5 Things I did to get back to my writing—and one or
two you might use, too.
By Lana Wayne Koehler
This has been a strange
season of life. First there was COVID, then canceling conferences, then
canceling submissions, then canceling publications, now the variant, and on and
on, and on. And all the while, we, as writers, struggle to connect with each
other and our stories. Do you need encouragement to move on? I know that I did.
Here are five things that I
did to help me get back to my writing:
1.
I started reading
again. First, I read for enjoyment—Checking out things like Pinterest and
Facebook (don’t judge!). I read some classic children’s books from my home
library. Then I found myself checking out some articles and blogs on writing.
Before I knew it, I was studying writing again!
2.
The next thing I
wrote was something short. I know that as a writer for children’s books that
they are naturally short, but this exercise has little to do with that kind of
intense writing. Instead, I wrote a congratulatory letter to my granddaughter
who managed to finish her degree during Covid. Preparing for and actually
writing it started my creative engine going.
3.
With my engine
idling, I went off and proceeded to live my semi-regular life again, without
writing anything else. This time I had a level of guilt that I hadn’t
experienced in quite a while. After all, don’t we all have some guilt about not
writing or not writing enough? I took a deep breath and gave myself some space
to linger without writing. It helped me get to # 4.
4.
I finally opened
my computer to write the next best-selling book and found that I had lost the
ability to write anything on my computer because I did something dumb when I
uploaded a new IOS! (I’m still in denial about what I did and why I did it!).
Needless to say, I could only print my manuscripts and read or correct by hand.
I was infuriated. After all, I was finally ready to put my thoughts together
and the stars aligned against me. Again, I took a deep breath and pushed
through. This time with renewed confidence, I finally knelt to the writing gods
and bought some new software. Which brings me to #5.
5.
Somewhere in the
dark recesses of my twisted mind a new idea formed. More than one, actually.
And they have merit and could possibly be the next best sellers. Or at least
something to spend every waking hour thinking about, writing about, and crying
about. After all, isn’t that what we writers do?
For one brief moment I
thought my writing career was over. Now I can’t wait to get my stories on paper
and share them with the world.
Here’s to all the fabulous
stories that you will write because you decided to join me back in the saddle
again. And, hey, isn’t the view up here wonderful?
