Hello, writers! The holiday season is upon us, and however you celebrate, we're happy you're here with us.
Are you a resolution-setter? If so, a writing practice might be one of your end-of-year goals.
Goal-setting can be divisive when it comes to writing: While some romantics are all in favor of waiting for the muse, most pros claim that the only way to move forward in your writing is to actually put your butt in the chair. But what that looks like may vary, depending on who you are and what your current project is (not to mention the weather, how hungry you are, how well you slept, or whether you've got laundry to do.)
Jodi Picoult says, "You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page." Oscar Wilde could ostensibly spend a whole morning removing a comma, only to put it back in before lunch. Whether you're filling pages, then, or spending hours facing off with rogue punctuation, not all writing goals will suit each writer.
If setting a writing goal is one of your New Year's Resolutions, take this time before the year is truly out to think about what that means for you. I'm a huge fan of the SMART model for goal-setting, which hinges on goals being Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. But when it comes to writing, there are a few more things to bear in mind:
Is your goal results-driven (write 50,000 words before Valentine's Day) or time-driven (sit with my project for an hour a day)? I find that both can work, but when I'm in the drafting stage, I prefer the former, while in the editing stage, I prefer the latter.
Is your goal suited to the kind of writer you are and the kind of writer you want to be? If you tend to be a pantser, for example, your goal might be to plot more; if you're the kind of writer who hides behind research and outlining, maybe your goal should be to begin each day with a bit of a freewrite.
Is your goal realistic? It can be so tempting to give ourselves lofty objectives and then abandon everything when they don't pan out. Be kind to yourself, and your writing will bloom.
The Nantes Writers’ Workshop newsletter is a recurring missive from Anna Polonyi and Emily Monaco that seeks to whet your quill nib, as it were, with inspiration for your next piece of poetry or prose. If you want to spend even more time honing your craft through writing prompts, feedback-based workshops, and more, consider joining us for our next week-long workshop in Nantes this June. If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet, a spot in this workshop is also a great gift for a writer you love.
Writing Prompt: Why Do We Write?
For many writers, the question of what frequently supplants the question of why. I hadn't realized how little time I spend thinking about the latter until, while reading Lucy by the Sea, I came across this quote: "This is the question that has made me a writer: always that deep desire to know what it feels like to be a different person."
So, friends, what is your question? What sets your soul ablaze? Why do you write?
Things We're Reading
There's division in the ranks when it comes to what constitutes a "great sentence." Is it plain and straightforward? Flowery and purple? Is it remarkable for its memorableness, striking in its slight oddity? Or on the contrary, does the best sentence fade away into pure semantics, the "windowpane" George Orwell used as a metaphor to describe good prose? The answer is complex – and, according to this Guardian piece, it evolves and changes with the times and the trends.
I'm usually a big proponent of "butt in chair" as a writing technique, so I enjoyed reading this essay arguing against the method and in favor of a sort of subconscious brainstorming that pervades even the non-writing moments.
The title of this essay on "the death of literature" is a bit clickbaity. That said, it worked on me, and I enjoyed the exploration of the bit of writing – and literature – that's so difficult to coax into life: the ineffable, the visceral, the unconscious. These fundamental qualities, the author argues, are found most often in the sorts of long-winded descriptions favored by more classic literature, only to be supplanted by myriad modern woes ranging from political correctness to shorter attention spans. It's a divisive but worthwhile read.