Last week I took my third and final week “off” from work to make more serious progress on my book. I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped, but I did get some work done. It was also nice to have a week where I could focus on the book instead of just working on it when I came home at the end of the day. It meant that I had time for hobbies after “work” and I was reminded of the importance of balance. It was a nice week all the way around.
The book is a really big project. & I like big projects. I think it’s nice to work on something that is large in scale and I like the learning that comes along with the process. So far, here is what I’ve learned (and you can add a parenthetical “for me” after each of them:
- 50,000 words really isn’t all that many. After National Novel Writing Month, at least.
- Editing is far harder than writing. Getting the word count was way easier than I thought it would be and editing is far harder.
- Editing content and grammar should come in two phases. Editing such a large project has to be done in multiple passes.
- A nonfiction book is really a series of short essays. The essays should flow together, but really a book can be thought of as a collection of 20-30 essays.
- A book is definitely a project to be chipped away at over a period of time, rather than written in fits and bursts. I’m having a hard time remembering why I put a place holder somewhere, or a specific story in another place. The weeks off were nice, but ended up causing more stress later on. Maybe it would have been better to work, say, an hour a day each Tuesday-Saturday every week rather than every day of some weeks, and some weeks not at all.
- There are low periods and high periods throughout the process. The low periods have been the times when I questioned the wisdom of adding a project of this scope to my plate. The high periods came when I first had a complete printed draft and when I make final passes through editing. These times are the ones when I realize the project will be complete in the near future.
I still have some editing to do, but this is where I am today. I’m sure there will be more lessons, but wanted to go ahead and document the project at this point in time.
Great observations! I SO agree with the low periods and high periods and it’s so important to capitalize on those highs to really get some good work done. Editing sucks. I don’t think anyone is very good at editing themself, which is why it’s so important to have other people looking at it (though they’re not always right either — I mostly agreed with my editor, but I totally disagreed with many of the edits my copy editor made). Just remember that it’s your name on the work and don’t let anyone turn it into something you don’t believe in.
I think everyone’s different when it comes to writing something so huge. Some people can do that “I’ll write 500 words every day” thing and get a little bit done each day consistently. I’m one of those people who needs a good, long, uninterrupted period of time to write. When I did my book, I tended to do research and organize my thoughts during the week and then I’d actually write an entire chapter in the course of a weekend. I found this helped to make each chapter pretty cohesive and it kept my attention. I can’t write with distractions and I need to be “in the zone” or I can’t write at all. I envy people who can just sit down and write for a bit before work or after work; I’m not in the right headspace at those times.
Best of luck on getting totally done! It’s an amazing feeling to print out the whole damn thing and just look at what you’ve accomplished. YAY!
Thanks, Meredith! It’s interesting how similar and different people’s experiences can be. I like your idea of research throughout the week, and writing on the weekend. At the end of the day, some days, my brain seems to stop working on detail grammar issues. I’m looking forward to getting there. It’s gonna be nice!