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So I have to tell you I nearly gave up this whole book this weekend.

I was hating it. Hating all my stupid characters with their whiny voices and nondescript little screwed up lives. And hating that I’ve committed a whole year to writing about them and thinking it’s just not going to happen.

So not a good way to start.

I grumbled about all this to Spock on date night on Friday. And I told him to come up with an idea for a superfantastic, kickass book. And pronto.

He said he’d get back to me.

And here’s the thing. He did. And it is a superfantastic, kickass book idea. No kidding. He’s an engineer and not supposed to be able to come up with grand fiction ideas. I don’t know that he’s even read any fiction other than The Godfather, which he likes to quote at random. (“Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again!”)

But with Spock’s blessed backup idea waiting in the file folders of my little pea brain, I was able to actually relax a bit and take a second look at this hot mess of a novel I’ve started.

I decided I like the first section. So I went back to it. I started expanding it, exploring where it can go, and taking my time with this one character instead of the other four I’d planned on. I may just give the whole book to this one stinking character and give up the shifting POV plan. I may just set the whole thing on the moon. I mean, that’s why they call it a first draft, right?

And with that little hurdle jumped, I’m back in the game, folks. At least for now. Take that, Writer’s Block.

I also have to tell you about a great little tool called Dropbox. Do you ever find yourself at a different computer with time on your hands, wishing you had your writing-in-progress with you so you could work on your stuff? Well, just save it onto Dropbox. It’s a free service that lets you store and even share your documents in that lovely “magic cloud” thing. You can even put photos on there. Check it out at:  www.dropbox.com.

And with that, I’ll sign off and hope for the best for tonight’s 20-minute session. (Otherwise, Spock’s file folder awaits.) Hope you’re all ENJOYING your projects, and that the work is going great for you!

–Cathy

There are days when the world simply conspires against this writing habit, when I get zero keyboard time alone at my desk. That’s when a pen and some paper (or a laptop) and some really efficient time management come into play. If I can’t set time aside for writing, I can usually steal it in small increments throughout the day. Now, I’m not fussy about location. Years in the news business trained me to write anywhere, with almost anything going on in the background. Here are some hidden writing opportunities I’ve exploited:

• When the baby or toddler is napping. A no-brainer
• Lunch hour at work
• The weekly grocery store run, whip out the pad and pen for 15-20 minutes in the car, alone, before heading into the store.
• Traveling — trains and planes work, as do their respective waiting terminals. Buses could, too, if you’re not prone to motion sickness when reading
• Waiting rooms — doctors, dentists, auto mechanics all offer valuable “down time” that can be put to good use

And then there’s always this to remember, and to take some consolation in: Time spent thinking about your project, mulling over the plot points that just aren’t jelling or the minor character who isn’t living up to his potential, is time spent on your writing. No sincere effort is ever wasted.

What little tips and tricks help you squeeze writing into the day? Share and inspire, or at least make us laugh.

— Karen

Two weeks, 30 pages.

We’re in this for real now, people.

Just to clarify, I have not cheated. I have not skimped. I have not even cried real tears yet. Although there was that one day I got really cranky, but I think that was when the toilet broke. Or was it when our town was well into Day 3 of the fog that has enveloped us like a big…giant…fog-like thing? Seriously, hanging in this part of Virginia lately feels a little like living in Forks, Washington. (Twilight, ok? Yes, I’m referencing Twilight, even though I’m more of a True Blood fan.) You drive around in your big old minivan at night and I swear you expect a vampire to jump out in front of you at any second. It’s been that gloomy, and cold, and just plain creepy.

Anyway, like I say, I’ve been faithful to this challenge. Even though it’s kicking my ass. But I do have 30 pages. Did I mention that? And I do feel like I’m doing something, even if it’s all convoluted and crazy and going in many very strange directions.

My problem with this one is structure. I have five different characters speaking in this book, and I’ve never done that before. I’ve always been too lazy to try to imagine different points of view, and now I see why. It’s like writing a whole bunch of different short stories. And it is HARD.

So the other day I just sat back and thought, what could help? What could guide me? What could give me some basic tips here?

And then it hit me. A BOOK.

Yeah, a real, live, published piece of fiction that actually works.

So I found one on my trusty bookshelf—one that uses multiple voices to tell a story. And I started reading. Not to steal ideas, of course, but to learn something, to absorb the nuances and the rhythm of each character and how the author made them each completely distinctive, and how the events in their lives overlapped and wound apart, and came together again.

It helped. So I guess that’s my message this week. Dust off the books if you feel the need, go back to the basics. Unclog the toilet. Find your way through the fog.

Just do the work. It should, with any luck, all come together in the end, right?

So how goes it for you guys? How far in are you? What’s been hard? How’s the weather your way?

Write well, my friends. Only 50 weeks (or however many YOU have left) to go.

–Cathy

If you’re a writer, you’ve been there. You’ve got a story to tell. You’re full of ideas on how to tell it. Interesting characters and scenes have been unfolding–just not today. I once read an interview with a highly regarded novelist who admitted that she, in fact, did not write every day. The reason being she didn’t have something to say every day. Yeah.
There are days when what I write is bad, forced and uninspired, and you can almost hear my teeth gritting as I try to engage my brain. It happens. Other days the process is almost effortless. Those are the magic days. Most of the time my efforts fall somewhere in between. And that’s okay. I’ve come to learn that even on crappy days, time logged on my writing is valuable. Thinking about the story, thinking about the characters, even if I can’t string a sentence together, is valuable. I hit on things, realize things on those slow days that help feed what I write the next day and the day after. Sound familiar to anyone?
So take it easy on yourself on the crappy days. Just keep showing up. Writing is a job. We’re not all at our best every day on the job. But we keep showing up. We keep trying. And in the end we get paid.
–Karen

Carving out time–actual minutes and hours–to write is really only half the battle when it comes to establishing a regular writing routine. At least for me. Tuning into the writing means checking my “lifely” concerns at the door. The stuff of my real life buzzed all around my brain today: the two big pieces I’m writing at work; my son’s first day back at preschool after the break (I forgot his backpack); the new kitchen counters we’re installing; the cat’s vet appointment; the outrageous price of gas at the pump this morning.

When I sat down to write, I took three deep breaths and pushed all the noise out of my mind. I switched frequencies to the page before me and all that it had to teach. After I hit “save,” I returned to the world, calmer and more centered. Not a bad habit to get into.

–Karen

So today I got my best gift ever—an extra day off from work! And of course I used it to write like my hair was on fire and completed 25 full pages of my new book. And I already have an agent. And…uh…it’s soon to be published…by Knopf.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

In reality, I wrote for 45 minutes and completed two whole pages. But I did feel excitement instead of the dread I was feeling yesterday when I had this awful sensation that this book is garbage but this writing challenge we’ve created here is now going to force me to stick it out anyway. I calmed myself by watching an episode of Lost (this is how behind my husband and I are in our TV viewing) and then reminding myself that this challenge is about the work itself, not so much the final project. And while next January 1, 2014 I’d love to say, “Look how much of this book I wrote!” I may only get to say, “Hey, look at this half a book I wrote and then these two short stories I wrote, and this essay I finally finished and…”

You get the idea. We stick with what works, and if it doesn’t work, no harm no foul. Just keep plugging away, people! We’ll get something out of it.

By the way, I found the iPod around midnight last night. It was balanced precariously on top of my exercise ball in the basement.

I have no idea.

–Cathy

A stomach bug that left me feeling wrung out and listless (Happy New Year!) did NOT prevent me from rising to Day One of the Write Despite Challenge. I put in forty minutes on the brand new novel, the one I’m just starting. You know how the beginning is—the characters emerging, their faces and voices coming to you through the mist, the urgent longings of their hearts knocking on yours. Right now, it’s more like listening than writing. It helps that my son drifted off to nap land, just as I was preparing to write.
Back to work tomorrow, to my “real” job, the one I get paid for. All the realities of life are gathering around after the floating ease of the holidays. Twelve days off. I’m not complaining. And going back to work this year feels kind of right, kind of good even. It’s time to get back to business across the board. So keep writing.
Karen