isn’t—for everyone, but if it can help you or help you find what works for you, that’s great!
Monthly Newsletter Release Update
I planned out the steps that will help prepare my book for submission and estimate that the earliest possible date for querying is June or July 2023. To help support that goal, I’m going to take a break from releasing newsletter tips issues (like this one) for a few months. It was not an easy decision, as I’m so grateful to have you as readers and so eager to share writing tips to help you along your writing journey! I really appreciate your support!
I will continue to work on monthly Q&As (featuring insights from published authors and professionals) so that you can hopefully continue to enjoy writing inspiration and motivation. Also, in the meantime, you may occasionally see a Writing Inspiration newsletter issue or cross-promoted newsletter that may help you along your writing journey.
Thank you for reading this month’s issue of Doing the Write Thing! I hope you enjoyed it!
I look forward to sharing the next Q&A with featured author Jane Doucet with you soon!
As always, wishing you happy reading and writing!