Hey all, it’s Rebekah. No, I have not stepped off the face of the earth. Things have been weird lately, and to be honest, I was a little afraid to come back. I thought there’d be resentment that I disappeared. But I’m still here, still plugging away.

Over the summer, I took a big step and left my full-time job at the library to pursue freelance writing. I’d already picked up work before quitting, and I was preparing for the big move, saving up money and working out how I’d cut down on expenses to make it work. This meant months of writing around my day job, getting up earlier than usual and staying up until all hours of the night to meet deadlines. Now that I’ve committed to it 100%, it’s changed the way I view writing and as a result, it’s changed my writing habits in regard to fiction. 

But I promise, my first post in months is not going to be a self indulgent tell-all of how I got here. I’m going to share some lessons I’ve learned so far in writing for work and adapt those lessons into building better writing habits.

Building Writing Habits

1. When you have the opportunity to write something nonfiction, write it.

I’m not talking about whole nonfiction books, but anything really. Blogging, work emails, instruction manuals, technical reports, book reviews…write. Especially if you are going through a hellish time of writer’s block with your fiction. Find a way to put pen to paper in someway. Even if it’s only for your eyes, it’s good practice.

When you get yourself into a writing mindset, it becomes difficult to turn it off. You finish writing a note to somebody and you think, “Okay, I need to write something else.”

If you don’t have opportunities to write things like this, or you’re just not sure how to even go about it, then sit down and recap your day before you go to bed. You can’t get writer’s block when you know exactly what happened, and the act of stringing together words will become a habit that’s tough to break.

2. Always have a book in-progress.

I’m talking about reading,not writing. Whether it takes you months to get through it, have a book somewhere in your home with a bookmark in it. If it’s been a struggle getting it read, it might be time to bail on it and find a new book. Or else your brain has forgotten what’s it like to always be reading something. If that’s the case, work on reading a page every day and build up the habit.

I’ll admit, in recent years I let life keep me from being a good reader. But when I think back to all the times I got excited about writing fiction, it was around the time I’d just finished an amazing book. You’ll probably go through some books that don’t thrill you, but it’s not difficult to move on from a bad book. Anything else will be amazing in comparison.

I’m reading much more than I was before. What I’ve discovered is that constantly escaping into fictional worlds gets me even more excited to escape into my own.

Writing while uninspired is a chore. Sometimes it has to be done, but when you can, work yourself up to inspiration. Reading a book is an efficient way to do that.

3. Understand your writing associations.

When we write, we often form associations with the exact place we were or what we were doing in life when we wrote it. I can think back to scenesI wrote over a decade ago and remember exactly where I was when I wrote that scene. Whether or not the scene was any good doesn’t matter. It’s a time when I was writing and enjoying it. So when I think of that particular place and time, I feel warm and nostalgic. It’s a positive association.

If you’re like me, your bed is a place of introspection. You think about everything you’ve done wrong, and you make plans to change. Though change is good, the beneficial realization that things need to change is often tainted by doubt and insecurity. I’ve noticed that when I write in bed, I don’t usually get very far. My brain is used to overthinking things in bed, which means every word I write is up for judgement. Do you have a place like this? If so, stop trying to write under those conditions. Unless you can change the association, you have to avoid it.

Try to evaluate your moods and attitudes towards different places and times of the day. Write when and where you feel your best. Before long, you’ll start making associations between feeling good and writing. It’ll then be easier to write in new places. You can build on this foundation so you’re able to write anytime, anywhere.

Examine where and when you’re writing and how you feel when doing it. These associations can be key in helping you develop better writing habits.

It’s possible I could go on for days and days, but I’ll wrap things up and come back around to similar topics later on. I need to address a few blog related things:

1. I’ve got a couple guest posts in the queue that I’ll be posting over the weekend. I was a terrible, terrible person who accepted work from someone and then never did anything with it.

2. I don’t even know what’s in the inbox right now. I need to look and assess where we’re at.

3. I need to get in touch with the admins, and we need to make some decisions.

4. Above all, I need to post! We missed camp nano, but November will be here before you know it guys. I want us all to be ready.

But anyways, I’m back. I’m ready. Let’s do this!

-Rebekah

A list of useful synonyms

• Argument:altercation, squabble
• Chaos: disorder, confusion, pandemonium
• Collect: assemble, cumulate, stock
• Difficult:arduous, strenuous
• Easy: effortless, painless
• Effort: elbow grease, expenditure, labor
• Happiness: contentement, cheerfulness, joy
• Help: assist, aid, succor
• Love: fondness, tenderness, adoration
• Money:capital, finances, currency
• Pain: affliction, agony, suffering
• Power:ability, potential
• Pleasure:delight, satisfaction, fulfilment
• Prejudice:preconception
• Pride:self-esteem, dignity, honour
• Purpose:motive, cause, impetus
• Reason: aim, objective, incentive
• Rich:affluent, moneyed, wealthy
• Strong:powerful, brawny, strapping
• Useful:handy, nifty, convenient
• Understand: comprehend, perceive

Beta reading is helping my writing!

I hated rewriting after a first draft. I would read thru my piece, see something wrong in this sentence, this word, this flow. And then wrote in the margins: Fix this!

Howwas the bigger question.

Naturally, when I beta read, I don’t want to leave my client hanging like that, with that judgmental snare staring at them. So I go through these steps:

Point out the issue - Specifics

Instead, I explain specifically what’s not working or confusing, or else they’ll come back to me saying, butwhat about it is confusing?

Why is it an issue?

I explain whyit’s confusing. Either some grammar norm readers are used to, or how I was imagining something different than the writer was describing.
(Passive language, or I thought she was standing the whole time, or that’s not how I pictured that character would react.)

What can I do about it? - The How

Then I give suggestions. Not that that’s completely the job of a beta reader, more like a writing coach thing or editor, but I feel for the author who has critiques and no ‘how’ planned. So I give them suggestions, but ultimately, I can’t imitate the author’s unique style perfectly.

Overall Patterns to Upgrade the Whole Piece

Then I’ll drop the patternsthat keep occurring.
(Try replacing 'was’ with more active verbs in the piece, not all of them but some. Use a grammar check for passive language. Stretch moments of tension with more detail and description, etc.)

And here I was at a loss for what I should do for my own rewrites! First, I need direction like what I’m giving out. (Check out my pinned post for my Fiverr. ;) ) It’s awesome that in my breaking down and just defending my natural inclination to scope out the clunky, trippy and confusing things, I’ve found a road map finally!

You can either use this as listening in on an author’s ruminations on skill development, advice for your own drafting, or details on why my beta reading is different and worth the money.